USB flash drive vs Hard Drive on the 360

[Smooth Groove]

Hard drive is still faster for most purposes right?  I'm thinking of getting a 250 GB since it's reasonably priced now. 

I've got several new 360 games to play and the old 20 GB simply won't hold them all. 

Theoretically, the HD should be faster because the USB 2.0 bandwidth is a bigger bottleneck than the HD's random seek times.  My experiences on the PC confirm this but I've heard conflicting reports about the USB flash drives actually loading faster than the hard drives on the 360. 

[G The Resurrected]

HDD is better than USB except for smaller games like Pinball hall of fame 1.1gb runs faster off usb for some reason.

[maxy]

I use it only for streaming heavy games like GTA.
It performs better than 20 GB drive in those games...not in loading times,it just streams more reliably,no floating cars,no roads missing...

[Kestastrophe]

You could prolly get away with just the 120gb hdd. I have about 10 games installed, plus other content and add-ons as well as arcade games, and I still have 30gb of free space. Installing games is totally worth it

[Brehvolution]

I need a bigger HD so bad. 

[Mupepe]

The 250 GB Splinter Cell bundle is 325 from Dell until tomorrow.  that's 75 bucks off!

[chronovore]

Is there really that much difference between the loading times? I only ever install games to get away from the jet engine's optical drive's spinning noise.