xbox hard drive upgrade

[godsakes]

i've been to the car boot on sunday to find a stall that sold old hard drives 20-60gb for only a few pounds and thought it might be worth upgrading the one in the xbox, just so i've got enough space to dump a complete arcade rom set in there

trouble is i've got a funny feeling the dell c521 desktop only has sata - and the only other computer in the house is my dell 9400 laptop.

the method i've read about most seems to involve connecting the new hard drive to a PC via IDE to format/clone the existing xbox - is there another method?

 

[FAST6191]

Simple answer: if you hacked your xbox via a softmod and have no other hardware available then probably not.

If you did it via a hardmod (chip or TSOP*) hard drive replacement is the only thing chips/hardmods have over softmods these days.
*TSOP mods count as hardmods, up to you if you want to do it or not (1.0 to 1.5 only) but it is quite easy:
http://www.xboxscene.com/xbox-tutorials.php?p=14|15|22|#22

First though:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/produ...p;~tab=specstab
and then
http://www.nvidia.com/page/gpu_mobo_tech_specs.html would suggest you have PATA otherwise known as IDE (OK that is not strictly true but few people will call you on it and as far as the tech goes you are good).
For what it is worth outside of the very small PCs such things are still near certain.

Assuming you have chosen to stick with a softmod and your cheapo drives are compatible ( http://xboxdrives.x-pec.com/?p=list ) then:

Then you are in luck if you have a chipped xbox:
http://www.xboxscene.com/articles/exploit-...modded-xbox.php

Otherwise it is PC only, those USB to IDE adapters will not work either (locking/unlocking is a rare part of the spec and it is rarely included in such devices).

Finally ignore all guides (or more realistically ignore their tool suggestions, the methods are likely sound) that say use something other that xboxhdm ( http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?sho...244043&st=0 ) or CHIMPS ( http://xguides.xbox-scene.com/tikiwiki/tik...mps%20hd%20tool ), I favour xboxHDM myself, and ignore anything that mentions LBA48 support as everything recent has it already and your drives are well below the limit anyhow.
Note "dumping" your EEPROM from a softmod with an xbox with virtual EEPROM is not a good idea as it probably will not work: you need the original you got when you first modded or you need to unmount and dump again.

 

[godsakes]

wow, thanks for taking the time to write such a well researched and complete reply

edit: and err yeah, only softmod with me (cheap northerner)

 

[godsakes]

First though:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/produ...p;~tab=specstab
and then
http://www.nvidia.com/page/gpu_mobo_tech_specs.html would suggest you have PATA otherwise known as IDE (OK that is not strictly true but few people will call you on it and as far as the tech goes you are good).
For what it is worth outside of the very small PCs such things are still near certain.

okay i got a compatiable 40gb drive today, backed up everything on the xbox, burnt off the customised boot disc....

opened up the PC to find there's a 'IDE appearing' port, but it's about 5mm smaller then it should be and the ribbon won't attach

(is it some kind of floppy drive IDE port?)

i'm going to have to wait until the sata card i ordered (to do the 360 arrives) it's supposed to have a IDE port on it

 

[godsakes]

Note "dumping" your EEPROM from a softmod with an xbox with shadow EEPROM is not a good idea as it probably will not work: you need the original you got when you first modded or you need to unmount and dump again.

umm, when i was backing up the xbox i noticed i couldn't find a backup of the EEPROM (which i was sure the AID disc forced me to make, when i was installing xbmc) - unfortunately i had to just run the AID disc again to make a backup - since it's already softmodded is that usless? is it even possible for me you get the orginal EEPROM anymore?

 

[FAST6191]

Sorry I should have linked this last time around:
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/638861

re the smaller port. I am guessing floppy drive although I would have to see it.

 

[godsakes]

Sorry I should have linked this last time around:
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/638861

re the smaller port. I am guessing floppy drive although I would have to see it.

just scanned the backup files/folders and i've found a eeprom in:

udata\2158555400000000000\backup\

the file is dated about a month old which should be the time i softmodded the thing

the guy in that thread seems to suggest it was the wrong one for him but is there a way of easily testing it?

 

[Overload180]

your eeprom.bin doesnt change when softmodding your xbox. it holds your hdd key and your system region information. it will be the same as b4 you softmodded your xbox and after. if you wish to make a eeprom.bin file just install EvolutionX (Evox dashboard) as an app and boot it and select the system Utilities link from the menu and then click on the back-up link. this will make a backup folder on your xbox C partition with the eeprom.bin file inside along with 4 other files (key.bin) being one of them. you can do what you need after you get these files

 

[FAST6191]

OK I should clarify everything:
softmods all exploit a bug (what one does not really matter, more here: http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/xbox-softm...-explained.html ) that allows them to patch/replace the BIOS with a nice homebrew capable one (in software which first has to be loaded, hence the inability to bypass everything/change some of the first things to load (background colours of the logo) like you can with a chip/TSOP flash and the need for a lockable HDD).

Various softmod methods also have two safety features called shadow C and virtual EEPROM (I got that the wrong way around above). They are usually the "recommended" route for any graphical installer softmod and indeed I highly suggest using them.
Shadow C takes some drive space but in doing so it means you can not overwrite the drive in a meaningful way (some games like to try and update things and it negates most of the risk from messing around with things).
virtual EEPROM is a similar idea but for the EEPROM in the xbox, this EEPROM holds things that makes your xbox yours including keys vital for the xbox to work ( http://wiki-scene.com/EEPROM_(Xbox) ), a virtual one exists that allows things to happen but protects your original. It is however not the same as your original and dumping it is a pointless activity.

Thus to do some of the more elaborate mods involving hard drives you have to bypass these safety features.

In your situation: I would try it first, I agree it may well be the file you want but some installers (like AID) insist on backing it up again when you install a new dash (I assume you changed from the one the initial softmod gave you) and as this is likely after you initially installed the softmod this new backup may well be the virtual EEPROM.
To test, easiest way is to grab your supposed dump and a program called liveinfo (I assume you are familiar with auto xbins if you have a 360 flashing session coming up). If not it is an app that allows you download files MS might not like all that much from a semi-private FTP server called xbins that hosts just about everything xbox and xbox 360 related.
http://360mods.net/index.php?name=Download...tails&id=29
"/XBOX/PC Based Applications/eeprom tools/liveinfo/" is what you want (go with beta 3).
It should spit out a serial number which you can then match to your xbox.

Some guides you may find useful:
http://wiki-scene.com/EEPROM_(Xbox)

 

[godsakes]

To test, easiest way is to grab your supposed dump and a program called liveinfo (I assume you are familiar with auto xbins if you have a 360 flashing session coming up). If not it is an app that allows you download files MS might not like all that much from a semi-private FTP server called xbins that hosts just about everything xbox and xbox 360 related.
http://360mods.net/index.php?name=Download...tails&id=29
"/XBOX/PC Based Applications/eeprom tools/liveinfo/" is what you want (go with beta 3).
It should spit out a serial number which you can then match to your xbox.

thanks using that liveinfo progam i been able to identify one of the EEPROMS as fake (the newer one i made) and the other as genuine

also thanks for pointing out that FTP program for xbins, i've been using usenet/torrents for their stuff

 

[godsakes]

okay update

got the Sata card today and i've tried using the IDE port on it to connect the 40gb hd (i've disconnected my sata hd, and boot up on the sata DVD drive)

i've used the boot disc - after booting past the initial menu...

i type in 'xboxhd' hit enter and i get:

"mounting /dev/hda on /xboxhdm
no such device or address
looking for cd-rom in dev/hdc

linux cd not found
insert it and try again"

i assume this is because the PC is expecting the DVD drive & hard drive to be on the same IDE cable, can anyone confirm? and more importantly any way around this problem?


edit: i'll give the chimps method a try before going back to the PC formating method

 

[godsakes]

hmm chimps doesn't seem to recognise my drive (it's a sp0411n and had been confirmed to work with xboxhdm and i've tried several jumper settings to make sure at least one of them must have been in slave mode) - i've also tested it with the PC via the IDE on the sata card and it's in working condition

is it because it's formatted to ntfs?

would fat32 solve the problem?

edit:

i've just tried a copy of chimps from the aid disc and that worked, it must have been a bad copy i'd got eariler