wd1200bevs hdd or oem hdd?

[stuntpenguin007]

I need to upgrade my 360s hard drive and I was wondering if there were any downsides to putting a wd1200bevs hard drive in my 20gb hard drive shell. Slower loading times for games ripped on to the hdd?

Also I've heard about Microsoft possibly coming out with a 1TB hard drive. I doubt I'd ever need that much space, but does anyone know if that's legit?

part of the reason I need a bigger hard drive is because I want to rip my scratched up discs to the hdd but that doesn't seem to work. For instance, I cant start a new game in tony hawks project 8 or I get an error that the disc is dirty or damaged... but its not!!! no scratches. I even brought it in to get the scratches removed (although there were none) and it still didn't work.

Another time, I bought Midnight Club LA the day it came out and I popped it in my 360, and whenever I won a race, it would say your disc is dirty or damaged. I couldn't even rip it to the hard drive. So I brought it back to gamestop with no scratches on it and the people working there told me I probably scratched it and I couldn't return it. Having scratches removed didn't help in this case either.

I don't think its my laser going bad, I watch movies and play other games on it all the time with no problems.

Any suggestions?

[RDC]

The laser isn't a 100% working or 100% not working kind of part. A weak laser can be 95% or so and becomes that picky to where it will read some games just fine, and others not very well or at all.

You can try a POT Tweak on the laser, which is a 50/50 shot as it really depends on the shape it's in to begin with as to how well that works, or just replace the laser and ya should be good to go there, provided the discs are in good shape.

[stuntpenguin007]

yeah lasers look pretty cheap so I might get one. But I did rent Midnight Club LA later so I could rip it to my hard drive, and then just use my not so well working copy to authenticate that I have the game. If the drive could read blockbusters copy but not mine could it still be the laser?

[RDC]

It could be, or it could be you have a so-so press of the disc since that happens as well, but you'd have to try it out on a few other consoles to see if it were really the disc or not. A picky laser is just picky, it may read every disc ya have but one, every other pressing of the disc but yours or any other kind of just plain odd disc reading behavior.

[Zero_D]

I need to upgrade my 360s hard drive and I was wondering if there were any downsides to putting a wd1200bevs hard drive in my 20gb hard drive shell. Slower loading times for games ripped on to the hdd?

Loading times should be about the same, it all depends on the RPM of the drive you buy. However one possible downside is that if you use the 120gb key or whatever its called that has been going around online, in theory MS could ban you from live. However I doubt that because this hack has been around for a while and they have yet to ban anyone for it, but if you want to be safe, you can extract the key from another 120gb hard drive you own or your friend's and just make sure the 2 HDDs aren't on Live at the same time (again, I wouldn't worry about it though).

Also I've heard about Microsoft possibly coming out with a 1TB hard drive. I doubt I'd ever need that much space, but does anyone know if that's legit?

I've heard this rumor, but I'm very skeptical considering I don't even think they make 1tb laptop drives yet, and if they do release it, it would cost a fortune considering the price of their 120gb drive.

part of the reason I need a bigger hard drive is because I want to rip my scratched up discs to the hdd but that doesn't seem to work. For instance, I cant start a new game in tony hawks project 8 or I get an error that the disc is dirty or damaged... but its not!!! no scratches. I even brought it in to get the scratches removed (although there were none) and it still didn't work.

Another time, I bought Midnight Club LA the day it came out and I popped it in my 360, and whenever I won a race, it would say your disc is dirty or damaged. I couldn't even rip it to the hard drive. So I brought it back to gamestop with no scratches on it and the people working there told me I probably scratched it and I couldn't return it. Having scratches removed didn't help in this case either.

I don't think its my laser going bad, I watch movies and play other games on it all the time with no problems.

Any suggestions?

I'm gonna have to agree with RDC on this. Test your games on someone else's 360, and if they work fine then I would suggest getting your laser replaced so you don't have to worry about it anymore.

[Gooche]

I too would agree with RDC and Xero_D about the laser.

As far as the HDD you should just go OEM IMO, but a used one. You can get used 120's for about $60-70 and BEVS are about $45. The key like Zero_D said is something MS could look for and ban.

I have a BEVS and it isn't hard to do...when I did mine the price difference was A LOT larger that it really made sense. The piece of mind is worth the extra $20-30 bucks IMO.

I have heard about the TB as well. If they do come out with one its undoubtedly going to be really expensive. And there isn't even a guarentee that an aftermarket HDD would even be compatible.