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[darkmenace]

Anyone know what bios is required to get a 1.6 xbox to read a 300gb hd completely without any corruption on the hd?

[i800phyco]

evox m8+
youl have to open it in evtool to use the 300gb to cap

[NghtShd]

If you plan on putting everything on one F partition (as opposed to having a G partition) then you'll need to format with 32k clusters.

[darkmenace]

I'd just as sooner have the G partition if it makes everything work better. I didn't know the EvoX team had added support in M8 for 300gb to work without corruption and by utilising a G partition. I remember at one stage it could only extend the F partition out to utilise the whole drive but over a certain size it was at risk of corruption.

Thanks for the info.

Darky

[NghtShd]

QUOTE (darkmenace @ Nov 19 2004, 05:55 AM)

I'd just as sooner have the G partition if it makes everything work better. I didn't know the EvoX team had added support in M8 for 300gb to work without corruption and by utilising a G partition. I remember at one stage it could only extend the F partition out to utilise the whole drive but over a certain size it was at risk of corruption. Thanks for the info. Darky

I guess "work better" is a matter of opinion. If you consider using an F & G as opposed to one big perfectly stable F partition to be working better then fine. I consider it a kludge invented to work around a problem that no longer exists with the proper formatting.

[kilroy1]

Sorry in advance for the potential newb questions:

I've been using X2.4981 bois for a long, long time.

I've stuck with it because:

1) It prohibits connectivity to XB Live when in modded mode

2) I patched the BIOS prior to burining it to boot from F:\avalaunch.xbe. This allows me to keep my C: & E: partitions virgin. When I boot into unmodded mode, MS dash and Live are happy

Now, to my knowledge and the research I've done, I can't seem to find anything that tells me that X2.4981 will support 32k clusters.

It appears that M8 does, which is a reason to switch -- provided M8 also handles my two concerns listed above.

A) Does M8 block access to Live?
B) Does M8 boot from F: (is this customizable)?
C) If M8 does support 32k clusters, how to you enable that option?

Thanks in advance for your replies,
-Kilroy

[kilroy1]

Well, by experimentation, I've answered two out of three of my questions.
To share the knowledge:

Q: Does M8+ block access to Xbox Live (like X2 4980+ does)?
A: Still don't know the answer and don't want to experiment and run the risk of having my modded boxes banned.

Q: Does/can M8+ boot from the F: partition?
A: Yes, by downloading a copy of EVtool, the bios can be tweaked to boot from whatever partition and lauch whatever dash you like (I set it to F:\avalaunch.xbe). This way I can keep my C & E partitions 100% original so than when I disable the mod chip I can connect to XBox Live and not get banned (so far).

Q: Does M8+ support 32k clusters (LBA48 version 2)?
A: Yes. XBpartioner works like a champ. Now I can partition my 300Gb drives into a single F: partition today, and as soon as the price drops on those new 400Gb Hitachi IDE drives, I'll be ordering a couple of them!

So, if anyone can shed some light on the first question (does M8+ block access to XBox Live), I'd really appreciate it. Let's hope it does or someone point me to a better solution.

-Kilroy

This post has been edited by kilroy1: Dec 6 2004, 04:48 AM

[appleguru]

RE live blocking:

See my post here:

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?sho...dpost&p=2047170

[kilroy1]

Well, so far... NOT GOOD.

I rebuilt my 300Gb box with M8+, used XBpartitioner 1.0 to create a single 291Gb partition #6 (F:), then loaded Avalaunch (booting from F:), a few other apps to F:\Apps, and then proceeded to dump ~ 270Gb of games from my other xbox to this one.

Upson finishing the FTP, I rebooted the box. Avalaunch's boot graphic came up but that was as far as she'd get.

I fear that the F: partition is corrupted... again.

I can't seem to be able to change the cluster size when using XBpartioner, and there doesn't seem to be a way to read or analize the partition cluster size using XBpartitioner, so this is really hard to troubleshoot.

If you have > 250Gb drive, stick with using two partitions (F+G).

No time to test any more right now -- have to go to work and develop some software for a living...

-Kilroy

[kilroy1]

Does anyone know how to chance the cluseter size in XBpartioner? The help menu says you can change the cluster size by pressing [Y], howeverm I can press [Y] all day long and there is no feedback on the screen as to what cluster size is selected.

Does anyone know how to contact the folks that wrote this utility? Anyone know if they read the forums here?

-Kilroy

[kilroy1]

FYI - I finally figured out how to change the cluster size on XB partitioner (you have to choose format only using the white button and then press Y, which provides no visual indication of your selection, then press START). The only way you know what is going on is that it says "formatting F: with 32k clusters."

Then, try not to make the mistake of reformatting using EvoX (which I did the first time around).

Anyway, after formatting a 300Gb drive (291Gb F: partition) with 32k clusters, I began the overnight copy process of transferring 270+Gb of games from my other box (which has them spread out over F & G partitions) to this box.

When I woke up, the trasnfer was done, but none of the games worked. They appeared to be present (i.e. directory entries weren't lost), but when I tried to launch each game the box rebooted and the Avalaunch menu loaded.

I guess it suffices to say, that I give up. I've been trying to overcome this >250Gb limitation for too long. The tools change, but the results are always the same -- disasterous!

I'll reflash the box with X2.4981 configured to support F&G. Repartion it and reload it one last time.

-Kilroy