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[rlanza1054]

If anyone is intersted, the 60 gb xbox drive that is being replaced by a Western Digital was a:

Hitachi
HDD: 5K250-60
Model: HTS542560K9SA00
5400RPM
SATA
Firmware: C3JP

Microsoft Part Number: X816930-001

The above was from the label slapped on the top of the hard drive.

Rob

[thr4773r]

QUOTE(rlanza1054 @ Nov 18 2008, 03:32 PM)

And thr4773r if that message was meant for me, yeah now that I see it working, your probably right, I should have copied the drive that's really being replaced which is a 60gb drive.  It would not take as long to do the copy.

....

I am going to have a question.  Because, it seems when you format the drive, it wants the serial number of the console entered.

Does that mean when I restore my 120gb image (that I am copying now) to get all the partitions installed correctly do I have to be concerned about this console serial number?

thr4773r, maybe I should have just restored the 60gb drive then it will have the correct consoles serial number.  But then I would have to run hddhackr again to fake the back into being a 120gb drive.

Any comments at this point?

Rob

The hard drive contents do not matter, nor does the serial when you're formatting the drive. The serial they are asking you for is the serial number of your console, basically to make sure you intend to format your hard drive, instead of your 10 month old getting a hold on your controller and accidentally deleting all of your game saves and content...

Backing up your 120GB drive is a bit more used space and time than you need. I was annoyed that I had to use 20GB for mine, but like I said, that was the easiest way for me.

All I used the backup image for was to add the same other partitions on my replacement drive. The Big one doesn't matter so much, as its already there from hddhackr. Applying the 20Gb image gave me my emulator partition so I can use my original xbox games...

[rlanza1054]

Thanks for being there, and in the end your suggestion of using the MS Data transfer cable was the best and easiest.

At least now for the 120gb drive I never had to break the seal on it to get the hddss.bin file.  That was what was bothering me.  My systems are very much under warranty.

But I wanted to attempt this 'fun' hack (and to me it was more of a fun project, a little scary but fun) before they rolled out the NXE update which might start happening at 12am midnight tonight!

And just a little about me, I've only had an Xbox 360 for about 2 months now that's all my experience.

By trade, I am a technician when I am working.

So, right now on two machines seperately, I have the 120gb still being backed up (it'a about 90 percent done) and I started to backup the 60gb drive on another computer.

I also made a hddss.bin of the 60gb as well, but will probably never need that.

And of course I have the 120gb one that I made with Xplorer360 today.

Actually, both drives have almost to the letter the same exact info / data on them.  If I downloaded something on the living room xbox, I always just re-downloaded it to the xbox in the bedroom.

Of course, at some point, I would run out of room on the 60gb so that was part of the reason to do the upgrade.  So I can have the same stuff on both equally.

OK, my final question:

Once these backups are down, I just take one of them (probably the 120gb) and do a restore to the Western Digital.  That will force the drive to end up having a total of 3 partitions.  I won't have to any more hexing around, is that correct?  I hope so, I wanted to avoid that stuff as much as possible.

Boy, I have to tell you that this was very very easy.  Just make sure you have the latest utilities that are out there.  And it is important to read everything.  You think you have the latest version and a few messages down in a thread and there is a newer version to download.

So I'm not done yet, but I am beginning to feel confidant that all will go well, especially since someone came to my aid and watched over me.  Thank you, thr4773r!

[leorimolo]

You should update it on how to do it with a usb key. Much easier, and alot of people dont have floppys now a days

[rlanza1054]

For the person that asked about USB key.  For some reason, my key went bad just as I was about to use it so I had the floppy setup and ready to go.  My original intention was to use the USB key.  That's if that state was meant for me.

Well, I want to say I had success, and I did, but I had a minor problem happen and then discovered I lost a small part (and I'm upset about it).

So here goes, using the MS/Xbox Data transfer cable was the best option for the following reasons:
1) I did not void my warranty by breaking the seal on my 120gb hard drive, for which I only needed it to get a clean copy of the hddss.bin file.

2) Using Xplorer360 program (the latest version) and the data transfer cable, copying hex 16 -22 locations (which I was uncomfortable doing) was as easy as a drop down menu to 'copy hddss.bin'.

After I had gotten a copy of the hddss.bin file, I used hddhackr to place the signature onto the new Western Digital drive.  When I did that, I did get the message that is was now ready for Xbox 360.

I tested it out and connected to my xbox 360 and it saw it perfectly, and I even formatted it without issue.

3) Having the Data Transfer cable allowed me to easily make a backup copy of the 120gb hard drive, using Xplorer360.

4) Making a backup of my 120gb hard drive meant I would not have to play around with winhex or anything else to get the missing partitions easily put back.

5) To get the partitions back, I just did a restore from the backup I make of the 120gb drive to the new Western Digital Drive.

This is when the problem happened and this was not a major problem.

I thought that after I did the restore to get the all the partitions back, that Xbox 360 would see the drive and be happy.   But for some reason, and I believe it happened when I hooked it up to my Windows XP machine to do the restore, it saw it as a Western Digtial and maybe rewrote the signature back to the original, but I'm not sure.

So in the end all I had to do after restoring the drive was to run hddhackr once again.  Hook the drive up, no need to format or anything else, all the data was there from my 120gb drive.

It was suggested that I should have save time to just do a restore from a smaller drive (in my case it would have been the 60gb that I was upgrading) and they probably in the long run were right.  Since I had to run hddhackr over again.

So the only seal that was broken was on the xbox hard drive case that I was upgrading and not the 120gb.

So I only voided one xbox 360's warranty.  That damm sticker, there is really no way to take it off without damaging it, they will always know it.

Now for my being upset with this.  When watching the video on how to disassemble the hard drive case, they warn you to be careful not to loose the spring that is used to keep the drive in place when it's attached.

I almost lost the spring but managed to find it after it flew a few feet.  However, I did loose the little plastic nub that was what you push to release the hard drive from the main unit of the xbox.

So does anyone know where to get that little piece of plastic, the nub or whatever you call it.

It might turn up but I think the dog got it!

So in the end, yes I have a working 120gb xbox hard drive that cost about $50 and then I spent another $15 on a Torx screwdriver set, but that will come in handy now and then.

Rob

PS The truth, when I ordered the Pro I did that to save some money, and I figured I'd do this upgrade and still spend less than I did on the Elite.  But what I didn't realize until I got the Pro in the house, what that it did not come with the correct audio adapter if you are going to hook up the Xbox with an HDMI cable which I did (I had spare HDMI's laying around).  The cost for the cable was $50 and it ended up coming with yet another HDMI cable that I did not need.

So total = I should have gotten an Elite to begin with.  But then again, I would have had the fun I did all day today!  I just wish I could find that  plastic nub.

Ok it's here tonight, Xbox's New Experience, arriving at your doorstep tonight about midnight! Wow! I've been waiting for this!

[hobartrus]

QUOTE(leorimolo @ Nov 18 2008, 05:48 PM)

You should update it on how to do it with a usb key. Much easier, and alot of people dont have floppys now a days

The tutorial is not meant to cover every possible contingency, but to serve as a general guide for how to do the upgrade.  Obviously there are differences in equipment (such as using a USB key instead of a floppy) that make following the steps exactly as I laid them out impossible.

I don't have any experience doing it using a USB key.  I did every step in my tutorial exactly as I listed them, so I know it works... if I start rewriting it to include steps for other methods I'd feel the need to experiment with those methods myself, and frankly I just don't have the time or desire to do that right now.

So, even though I noted in the tutorial that it could be reposted as long as it wasn't modified, I'll now remove that "restriction."  Anyone is welcome to use my tutorial as a basis for an updated tutorial with additional information from their own experiences, as long as the folks who are credited in the tutorial are still given credit.  Maybe you could also correct some of the typos and grammatical errors...  

[rlanza1054]

Ok, now I'm a happy camper!

I found the stupid little plastic nub, it was in my bed? In my bed? I was working in the other room when I did this.

Oh well, it's back and now I feel complete with my little nub!

Off to play some Xbox 360 with a large hard drive!

Rob

Ok, now I'm a happy camper!

I found the stupid little plastic nub, it was in my bed? In my bed? I was working in the other room when I did this.

Oh well, it's back and now I feel complete with my little nub!

Off to play some Xbox 360 with a large hard drive!

Rob

QUOTE(hobartrus @ Nov 18 2008, 09:52 PM)

So, even though I noted in the tutorial that it could be reposted as long as it wasn't modified, I'll now remove that "restriction."  

I would recommend keeping the original post somewhere, and then have the users (me) modify a copy of the original.

This everyone can always go back to the original post, just in case the modifications get too complicated or off topic.

Just a suggestion!

Rob

[volcs0]

Is there any reason to suspect that this will not work after the NXE upgrade?

I just stumbled upon this, and I'm wondering if I should prevent the update until I order the drive and do this upgrade from our current 20gb hard drive...

Thanks for the advice.

[hobartrus]

QUOTE(rlanza1054 @ Nov 18 2008, 09:16 PM)

I would recommend keeping the original post somewhere, and then have the users (me) modify a copy of the original.

This everyone can always go back to the original post, just in case the modifications get too complicated or off topic.

Just a suggestion!

Rob

That's a great idea... but it's not my forum and I have no admin rights... I'm just a user.  So anyone who wants to modify it would have to copy and paste it into a new post anyway.

Anyway, I'm glad you found your nub!  I'll bet the dog helped it find it's way to your bed... if he's anything like my dog.

[slikk]

QUOTE(volcs0 @ Nov 18 2008, 09:54 PM)

Is there any reason to suspect that this will not work after the NXE upgrade?

I just stumbled upon this, and I'm wondering if I should prevent the update until I order the drive and do this upgrade from our current 20gb hard drive...

Thanks for the advice.

I just did this upgrade today, and I've been a member of the NXE preview program for the last two weeks. No problems related to the NXE (and I haven't been banned - yet?). Be warned that some of your saved games will not work on the new hard drive - my RB2 save didn't work, but my Mirror's Edge one did. I've also heard that Fable 2 saves will stop working. We probably have 360gamesaves.com to thank for that

[rlanza1054]

QUOTE(hobartrus @ Nov 19 2008, 01:51 PM)

Anyway, I'm glad you found your nub!  I'll bet the dog helped it find it's way to your bed... if he's anything like my dog.

Oh wow! Your probably right, Dylan probably picked it up and tried to play with it in my bed.  He is allowed into my bed.  I have a stair set for him to get up into it.  He's a Yorkie.

Back to Xbox:

I've upgraded to NXE and have had no problems at all.

So far this worked out great.

Rob

Hi all again,

Since we upgraded to NXE and now I have both my Xbox's with a 120gb drive, I copied 3 of the games that I play regularly to the hard drive with the new option to play from the hard drive instead of the DVD.

It works good!  Not too much speed improvement, but there is when loading different levels.

My concern is that it's going to be eay to run out of room on the hard drive even with 120gb of space to play with.

I have a feeling that Microsoft Xbox will be announcing very shortly a new larger hard drive at maybe 500gb.

I would bet anything that this is going to happen.

It will probably be the last upgrade they do before coming out with a new xbox.

So in the long run they are finding way to get more money out of this box.

Do you agree with my thinking?

Rob

[julianbl]

QUOTE(monkeyspank @ Nov 7 2008, 07:20 PM)

Is partition 1 important?  lol
When I restored partition 2 to my new 120gb, partition 1 disappeared in Xplorer360.
Tried the drive in my xbox and everything seems fine (except the rockband save but not bothered by that)
Shall I do it again to try and get partition 1 to show? before I go saving games to my new drive?

I'm in the same situation. everything works perfect but I don't have a partition 1. I read somewhere that partition 1 is cache, put i have a cache folder in partition 3. Would I notice a decrease of performance for not having partition 1 (cache)?

regards,
Julián

[supertrek32]

Can anyone answer my question about whether the hddss.bin files are unique? If I took 2 keys off different (retail) 120GB harddrives, would they be the same? Or are keys/serial numbers/etc. stored here that would vary?

If no one knows, could someone post an MD5 hash of their hddss.bin?

[jerri blank]

QUOTE(supertrek32 @ Nov 22 2008, 08:33 PM)

Can anyone answer my question about whether the hddss.bin files are unique? If I took 2 keys off different (retail) 120GB harddrives, would they be the same? Or are keys/serial numbers/etc. stored here that would vary?

If no one knows, could someone post an MD5 hash of their hddss.bin?

I don't think it's unique.  I got one that I'm sure has been passed around plenty.

[Adidajs]

i got this to work. just some notes in case someone has issues like i did.

1. IMPORTANT: you may need to access xplorer360 under administrator (right-click run as administrator) or check the box under compatibility for vista OS (i used vista x64). I kept getting "couldn't find a FATX drive" until i did this.

2. personal: i could not get my mobo- asus p5w dh deluxe to flash my 120gb hard drive no matter the IDE configuration. (i could see it for the 20gb hdd however) I found confirmation of mobo problem on a german site. I used another computer to flash the 120gb hard drive.  

3. i needed to hex edit xplorer360 to see partitions (only partition 1 was visible before hex edit)for the 120gb hdd after i flashed it and formatted it in the xbox360. I actually transferred all my 20gb backed up files one-by-one to the newly flashed 120gb hard drive. (when i dragged the whole folder, it supposedly transferred but i could see nothing there.)  The backup of the 20gb was much easier for me. the file st.db was the sole problem.

4. i used winhex instead of hex workshop b/c I could see the 80000 position with winhex and had to calculate it for hex workshop. since i had never done this before, if I couldn't see it I wasn't sure I could trust my own calculations in case they were off from what the OP stated.  

This hack took me a couple of days since I had classes interfering. since my internet connection won't let me access Xbox live (something about apt MTU's are problematic), i took my newly formatted console to work, and it updated (avatars were missing) beautifully.

Thanks everyone. Currently installing my xbox360 library to the HDD.