Hi everyone! I've been reading up on making a hard drive upgrade to my xbox lately and feel pretty confident about the info I've received. There is one issue, however, that I'd like cleared up if anyone wouldn't mind informing me a bit: When it comes to a hard drive, I understand it needs to be lockable. Bearing in mind that I don't have xbox live nor intend on ever using the service with my modded original xbox, is it still necessary to get a lockable drive? If not, does that mean any standard pc hard drive will be compatible? Any insight you all may have to offer is gladly welcomed and thanks for taking the time to read my post!
Must be locked or you get error 5 I believe Yes, a comp hdd will work as long as you can unlock and lock it. Here is a link to hdd compatibility with a xbox system http://xboxdrives.x-pec.com/?p=list
Thanks for the reply jgdrag and that info was very helpful! One other concern I had which is somewhat related to the hd upgrade is what a reasonable average temperature is for the xbox to be running at is. I've been looking at Maxtor drives which seem to offer the best combination of known reliability for the mod - to- price ratio. However, they are known for running hotter than a lot of drives as I can attest to with my own PC's maxtor disks. My xbox usually runs at about 110 degrees to about 127 degrees after extended use with only the softmod with the fan at the default speed of 1. Is this acceptable for the orginal hardware configuration because my pc doesn't even run that hot with two hard discs, two optical disc drives and a tv tuner card working at the same time? Obviously I'll have to check on the power usage of the specific drive I go with, but on average, considering I have either a 1.6 or 1.6b (Indeterminate because I havn't openned it yet though the serial # alone easily narrows that down to those two choices), will there be enough power to run both the new drive and set the fan at higher speeds to compensate for the added heat. (Also assuming the maxtor drive runs hotter than the orginal xbox hd) Thanks again for your consideration in these matters!
You can get any hard drive that's lockable and have little to no heat problems with a fan upgrade. If you buy a 80mm fan you can cut the two bottom corners and snap off the two pegs on the xbox. Most 80 mm fans come with a molex splitter so you can just plug your xbox power into the splitter then plug the splitter into the drive. This way the 80mm fan is running at 12v instead of 6v. There are a good assortment of fans to choose from so figure out what you want. Any 80mm fan will work. You need to cut the hard drive to get it to work just right. Here's a picture of the last one i did. You can see how the hard drive tray is cut. If you want you can also cut the whole tray so it's supported by just the hd screws in the sides. You can see i cut this one a bit different. If you cut it too big you can use twistie ties to secure it to the heat shield on the back of the xbox. Good luck, if you have any problems let me know
I hear the hdd will shut down at 72 c 55 c is acceptable running temp. I just made the existing fan 12 volts I use XBMC and set my temp to 48. Sure it is a little louder, but that means I just turn up the stereo and enjoy it even more! Not sure what you meant by power usage but I also have 9 leds around my jewel and 2 6 inch cathodes along the sides and 2 9 inch cathodes along the front and back with audio detection hooked into my xbox crystal. Also hooked up a hdd detection led in the front of the box. I don't believe the new hdd wil have a heat problem, but your cpu heat will probabley be the hottest and then you might think about replacing the thermal paste on it
Both of your comments have been wonderfully helpful! Thank you both! This is my first hardware mod of any sort. There has been a lot of reading, and often I've run into conflicting information. I am currently using Unleash X and in this dashboard there is an option in the system utilities to increase the fan speed. I assumed doing so would require extra electricity. Also, I do not know if different hard drives have any sizable differences in their power consumptions and thus a potential need for a better power supply like in a pc. COnsidering the two mods I've seen/ read about from you and C4rn1, I doubt increasing the fan speed will be all that problematic and the louder sound is of no concern to me. I have done a bit of reading on thermal paste and it looks like people are pleased with...liquid crystal 5? I think it was called?
It's AS5 or Artic Silver 5. You can get it for like 2 dollars at coolpc.com. That's the cheapest place i've found. Most of us use it for the 360, i don't think i've used it on a regular xbox yet. As for heat, it will vary depending on the xbox version and setup. My main xbox is a v1.1 with a 300 gig and it idles at MCPX 39C/102F CPU 46C/115F. You'll see some other xbox's temps up to 122F/ 50C cpu at idle with a bigger hd and fan. I'm sure it matters how you cut the hard drive tray too.
