Print

[7urrican]

if you want to do all of that stuff then blaster is your best friend! personally i would make sure you are au fait with flashing the firmware on your drive without the blaster in, then once you are comfortable with it you can add it. first step is to work out your dvd drive type, then read read read! good luck!

[Ranger72]

First you will need to know what drive you have.

Once you flash your drive you won't likely ever need to do it again.

What do you mean by connecting the hard drive to your desktop? What do you plan to do by doing that?

Stay away from the Blaster it is a waste of money.

Get the connectivity kit.

[Ranger72]

No you still have to use a SATA port. The USB part is for dumping the drive key from Liteon 7xxx drives.

[ghostyroasty]

From reading a bit I gather that with the Connectivity Kit you only use it once, then you remove it and everything works as normal.
With the Blaster 360, you have it always connected, which could be a danger since it is using the 360's power??


Am I reading something wrong?

If that is the case I will get a CK3 Pro.
I just don't want to have a bigger risk of RROD or getting Live banned.
I also don't want to go back in and reflash and take everything apart if there is a new firmware out.

[Ranger72]

Once you flash the drive you will be all done. There wont likely ever be a need to take your console apart to flash again.

Like I said the Blaster will be little to no use at all to you.

[Ranger72]

QUOTE(ghostyroasty @ Oct 4 2009, 11:11 AM)

Thanks for the info and advice Ranger.
I might have to get the sata to usb adapter.. Should be fine though with the connectivity kit?

No that wont work. You need to connect the drive directly to a SATA port in your computer.

[ghostyroasty]

This is what I have in my cart... Connectivity Kit Lite V3, Unlock Kit V2, and MiniSpy Sata Hard Drive Adapter (to avoid having to open and close my PC.. Very Compact)

Sound about right?

[Ranger72]

QUOTE(ghostyroasty @ Oct 4 2009, 11:54 AM)

This is what I have in my cart... Connectivity Kit Lite V3, Unlock Kit V2, and MiniSpy Sata Hard Drive Adapter (to avoid having to open and close my PC.. Very Compact)

Sound about right?

How many drives are you planning on doing? If you are only doing your console you should only have to open your PC and consoles once.

[astrophong]

ghostyroasty, I've been doing the same type of research as of late and hear's my thoughts on the topic.

Don't think that you can flash your XBox 360 only once and not worry about flashing it again.  The hacked iXtreme firmware is already at version 1.6, and people who flashed their 360's last year with version 1.2x need to reflash to 1.3 or better to play some of the newer game right.   Also, if you plan on playing on XBox Live, then you'll should keep the firmware up to date with the latest and greatest firmware.  iXtreme recently released version 1.6, and is still working on releasing it for the Hitachi drives.  So if you do have a Hitachi drive, then you'll be flashing it to 1.5 now and then 1.6 when it's released.  So there is no guarantee that you'll not need to reflash your drive, and the likely hood is great that you will.

With this said, you are probably like me and do not want to mess with opening your drive up over and over again when you need to do a reflash or maybe if you want to backup a game from your XBox drive (mode 0800 is supported in iXtreme 1.6).

The Xbox 360 Connectivity Kit will still require that you open your 360 up every time you want to access the drive from the PC and you can probably get the same results just using your XBox 360 to power and eject the drive* and a long SATA cable to connect it to your PC.  The Blaster 360, from what I have read, looks like an external connectivity solution so that you do not need to open the 360 up again.  It will still require you to have a compatible SATA connection to your PC, but will save you the headache of opening up the 360 when you want to access the drive on your PC.

If you plan on only flashing and don't mind opening up the XBox a few times a year (or maybe only once), then the Blaster 360 may be wasted money.  If you are planning on using your 360's DVD to rip games and it  can be put in mode 0800 using the Blaster 360, then it could be a wise investment for you.   It doesn't look to shabby either.

As far as accessing the drive, using whatever method you choose, you may be able to use the built in SATA ports in your computer**, getting a VIA 6421 PCI card, or the Xecuter X360 USB if you want to access the drive via USB***.

I did my research for my Hitachi 78fk drive, so just note that some or all of this information may not be valid for your specific XBox 360 DVD drive.  As far as I understand, Lite-On drives are a bitch and you may want to invest in the connectivity kit to make accessing it easier on a PC.

Hope this helps!


Nota Bene:
*If you use the XBox 360 to power and eject the DVD drive and a long SATA cord to connect it to a PC, remember that the XBox 360 will still need to have the A/V cable connected or it shuts down automatically after a few mins.

**You may be like me and want the cleanest solution as possible, if you do not chose the Xecuter X360 USB solution then you can order a External SATA port solution like this one a NewEgg (you can prolly find them cheaper on eBay).

**I do not have experience in it, but I saw someone stated that the USB adapter wouldn't work, but this article from Team Xecuter's site states otherwise:  http://team-xecuter....tachi_pre07.htm

[Ranger72]

QUOTE(astrophong @ Oct 4 2009, 05:14 PM)

ghostyroasty, I've been doing the same type of research as of late and hear's my thoughts on the topic.

Don't think that you can flash your XBox 360 only once and not worry about flashing it again.  The hacked iXtreme firmware is already at version 1.6, and people who flashed their 360's last year with version 1.2x need to reflash to 1.3 or better to play some of the newer game right.   Also, if you plan on playing on XBox Live, then you'll should keep the firmware up to date with the latest and greatest firmware.  iXtreme recently released version 1.6, and is still working on releasing it for the Hitachi drives.  So if you do have a Hitachi drive, then you'll be flashing it to 1.5 now and then 1.6 when it's released.  So there is no guarantee that you'll not need to reflash your drive, and the likely hood is great that you will.

With this said, you are probably like me and do not want to mess with opening your drive up over and over again when you need to do a reflash or maybe if you want to backup a game from your XBox drive (mode 0800 is supported in iXtreme 1.6).

The Xbox 360 Connectivity Kit will still require that you open your 360 up every time you want to access the drive from the PC and you can probably get the same results just using your XBox 360 to power and eject the drive* and a long SATA cable to connect it to your PC.  The Blaster 360, from what I have read, looks like an external connectivity solution so that you do not need to open the 360 up again.  It will still require you to have a compatible SATA connection to your PC, but will save you the headache of opening up the 360 when you want to access the drive on your PC.

If you plan on only flashing and don't mind opening up the XBox a few times a year (or maybe only once), then the Blaster 360 may be wasted money.  If you are planning on using your 360's DVD to rip games and it  can be put in mode 0800 using the Blaster 360, then it could be a wise investment for you.   It doesn't look to shabby either.

As far as accessing the drive, using whatever method you choose, you may be able to use the built in SATA ports in your computer**, getting a VIA 6421 PCI card, or the Xecuter X360 USB if you want to access the drive via USB***.

I did my research for my Hitachi 78fk drive, so just note that some or all of this information may not be valid for your specific XBox 360 DVD drive.  As far as I understand, Lite-On drives are a bitch and you may want to invest in the connectivity kit to make accessing it easier on a PC.

Hope this helps!
Nota Bene:
*If you use the XBox 360 to power and eject the DVD drive and a long SATA cord to connect it to a PC, remember that the XBox 360 will still need to have the A/V cable connected or it shuts down automatically after a few mins.

**You may be like me and want the cleanest solution as possible, if you do not chose the Xecuter X360 USB solution then you can order a External SATA port solution like this one a NewEgg (you can prolly find them cheaper on eBay).

**I do not have experience in it, but I saw someone stated that the USB adapter wouldn't work, but this article from Team Xecuter's site states otherwise:  http://team-xecuter....tachi_pre07.htm

There is a good chance the future iXtreme development has stopped. And with the current firmware from IX 1.5.1 and newer has support for any future changes that may happen there is a slim chance it should ever need to be updated again.

Hitachi firmware development has stopped at IX 1.5.1.

At one point there was a way to flash Hitachi drives through a USB adapter but not for Samsung/BenQ, Liteon drives.

[Ranger72]

QUOTE(ghostyroasty @ Oct 4 2009, 06:09 PM)

Geez, way to throw a wrench in things Now I gotta go back and research more...

What is the major drawback of the blaster 360 that caused a lot of people to go the way of the connectivity kit instead of installing the blaster?

I think you are mistaking as for what the Blaster is intended to be used for. The Blaster was never intended for a device to flash your drive.

The Blaster is for those without a Kreon PC drive. If you want to rip retail games to your PC to make backups you ether have to have a Kreon flashed PC drive or a 360 drive in 0800 mode. If you put your 360 drive into 0800 mode you can connect it to your PC and rip your retail games. But taking your 360 and PC apart every time you want to do this is a pain in the ass. So with a Blaster you can put your 360 drive into 0800 mode and connect it to your PC to rip the games.

BUT since you can pickup a PC based Kreon flashed drive for as little as $30 that is by far the easiest, safest, and most popular rout to take to make your backups.


Connectivity kit = to make flashing drives easier.

Blaster = To rip retail 360 games to your PC.

Hope that puts things into perspective for you.

[astrophong]

ghostyroasty, the Blaster360 simply acts as a switch that lets you direct the SATA connectivity of the 360 DVD drive.  You flip the switch one way and the DVD drive is connected to the 360.  You flip it the other way and the DVD drive is connected to the external SATA connection (normally a PC).

So for someone like my self who has a Hitachi 78fk, I can connect a SATA cable to my 360 from my PC via the Blaster360, flip the switch to create a SATA connection to my PC, and turn on the 360 so that the DVD drive has power.  Then from here I can chose to flash my firmware from my PC or I can backup a game, and from my reading it seems backups using 0800 mode mirror orginal discs more closely than a Kreon flashed drive.

I think I'm going to order a Blaster 360 for my self since I know how to put the drive in Mode B and that it connects and interfaces with my PC's onboard SATA connection.  I'm just waiting for some answers in another thread I put up.  I do not know how Samsung, BenQ's, or Lite-On's work in this regard and only can assume that Samsung and BenQ's have a similar process.  I think Lite-On's require some hardware to read the DVD keys, like the Connectivity Kit v3.  I think, and you'll want to verify, that all Elites use Lite-On, so if you plan to flash an Elite then you may want to go ahead and get the connectivity kit.

As for updates, I haven't been keeping up with iXtreme.  I read in some posts development was suppose to stop at 1.3 and now we are at 1.6.  I also read, but do not know the status of, that iXtreme firmware for Hitachi's are released later than the other drives and that a 1.6 is being worked on and is to be released soon.


Opening the 360 the first time may take some time just because you are learning, but after a that it's pretty quick and safe.  Most people damage their systems because they open their DVD drives or try taking off the heatsink.  I personally think opening a 360 is easier than opening a regular xbox.  Not having a internal hard drive helps.
If you do feel comfortable opening your 360, then you can buy yourself some time or save yourself some money and just try plugging in your DVD drive into your computer and using your 360 for power (just make sure A/V cable is in).  This is what I did.

JungleFlasher makes things pretty simple, but do make sure to first dump the key info and email it to yourself the .bin file so you don't lose it in the future.  Each drive also has a different way to enter Mode-B, so read up a bit on how to do it for your drive.  If you have a Hitachi 78fk, then let me know and I can post how I did it.  Your computer BIOS should be setup to detect SATA devices on whatever port you plug the DVD drive into, but it will detect the drive till it's in Mode B.  With mine I did not need to boot up the computer with the drive in Mode-B or even on, but instead turn the drive on and set it to Mode B after Windows XP had booted.  The only issue I had, and it wasn't a big issue, was when I turned off the drive after flashing it my computer jammed.

If you are not comfortable on opening the back side of the 360, then you can purchase an opening tool.  The one fro here is a pretty cheap one if you want to make opening your 360 easy on yourself:  http://www.dealextre...ils.dx/sku.6116
I just followed a YouTube video, don't remember which one, and didn't need the tool.  Just know that you can put a good amount of force when you stick a screw driver in the slots on the back side.

[Ranger72]

QUOTE(ghostyroasty @ Oct 4 2009, 07:05 PM)

This line is what confuses me via divineo's website:

"The Xecuter Blaster360 is an external switching device when, once fitted, allows you to flash your DVD Firmware without ever having to open up your Xbox 360 case ever again."

This is true but this is a side affect of what it is really good for.

Back in the day new IX firmware was released on a regular basis. This meant that there was a chance that once every 6 months or so you may want to flash your drive again. This is no longer the case. Unless something drastically changes there is a good chance that IX 1.6 MAY be the last custom firmware for the 360.

So buying the Blaster to use it only once is a total waste of money. Even IF, and I do mean a big IF a new custom firmware comes out sometime over the next few years then you will have spent money on the Blaster to save you from having to open the console just 1 time.  

Look spend all the money you want. Its not my money so spend away. BUT if you don't like spending money on things that will be pretty much useless to you then I suggest you pass on the Blaster and get a Kreon drive instead.

QUOTE(astrophong @ Oct 4 2009, 08:25 PM)

So for someone like my self who has a Hitachi 78fk, I can connect a SATA cable to my 360 from my PC via the Blaster360, flip the switch to create a SATA connection to my PC, and turn on the 360 so that the DVD drive has power.  Then from here I can chose to flash my firmware from my PC or I can backup a game, and from my reading it seems backups using 0800 mode mirror orginal discs more closely than a Kreon flashed drive.

Hitachi cant do 0800 mode. You will not be able to rip games using that drive.

And with any IX firmware beyond 1.4 there is no diffence between loading a backup from a Kreon drive or a Samsung, benq, or Liteon 360 drive in 0800 mode.

[ghostyroasty]

Hey all, been out of town for a bit, and got home and saw this product posted: Mr. Modchips

Thoughts?

 And if I get the CK3, I unhook and can use it on another 360 correct?

[Ranger72]

QUOTE(astrophong @ Oct 5 2009, 02:58 PM)

.
I would like to thank Ranger72, who has been extremely helpful in educating me, and I'm sure many others, through his immense catalog of posts on X-S.  Keep up the awesome job!

That is what I am here for. Thanks for the comment.