Xbox 360 4GB + Hard drive question

[stuffedmonkey]

I may be getting a 4GB for cheap off of a friend who is getting it as part of that Microsoft laptop promotion. I wanted to know how the space works if you upgrade it with a hard drive in the future. Do you see both the 4GB flash and the hard drive, or does it sort of take over and you only see the HD? In theory, having the OS on flash sounds better to me, in terms of startup times and longevity.

I may be overthinking it, but I'm a hardware nerd so I thought I'd ask.

[heybtbm]

You will see both options whenever a game starts and asks you to pick the storage location. Actually, if you have XBL Gold it will also include a cloud save option, so you'll have three choices each time.

As far as the OS, this is independent of the HD or 4 GB flash. The "OS" doesn't reside on either.

[BlastProcessing402]

Well, the firmware (which is what many people mean when they talk about a console's "OS") always resides on flash, it's just a different portion of the flash than systems with onboard memory like the 4GB use for saving games/dlc/what have you.

[stuffedmonkey]

Good to know, so it's not like the PS3 in that if you pull the HD it won't boot at all. Thanks for the info

[xelement5x]

As a note, if you're inclined you can also just drop a compatible hard drive in there after some configuration without paying big money for the MS version. You can also buy a knock off enclosure and move the hard drive from an older Xbox 360 into their.