A very good point about X360, for people that have an xbox...

[A Black Falcon]

"Legal"? Um, it's perfectly legal to get a backup if you own the game. Still, that old save that you have saved data in your brain attached to won't be there forever.

Nintendo says it's not, but I don't think that they're on the strongest legal ground... it's certainly illegal to download someone else's backup (see: roms of games, even ones you own), but your own backup? I certainly would think that that's okay. But what do I know, it's illegal to give people copies (over the internet) of TV programs that you can watch over the air (on the networks, let's say) and legally make copies of... now that makes no sense...

The solution for me is just to open up the old carts that use batteries and replace them. I've only had to do that once so far. One of these days I'll find a way to make the swap without losing an electrical connection. Some sort of life support system...

I haven't had any cart batteries die on me yet... but yes, I've read about how to do it. It varies depending on the platform, and yeah, it usually seems to involve soldering... not something I've ever done.

Wouldn't an Xbox harddrive last a lot longer since it's not used a much as a normal PC harddrive?

Possibly, but harddrives on average just don't last as long as battery-backed media, much less solidstate media (EEPROM, etc, like later, non-battery-backed cart-save N64 games and the like)... though yes, battery-backed titles are definitely second on the list. Well ahead, I would expect, of stuff like N64 games that save with EEPROM or memory cards (the ones that don't use batteries, at least... I know some consoles' memcards do, actually)...