Theory
There are a few stages to prepare a new hdd and ready it for use in a softmod xbox:
1. The hdd has to be marked with a magic value at a certain offset to be identified as a xbox hdd.
2. The drive has to be partitioned. Minimum are C drive and E drive[/url]. The scratch partitions: X,Y,Z will be created during the first boot with the new hdd. For larger size hdd, you also need to partition F and/or G drives with xbpartitioner . Your softmod will also need LBA48 support to use F/G drive(s).
3. The exploited msdash files needs to be copied to C drive. Additional files may be needed on E drive as well depending on the softmod package.
4. Finally the hdd needs to be locked to the correct eeprom of the target xbox.

Approaches:
1. xboxhdm
This is the granddad of hdd upgrade methods for softmods. This method will do all 4 stages of the hdd preparation. The method is so popular it has spawn multiple imitation sites copying its techniques. It requires a PC with 2 IDE connections, a cdrom drive to boot the linux based CD and preferably a BIOS which doesn't freeze lock the hdd. As the linux kernel in xboxhdm is old, it has its quirks and doesn't work well with certain combinations of motherboard , display card etc.

2. xboxhdm2
This attempts to overcome the limitations of xboxhdm by booting off a USB flash drive. Underlying this approach is the use of qemu - a virtualization solution to boot different Linux kernels. Current status: The tool as of xboxhdm2.2 final version is completed.

3. chimp26
This is another Linux tool designed to run on the xbox itself. It will do all 4 stages of hdd preparation. Caveat: It doesn't work well with 1.6 ver. xbox and requires a molex power splitter or external power source for the new hdd. It also takes more time to execute as it involves cloning of the entire contents of the old hdd. A newer version of chimp is available: chimp2618 has a GUI for xbox ver 1.6 and has other features like extended partition formatting.

4. Error 5 hotswapping
Traditionally an autoinstaller disc like Slayer 2.7 cannot be used to prepare the new hdd for softmods as in the case for a chipped xbox where you just need the boot disc in the dvd drive and the new hdd and the disc will do the rest (first 3 stages of hdd preparation minus the locking part). This is because the xbox will not boot correctly with the new hdd and the boot disc in dvd drive.

However it is possible to ready the new hdd by first connecting it to the xbox and powering it with an external power source. It will boot to error 5 (hdd is unlocked). After which through a series of hotswapping, the autoinstaller disc can then be used on the new hdd to prepare it through all 4 stages. An illustration of this method is lxhdm Both EvoX and UnleashX boot discs may be used as both dashes have hdd preparation abilities (either through ftp or scriptable through menu option) and both dashes in their latest versions have native hdd locking menu options. HeXEN disc is the preferred implementation to use this method.

5. Locking with a compatible USB/(S)ATA adapter. This requires a compatible adapter with a supported chipset. Win7 with Ubuntu running in VirtualBox will work too. For Windows, see these instructions.

6. xboxdumper
A windows based tool with the functionality of stage 1 to 2 of hdd preparation,ie formatting of FATX partitions. Together with xplorer360 and hdtool, it does all 4 stages of hdd preparation.

Depending on one's preference and ability/experience, availability of the prerequisite equipment and the clarity of the chosen tutorial instructions, a softmod xbox hdd can thus be upgraded.

Edit History:
1. 13 Sep 2010: Added chimp2618.
2. 10 Mar 2012: Added HeXEN.
3. 17 Mar 2012: Added JMicron usb/ata adapter method.
4. 13 Sep 2012: Pruned dead links and added Windows method for usb/ata adapter.

Hi,



Does this mean i can just connect the new Harddrive without anyother preparacion?
And for the external power source can i use a External Harddrive Case (USB)?
So my first step is download Chimps arrange it and upload it to the xbox am i correct?

Thanks already

gz, Ricardo

You realise chimp26 in the post is a hyperlink? External USB case is a possible power source for the IDE hdd.
My sig's link also has the detailed steps.

Hi,

When i try to clone the harddrive on Chimps the program freezes after awhile..!

You have to give more details. At which stage does the freeze happen? How did you conclude it freeze? Version of xbox.

Hi, my xbox is version1.1 and Chimps freezes after i check option1 (Scan physical IDE devices) (find both harddrives!) and then option 2 (Clone from master to slave) i keep all the next options and when should start clonining is when it freezes.. i conclude because i left the xbox on all night -+9hours and stills on the same screen :S

9hrs? Sorry to hear that chimp doesn't work for you. You are better off trying other methods then.

I found it very easy to to the xboxhdm way and i now have a 160GB Maxtor hard drive installed in my Xbox and it works a treat. I could never be without it now.

Just want to add for completeness that it is possible to use composite methods. For example, steps 1-3 with xboxhdm and step 4(locking) with chimp. Now of course, not vanilla xboxhdm but tricking xboxhdm to work with hardware it wasn't designed to work with through virtualization like qemu or vmware. You can also lock with lxhdm from the xbox.

Another method is to use any 1:1 disc cloning program from the PC and lock with chimp/lxhdm on the xbox.

I did the xboxhdm way and after I copy all the files from my C and E drive it tells me to restart my computer so I can lock the hard drive. After I restart I chose option 3 and after a while theres a bunch stuff on the screen and at the bottom it says "no cont in shutdown!". I am never able to lock my hard drive. Does any body know how to fix this? Thanks!

I got a question to chimp method... how should the new / bigger HDD be ? should it be formated as NTFS?

Greets

It doesn't matter what filesystem format the new hdd was originally in - it will be overwritten.

To any mod: Could you edit post 1 to reflect that xboxhdm2's locking is completed? Thanks.

OK. call me a noob and flame me if ya want, i wont care. I have tried various methods for putting a bigger hd in my xbox... i even used xboxhdm to duplicate my original softmodded hd to a 40gig seagate hd. exact same as my stock hd, but 40 gigs instead of 8 gigs. i locked the hd, and rebooted the pc to test, was locked properly with the original xbox lock key to ensure the bios or whatever had same key. xbox wouldnt boot, i cant remember off the top of my head which error code was given ill load the cloned 40gig in again soon and repost the code if needed. btw i have ver 1.6 xbox with seagate 8 gig hd and a samsung dvd drive i believe...

any help with why the cloned hd wont work and what can be done to fix the issue is greatly appreciated.

Yes, the error number might help.

It might also help if you could tell us what softmod you have on the original harddisk.
You are aware of the existence of a shadowc and a virtual eeprom with some softmods?
So, if you backed up your shadowc instead of the real c partition, you will get an error.
If you used the virtual eeprom to lock the harddisk instead of the real one, you will get another error.
This are just a couple of frequently made mistakes...

regards.

Unlikely if the OP uses xboxhdm's cloning function. The virtual eeprom problem is more likely and hence error 6. Cold-boot with Frosty's xbox rescue disc and use the file manager to launch ConfigMagic 1.6 Final (which needs to be on the hdd) to do the eeprom backup.

ok, more info, hope i have it all now. i used the UnleashX+NDURE softmod via hotswap as found on instructables.com... and ya, im vaugely aware of shadowc, wasnt aware of a virtual eeprom.... when i cloned the xbox hd heres what i did:

1. used my linux boot cd for the pc, had original drive as primary master, new blank 40gig as primary slave, cd rom drive as secondary master.

2. loaded unlocking tools, and unlocked orig hd w/ key read from config magic eeprom backup.

3. formatted the new drive with c, e, and f portions as its over 8gigs.

4. using xboxhdm v1.9's clone function, i cloned my orig drive to the 40gig (took ~2 hrs D: )

5. when complete, locked hd with the same hdkey as orig, as i only have a factory bios.

6. installed new hd, booted, and got error 6.

i still have my factory hd modded and working, i just eventually wanna put the bigger hd to store more music n such.

any more assistance will be greatly appreciated. also, i have the frosty disc downloaded, but no cd burner atm, pc with burner died...

thx

Are you saying the same eeprom.bin was used to lock the bigger hdd and the stock hdd, the stock hdd booted and is working now while the new hdd booted to error 6 ? Are you using the generated hdd password (from eeprom.bin) or manually typing in the hdd password?

i have to manually type the key in, cause as mentioned previously, no cd burner avail anymore. my original cd burned doesnt have an eeprom on it. but yes, cloned hd, manually typed hd key, its correct... and new hd boots code 6, stock hd works fine

The password is calculated using the HDkey from the eeprom, the disk serial number, and the disk model number, to generate a unique password for each disk/Xbox pair. You can't use the password for one disk to lock another disk - that's why you are getting error 6.

To get the password for the new disk, connect your new disk to your PC, run LiveInfo, load your eeprom, select the Xbox disk, then that will give you the Calculated Password that you can use to lock the new disk. Obviously you'll need to unlock the disk (with the incorrect password) before you start this process.

You can do likewise with xboxhdm2 which boots off usb drive so the cd burner isn't needed.

ok, where to find liveinfo then, and unfortunately im forced to use the cd for booting, my particular pc is old, and doesnt support booting from usb but thanks in advance for the help

LiveInfo Beta 3

ok, downloaded. am away from home this weekend. will try sometime early next week and advise of results tyvm

Could a mod edit the link to point to http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=690646 and update the status to The tool as of xboxhdm2.1 final version is completed.

Thanks.

Done.

Can a mod edit post #1 to include this in between the first and second quotes. Thanks

5. xboxdumper
A windows based tool with the functionality of stage 1 to 2 of hdd preparation,ie formatting of FATX partitions. Together with xplorer360 and hdtool, it does all 4 stages of hdd preparation.

Done.

It all works well for me but the size of my partitions is wrong. G: is much bigger than F:. My question is how i can change this? Is it possibel after the installation or must it done before? I used a little linux program to prepare my hdd. Thx for your help!!!!!!

JTLYK, from my experience method 5 works best with modern equipment. My mainboard is <1 year old and I couldn't use xboxhdm2 at all because it cut longer filenames and folders while copying the partition C and E files to my new HDD.

I've got a refurbished Xbox (version 1.6) with an original hard drive. I've been using it strictly for XBMC for a few years (set as the default dashboard), but I think it's time for a larger drive.

I got xboxhdm to work on a spare system, and I've FTP-ed everything from the original drive, but I'm not sure what I should copy with this method. Should I do both the C and E drives and copy them via xboxhdm, or should I only copy the C drive, then FTP everything else once I've verified the new drive works?

You need C and E. Make sure you bypass shadow C on your current softmod before making a copy of the C partition.

My issue is a bit different. I modded by Xbox during the modchip days, upgraded to a larger HD and set aside the original. A few years pass and the Xbox started having some problems, probably related to the modchip, so I removed the modchip, dug up the original HD and softmodded it. Porblem is, my larger HD has all the um, data I'd like to transfer. I'd love to copy the data to my network hard drive, and basically reformat and reuse the larger hard drive except... You guessed it, the drive is locked. I have no idea why I locked it, since it would work unlocked with the modchip. Is there a utility or process that would unlock this drive to make the content accessible? I could re-rig it to the Xbox but remember, this was a modchip Xbox so I don't think it'll boot.

Get the eeprom.bin from the softmodded xbox, unlock larger hdd with xboxhdm with the eeprom file, load the softmod files onto C drive of larger hdd, lock it and install back onto the console.

First post updated.

Hi All,

I am trying to upgrade the hard drive in a friends Xbox 1.

I softmodded the console for them but I don't know the best method to install a larger hard drive. I use a laptop so I am not able to connect the Xbox IDE hard drive to it so I am not sure of my options.

My xbox tho is modchipped so I put their hard drive in mine formatted it installed evoX, took it out, placed it in theirs & all I get is the green text.

Bit stuck, please help

Thanks

This is how I softmod and upgrade hard drives on other Xbox consoles using my chipped Xbox:

1. Backup the C drive, E drive, and the eeprom from your friends Xbox using your favorite gamesave exploit and evolution X
2. unlock your hard drive on your chipped xbox using the "config magic" app (to prevent being locked out)
3. take your friends new hard drive (that you plan to install in your friends Xbox) and install it in your chipped xbox
4. Format the hard drive by loading a dvdr Evolution X (you can format remotely using FTP commands also)
5. copy over the backup of C and E partitions that were saved to your pc
6. install "Config Magic 1.6" and save your eeprom backup inside the config magic data folder
7. launch config magic, update your chipped Xbox with the eeprom from your friends xbox
8. after updating your eeprom, lock the hard drive using the same eeprom
9. remove the hard drive and install it in your friends xbox
10. the hard drive should now function properly in your friends xbox
11. proceed with softmodding the xbox like you normally would
12. reflash your old eeprom to your chipped xbox if you feel the need to

There are multiple ways of going about doing this, but this is what seemed to work well for me. Config Magic, Evolution X, and any one of the softmod auto-installers makes the process a breeze.