Moving Your Hard Drive and DLC to Another 360 Console

I've seen this question a lot, and actually got one from a reader today in email.

360 Maniac reader Patrick writes:
"can I unplug the 120GB HD and buy another elite, and us my old 120GB HD on he new 360 elite and still have access to all my downloaded material (RB songs, etc...)"

The answer is yes, if you stay logged in to Xbox Live under the gamertag with which you purchased it.

What happens when you buy any game or dlc or any content that you use on your 360, either from the Dashboard or Xbox.com, that content gets attached to you in two ways:

1) Your specific console
2) Your gamertag which purchased it

So whoever is logged in on that console can play or use the content. Or, you can log in with your gamertag on any 360 in the world, and you have rights to the content. (It may have to be downloaded first, from your history in the dash.)

So, what happens if your 360 dies, burns in a fire, gets stolen, hit by a bus or you just happen to mistakenly throw it out a 2nd floor window? Of course you get another 360, but then what about your DLC?

Well, it used to be a problem because we were basically left out in the cold, until Microsoft created the License Transfer Tool. What this tool does is transfer all of your purchased content to a new console, and removes the license/rights from the old console. This permits you to use all your content on a replacement or otherwise different box. Of course, you can't use the content on the original box any longer, unless you're logged in with your purchasing gamertag.

The only restriction is that you can only run this tool once every 12 months. This keeps you from switching licenses around unnecessarily.

So, moving your content is no problem, provided you still own the purchasing gamertag. Just use the License Migration Tool and you're good to go.