One of the cooler Xbox Live New Experience features is the ability to install an entire game to the hard drive. This can be great for games that do a lot of disc loading as it can really cut down on those load times and improve performance.
I've already tested this feature out with EA's NFL Head Coach 09 -- a game that was riddle with performance issues -- and it really worked wonders on the game. The frequent pauses as the game loaded the depth chart, injury status or emotional systems went away, and the game plays a lot smoother.
So, if you have a game that you like to play, but it's frequently slowed down because of disc loading, it might be worth installing the game onto the Xbox 360's hard drive. You will still need to have the game disc in the Xbox 360 to play the game (they don't want to make it too easy to pirate games!), but you will see improved performance in some games.
Find out the best games to install to your Xbox 360 hard drive.
How to install Xbox 360 games to the hard drive while in the dashboard:
It's very simple to load the game onto the hard drive when you are in the new dashboard. Just follow these quick steps:
- Load the disk into your Xbox 360 console and go to your Xbox 360 console
- Scroll down to My Xbox
- Scroll across to Game Library and hit the A button
- This should put you on the Recent Games window and your game should be highlighted, so you should just need to hit the A button. Otherwise, scroll to the Recent Games window and choose the game.
- On the game screen, choose Install to Hard Drive. This process should take a few minutes, but once it is complete, you'll be able to enjoy improved performance.
You'll also note that the game screen contains all kinds of great information about the game such as the achievements unlocked and featured downloads available for the game.
How to find free strategy guides on the web.
How to install Xbox 360 games to the hard drive while in the game:
- While in the game, hit the Xbox button to bring up the mini-dashboard
- Scroll across to the Games tab
- Choose Game Library and hit the A button
- Confirm that you want to bring up the Xbox 360 Dashboard
- This should put you on the Recent Games window and your game should be highlighted, so you should just need to hit the A button.
- On the game screen, choose Install to Hard Drive. This process should take a few minutes.
Checking hard drive space and clearing up room
Installing games onto your Xbox 360's hard drive will take up a lot of space. For example, it took 6 GB to install EA Head Coach 09 onto the hard drive -- that's quite a bite out of the available space.
So, you might want to make sure you have enough available space and clear up a little room if you are running low. Doing this is pretty simple:
- In the dashboard, scroll over to My Xbox
- Scroll across to System Settings (it should be the last choice)
- Choose Memory
- This will show your hard drive and your free space. Choose the hard drive to get more information.
The hard drive is broken down by categories to show where you are using the most space.
Choose a category to see the individual items. You can delete items by clicking on their name and choosing delete from the menu. Deleting demos is a good way to free up some available space.
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Comments
Eh, all of these things are probably untrue (about it hitting you in the wallet). It's actually the simplest plan to use: Basically all you have to do is rent a game, install it onto your hard drive, and you save $50+ Dollars.
Now if Nintendo Wii or Sony PS3 can sell a game for $10, you let me know. Otherwise, in my opinion, the Microsoft's Xbox 360 rules (in terms of Console Wars).
And as far as making money for Microsoft goes, you don't have to worry.
They're getting your money from surfing Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
So become an Xbot, and join the legions of Microsoft fandom, baby. :D
that is exactly what i did!
As some people may know by now, you STILL need the disc, it just improves the performance of the game itself.
are you stupid? xbox dosnt have a browser and u still need the game to be in the console to play it. you didnt make any sense, i have a xbox 360 slim so i am no hater. just pointing out your stupidity
what are you talking about theyd make more money if it didnt require a disk? then people would install and sell the copy they had microsoft would lose bundles you dumb fuck.
Hopefully this will allow me to play Assassin's Creed again since my disc is scratched, and it often gets disc read error. If my disc doesn't let it properly install perhaps one from Blockbuster can since I still have my own disc albeit scratched for the ownership proof.
@Koolikoolio No, once you return the game it can't play off the hard drive, Microsoft thankfully put in an anti-piracy measure where you still have to have the DVD in the drive as proof that you own the game, it just doesn't read the data from the disc.
you know that's not true right? You can't play a game without the disc being in. And Internet explorer is free... Hahaha
internet explorer is free but the money generated from ad revenue is most likey what he was referring to
how do you play the games after you downloaded them do you just go to your games library and it will be like playing a demo you just put play
You play the game as you normally would. When you put the game disc in, the Xbox 360 will check to see if it has been installed to the hard drive and will play it from there.
does anyone know if you install the game does the game stay on the disc,i trade games and sell some on ebay
lmao retard
Do you just install it and take it out of the 360 and play the game from the hard drive or do you have to have the disk in the 360.
u have to have the disk in the console for it to run, u install the game into the 360 so it can run smoother and quieter
I recommend doing this to all RPG games such as Mass Effect, Fallout 3, Oblivion because now Mass Effect is Fast Effect haha wow im corny haha..
what a rip off there doing nothing but marketing skeems they even say it only helps on some games!
this is the worst feature i've ever seen on xbox360 and a total waste of hardrive space.
You still need the bloody disc in the machine
Its actually a a great feature, you see the DVD drive makes a LOT of heat, and heat as you well know can make the GPU detach from the motherboard causing the RROD. Buy a bigger HD if you need and with the new 250GB one you shouldn't have a problem. either way, I would sacrifice 6GB of space any day to prevent RROD
Fools, three reasons it works:
1. It doesn't read the disc, so if you can install it, it can get scratched as hell and still work. Disc is for security reasons.
2. You hear that? That's the disc drive not making a noise.
3. Quicker loading on most games (not Halo3, that is longer for strange reaons)
it's nice to know that people complain about still needing the disk, and don't get that you still need it to STOP PIRACY. DURRRRRRRRR. morons.
I was hoping that it wouldn't require the disc then microsoft would have made £80.
i thought u can install the game to the hard drive and play it without the disc :(
My questions is, after installing game to the 360 will it automatically play from from HD now on or do I have to go back to the play from hard disk menu? That'd be great if all you needed was a dvd that would load everygame that was installed to the HD.
You guys are missing the point...the idea is to improve load time performance. Not to give children a way to pirate rental games.
i heard that if you have your game installed, scratches wont make a difference on how the game plays.
well my xbox freezes when i try to play certain games. so i installed one of the games on my hard drive. i then chose to play it from the hard drive and it still froze in the same place. well not froze, it said the disk was unreadable like it usually does.
xbox problem?
If you copy a defective disk, you copy the defect. It's a user problem because,
A tool is only as smart as the user.
I also have no idea what the spam filter is about I assume its because I tried to stay anonymous but meh.
the only reason the people at microsoft would not let you play without the disc is because they people will take major advantage of it and spend less money on games they could jut borrow and download. but i suppose it would make sense in this money driven economy of the world.
i am from japan and i know thats not a good idea
hey guys, just to clear up some confusion, if it hasnt already, people will not be able to pirate games because while the game isnt ran from the disk, it still needs the disk to validate that you own a copy. however the update is still helpfull because it reduces loading times greatly, the disk drive doesnt have to spin anymore, reducing noise, and the xbox will be cooler, meaning less chance for red ring of death, because the laser, disk spinner, graphics and sound cards, etc will not have to work as hard, because everyhting is in memory
Actually if you rented a copy of assassins creed and u had ur own copy u could just switch the disc and install the working version and bring the broken version to blockbuster put in the drop box and walk and they probraly wouldn't notice tip later that nite
dont forget to swap the sticker off the rented game...then they'll just think the disk got messed up or was messed up before
hi, im rowgent...
i just bought a new xbox 360 pro with HDD 20GB
and i heard of we can store xbox 360 dvd games to the HDD...
is it possible?
i look for your steps upward..but i cant find the "Install to Hard Drive" part...
please help...thanks
im having the pre-NXE programs...can i upgrade to NXE one?
damn i thought that i could pirate easy like that
This is really gay i dont pirate but i downloaded my games on my 360 BECAUSE my xbox 360 needs to be repaired it does read the games all the time it just says open tray and reading then back to open tray so 1 of the 20+ tries i downloaded a game hoping i can play that way since my xbox is being a anti sematic cock sucker and guess what...i still need top open the tray/close the try 20+ times to play it
Gay is a bad word
Look I believe the main advantage lies in LAN game setups... Just say u have a bunch of mates over, hook up a couple of 360's but only one person owns the game... That's where each person can install onto their xbox (for the sake of the LAN party) and pass it onto the next person... This way games that are hard to find cheap (like unreal tornament 3) can be enjoyed to it's fullest extent minus the downside of everyone being broke:)
YES you need the original game in the drive!!! It is not meant to pirate games!! The TS made that very clear.
What it does do is improve load times as well as save wear and tear on your drives laser. I advise also getting a HD-DVD add on for movie viewing as well to extend your consoles life.
If you want to complain about the measly 6.32 GB a game takes up on your HDD then just do the drive swap with a WD Scorpio BEVS-LAT 120GB drive for 45 bucks. Oh, and mass effect= fast effect :))
thats PHATT i just got some free games
So, I want to install left 4 dead on my x-box. What I am going to do ,since my game is broken, is borrow/rent the game and install it. Now when I return it and put my game in the dick tray it only gets to the menu of the game. Since it only gets that far will it(the game on the hard drive)Still allow me to play the full game?
Sorry about "dick" it was meant to be disk...
thanks, this helped a bunch.
hi im tryin to install oblivion onto my xbox and cant find the "install to hard drive" message.. getting kinda stuck lol ive followed your advice on screen but still cant find it..
ITs GoT tO bE in RecEnt games THen KCileka ons It And tthen itl show ya tha option!
if ur xbox freezes its not the game...the xbox is about to grenade or is too hot
This idea is fantastic and Im so please I can now do this! Ive got my copy of GTA IV in the post and when this arrivess i'll install it. I then dont have to worry about playing for extended periods of time and what its doing to my processor unit and disc drive. I want to avoid any overheating problems and ive heard GTA can be majorly noisy so hey thanks Daniel for letting us know how to do this..
Oh and for the record, i hate piracy. :-(
hi daniel, well i have a 360 elite, and i tried to install it to the hard drive, but i cant, i cant get where to install the game, i follow all the steps from both explanations but i simply just cant! it only says i can copy move or delete a saved game. i looked on achievments, games library, everywhere! but i cant =/ you know why i cant or who i can do it? cause one thing that i was thinkin that, my cousin has the xbox 360 white, old with only 90mb of memory, and the one i have is a brand new elite, and when i star it the menu is very different from my cousins. so i think that it could be a different way to install the games in the elite. do you know anithing abaout that? if you know how please send me it to my email wich it is: santi-eg@hotmail.com
thanks
San, it sounds like you don't have the Xbox Live New Experience installed onto your Xbox 360. You need to have an Internet connection hooked up to it so it will download and install the New Experience before you will be able to install games to your hard drive.
oooooooooo youre right, in this days im reciving a modem so i can connect my xbox. thanks!
can i able to play game in hard drive without the disc on my 360.
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