If I buy an XBOX 360 without the 20 gig hard drive can I just buy an external HD instead of a spendy XBOX HD?

Answer 1

While the external Harddisc can be used to play MP3s, Movies and Pictures, it can't be used to store game saves or Marketplace downloads.

For this, there is no way around the original Xbox Harddisc.

Even if you crack open the shell of the original Harddisc box and replace the 20 GB drive with a different drive, it won't work, as the Xbox checks for a special security sector, that only original Xbox HDDs have.

So all in all: You need an original Xbox HDD. Everything else will not work...

Answer 2

With Xbox console, if you do not buy a console with a built in hard drive like the Xbox 360 Arcade Edition (no hard drive) then you will need to update your console in the future by buying a hard drive that will fit into the console. The problem is that the hard drive has to be purchase and compatible with the console and it is made only by microsoft and not a external hard drive like that of your computer or PC.

A 120 gb hard drive for the Xbox console is $179.99 if you do decide to buy this hard drive at a future date. You can also buy a 512 memory unit for $44.99