How to Backup Xbox 360 Games like the Real Thing

For anyone who’s ever made a backup of a game on another console before, the routine should be fairly familiar to you. The Xbox 360 contains only one real quirk that separates it from backing up games for other systems, though that quirk is an important consideration. So whether you’re new to backing up games, or are an experienced veteran, read on to familiarize yourself with the best way to backup Xbox 360 games.

Lets first look at the tools you’ll need for making Xbox 360 game backups. They’re all standard game backup tools, beginning with a DVD-R drive, blank DVD-R discs, game copying software, and of course the game or image file you wish to make a backup of. I say image file, because should your disc already be damaged, you wont want to make a copy directly from that disc. You’ll instead want to download a perfect copy of the image file to that game online.

While you should be able to make functioning backup Xbox 360 games with just about any image copying software, you’ll need game copy specific software to allow play on Xbox Live. When logging into Xbox Live on a backup Xbox 360 game, if the backup does not contain the proper authorization codes embedded into the game file, Xbox Live will refuse the game and not allow play of it, regardless of whether or not the user has an Xbox Live account. For gamers who love online play, as many Xbox gamers do, this is a key issue, and one which all but demands they purchase the more highly developed game backup software programs out there, such as game copy pro, game copy wizard, and copy that game.

Another great site for Xbox 360 resources, which includes their own programs for backing up 360 games is everything4360.com. As mentioned above, you wont want to use already damaged game discs to make backup Xbox 360 games from, but rather you’ll want to download perfect image files online. This is another area where this site shines, as they have a large database of Xbox 360 games for download. Its the ultimate resource for Xbox 360 fans, whether they’re new owners, or devout fanboys.

With all the tools in place, toss your game disc into your DVD drive, open up your game copying software, and choose to write an image file from the disc. The software and drive will then scan the DVD and begin making a perfect copy of the data on it. If you’re using an image file downloaded online instead of your own game copy, you naturally get to skip this step.

With your image file now ready for use, insert a good quality blank DVD-R into your drive and select to write image file to disc. We suggest using all of the best option to ensure a good burn, which includes slow read and write speeds, and the verify option checked so that the software will go back and check out its work after.

And that’s really all there is to it. You can easily dump an image file and rewrite it to a blank DVD in the span of a few hours. Its a small time and cost investment for the joy and peace of mind that comes from knowing all of your games are safely backed up, and you wont miss a minute of the action on Live.