Hardmodded Xbox HD upgrade... (and some misc. questions)

[portugeek]

My Xbox is hardmodded with a solderless X3. The current HDD is an "unlocked" 3.5" PATA (IDE) drive.

I'd like to upgrade the drive with an extra SATA drive I have. I'm curious about IDE to SATA adapters, and if that's an option that I could consider. I understand that it wouldn't increase speed because of the bottleneck on the IDE end, but I'd like to take advantage of the increased disk space. With all that in mind here go my questions..

1: Do the IDE to SATA adapters cause compatibility issues?

2: Is there a Harddrive memory cap limit that I need to worry about?

3: Is there a "number of games" limit per partition?

4: I haven't modded an Xbox in a really long time. How would I go about formatting the new drive? My current one has a bunch of different partitions, and I don't remember how they got there.

5: The games I currently have installed on the drive are extracted. Has anyone come up with a way for the Xbox to read .ISO's?

6: I have a bunch of physical games that I'd like to rip and backup. Is there an easy way to back them up that doesn't involve using my Xbox Disc Drive?

7: Do the various X3 firmware versions effect the playability of game backups? I ask because I remember in the past having some games where the discs were perfect, but the backup just wouldn't play. What could be causing compatibility issues?


My info just in case....

-X3 Kernel Version: 1.0.5034.1
-X3 BIOS: 3294
-DVD Model: THOMSON-DVD
-DVD Firmware Version: 1.24
-Xbox Version: XBOX V1.1
-EvolutionX: V+3935

 

[DinohScene]

1. Yes, cheap adapters are shit.
2. Not really.
3. 126 GB partition limit (you can inflate them above 126 with bigger cluster sizes but games with a multitude of files will eat up HDD space)
4. It's hardmodded, just plonk in Slayers CD 2.6, format and install it, then copy the C and E backups you took from the old drive and copy them to the C and E of the new drive (don't forget to boot up FTP and whilst being connected to the Xbox, delete the files and folders from the C and E drive)
5. No, extracted games are the only solution.
6. Nope, use your Xbox DVD drive or a special Kreon drive for PC (hard to find and expensive)
7. Nope, Only thing the modchip does is run a hacked BIOS.

If backups aren't played correctly then some files might not be extracted.

Also, switch to UnleashX.
Me personal taste as it's close to the original MS dash and feature full.

 

[portugeek]

If backups aren't played correctly then some files might not be extracted.

Also, switch to UnleashX.
Me personal taste as it's close to the original MS dash and feature full.

Thanks for all this info! I'll probably keep it the way it is seeing as how I wouldn't want to go through the headache of experimenting with various IDE/SATA adapters.

Also, you mentioned that if files are not extracted properly that it could cause incompatibility issues. Is there any recommended software for 1:1 Game Ripping?

 

[05sonicblue]

I would just like to add that I have a 3TB SATA drive in my XBOX and it works (with some limitations). Here some additional info

1.) Use UnleashX
2.) Use XBPartitioner to partition. This will allow a 1.1TB F and 1.1TB G. Those are hard limits.
3.) The dashboard load will take longer to load (upwards of 2 minutes).

In my experience gameplay has not been impacted. I got my adapter off of amazon. You also want to make sure you don't have a green drive that goes in standby and is lockable. I used a WD out of MyCloud Enclosure. As I mentioned, it is a 3TB, but the system will only use about 2.5TB across all partitions. 1.1TB is the max partition size.

 

[DinohScene]

Qwix for when you got an ISO and DVD2Xbox for when you got an original game.

 

[05sonicblue]

I have always preferred C-XBox Tool 2 over QWIX for ISO Extraction, but both with work. When I did mine, I used C-XB Tool 2 to extract all and then used Filezilla to transfer the files since it has better retry functionality, I also transferred mine over wifi without any issues. If using XBPartitioner, make sure you aware of the glitch in the program and size the partitions twice or you will run into issues at around 170GB. The issue isn't noticed until you actually start trying to write past that amound to the HDD.

 

[portugeek]

I have a healthy library so I'd be doing all of my ripping from the original discs. My drive isn't large enough to store them all though, which is why I was looking to back them up as ISO's. I was hoping to rip them using my PC's drive to not cause any added wear to my XBOX drive. Storing them on an external drive and just FTPing them over when I wanted them.

I wouldn't mind the extra step of extraction.

 

[DinohScene]

I'd say FTP all of your games to an external first, then delete them from the Xbox and continue extracting the rest of the games via your Xbox.
Then copy back the games you want to.

Saves you a lot of hassle on getting the DVD drive out of the Xbox n what not.