Buying a second XBOX 360 - Pitfalls?

[Ian(not Ian)]

What with NXE on the horizon offering HDD installs I'm hovering over buying a 2nd 360, the Elite with 120GB HDD. This feature will be a godsend with fable2 and Fallout3 I reckon.
I also see this option more 'affordable' than paying ?99.99 for a 120GB replacement drive for my current 360. Assuming I go that route, any tips on how I can....

a) Register the 360 as my 'main' machine and use my XBOX Live Gold account on that instead of my current one.

b) Move, if possible, Live Arcade games and saved game files etc to the new 360

c) Assuming the above can be done, blat the current 360 back as it was when 1st bought, de-register?

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

You know if you have a memory card you can just copy your profile onto that and use it on both machines?

Moving saves and free dlc is easy enough too, especially if you have a memory card. As for arcade games and pdlc, I have no idea as I've never moved them.

[egparadigm]

For moving DLC you need to move the licenses from your old box to your new one, otherwise they'll only work when connected to Live.

Here's how:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/licensemigration/faq.htm

[Ian(not Ian)]

You know if you have a memory card you can just copy your profile onto that and use it on both machines?

Moving saves and free dlc is easy enough too, especially if you have a memory card. As for arcade games and pdlc, I have no idea as I've never moved them.

Thanks for that.
Somehow I thought it would all be much more of a hassle factor. Elite here we come.

[Ian(not Ian)]

For moving DLC you need to move the licenses from your old box to your new one, otherwise they'll only work when connected to Live.

Here's how:
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/sy...ration/faq.htm

Now I have a shiny new Elite ready to rock 'n' roll for NXE I was looking to move files to a portable HDD last night, but neither of my portable HDDs, whether NTFS or FAT32 is recognised as a target for copying files such as themes, saves etc. What's that all about?
Any ideas?

[tom-nook]

You can't copy saves / dlc etc. to usb sticks or portable hdd's unfortunately.

Your best bet would be to copy them from your old hdd to a 360 memory card and then from there to your new hdd. The capacity is limited so copying demos is a no-no.

The alternative is to use an Elite transfer cable. This lets you directly copy all the content from your old hdd to your new hdd (only works if you are copying from a 20gb hdd). If you stick a wanted ad I'm sure another member would be willing to lend you one.

[Ian(not Ian)]

TY Nook
[rant]Bliddy Microsoft. Compare this draconian approach to Sony's. I have replaced my PS3's 60GB HDD with a 300GB job, no fuss, used a USB HDD to transfer everything from the old HDD to the new using Sony's backitalluputility. No fuss.[/rant]

[MetalJoe]

MS are useless when it comes to stuff like that. I had to format by protable drive in the Apple Mac format for my Microsoft Xbox to recognise it. Mental!