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[mod360s]

Hi All,

I thought i would share some information, as im always getting questions over and over about the major differences between XGD2 and XGD3 formats for the Xbox 360 Console....

Here's what i've found - please correct me if i'm wrong:

I will be discussing the term XGD2 and XGD3 for your information, what it means and why it is so important in the modding community right now!

Microsoft has released 3 known disk formats since the launch of their gaming console system:

XGD (XBOX GAME DISK) - For the Microsoft XBOX Console

XGD2 (XBOX GAME DISK 2) - For the Microsoft XBOX 360 Consoles - Standard format of game disk during the system launch

XGD3 (XBOX GAME DISK 3) - For the Microsoft XBOX 360 Consoles - Newly introduced game disk format with additional security and a higher file size on disk.

We will only be covering the XGD2/XGD3 formats, as they are the only ones we need to know about for the Xbox 360 Console.

XGD2

XGD2 was the original game disk format for the Xbox 360 Console during launch
XGD2 full one to one game backups are possible with any dual layer dvd writer
XGD3
Microsoft release a new game disk format (XGD3) to allow for more security to be added to game disks
You need a Liteon IHAS Burner with custom ixtreme burner max firmware to create XGD3 backups
Can store alot more data on disk than your average dual layer dvd can, writes to the very edge of the disk
XGD3 Backups require a DVD drive firmware with at least LT +2.0 loaded onto it
Is much more safe on Xbox Live than XGD2 Backups (requires LT +3.0 firmware to be the safest possible)

Basically, all new games released for the Xbox 360 Console will be at the very least XGD3, and your console will require at least LT+ firmware 2.0 or higher to run the backups on the console. You also need to know that to burn XGD3 backups you will need a LITE IHAS B-REVISION Burner with ixtreme firmware loaded onto it.

Here is a comparison of the two disks next to each other, notice how the XGD3 disk is written very near the edge of the disk (near the end of it's file size capacity)

More info can be found on my website: http://mod360s.com/xgd2xgd3.html

Anything wrong in what has been said here?

Thanks!