Hardware I didn't know I had a fake hard drive...

[R2DJ]

Should I be concerned at all? I got this 250GB slim hard drive for my 4GB 360 slim since January and I've been using it ever since. I never knew that the hard drive's considered a fake if it came packaged in a cardboard box, which it did. I bought this hard drive from eBay for £40 so I thought I should get one since I'm running out of space. Considering that I just found out about this and these days, these things are being sold at around £40-£50, I kinda regret it now. The seller also had a 100% reputation and was a top-rated seller.

Should I stop using this hard drive and get a genuine one? It works fine though, but now I've heard that I might be risking a ban or suspension.

Here are some pictures of the alleged fake HDD:

Spoiler: Front shell. 360 logo is at the wrong side

Spoiler: The connector view. The 360 logo should be at the other end

Spoiler: Underside view. Top should have "XBOX 360 S HARD DRIVE"

And this is the actual packaging of the HDD. Notice that it's a cardboard box?

 

[Clarky]

seeing as ms are arseholes for banning you for stuff like this it maybe wise to replace it if you enjoy live

 

[purplesludge]

I've never heard of someone being banned for fake harddrives and a google search doesn't show anybody either. It's most likely fine I have one and I'm not worried.

 

[gokuguy]

The only thing that might be effected is the speed of your 360, on how fast it will load Gamertag info, save and load saves, etc. I got myself an offbrand phat 360 hdd, 120gb, and its pretty slow, but it isn't unbearable. Just a matter of getting what you payed for.

Also note though, that no where does it say "Microsoft", nor does it have their special holographic sticker they have on almost everything. Remember this for the future.

Furthermore, after looking at the link you gave, a comment was given in April below the customer reviews, that it was a third party HDD. Just remember to check everything out before clicking that "Confirm Purchase" button.

 

[Fudge]

I have a fake 120GB fat HDD and it works just fine. I haven't noticed any speed difference from the official ones.

 

[Joe88]

its fake
no legitmate 250GB hdd would sell for that much, not to mention the packaging

 

[misssmk]

@lilybush
It looks fake and ITA with the pp that it wouldn't be that cheap.

 

[Brian117]

You're still going to use it though, right? I have heard of such rumors of Microsoft banning you for having fake/3rd party HDD's but nobody has ever been yet. How would Microsoft even be able to detect if it's fake or not? As long as you have the whole 250GB storage space, and it works, just keep on using it.

 

[YayMii]

The worst that can happen is that your hard drive may stop working after an update, but that's unlikely.
Just in case you're freaking out about getting banned, open it up. If you find a Western Digital Scorpio hard drive inside, you should be safe (it'll be detected as an official hard drive).

 

[steve-p]

you got lucky.

the drives are the same as ms use, so no speed issues.
they cant be detected - so no bans.
but most important, western digital warranty there drives from the mfr date on the drive.
so you probably have 2 years warranty on that - maybe even 3.

you wont get that with an original!

 

[synce]

Why buy an MS branded HDD to begin with? You can get a bare 250GB WD drive much cheaper and then order a cheap Chinese caddy for it if you're so inclined. In fact that's probably the best thing for you to do, since WD is a good brand and there's no telling what MS uses

 

[LeHaM]

The only difference between a ms hdd and a normal sata drive is the firmware, all the FW does is tell the xbox that it is a xbox hdd and how big the partition should be. MS don't seem to care if you use 3rd party hdds. I have a fake 20GB 360 phat hdd the sticker on the bottom says 120gb with the 1 colored out lol. BTW it's an hatachi drive

 

[omgpwn666]

Wow dude, that sucks.. I guess the only downside would be the price you payed. But since you got it already I think you should continue to use it.

 

[Joe88]

The only difference between a ms hdd and a normal sata drive is the firmware, all the FW does is tell the xbox that it is a xbox hdd and how big the partition should be. MS don't seem to care if you use 3rd party hdds. I have a fake 20GB 360 phat hdd the sticker on the bottom says 120gb with the 1 colored out lol. BTW it's an hatachi drive

they do care but they cant detect a non official drive atm, but when they do you can bet they will disable all of them just like third part memory cards