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External Hard Drive Custom Format using Xbox 360 option

Hello,

I recently bought a WD My Book Essential 2 TB External Hard Drive with the goal in mind to use it to store game saves and installed games on it.  However I found out that it is in NTFS format, and I know that the Xbox 360 uses FAT32 format.  Regardless I plugged in my External HD and went to "system settings > Memory" to see the storage devices and saw that my external HD was recognized by the Xbox 360 giving me the normal "Configure Now" and "Customize" format settings.  Now I want to use the custom format option so that not all of my External HD is formatted.  When seleting that a popup tells me that the External HD isn't formatted or that its in a format that isn't recognized (because it is, its in NTFS format) and that it will erase all data on it.  

Now here lies my question(s). (a) if I do format the External HD using the Xbox 360 custom option, will it only erase the 16GB that I want to use as storage (seeing as thats the max on any usb storage device no matter its actual size) or will it erase the entire 2 TB External Hard Drive?  (b) Now if it only erases the set 16 GB and turns it to FAT32 format will the remaining memory remain in NTFS and functional on a PC or if it erases my entire External HD will it convert it all to FAT32 format and will it also be functional on a pc if done this way?

Sorry if these questions sound confusing, please ask me to clarify them further or ask for any additional info needed. Thanks in advance for the help.

-Joshua

When I did it, all the drive was erased even though I was only configuring part of the drive. So I would back up any data you want to keep before doing it.

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Wait will all of my drive be converted to Fat32 or will only the 16 GB be formatted to Fat 32 and the rest of my drive be left as is in NTFS format?

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^In other words^

Will the xbox 360 in a way partition my External HD into a 16GB Fat32 partition, and have a approx. 1.84 TB NTFS partition.

THANKS and sorry I thought it best to restate my question.

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Hey mate, only USB thumb drives are officially supported on the Xbox 360. I strongly recommend using one with your Xbox 360, to avoid any unwanted formatting of the entire drive in question.

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[quote user="SGO Joshua"]

^In other words^

Will the xbox 360 in a way partition my External HD into a 16GB Fat32 partition, and have a approx. 1.84 TB NTFS partition.

THANKS and sorry I thought it best to restate my question.[/quote]To configure the drive in the first place it must be FAT32, the 360 wont recognise it if you connect while formatted as NTFS.

The file format that the 360 uses is generally called FATX. So you'd end up with 16gb of FATX and 1.8tb of FAT32.

Mister Fitzer is right though, while a USB hard drive will work they aren't official supported. So I second the recommendation that you'd be better off just buying a USB stick. 

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Im thinking of buying a 1tb HD (as my 250gb hd is full and my 320 is 50% full). My question is can it format multiple 16gb partitions on 1 external hard drive (so I'd have about 62 "16gb HD), or will it only partion 16gb of FATX (and leave me with 984 GB) and I'd have to buy another HD if I want another 16GB. Long story short should I buy multiple 16gb flash drives or 1 huge HD and partion it multiple times?

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Hi Filip36365,

First of all, please create a new thread for your own question. We don't need to resurrect a thread from 2.5 years ago. Second, Xbox only officially supports Xbox licensed hard drives and USB flash drives up to 32 GB. Check out --> support.xbox.com/.../usb-flash-drive & http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/accessories/storage

Thanks!

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Sorry didn't realize the time stamp thought this was recent. Anyways thanks for the info

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Last updated May 5, 2023 Views 2,014 Applies to: