so this is whats going on.... i just so happened to have a western digital bevs 250GB 2.5" sata hard drive laying around and decided i would try to put it in my 360. i went through all the tutorials, got it working and formatted as a 120GB hard drive in the 360. I even got all my old info off my 20GB onto it and working. but after a day or two, it started causing problems, and then my xbox 360 would bring up the 360 logo, and never load the dashboard. i would have done some research into it, but as it wsnt really needed, i jsut did it cuz i could, i decided just to put my 20GB back in. well, its working fine now, now problems, buti would like to use my 250GB hdd for something else. i have a problem though. i hooked it up to a laptop that it would work just fine in, but my windows xp install disc only recognized it as a 120GB drive. so figured maybe windows just donest recognize the format type. so i got my gparted disc out and tried to use it too delete the xbox 360 partition and start from scratch, but it didnt recognize anymore then 120GB as well. so what do i need to do to get this space back. explorer360 doesnt appear to have any sort of undo option, and i dont know if any disk management program i know of will be able to recognize and remove the partition. i tried going to 360gamesaves.com to get support, but the reqiure invetes to register at their website, and i cant even get to the support link for their product without registering, which i cant do. not that i dont appreciate the FREE program they have offered to do this, but i would hope that a public release would be followed by public support. but as i didnt pay for it im not going to complain too much. i can say i wont be using anymore of their programs till i know i can get some more information on them when i need it. anyway, does anyone know what i can do to get this partition removed and be able to format the drive in windows at a full 250GB?
i didnt use hddhackr unfortunately. also, i would guess to say that hddhackr's restore ability is to restore the xbox 360 partition, i actually would like to remove it. but, if anyone could confirm that hddhackr can indeed remove this partition, i would be grateful.
Think that's what the OP wants to so but he has partitions that he cant remove. May also be worth your while trying Partition Magic (as long as your not using Vista)
thats what i thought he was doing also, but usually when reformatting it removes the partitions as well. another good program to try would be maxblast, definitely will have to google it, and it might be under a new name now since seagate bought them out, but it works wonders, i use it for all my new HDs and has yet to let me down.
Reformatting the drive should not delete any partition that is on it. There should be an option when you boot up the XP install disc to delete or create a partition. Make sure you have chosen the partition you want to delete and delete it. After that you should have the full drive available to format. You could also try booting the PC up with HDD attached and try deleting the partition through DISK MANAGEMENT under Administrative tools.
maybe the reason when i format HDs it deletes the partitions is due to the way i have maxblast set up then, bc it always deletes the partitions.
thank you for the replies, but i think maybe my original post was not clear enough. the problem with deleting the partitions and reformatting the drive, is that none of the programs i have used, including my xp install disc, have been able to see the 120GB xbox 360 partition. the rest of the drive is visible as unallocated space, but the rest of the drive (where the 360 partition is) is not even showing up to edit it. i cant delete it, reformat it, or anything, because the computer doesnt even see it. i think the problen lies in the format it is done in. whatever format the xbox 360 creates its partitions in is not recognizable by my pc, or my xp install disc, or gparted. i will try some other programs, including hddhackr, partition magic, and fdisk to see if any of them will help. update: i tried all these programs, and none of them have been able to read the partition. the hddhackr program was able to read the drive, but in order to use its restore/undo.bin feature, i would ahve had to of used that program to do the original mod, which i did not do. i did send an email to 360gamesaves.com through the xplorer360 program, although i cant imagine given the inability to use their website as a support resource, that my email is going to get me much farther. this is my next step. is there a program available that can erase it all. something that could erase the drive at a logical level regardeless of what partitions are on it, or what format it is in. maybe i can take the disc back to a "raw" harddrive, like the ones you recieve from RMA'ing your dead drives. i know i have recieved drives from WD before that gave me the title RAW DISK, meaning its completely untouched. no partition, no unallocated space, jsut a raw disk with 250GB of space i can do whatever i want with. i did somereserach into this, and have yet to find a program that reads the whole disk. i do have the "dban nuke" disc, if anyone is familiar with that. i dont use it much as it takes forever to do what i need, but maybe i will try it at some point. until then, is there any pther program anyone would reccommend to essentially wipe the drive with raw data?
Go there WD Support Search for your drive and get an utility that would say "Zero-Fill Utility" or "Low level format utility" (even though Low Level Format are impossible to do on newer drives it is just mislabeled and it would be a Zero-Fill utility) edit: I checked and I'd say it's the diagnostic one but you'll have to try.
Just a thought. But weren't you supposed to replace the firmware as in the hdds.bin file to reflect that of a 120 - and if you did you get the original key file so that you can replace it. Technically you've rewritten the firmware to that of a 120Gb so it really is a 120Gb now. You have to replace your firmware back to the original. Just like TufKam wrote. Go there and get the firmware for your drive and flash it back. Should be a 250Gb again afterwards. I have a 160BEVS right now and trying to do what you have done but no dice for me. Doesn't recognize it in hddhackr. Good Luck.
you are absolutely correct. strange how that never crossed my mind. indeed the firmware now would only show 120Gb and thats all, as if the rest of the space wsnt even there. this mu be my problem. so i went to wd support site, and turns out that the firmware isnt available. so, i called their support line, and they told me that they dont provide firmware for laptop hard drives. so this is what i need, firmware for a western digital 2.5" 250Gb wd2500bevs sata II hard drive. so, i dont suppose anyone out there might have one of these and would be willing to extract the firmware for the device and send it too me. Or, where i might find the firmware available at.
Hi ghostbugg Yeah man it's the only thing that made sense to me but I'm glad I could be of help. Sucks that WD isn't willing to help - I'm sure they flash ALL their drives but now they don't have firmware... That's a load of crap. Anyhow I'm sure someone has a 250BEV around here whom is willing to help out. The model you're looking for is a WD Scorpio Blue.
thank you for the help though, it may have taken me days and days to remember that. as far as the drive is concerned, a local store carries the same model, and not that i want to cheat anyone, but i think i will be buying it and returning this one, which they will send back to western digital, and maybe western digital will realize the mistake they are making by not offering firmware. unfortunately my situation was my own fault, but this could have easily happened by accident with someone else. thank you for the help though.
Anytime and I would do the same if I were in your shoes. I hate vendors that don't help their customers.
