As stated somewhere above, the reason you'd need to "hack" the Xbox drive firmware would be to enable some extra features, such as DVD+R reading, etc. Just because the hardware supports something, doesn't mean the firmware allows it. I know the 616T PC version can read DVD+R WITHOUT bitsetting, if you have the latest firmware. The Xbox version, being older, does NOT support this, which is why you have to properly bitset a +R in order for it to be read.
I'm sure the PC version of the Hitachi reads burned media fine, which means that the drive is physically capable of reading the media. However, if, once it is flashed, it doesn't read DVD+Rs (or any other media) anymore, then we know that the firmware is limiting it, thus it might need to be hacked.
To answer HunTerror's question about the motor spinning:
The motor reversal on the 616 isn't to reverse the spinning motor; it's to reverse the tray in/out motor. The Xbox doesn't spin the discs backwards, it reads them from the outside track -> in (instead of inner track -> out, like normal media). The tray reversal wasn't a copy protection method, just a slight difference between the way the drives were manufactured (which had to be properly addressed in the drive firmware)
For ferrari_rulz_02:
In order to take the firmware and flash it in a way that the new drive works, the new drive HAS to have the same type of chips, etc. on it. Trying to find the exact PC equivalent of the Xbox Hitachi is the goal of this thread. Once that is found, the work of mapping the proper solder points, etc. can begin.
This post has been edited by speedbump47: Dec 31 2004, 12:18 AM