Can you copy save files from a flash drive to computer?

[Seasick Pirate]

I'm wondering if it's possible to take some game save files off of a flash drive and copy them on a computer for safe keeping? I would then want the ability to put those save files back on the flash drive and use them on my 360 again.

I don't have a thumb stick formatted to try this out myself. But I've done it in the past and noticed when you format a flash drive it puts a file on there called Xbox 360 or something similar. Can I simply copy the files out of that folder and save them to my laptop to reuse later?

Here's what I'm trying to do:
Halo Reach does not allow for multiple save files for their campaign. So I keep a memory card with a save file of the last checkpoint of a level on the hardest difficulty that I can put in and use for daily challenges within the game.

I'm wondering if I can do this with each level, each time saving to a flash drive, and then putting that on my computer. So next time they ask to complete a particular level I can copy that file from my laptop to the flash drive and pop it in.

Does anyone know if this is possible? Thanks.
If not maybe I'll try to find a handful of mini SD cards and keep those handy.

[SatansBunny99]

OK, I'm not entirely sure how to do what your asking, but I can tell you what happened with my flash drive, which may help. When you set it up on the xbox, it just puts a hidden folder on there filled with data files as large as you select. (eg. I set mine at 5GB, so I have 5 x 1GB data files, plus a couple of system files). Then when you add files to the drive on the xbox it just modifies the files already there.

Now, as far as I know these data files are unreadable on PC, and therefore you can't isolate individual save files. You can however just copy the entire folder to have a complete backup of everything you put on the drive. So I guess you could put a single save file on the USB, cut and paste the whole folder onto PC and repeat.

NB there may well be programs available online that allows you to read these files, but that's a whole world of dodginess right there...

Hope some of that helps :)

[Seasick Pirate]

Would anyone mind testing this out for me with an old game save or something?
Maybe you can copy that entire hidden folder to a computer then see if the Xbox still reads it after putting it back onto the flash drive.

[SatansBunny99]

Already done it. If you simply copy the folder onto PC and leave the original on the USB drive, nothing's changed as far as the xbox is concerned (it will read fine, and the save is still there). If you remove the original from the drive it will need to run the set-up again. Which is no big deal - it only takes a couple of minutes.

If you're going to do this, I suggest choosing a small size (maybe 500mb or something - not sure how small you can go) during set-up each time for the USB drive, or it will take ages to transfer to PC each time, and take up a load of room. Remember when the xbox runs set-up it reserves 500mb for system files, so 500mb of actual storage becomes a 1gb file on the USB drive. Also, if you rename any of the folders on your PC in order to keep track of them, etc. you will need to rename them back to "Xbox360" when you put them back on the drive for use.

Edit: Sorry, I may have misread what you were asking there. If you copy the entire folder onto PC, then as long as it's named "Xbox360" when it's put back on the USB drive, it will read fine.

[Seasick Pirate]

Excellent!
This is going to save me so much time and grief in the long run.
Thank you so much.