How to Get a Bigger Hard Drive for the Xbox 360
The Microsoft Xbox 360 uses a hard drive to store games as well as movies, music, photos, and information about the owner. The capacity of the hard drive can quickly fill up. Getting a bigger hard drive from Microsoft is very expensive, but you can't use a regular computer hard drive because the Xbox 360 only works with a Microsoft hard drive. A small modification on the computer that's easy enough to do yourself will let the Xbox 360 recognize and work with an inexpensive bigger hard drive. The modification will not hurt the Xbox 360 in any way.
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Things You'll Need
- 2GB USB thumb drive
- Windows-based computer
- Internet connection
- Web browser
- 120GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive
- Torx screwdriver
Instructions
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1
Download the HP Drive Key Boot Utility from the HP website to your computer's desktop (see the link in Resources). Insert the USB thumb drive into a USB port on the computer. Click on the icon of the USB thumb drive when it appears on the desktop. Use the mouse to drag the HP Drive Key Boot Utility into the window that opened up when you clicked on the USB thumb drive's icon. Wait as the HP Drive Key Boot Utility copies to the USB thumb drive.
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Download a MS-DOS image file (see the link in Resources). Click on the MS-DOS image file's icon after it has downloaded to mount it onto the computer's desktop. Download the 120 Xbox 360 hddss.bin file to the desktop of the computer (see the link in Resources). Drag the 120 Xbox 360 hddss.bin file and the icon of the mounted MS-DOS image file into the USB thumb drive's window to copy them to the USB thumb drive.
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3
Remove the power cord from the Xbox 360. Put the Xbox 360 down on a table. Press the release catch at the center of the Xbox 360's hard drive that is on the top of the game console. Lift off the Xbox 360 hard drive and put it face down on the table.
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4
Remove all of the screws using the Torx screwdriver. Remove the drive enclosure and put it aside. Use the Torx screwdrive to remove the four screws holding the drive into the drive enclosure. Remove the ribbon cable and power plug from the back of the hard drive by gripping the ribbon cable and the power plug at each end, squeezing and then pulling the ribbon cable and the power glu straight out. Separate the hard drive from the drive enclosure. Put the drive enclose aside.
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Shut down the computer. Open the computer's case and attach a ribbon cable and a power plug from inside of one of the empty drive bay's into the appropriate connectors on the 120GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive.
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Turn the computer on. Wait as the computer boots from the USB thumb drive. Enter "run hddhackr --f" in the command line when the DOS command line appears. Press the "Enter" key. Follow the commands to make a backup of the original drive's firmware. Enter "Reboot" when prompted to do so. Enter "run hddhackr --f" and press the "Enter" key after the DOS command line appears. Remove the USB thumb drive. Enter "Reboot" and press the "Enter" key to restart the computer.
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7
Shut down the computer after it has booted up. Disconnect the ribbon cable and the power cord from the 120GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive. Close up the computer's case. Attach the ribbon cable and the power plug from the drive enclosure to the 120GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive. Reassemble the hard drive enclosure using the 120GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive. Put the 120GB Western Digital Scorpio hard drive into position on the Xbox 360. Plug the power cord of the Xbox 360 back in.
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8
Turn on the Xbox 360. Wait for the "Storage Devices" menu to appear. Select the icon of the hard drive underneath "Storage Devices" and press the "X" button on the game controller. Follow the prompts to format the hard drive. Return to the main menu after the formatting has been completed and use the bigger hard drive on the Xbox 360.
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Tips & Warnings
Avoid touching the connections on the back of the hard drive as static electricity could cause damage to the hard drive.
Do not bring the bigger hard drive along when taking the Xbox 360 into a service center for a repair.
