Can XBMC access an external drive or usb thumb drive if you make a cable to go from the game ports to usb? As I understand it, the game ports are just usb ports with a different connector. I am thinking o f being able to transport my movies to a remote XBMC but without having to go thru the process of unlocking and installing a new HDD in the box and not having to transport the box itself, just a small usb drive. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

It can read most flash drives, though there's a 4gb cap enforced by the X-Box BIOS, and it can only write to such drives if they're formatted with FATX.