looking to upgrade xbox hard drive on xecuter modded console.

could anyone please give me some advice on upgrading a hard modded xbox hard drive?
lately my xbox dvd drive is getting louder and i fear that sooner or later it's gonna fail. years ago when the xbox was a fairly new console i had mine chipped with the xecuter chip and never looked back. i never had any alternative dashboards installed or anything and still have the original hd.
after seeing some cool vids on youtube i figure that with my laser struggling now might be the time to get a large hard drive and an alternative dashboard running instead of always playing from dvds.
i've seen a few tutorials on youtube which all seem to point at softmodded xbox's and the danger of not backing up eeprom. somebody told me that i was lucky because with an hard modded xbox theres no danger of bricking it.
i was hoping that the job was as easy as remove xbox drive use cloning software to copy everything to the new drive and then place the new drive in the xbox and job done. i asked someone if it's a matter of if i do something wrong with the replacement drive could i just place my original hard drive back into the console and it would work like before but i got no reply. i figured that if the original drive ain't been altered in any way then what could go wrong?
the tutorials i've seen for changing the hd in a softmodded xbox seem to suggest theres more to it than to just clone the drive and theres the potential bricking issues. maybe it's easier when the xbox is hard modded to start with?
i was looking to go down the root of 2tb sata drive with ide to sata adapter which seems to work accorfing to youtube tutorials.

 

Don't have any first hand experience but here's a couple of threads from other forums that might help (you may have already come across these):

http://www.cdrom-guide.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194140

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/357380

 

If it's chipped make sure the bios is looking for default.xbe on D: first. Then just put in your bigger harddrive and boot into AID from a DVD.

 

just read those posts thanks. i'm still in the dark slightly. i have an older version xecuter chip either 1.0 or 1.1 i'm not sure. i have seen a tutorial, where a guy was using auto installer deluxe and it seemed rather easy but i don't like the sound some parts. overwriting bios for example. i wouldn't like to mess up my xecuter chip and i would rather have that function as it is because it's reliable. hopefully a larger hard drive can be installed without messing with the chip. i don't even know if the version chip i have has a menu.
also i gave up on the idea of a very large hard drive because of all the possible incompatibility issues. i settled for a 16gb ide western digital drive which is reported as working. i can get the emulators i want and lots of games ftp over to that and add remove games when needed with ease.

@gs37. how do i check if the bios is looking for default.xbe on d first?

also i was wondering if any of the alternative dashboards have game compatibility issues? every game i have tried with the standard dash seems to work fine for me and i have over 500 titles. and i don't mean if certain games only run from dvd drive and not hd, i mean does any alternative dashboards make certain games not compatible when trying to play them from dvd aswell.
i dont want any of my games not working because of alternative dashboards. iif thats the case i will need to be able to access the ms dash for incompatible games or something.
i'm thinking though that alt dashboards don't have game compatibility issues because i have never heard mention of it.

 

I've changed my (mod chip enabled) XBox's hard drive a couple of times (one to a something (can't remember what) GB drive, then to the (current) 500GB drive, both IDE), and I can't remember the exact procedure, but the fact that I did it proves that it takes no skill or special knowledge. The XBox takes a standard IDE drive, but three things you have to be aware of;

1. The hard drive must be lockable/unlockable, or else you can't use the orginal Microsoft dashboard,

2. Not all IDE drives work with it, or so the warning goes, though I don't remember ever reading of a drive that didn't work (as long as they are lockable/unlockable),

3. Anything above 120GB (or whatever the usual limit is) will need a special BIOS to read the hard drive, plus the hard drive will have to be formatted a special way, otherwise either you can only use 120GB or the XBox will see all the hard drive space but will corrupt the data when trying to write above 120GB.

The good news is, everything is done for you, you just download an XBox utility disc (I use Slayers), burn it to DVD-R, open up your XBox, remove the hard drive, put in your new hard drive (+ IDE to SATA converter, but make sure it's one that will work with the XBox), close your XBox (or leave the lid of, it makes no difference at this stage, of course), boot up your XBox with the Slayers Boot Disc in the DVD drive (the XBox will only boot the Slayers disc, or any other non-official disc, if it's modded, which yours is), then follow the onscreen prompts to lock the hard drive, format it to your specifications, and install the third party dashboard. Then you can run *all* of your XBox games from the hard drive, plus any emulators and their ROMs, plus homebrew games and game ports (Doom 1 and 2, Quake 1, 2, and 3, Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, etc), and it's all menu driven, as when you boot up (without a disc in the DVD drive) you get a menu, and when you're in the middle of a game/program, just press Left Trigger + Right Trigger + BACK +START to reset the XBox back to the main menu.

Since my HD is IDE, I can't advise on you about IDE to SATA converters, but if you have any questions then just ask on the xbox-scene.com forum, as they are very helpful indeed.

Also, read these topics for more advice. And you won't regret doing this, an XBox with a large HD and with all of the games and emulators installed on it is amazing!

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=648145

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index....-scene.com/lofiversion/index.php/t706249.html

 

so what i read about your original hd bricking by removing it and installing a bigger drive without backingup the files is not exactly true? i guess the original drive don't matter that much but i was hoping to keep it in case the larger one breaks. saying that though i guess i would be better off just getting another large drive in that case lol.

the only worry i have now is that in one of those links it said that first and second generation modchips don't allow upgrading hard drives or the use of alternative dashboards. makes me paranoid that i have a first or second gen chip because the pre modded xbox never came with evox installed so if i try and install alt dash or pgrade hd i may mess the console up
according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_modchips though the switch option to turn the chip on and off didnt arrive until gen 3 chips and i have the switch installed with mine. either this info is wrong or mine must be 3rd gen. can anyone confirm this because wiki aint always accurate. the other possibility is that the guy when asking if i would like the on off switch worked out how to install a switch to earlier gen chips which is doubtful.

so many things to consider while performing this simple mod. wish i knew what chip i had that would help lol.

another update... according to this site http://www.llamma.com/xbox/A Breif History of the Xbox Modchip.htm the 2nd gen chips could have the disable switch so mine could be 2nd gen which means i cant mod any further

 

First off, don't worry. Xboxes are more brickproof than the internet would have you believe. To check if the modchip is looking for default.xbe on D: first, do this:

Power on the xbox
Insert a retail game and close tray
Power off the xbox
Disconnect the HDD
Power on the xbox

If the game plays, you're in great shape! Just turn it off, plug in your new HDD, and run AID from a DVD.


If the game does not play with the HDD disconnected, we may have to revisit some things...
As long as you don't tamper with the stock HDD's lock or files, there is practically nothing that can brick your console. Do the above test. Let me know how it goes.

 

Just had another thought which might save you some headache. XBOX HDM (Hard Drive Maker) could be the better solution. Basically you backup your eeprom, download the software along with retail dash etc, burn it on to a disc and then boot up a pc with your new xbox hard drive attached and make that into an xbox hard drive which you can just swap into your console.

Some info here - http://blackboxhacking.webs.com/installinganewhdd.htm

 

No need to re-write the BIOS.

You've got a modchip. So firstly,

Load AID. Backup your EEPROM through EvoX.

FTP those files to your desktop or laptop what ever, just back them up.

Then, turn off the XBOX.

Insert your new HDD.

Load AID. Modchips by default will ALWAYS load from DVD-ROM regardless of what the .xbe is called.

Format the drive, and follow everything on screen.

Easy

Note: Even if your modchip doesn't allow large Hard Disks, it will still run fine just without extra space over 137GB. You can always upgrade the BIOS if you need it, honestly all my XBOX systems have 80GB and that's enough for me.

 

i was afraid of the complicated hdd upgrade process and bought a 120 gb xbox because of that. if you won't go to the emulator route, an hdd about these sizes will be more than enough.

 

yeah i have settled for a 160gb western digital ide drive. was only about £20. don't mind if i can only use 137 gig of it. judging by what i was reading ove at the xboxscene very helpful modchip section about very old chips some don't support the hard drive swap at all apparently. the good news is that xectuer chips work but old ones don't support the much larger drives so it looks like 137 gb max.
i know for a fact when i purchasd the pre modded console it was sold to me as a pre modded with xecuter chip. i think i will take a look inside while changing the hard drive to make sure the chip is actually an xecuter. other old types like pandoras don't support hd upgrade apparently
does anyone know of any pics for older model xecuters for comparison?
also is there any utilitie that i can burn to disk that will tel me what chip i'm running?

@gs37 - i will try the unplugged hd boot. nice tip. i cant try it right away though i'm waiting for my torx screwdrivers to arrive.

@HEX1GON - when you say load AID and backup eeprom through evox and ftp the files, how does that work exactly? i aint got no exox installed on my xbox already and so does AID allow you to backup eeprom and ftp the files to pc by accessing an instance of evox from the menu or something? i'm sorry to be such a noob but i'm new to this.

 

There's an option in AID to backup the EEPROM. It loads EVOX for you and it's just a few presses of the A button.

Then you just hook your XBOX to your modem and FTP to it and copy the "backup" folder.

I do plan to make a XBOX softmod video at some stage, a lot are out dated.

 

that sounds easy enough i was hoping to back up all my gamsaves aswell. hopefully AID has the option to do that at the same time. just out of curiosity which alt dash would you say is best to run? there seems to be a few out there. XBMC looks nice. evo-x was the one people seemed to always use in the early days. maybe it's better to set it up so i can choose between loading multiple dashboards if thats possible?

 

UnleashX, if you want to use XBMC still, install it as an Application. You have more control with UnleashX

 

didnt knowi could install unleashx as dash and xbmc as app. i thought xbmc was a dash only. cheers for the info. sounds good.

 

There's no real difference between "dash", "app" and "game". Whatever gets started first with an empty drive (/C/xboxdash.xbe by default - but modchips may change that) you could call a dashboard. By default it's of course the MS dashboard, but you could just as well copy some game there. You'd then auto-boot into that every time you turn on the console - unless there's a disc in the drive, which would override that (so if you want to get rid of your game-as-dash, you can boot evo-x from a DVD and replace /C/xboxdash.xbe via ftp). Whatever floats you boat.

The other way 'round works too: take some app/dash/whatever, e.g. XBMC, rename its main .xbe to default.xbe if necessary, then burn it as an XBOX DVD - voila, XBMC-on-a-disc. (Doesn't work with apps that try to write to 'their' directory though, since - obviously - the DVD isn't writeable, but you catch my drift).

 

yes i get what you mean. thanks to everyones help here i'm starting to understand how this stuff works to a certain extent. cant believe i was too lazy to learn this stuff all those years ago. would you believe i have had a modded xbox since 2002 and been running all my games emulators and so on from disk all this time lol.
still don't know how to identify my chip other than waiting for my torx screwdrivers nd looking inside the console and trying to identify it online.
when old tutorials say that some old chips don't support hard drive swap and evox is that only using outdated methods? what i mean is does better later upgrading methods like using AID, Slayers etc allow hd upgrades and use of evox regardless of chip model? i know that the hd size thing would still be an issue using an old modchip unless you install that phoenix bios mehod aswell.

 

While I haven't heard anything about any specific chip not supporting HDD swap, I think the BIOS on them is more important than the chip itself. Even if yours is too old, you should be able to simply flash a new one and then swap. See here for a list of BIOS features.

 

yeah i was checking out that list. if the chip in the xbox is the one it supposed to be i wil be ok. it's either a xecuter 1.0 or 1.1 i'm sure. just hope the guy didn't install a pandora 1 enigmah or one of those types.

 

Just wanted to chime in real quick and second the recommendation for UnleashX. I especially like it with the Windows 95 skin.