360 hard drive had it?

Aspect · 25 Oct 2011 at 16:15

I've had this problem ages, but just left it and used my ps3 instead.

Im getting Disc Unreadable messages after 5 - 10 mins of playing any demo. I was previously getting it during playing full games, but i've traded them all in since then.

I reformatted the drive and recovered my tag, but im still getting the same thing.

Should i take it as my hard drive is on the way out and replace it, or could it be anything else?

Aspect · 26 Oct 2011 at 17:02

Anyone?

gothic_hobbit · 26 Oct 2011 at 17:59

Is the drive making any audible noises like clicking ?

Aspect · 26 Oct 2011 at 18:07

gothic_hobbit said:
Is the drive making any audible noises like clicking ?

Not it sounds fine. Strangely enough im now playing a different demo, and i've not had an error after about 10-15 mins.

Could it be a bad sector on the drive, as now i have 3-4 demos on there so its more full up.

I should mention its one of the original 20 gig drives.

Disaster · 26 Oct 2011 at 18:08

Disk Unreadable is nothing to do with the hard drive, it's the optical drive.

Have you tried playing a demo without a disk in the drive?

Aspect · 26 Oct 2011 at 18:15

Disaster said:
Disk Unreadable is nothing to do with the hard drive, it's the optical drive.

Have you tried playing a demo without a disk in the drive?

These are downloaded demos running off the hard drive.

Disaster · 26 Oct 2011 at 18:19

I understand, but is there a disk in the drive when you are playing it?

Aspect · 26 Oct 2011 at 18:20

Disaster said:
I understand, but is there a disk in the drive when you are playing it?

No mate.

Disaster · 26 Oct 2011 at 18:23

Whoa dude, that's very strange. Haven't heard of that happening before

Aspect · 26 Oct 2011 at 18:30

Disaster said:
Whoa dude, that's very strange. Haven't heard of that happening before

Tell me about it. I tried both clearing the cache and reformatting, but it still kicked up the same error.

As i say though, im playing through a demo now which is playing absolutely fine. So maybe its just a certain sector of the drive?

finite · 26 Oct 2011 at 18:36

If you have a large enough USB drive try that with the hard drive removed.

Aspect · 26 Oct 2011 at 18:52

finite said:
If you have a large enough USB drive try that with the hard drive removed.

I dont think i have unfortunately

BuZ · 27 Oct 2011 at 00:06

Have you tried looking around XBOX's forums seeing if you can find out any possible info. I am sure people had issues at the start of the year with a dashboard update. It caused the disk drive inside the 360 to become bricked. Have you installed the game to the HDD?

Aspect · 27 Oct 2011 at 00:10

BuZ said:
Have you tried looking around XBOX's forums seeing if you can find out any possible info. I am sure people had issues at the start of the year with a dashboard update. It caused the disk drive inside the 360 to become bricked. Have you installed the game to the HDD?

Well i dont actually have any games to install now. I've got a ps3 too, so a while back i got fed up and traded all my games in, and have just been using the ps3 since.

But as i say, im getting these error message from just playing demos from the hard drive. I have a feeling that replacing the hard drive would solve it, but i was interested if anyone has had/seen this before.

AWPC · 27 Oct 2011 at 00:46

It sounds like the hard drive they are not very reliable neither is the software MS provide (probably outsourced to some 3rd world country!!!) to manage it as I have had to reformat a brand new 250GS HD at least 4 times this year now due to similar errors. I spoke to someone @ Xbox support based in Ireland & he said its quite a common error the way to test your Xbox is ok is to buy an 8GB Flashdrive use that for NXE & games storage then try the HD again if it gives the error on the HD you know its the faulty or damaged sector.

Usually its bad sectors on the HD so reformating from the dashboard could fix it otherwise you need to buy a replacement but like I said even brand new after a lot of use you may have to reformat again & again & again.... as Xbox360 obviously does not have decent software to handle damaged sectors & mark them as unuseable.

Aspect · 29 Oct 2011 at 19:39

AWPC said:
It sounds like the hard drive they are not very reliable neither is the software MS provide (probably outsourced to some 3rd world country!!!) to manage it as I have had to reformat a brand new 250GS HD at least 4 times this year now due to similar errors. I spoke to someone @ Xbox support based in Ireland & he said its quite a common error the way to test your Xbox is ok is to buy an 8GB Flashdrive use that for NXE & games storage then try the HD again if it gives the error on the HD you know its the faulty or damaged sector.

Usually its bad sectors on the HD so reformating from the dashboard could fix it otherwise you need to buy a replacement but like I said even brand new after a lot of use you may have to reformat again & again & again.... as Xbox360 obviously does not have decent software to handle damaged sectors & mark them as unuseable.

Thanks for the reply, you've just backed up what i think it is. Where's the best place to get a new hard drive?

AWPC · 30 Oct 2011 at 00:59

Aspect said:
Thanks for the reply, you've just backed up what i think it is. Where's the best place to get a new hard drive?

For the price of them sell your existing 360 & buy a Slim 360 with 250Gb HD (will be almost silent as well no mroe fan noise) otherwise standalone the HD's are around £75-80. Avoid buying a drive someone has modded its asking to get your console perma IP banned!!!

Aspect · 30 Oct 2011 at 01:27

AWPC said:
For the price of them sell your existing 360 & buy a Slim 360 with 250Gb HD (will be almost silent as well no mroe fan noise) otherwise standalone the HD's are around £75-80. Avoid buying a drive someone has modded its asking to get your console perma IP banned!!!

I may do that. Might sell the ps3 too. Not sure how much id get for them, but i'll definitely look into it.

Aspect · 2 Nov 2011 at 12:42

Anybody bought a hard drive off ebay? I've found a seller, thats got 120gb's for £20. Claims there genuine and has sold 47. Worth a try?

monkeyspank · 2 Nov 2011 at 12:56

Aspect said:
Anybody bought a hard drive off ebay? I've found a seller, thats got 120gb's for £20. Claims there genuine and has sold 47. Worth a try?

It should work fine even if it isn't genuine. In my experience, anyway