im thinking about buying this chip here, my question is; as an option u can get a harddrive upgrade kit. does this mean i can just put in a new HD without locking it with my computer. i need that b.c im horrible with software related things, and i have apples. thanks in advance. oh yeah the HD will be on a switch with the stock HD.

well i have an xenium chip and it comes with *smart drive upgrade" built in the OS of the xenium chip. I dont need to do anything with the computer i just need a power splitter to plug both the stock and new hdd and it transfers everything from the stock and formats to make it as if It was the original xbox hdd...so i am guessing that works the same way...

hi i have this chip on a xbox vs 1.0 and i installed a western digital 160 gig and all i had to do was plug it in, and follow the upgrade tutorial.

X2.x series of chips are great. I've got an old X2.0 in my first box, and a 2.3 in another, and nowadays all I install is X2.6's (unless someone want's something more "robust."

But, beyond that, a 15 USD cheapo chip will allow a HD swap as easily as the X2.6 (though I highly recommend the X2.6; it's just an example).

You're best friend for upgrading your new HDD will be Slayer's Evox Auto-Installer 2.6 (no relation to the version of the Xecuter chip). It's a bootable disc that will format your drive, install Evox dash and the MS Dash (and a shitload of other apps if you tell it to).

A fire-and-forget solution. Works well on a DVD, but fits on a CD.

Edit: Oh, and if by apples you mean you have a Mac, that's cool. The Slayers disc comes in a windows self-extracting executable file, but you can get around that with some trickery.

thanks, so if i buy it with the hd upgrade kit, all i will need to do is jsut plug up the new HDD. and to flash the chip, is it possible to ftp or burn a bios on a cd with an apple. i havnt seen any aps for apple.

What is the "HD Upgrade kit"? they are selling as an option... how about the "Solder Kit"? I mean no disrespect to the webshop owners but it really seems like their padding the bill for this chip, maybe scare a few more bucks out of a new modder. Just for the heck of it... After adding what the site "RECOMMENDS" in buying along with the chip, the new price comes out 2 dollars short of what the Xenium SPICE costs. Hmmmm.

You dont need anything extra to add a larger HD... as Xombe said you next best friend will be a SLAYER'S BOOTDISK. That will take care of formatting and loading your new drive with everything you need. Just remove the old drive and plug in your new one, Run Slayer's and your good to go.

BTW: This is one of the best chips I have used to mod systems with.

Indeed. To hell with the so-called "hard drive update kit."

As far as anyone here is concerned, a "hard drive update kit" is 15 cents for a blank CD-RW to burn Slayers to.

I've heard though that burning a bios disc on a Mac (like with Toast, etc.) is anywhere from a nightmare to impossible. But, you can just flash by HTTP via your web browser and you should be fine.

so u can ftp with a mac? im going to search now for a tut to flash through HTTP.

Umm, yeah...

Transmit, Fetch, etc. are great FTP apps. I know this, and I'm a Windows user.

For the FlashBIOS HTTP tut, just go to www.teamxecuter.com and it's there.