You are legally entitled to back up Xbox 360 games for your personal use, but are not legally allowed to copy them for any other purpose such as trading or resale. You can be arrested and prosecuted for counterfeiting video games. The games are costly, but not expensive enough to spend time in jail to save a few bucks.

One of the first hurdles you will have to face is modifying your Xbox 360 console to enable it to play your backed up games. There are some modification schemes which involve using software applications to change the Xbox’s operating system. The other scheme is to physically modify your Xbox console motherboard by soldering in a special computer chip. The software modification is less risky than messing with the Xbox hardware, but understand that either scheme will void your Xbox warranty. This puts you between a rock and a hard place. Make mods, and you can backup Xbox games. Make no mods, and you cannot. It’s a dilemma, but it’s your decision.

If you’ve decided not to modify your Xbox in any way, you can stop reading and go play one of your games. If, however, you decided to make the modifications, read on about the software you will need to create those backups.

The DVD copying software that you have traditionally used to copy music and videos cannot be used to backup Xbox 360 games because of the manufacturer’s copy protection scheme that is integrated into the game’s files. You’ll need to acquire a copy of the newer software applications that were designed specifically to bypass these copy protection schemes, enabling gamers to make Xbox 360 game backups.

There are many companies that produce this new copying software. Do your research online. Ask your gamer friends what they would recommend. Make sure you get software from a legitimate source. Downloading software from an unknown site, simply because it’s free, can cause you a lot of grief if it is accompanied by destructive viruses or malware. If at all possible, get a demo version and try it out before you buy.

Once you’ve decided upon a good software copying application, you’re ready to begin making backups. All you’ll need is your computer, an original Xbox game to copy, a high quality blank DVD disk, and a set of procedures telling you how to backup Xbox 360 games using the new software. The process is similar for all the types of software available, and is similar to the following.

1. Install the copying software, and click the new desktop icon to open the application.2. Insert your original game disk into the computer.3. Follow the onscreen instructions to copy the game to the hard drive4. Remove the original disk from the drive and replace it with a blank one.5. Follow the onscreen instructions to copy the game from the hard drive to the blank disk.

Once your created the backup disk, it’s a good idea to test it. Place it into your Xbox 360 and ensure that it runs properly. If it doesn’t run properly, and this is the first time you’ve tried a backup on the Xbox console, it could be that your Xbox modifications are not properly done. Try making another back up and test it as well. If it works, your modifications are correct. If it still doesn’t work, try your backups on a friend’s Xbox that has been successfully modified. If it works on his machine, yours is not properly modified. If it doesn’t work on his machine, then your backup procedures are the problem.