Add more storage to your game console.

You installed the Xbox mod chips. You changed the Xbox interface by installing EvolutionX. You've taken the first two steps to fully unleashing your Xbox's power. Now what? It's time to upgrade the hard drive.

The stock hard drive comes with a measly amount of storage. Actually, it's big enough for settings and saved games. But now that you've modded the Xbox, you need more storage for all the applications you're going to install.

Xbox mods aren't supported by Microsoft and may be illegal under the DMCA. If you mod your Xbox, you're willingly voiding the warranty and you might be breaking the law. If done improperly, modding can damage your Xbox.

Pick a drive
Here are two important things to keep in mind when selecting a new drive:
  • Manufacturer
    Your new drive has to be "locked" in order to play Xbox Live games. Only certain drives support hard-drive locking. Based on my interviews with modders, it seems that Maxtor hard drives are the most compatible. You can easily lock a hard drive through the DOS command line (more on this later in the article).
  • Capacity
    The Xecuter2 Lite mod chip that we demonstrated in part one of this series supports hard-drive capacities of up to 140GB. I selected the Maxtor 120GB hard drive. It was priced right.


Xbox backup
You don't just rip out your old hard drive and slap the new one in there. You need to back that thing up. Your old hard drive has data that you need to transfer to your new hard drive.

Our installation of EvolutionX gave us FTP access to the Xbox. By using FTP, you can back up your files. I recommend CuteFTP as an FTP application. Use FTP to access the Xbox and then drag and copy your files. Don't copy them to your new hard drive yet. Just back up the data to any hard drive on your computer.

There are two partitions on the Xbox:
  • If you're Windows-savvy, you know what's in the C: drive. Yep, you guessed it: the Xbox dashboard and boot files.
  • The E: drive contains your saved games. It took you a long time to get where you're at in Vexx. You don't want to start over, do you?


Installation
  1. Set the jumper on the new drive to cable select.
  2. Install the new drive.
  3. Put the EvoX setup CD in the Xbox drive and turn on your Xbox.
  4. Choose the "Configure new hard drive" option. This will partition and set up the hard drive.
  5. Repeat the FTP process, but this time copy your data to the new drive. Remember to put the data from the old C: drive into your new C: drive. Do the same with the E: drive.
  6. Reboot.


Lock the drive
If you plan on disabling the mod chip for Xbox Live, you have to lock the hard drive. Learn how to lock your drive.