Must I mod the console to change hard drive?

[Austin1638]

So, I can't download anything until 15 posts, so I have a question.  I think my v1.0 ide hard drive is dying...I was playing dance dance and the system became very slow and sluggish to dance pad presses. (The pad worked fine on the ps2) I did open up the xbox console for the first time, cleaned up the board, chopped out the clock capacitor (a very small amount of leakage), applied new thermal paste to the chips.  The fans seemed like they were functioning fine. But..... I'm curious about the hard drive. Can I just clone the hard drive to a new hard drive and call it a day?  Must I hard or soft mod the system before putting in a new hard drive?

[SS_Dave]

 you can use a EEProm reader to get the HDD key from the Xbox then build a new HDD on a PC, Or you can soft mod it and use a app to retrive the HDD key, Or in my view hard mod it ( mod-chip or re-flash the onboard bios) and then use a PC to make a new large HDD/SSD and load that up with games and save the DVD as it's going to be the next thing to fail 

A hard mod means you don't need the HDD key as the hard drive can be left unlocked, a soft-mod requires the hard drive be locked to the mother board with a key that's saved in the EEProm.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.