How To Make Your Own XBOX360 Hard Drive 2010 Edition [DIY]

Our previous DIY Xbox 360 HDD guide has been a huge success and have saved a lot of money for a lot of readers.  However, since the original publishing of that guide, Microsoft has made some major updates to the firmware and sizes of their HDD line; which made the previous guide outdated.  After extensive testing and research on our part, we have written this new 2010 version of the guide to help you get a new 250GB Xbox360 Hard Drive for as little as $60 and a little elbow grease.  Read on to find out what you need!

==================================================================================

UPDATE:

According to our reader spike2jk, here’s how you can copy your files from the old hard drive back to the freshly hacked drive:

“I put my old hard drive in my computer and extracted all the files out of partition 2 and copied it onto my computers desktop. I then put my new hard drive in the xbox and formatted it, then put it back into my computer and dragged the files from partition 2 into my new hard drive through 360xplorer; I then put all my save files from my flash drive onto my new hard drive through the xbox and i was good to go.”

==================================================================================

UPDATE 2 (10/31/2010):

To use the latest series of the WD Scorpio Black HDD’s, you will need HDDHackr’s latest version which can be found here: Xbox-Hacker-BBS. The procedure to the hack is still the same, simply use the newest version of the file.

==================================================================================

UPDATE 3 (11/06/2010):

This hack can be used to create hard drives that will work with the new Xbox 360 Slim models.  You can purchase an empty shell from retailers online such as DealExtreme. 

==================================================================================

Disclaimer:

We are not responsible for any damages or failures that results directly or indirectly from this mod.  You WILL NOT be banned from Xbox Live for using this mod.  You WILL void your hard drive’s warranty with this mod but NOT your Console’s.  This mod will only work with the following hard drives:

• WD Scorpio Series BEVS/BEAS
• WD Scorpio Blue Series BEVS/BEVT
• WD Scorpio Black Series BEKT/BJKT
• WD VelociRaptor Series

This mod will be able to create hard drives in the following sizes:

• 20GB
• 60GB
• 120GB
• 250GB

It is possible to use a larger hard drive but you can only use the specified drive size signature.  In other words, you can use a 500GB hard drive but you will only ever see up to 250GB as that is the largest signature file which exists.

If you need to transfer your game saves and profiles.  I suggest using a USB flash drive formatted for use on a 360.  Move your profile and game saves and restore them back to the newly hacked hard drive.  Using 360Xplorer may also work but I’ve never found the program to be all that successful and am still wary of messing with existing data outside of sanctioned means.

What You Will Need:

• HDDHackr and Tools: You can download them HERE
• HDDHackr’s latest version which can be found here: Xboxhacker.org
• Torx 6 and Torx 10 screw drivers or bits (you can find this at Radio Shack or your local electronic stores - Torx 6 will be the harder one to find)
• USB Flash drive 2-4GB in size
• 360XPlorer if you would like to read the flashed hard drives (This tutorial will not cover the use of this software)
• A compatible 2.5” SATA Hard Drive as listed above

Proceedure:

1. Open up the tools software kit you downloaded and install iPrep from the archive.  This will install on all versions of Windows (XP/Vista/7/32 bit or 64 bit)
2. Replace ixDef.xml in C:\Program Files\iPrep\Resources with the one in the archive
3. Start up iPrep and load all three of the custom firmware from the “firmware” folder
4. If you know your SATA device ID, select it, otherwise, any will do
5. Select your target device, this is the drive letter Windows assigned your Flash Drive when you plugged it in
6. Make sure you select FAT32 as the format for your flash drive and then hit START
7. Once the drive has completed formatting, open it up again in Windows Explorer
8. Copy “hddhackr.exe” over to the root of the flash drive, no sub folders
9. Copy the “hddss.bin” file for the correct sized hard drive to the root of the flash drive, no sub folders
10. Shut down your PC
11. Disconnect all your hard drives, DVD drives, CD drives from the motherboard
12. Connect the virgin hard drive to the motherboard, make sure the power connect is plugged in as well
13. Boot up the computer with the iPrep’ed USB drive connected (make sure USB is selected in your computer’s BIOS as the boot up device, refer to your manual if you don’t know how to change that)
14. At the “C:\>” prompt, type “hddhackr.exe” (without the quotes)





15. You should now see a list of your ports on the computer, and if you only left the 360 drive connected, you should only see one of the ports populated.  Select that drive by typing in the port number.



16. You will then be prompted to [D]ump or [F]lash the firmware.  Select Flash and type in the name of the security sector, which will be HDDSS.bin
17. The program will say that the firmware does not match and do you want to flash it, select YES. 



18. You will then be asked if you would like to create partitions 0/2/3, select YES again and proceed to wait for the hard drive to be hacked. 



19. There is an UNDO.bin file that has been saved to your USB drive.  Make sure you hang on to that file if you ever want to return your drive to original state (as in not used in a 360 anymore.)
20. Watch this video to understand how to take apart your 360’s hard drive enclosure.  Repeat the procedure to install your new hacked hard drive.
21. After your hard drive is reassembled, plug it into the 360 and have the 360 format the drive again.  If you have any profiles or game saves to transfer, you can either use a hard drive transfer cable, or you can copy back the date from the 360 formated USB drive.

That’s it!  You’re done!  Congratulations on a brand new 250GB Xbox 360 hard drive that will work with all non-slim versions of the Xbox 360 for a fraction of the price.  I’ve been using my drive for a long time after recently increased its size to a 250GB.  Install to your heart’s content and be comforted in knowing your didn’t pay Microsoft one cent more than they deserved!

If you found this article to be helpful, please feel free to comment below and share with your friends.  Remember to listen to the GamerWok Hour every week for tips like this and much more.  Find it on iTunes or subscribe to the feed HERE!

Credits to InsaneNutter for original HDDHackr pics!

UPDATE: According to our reader spike2jk, here’s how you can copy your files from the old hard drive back to the freshly hacked drive:

“I put my old hard drive in my computer and extracted all the files out of partition 2 and copied it onto my computers desktop. I then put my new hard drive in the xbox and formatted it, then put it back into my computer and dragged the files from partition 2 into my new hard drive through 360xplorer; I then put all my save files from my flash drive onto my new hard drive through the xbox and i was good to go.”

UPDATE 2: To use the latest series of the WD Scorpio Black HDD’s, you will need HDDHackr’s latest version which can be found here: Xbox-Scene. The procedure to the hack is still the same, simply use the newest version of the file.

Comments

[spike2jk]

First off, Thanks amos for this awesome guide, works great on my 360 with a WD250gb HDD. Only question / comment is that the backwards compatibility doesnt work anymore; After I moved all my files onto my new one, can I go back into the partition and put it there without messing up my 360 files? Thanks

[Amos Ngai]

@spike2jk : I believe you can with 360Xplorer. However I would back up before trying since I personally haven't tested this particular situation. Let us know if it's successful!

[spike2jk]

Thanks Amos, had to order another SATA cable to open it in 360xplorer in windows xp. So after step 20, i put my old hard drive in my computer and extracted all the files out of partition 2 and copied it onto my computers desktop. I then put my new hard drive in the xbox and formatted it, then put it back into my computer and dragged the files from partition 2 into my new hard drive through 360xplorer; I then put all my save files from my flash drive onto my new hard drive through the xbox and i was good to go

[ronw]

amos,
excellent. my son and i ran off to frys and picked up a WD 2500 BEKT (Scopio black 250gb hdd.) formatted usb as inst above and added the hddhackr.exe and hddss.bin from the 250 folder to the root dir and then successfully boot to prompt. but when running hddhackr, no compatible device is found. any thoughts on where to go from here? its recognized if i boot to win7 or osx

[Amos Ngai]

@ Ronw: did you disconnect all the drives from the motherboard and is the data cable AND power cable attached to the WD 2500 drive? This should be step 16 in the guide. If all steps are followed, you may need to format the drive first in windows/OSX prior to using hddhackr. Give that a shot.

[Ronw]

amos,
it dawned on my that with my hackintosh install i have AHCI in the bios selected but once changed to IDE, it was able to identify it and it worked great. the 250 hddss installed and on reboot should up but the xbox didnt recognize it. i tried the 120 hddss and that one worked. so for now, we will roll with the 120.

thanks
ron

[Amos Ngai]

@Ron: Glad it worked out. Odd that the 250 HDDSS didn't work. Maybe retry or exchange for a different drive. Perhaps WD made some changes I'm not aware of.

[Amos Ngai]

Btw, have you updates to the latest dashboard for your 360? It might be your box that isn't seeing the 250 ss file as others have (including myself) were successful.

[Newhacker]

will this work with the new WD VelociRaptor 600 GB ? is there any program that could be used to achieve full useage of this size at once?

[Amos Ngai]

@newhacker: this won't work with the raptor drives. And until MS releases a drive that is larger than 250gb, that's the max size.

[Butchybutch]

is there any way to reflash or reuse the original MWF2 250GB hard drive if formatted with out adding the serial ## which by the way I do have

[Amos Ngai]

You can reflash it if you made a backup of your rom during initial flash. Otherwise there's no way to restore the firmware.

[EvlAsh]

Great tutorial!

I have a question though, can I use the transfer kit (cable and CD) that came with my 120GB MS HDD to transfer all my stuff (profile, game saves, dlc, etc.) to the new drive; or will I need a newer version of the Transfer kit CD?

[Amos Ngai]

@EvlAsh: yes, after the hack, the drive will be as like an original MS drive so the transfer cable will work.

[EvlAsh]

@Amos Ngai: Thanks.

[mml751]

What a great mod! Micro Center had the WD 250 Blue for $50 and I had to get the torx set from The Shack for $15 but it was smooth sailing. Considering MC was selling refurbed 120's for $80 even better!

Two notes, I did not have to do the part of step 21 to have the 360 format the drive again, it recognized it right away. Concerns? Also, is the original bin-firmware for the Samsung drives available? I would like to turn the 20G I pulled out into a backup drive.

Thanks

[wakeboardr116]

thanks worked perfectly for me. One question though. Will this work on the new xbox 360? Can we buy the $199 4gb system then use this process to upgrade it to the 250gb hdd?

[Amos Ngai]

@mml751: No concerns, the format is just in case the flash took but didn't do the full format. I believe the latest HDDHackr program does this automatically now. As for original FW, I don't believe you need it as a simple reformat in Windows will turn that 360 drive back to a normal HDD.

@wakeboardr116: yes it will work. This flash will make a compatible drive work with the slim. You just need to use something non-conductive to prop the drive in the slim bay since there's no caddy to hold it steady. DON'T just let it hang there as the SATA connections could easily snap off.

[Mike B]

I am thinking about going through with this but have a question. I noticed in the screenshots of hddhackr that it actually changes the listed manufacturer and serial number of your new hard drive. Does it change every hard drive to the same manufacturer and serial number, or is it random? If it changes many hard drives to the same serial number, this seems like something that microsoft could possibly detect easily. Just curious.

[Amos Ngai]

@mikeb: it changes it to the same because that's what the bin file is for. It is something that MS can detect but if they do, no one has been banned for it. You get banned for mire serious thing and honestly, you could have bought a used one from eBay or from gamestop and you would have no idea if it was homemade. Choice is yours but obviously, with no risk there's no gains.

[ray]

Would be good if there's a youtube video of the installation process for the USB flash drive.

I must be missing somthing 'cos the PC wouldn't boot up from the USB stick. I copied the file "hddhackra" and "hddhackr" onto the USB. Cannot see any "hddhackr.exe" in the downloaded folder. Must be missing something. Any advice?

Thanks.

[Amos Ngai]

@ray: re-read the instructions and do it EXACTLY. You don't need a youtube video for a USB drive.

[gearhead364]

I would just like to confirm that I can use a 160 GB hdd, but I will just be able to access 120 GB, correct?

[Amos Ngai]

@gearhead: as long as it's one of the WD drives listed it will work. The firmware can only be flashes to certain WD drives.

[gearhead364]

@Amos: thanks for the quick reply, it is a 160GB BEVT I found open box for $30, sounds like it should work fine, thanks again