Okay..I just bought a 360 Pro model on eBay for $55. The auction was over in 5 mins by the time I found it, so I couldn't ask the seller many questions.. The auction didn't say it came with a HDD, so I doubt it does, says it works fine so..

What I want to do is put iso files onto an external drive and have the 360 load the games off of that.

I've read about flashing DVD drives etc and I just want to make sure I don't need anything extra by the time the 360 comes. This is basically the steps I think I need to do:

Open it up and connect the drive to my comp
Flash the drive
Download and burn XEXLoader, install it to the 360
Format the HDD
Put the ISO files on the drive
Plug it into the 360
Load XEXLoader and run the game


Now my few questions:

For XEXLoader to install, do I need an original 360 harddrive? Or can I install it onto the flash?

If I need the drive, do I have to buy one of those 360 HDD to PC USB adapters?

Is there any special hardware or screwdrivers I need to go and purchase inorder to do all this? I already have extra SATA cables and my PC has an external SATA connector.

Do I need to patch every single game with XEXTool for them to be able to load offf external (I guess)?

I think you are pretty far off base here.

There are two types of mods that can be done.

1. DVD firmware mod. This can be done on any 360 except the new Slims. This allows you to play backups burnt to DVD+DL disks. This is ALL you can do. No homebrew, no XEXloader nothing short of just loading backups burnt to DVD+DL disks.

2. Jtag/Freeboot. This is completely different and requires dumping your nand and flashing Xell to get your CPU to create a proper Freeboot image to flash to your jtaged console.. This will allow you to do the things you want to do.

BUT

First off before you even think about the JTAG rout you must find out if your console will pass the very strict requirements. These requirements are that it CAN NOT be done on ANY console manufactured after June 18th 2009 AND has NEVER been on Live since last summers dashboard update and NEVER played ANY game that has come out over the past year and has not been serviced by Microsoft since last summer. If any of these things have been done then this mod cant be done on that console.

Ouch.. I'm guessing there will be a list of 360 models and their manufacture dates? Guess I have to wait til I receive the 360 to figure out if I can do it or not.. Thanks for the info.

Yes. Once you get your console you will want to first look at the back to see the manufacture date. If it is older than June 18th 2009 then you can go to the next step. Turn the console on and go to the system settings then console settings. Scroll down to where it says console info. Look for the kernel version. If it is anything from 2.0.8495.0 or higher then there is no JTAG in the future for that console. If however you get past that test then you can move onto the third and final test. Pop off the faceplate and look to see if it has a refurbished sticker on it. If it does there may also be a good chance it cant be jtaged.

Granted this is the wrong section for that. But isn't obvious by now, there needs to be a sticky for us to ignore, explaining the two. We'd offer to type one up, but we all know what happens when Insanity tries to be nice. Perhaps added into Xombe's?

Indeed.