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[silentkiller]

[mhernie]

Been on the forums constantly since I modded by xbox last month.  This is the most exciting news by far.  Thanks PaulB for keeping me on the edge of my seat on this one...

[Xeero]

QUOTE (krawhitham @ Aug 28 2003, 06:22 PM)

QUOTE (Xeero @ Aug 28 2003, 02:16 PM) QUOTE (krawhitham @ Aug 28 2003, 08:55 AM) you're not a dick or anything are you not everyone will to use a "normal kernel".  I installed a homebrew mod and have never had a problem or a desire to load the "normal kernel" since if you are talking about the soft mod users, he said he did not know if it would work. Get a clue most users have a modchip or have flashed the tsop.  just the new kids on the block that are afraid to open the xbox are using the soft mods FYI, Live requires the retail kernel...   Buy another xbox. this does not bother me, I hate online games

Good thing we're not out to please you.  If it's possible to make this procedure compatible with LBA24 (i.e., compatible with the MS BIOS, and thereby Live), why in the world would Paul stop on the presumption that most people don't ever use the MS BIOS.  Seems like reckless imprudence to me.

[crumb]

QUOTE (oz_paulb @ Aug 29 2003, 12:38 AM)

The first pass of my LBA48 test is complete (finished writing files).  It wrote over 0x16cd0000 unique sectors (195,857,219,584 bytes) spread out across 182 files.

Did you use a random file generator and keep 200GB of random files on your PC or did you use a random number generator where you kept the seed?

[oz_paulb]

QUOTE (crumb @ Aug 29 2003, 03:03 AM)

QUOTE (oz_paulb @ Aug 29 2003, 12:38 AM) The first pass of my LBA48 test is complete (finished writing files).  It wrote over 0x16cd0000 unique sectors (195,857,219,584 bytes) spread out across 182 files. Did you use a random file generator and keep 200GB of random files on your PC or did you use a random number generator where you kept the seed?

The files don't contain 'random' data, but they are unique.

I keep a running 32-bit count of the total # of 512-byte sectors I've written to files.  The data that I write to a given 512-byte disk sector is just a 512-byte block filled with the 32-bit 'total sector count' value (the same 32-bit value repeated 128 times in a 512-byte sector).

As I create a new file, I don't reset the 'total sector count' value (the value keeps incrementing across all sectors in all files).  So, when the test is completed, every 512-byte sector of the partition (excluding OS overhead/directory entries/etc) will be unique from one another.  Going back and re-reading/verifying that "file N, subsector M" contains what it was created with will confirm that there was no overwriting.

- Paulb

[oz_paulb]

Update 3: My test code has just passed the 0x10000000 sector mark, meaning it's verified over 137GB of data.  Since the F: partition (where all my files are) starts 8GB into the disk, it's actually accessing files 145GB into the disk.

As I said, I think the test will be complete about 1 hour from now.  I'll give a final update on test status then.

- Paulb

[oz_paulb]

Success!!!

My full read/compare of the ~195GB partition has finished, without any errors!!

As a final sanity check, I changed my test program to self-corrupt one of the sectors, just to be sure it's reporting errors OK - and it is.

So, things look GREAT for > 137GB!

I'm now going to try and figure out why the Slayer/EvoX installer doesn't seem to like the new partition stuff...

- Paulb

[IonBlade]

Absolutely BRILLIANT work!  When I first got my box, I hoped that someday this barrier would be broken, but lost hope when I believed the misinformation that the hardware was limiting the drive size.  I spent hours building a Project 411-esque enclosure that didn't work, then had to resort to the dirty way of switching drives via a drive tray - looks like all that's obsolete now thanks to your work!  Couldn't have happened at a better time, either - my 80 GB and 120 GB just died on me, so it looks like it's time to go find a hot deal on a 200GB drive

Thanks again for what I consider the largest Xbox breakthrough this year!

[Illumina]

and bob M.  

[heinrich]

oz_paulb:
While not trying to jump the gun here, but here is where most (if not all) people with >137 gig drives have right now:
C E X Y Z = standard size
F = all the rest

So do you think it wil be possible to create a G partition, and format just that 1, without having to format the entire drive?

[boxorox]

QUOTE (heinrich @ Aug 29 2003, 04:45 AM)

oz_paulb: While not trying to jump the gun here, but here is where most (if not all) people with >137 gig drives have right now: C E X Y Z = standard size F = all the rest So do you think it wil be possible to create a G partition, and format just that 1, without having to format the entire drive?

Wholly shit! if I could get my 23GB back without messing with my existing partitions, I would have a hard time explaining to my family my utter elation.

[heinrich]

Also, i think that any dash would need to be rewritten for this to work... except maybe XBMP

why?

Lets say you have a a 7th partion (ie: G) which would be DeviceHarddisk0Partition7

In the code i have seen for neXgen dash (i will look at the MXM and XBMP code tonight as well hopefully), values are hard coded in for each partition....

CODE

struct pathconv_s {    char * DriveLetter;    char * FullPath; } pathconv_table[] = {    { "DVD:", "\Device\Cdrom0" },    { "SYSTEM:", "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition2" },    { "STORAGE:", "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition1" },    { "EXTENDED:", "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition6" },    { "TEMPX:", "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition3" },    { "TEMPY:", "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition4" },    { "TEMPZ:", "\Device\Harddisk0\Partition5" },    { "BSYSTEM:", "\Device\Harddisk1\Partition2" },    { "BSTORAGE:", "\Device\Harddisk1\Partition1" },    { "BEXTENDED:", "\Device\Harddisk1\Partition6" },    { "BTEMPX:", "\Device\Harddisk1\Partition3" },    { "BTEMPY:", "\Device\Harddisk1\Partition4" },    { "BTEMPZ:", "\Device\Harddisk1\Partition5" },    { NULL, NULL } };

Which would seem to me, that any dash wanting to launch xbe's off this 7th partition, as well as any filemanagers, would need to be updated.

In the case of actually formatting the drive via EVOX, there is a RAW ftp command:

CODE

Formatpath DeviceHarddisk0Partitionx

where x is the partition 1 - 6.  I dont know if you could try this with '7' and have it work.  But even if it did, the 7th partition will still be inaccessible via FTP, and most likely any filemanager.

So an expected release a 'few days' is great, but only if the dashboard and filemanager devs are given proper info upfront to support this.

Now, about XBMP, as I am sure most people have noticed in the config.xml...

CODE

Not sure the ftpd looks at this file, but if so, then we would be set for ftp access to any new partitions.

[oz_paulb]

QUOTE (heinrich @ Aug 29 2003, 04:45 AM)

oz_paulb: While not trying to jump the gun here, but here is where most (if not all) people with >137 gig drives have right now: C E X Y Z = standard size F = all the rest So do you think it wil be possible to create a G partition, and format just that 1, without having to format the entire drive?

I think it should be possible, but there could be some 'gotchas'.

By default, my 'partition table' assigns the remainder of the drive (regardless of whether/not it's > 137GB) to drive F: - to be compatible with EvoX.  I could make my default partition table leave F: maxed-out to the 137GB size, and auto-create a G:.

Or, if I left it alone, a boot CD could be made that writes a partition table to the drive.  This new parition table would have to exist on the drive before you booted with my modified BIOS/tried accessing a pre-existing (smaller) drive F: - otherwise, you may corrupt F:.

I think it'll be 'do-able', just some thought needs to be put into a procedure.

- Paulb

[heinrich]

Makes sense, and in some cases, it is needed to use an older bios in order to get around certain errors (like no system time), so i would think that the best way to do it would be to have that 1 extra partition for everything above the 137gig mark.  Since I will admit right now that i have NO clue if this is do-able (to have C E F Y Z, then F from the 8 gig mark to 137, and a G from 137 and on), I will leave it to you, but if sing an older bios later on would currupt data, i can see this as being the only feasible way to do it.

[Ub3rn3wb]

w00t for oz_paulb!!

Looks like my 120gig HD in my Xbox is now going to be replaced with a 300gig HD!  

Thanks a lot by doing this. I think you should be voted right up there with Xport and his emulators.