Upgrading 5 Xbox(s), Need Easiest/ Quickest way. Options

[forget2rememb3r]

Well the title is pretty much it. I have 8 original xbox's. Two have modchips which are really easy (And only $10 each + shipping but that adds up) and 6 are softmodded through the MechAssault exploit. I still have all the softmodding tools. 3 of the 8 (the two modchip ones of course) have 250 GB drives in them. I host a lot of LANs for all the modded halo's and other FPS's and I'm pretty sure I'm ready to just upgrade the other 5 xbox(s) to at least 80GB for everything. The issue is I haven't used teh Xbox Hard Drive maker in 3 years, and when I did it, I only did it once. Has there been an easier way to upgrade harddrives quickly and efficiently? My 8 xbox(s) range from every version so it's hard to give that info out but most of the dvd drives have crapped out by now.


tl;dr
Quickest way to upgrade xbox hard drives. I want to do 5 of them.



Thanks guys.

[Heimdall]

The easiest way to do disk upgrades in bulk is to use Config Magic to set the HDD key to the same value on all the Xboxes, then you can build and lock all of the disks in one of the chipped Xboxes, using Slayers or AID. See this post.

[forget2rememb3r]

Is configmagic one of the usual place things or a public download. I can't say I understood the tutorial but I've never used configmagic before.



EDIT:

Okay, I read back over it. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm seeing configmagic as an xbox app or a pc app (which one) that can change the HD key. If I were to change all 8 of my xbox's eeproms to read 00000000000000000000000000000, then I can replace harddrives freely throughout, THUS being able to upgrade the harddrives in my 2 chipped xbox(s) and throw them right back in the non chipped box(s).

I hope I didn't make myself sound like an idiot, that's what I'm getting from it. I have Slayer's Disc 2.6 and 2.7 and a really really old mech exploit .

This post has been edited by forget2rememb3r: Jul 6 2010, 08:30 PM

[xboxmods2977]

Okay, I read back over it. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm seeing configmagic as an xbox app or a pc app (which one) that can change the HD key. If I were to change all 8 of my xbox's eeproms to read 00000000000000000000000000000, then I can replace harddrives freely throughout, THUS being able to upgrade the harddrives in my 2 chipped xbox(s) and throw them right back in the non chipped box(s).

Xbox app and yes, but the EEprom contains a few different entries such as mac address, serial number, etc.
You only need change the HDD key.

[forget2rememb3r]

Sounds too good to be true

I'm going to give this a shot very soon. First on my agenda is to get config magic.


But just a few quick questions for reassurance:

Will changing the HD key through config magic change anything? Like will it change anything on the hard drive?

And for a quick test, I have a blank 250 GB hard drive sealed. I can take a softmodded xbox, make the HD Key 0000000000000000000000, change the HD key to that in a chipped xbox as well, and then use the chipped xbox and Slayer to install the large harddrive, then lock it in the chipped and throw it back in the unchipped box and BAM it works?


I would love a brief rundown of the basic steps if anyone can offer it. Thanks so much for the help


EDIT:
1. For softmods, disable virtual eeprom.

What does that exactly mean? Not familiar with it.

This post has been edited by forget2rememb3r: Jul 6 2010, 09:04 PM

[Heimdall]

No. The lock has nothing to do with the contents.

The basic steps are in the post I linked to. Just make sure you don't reboot between steps 2 and 7. The only step I would add is to make sure that you have a backup of all of the original eeproms before you start.

Virtual eeprom is a feature of all good softmods. To disable it, have a look here, step 3 (pick the one for your particular softmod) - but instead of launching Enigmah you launch Config Magic.

If you have an old softmod then you won't need to bother - but you might want to update your softmod to a newer one with shadow C and virtual eeprom when you build the new disks. Kingroach NDURE 3.1 is the obvious choice.

This post has been edited by Heimdall: Jul 6 2010, 09:54 PM

[forget2rememb3r]

Although I have a complete backup on my PC, i really REALLY don't want anything to happen to my working xbox(s) . So just changing the HD key in configmagic won't change anything else? I haven't looked at mods in over 3 years, so I'm not familiar with virtual eeprom or shadow C.

[Heimdall]

Correct.

[forget2rememb3r]

and because my softmod is one of the first ones, i don't worry about the virtual eeprom? I'm doing this as easy as putting configmagic in my apps folder and running it and zeroing all HD keys. That's it. Then I can swap them in and out as easy as Pi?

Is there any locking/unlocking hard drives?

I want ot make sure I fully understand before doing this. THanks for the help Heimdall you're the best!

I'm more of a halo modder than an xbox modder :X

This post has been edited by forget2rememb3r: Jul 7 2010, 07:25 PM

[Heimdall]

Not quite - but I'm watching the football! I'll get back to you at half time.

[forget2rememb3r]

Thank you so much. I just need the quickest noob-proof tutorial.

Load configmagic
change hd key to 0000000000000000000
repeat on all xbox
??? PROFIT

[Heimdall]

OK. Football over, and it wasn't worth watching......

Right. I still don't think you've quite got this.

First, I'd suggest you get hold of a copy of Frosty's Rescue disc. It isn't essential, but it will make things much simpler for bypassing virtual eeprom and shadow C. Burn it to DVD-R at 4x or slower, using DVD Decrypter 3.5.4.0.

Next, decide if you want to make all your softmod Xboxes the same, or if you want to copy the existing contents from each Xbox onto its new disk. If you want to make them all the same (I would ), get hold of Kingroach NDURE 3.1, and a clean MS Dash from Slayers, CASH or AID. Use these to build a full softmod file set, following the instructions in the Kingroach manual. Leave all the options at default, and select Unknown Kernel under Kernel Selection. The C and E folders this produces are the ones you will use to build the 5 new softmod disks.

1. Start with your chipped Xbox. Use Config Magic to take a backup of the eeprom, and FTP it to your PC. (It isn't a backup until it's on your PC......). Unlock the disk, then set the key to all zeros as described in ldotsfan's post (linked in my first post in this thread). Reboot, and make sure your Xbox still boots properly. Take a backup of the new eeprom (but don't overwrite the first one).

2. Now, take softmod Xbox 1. Boot with Frosty's Rescue disc to bypass the virtual eeprom, and run Config Magic. Take a backup of the eeprom with Config Magic, and copy it to your PC. Without rebooting, follow the steps in ldotsfan's post to unlock, change the key, and relock the hard drive. Reboot without Frosty's Rescue disc to confirm that it still works. Boot with Frosty's Rescue disc again, and take a backup of the new eeprom (but don't overwrite the first one).

3. If you want to copy each Xbox disc individually, boot again with Frosty's Rescue disc, and use FTP to take a copy of C and E. If you are making them all the same, skip this step.

4. Then go back to your chipped Xbox. Drop in your new hard drive, and boot with Slayers. Use Slayers to set up the disk, then use FTP to copy the softmod files (either the backup fom step 3, or the new clean set, whichever you've decided to use) to C and E. Lock the disk with Config Magic. If any of the partitions is larger than 256GB, FTP XBPartitioner 1.1 to the Xbox and use it to reformat the F/G partitions. Take it out of the chipped Xbox, and put it into your softmod Xbox. Confirm that it boots.

5. On the first softmod Xbox only, and only if you are making them all the same, boot the Xbox normally, then FTP a clean copy of the stock C from Slayers / AID / CASH over to the empty softmod C partition. Then boot the Xbox with Frosty's Rescue disc, copy C:\shadowc\shadowc.img from your Xbox to your PC, and use it to replace the shadowc.img file in the softmod file set you created earlier.

Repeat steps 2,3 and 4 for all of the other softmod Xboxes.