"I only want the xbox mainly to play....
elder scrolls 3 morrowind goty ntsc-u
on it and the other xbox rpg's"
I do have to note most of them appeared on the PC, owing to way PC games now work are largely still available, will tend to require a very modest PC by today's standards, were better there in general, may have since been made better there (KOTOR 2 probably being the more notable) and have loads of mods (and elder scrolls without mods is like saying half life multiplayer was not improved by mods).
Anyway that is not quite so helpful.
"Softmod"
If it boots straight up then it is one of a few things but that does not really matter as there is no issue launching games, no "this only works with a hardmod" or other such things. If it does not boot straight up and you have to fiddle on the menu then you have an exceptionally old softmod and then we can talk about upgrading it, also I would be shocked if that was the case.
If it was tsop modded (a halfway house between hardmod and softmod* -- all the benefits of a hardmod but only requires a bit of soldering) you probably would have been told.
*so as to get it out of the way.
There are two mod classes for the original xbox. Both work by replacing the BIOS at some level and allowing hacked things to work, they all launch the same dashes, the same homebrew and the same games and all have the same compatibility (total).
They are
Hardmod
Softmod
There are two differences give or take the dualboot options of some chips (pretty pointless now original xbox live is dead and you could still have a stock dash with a softmod)
Hardmod allows any drive to be used to replace it and it allows you to make fancy colours/pictures when it starts up where the softmod needs a lockable drive (
http://xboxdrives.x-pec.com/?p=list ) and you can not do fancy colours/pictures and have to watch the few seconds of xbox logo before you are staring at a dash.
There are some further hardmod things you could do not related to the actual hack like increase processor speed, increase memory, add a little LED matrix/display to have certain types of info. They are of some use and some homebrew does better for them, for the most part and for more people they are pointless.
Modding on the original xbox then.
Though I said about replaced BIOS most people only ever see the replacement dashboard as this is what launches games, homebrew, videos..... There are several though most usually just use XBMC (it is a rather fine media player after all), the main XBMC project dropped the original xbox a year or two back but others took up the task and we now have XBMC4XBOX if you want it. If people are not using XBMC they will probably have it as a program they can launch and will be using UnleashX or Evolution-X, there are still others but those are the main ones. It could also be running a version of xbox linux (there are a handful of distros too) but that is risking getting off topic.
You can burn DVDs and if you are willing to suffer USB1.1 speeds and only have a handful of USB drives work then you can also have some USB to at least transfer files around. Basically everybody, especially once they replace the hard drive like yours seems to have been, will use FTP to manage their xbox. If you are not familiar with FTP it is an old but still very commonly used file transfer method (indeed FTP = File Transfer Protocol), you put the address of the xbox on your local network, the username (usually xbox), the password (also usually xbox) and the port (which you can leave blank or just put 21 in). Many of the programs aimed to helping out with the xbox will have their own FTP client program built in, if you want a generic one then
https://filezilla-project.org/ is good stuff. Said programs will extract the ISO and transfer the files it contains to wherever you like (though I recommend their own directory in the GAMES folder of whatever drive has the space for it as it will then show up on the menus of the dash you use). The all in one programs are available as part of the Xbox-Hq PC Essentials pack which if you can find it I suggest you get but C-Xbox Tool and MooGUI are the main ones, you can find the former along with a few other iso extraction tools (you can extract and manually send it over with a normal FTP program) on filetrip though
http://filetrip.net/oldies-downloads/xbox/iso-hacks-tools/
Some dashboards allowed you to send rar files over containing the whole iso and have it work but most will just extract it and send it over or burn it.
Only other thing to mention is component cables (which can make the xbox output 720p or 1080i). They did not really exist in Europe but you can get them (
http://www.consolesandgadgets.co.uk/catalog/xbox-component-cable-p-1564.html ) or make them (
http://www.gamesx.com/avpinouts/xbox.htm ) and certain games do work with them as do many dashboards and homebrew programs (including emulators). To use them on a PAL xbox you need a program called "enigmah video mode switcher" (just the once mind you, if you do not need component cables then out of region stuff should be sorted by the dashboard just fine). Many of these programs (plus dashboards, emulators, homebrew) are bundled on a disc pack called "Auto Installer Delxue", sadly the sites and more seem to be down right now and have been for a while so you get to go searching to find a copy.
Once you get it we will need to run you through getting a copy of the EEPROM and various dash files (with those you can always restore your xbox if the hard drive dies), some aspects of the softmod process can trouble this but again more on that later.
