Hotswapping Xbox HDD with IDE-USB converter help

Hi, I've finally obtained a ide-usb adapter i'd recently bought (this particular device: http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/266) it definitely fits and works fine for the most part but problem is, everytime i tried Xplorer360 refuses to read it despite the usb adapter itself is actually recognised on the computer.

EDIT: I GOT MY eeprom.bin copied off from the E: Partition to XboxHDM usb flash drive!! so i'm very likely to get it back in no time! (Thank GOODNESS i'd backup'd it awhile back before i done that mistake!)

 

The original Xbox 3.5" IDE/PATA 8GB hard drive would still need power to it using this USB-IDE adapter. That may help for accessing it in Windows, if its a 2.5" notebook drive then no power is needed.

 

My Xbox hard drive is the stock 8GB one just to let you know

 

Why are you not using XBOXHDM?

 

If your Xbox HDD is still locked (which sounds likely from your description), then you will need to hot swap it to get it unlocked. Since you have an error 16, the timing is pretty critical - I would let it boot a few times, to watch the timing then disconnect the drive from the Xbox just before the flashing red starts.

 

Yeah i was hotswapping but like you said it's still treated as a locked drive, i'm not quite sure how the timing works.. do you want me to pull out and then put drive in while the boot animation is continuing or when the Xbox logo comes up and does the Microsoft name under the boot logo have to be there or not necessarily? I've also tried pulling out the dvd drive IDE cable to get a error code 12 and then tried hotswapping and that refuse to work (unless i'd timed it wrong)

Does it work with the adapter i have?

 

No idea, that's up to you to find out.

Try this: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?/topic/690646-xboxhdm-22-usb-edition/

 

It sounds like you have a later boot ROM that relocks the drive on any error - so the error 12 approach won't work. Try disconnecting it a fraction of a second before the "Microsoft" text appears on the screen - you need to get it while it's hitting the drive, but before it errors out.

 

Thanks! so i can just use Xplorer360 beta 2 to have it show up or will i need to boot up XboxHDM 2.2a? sorry

 

Actually, my Xbox is a version 1.1 looking back through my backup photos i happened to took back then (Thank goodness)

 

Easy way to unlock the drive, boot a game and then unplug the IDE cable and do the swap.

 

It never works for me, everytime I'd tried the game never runs straight to it and yes i do own a legitimate copy of Splinter Cell for the Xbox.

 

Well, I used Splinter Cell (could have softmodded, I know) to hotswap and it worked fine, I literally did one last week on a v1.1 box and it worked fine so you must be doing something incorrectly.

 

Wait.. does the game have to be ran to do it or could i just pop it in and leave it in the dvd drive since my Xbox could not run games at all?

 

The game has to boot to unlock the drive. You could always build/buy a device that dumps the EEPROM from the motherboard and retrieve the HDD key that way so you can unlock/re-lock at will.

 

Okay, um does the Eeprom dumper device requires to be solder to the Motherboard or something?

 

I'm guessing the first issue you had was error 16? Can we get the original problem and what you want to accomplish?
Just fix the boot up problem or recover data from a HDD, etc.

Here is the EEPROM reader on eBay

 

originally i had a error 13 because i'd accidentally or in this case the Softmod program did when i tried upgrading it to a somewhat later version, rebooted the console cuz i didn't know at that time and when i turned it back on the error 13 came up, went to some random YouTube video for quick help, unplugged the console and left it thinking it'll be the same error the next day, woke up and went to power on the Xbox and now i have a error 16.

And that's pretty much it

 

To unlock the HDD, boot the console & when a error screens comes up its unlocked.

So Error 16 or if you disconnect the DVD drive Error 11.

If Windows can see the HDD (computer management > storage > disc management) , note Windows may ask you to format or write a MBR to the HDD, for the love of god don't. Just cancel everything & load up 360Xplorer.
(we are only using this menu to make sure Windows sees the HDD)


Also you only have a few seconds to swap the IDE cable over to the PC one.

 

The Error 11 swap only works on early xboxes - later on, MS patched the boot code so that it relocked the drive after displaying the error screen. It's certainly worth trying anyway, because it's quick and doesn't require any precise timing, but if you have a later unit (it seems to be in V1.4) then don't be surprised if you find the drive is locked.

In this case, the best thing is to time the boot processs and pull the cable just before the error screen would have come up.