Data Transfer Question

Adamcp898

If I were to transfer my data from a 20GB to a 120GB hard drive does it copy the data or does it transfer it so that the 20GB will be erased?

If it does erase the smaller hard drive is there anyway to make it copy and not transfer?

I'm not trying to break any copyright, it would just be easier to have the same data simultaneously on the two hard drives so that at weekends I wouldn't have to be bringing a hard drive home with me or be deciding which game saves I want to put on a USB stick and then only being able to play those games.

Vic Vinegar

With the new update you can use regular usb sticks to transfer data, i would do that as the transfer kit will delete data from the HD you're copying from. With a usb stick you can move what you need to and leave the rest.

Adamcp898

Bombleswizzum wrote: »

With the new update you can use regular usb sticks to transfer data, i would do that as the transfer kit will delete data from the HD you're copying from. With a usb stick you can move what you need to and leave the rest.

Yeah but whatever I put on the USB stick will be erased from the hard drive too, what I want is to simultaneously have all my stuff on two hard drives at once

RobertFoster

But the stuff you want to keep on both HDDs (saves) would update on one and then be out-of-date on the other. I think most games allow you to save to whatever memory device you want, so you could keep your saves on a USB key and just plug that in to whatever console you're using.

Your gamertag keeps changing too. Mine is now 16MB, but I remember it being about 1MB at the start. If you kept your profile and saves on the memory stick, you could use the HDDs for installing games.

When I used the transfer kit, it told me it couldn't delete all my files from the 20GB (even though it was meant to).

Adamcp898

RobertFoster wrote: »

But the stuff you want to keep on both HDDs (saves) would update on one and then be out-of-date on the other. I think most games allow you to save to whatever memory device you want, so you could keep your saves on a USB key and just plug that in to whatever console you're using.

Your gamertag keeps changing too. Mine is now 16MB, but I remember it being about 1MB at the start. If you kept your profile and saves on the memory stick, you could use the HDDs for installing games.

When I used the transfer kit, it told me it couldn't delete all my files from the 20GB (even though it was meant to).

Yeah but say I'll have all my saves for every game on one hard drive then whenever I'm going back home I'm going to have to decide which games I want to play and then take only those saves with me whereas it would be a hell of a lot easier if all data could be on both drives. That and there's a much better chance of a USB stick getting lost/becoming corrupt than a hard drive.

RobertFoster

If you had identical save data on both HDDs, the next time you play a game on either machine, the save data will have updated on one but not the other.

Adamcp898

RobertFoster wrote: »

If you had identical save data on both HDDs, the next time you play a game on either machine, the save data will have updated on one but not the other.

I realise that, but say for instance, I'm at home and out of the blue I feel like playing a bit of Fable 2 but then I realise the save is on my other hard drive and not on my USB because I didn't have enough room for all my saves, then I can only play if I want to start a new game.

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Not to be pedantic but a USB stick is far more rugged than the HDD, it will take drops and impacts that would destroy a magnetic HDD. Anyway slightly off-topic.

Yeah but there's more chance of me losing something that small or treating it in such a way (carrying it around in my pocket etc.) causing something to happen to it or quite simply and as can happen with computers not hitting the safely remove hardware button and just whipping it out only for the next time I go to use it telling me it can't be read and needs to be reformatted.

Fingleberries

If you choose to Move the data to the USB stick, it'll delete the info off the old HDD. If you Copy, then the original remains.

I managed to do this for my old content - lucky this update came around when it did, because I was close to going on ebay to try to buy an old tiny memory unit.

Adamcp898

Fingleberries wrote: »

If you choose to Move the data to the USB stick, it'll delete the info off the old HDD. If you Copy, then the original remains.

I managed to do this for my old content - lucky this update came around when it did, because I was close to going on ebay to try to buy an old tiny memory unit.

I never get the option to copy I just go to memory devices and press "y" for device options and then transfer so how do you copy?

Optimus Prime

dont think there is a copy, i didnt see it anyways when i put my profile onto the usb key.

TouchingVirus

Save data/Anything to do with xbox live (e.g. gamertag) can only be associated with one console ID/hard drive at a time. Getting around this is a violation of the terms of use and leaves you wide open for a banning.

Think about some of the logistics involved too by the way - you leave your savegame at home, somebody else plays it, now you've got two people playing the same savegame..it just doesn't work like that.

Either get yourself a big memory stick and get used to moving data to and from it when you go home, take the hard drive with you, or live with only taking the odd savegame home. Surely a little 7"x4"x1" harddrive/caddy doesn't take up too much space in your bag, I'd go with the bring hard drive option myself.

Adamcp898

Yeah I understand what everyone's saying but it just would've been nice and handy to have all my saves in two places and then only have to update the ones I was playing.

Like it shouldn't be impossible to have the saves linked to your profile but still be able to copy them, that way you could play your games but only when your profile is on the same storage device as them. It would still involve copying your profile everytime you went somewhere but it would be a better compromise than having to take the whole lot in order to have a choice of games.

Cactus Colm

Bombleswizzum wrote: »

With the new update you can use regular usb sticks to transfer data, i would do that as the transfer kit will delete data from the HD you're copying from. With a usb stick you can move what you need to and leave the rest.

Sorry to go slightly off topic maybe ... but ... does this mean I can transfer all necessary data from my old 20gb to my new 120gb drive, using my 16gb usb key (obviously haven't used all 20gb on the old drive).?

Including profiles and such...

Fingleberries

Yep. I managed to move from a 20GB to a larger HDD using a 4GB Memory Stick (took a couple of goes, but it worked). It'd likely be even easier if you have a 16GB stick because for a 20GB XBox HDD you really only ever use 13GB or so, the rest is for system stuff and the like.

One shot and you should be good to go!

Cactus Colm

Fingleberries wrote: »

Yep. I managed to move from a 20GB to a larger HDD using a 4GB Memory Stick (took a couple of goes, but it worked). It'd likely be even easier if you have a 16GB stick because for a 20GB XBox HDD you really only ever use 13GB or so, the rest is for system stuff and the like.

One shot and you should be good to go!

Cheers .. in the middle of doing it now! If I had known it was this easy would've done it an age ago.