Locked Hard Drive Re-Use

[Swirlygiver]

Hey, if I have an old Xbox hard drive from a softmod, that is locked, and I no longer have the Xbox, can I reuse it somehow still for anything?  Like can I unlock it in windows and reformat?

[Swirlygiver]

I have a 120gb hd from an old softmod I no longer have.  I swear I unlocked it years ago. But I tried to put it in a TSOP and it won’t boot. 

[SS_Dave]

A hard modded/re flashed TSOP will have problems using a drive with a soft mod .

As your not saying it's got a error message the drive could be unlocked.

If the drive is unlocked you can use a install disk(Hexen,Slayers,etc etc) to remove the soft mod file's or just blow the lot away and start with a clean install.

Depending what was used to lock the drive it may ask for a password that's stored on the old Xbox's EEprom

Some default password's "XBOXSCENE",  “TEAMASSEMBLY” , or 32 zero's and it's case sensitive .

 

Cheers

SS Dave

 

Those that can Hard-Mod. Those that can't Soft-Mod.

 

[KaosEngineer]

6 hours ago, Swirlygiver said:

I have a 120gb hd from an old softmod I no longer have.  I swear I unlocked it years ago. But I tried to put it in a TSOP and it won’t boot. 

If it's locked, a TSOP'd console cannot open it without knowing the unlock key from the old Xbox where it was originally installed. (eeprom.bin backup)

You can use Chimp 261812 (the Xbox app is under the E Partition / Chimp folder there) to check the lock status. Set the old HDD's MASTER/SLAVE jumper to SLAVE. Use a Molex power splitter to power both hard drives at power on of the Xbox. Run Chimp and when prompted to connect the hard drive - hotswap connect it to the DVD drive's IDE connector.  I believe Chimp has a startup screen that shows a page with the hard drives' lock status.  You can use the Slave drive options to try and unlock it using a couple of the Xbox-scene default passwords.  They may work to unlock the drive if it is in fact still locked.

[Swirlygiver]

My plan was to put the drive in and use HeXEn to remove the softmod.   When I put it in, I don’t get any error, I get flashing red and green,, and it won’t boot past the bios announcement, so it doesn’t load HeXEn. 
 

I did try Xboxscene in Chimp, that didn’t work.  It says unlocked after, but nothing changed. 

Edited January 25, 2020 by Swirlygiver

[KaosEngineer]

3 hours ago, Swirlygiver said:

and it won’t boot past the bios announcement

What BIOS announcement?

The hard drive is set to be the MASTER device on the IDE bus (or Cable Select)?

Which IDE cable are you using - stock or replacement 80-wire 40-pin?

[Swirlygiver]

I am using the 512k x2-5035 bios. I was referring to when I first turn it on It has a line the says something about xecuter before the normal Xbox splash.

Its the original 40 wire ribbon.  Both drives are IDE. I’ve tried it in master and cable select. The original drive boots fine. I think the 120 is motherboard locked 

[KaosEngineer]

1 minute ago, Swirlygiver said:

I think the 120 is motherboard locked 

Was the console it was installed in GONE?

How was that console modded?

[Swirlygiver]

I don’t have that console anymore.  It was softmodded. 

[SS_Dave]

I tried a locked hdd with a 5035 bios and it just sits there fragging after a couple of seconds.

I think you have a paper weight or 1/10 of a cent's worth of scrap metel.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

 

Those that can Hard-Mod. Those that can't Soft-Mod.

[KaosEngineer]

On 1/24/2020 at 5:06 PM, Swirlygiver said:

Hey, if I have an old Xbox hard drive from a softmod, that is locked, and I no longer have the Xbox, can I reuse it somehow still for anything?  Like can I unlock it in windows and reformat?

Yes, you can do an ATA Secure Erase to wipe the current contents and delete the locking password.  Then, reuse it in a PC or other device that you want that can use an unformatted hard drive.

I'm not sure which application(s) support sending the ATA command to perform the secure erase function of a locked hard drive.

[SS_Dave]

How desperate are you to use a 120gig hard drive I was looking years ago and this is as far as I got to unlocking a Hard Drive

I decided that unlocking the OEM Xbox drives using this method is not worth the effort.

 

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=193

 

Cheers

SS Dave

 

Those that can Hard-Mod. Those that can't Soft-Mod.

[Swirlygiver]

Yeah, I figured it’s scrap now. Was hoping maybe there was a trick for erasing it easily.  
 

I’m not desperate to use it.  I just already had it sitting here, and I was trying to get an Xbox up and running for a friend who had his hd die.  He only used his booting to CoinOps in a DIY arcade machine.  So I thought a that 120 would be perfect. Thanks for the help