1 TB SATA Hard Drive Upgrade Options

[galvanash]

This is my first post here, but I have been messing with xboxen since virtually day one. I have never seen a definitive post on the net about whether this particular upgrade is doable and exactly what hardware will work, so since I just managed to accomplish it I thought posting my details might help others out.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

1. SATA harddrive. I assume there are other drives that will work as well, but I chose to use a Western Digital Caviar GP WD10EACS 1TB. It proved to be lockable so it will work for either modchip users or those with softmods. It is also very quite and runs quite cool to the touch. Regardless, you will need LBA48 support in your bios or a softmod which supports it such as nkpatcher (I use nkpatcher 11).

2. SATA to IDE adapter. Again, there may be other adapters that work, but I know this one does: SABRENT SBT-STDB IDE Ultra ATA-100/133 to SATA Port Mini Converter

Thats it really. I wont bother with a step by step as no trickery is required, the basic howtos for a harddrive upgrade will work fine. I used xboxhdm v1.9 and followed the normal procedure which can be found on this site. I used xbpartitioner and chose to split the free space across F and G using 32KB clusters. I ended up with 2 496GB partitions, and have completely filled up one of them with no corruption issues.

Happy upgrading!

[BigPotty]

FINALLY!!

Thanks a million for the info! I've been researching this idea for a long while and have been very hesitant to go through with it.

And to think I was just about to buy a 750gig IDE Seagate too (seems like the last model around).

THIS METHOD will soon be the ONLY METHOD for upgrading a HD! Hopefully the Sabrent hardware proves to be reliable though.

THANKS AGAIN!!

[FierceGaming]

Nice man...I'm actually trying to do this same thing only not with a TB! wow. I've got half a TB I want to put in my xbox. I've looked at a few of these converters (do they fit in the xbox). I have a Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s hdd. Thanks for the post.

-Nick

This post has been edited by FierceGaming: Apr 26 2008, 03:10 AM

[BigPotty]

Received my new 750 gig SATA Samsung Hard Drive and Sabrent SATA to IDE Adapter.

Absolutely no problems setting it up. The adapter fits in nice and snug to both the SATA connector and the IDE connector. I set the jumper to master, took a guess on which way the IDE cable should go (the same direction as an IDE drive) and it booted properly on the first try.

Now I've been transferring around 450 gigs of files from my old HD to the new one. Been going all night and day without any issues...

This is the hard drive I got:

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822152100

So I suppose the limits on the xbox now are about a 1TB drive or so? I was reading a thread before about 64k cluster sizes, but not sure if that was worked out or not.

And thanks again, galvanash, for sharing. I probably would have went with an IDE Seagate drive if not for this. I avoid Seagate and WD like the plague these days! They just don't seem to be very reliable anymore.

[FierceGaming]

Gald to hear you got it working BigPotty. When everything gets mailed to me I will tell you how it goes. Thanks to galvanash for the information as well . However I have a dead hdd in my xbox (and no oringal drive) to so I had to order a 1.6 version mother with matching harddrive. But anyway I've done xbox modding since 2003 so shouldn't be a problem .

[Bomb Bloke]

So I suppose the limits on the xbox now are about a 1TB drive or so? I was reading a thread before about 64k cluster sizes, but not sure if that was worked out or not.

Indeed, for now the limit is 1tb (using two 512gb partitions formatted with 32kb clusters).

We did get one guy going with 64kb clusters (grossly inefficient in my opinion even if it does allow a single 1tb partition - or even higher amounts of storage space), but it seems we've run out of willing testers.

[BigPotty]

Well I've finished moving all my stuff to the new drive. Took me a few days. I had this strange problem a few times where I would set up the transfer and come back later to find the xbox turned off. And the transfer had not completed yet. And to make this even more mysterious, it did this in both the X3 live config and in XBMC.

Also, it's locked up a couple of times on me while booting. The HD activity led will just stay lit solid. Turn it off and back on and then it boots ok. It also had these problems with my old IDE HD too (but not till I started this upgrade)

So I'm thinking its probably one of a few things:
1. Maybe my 1.0 xbox is finally giving out.
2. My IDE cable is going bad. (is this common around here?)
3. Something with my PSU.
4. Something to do with Master/slave/cable select.

The reason why I list #4 is because I've read here that the HD should be on Master. Is this correct?
But when I went to do the upgrade, the HD that I was removing had been on Cable Select (for the last year or so).

The other problem is that the jumper on the Sabrent adapter is very cryptic! It seems to have 2 different markings for the jumper setting. I basically just guessed as to what it should be. (I think I have it completely out right now). So anyway I tried it a few different ways and it didn't seem to make a difference.

The worst thing is that this seems to be a totally random problem (the slow boots and the freezing/shut offs). It doesn't happen every time I use it, thankfully, but it is annoying.

So what do you guys think? Any idea about the jumper setting? Or the freezing? I was thinking that because the drive is so large and is fatx, maybe the xbox just takes forever to scan it on boot? Does something like that happen? Oh by the way, when it freezes on boot up, it's just after the "X3 rox my box". The other lock ups and or shut downs were while doing FTP transfers.

And yes I formated F and G with 32k clusters and at about 350gigs each.

Oh and another thing, earlier tonight I was moving a few more files over and when I booted the xbox, my G partition was missing! I rebooted and it came back. Very strange...

[Bomb Bloke]

Um, some of those things sound like other problems people have had... But only when using SATA drives.

It's too early to say if it's a drive model thing, an adaptor thing, or what... It also doesn't help that the symptoms come and go. Some sort of timing issue maybe?

Re the random shut downs, about how long would the system have been active? There's a six hour auto-turn off option that can be set via the MS Dash (on by default if memory serves), and XBMC also has a seperate setting of it's own (off by default though).

[modderguy791]

Um, some of those things sound like other problems people have had... But only when using SATA drives.

Indeed, ive had this problem with multiple SATA drives on other modchip settings.He's right about the model thing but im going to have to go with its an adapter problem, did your adapter come with a driver disc? if so thats more then likely your problem, SATA adapter like that cant run properly on there own(which is why its meant to go in a PC). If you happen to have gotten one of those "plug in play" adapter then check the circuits on top for any solder that could be bridged, especially on the main chip. Ive noticed on my adapter when i first got it there was solder bridging over 5 pins together on that one chip, once desoldered the problem was GREATLY reduced.

also , does your drive have a jumper setting? if so remove it, if its anything like WD SATA drives then you dont need SCC

[BigPotty]

Thanks a lot for the help guys.

The Sabrent adapter doesn't come with or need a driver. It does work properly, mostly. I used it today for a couple hours without any problems. Played a few games and transfered some more files with FTP.

It did freeze up on booting once today, though. I turn it on and it shows the the Xbox logo and Xecuter stuff. The HD indicator LED flashes a few times and then turns solid red (This seems to happen on every boot up now). The HD LED stays red and XBMC doesn't come up. I've left it for up to 5 minutes and nothing happens. So, I turn it off and back on and then it will boot up normally.

As for the HD jumper, it didn't come with one. Although, it does look like there are pins on the HD itself to put a jumper, I haven't tried. SATA drives don't need this, right?

As I stated before the jumper on the Sabrent adapter itself is a little weird. Kinda hard to tell which position does what. Typical Chinese crap. I could probably post a picture here if someone wanted a closer look at it.

I have tried disabling all of the Auto-Off features, including in the Xbox Dash and XBMC. Didn't make a difference. Last night I did some transfers and when I woke up it was still on. I'm sorta thinking that maybe my Xbox is just getting a bit worn out.

Thanks again. It seems we might be the pioneers of the large SATA HD upgrades for the Xbox1. At least there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of other info / experiences around here.

[SR388]

make sure it isn't overheating
maybe upgrade to an 80mm fan or something
just a thought

[Cappi]

I have found that SATA drives never work out in xbox's. They cause the xbox not to work, and then work other times, and kill other components such as the dvd drive. Usually the hard drive dies after a month. It causes needless headaches so I refuse to use another sata HD in an xbox or computer.

This post has been edited by Cappi: May 9 2008, 12:14 AM

[BigPotty]

I have found that SATA drives never work out in xbox's. They cause the xbox not to work, and then work other times, and kill other components such as the dvd drive. Usually the hard drive dies after a month. It causes needless headaches so I refuse to use another sata HD in an xbox or computer.

That sucks that you've had such bad luck with this. You mind sharing a few more details? Like what kind of hard drives (brand/model/size) and SATA adapters you were using? Maybe what version Xbox and Modchip you have? I've been going over this in my head for the last week and I'm trying to work out every angle I can.

Hopefully we can all come up with some sort of guidelines for this. I still think that the Xbox1 is the best system, as far as Modding goes. And I surely don't want to see it die out just yet. At least not till someone cracks the 360 as far as the original has been.

And as for an update, it just seems to get more weird! Yesterday, it seemed I could only get my box to boot correctly about 2 times in 15. Didn't have time to mess with anything though. So, today I tried it again real quick before work and it booted and rebooted 3 times without a hitch. Hadn't been moved or touched from the day prior!

Does anyone know if a bad DVD drive could lock up the HD on boot? (Like a solid HD LED?) I don't think mines bad yet, but maybe it's going out. Who the hell knows.

[xboxmods2977]

Does anyone know if a bad DVD drive could lock up the HD on boot? (Like a solid HD LED?) I don't think mines bad yet, but maybe it's going out. Who the hell knows.

Just a little insight. I had the same problem with a regular PATA HD and it was because my resistance (POT) was not set correctly on the positive side of my HD light. It could also be a power supply issue. I hope this helps anyone. By the way, I would shoot for the cable select setting. And yes, SATA HD's need not have jumpers.

[FierceGaming]

Yeah I was having problems with the sata drive that I purchased so I just sent it back got an IDE. Just cloned my original drive I did the softmod on and it worked first try. I could have done something wrong on the sata but I just couldn't figure out what. Anyway, I had a 1.6 version xbox....maybe that converter just doesn't work with a version 1.6? I dunno.