Do You Need a Mod Chip to Flash Drive on an Xbox 360?

Flash drives can be used to store Xbox 360 game saves and files.

Altering your Xbox 360 with the use of a mod chip voids your warranty and is considered by Microsoft to be an illegal practice. Luckily for gamers who need a way to expand the memory of their consoles, flash drives are now compatible with the Xbox 360.

History

In April 2010, Microsoft updated the firmware of the Xbox 360 console to accept the use of flash drives. Before the update, only Xbox 360-developed hard drives and memory cards were compatible with the console.

Function

The flash drive is inserted into the USB port near the bottom front of the console. Game saves, user data, and full games downloaded from the Xbox LIVE Arcade can be saved directly to the drive.

Limitations

The drive must be formatted with the FAT32 file system. An Xbox 360 will only read between 1GB and 16GB of free space on any flash drive, regardless of the size of the drive itself. This means that if you insert a 32GB flash drive into the console, only 16GB can be used to store data. Furthermore, Microsoft only guarantees that an Xbox 360-branded flash drive will function: other drives may or may not work.

References

• Digital Trends: Xbox 360 Updates Allow USB Flash Drive Support
• Xbox: USB Storage Device Support for Xbox 360