Xbox 360 Compatible USB Flash Drives

gaming, xbox comments edit

My Xbox 360 profile was on a 512MB memory unit and with the USB flash drive update to the system, I figured it was time to move on up.

Xbox 360 has some sort of “test” it runs USB drives through to determine if the drive “meets recommendations” or is “below recommended performance.” If it’s below the recommended performance, you’ll supposedly get degraded experiences in loading/saving games, reading your profile information from the drive, etc. Unfortunately, the Xbox 360 storage page really doesn’t tell you which drives work other than their Xbox 360 branded drives.

To that end, I tried a couple of drives and found one that worked (the Lexar JumpDrive Firefly) and one that didn’t (SanDisk Cruzer). I figure I’ll put that info here, and if there are people who have experiences they want to contribute, I’ll add it. Send me a link to the drive on Amazon or whatever and whether or not it “met the recommendations.”

Prices listed are current as of the day I added the drive to the list.

Meets Recommendations:

Size Drive Price Link Date Added
16GB SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16 GB USB Flash Drive SDCZ33-016G-B35 $12.19 Amazon 7/8/2013
16GB Lexar JumpDrive TwistTurn 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive LJDTT16GASBNA $12.98 Amazon 11/1/2012
16GB Corsair Flash Voyager 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive CMFUSB2.0-16GB $15.00 Amazon 5/10/2012
16GB PNY Mini Attaché 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive P-FD16G/MINI-EF $17.00 Amazon 2/21/2012
16GB Lexar JumpDrive TwistTurn 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive LJDTT16GASBNA $22.99 Amazon 8/8/2011
16GB Kingston DataTraveler C10 $30.99 Amazon / NewEgg 7/29/2010
16GB Lexar JumpDrive Firefly LJDFF16GASBNA $39.22 Amazon 7/29/2010
16GB Patriot Xporter XT Boost PEF16GUSB $42.99 Amazon / NewEgg 7/29/2010
16GB SanDisk Xbox 360 Drive $57.85 Amazon 7/29/2010
16GB Sony USM-16W/B 16GB MicroVault Compact Metal USB Flash Drive     8/18/2014
8GB SanDisk Xbox 360 Drive $31.45 Amazon 7/29/2010
8GB Kingston Digital DataTraveler 100 Generation2 DT100G2/8GBZ $7.99 Amazon 2/6/2012
4GB Kingston DataTraveler 101 DT101Y/4GB $9.99 Amazon / NewEgg 7/29/2010
2GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro SDCZ4-2048-A11 $25.00 Amazon 5/20/2011

Fails Recommendations:

Size Drive Price Link Date Added
16GB 7dayshop Memory - USB 2.0 Flash / Key Drive £12.99 7dayshop 5/20/2011
16GB SanDisk Cruzer SDCZ36-016G-A11 $37.99 Amazon 7/29/2010
8GB LaCie iamaKey 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive 130870 $26.99 Amazon 12/2/2011
8GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro SDCZ6-8192-A11 $9.99 Amazon 5/20/2011
8GB Dane-Elec zMate Pen USB Drive 8GB Ref DA-ZMP-8192T-R £16.98 Amazon 5/20/2011
4GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro SDCZ6-4096-A11 $6.99 Amazon 5/20/2011
4GB PNY Attache P-FD4GBATT03-EFM1 $7.99 Amazon 5/24/2011
4GB SanDisk Cruzer SDCZ36-004G-A11 $9.99 Amazon / NewEgg 7/29/2010
4GB Geek Squad GS-4GB10 $27.99 Best Buy 8/19/2010
4GB PNY P-FDU4GBSV-EF/GRY Micro Swivel 1 $31.20 Amazon 9/21/2011
? (not reported) Emtec S300 Thin Series $14.49 and up Amazon 1/19/2011

1 The drive failed the original configuration but on subsequent attempts succeeded.

Again, if you find one that works or one that doesn’t, or if you’re using one of the above and can confirm functionality, leave a comment or use the contact link on the site to send me a note and a link to the drive on Amazon or whatever. In the event where someone finds a drive that works and someone else finds that same drive doesn’t work, I’ll probably put it on the “fails” list. Better a drive that works for everyone than one that works for “some people.”

Note: Some folks have found that the first time you plug the drive in and test it, Xbox 360 says the drive passes, but on subsequent tests it fails. I’ll move those drives from the “pass” to “fail” tables as they’re discovered.

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