With five USB ports, a 250GB hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi, the new Xbox console is superior to the original in many ways, including being faster and 15 per cent smaller. Plus it has a port ready to connect to the upcoming controller-free Kinect sensor bar.
If you have an older Xbox 360, moving your content from the old hard drive to the new one requires some planning.
There are several reasons why you would want to do this and here are two possible scenarios.
Transfer everything from old to new Xbox 360
Microsoft is selling a cable for direct hard disk to hard disk copying. However, you can save money with your existing external USB flash drive.
Once you format it on your console, you can start transferring content onto the flash drive, then copy it over to your new console.
However, with all the security features and digital rights management, is it really that easy?
All content obtained on the Xbox Marketplace is linked to your gamertag, so the first thing you need to do is move your gamertag to your flash drive.
This way, the system recognises that the content you are moving belongs to you and you should have no problem moving them.
With an older 20GB console, it took me three transfers with an 8GB flash drive and all of 40 minutes to make the transfer.
Now, there is a trick here. If you choose to transfer content wholesale under System Management, the software will copy everything, including gamertags belonging to your friends or family created on your original console.
Transfer only your own games to the new Xbox 360
The second scenario may be when you want to hand your old Xbox over to, say, your sibling, who already has some content in your console.
As there are things you do not want moved, select the files to transfer. While it is a longer process, it gives you more control over what you want to shift.
If you have purchased items, another way is to go to your purchase history and download them again.
Once I moved my gamertag over to the new console, all my existing content was recognised and accessible to me.
All transferred content will work, as long as your Xbox is signed on to Xbox Live. To play games you buy in offline mode, you have to transfer the game’s licence as well.
This is a two-step process and more details can be found here: www.xbox.com/en-us/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/.
After I transferred everything, I discovered that I lost one saved game and had to start replaying platform game ‘Splosion Man.
However, it was a small price to pay for a do-it-yourself transfer that took no time at all.
checkout the Microsoft Xbox Console
