Gaming Hard disk upgrade

xraven13

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Hi..
I have 2 2.5 inch hard disks. 1 is 250 GB, Hitachi 5400 o and other is 320 GB WD 5400 o. I wanted to ask is it possible to replace xbox 360 hard disk with it because Elite and Premium are really expensive for me and Arcade version is great except it lacks with space and i want to play some XBLA games that i must download from Live so that i am able to play them.
Thx in advance for help
 

Armadillo

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You can't use the hitachi, assuming the wd is one the of scorpio drives you can use that. You can't just plug it in and have it work though. You need to get the latest version of hddhackr and the 250GB hddss.bin file and use that it on it first (instructions are in the readme).

Once it's done you can just hook it up to the 360 and it'll format it and then it'll work fine for saving, dlc and xbla games. Backwards compatibility for original xbox games won't work though just doing that, if you want backwards compatibility as well then you need to get hold of the backwards compatibility files from partition 2 of an official Microsoft drive and copy them over to partition 2 of the drive you just made. Also you will be limited to 250GB after running hddhackr, you can't use the full 320GB of the drive.
 

Originality

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There are only certain HDDs that are compatible with Xbox360 without using the JTAG exploit, that I know of. IIRC, they were all WD drives and had one of those fishy model names that I simply can't remember. They'll work with any size, although the max size you can actually use is 250GB (the size of the largest M$ HDD).

You'd prolly be better off trying to fish out a cheap second hand version from game exchange stores.
 

hundshamer

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I got a 250 GB scorpio for $50 USD. The compatible drives are:
- WD Scorpio Series BEVS/BEAS
- WD Scorpio Blue Series BEVS/BEVT
- WD Scorpio Black Series BEKT/BJKT
- WD VelociRaptor Series
You can buy a cheap used 20GB to get the second partition and use the casing to put the HDD in. I found one at a used game store for $35 USD. The 250 GB cost me around $85 USD vs buying one from M$ at $150+ USD.
 

xraven13

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Well i am not sure how much space i need.. I only plan to buy few XBLA games, lets say it will never go above 20... And except of that i might get some DLC like for Gears of War 2.. Would 20 GB be enough?

As for WD hard disc i own this are the specifications, so looking at hundshamer list it seems i am lucky
biggrin.gif


WD Scorpio Blue
Mobile Hard Drive
320 GB, SATA 3 Gb/s, 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM, Native Command Queuing (NCQ), Serial ATA II-300


@ Armadillo - "Backwards compatibility for original xbox games won't work though.." - not sure what this means i am not really good with english, sorry.. Does it mean i can't use that HDD as storage when i am playing original xbox 360 games?

Anyway as for console version i will buy i guess its obvious that's gonna be Arcade version since i will place in it my own hard disc..

EDIT : it will have Jasper board and IEXTREME 1.7 lt .. I plan to play on xbox live!
 

hundshamer

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20GB should do fine. Backwards compatability means you can put an X-Box 1 disc in the X-Box 360 and play it. If you do not copy the 2nd HDD partition you loose this function. That is why I suggested to get a 20GB and swap it with the 320GB (you can only use 250GB of it) and copy the 2nd partition to keep backwards compatability.
 

xraven13

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hundshamer said:
I got a 250 GB scorpio for $50 USD. The compatible drives are:
- WD Scorpio Series BEVS/BEAS
- WD Scorpio Blue Series BEVS/BEVT
- WD Scorpio Black Series BEKT/BJKT
- WD VelociRaptor Series
You can buy a cheap used 20GB to get the second partition and use the casing to put the HDD in. I found one at a used game store for $35 USD. The 250 GB cost me around $85 USD vs buying one from M$ at $150+ USD.

BTW does it supports SATA only or IDE too?? Because i found out that i have WD IDE of 80 GB =D which i am not using at all so i could put it in the xbox 360..
 

xraven13

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Ok so i have Arcade Xbox 360 now..
And i also have this HDD :
WD Scorpio Blue
Mobile Hard Drive
320 GB, SATA 3 Gb/s, 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM, Native Command Queuing (NCQ), Serial ATA II-300

I have few questions :
1) How to connect that HDD to xbox 360?? Can i use it via USB?? Console have LT 1.6 modification. I need that HDD for saves, DLC and XBLA games..
2) Can i use that HDD for xbox and for other uses too?? I use that HDD as external storage device so what i want to know is will xbox recognize HDD if i have some other things on it... So when i am using xbox HDD would be connected to xbox and when i am downloading some stuff from internet i would connect it to PC.. Is this possible?

Thx
 

FAST6191

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JTAG is the only way to use that hard drive for what you want if you insist on using it via USB. You might be able to use it to stream media from but there is little need for that.

1) If it is a compatible model you will have to mod it into a compatible drive, nothing drastic but: http://www.xboxhacker.net/index.php?topic=11813.msg77053 is what you want (you will also need a copy of the 250 gig HDSS.bin). There might be another tool or two around these days but I like that one (the other tool of choice although maybe not for making drives is http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox360-tools/Xplorer360.php ). After that is done sata is your only way, some stick it in the drive case (DX has them if you do not fancy ripping apart an old/dead one) from an old drive, others just wire it "loose"- the 360 drive is little more than a fancy sata caddy.

2) Technically yes, the 360 does use an odd file system though so it will not be "USB drive" simple. You will probably lose the extra 80 gigs as well.
 

xraven13

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Ok so its impossible then... So i need to buy original xbox 360 HDD..
Since i already have saves in internal memory of my Xbox 360 ( arcade version) i wanted to ask will there be any problems when i connect original 20 GB HDD to Xbox??
Where Xbox will write/read save data, will i lose 6GB on HDD and will everything else work ok?ž

EDIT :
Oh , i didn't say its necessary that i connect it via USB if we didn't understand each other... So now when i think about it i really think you didn't understand me, why i would need JTAG?? I guess it could work with drive case for xbox 360, but other solutions are welcome too..
 

FAST6191

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My apologies for the confusion, entirely my fault here.

I never said it was impossible, as far as your standard 360 hacks do this is probably the easiest (assuming you have the drive the rest is in software).

As for the other questions that first line was supposed to say with USB in there (I just edited it)- you can use a USB drive on a JTAG box to run games, emulators and it would be slightly roundabout but you could save as well (obviously a non homebrew box can not do this). JTAG also allows you to run any drive you like rather than this fairly limited selection.

Back on topic assuming the last paragraph has not cleared things up-
yes you can stick a 20 gig on there. It will save wherever you tell it to (games will often ask you to "choose a storage device" when you first boot them/start a game and will have similar options in the options menu most of the time). The 6 odd gigs you "lose" is necessary for some games to work or to work faster (it is used as temporary storage).
 

xraven13

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Ok, np... Actually its probably my fault because of bad English..
wink.gif

So i just place HDD (compatible) in hard drive case and thats it, it will work, xbox 360 will recognize it...
Only problem is that i can't find anywhere xbox 360 hard disc drive cases in shops in my country so is there something else to which i could connect HDD and then plug it to xbox 360 (to input on top)..
 

FAST6191

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DX sells them, many people just bust apart a 20 gig drive (although there are many in a situation similar to your own- arcade with a 20 gig drive for stuff that needs it).

Back on topic it is not quite that easy, first you have to "flash" the drive with the 250 gig HDSS.bin file and make the partitions- easy enough to do with the apps I linked. After this it is somewhat optional but you can track down the xbox backwards compatibility data if you want to use that. Armadillo mentioned all this several posts back though.

As for attaching if you lack any case at all and you do not want to wait for deal extreme to ship things it does get a bit more tricky.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/18/how-to-...-laptop-part-1/ or page 17 of http://dwl.xbox-scene.com/tutorial/Xbox_360-HandC-V1_4.pdf covers the 360 hard drive adapting methods. You might be able to dodge it and get a drive transfer kit (should not be too hard to find) to get the sockets you need.

edit: might as well link up DX: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.30826
 

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