XSAT Datel Xbox 360 connects easily to your PC with a USB 2.0 connection. Internet Game Store valuable information on PC hard disk. Save the information in your game without worrying about running out of space and back. The XSAT is conveniently compatible with Xbox 360 software file management such as Xplorer 360. There is also a blue laser to provide a new and daring.
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Works well, but has a certain learning curve to it.
The XSATA is an interesting product. To sum it up, it acts as a bridge between an Xbox 360 and its hard drive, with the ability to convert the SATA connection and convert it out to a USB port. This allows you to directly access the file system on the Xbox HDD, allowing for a "normal" viewing of the folder hierarchy. This means that data, including save games, movies, and really anything can be backed up to your computer's hard drive. The main use is to have a copy of your saved games in case a file gets corrupt or your HDD dies, although there are other uses, as I'll explain later.
The first impressions of the device are not very good. Physically, it is light, and rather simple looking, and getting it onto the Xbox is a hassle. It uses a few plastic tabs that connect where the HDD normally would go, and getting it on properly can take several minutes the first time you try it. Once it is on, you'll find that it adds about 1/3" to the width (or height) of your Xbox, and fitting right between the console and the HDD. If you use your Xbox horizontally, like I do, you'll find that the XSATA also protrudes about 1/16" on the top and bottom, and when laying flat on the table, your Xbox will actually rest on the device itself instead of on its rubberized feet. I've used the XSATA for almost a year now with no side effects, but it's still an uncomfortable observation. Note that because the XSATA is a physical device that connects to your 360, you must have your Xbox turned on and in close proximity to your PC to use it.
But once you get past the initial reactions, it gets better. Fuctionally, this device is flawless. The XSATA has a standard mini-USB port on the back, and comes with a 4 foot cable for connecting to your computer (could be longer, but...). The Xplorer 360 software that is included has worked fine for me, but I highly suggest doing a Google search for the latest version, which fixes some bugs and adds support for the 512MB memory card and the 120GB HDD. (The software works on Vista, too.)
Due to the limitations of the Xbox HDD, you can't access it with the Xbox and your PC at the same time, but that's not a major issue. The Xplorer 360 software is simplistic but functional. It only takes a few clicks to access a connected 360 HDD. It only takes a few more clicks to start the backup process, which creates a 20 GB (or 120 if you have the bigger HDD) image file which you can save anywhere you want. The backup process takes about 45 minutes on a USB 2.0 connection, and virtually ensures that your files up to that point are safe. I've never had to actually use an entire image restore before, but the process is painless to perform once about every month or so.
Those that have done any amount of hacking or soft/hard modding of the original Xbox will find themselves right at home viewing the file hierarchy of the 360. For others, though, there is a good sized learning curve. Microsoft makes use of unique hexadecimal strings for each game, and until you learn them or look them up, the entire system will just seem to be random files and folders.
But once you get past that, the XSATA becomes more useful. It is possible to extract and backup individual game saves, which is a much faster and more convenient process than backing up the entire drive. Even better, if you have a way of extracting or downloading game saves from original Xbox games, those can be injected into the appropriate place on the 360 HDD and played as long as the title is BC. This can save literally hundreds of hours of playtime if you don't want to spend time getting back to where you were. This is probably the most useful function of the XSATA, as transferring original Xbox saves is virtually impossible otherwise.
Functionality aside, there is a final fringe benefit to owning the XSATA. It has blue LEDs on the sides, which means that you'll have a gentle blue light on the side of your 360. No point whatsoever, but it does get you compliments, hehe.
The XSATA isn't for everyone. While anyone can go in and backup their entire drive, it takes a slightly more advanced user to get the full use out of it. There are the abovementioned problems with installation, but once you get past those, the XSATA is a useful device that may be worth it for the ability to transfer old Xbox saves alone.
Not Very Good
If you compare the price of the XSATA to the price of additional (or larger when they are available) XBox 360 hard drives this seems like a great deal. That's what prompted me to buy one as the 20GB drive fills up with downloads really fast. I ordered one of these the first day it was available for order online at the end of May.
First let me describe the construction of the unit. It's hollow on the inside with two plastic half rings on either side of the unit. At each end there are a pair of LEDs, one touching the end of each half ring to create the blue glow. Because of this, the lighting is uneven, and really is only strongly blue in the front and the back, and it's a very light blue color. If you were so inclined, it would be very easy to swap LEDs (of any size) for the ones in the unit, if you don't like the color. Aside from this, there are two PCBs in the device: the one in the front has a pass through from the proprietary XBox 360 SATA interface with two short SATA cables and a power cable connecting it to the back PCB which has SATA to USB adaptor, and also provides power via another short cable to the back LEDs. The back PCB outputs to a custom mini USB 2.0 port (they include a mini USB to USB cable in the box). The front PCB is loose, connected only to the cables but not to the unit, so that it may be adjusted to fit the port well.
The XSATA doesn't use the same type of locking mechanism that the 360 drive uses to snap on to the 360. It has these plastic nubs that snap under the top plate that were extremely hard to get in, and it also makes the unit almost impossible to remove once it's on the 360. The drive does not snap on easily and it does not rest flush with the top of the unit.
The custom mini USB to USB cable they provide is very short, it's probably somewhere around 4-6 feet which I guess is fine for some setups but I have to have it go out the back of my entertainment center, around the side, and out to the couch, which clearly requires a longer cable than this. I had to use a USB extension cable to make use of it, but as they don't have a standard USB port in the back, you can't use your own USB cable.
I don't have my 360 in the same room as my PC, so I had to connect this to my laptop, and I set up a share on my network to use for the 360 backups and whatnot. It's a shame there's no ethernet output, as then you could just access the 360 as a wired/wireless (with an adaptor) network storage device. As it is, you're tethered to the 360 with a USB cable.
It doesn't mention this on the box but you cannot access the 360 hard drive with your PC and your 360 simultaneously. The XSATA doesn't share the drive between the PC and 360, it switches dedicated control between the 360 and the PC. You have to boot the 360 with the USB cable attached to the PC and it will have the 360 power on to power the drive (but not boot the console). Then you can access the files with your PC. When done, you reboot the console without the USB cable attached and it boots to the 360 with drive control. This is just in theory as I couldn't get it to work.
My first attempt at connecting the unit had it working backwards. Without the USB cable, the 360 didn't boot, with the USB cable connected to the PC, the 360 booted, but didn't have access to the drive (and neither did my PC). This was clearly no good. I removed the unit with great fear of damaging the console housing as it was nearly impossible to do and put it back on and re-seated everything. This time the 360 booted no matter what, but with the USB cable attached it didn't have drive control. This is at least closer to how it was supposed to function, but I couldn't access the files (and yes I'm using the software they supplied on the mini CD).
I figured I'd try to get it to work later and unplugged the USB cable and rebooted the 360. Everything seemed ok but I noticed some serious slowdown on the dash and then the console froze. I rebooted and it seemed fine but then I tried to get some downloads on marketplace and it froze again. I rebooted yet again everything seemed fine but my gamertag loaded with 0 reputation and 0 gamer points. At this point I had had enough. I shut it down and again struggled to remove the unit. Thankfully my rep and points were intact when I booted up, but I think it's safe to say I won't be using the XSATA again (did I ever really get to use it?)
Datel's customer support is nonexistent. After a maze of menus, you are told you will speak to a live representative, but then it goes to a machine that says they are busy and it hangs up on you; there's no queue to wait in. If you press 0 to speak with an operator, there's no operator, just a machine asking you to leave a message. I tried many times over a period of about 2 hours during normal business hours and got the same results.
I will definitely be returning this item. All in all, this was a device that could have been really cool and should have been way better than it was, even if it did work as advertised (which it didn't). A total disappointment. Stay away from this and hopefully someone else will release one that actually works well.
Datel Xsata does what it says it will.
Easy to install (I have installed many computer hard drives). It took about 6 hours to back up my 20 MB Xbox 360 hard drive. Unfortunately, I can't restore individual files, just the entire partitian (as far as I know).
I disliked the 4 foot USB cord (It uses its own type of USB plug), meaning I had to move the Xbox 360 to the computer -- A real pain. It would have been nice if they had either included a 6 or 10 foot cable; or used a standard USB cable.
I cannot figure out how to move individual files (Mostly you can just back up your hard drive onto your computer for safe keeping). It is nearly impossible to see what you are looking at since Microsoft uses hexadecimal filenames for everything.
I wanted to move my Xbox game saves to the Xbox 360 but it turns out I need to go buy an Action Replay unit to use that feature (transfer them to the computer and then move them to the Xbox 360 hard drive in a super complicated process). Fortunately, you can get the AR devices on Amazon.com.
I would recommend getting this to back up your Xbox 360 hard drive for safe keeping &/or moving to another Xbox 360 hard drive. Worth the [...] to me for that but I need to learn more to do much else with it.
Price: $51.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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