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8GB vs. 10GB Hard Disks: How can you tell? (1 Viewer)

Shawn_T

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Sep 3, 2001
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27
How can you tell if you have a 10GB Seagate or an 8GB Western Digital Hard Disk in your Xbox unit? (without opening the unit and voiding your warranty that is)

Is there going to be a drive utility that recognizes the model and size of the HDDs written in near future?

Since the Seagate Hard Disk is slightly faster, that would be interesting to see what are the differences are between the load times compared to a Western Digital in games such as Project Gotham Racing or DOA3 character selection screen (where is a slight pause for each car model or game character to appear on screen)

Honestly I feel cheated if I have gotten an 8GB drive, even if the ‘extra’ 2GB on a 10GB Seagate version is not being utilized. It is as simple as that: Fair Game, I paid $300 and you paid $300, why should I get an 8GB?
 

AndyVX

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
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804
Honestly, it doesn't matter. They are both 5400rpm drives, and they are both slow. I think you'd be hard pressed to notice an actual speed difference in loading times because the difference would only be in 10ths of a nanosecond.
 

Camp

Senior HTF Member
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Dec 3, 1999
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2,301
Sometimes we worry a bit too much about the hardware.

Just play the games.
 

Scott L

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Valid points guys, but if you saw 2 Xboxes on the shelve, and you could tell the HD was either 10gb or 8gb, which would you get? Not really a tough decision; that's an extra 2 gigs for ripping music and saving savepoints/replays in games.

From what I hear on IRC, if yours was made in Mexico, it's 10gb. If it was made in Hungary it's 8gb. Mine was made in from somewhere else in Europe (forget the place right now) so I have no clue.
 

Scott L

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Oh, I wasn't implying that Mex was in Europe. Meant my Xbox compared to the Hungary ones, so it might just be 8gb (since they're both from Europe). Just bad wording I guess. Sorry.
 

Gary King

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 13, 1999
Messages
479
Console makers change parts all the time (hell, Sony removed the built-in A/V ports from the 100x Playstation, leaving only the multi-out in later revisions, and current Playstations don't have the parallel or serial ports, either).
 

Camp

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It's my understanding Xboxes are only being produced in Hungary and Mexico. Their is no other European production facility.

Look on the bottom of your Xbox.
 

AndyVX

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 2, 2000
Messages
804
Scott L,

That extra 2 gigs is not useable though. All the drives are partitioned to use a max of 8GB. The 10GB drives were ordered first by Microsoft, then they decided to lower the disc space to 8GB and at the same time change manufacturers. Since they had already ordered and payed for the 10GB drives they just kept them, stuck them in the Xboxen, and partitioned them to 8GB.
 

Scott L

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Feb 29, 2000
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Andy- ahhh thanks for the info. That does make sense for Microsoft to do that so no one would feel they were getting screwed.
Camp- I dbl checked it and it was indeed made in Hungary. What was I thinkin??? :) thx
 

John Kilroy

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
200
Just for the record, the "10 gig" drive is actually a single platter 20 gig drive, but only one side is formatted.

I don't know if that makes you feel better or worse.

Just FYI.

John Kilroy
 

Camp

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Dec 3, 1999
Messages
2,301
I'm sure it's only a matter of time until someone swaps the included drive with another. If you can "upgrade" your Tivo I see no reason why swapping the Xbox drive would be difficult.
 

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