my question is would is still be the same with lock and u dont need to lock unlock it and all of that .

Yes, i am sure i have been reading that you can lock and play with the chip On or Off.

Locking the HD only means that it is locked to your XBox. The HD wont work in another XBox.

If something were to happen to your XBox's main board, the key to your locked HD will be lost (unless you backed the eeprom up). Once the key is lost the data cannot be retreived from the HD.

I think thats right...

Yea only lock it if you think that someone will try to use it in their xbox or if you have a switch on your chip to turn to the original dashboard.... I just keep mine unlocked

you only need to keep your HD locked if you want to run your xbox without a modchip (ie. for xbox live)