Hello,

My Xbox 360 120GB Elite console is no longer plating games, this Xbox has never been modded in any way. I am taking a guess that the drive has failed in some way or the laser has burnt out (Has been working fine for over 1.5 years)

If I buy an exact same drive model and replace it with the broken one then reflash the firmware with the console key what is the Xbox LIVE risks?

Thanks

As long as you only use stock firmware, there are no real risks. However, it'd be much cheaper to replace the laser rather than the drive. You're looking at $10 vs $35+. You also don't have to worry about getting a compatible SATA card or peripheral to flash the drive.

Ok thanks, I will look a tutorial up for changing the lasers and see if I am willing to try it

Lasers are simple to change over you just need to remember to desolder the anti static point.

If you do go down the new drive route, you can just swap the pcb from your duff one to the new one instead.