Upgrading HD on Softmodded Xbox Tutorial

Here's the second of my tutorials...perhaps this could be stickied as well?

Just follow these instructions, and using this method you will not need to do anything to your original hard drive which means that if anything does go wrong you will still have an xbox.

Necessary Equipment:

[bold]1) xboxhdm 1.9 (Found at xbins’ in the directory: /XBOX/Operating Systems/linux/distributions)

2) Torx 10 And Torx 20 Screwdrivers - To Open XBOX

3) A Spare/Blank PC Hardrive

4) FTP Program (AceFTP, SmartFTP etc.)

5) A blank CD-R/W and A CD Burner[/bold]

Steps:

1. On your xbox's evox dashboard go to system utils and select backup. While your waiting for that to finish, extract all files in xboxhdm 1.9 to your PC'S hard drive and open up the folder 'linux'. In that folder is a folder called 'eeprom'. Once the backup is complete, on your PC run the desired FTP program and access your xbox. Go to E:\ backup_linux\ and download a file called 'eeprom.bin' to the xboxhdm\linux\eeprom folder of on your PC’s hard drive. Then go to the root of your xbox and download the full folders of C:\ and E:\ to your PC's hard drive to the xboxhdm\linux folder and overwrite the ones already there.

2. Now in the root of xboxhdm is a file named 'make-iso-win'. You must run make-iso-win and wait for it to finish once it has finished. Now burn the .iso which was created to a blank cd-r/w using nero or alcohol, dvddecrypter etc. When burning is finished shutdown pc.

3. Take out all other hard drives and put in the hard drive you wish to make an xbox hard drive and set it to be the primary master. Boot up your PC and as it is loading press whatever button to enter your BIOS setup and set your PC to boot from CD. Now reset your PC and put the cd-r/w with the .iso you created on it, in the cd/dvd drive. You should be given a list of options.

4. Choose Option 1 (by typing ‘1’) and press enter to boot VGA console with xbox-drive utilities (default). Type ‘xboxhd’ when it asks you for a login. Another list of options will show up, choose option 1 again (the one that says ‘Build a new Xbox HD from scratch’) and it will begin to format and write the partition table etc. If you put your C:\ and E:\ onto the CD then when it asks you about them type yes and when it asks you if you would like an F select yes, it is all pretty self explanatory. Now quit and reboot your PC. If this worked you now have a brand new nearly-usable xbox hard drive.

5. Now for locking the hard drive. When it boot from the cd again, this time type ‘3’ and hit enter to boot linux with locking/unlocking utilities. Next, type in ‘lockhd -a’. It will now search for the eeprom on the CD and will automatically lock the hard drive. Now turn off the PC and take out the hard drive when it has finished locking.

Now put it back in your Xbox and load up and have fun!

If you can't figure out how to burn the cd properly in Nero or whatever, don't worry, i NEVER do it properly lol, so just use the burn feature in DVD Decrypter and it'll burn the linux.iso in the proper bootable format for you to use it. Also, [bold]if your HD is OVER 137 gigs[/bold], you'll need to format the remaining space with UnleashX for it to be available once you're finished the upgrade.

Edit - To save some people from buying a harddrive that isn't lockable and therefore wasting their money, [bold]please visit this link for a list of lockable and therefore Xbox compatible harddrives[/bold] - http://www.xbox-hq.com/html/modules.php?name=Xbox_HardDrives

 

Yup, that's the exact method I used. http://www.how2xbox.com/harddrive.htm
Works like a charm.

 

Yeah CL, Coolguy's site and thread on G4Techtv forums was EXTREMELY instrumental in me gaining my knowledge of Xbox softmodding. Without him i don't know if i would've even been able to do half the things I know how to do now....

 

Agreed.

When I was looking to upgrade my HDD, I read ALOT. In that reading, I became more confused. Then I came across this method and it looked so....easy. I put it to action and it was easy. This method works.

I'm glad somebody posted this as this may take away alot of the confusion on upgrading the HDD. And I agree, this should be stickied. :thumbsupsmileywouldgohere:

 

i need a eeprom. can i borrow one?

 

Borrow an eeprom? Um, from whom??? And anyways, if you don't have the eeprom of the stock harddrive that came with your Xbox, you won't be able to upgrade anyway....you can only use the eeprom that came with your Xbox.

 

ok, you guys r the pros at this stuff. now i wanna softmod my xbox and intend to load a hugge hard drive in it like 180 gb's dont worry about the 137 gb thing. But could i just make a xbox ready hard disk and then swap the drives and i have a softmodded xbox. Like buy a new hard drive and instead of moddign ym xbox just set up the hard drive and open up the xbox and swap the drives with the one i just made and it'll work

 

I am no expert, but I would have to say no. Your xbox needs to be modded before you can upgrade the HDD.

Just follow the directions on softmodding your original xbox's HDD and then proceed to upgrading it to the new HDD. All the info is right here on the forum.

 

Yes you can, the term "softmodding" is just that, software. All the software used for this mod is kept into your harddrive. Go to xbox-scene.com for a tut on how to upgrade hd on unmodded xbox. This process is good but not the only way.

 

@ps22man - No you cannot do this. In order to upgrade your HD you need the eeprom code from your xbox, and the only way to get it is to use a program like Configmagic or a dashboard to find out your eeprom code. Meaning you would have to mod your xbox first in order to run these applications. If you're looking to retain the stock harddrive in order to play on Live, i would suggest you get a copy of Firefucker's disk or Slayers' disk and copy the Retail C: contents to an xboxhdm boot disc and label it "Stock". Then once you are finished upgrading to your bigger hd, you can take the stock one and reformat it and it should be back to retail state.

@tgienger - There is no way to upgrade an HD on an unmodded xbox. Please don't post incorrect information.

 

just bumping to keep at top since it's not sticked...

 

http://xbox-scene.com/articles/large-hd-unmodded.php

Dont ever call me a liar

 

Call me crazy, but isn't that telling you to softmod your xbox first? You have to get the eeprom somehow from your original HD so you can lock the new one. So, really, you have to mod it first.

Or did I just read the above posted tutorial wrong?

 

No, your running config magic from evox in the 007exploit, no files are ever put onto your stock drive. just the backuped up eeprom info that you will use the 007exploit to ftp.

 

bumping to top

 

I backed up everything, put the files on the right place on the cd, burned it, set the new hard drive to master, once it loaded up xboxhdm on the screen I selected #1 as it said and it ended up saying undefined mode number, it ended up not going to far it did say loading kernel but I left it on for an hour and nothing moved any help??

 

Do you have an older PC?

 

yeah its older, I couldn't really say how old, I would say its around the 800mhz era, the only thing I could find about this problem is that it could be the fact that there is no video card.
I think I found out the problem it could be that the computer I tried this on has only 48 MB of ram, I read that it could have problems if it is under 64 MB. Seems like the only thing it is good for is to hold magnets on. : )

 

hey i did everything this thread said to do but when i try to lock the hd it says that its frozen and i can't do anything to it can anyone help me

 

@daveguy - Yeah it sounds like both problems could be what's wrong with your PC...try it on a buddy's computer or something.

@Taider54 - Your PC probably has security lock enabled. Either disable this from your PC BIOS or use another computer...