Well 2 of my 360 discs are scratched to hell and I want to back them up. I have spent over the past 2 hours trying to figure out what autoinstallers to use, ftp methods, everything! But I don't understand.

I have an Elite and I don't want to take it apart if I dont have to. From what I CAN understand, an autoinstaller wont make me take it apart.

I don't know if I have a toshiba/samsung drive or not.

How can I figure out what kind of drive I have and what is the best autoinstaller to use?

Links to tutorials will help!

I have a Hitachi drive...

Well you have a drive that is a pain in the ass to mod. The Hitachi 79.

You have to solder a device called the 79 PassKey to the board of the drive and get it into Mode-B before you can flash the drives firmware to a hacked firmware. (this allows the 360 to play backups)

Older versions of Hitachi drives do not require this method. Samsungs and BenQ's don't either. But the dreaded 79 means that right now, you do not have a simple software method of flahsing (modding) the 360's drive.

If you don't have the knowledge on how to solder or can't be bothered with it, there are ppl on this forum that offer the service. I sudgest you try Grim187 as he has loads of expirience in this and has good references.

I have a modded Elite so it's not that bad when you open it up. The hitachi drive is a pain in the ass to mod though. The easiest (so I've heard) is the Samsung MS25. I have a BenQ myself and it wasn't that hard to mod after 4-5 hours of trial-and-error.

To answer your question, you have to take it apart if you want to run backup copies of discs. Be careful when you get on LIVE. Don't tell everyone, "I HAVE A MODDED XBOX 360!!! YOU DON'T!!!". Instant ban right there.

Sorry, forgot to add link.
http://www.xboxversions.com/images/360drives.jpg
Here it is. Compare and contrast your's with these.

What is this autoinstaller you keep referring too?

It sounds to me that you are under the impression that modding a 360 is something like modding a Xbox 1. I sure hope you don't think you can install some kind of dashboard and install games onto your hard drive.

Also how do you plan to make these backups of your games? You will need to buy a Kreon flashed drive or have a Samsung 360 drive to make these backups so you can burn them to DVD-DL disks to be played in your modded 360.

I think you should start by reading the pinned topics and go from there. Then come back and ask some questions once you have a good idea what you are getting into.