Good job on this graphical tutorial kingroach. This is a nice add-on to the "official"
xboxhdm thread that tries to cover most of its functionality - therefore not suited for the user who just wants a HDD upgrade. Making pictures of
xboxhdm in use is a great idea.
About the locking/unlocking part. I think its dangerous to recommend using the locking tools from CDROM. I know it shouldnt be a problem if people write down the password they use or use the savelog command, but if they do a typo when punching in the password, then shut down the PC to try out their new drive and find the
xbox boots to error 6 - they are f*****. The log-files generated by unlockx and hdlock are not store when using the locking tools from CD since the CDROM is read-only. Instead use the "Make DOS Floppy with locking/unlocking tools" option in
xboxhdm if you have a floppy drive.
Also unlockx is known to not work well with all drives. I have experienced this with a Seagate drive. I recommend using hdlock/hdunlock in stead.
From version 1.6.1 the is a automatic locking/unlocking option when using the tools from floppy. I attach the section from the official thread below.
The locking/unlocking toolsWARNING! Using the locking utilities from CD the tools cannot store any log files with used passwords, as the CD is read-only. It will be stored to the virtual filesystem in RAM but is gone after rebooting. These logs are needed if you accidentially use an incorrect HD passwd. Using either unlockx or hdlock to lock a drive the passwd used will be written to screen and you will be prompted to write this down. If you run the locking tool from CDROM I furthermore advise you to insert a formatted floppy in your primary floppy-drive and run the command : 'savelog'. This will write the log-files from the locking tools to floppy.
Be warned that locking HDD's is serious buisness! Don't just fool around with the locking tools and always be sure you backup the passwords you use. Locking the HDD with an unknown password will make the HDD useless if you dont store the log or write down the password!
I put the following locking/unlocking tools on the CD :
- hdlock, Only locks a HDD
- hdunlock, Only unlocks a HDD but doesn't disable locking. The drive will relock after reboot if you only run this tool.
- hdddisabl, Disables locking. To be used after hdunlock so that locking stays off after rebooting.
- unlockx, One option locks a drive, another option unlocks and disables locking in one go. Warning! This tools has been known to not work well with some drives. I recommend hdlock/hdunlock.
- atapwd. Good for checking the drive security status. Can also be used to unlock with the Master password. If you locked your HDD with ConfigMagic the Master password is set to 'TEAMASSEMBLY'
In my experience hdlock seems to be more reliable than unlockx. I therefore recommend using hdlock whenever possible. However, if you cannot lock/unlock with one tool - try the other. Unlockx still usefull for checking the drive status.
As of version 1.6.1 of xboxhdm there is a semi-automatic way of locking . If you include the eeprom.bin from your
xbox on the
xboxhdm CD (in the eeprom folder). Run the
xboxhd tool (see below) and choose option 6) to generate the HDD password. Then run option 7) to generate a DOS floppy with the locking/unlocking tools. The HDD password will be written to the floppy and on rebooting with the floppy you have two locking/unlocking commands available.
- lockhd, will prompt you to choose a drive and will lock the HDD with the password written to the floppy by xboxhd
- unlockhd, will both unlock the HDD and disable locking with the password written on the floppy
Should the password generated by
xboxhdm be incorrect (bad eeprom dump, or a bug in the password tool <- you can never rule this out completely), you should still be able to unlock the drive again with the password stored on the floppy in : input/hdpass.txt
WARNING! The locking tools are not made by me, so dont make me responsible if something goes wrong. Locking HDD's is not without risk.Final tips!Some PC Bioses seems to enable the Freeze Lock command on unlocked drives on bootup. When freeze lock is set you cannot relock the drive. This is rare though and might be disabled in some bioses. On my PC the bios only sets Freeze Lock on the Primary Master channel. Putting the
xbox HDD on Primary Slave enables me to lock the drive again. Otherwise switching to another PC can be a solution if you should run into this rare problem.