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Hello Everyone. I am kind of new/kind of old to the scene, as I have an rev 1.6 Xbox that I bought brand new in 2006, softmodded and installed a 160gb harddrive, which is(was?) limited to 137Gb useable space, copied all my bought games to it, threw in a couple emulators, and then just used it on and off and basically forgot anything involved in the process to the mists of time. Recently it wouldn't power on, so I replaced the common 5 3300uF caps that were leaking, and it was good to go. My brain noted that the 16 year old IDE hard drive will not run forever, and I should look at upgrading to a SATA configuration. Due to the time gap, very old versions of software, I have now read so much conflicting information at this point am not sure what to do in 2021. I no longer have the original drive. I don't appear to have an image of either drive (8gb or 160gb) in any of my backups either. My fuzzy memory says this is bad because of linked keys. I do not have a PATA usb adaptor, or computer with PATA. I have an Xbox to USB adaptor, but I don't think I have a compatible thumb drive. Based on my research I've ordered the "correct" Startech SATA/PATA adaptor. The existing drive already has an 80 pin cable. I do have ftp access without issue. I'm attaching a 2 screenshots of my drive/system info, my questions are: Is that key in the screenshot all I need? If not what is the best way to go about backing up the drive/board key "Just in case" things go bad. And is Chimp (https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/wiki/chimp/) still the best way to clone it to a new drive in 2021? I undoubtedly will have more questions, but backing up is my first priority, and once I have a confirmed backup I will be much more comfortable playing with it, and hopefully updating the various software I have loaded. Any "critical hints" or gotchas would be appreciated as well. v

I don't like that the Startech SATA-IDE adapter doesn't have a case, so I designed one for it, and thought I'd share it. It's printed in two halves and snaps together (if all goes well). sata-adapter-case.stl

Results Below! I compare load times while controlling all variables of the startech ide2sat2 adapter vs the cheap adapter that most people recommend. There are significant differences in both price and performance. cheapo ux bootup 2:28 - 3:09 = 41 seconds halo 2 load 4:11 - 4:56 = 45 seconds coinops dd3 5:42 - 6:25 = 43 seconds startech ux bootup 8:00 - 8:20 = 20 seconds halo2 load 10:05 - 10:25 = 20 seconds coinops dd3 10:57 - 10:40 = 43 seconds CoinOps was 43 seconds for both tests. This implies that the wait isn't due to throughput of the storage device but rather the zip extraction of the cpu.

Can I use other IDE cables? is it bi-directional?

Bought 3 yellows ones on eBay - all garbage - can someone tell me where to buy ones that actually work? Sitting in front if a modded 500gb SATA original Xbox that I can’t play on a bank holiday weekend is disappointing - any help greatly appreciated.

With the eventual goal of creating a very slimmed down xbox I took one of the cheap SD to IDE adapters and modified it into this. Desoldered the existing male header; soldered a female header onto the back for a direct motherboard connection. Soldered the power connection to the DVD header to keep wires from running across the board. Unfortunately this meant the openxenium install was to tall; so that got a direct solder to the motherboard.

Just curious is there a specific ide cable people use as a replacement? I have a 500gb data drive installed now. And saw people advise to upgrade to a 80 wire cable. Problem is the connectors just don't seem right on a of cable I tried. Distance between them is not right and won't work

can someone give me a link to the type of ide cable i need for the hdd upgrade? most of the pics for these items are very misleading so i'd like a link to a cable that someone in this group has used before.

i bought a cheap adapter on ebay. it doesnt have a master/slave adjustment. is that needed?

Hi everyone, my IDE cable upgrade finally come after faffing about trying to get it to fit I get error 09, swapped back to stock IDE boots perfectly. I've attached a screenshot of the cable I used and people in the reviews say it worked for them but I'm not sure there true as the IDE connectors seam the wrong way round. Thanks all for your advice.

Hello guys,i have a question. How can i softmod my xbox using a modern pc and ide to sata adapter?I tried with xplorer360 but every time it says could not find fatx drive.I hot swapped drive using two methods.I heard that you can softmod it with ide to sata adapter using xboxhdm23usb.Is that true,and if yes,how to do it?

I have an unused 80GB 2.5" IDE HDD bought for an old laptop which died before I got around to fitting it. The problem or maybe not a problem is the 2.5" IDE to 3.5" IDE adapter. I've found what I think are suitable ones on Ebay/Amazon (F 2.5" with M 3.5" to connect to the IDE cable). But the thing I'm not sure about is the power supply. The ones I've found have a (F) Molex connector + cable but only wired with red and black cables. This I assume is 5v and ground ie. normal Molex power connections. Is this enough to power the 2.5" HDD? It should be but it got me thinking about why the Xbox HDD power supply has both 5v and 12v connections (red + ground and yellow + ground) if they're not both needed. If a standard 3.5" HDD in the Xbox needs more than 12v available perhaps a 2.5" HDD needs more than 5v too. Knowledgeable advice appreciated.

I hace a 300gb IDE hard drive that I used in a sodtmodded Xbox back in the day - only realized this evening that it is locked and that I no longer have the Xbox I made it for - is there anyway to unlock it - I have softmodded xboxes lying around - would they help unlock it? Thanks

Hi, I would like to remove my original Western Digital 8 GB IDE HDD and replace it with a modern 120 GB SATA SSD. However, I don’t want to use a modchip or a softmod. My Xbox should stay as original as possible (especially the Dashboard). So I just want to copy all my IDE HDD data 1:1 to the new SSD drive (even no resizing of the partitions). My idea is to install the SSD with an IDE to SATA converter (StarTech with Marvell chip). The 1:1 sector-by-sector copy to the new drive should be done with CloneZilla. Is this possible? I read something about keys and locked drives... Regards, steffZ

Hi - I have a 500GB SATA drive upgrade complete with Startech SATA to IDE connector and 80 pin IDE cable. However, I still feel my 400 GB IDE xbox loads coin ops games quicker. I bought a new old stock 500GB IDE drive and now I want to clone my SATA drive to my IDE Drive. Is this possible? I could use Chimp or could I use HDM V1.9? I would Prefer to use HDM V1.9 but I'm not sure it would recognise a SATA drive even if it is connected using a Startech SATA to IDE - anyone shed any light on this? Thanks

I successfully created and locked a 500GB IDE Seagate Hard drive using HDM V1.9. I transferred it to my xbox and it gets stuck at the xbox splash screen at start up for ages and then goes to Error 13 - any ideas? (It can take 2-3 minutes for the word "Microsoft" to appear under the xbox splash). Thanks

Hi Does anyone have some current eBay links to suitable cables? I have an 80 way cable but to get it to connect to the bits the cable is twisted all over the place and the orientation seems wrong compared to the original 40 way cable. So links to something that fits tidily and sensible orientation would be great, thanks.... (Global shipping, I'm in UK not USA!)

Hi - I ordered a Star Tech IDE to SATA connector and have a spare 500GB SATA drive - will the IDE cable in the xbox work as it is a 500GB drive or will I need to invest in a 80 Pin cable?

I have a few softmodded xbox consoles at this stage and I'm looking at buying hard drives to upgrade them. I'm wondering if SATA is slower than IDE even with the more expensive Startech SATA 2 IDE adapter? Is an SSD drive on a par with an IDE drive? Thanks

Is it possible to attach Xbox IDE hard drive to a windows 7 or later SATA PC and build the hard drive from a softmodded xbox or do I need to find a really old PC? I know I used a Dell Optiplex years ago but I have it away to a mate a couple of years ago and he doesn't have it anymore. If I need an old PC can anyone recommend a specific spec - as I might have to buy one second hand - thanks in advance.

Hi - I softmodded my xbox original five years ago and didn't use it much because of a house move. I took it out last night and realised that the upgraded 250GB drive is very noisy and sounds like it is dying. I upgraded before using Chimp. I am wondering can I use Chimp again with another 250GB hard drive or does the next hard drive have to be bigger than the 250GB drive? I have looked for an answer on google but all search returns related to upgrading to a larger drive from the stock drive - there doesn't seem to be anything about swapping a drive for another drive that is equal in size. Kind Regards

Custom Red LED controller Ports with matching Red LED Power/Eject Board. Comes with lifetime warranty. If one ever fails I will replace it for free minus the shipping cost. These are very bright and match 100% although the picture kinda takes away from how deep red these really are. $24.99 Shipped anywhere in the lower 48. Can ship worldwide. Other colors available: Blue, Green, White, Purple, Orange, Red Any questions, simply shoot me a message! Thanks guys!

I was bored this evening so I pulled out an Xbox and TSOP'd it with iND-BIOS and installed a new old-stock 500GB IDE Maxtor hard drive. The clock capacitor has been removed, the DVD drive (Samsung) has a new drive belt installed and the case has been cleaned and polished-up, looks great. Currently transferring over XBMC4Gamers as the primary dash and all emulators are outfitted with the ResurrectionXtras video and box art/screen shot packs-- speaking of emulators, this includes the latest build of EWJ's curated Surreal64 romset, and almost every game runs great. The controller is in great condition as well, disassembled and shell cleaned. Asking $90+shipping if anyone is interested. Thanks!

hey everyone does anyone know where to find a 80pin ide cable that is the same as the original in terms of shape etc?

So I was wondering if this was possible. I remember MANY years ago when I was a kid fucking up my xbox dash and fixing it by transferring a softmodded E/C by Xplorer360. Would this work on a virgin xbox? To be clear: hotswap virgin xbox hdd to PC, open in xplorer 360, transplant softmodded C/E, boot xbox (should boot into unleashx). I swear I remember doing this to an xbox with a broken disk drive too. Does anyone know for a fact? It seems 10x easier than Ndure and shit. Also if anyone has a tutorial for modding an xbox with only IDE PC please let me know. thanks also if someone could upload their softmodded E/C from a PAL xbox or if it doesnt matter either. excluding emulators/games etc etc of course