XSata Announced for 360 HD Backups

[bapenguin]

Datel (http://www.datel.com) has announced the XSATA. This device will allow you to backup your save games and other downloads from your 360 to your PC.Using your XBOX 360 file manager software such as the free PC app Xplorer 360, you can transfer materials from your console’s hard drive to your PC, using your computer’s hard disc space to store demos, game saves and other such materials you’re not currently using. When you need them again, just transfer back to the XB360’s drive. Once the data is on your PC, you can email anything that’s not locked to your machine or L!VE account to your friends for them to use on their own consoles too.
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/xsata/thumb.xsata_04.jpg (http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/image.php?image=www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/xsata/xsata_04.jpg)

Full Press Release and more pics Inside (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?p=247062#post247062).

Let the cheating begin.

[bapenguin]

The Ultimate XB360 Hard Drive Back-Up Solution!

Transfer files between your PC and XB360 with XSATA...

April 3rd, 2006 - The problem with the Xbox 360’s built-in hard drive is it just isn’t big enough. 12GB of usable space might be sufficient for the casual gamer, but the hardcore joypad juggler needs more. With XSATA, the latest devious device from Datel, you can free up hard drive space by transferring content between your console and your PC. You need never run out of hard drive space on your XB360 again!

Using your XBOX 360 file manager software such as the free PC app Xplorer 360, you can transfer materials from your console’s hard drive to your PC, using your computer’s hard disc space to store demos, game saves and other such materials you’re not currently using. When you need them again, just transfer back to the XB360’s drive. Once the data is on your PC, you can email anything that’s not locked to your machine or L!VE account to your friends for them to use on their own consoles too.

XSATA is a plug-and-play device that sits between your XB360’s hard drive and the console itself. There’s no need to remove your XB360’s hard drive to use it. The PC and the 360 can then ‘share’ the HDD so it can remain in place at all times. To connect, just plug the supplied cable into the High Speed USB port on the back of XSATA and into any spare USB port on your PC. XSATA is USB 2.0-compatible, so you can expect ultra-fast transfer speeds of up to 480mbps. It looks great too, with a blue laser giving a real cool edge to your console.


XSATA is in the shops soon and costs £29.99 (UK) or $39.99 (USA). It can also be bought direct at www.codejunkies.com or by calling 08456 010 015.


About Datel:
Datel is the world’s leading developer of videogame enhancement products for games consoles. For more than 20 years Datel has stayed at the forefront of the videogames industry by developing products that are innovative, inspirational, technologically advanced and above all, fun to use. It is this philosophy that has seen Datel's products consistently outperform all competitors. The company’s famous flagship brand Action Replay is a global best seller on the PSP, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance/SP, Nintendo DS, Xbox and Xbox 360.


http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/xsata/thumb.xsata_01.jpg (http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/image.php?image=www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/xsata/xsata_01.jpg)


http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/xsata/thumb.xsata_04.jpg (http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/image.php?image=www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/xsata/xsata_04.jpg)


http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/xsata/thumb.xsata_06.jpg (http://www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/image.php?image=www.evilavatar.com/images/previews/xsata/xsata_06.jpg)

[fitbabits]

It's blue and lights up and it also sounds the death knell for all who love to play fairly. Great idea! :rolleyes:

[Vandenh]

Well since most user data is almost certainly signed with your Live/360 key it might not be so easy to get useful data from your HD except media.

[Sl1pstream]

I like that it lights up, but other than the cool blue effect I have no use for something like this.

[Tia]

Let the cheating being.

you probably meant begin :D

[Borys]

Is 360 a PC yet or still a console. Mind boggles.

[bapenguin]

you probably meant begin :D

doh...stupid typos. Thanks.

[phantomhitman]

If i can backup my entire hd i will preorder this. I can care less about sharing saves, but I do want a backup of my hd. In case anything goes fubar or a single save corrupts everything else. Great idea Datel!!

edit-there is another handy little device on the code junkies webiste.
4 gb hd (http://us.codejunkies.com/news_reviews.asp?c=US&cr=USD&cs=$&r=0&l=1&p=8&i=8982&s=8)

Use it for media to stream to your xbox. I do not have an ipod or winxp at the moment, so I can fill this msall 4 gb drive with songs and finally have a custom play list.

[ldi222]

Thank God it came out well in advance of HALO3.

[The Letter 3]

Does Datel ship this thing with a piece of paper that says, "No! No naughty stuff with our product. No cheating, no hacking, no unlawful transferring! We said no!" Otherwise, I guess, anything goes.

[GunnyMo]

I like the idea of backing up the HD but I have to agree cheating will now be much worse. Hackers live for this kind of crap and Datel just made it so much easier. As long as every multiplayer title for 360 supports private parties for friends I'll be fine. I rarely play ranked matches on any game as it's usually populated by rank grabbing asshats anyway.

[Morratut]

This is good for backing up saves. However I don't think you can transfer save game files between different gamertags and then get the resulting achievments. All that type of stuff is signed software. Thats my understanding of it anyways.

[Roc Ingersol]

Meh.
If they didn't encrypt and lock save-games and downloadable content, they deserve the cheating.

[phantomhitman]

this is also not making it any easier, there have been tools otu for a while now to backup your 360 hd to yoru pc. You still need the almighty encryption key to unlock the saves that are linked to your gamertag.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Is 360 a PC yet or still a console. Mind boggles.


It gets harder and harder to tell as time goes on.

[Heretic Machine]

Don't see what this has to do with online cheating...

[bone_matrix]

Meh.
If they didn't encrypt and lock save-games and downloadable content, they deserve the cheating.

You are absolutely right. If they didn't use enough security, i should be modded and not enjoy a game I bought. It all makes sense now. :rolleyes:

[fitbabits]

Don't see what this has to do with online cheating...
"Once the data is on your PC, you can email anything that’s not locked to your machine or L!VE account to your friends for them to use on their own consoles too."

[phantomhitman]

where is the online cheating part at? Game saves have been available for years and years now. It still doesnt unlock achievements or make your rank higher for any game. This is absolutely no different from sending your memory card to anyone through regular mail. When the encryption codes are broken and someone attains the keys to convert the saves over to everyone, then things will get interesting.

[fitbabits]

where is the online cheating part at? Game saves have been available for years and years now. It still doesnt unlock achievements or make your rank higher for any game. This is absolutely no different from sending your memory card to anyone through regular mail. When the encryption codes are broken and someone attains the keys to convert the saves over to everyone, then things will get interesting.
The online cheating part would come into play if, for example, someone had unlocked a previoulsy unavailable weapon and shared it with their friends so as to unfairly dominate multiplayer games.

[mkelehan]

I wonder how Datel will take it when MS disables this in a firmware update?

[phantomhitman]

But all of these items are locked to your gamertag. For now everything is safe, until that one guy gets the codes or keys. Even examples such as better cars, armor, or weapons would not be available since everything is linked to your gamertag. Even if they gave you their saved games the achievements will not transfer over, the unlocks will not transfer over, nothing will transfer over. The only good thing this is good for is:
1-backing up your stuff in case of hd crashes
2-sharing sports rosters, replays, and that type of game material

[ElectricMonk]

you know what they should make, is a hard disk with built-in 2 gb of flash ram that acted as a cache for the hard drive data

it would make pre-caching to load stuff work awesome in games.

[silv]

"Once the data is on your PC, you can email anything that’s not locked to your machine or L!VE account to your friends for them to use on their own consoles too."

The key is anything that is not locked to your machine or live account. Which, is basically most of the good stuff. Saved games, downloads, etc are all locked to your account.

This is a backup solution primarily.

[bapenguin]

I'm sure it won't take long till someone figures out how to unlock the stuff.

[fitbabits]

I'm sure it won't take long till someone figures out how to unlock the stuff.
Which is exactly my point/fear!

[Karmakaze]

All these fears of cheating are really non-issues, IMO. "Unlock a previously unavailable weapon"? I can throw random words together too and try to make this thing sound like the anti-christ of XBL, but I won't.

OTOH, maybe this will let me finally erase whatever file mucked up my NHL2k6 save so I can actually play the franchise/season mode without following 2K game's "advice" of just simply reformatting my drive..

[Deadend]

Yeah, unlocking previously locked guns causing an imbalance in multiplayer?

That is a load of horsecrap and sounds like a shitty game. As a game where that could happen, sounds poorly designed.

Maybe this will allow people to put music files ON the hard drive directly without jumping through hoops such as burning to CD first.

[fitbabits]

Some people are taking my example too literally. It was meant as a very broad example - nothing more. Think of the concept, not just the example, and you'll get where I'm coming from.

[Roc Ingersol]

you know what they should make, is a hard disk with built-in 2 gb of flash ram that acted as a cache for the hard drive data

it would make pre-caching to load stuff work awesome in games.
Flash is bad for cache, rewrite life is too low for it.

Active RAM would be faster and cheaper anyway.

Don't their drives already have a couple-meg cache? You hit diminishing returns pretty damn quick with cache. I can't imagine it makese sense to go much past 4 or 8 MiB.

[bapenguin]

Flash is bad for cache, rewrite life is too low for it.

Active RAM would be faster and cheaper anyway.

Don't their drives already have a couple-meg cache? You hit diminishing returns pretty damn quick with cache. I can't imagine it makese sense to go much past 4 or 8 MiB.

I'm pretty sure it's Western Digital that is working on a 1 gig cache drive.

[phantomhitman]

As far as the keys go, they will eventually be leaked/cracked. The ONLY example of fucking idiots and consoles=HALO 2. All of the other keys have been held by people with enough sense to see what would happen. Forza Motorsports is a great example. The keys were somehow obtained by a forum on the net. Realizing how much power they had (they could make any car they want, make it impossibly fast, etc) they would not publically release it. To this day you still have to go through the owner of that forum to get custom cars.
Moral-Not everyone in the gamerworldis a dick, but most are. Hopefully the code will nto be cracked and all will be good.

ps-i know what you meant fitba ;)

[prc329]

If i can backup my entire hd i will preorder this. I can care less about sharing saves, but I do want a backup of my hd. In case anything goes fubar or a single save corrupts everything else. Great idea Datel!!

edit-there is another handy little device on the code junkies webiste.
4 gb hd (http://us.codejunkies.com/news_reviews.asp?c=US&cr=USD&cs=$&r=0&l=1&p=8&i=8982&s=8)

Use it for media to stream to your xbox. I do not have an ipod or winxp at the moment, so I can fill this msall 4 gb drive with songs and finally have a custom play list.

LaCie makes a 60 gig that is powered by a usb port and you can get for about $125. That's what I use. I put all 40 gigs of mu music on it. It shows up as a portable device. Works very well and its bigger/cheaper then the one they offer.

[bobmitch]

I'm sure it won't take long till someone figures out how to unlock the stuff.

People have had access to the raw files on the HD from almost day zero - and not even a hint of progress at decryption of the keys necessary. (Mind you, it's a works/doesn`t work scenario....)

Point is, this just makes it easier for joe public to back-up their hard earned data. The crackers have been tinkering with the 360 HD files since long before datel came up with this gadget.

[absolut taco]

Will this let me transfer my PGR3 photos to my PC?

[Demo_Boy]

OK who wants my horse armor?

I'm selling it for 50 cents an email

or im willing to trade the armor for a copy of PGR3

[bobmitch]

Will this let me transfer my PGR3 photos to my PC?

Don`t quote me on this, but I believe the answer is yes, with the caveat being that the pgr3 screens are wrapped in a custom format. They are essentially standard jpg files with an icon/thumbnail embedded along with some other bits and bytes, and from what I can remember, you can get at the jpg's with a hex editor, but I`m sure someone has written a tool to do the task by now...

[t3g]

I see this as another way to transfer roster saves for games like NCAA Football 2007 :-)

[YoungAlCapone]

People have had access to the raw files on the HD from almost day zero - and not even a hint of progress at decryption of the keys necessary. (Mind you, it's a works/doesn`t work scenario....)

Point is, this just makes it easier for joe public to back-up their hard earned data. The crackers have been tinkering with the 360 HD files since long before datel came up with this gadget.

See, the thing with cracking codes like this is it is a work in progress. It is only a matter of time before they do get cracked and now Datel is putting a tool out there that lets people take advantage of that.

[Abash Alarmist]

Meh. I think this is great, and will be awesome just as a backup/transfer application for the Xbox360. I think that everyone's scream of "CHEATER" are a bit immature since we have no idea what is going to be transferrable and runnable on the Xbox360.

[Kamalot]

I'm ordering one today to back up my saves. I've been burned too many times by having memory cards and hard drives fail.

[JG_ZERO]

"Let the cheating begin"

yeah, sad but true. =/

[mig]

You know, me and three other friends have NHL2k6 freezing after playing a game. Right at the "loading..." screen. 2kSports hasn't even responded to all the wailing and gnashing of teeth on the their official forums. Gamers on their own have seen the problem go away when you remove the HDD from the equation, and play off a mem card.

The Datel device might be a way to actually get updated working rosters and make my $60 game playable again. Yeah, modders and pirates will use it to cheat online, but in the end it's just a tool.

[Zeal]

Piracy time.

[Kamalot]

Piracy time.
Naughty naughty!

[ascl]

This is sweet... I will definitely be getting something like this when I get an xbox360.


You know why? It makes it really easy to transfer my old savegames from my xbox!! Woot

[Kamalot]

I just got my XSATA and set up a little article about it here.

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14383&highlight=XSATA