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[Tidusblitz111]

Alright people, it is about time somebody wrote a FAQ about this clouded subject. Remember, the more questions you guys ask  the more answers will be posted in the faq!


1)Can I install my new 120  hard-drive with Smart Drive upgrade?
   
  A: Yes, you can install any hard-drive up to 137gigs using Smart Drive upgrade, although you risk a chance of freezing in the middle of your transfer if you have lots of files in both drives



2) I used configmagic to unlock my hard-drive, can I still lock it using the lock/unlock option in disk tools?

 A: Yes, being that your Hard-drive password is generated using  calculations from information given from the eeprom, you will still be able to lock/unlock your hard-drive with the Xenium's Disk Tools.



3) Will I be able to copy files from  a non-stock hard-drive to another non-stock hard-drive using Smart Upgrade?

A:Yes, you can transfer files between two non stock drives using Smart Drive upgrade, although it will definitely take a long time if the drives have a large amount of files in them.



4) Will I be able to play on xbox Live right after doing the Smart Drive upgrade?

A: No, you will have to lock your xbox hard-drive in order to connect to xbox live with the original bios.
Not all hard-drives are lockable, please refer to the hard-drive lockability list in this forum here.



5)Does Smart Drive Upgrade support lba48?

  A: NO, you may not format a H.D. larger than 137 gigs! If you would like to format a 137gig+ H.D. You need a lba48 supported bios. Please refer to this TUTORIAL for information on installing a larger h.d. drive.


This FAQ was created by the joined information of Tidusblitz111 and erexx.
More information will be added as more people ask questions.

[Tidusblitz111]

Updates will be posted as long as I stay unbanned....

[erexx]

Maybe.

Good work collecting this information.
Stay involved.

I think it depends on how specific and reliable the information is to the topic.
Particularly anything to do with Xeniums Disk Tools in this case.
Good or Bad.
Especially if it’s information based on repeated real world experiences.

Shorter sentences help.

Compatibility between ConfigMagic and Xeniums disk lock tool is good information.
Yet a single good test means little comfort for someone who finds the bug that kills
their drive. (time will tell)

Booting an Xbox with the Original Bios requires that the Xbox hard drive be locked.
This should be common knowledge by now. (original bios required for xbox live)

[kingal89]

so you can format drives larger than 137gigs with the disk tools? I heard it would only format up to 137.....

[Tidusblitz111]

Questions asked will now be answered in FAQ!

*edit* Updating FAQ

[erexx]

#5 really needs to be clarified.

The Xenium disk tool can only format hard drives up 137 gigs.
Why I dont know.
Paul's LBA48 patch is available to the public.

If you plan on upgrading to a hard drive larger than 137 gigs
then I recommend that you do NOT use the Xenium HD tool.

Use Evox, or other dashboard utility to prepare the drive.
I personally recommend the Evox 1.4 HD prep disk.
Slayers "infamous" disk uses Evox utilities to accomplish its tasks.

There are really two bios types that support LBA48
With the X2 Bios's they are identified as .06 or .67
For instance:
4981.06 supports F only (the entire remaining space on the drive)
4981.67 Supports F & G (thats F: up to 137 Gigs and G: the entire remaining space on the drive)

Try not to re-invent the wheel or muddy the water here.
If possible link back to the many well written previously pinned faq's in other forums.

There is just too much to know sometimes.

[Tidusblitz111]

*EDIT* Clarified no. 5

[Tidusblitz111]

Is this faq helping anybody?!

If not let me know and I will consult with erexx...

[ofx210p]

Interesting FAQ thanks for posting it

A couple of interesting things
:-

First is that I modifed a spare PSU to take another MOLEX to have a play with the hdd data transfer.

I have tried with no success with the 120gb drives with about 20gb of emulators on them. Found that it locks EVERY time just getting to OPENING F: partition. This doesnt upset me as its all a learning experience whenever anything new comes out but it is a shame as this would save an awful lot of FTP'ing

I have tried this about 4 times so far and each one fails at the same point - obviously I wouldnt be suprised if this had something to do with the number of files on that partition but I assumed that the disc to disc would have been sector for sector or  byte for byte transfer rather than a file transfer.

Hey never mind

Oh on the LBA 48 info

If you get any Suitable bios - put into XBTOOL and click the LBA 48 option (and ignore partition table option) and then flash it to your xenium, you wont be able to use the disc to disc option but you will be able to format the partitions using evox extremely quickly and easily. We made up evolution boot discs for this purpose ( a hdd prep disc if you like) works quickly and easily up to about 250gb

Anyhow sorry for blabbering on

Chris

[Headly]

Forgive me if this has been covered anywhere, but I have not seen it.  I believe that the problem most people are having copying the F partition is that the disk tools do a byte for byte transfer.  If your hard drives are different sizes then the F partition will freeze at "opening partition" because they do not match.  C and E will be the same size however so they copy fine.  

I could be wrong though.  So some one smarter than me please confirm this!!!

As for partitions containing many small files, such as emulators.  I have many emulator files all on my E partition and although they do take lots of time to copy I have not had a freezeing problem yet.  I have only copied to 3 drives though so I may be wrong.

[erexx]

The Xenium can only completely "Clone" a drive successfully if they are the same size.

and

If you choose to use the utility to create another drive thats a different size
it will stop copying or fail begining at the F Partition.

Is that correct?

If so have any of the three drives you worked with had any problems
accessing the the F: partition or any other problems?

Good to hear you havent had any time out problems copying large volumes of small files.

For now I can still use Avalauch to Avalauch Dashboard transfers between
xbox's using FlashFXP when I want to duplicate a drive.  

[erexx]

QUOTE (Headly @ Mar 7 2004, 03:37 AM)

Only way I can see for the smart drive to work is to use identicle hard drives.

This makes total sense.
The drives must be identical.

All of this is Good information.

Cloning just the C & E between two unmatched hard drives is probably going to be the most common event.

So that leaves formating the F partition after the copy process.
Easy to use the Xenium to format the F: partition if you have a drive less than 137 gigs.

For those who want to use drives larger than 137 gigs they will have to use some
other formatting utility that suuports larger drive sizes.

Thank you for the feedback Headly.

[erexx]

QUOTE (ofx210p @ Mar 6 2004, 10:44 PM)

If you get any Suitable bios - put into XBTOOL and click the LBA 48 option (and ignore partition table option) and then flash it to your xenium, you wont be able to use the disc to disc option but you will be able to format the partitions using evox extremely quickly and easily. We made up evolution boot discs for this purpose ( a hdd prep disc if you like) works quickly and easily up to about 250gb Anyhow sorry for blabbering on Chris

Blabber detection engine disabled.

Interesting.

You are saying that
If you edit any stock bios to add LBA48 capability
then the disk copy function (smart copy) will not work at all?

If this is true, there may still be hope. (other than the next Xenium OS upgrade)
X2 4979 repac, 4980 and 4981 have LBA48 built in.

I recommend the EvoxHDprep utility... just imho that its still the best.

And, if you already havent, read up on Headly's post on freezing drive copies
@ the F partition between mismatched drives.