Hack a 250gb, 320gb or 500gb Sata harddrive to work in the Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Slim

Barbie's Pink Fabulous Fashion Show, hmm, I don't have a copy, can I borrow your copy. :)
Seriously,Destroy all humans, Counter strike, Halo etc. None of them work.
Does flashing the drive to play burnt games affect this mod??? My drive is flashed to Lt3.0.
 
Last edited:
So I *thought* what happened is I had the same problem as you when trying to play Morr0wind, and then copied that mentioned file over from previous hard drive, and then it played. However I don't remember too well and if nutter is right then you don't need that. And he prob is

did you check after you wrote partition 2 that the files were on there?
this video by Mr. Mario shows him doing it.

also you could download fatXplorer and mount the drive and use format tools and re-write your partition 2
partition 2 should be 262,144 KB unzipped
make sure you don't accidentally format the wrong hard drive! LOL.. that would suck...

I don't think flashing your DVD drive would matter at all but maybe someone else can verify that

well now I have RGH but I'm going to format a drive today for my "legit" (non-rgh) console, that I use to connect to live, I will not copy that file over and will let you know if it works or not.
 
Last edited:
Log of my HDD install and OG xbox game test:
do da hddhackr
disable retardotimer
write firmware (320gb this time! almost wrote 500gb.. whew close one)
disconnect from desktop SATA
(note I do it a different way where I disconnect after write firmware and instead create partitions in fatXplorer by go to format tools just leave defaults and format the CORRECT drive which is always listed as USB on my laptop)
tried play morr0wind "the game couldn't start, try downloading the game again" LOL cuz I am playing it from disc!
tried to dl profile
update is required
dl'ing update
by the way at about 90% of the update is when it checks your DVD rom... just something I noticed when RGH'ing
play morr0wind, "game couldn't start" again.
download profile
sign into live
play morr0wind, "game couldn't start" again.
power off
remove hdd
open drive with fatXplorer content view
add content
added folder FFFE07D2 aka "Xbox Back Compat Title Update"
play morrowind, "game couldn't start"
sigh, remove drive, plug into laptop again,
fatXplorer toolkit view > partition tools (getting warm here)
under backwards compatibility partition clicked restore > entire partition (aha)
select partition2.bin, written to disk
start morr0wind AND WORKING

so what I forgot to do was restore partition 2
I had thought when I formatted it that it would be data would be written also but it was not (after all it is property of MS)

so prob all you have to do is restore partition 2
however you're recieving a different error have you tried googling that error.
you say "finally" detected your drive with Xplorer360 this leads me to believe that you have bad connection and possibly corrupt data transfer. I had that problem with a bad hard drive.
are you using MS official transfer cable or how are you connecting to write the partition 2
What is the hard drive is it new or used hope you did not buy a half broken used one that are all over eBay.

"Xbox back compat title update" is prob not needed but no one has answered me to what it is
the only way I can know for sure is to delete it and see if morr0wind has the error you described
Don't feel like doing that ATM since it is now working

Did this with a WD3200BEKT. Bought new from amazon but was obviously not new however repacked and sealed immaculately date says 2012 LOL. Wow fraud. But it is working well zero clicking or noises. Smooth and quiet and fast
Sounds a lot better than any 500gb drives I have used so far but time will tell

I have suspicion that hddhackr does not flash the 500gb one perfectly leading to head park noises... or perhaps the hddss.bin for the 500gb is not dumped perfectly
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the video, the files shown in the video are in partition 2 on my drive, but still no joy. I saw your post after i posted this. Update, I do use a MS official transfer cable, I did the restore previously, so I can see the files in partition 2, the hdd is off my old laptop.Will work on it in a couple days when I am off work. Any chance you could list the files on the partition, pics would be great. Thanks . Stay safe.
Update my dashboard is 2.0.14719.0 could this be my problem???
 
Last edited:
Success, After watching another video on how to make a drive, it occured to me that I may need an update, I checked the download section and found "
Xbox 360 Backwards Compatibility Update - November 2007"
I loaded this as per instructions, all is well, I can play all my xbox games. Thanks for your help. I hope this can help someone else...:D:)
 
Last edited:
I actually thought of suggesting that but isn't the partition2.bin file already updated with that, because I took my partition 2 off my drive and it is the same size and everything as the one I got off the net. It is 262,144 bytes and the date (on the net one) is 7/21/2010 2:18 am. I guess you got an earlier version somehow? Anyway glad you fixed it! =)
 
Hi everyone! Just got myself a WD5000BEVT and an extra 60gb HDD. So planning on going through with the steps outlined here to create a 500gb 360 HDD. Are there things I should look out for?

For example I saw it's advisable to change the disk parking time to 600 seconds and checking for other gotchas with these bigger drives. Another thing I'm worried about is:
1. I don't have a flash drive smaller than 8Gb. Is using a fat32 file system going to cause problems? Saw people had success with it.
2. Also don't have an Xbox 360 Transfer cable. Should I try to get my hands on one before I proceed or can it be done without? Of course I guess it'll be more of a hassle.
 
Jeronimo said:
Hi everyone! Just got myself a WD5000BEVT and an extra 60gb HDD. So planning on going through with the steps outlined here to create a 500gb 360 HDD. Are there things I should look out for?

For example I saw it's advisable to change the disk parking time to 600 seconds and checking for other gotchas with these bigger drives. Another thing I'm worried about is:
1. I don't have a flash drive smaller than 8Gb. Is using a fat32 file system going to cause problems? Saw people had success with it.
2. Also don't have an Xbox 360 Transfer cable. Should I try to get my hands on one before I proceed or can it be done without? Of course I guess it'll be more of a hassle.
Click to expand...
It is advisable to change the parking time especially if the drive is used. I would go with either disabled (if the drive is used), or 10-30 minutes or disabled if drive is new.
I would definitely get the transfer cable. It maybe possible to do without while hooked up to SATA instead of USB. I believe it probably is.
Your options with the transfer cable are much more and I have ended up using it a lot even after setting up the drive, for instance if you want to look at drive contents, copy files, etc. If you do not have RGH and network FTP the transfer cable will be your only way... well some (and only some) items you can transfer to the other drive or a flash storage device but you will not have the same understanding it is really dumbed down and limited. Also you're not going to want to keep hooking the drive up to SATA it is a pain and you have to change BIOS setting to IDE every time. What I do is the HDDHACKR part on a desktop through SATA, and the rest of it I do through the transfer cable on a laptop, that is how I prefer it.
You are probably going to need a desktop from at least 2 years ago or more for HDDHACKR to work on the chipset, so that is one thing that can stop you in your tracks. It will be dependent on your desktop BIOS whether it can read a flash drive of X size (I think?). I would order a smaller one if thats what it says to do, I am using a 64mb one, but probably if your desktop is newer it will work fine IDK you could try it out right now.
After changing to IDE I had to go back into my BIOS and from the exit screen launch the USB stick (it was listed in the exit menu screen for some reason under custom boot) in order to boot up DOS and HDDHACKR... well I had a dual boot system and that could be why but you have to figure out how to boot it first try changing the boot order and it should say "press any key to boot from USB" and if it does not you will have to figure out how in your specific BIOS, it pays to have 2 computers one to do it and the other to look up instructions or the BIOS manual
 
masternoxx said:
It is advisable to change the parking time especially if the drive is used. I would go with either disabled (if the drive is used), or 10-30 minutes or disabled if drive is new.
I would definitely get the transfer cable. It maybe possible to do without while hooked up to SATA instead of USB. I believe it probably is.
Your options with the transfer cable are much more and I have ended up using it a lot even after setting up the drive, for instance if you want to look at drive contents, copy files, etc. If you do not have RGH and network FTP the transfer cable will be your only way... well some (and only some) items you can transfer to the other drive or a flash storage device but you will not have the same understanding it is really dumbed down and limited. Also you're not going to want to keep hooking the drive up to SATA it is a pain and you have to change BIOS setting to IDE every time. What I do is the HDDHACKR part on a desktop through SATA, and the rest of it I do through the transfer cable on a laptop, that is how I prefer it.
You are probably going to need a desktop from at least 2 years ago or more for HDDHACKR to work on the chipset, so that is one thing that can stop you in your tracks. It will be dependent on your desktop BIOS whether it can read a flash drive of X size (I think?). I would order a smaller one if thats what it says to do, I am using a 64mb one, but probably if your desktop is newer it will work fine IDK you could try it out right now.
After changing to IDE I had to go back into my BIOS and from the exit screen launch the USB stick (it was listed in the exit menu screen for some reason under custom boot) in order to boot up DOS and HDDHACKR... well I had a dual boot system and that could be why but you have to figure out how to boot it first try changing the boot order and it should say "press any key to boot from USB" and if it does not you will have to figure out how in your specific BIOS, it pays to have 2 computers one to do it and the other to look up instructions or the BIOS manual
Click to expand...

Actually I tried it about two days ago. Used an old laptop I had laying around from 2010 and it worked! I used a 160GB WD drive I found to to a test drive and managed to use HDDHackr to flash it, then formatted it on the Xbox and restored partition 2 which I got off the old 60GB drive. Like you said, having the transfer cable would be much more convenient. It's a bit of a pain screwing the drive in and out but with the current situation it's hard to come by a second hand transfer cable in my area. But I'll keep an eye out for one! I think for the 160gb, which was definitely used, I set it to 10 minutes. My 500Gb is also used but has very low operating hours (<100) so basically new. So from your experience, nothing bad can happen completely disabling the intellipark timer?
 
I just used that drive on my 360 and it's not detecting it, can anyone give me some hints?

The previous hard drive I had on my xbox went to hell so I'm starting fresh with this one.

I used the sector info from "HDDSS500.BIN" and flashed it using FATXplorer.

Before I wrote the sectors to the hard drive it was a fully functional drive on Windows, there was nothing wrong with it.
 

Attachments

  • feMZGmCeR7.jpg
    feMZGmCeR7.jpg
    32.2 KB · Views: 750
  • 20201227_185622.jpg
    20201227_185622.jpg
    596.3 KB · Views: 879
  • 20201227_190716_2.jpg
    20201227_190716_2.jpg
    316.6 KB · Views: 1,024
  • HDDSS500.zip
    HDDSS500.zip
    3.7 KB · Views: 736
Last edited:
theplagueisback said:
I just used that drive on my 360 and it's not detecting it, can anyone give me some hints?

The previous hard drive I had on my xbox went to hell so I'm starting fresh with this one.

I used the sector info from "HDDSS500.BIN" and flashed it using FATXplorer.

Before I wrote the sectors to the hard drive it was a fully functional drive on Windows, there was nothing wrong with it.
Click to expand...
Make sure the drive is properly seated. Turn on the Xbox then push the drive in. If the Xbox doesn't restart then you didn't seat it correctly. If that fails read my comment below.
 
I opted to use a different hdd. WD5000LPCX_VHAT01. It was problematic getting it to work. Originally I flashed it using Rufus with FreeDos and I had errors that occurred despite it saying the drive converted correctly. The UNDO file is unable to revert the HDD so before you buy this drive , keep in mind there is no going backwards. I have the UNDO file still if anyone needs it for reverse testing or something. The other error was about an Invalid Optcode when I attempted to configure partitions. I thought I screenshot the error message but they didn't save.

I found a different USB boot tool here: DOS-on-USB - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download
I tried again using 7.1 version of DOS (6.2 DOS failed for me too, I think. See later part of post). I got a different set of errors messages (though they were similar in context) when I reflashed the drive. However this time after configuring the partitions the process killed itself after the "conversion". I placed the drive in the Xbox and it wasn't showing up (this is a common issue people are reporting). I reached inside the Xbox and realized the HDD wasn't seated very well. I left he Xbox one and wiggled it around a bit until it clicked and the Xbox rebooted. It reported the drive was 88GB free of my 460. I reformatted the drive (entered the key) and everything was working fine. At that point I removed the drive and restored Partition2 using Xtreme in Admin mode.

If you're drive isn't showing up, try leaving the machine on then putting the drive in. It's not good practice but it's a good way to confirm your drive seated correctly.

If you get a write-protected error when formatting your USB stick then do the following:
open up cmd promp in admin mode
type DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK # (number of your usb drive)
CLEAN
CONVERT MBR
EXIT
Then try reformatting your drive again. Follow the instructions in the README.txt to the letter.

Chances are my conversion would've worked with one of the other DOS versions but I wasn't paying attention to the fact my HDD wasn't properly seated and I reformatted over my first run on accident. If FreeDos or DOS622 doesn't work for you then you got other options.
 
I didn't create Hddhackr, so can't make any drives compatible which are not unfortunately.

You can now use up to 2TB USB drives with the Xbox 360 if your having trouble finding a compatible drive. Historically you were limited to the internal drives from Microsoft, which cost three times a much as an OEM SATA hard drive hack in the day.

In 2021 USB might well be the better value option, unless you have no internal drive what so ever and want OG Xbox backwards compatibility.
 
Oh, i see, but i remember some games MUST be installed in the internal
btw, you know who created hddhackr?
 
TheSpecialist, Modfreakz and Schtrom are the main people behind Hddhackr. I think a few games do require a hard drive (Football Manager comes to mind) some games require some data to be installed such a GTA 5, however this can be installed on a USB drive. You need a hard drive for to play Original Xbox games on the 360.

You can still buy known compatible drives on Ebay for example so it might well be worth searching on there. I see quite a few listings for the WD5000BEVT on Ebay UK.
 
hm., btw you recomend use black drives
I dont know if using a 7200rpm black can heat up the xbox
 
7200rpm drives are fine, their not going to contribute any meaningful additional heat to the Xbox 360.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

About Digiex

Digiex is a technology and gaming forum, founded in 2004 by InsaneNutter and Nimrod. Digiex has served the internet community with breaking news, detailed guides, exclusive downloads and a popular discussion forum. A small, friendly community of like‑minded people has developed over the years. People are encouraged to register and participate in on‑going discussions.

Get Social

Back
Top Bottom