**NOTICE: This feature is unreleased and is NOT a part of the current 2.0.x version. It will be a FATXplorer v2.5 feature.***

Now here is something to really look forward to in FATXplorer v2.5: a USB formatter!

Working with Xbox 360 USB devices is much harder than working with HDDs and MUs. There is a lot more involved and it gets really, really complicated. Fortunately, as of Jan 16, I have finally cracked the format completely with almost a year’s worth of research.

This was no easy feat, but I believed that FATXplorer would not be complete without full USB support. After so many hours of late night testing on my console, I am ready to reveal something that will provide the Xbox 360 community with a much easier way of managing content storage.

The Formatter

The USB formatter will be included in FATXplorer v2.5. The bare-bones of it are completed and functional, but a user-interface will soon be completed to allow testers to use this feature.

I have not yet decided if this will be USB “adjuster” or “formatter”. An adjuster would simply change the size of an existing USB and keep all the existing content, while adding more space. A formatter would simply create a clean USB.

More info on what I decided will come in the near future.

What can be done on…

Retail Consoles

Retail consoles will be able to format USB devices anywhere from 16 KB to 16 GB in size. That’s right.. 16 KB! You can now get around the 1 GB minimum limitation!

The new smallest USB size is now: 536,899,584 (about 512 MB).

So if you have a 512 MB USB around, you will be able to use about 16 KB of that on your console. (:

Here are some pictures of the smallest size in use:

JTAG, RGH, and Development Consoles

These consoles will be able to support everything a retail console does, but with an added bonus. Possibly the sweetest bonus of all and the feature I am the most excited to announce…

16.1 GB – 2 TB!!!!!!!!!

That’s right! As stated earlier, this limitation is hardcoded into the system pretty well, but it is now possible to bypass that limitation and use any large USB!!!

FATXplorer v2.5’s USB formatting tool will be able to format USBs from 16.1 GB to 2 TB in size.

You will be able to use any external USB HDD for Xbox 360 content storage. You have an external USB HDD that is bigger than 16 GB? Well, now you can use ALL of the space for your profiles, game saves, and DLC!

*This feature requires several patches to the Xbox 360 kernel and xam.xex. Patches, along with detailed installation instructions, will be included in the v2.5 release. This is why retail consoles cannot support these sizes.

Here is a picture of my external USB HDD, with all of its storage space being used:

Credits

These guys helped me out when I was stuck. This project would have taken a lot longer to complete without their guidance in select parts.

Anthony: Helped me find the last crashing bug.

Unknown v2: Helping me with some PPC every now and then.

 

*Dashboard 14699 is the version used/patched in the demonstration pictures. Patches for other versions will be available upon release.