Where is the Operating Sytem stored in an Xbox 360 ?

[L3gi0n0fh311]

Is the OS on the internal HDD ? Does Xbox 360 work without an internal HDD ?

 

[InsaneNutter]

The operating system is stored on the nand, which is internal memory on the motherboard.

You can use the 360 without an internal hard drive, however some models of 360 will not have space to store the avatar / Kinect data required to connect to Xbox Live and play various games, so are you limited to what you can do.

Save games can be saved to a usb hard drive / memory stick, as can the avatar and kinect data (if i remember rightly).

Compatibility with backwards compatible games from the original Xbox requires an internal hard drive.

 

[L3gi0n0fh311]

The operating system is stored on the nand, which is internal memory on the motherboard.

By NAND, you mean a NAND flash chip ?

When we update the OS through Xbox live, The OS on the NAND is over-written ?

 

[chrisrlink]

no i think it's stored on the NAND a special encrypted area which is why you need the JTAG/RGH hack to use unsigned code ninja'd

 

[godreborn]

The jtag/rgh only modifies the su file in a backup. It's about 12MBs iirc. That's what you modify when creating an updated updflash.dmp, so you can create a new update for the gui when xebuild is updated. This is stored on the flash chip.

 

[InsaneNutter]

By NAND, you mean a NAND flash chip ?

When we update the OS through Xbox live, The OS on the NAND is over-written ?

Yes the Nand flash chip on the motherboard, see here: https://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index/1865?cPage=3&all=False&sort=0&page=3&slug=

The 360 managed to do a lot in the early days with only 16MB of space to store the entire operating system and any built in functionality (such as the CD / MP3 player, picture viewer, video player and DVD player).

As time went on some newer 360 revisions such as the Jasper models had larger Nands which could store the avatar / Kinect data and had limited user storage space that could store some save games, or things to give the console additional functionality, such as the optional media update that had codecs to play Divx / Xvid.

 

[DinohScene]

Yes the Nand flash chip on the motherboard, see here: https://www.anandtech.com/Show/Index/1865?cPage=3&all=False&sort=0&page=3&slug=

The 360 managed to do a lot in the early days with only 16MB of space to store the entire operating system and any built in functionality (such as the CD / MP3 player, picture viewer, video player and DVD player).

As time went on some newer 360 revisions such as the Jasper models had larger Nands which could store the avatar / Kinect data and had limited user storage space that could store some save games, or things to give the console additional functionality, such as the optional media update that had codecs to play Divx / Xvid.

To add to this.
Jasper BB consoles (the arcade models with build in memory) also utilise this memory to store save games/updates etc.
The core of the 360 still runs on a 16 MB flash partition in those consoles.
Slims, specifically the 4GB versions do the exact same.
16 MB of the NAND is allocated to the kernel and important dashboard files whilst the rest can be downloaded to the HDD or internal MU.

 

[godreborn]

I bet whatever is in this file:

is the only thing stored in that 16MBs flash area. this is the file I mentioned. it's part of a normal $SystemUpdate.

 

[L3gi0n0fh311]

InsaneNutter, I know you wrote the guide at digiex for replacing 360's internal HDD. I have a question:

When trying to restore partition 2, should I use xplorer360 extreme 2 ? or should I use FATxpolrer ?

 

[godreborn]

InsaneNutter, I know you wrote the guide at digiex for replacing 360's internal HDD. I have a question:

When trying to restore partition 2, should I use xplorer360 extreme 2 ? or should I use FATxpolrer ?

I think I used FATxplorer, because I have done this before on stock. there's also party buffalo. I don't know if there's really any one that's better than the others.

 

[InsaneNutter]

InsaneNutter, I know you wrote the guide at digiex for replacing 360's internal HDD. I have a question:

When trying to restore partition 2, should I use xplorer360 extreme 2 ? or should I use FATxpolrer ?

If you are following my guide i'd suggest just using Xplorer 360 Extreme2, as I know the process works.

FATXplorer never existed back when I posted that guide, I believe you can do the same with FATXplorer however. So if you know what your doing then you should get the same end result regardless.