The Xbox 360 is long gone, but the homebrew and hacking scene of a console is always searching for ways to revitalize and keep older consoles alive, and such is the case for a newly developed tool for the Xbox 360 that aims to make hard-drives compatible with the console.

The original OEM hard drives for the 360 are getting scarce and more rare as time goes on, and it's only a matter of time before the vast majority of the original hard drives manufactured for the system begin to fail in one way or another given the usual HDD lifespan. One such existing tool, HDDHackr, managed to successfully make third party hard drives compatible with the Xbox 360. However, this tool hasn't seen updates in more than a decade, making it fairly obsolete, more so with the number of different and modern chipsets floating around.

Thankfully, a new tool has jumped up to the task of creating another solution for modifying already existing Western Digital hard drives into Xbox 360 compatibles drives, with this new tool being called "Xbox 360 HDD Maker". This new tool for FATXplorer gets rid of the annoyances of having to create a bootable USB, mess with BIOS settings and other things, with the only real requirement to run it being a Windows PC and a USB to SATA adapter for the hard drive.

Anyone who has done any sort of tinkering with Xbox 360 knows about HDDHackr. For many years, HDDHackr was the only way to make a hard-drive compatible on retail Xbox 360s. It has been an incredibly useful tool and was so far ahead of its time. The developers should be commended for their work. Unfortunately, development on it stopped more than 10 years ago and it has grown more difficult to use due to modern chipset compatibility issues. OEM Xbox 360 hard-drives are also no longer in production. As these OEM drives start to fail, the need for a tool to make compatible drives has been growing.

FATXplorer 3.0 beta 32 has a brand-new solution, a tool named Xbox 360 HDD Maker

This tool aims to be an easier and more accesible way to the already existing HDDHackr tool from years ago, and more importantly, it tries to reinvigorate and give options to gamers with their beloved Xbox 360 system to still have their console in a functional form with more accesible modern hard drives, without the risk of having their original OEM hard drives failing to the passage of time.

Xbox 360 HDD Maker Website

 

[Payne]

This is sweet. I have OG xbox lying around with dead HDD. would be cool if there was tool that could make any HDD work with OG xbox, without having to hardmod or craft EEPROM reader to get hard drive key

 

[ut2k4master]

wasnt this already possible like 15 years ago? i remember replacing a 20gb or so hdd with a regular bigger one

 

[CoolMe]

wasnt this already possible like 15 years ago? i remember replacing a 20gb or so hdd with a regular bigger one

There was a list of compatible hdds that you could swap to, tho you still have to prepare them on pc with tools like this (i forget which) to make them work iirc.

 

[Xalusc]

You can go up to 2TB.
Edit: Looks like 500GB is the limit

Also note RGH and JTAG consoles do not have this limit.

RGH is the way to go anyway, so...

 

[Mayo1990]

RGHchads rise up

 

[PhyChris]

tbh sounds like a hv limit and not a firmware/bios limit (since rgh glitches the HV removing the limit

There is a system firmware "White List" and the biggest on there is 500GB ... However when you hack the system you can use a patched version of the system firmware that will use any size. I used to have a 1TB drive in mine

 

[BigOnYa]

Yep, if you RGH your 360 unit you can use any type and any size of HD you want. I currently have a 4tb in my 360 full of games and emulator ROMS.

 

[leonardorg]

With the official store close, there is no reason to not rgh the Xbox 360, unless you are a sad Winchester owner.

 

[ut2k4master]

There was a list of compatible hdds that you could swap to, tho you still have to prepare them on pc with tools like this (i forget which) to make them work iirc.

mustve been that then, thank you. couldnt remember what i did exactly

 

[ChibiMofo]

This should have been possible/allowed officially from the start (without resorting to tools like this), just like with PS3's.. one of the things i really dislike about MS..
Good job!

Right, because it is not like Sony didn't require proprietary Sony memory sticks and other such nonsense over the years. And keep in mind that the Xbox 360 properly supported a WIDE variety of PC monitors, resolutions and refresh rates that Sony never, ever did. Nice try, Sony Fanboy.

 

[linkinworm]

If you mean by a 'softmod', this is never going to happen. Modchips are the only way to go.


This is pretty cool to know. I might try this the next time I mod an Xbox 360.

Never say never. How many times has someone said something can't be done. Now the 360 is dead with no real need to go online someone could come up with something. Theres no way the 360 is more secure than the ps5 at this point. Just need to right person to find something

 

[SylverReZ]

Never say never. How many times has someone said something can't be done. Now the 360 is dead with no real need to go online someone could come up with something. Theres no way the 360 is more secure than the ps5 at this point.

Sure you might be right, but I stand by my point. There will never be a software exploit that can do everything a glitch chip could. Sure, I have seen the Tony Hawk exploit run homebrew, but would it be possible to boot a custom dashboard at all?

 

[Armadillo]

Sure you might be right, but I stand by my point. There will never be a software exploit that can do everything a glitch chip could. Sure, I have seen the Tony Hawk exploit run homebrew, but would it be possible to boot a custom dashboard at all?

You're just being realistic.

Never is a long time, but it's been 18 years & there has only ever been 1 hypervisor exploit. People just have blind hope/optimism.

Hypervisor is a tiny piece of code, even the guy doing the Tony Hawk hack said.

"I’ve spent many years reverse engineering the software on the Xbox 360 in hopes I might one day find a bug that could be used to hack the console on newer kernel versions. The Xbox 360 hypervisor is probably the most secure piece of code Microsoft has ever written. There’s only ever been 1 software bug found in it that I largely suspect was due to a compiler bug and not the result of a developer making changes to the hypervisor code."

So it's not like people have been sitting on their butts not doing anything.

I don't think the Kingkong entry point was ever patched ,just the hypervisor exploit was closed and any entry point is useless without one. (I could be wrong, but I never saw any patches for Kingkong or mention of it, only the hypervisor exploit being patched).

A hypervisor exploit on a new kernal even if it needed a flashed drive again would have been sought after. So many banned boxes with flashed drives or for people who couldn't be bothered to keep up with XGD3, updated security sectors, reflashing drives and so on, but nothing.

After Jtag was closed, all that effort to make RGH work and be stable, when they just could have looked harder for a software one? Nah, people didn't just give up on software for no reason.

Winchesters need one, can't be hacked with anything at the moment, so another exploit there is just what they need, but nothing, tough luck if you have one.

Never is a long time, maybe eventually something will appear, but a savegame entry point and the store being shut somehow kicking off a new exploit because the right people were just not looking hard enough over the years is just blind hope.

 

[greator]

What we need next is a custom update that can reflash the DVD drive just from a firmware update. Because MS could do it, I think we can do it too, with a lot of tinkering.
I dont think anybody would want it since you can just put the game in HDDs, but I have 5 folders of burned DVD game and I cannot fit all of them in one Hdd.

 

[CoolMe]

Right, because it is not like Sony didn't require proprietary Sony memory sticks and other such nonsense over the years.

I mentioned the ps3 as a comparison, to where all this isn't needed. Anything else about Sony or their proprietary hardware is irrelevant to the discussion.

And keep in mind that the Xbox 360 properly supported a WIDE variety of PC monitors, resolutions and refresh rates that Sony never, ever did.

Again, irrelevant.

Nice try, Sony Fanboy.

More like "nice try, MS fanboy!"

 

[MasterJ360]

Hmmm so this only works on pre 2020 WD drives? Well I know the current 3TB of mine will work I've had it since 2013.
I wonder if a seagate ex HDD will do.

 

[NEILYOUNG]

this is so great love it

 

[BigOnYa]

Hmmm so this only works on pre 2020 WD drives? Well I know the current 3TB of mine will work I've had it since 2013.
I wonder if a seagate ex HDD will do.

You can, and always have been able to, use any brand external HD up to 2tb with the stock, non-modded x360.

 

[MasterJ360]

You can, and always have been able to, use any brand external HD up to 2tb with the stock, non-modded x360.

Yeah I know that. I'm talking about the fatexplorer tool. From what I read the dev stated an older WD HDD 2020 and below is compatible. But im assuming any brand will work aslong its not manufactured after 2020.

 

[wurstpistole]

Didn't we have that fifteen years ago?
I remember swapping out the 20GB in the original shell to a 120GB myself. I just had to repartition it in a certain way with a special tool and then it worked with the 360.