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[crabbycrabcrab]

Hi, thanks for reading!

After the suggestions I got in my other thread, and looking at the benefits of the various options, I think I'll just go ahead and flash the TSOP in my Xbox and then have a lot more flexibility in terms of HDD.

I've read several tutorials now and my basic questions are answered, but I still have just a couple more that I need to get cleared up before I go ahead and do this thing.

My Xbox was made in 2003, so I'm almost sure that it is not a version 1.6.

Just a few simple questions before I get started:

I want to back up EVERYTHING on my current (stock) Xbox HDD to my new one.  But while I can download into my Xbox fast, uploading FROM it takes FOREVER.  So do I need to remove the Xbox HDD from the Xbox, hook it up to my PC, unlock and then transfer everything over that way?  Or is there an easier option still?

How can I make my partitions on my new HDD the same letters as the old Xbox HDD's partitions were?  They don't go in A-B-C order; there's R's, X's, F's, etc.  It's all over the place.

Once I do remake those partitions, how should I split them up?  Where can I find a guide that will tell me what each partition is used for, so I know I don't give too much HDD space to a partition that doesn't need it?

Is there a program that will run through XBMC that will just use the XBox's DVD drive to backup my (original store-bought) games?  If not, then what's a faster way than FTP to take images made on my computer and put them onto the XBox in a readable state?

Am I correct that any partition smaller than 512GB only needs a cluster size of 32k, and only when you go above that do you need 64k?  Would it be "safer" to make it 64k anyway regardless, in terms of stability?

Okay thank you!  Bye!  Thanks so much for your forum!  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[pattythefatty]

Crab,
Welcome to the scene.  You are new just like i was a month ago.  Let me give you some advice.  For a couple of "general easy to answer questions" like you have, I think you will be successful if you use the search button on the top right of your screen, or maybe try the stickied "General FAQs" link located at the top of the Forum.

Once you have actually made some effort, you will find that people are much more likely to help out.

[Heimdall]

Apart from F and G, partition sizes are fixed. I believe you can tweak them, but it isn't recommended. Whatever you use to format the new disk (most likely Slayers after you've done the TSOP) will sort out the partitions for you. The Xbox linux wiki has loads of info about the size and purpose of each partition.

XBPartitioner 1.1 sorts out cluster sizes for you. There's no point in making the clusters bigger than they need to be, so just let the tools sort it out for you.

Use DVD2Xbox to copy game discs to your Xbox.

Your proposed backup method will work, but I'd just ftp it overnight. You don't need the C drive (it's standard on all Xboxes, and there's a copy on Slayers/CASH/AID), and all you really need from E is gamesaves and similar things, from E:\UDATA and E:\TDATA.

[Bomb Bloke]

QUOTE(crabbycrabcrab @ Feb 11 2009, 02:55 AM)

So do I need to remove the Xbox HDD from the Xbox, hook it up to my PC, unlock and then transfer everything over that way?  Or is there an easier option still?

It's easiest to unlock the drive while it's still in the console. With ConfigMagic you can do this within a minute. However, a softmodded console won't boot off an unlocked drive. Therefore, you should flash the TSOP first.

But as mentioned the "easiest" method is to just let the FTP process run overnight. If it's really running THAT SLOW, create a Windows share on your PC, make sure the Everyone group has access to it (if in doubt, just assume they do), then use XBMC's file manager to copy stuff into that.

If you check out the System Info page in XBMC it'll tell you your system version. This not only determines whether your console is flashable (yours should be), but it also lets you know what BIOS types you can use.

For a 1.0/1.1 system I recommend the X2 5035 BIOS, for a 1.2-1.5 system X2 4981.6 will work.

It is possible to backup game discs using just XBMC (just copy the files over using the file manager), but DVD2XBox is more likely to work with "special case" games.

FWIW here's a document about the partitions. But as mentioned, just about every X-Box drive formatting tool out there deals with this for you. Just remember that before you attempt to place more then 256gb on a given partition, it needs to be formatted with XBPartitioner. Doesn't matter what tools you use to format beforehand.