Note: If you have a Western Digital drive, you may be able to skip steps 1 and 2 and use the master password 'WDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWD'. You can find more information about this utility here.

XboxHDM 1.9 (a Linux distro) extracted to your desktop.

A PC with a PATA (IDE) port and DVD or CD burner.

A SATA drive will also work using a SATA adapter and an 80-pin IDE cable.

If your Xbox is softmodded, you can follow the below processes to obtain your hard drive key by using Auto Installer Deluxe and lock a new IDE hard drive using it.

Softmod options include the Game Save Exploit or Hotswapping, while hardmod options include installing a modchip or TSOP Flashing. A hardmod will allow you to directly install a new drive, while using softmod will allow you to follow the process on this page to install a new lockable drive.

If your current hard drive is working on an unmodified Xbox, you will need to modify your console before being able to replace the hard drive.If your hard drive is completely broken on an unmodified Xbox and you do not have an EEPROM backup (or a EEPROM reader to obtain a EEPROM backup), the only way to recover your Xbox is to install a modchip, which will bypass the hard drive lock requirement with a new hard drive, or use an EEPROM reader to get an EEPROM backup.

Some installers or BIOSes will automatically detect the drive and will walk you through a wizard to set up your new hard drive. If you have an installer disc (Rocky's, Hexen, AID, Slayers) disc inserted, you can format the hard drive as need.

If you are using a modchip or have TSOP flashed your console, you can directly insert any new IDE hard drive or SATA hard drive using a SATA adapter and an 80-pin IDE cable.

64KB clusters for a 500GB-1TB partition.

32KB clusters for a 250GB-500GB partition.

16KB clusters for up to a 250GB partition.

It's recommended to cover all exposed metal pins with electrical tape to prevent shorting when plugging the drive in, as this can kill hard drives.įor large drives, you will need to format each partition to have these cluster sizes or you will not be able to access all the space of a partition: The hard drive must support locking - which all SATA drives do - unless your console is modchipped or TSOP flashed. You can use a SATA hard drive with an IDE to SATA adapter but it requires a 24 inch 80-wire IDE cable. Anything over this may be usable, but only with a dashboard that can see the extra required partitions, such as XBMC. Most dashboards only will see 2TB of space.

Xbox auto installer deluxe format