help upgrading a softmodded xbox's hard drive

[alexis524]

has anyone here successfully upgraded their softmodded original xbox's hard drive? I have a 2 tb SATA on the way, and i'm a bit scared ATM after reading thru some posts over at scenyx. I could use some help in choosing a verifiable SATA to IDE adapter that works and does not cause any issues and also a bulletproof step by step tutorial on prepping the drive and installing that maybe you've used and you can verify it works. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Redifer]

I don't know that a SATA to IDE adapter could fit into the XBOX. But you'll need to reinstall everything on the new hard drive. You might be able to get away with duplicating the contents of the drive itself (ie: ghosting), but I am not sure of the custom firmware looks for a specific drive and if it sees something different, refuses to operate. I just know that I had to reinstall everything on mine, your mileage may vary.

[alexis524]

there are slim adapters that only take up about 1/2 inch. Some of the users over on scenyx have verified they fit and all, and i've ordered one off of ebay. I do however need help on all steps involved. There are a ton of tutorials, but all have little variances. I 'd just like some help from someone who has upgraded their softmodded hdd to a larger one so i get it right on the first try. Can anyone suggest i ghost my existing hdd and simply ftp it to the new larger hdd? Would that cause any problems with partition sizes?

[Hatta]

I haven't done the hard drive swap, but it looks fairly straight forward. Basically it amounts to dumping the eeprom with your current softmod. Then you connect your new hdd up to a PC and run a bootable CD with 'xboxhdm' on it. You use xbox hdm to build a new xbox filesystem and then lock it with your eeprom key. When you put it back in the box, it should just work.

Here is a step by step tutorial covering the above.

[alexis524]

hatta,

thanks for the link. I've already read that thru more than a couple times and trying to wrap my head around. Since i'm upgrading to a 2tb hdd, i need to be cautious not to let hdm 1.1 create my F & G drives on the first try, but rather, go back to hdm 1.0 and create both. I'm just nervous is all. As long as i have my eeprom i can't lock my HDD. It seems like everything is reversible for the most part in case i miss one step. Part of my apprehension is also due to the fact that all the little FYI's are strewn about the internets and i wish the whole tutorial was in one post, including all the details. I guess i have some cutting and pasting to do...

[jinn]

I'm not sure what BIOS is used for softmods, but in order to use a 2TB you need xecuter 5035 or iND-BiOS 5003 BIOS.
Then you will need to format F & G with XBpartitioner

[alexis524]

i'm not sure the BIOS is important as is running xbpartitioner to reformat before i save data to F&G drives.

[jinn]

The reason I'm letting you know is because the following BIOS will not support 2TB HDD
evox m8
evox m8+
x2 4981
x2 4983

this is based on personal expirence

[alexis524]

good know jinn. and this is kinda what i'm referring to. all these little tidbits of important details that are not mentioned in any tutorials on the net. that wouldv'e been good to know before i sprung for the HD, but will see what BIOS i have. thanks for the heads up!

[Niode]

There's quite a few guides out there on how to upgrade a HDD on a softmodded xbox, but I will tell you this. It's pretty hard. Make sure you read, re-read and then read again. Make a few backups of your eeprom, this is majorly important. If you lose that you'll face a non-functioning xbox. If you fuck up your files, you'll face a non-functioning xbox. Since Microsoft were super smart they put all the operating system on the HDD, so unlocking your HDD (required during this process) will mean that the only way you can get the system to boot again is via a boot disc, and then lock the HDD and reboot. It's a major pain in the arse.

It might have changed a bit since I did mine, so the process might have been streamlined a little, but it took me a couple of hours and I'm pretty good at hacking systems. I just went methodically through each step and it worked.