Install Games to the Xbox 360 Hard Drive

Quite recently, Microsoft issued a mandatory update for the Xbox 360 Dashboard via Xbox LIVE. This update is called the NXE or ‘New Xbox Experience’. There are lots of great features in this update, besides the new 3D interface.

One of my personal favorites is the ability to install your games to the Xbox 360’s Hard Drive. This is extremely useful for a few reasons, the first being that it will in most cases make load times faster. Very often it does nothing, and in the case of Halo 3, it increases the load time. The second, and probably more important reason is that it makes your Xbox 360 almost silent. This is because the DVD drive in the Xbox no longer needs to spin, the drive generates most of the noise that the Xbox is constantly put down for.

Installing the games is quite simple. All you need is your Xbox and the game you want to install.

Once you have the Disc in the tray and the Xbox is sitting on the Dashboard screen, scroll to ‘My Xbox’ and select the game you want to install. Do not press the ‘A’ Button. Instead press the ‘Y’ button. This will bring you to a game details screen, from which you can choose the ‘Install to hard drive’ option.

The process usually takes about 15-30 minutes depending on various factors. When this is finished, you’re free to play away!

I do have one problem with the technology though. When I first heard about it, I thought I could stop changing the Discs in my Xbox 360 and just press a button to switch games. Unfortunately, not so. You still need to have the game in the DVD drive for proof of ownership. (Please Microsoft, make this happen in the next Dashboard update)

Happy gaming!

-Zane