Xbox 360 SSD Maker - Now it's possible to flash certain SSDs to work on a retail Xbox 360 console!

[Blythe93]

Starting with FATXplorer 3.0 beta 35, released on September 4, 2025, a new tool called Xbox 360 SSD Maker enables flashing selected SSDs for compatibility with retail Xbox 360 consoles.

Compatible SSDs:
A recommended list of currently in‑production SSD models is provided (updated September 4, 2025), including:

• Inland Professional (Phison S11);
• Lexar NS100 (Maxio MA1102);
• PNY CS900 (Phison S11, SM2259XT2);
• Silicon Power A55 (Phison S11, Maxio MA1102, SM2259XT2);
• Patriot P220, Timetec, KingSpec P3, TEAMGROUP AX2 & T‑Force Vulcan Z, and Yottamaster S25PRO with various supported controllers.

Licensing Options:

• SSD Maker can be bought on its own for $3 USD, ideal for users who need a one‑time use tool.
• The full FATXplorer license is $25 USD and already includes SSD Maker.

Some things to consider:

• Supported sizes: 20, 60, 120, 250, 320, 500 GB
  • 500 GB is particularly recommended for its affordability.
  • Sizes like 256 GB or 512 GB may have unusable space issues on JTAG/RGH and are best avoided.
  • Avoid 240 and 480 GB sizes because due to how Xbox 360 security works, you will lose substantial space.
  • Drives larger than 2 TB may be detected but only 500 GB will be usable; sizes above 2 TB won’t work.
• The 500 GB logical size limit remains; SSD Maker can’t bypass it.
• SSD TRIM is not supported by the Xbox 360 kernel, which may impact long‑term performance. It is possible TRIM support may be added in the future through a new patch project.
• SSD Maker carries a low risk of bricking the drive; design minimizes this and recovery is usually possible if issues arise.
• There are some SSDs in the M.2 form factor that, when put inside an enclosure, may also work in the Xbox 360 as long as it uses a supported controller. This is untested, but should work.

For additional info, check here.

 

[DuoForce]

This looked so cool until I saw it was a paid program. What has happened to the modding community? We used to be a country

 

[Blythe93]

3 USD for the SSD Maker isn't too much for what it's worth. We can finally use some SSD drives on the retail consoles. Also, if you ever decide to buy a full 25 USD license for the FATXplorer, you can probably just pay the difference if you have paid for SSD Maker already after you contact their support for the discount.

 

[a_username_that_is_cool]

Intrigu-Oh never mind it costs money. DO WHAT YOU WANT i mean uhh I will pay for this ! Totally

 

[WinterPhoenix8780]

god forbid wanting to make any sort of money for highly technical (see: revolutionary) work lol

This is something many people thought was impossible until now. Really cool stuff! I hope somebody comes up with a viable TRIM solution for it at some point.

 

[master801]

This looked so cool until I saw it was a paid program. What has happened to the modding community? We used to be a country

tbf you're paying for convenience.

You could try doing it yourself manually and end up having to throw out the SSD because you edited a wrong value - or you could pay a small fee.

Or just use RGH and not deal with this at all.

god forbid wanting to make any sort of money for highly technical (see: revolutionary) work lol

This is something many people thought was impossible until now. Really cool stuff! I hope somebody comes up with a viable TRIM solution for it at some point.

TRIM won't ever happen unless it's integrated into the Xbox's kernel or dumbed down to an app that you would need to run every so often.

Even then, you'd still need to figure out how to shuffle around the blocks of data within their semi-proprietary format (it's just FAT32 with some minor changes.)

 

[ChibiMofo]

Licensing Options:

• SSD Maker can be bought on its own for $3 USD, ideal for users who need a one‑time use tool.
• The full FATXplorer license is $25 USD and already includes SSD Maker.

 

[Deleted member 535703]

3 USD for the SSD Maker isn't too much for what it's worth. We can finally use some SSD drives on the retail consoles. Also, if you ever decide to buy a full 25 USD license for the FATXplorer, you can probably just pay the difference if you have paid for SSD Maker already after you contact their support for the discount.

Yay SSD's! With no support for TRIM! This will totally work out well!

It's not worth more than a download.

 

[Osha]

Pay for the possibility of completely cooking your SSD immediately, or let it cook slowly over time because there's no way to prevent it. I really hope nobody buys this, this is ridiculous.

 

[Kioku]

ITT: "Progress in the 360 scene? Oh hell no!"

Use it or don't. It's a net positive and no amount of the pissing and moaning will change that fact.

 

[Osha]

ITT: "Progress in the 360 scene? Oh hell no!"

Use it or don't. It's a net positive and no amount of the pissing and moaning will change that fact.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you necessarily should. There's no way the 360 would allow for much higher reading speeds anyway, you're spending money for what is at best a novelty, and at worst going to nuke your stored games in the span of a year. Just use a regular HDD, it's cheaper and will last you significantly longer.

The author should have waited for it to be actually safe (low risk means it's common enough to issue a warning), and have implemented TRIM writing before releasing this tool. Making you pay for something that is not safe and also harmful is bad, no two ways about it.

 

[XFoxPrower]

For the risk, is there a warranty against damages? It's a first but I'm not sure how to feel about the fee. But there's been crowdfunding campaigns for homebrew ports, etc. I've even taken paid code commissions myself for Discord plugins (released publicly after)... Now if only I could throw money at someone porting FF6 to Vita.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

Works on my machine.
I see nothing wrong with a $3 payment to upgrade my drive. TRIM would be nice but these drives are also so cheap that it's fine to me if they only last a few years, lol. Have fun complaining, tempers, I'm gonna go play some games.

 

[EvilJagaGenius]

What do the load times look like compared between SSDs and HDDs?

 

[BigOnYa]

What do the load times look like compared between SSDs and HDDs?

Minimal difference, after all, its a Sata 1\2 interface anyways. So basically same speeds as a external USB 2.0 drive.

 

[Kioku]

Works on my machine.
I see nothing wrong with a $3 payment to upgrade my drive. TRIM would be nice but these drives are also so cheap that it's fine to me if they only last a few years, lol. Have fun complaining, tempers, I'm gonna go play some games.

View attachment 526761

I mean, I get the argument about TRIM. However, people have been running SSDs in their systems for a while now. Same thing with the OG Xbox. If there were any major issues about SSDs in this system, I sincerely doubt the developer would have gone out of their way to develop this software. Let alone charge for it. So weird to see something like this so negatively received here.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

I mean, I get the argument about TRIM.

Me too, but it's funny that people who seem to have no interest in actually using this are complaining about a missing feature (which, of course we knew the Xbox 360 doesn't have TRIM already, lol)

 

[DinohScene]

One could always hardware hack their 360 and not bother externally prepping a drive.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[AkikoKumagara]

Minimal difference, after all, its a Sata 1\2 interface anyways. So basically same speeds as a external USB 2.0 drive.

This is accurate in my case. I've tested USB vs SSD and the SSD has been only slightly faster than a microSD + adapter in the USB port, usually beating it by 4-6 seconds in head to head comparisons.

 

[lightwo]

Commercial? Ehh, not extremely expensive at least...

At the same time, don't HDDs already saturate the 360's internal transfer speeds? I still don't understand the point of adding SSDs into old consoles other than not having an HDD sticking out, since in most cases there's no clear benefit.

Not saying it shouldn't be done, more choice is usually a good thing, but in this case it feels mostly pointless.