Xbox 360 with a hard drive and memory unit attached

[MJ]

When you plug a memory unit (MU) into the console and already have a hard drive (HDD) attached you're asked to select a save device for every game you play, why is this?

I took my Gold account on an MU to a friend's tonight and we ended up playing a multiplayer game so I signed in and for each player we had to choose a save device. If I chose the MU for my profile, what would it do and what does it save?

[sj33]

You can save onto either storage, but the save would still be tied to your account, so you'd still have to log in as yourself to load the save.

[MJ]

It saves things like progress and settings data then, so does that mean I could select the MU when I'm on another console and then move the game's saved data to my own HDD if I got the game or played it on my console?

[sj33]

As long as the save was saved on your account, and you load it on your account, you sure can. It's not tied to storage device as such, it's tied purely to your account. So (for example), you could save progress on a friends console and take it home to your console, but you could only use it if you were logged in on your account on your friends console. If the save was made in your friend's account, you'd have to log in on your friends account to load the save.

[Kubrick]

It saves things like progress and settings data then, so does that mean I could select the MU when I'm on another console and then move the game's saved data to my own HDD if I got the game or played it on my console?

For the vast majority of games yes, but a few don't allow the file to be moved or copied.

[Jei]

For the vast majority of games yes, but a few don't allow the file to be moved or copied.

Perfect Dark being one of them. There is a work around though where you just boot the game, then re-save on the Memory Card.

[EvilBoris]

Off the top of my head

PDZ, DOA4 ,Viva Pinata and Dead rising are the only ones I've come across that can't be moved/copied.

PDZ has an option to change storage device
Dead Rising you can just load up one save and save to the other device.

The others don't have any options to move you save.

[MJ]

If I'm playing on my friend's console with two other profiles and they select his HDD and I choose my MU for my profile, what is saved to my MU exactly?

[EvilBoris]

If you have loaded your gamercard from your memory card , it will give you the option for a storage device . so on His HDD you wil have some saves with your name on them.

Acheivements are all stored inside your gamercard though, regardless of what you choose.

[MJ]

Thanks. So it is as I thought.

It's annoying being prompted every time so I don't leave my MU in my console. It's also annoying that some games ask you to select a storage device when only one is connected and despite already choosing said single device the first time you played the game.

[EvilBoris]

That is an annoyance of mine also, why does it ask you when there is only 1 choice!
Some games are clever enough to know this.