Microsoft has managed to add USB storage support to the Xbox 360 which will go live soon. The user can log into Xbox LIVE, pull down the latest update and can dump data from 360 to any external drive or memory key.

The storage device of the user must exceed 1GB to be recognized, for beginners. The reason to pair an external storage device with the 360 is to manage game saves as well as miscellaneous dashboard bling, which is aggregated under 1GB. Those antiquated 64, 128, 256, and 512MB memory keys are dead to the Xbox 360.

Microsoft, in partnership with SanDisk, will sell official 8GB and 16GB USB sticks, priced at $40 and $70 respectively, which is very expensive if compared with the price for analogous parts.

Microsoft asks in its USB storage FAQ, "Why does Xbox 360 only support 16GB of storage, even though I have a much larger device? ". The answer goes like this, "Because supporting USB storage devices up to
16GB in size is a huge increase in storage over any solid state memory storage solutions currently available for Xbox 360".