Xbox 360 SATA Hard Drive Connection Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Xbox 360 SATA Hard Drive Connection -- Posted by XanTium on March 4 22:39 EST
360sata.com will release a small PCB that will allow you to connect your Xbox 360 HD to your PC (via SATA and a simple four pin Molex power connector) without opening the HDD bay.
From 360sata.com:
[QUOTE]
The final pricing will be:
Adapter with connectors solder on. $20 + shipping.
Adapter with connectors in package so you can solder them on yourself $17 + shipping.
If the companies that we have been talking to come through, you will see this product sold on major websites.
Pictures of the latest non-final prototypes:

I was testing the new version of Xplorer last night aviable at 360Gamesaves and I used my new adapter. It made it really easy to add some content to the drive and then just snap the drive back in the 360 without having to put the HD back in its case. I did this about 30 times last night.
Also I have made my little tweaks from the last prototype and the final design is finished.

FAQs (partially, view them all here)
Q: Will this void my warrantee for my Xbox 360, or my warrantee for my Xbox 360 hard drive?
A: No, this will not. With this device you will not have to open your Xbox 360 Hard drive.

Q: Will this let me upgrade my hard drive size?
A: Not currently, but hopefully in the near future, we will have acquired the key to create our own hard drives for the Xbox 360.

Q: Can I use this to load backups on my hard drive or rip games?
A: No, this device is only for accessing data on your hard drive.

Q: Where can I buy one?
A: Check our trusted resellers list. The resellers located on this list are official resellers of this product and the only places we would recommend buying the device from.

Q: Wait... How do I get the files off? Or add files? I'm totally lost here...
A: Well, you could code your own application to access the data off the hard drive, or you can use Xplorer360(info)(info) which is located at www.360gamesaves.com

Q: I only own a laptop and I don't have a sata port on it, how can I use this adapter?
A: You can either use a USB-to-sata converter that you can find on the web, or you can sue a PCMCIA card. Check out our tutorial section for places to buy both.

Q: Will you be shipping around the world, or do I have miss out on this product?
A: As of right now we are only shipping to the USA and to the UK once we get enough emails from users over there to cut down the shipping costs. DON'T WORRY, we haven't forgotten everybody else. We are currently working with some world wide distributors to make this product available to everyone at a fair price.

Q: Will this product include a plastic case, or is it just a PCB board like your photos on the product page?
A: It is just a PC board, but don't worry it does have to protective silkscreen to protect the traces. A PC board will work great, and allows us to bring the product to you cheaper. A few months from now we might add a plastic case, but that will also raise the price.

Q: So how do you hook this up to your PC once you insert the adapter into the 360's hard drive?
A: You have to have a sata port on your PC. You can either have one built onto your motherboard, you can use a sata PCI card, or you can use a USB-to-Sata converter. Check out our tutorial section for information about theses different ways to hook it up and places you can buy them. For power you just need a regular four pin Molex power connector, like you would most likely find plugged into your internal Cd-Rom or hard drive inside your PC. If you do not have a free power connector, they make y-splitters so you can add another one to your system setup. Check out the tutorial section for places to buy these. You will need one with some length on it as you most likely need to pull it outside your case along with a sata cable to hook to the 360-to-sata adapter to make unhooking and hooking your 360 hard drive up quick and efficient.
[/QUOTE]

Official Site: http://www.360sata.com
Full FAQ: 360sata.com

[pennywisdom]

keeping in mind that i have no idea how sata works, is that an adapter i see to make it capable of pluging into a regualar harddrive cable?

[ILLusions0fGrander]

awesome.. one small step for mods, just waiting for the giant leap for mod-kind.

[GeeZuzz]

Pretty expensive for a tiny piece of plastic.
I'm sure that in one month when chinese factories are producing them, the price will drop to $3.

[AF_Snowboarder01]

Hahaha. It looks more like and amature DIY project. I guess it's useful for people who don't have the $5 worth of materials to make one themselves... I would also suggest rotating the molex connector 90 degrees, adding a case so it doesn't BREAK (who cares about protecting the traces if the damn thing is snapped in half), and offering a version with a SATA power connector. And lowering the price; it's absurd considering it's a >$1 PCB board, 2 50 cent parts that you can pick up at any electronics store, a tacky/bad setup, no wires, and no case.

[Angerwound]

It's definately a good start for the one man project he's running. Should allow more people access to their HDD with Xplorer360. However, I myself would like to see platic casing as well as converting straight to USB for people without SATA Controllers like myself. Good work none the less guys.

[camcar]

so what does this allow us to do, Connect the HD from the 360 to our computers with a sata connection, is this correct. Thanks

[Tobb555]

wow this is a great idea that i wish i would have thought of. Great job guys.

[adamscybot]

I am in Team 360Sata and I can tell you that this product is going somewhere big.

We have big plans for the future and its possible you will see a fully featured dock from us - perfect for sitting on your desk and sliding it in.

You must conenct one end to your 360 HD and then get a molex connector to plug in it - this then goes into your pc (which must be open). You then need to get a sata cable and put that in your pc too and the other end int he board.

If you do not have SATA - you can purchase a USB adapter or a SATA PCI card.

Again, this product is in early stages and will advance to something much bigger, with USB support and destorying the need to open your PC.

Our main aim for the first version was to eliminate the need to go and open up the HD casing - and voiding your warranty. Now you can use Xplorer without opening the case and voiding it! This is going to a much more feature-full product.

Adam

This post has been edited by adamscybot: Mar 5 2006, 10:21 AM

[SharkUW]

So your selling point is that it will be better later? Wow, maybe you should actually make a decent product before you try to sell it.

[adamscybot]

I never sugested that the 'selling point' is that it will be better later.

We consider the product as complete and will be on sale soon. It provides an easy way to connect your 360 HD to your PC without voiding the warranty.

Adam

[dikdiamond]

So your selling point is that it will be better later? Wow, maybe you should actually make a decent product before you try to sell it.

Wow maybe you should actually open up your eyes and see what a great idea this product is,instead of being so closed-minded. Or would you rather void your warranty by pulling it apart and connecting the SATA directly to your PC? At least these guys are making an attempt to make it easier for eveyone else to connect the drive to a PC. Sorry it isn't the double xxtreme gold super duper final edition

[adamscybot]

Wow maybe you should actually open up your eyes and see what a great idea this product is,instead of being so closed-minded. Or would you rather void your warranty by pulling it apart and connecting the SATA directly to your PC? At least these guys are making an attempt to make it easier for eveyone else to connect the drive to a PC. Sorry it isn't the double xxtreme gold super duper final edition

Thank you. That was the main aim - to eliminate the need to open your HD and void your warranty as a result.

The product should be on sale real soon now.

Adam

This post has been edited by adamscybot: Mar 5 2006, 02:07 PM

[JoHnnyTK36]

Hahaha. It looks more like and amature DIY project. I guess it's useful for people who don't have the $5 worth of materials to make one themselves... I would also suggest rotating the molex connector 90 degrees, adding a case so it doesn't BREAK (who cares about protecting the traces if the damn thing is snapped in half), and offering a version with a SATA power connector. And lowering the price; it's absurd considering it's a >$1 PCB board, 2 50 cent parts that you can pick up at any electronics store, a tacky/bad setup, no wires, and no case.

I wanted to use a 22 pin sata/power connector, but just go look for one. They dont sell them yet. I tried 4 different companies, all of which have the connector on their site but do not make them yet. I also could not find a 15pin, right angle, sata power connector for sell in bulk.

As for the case. This is a complete product and it does what it is suppose to do, which is to allow you to hook your 360 hard drive up to your computer without opening your hard drive and voiding your warranty.

As for the price, it costs more that $1 for the PCB board, esp. at the low quanities i have to purchase at since i am just a one man opperation at this moment. The connectors also cost more than 50 cents each. If you can find a place that sells them cheaper, please direct me there. I would love to cut my costs down.

Thanks
JK

[Andy Hewitt]

Am I reading this right?

A single person gets off his ass and designs something to help fight the good fight and he gets flamed?
Feck-em ! I reckon this is a great little invention and atleast in its simplest form theres less to go wrong.

With the conversion rate it works out about £11 GBP, or roughly the price of me driving to the hardware store to buy the correct bloody tool to open HD case and risk bollocking it all up ! (I'm guessing my usual tool of the end of a knife won't work in this case)

If you can do better, lets see it folks .......