Format an external USB hard drive to store files bigger than 4gb on the Xbox 360

If you have a portable hard drive that is over 16GB then you would need to HFS+ format it, though the thing with that format is you can't load demos or gamertags from it, only music and videos. Though if you do have a flash drive that is 16GB or less then you can just use the 360 to format it to FATX, allowing demos, gamertags.etc on there.

 

Is the hard drive mandatory to play games on Xbox 360? I mean if I am using a only the console with the USB hard drive (and without Xbox HDD) and I have burned a game demo onto a DVD, will I be able to play the game? OR
If I use a pen drive (again without Xbox HDD) less than 16GB formatted by Xbox itself, then can I play the demo game from the DVD?
Also can I connect to Xbox live using USB HDD and without the Xbox 360 hard drive? Please let me know.

Thanks.

 

Thank you for your quick reply. My Xbox was manufactured on March 2010, so by default I have NXE dashboard. I have no Xbox HDD and I have not subscribed to Xbox Live. I recently updated my Xbox from Xbox.com page - http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/kb.aspx?id=933498&lcid=1033&category=hardware I used my pen drive as a memory unit to store the update, and updated the console using another pen drive.
But even after this update I can't play the .mp4,.avi etc... files, since it is asking for another update from Xbox live. Can I download the Xbox update without a Live subscription? If not how can play these formats.
Also please tell me if I can transfer my videos and trailers to my pen drive (which I am using as a memory unit) from my computer without connecting my computer to my Xbox. If yes please tell me how to do it, since I can't find any folders on my pen drive (that am using as a memory unit) when I connect to my computer.

Thank you again.

 

Got it.
Thank you.

 

Can u use a 500gb?

 

Yes, though you can't store games or demos on it. You can only store music and videos. Anything else won't play from the portable hard drive.

 

sounds kwl but does this works on USB flash disks as well ?

 

can we read and write the HFS+ file in our windows pc

 

divx and xvid

keep getting cant read from the source file on disc when i try to put a film onto my converted flash drive

 

They want to prevent the average person from adding an ntfs drive to the xbox.... that would be too easy... they want to make their $130 usd for an hdd you can get for 25 or 30 at newegg.com.