xbox hdd capacity

Hi guys i modded my xbox (hardmod) a few years back and i installed a 320 gb hdd but have never been able to
see the full 320 i get around 120 gb or so . also i have random partitions that quite frankly do my head in
. after installing the hdd i can no longer start the xbox into the stock dash by pressing the power button (i get service error) and have to bypass it by holding the power button to enter the custom firmware from there i can play originals and backups .

what i want is the ability to start it as a normal xbox again (using single press on power button)
and be able to use more of my hdd
and be able to make sense of the amout of partitions etc

i still have the original hdd somewhere
 
Okay, so on the original HDD, there's a partition with the original dashboard. You need to copy THAT install over to your new drive. You should have done this when you burned the xboxHDM dvd.
Also, partitioning on the xbox is a little weird. You should have C, D, and F partitions that contain system files and then probably another partition where you keep your games. Just add more partitions and you'll unlock more of your capacity. This is also a decent enough way to organize your games.
 
Hmmm i was worried someone was gonna say that how do i copy from the stock hdd to the new one as the stock one is locked (dont realy wanna do the hotswap trick) plus i recently built my new pc and have ide anymore :( . all the partitions confuse me ( does not take much) i have a partition with all my games on and another which is the rest of my hdd but when i put things in there i cannot access them my whole system is just in a bit of a mess i have an aladin modchip how unlikely is it i will brick my console if i try starting a fresh .. also i have a second xbox i want to softmod is there a easy way using my hardmodded xbox to softmod the second one
 
could i put the hdd from the second xbox into the first and read the eeprom key ? from the drive

sorry for not responding sooner. I've been active a lot at XB Scene lately and haven't been on modretro in a while.

ok, for starters the reason you are getting a service error with your new hard drive is likely one of two things, either it doesn't have the base files for a stock xbox, or the new hard drive was never locked to the xbox. I am hazarding a guess and going with #2 on this. Take a look when you boot up and see what the error number is, and google that error number. If it is related to hard drive time out or hard drive locked or incorrect hard drive for device - pretty much any hard drive error - it's because the drive is not locked with the proper key. Config Magic is a utility that you can use that will lock your hard drive to your xbox. Do that. it should set a master password on the drive (which is handy) and lock it to the EEPROM so you can boot it up in normal mode without issue.

Now if you are missing the stock C files in the xbox, well that would also give you problems, but let's cross that bridge when we get there.

Ok to de-mystify the partitions here is a simple break down:

C - self explanatory, root partition for all stock files. on some hard mods the modded dash is here too. Best not to tinker too much with it
D - DVD drive. self explanatory.
E - originally intended to be a music storage partition. Didn't hold save game data, held other data. Conveniently located so that you can put stuff there and boot from it, or just store stuff.
F/G - Bigger hard drives hit the max that E had to offer for storage space, so a new partition was added, the F partition. Due to storage limits at the time, no drive could be more than 127 GB in size, so G was added shortly after that. Most dashes will have an option to "allow" F/G. Some automatically accept it if they are there. knowing what dash you are using would help clarify this. ***** please note that these limitations were removed later. it is possible with the two versions of partition managers for the xbox to set the size of both F and G to 1 TB each. You may want to re-size your partitions if they aren't large enough.

X/Y/Z - storage for save files, updates, and patches. mostly ignored, unless you want to insert or remove specific updates/patches or save files. I just ignore them.

because of the size restrictions on C and E, they usually only host the dash files, and maybe emulators of the older systems. F/G are used to house the big collections of original xbox games.

in re: modding the 2nd xbox, first before doing this CHECK YOUR XBOX VERSIONS to make sure each are the same e.g.: each are 1.6 or 1.0-1.5 etc etc. This method works, but only if they are the same version. if they aren't, there are other modding options that are just as easy (actually easier).

Ok so here's how this works, presuming that they are the same version, you will need a copy of Hexen to complete this process. it's an xbox installer and has a bunch of good utilities. it takes a few secs to boot up, and you don't want it to auto launch, so get to the root menu for your modded xbox so you have the option to launch the DVD. wait there. With the non-modded xbox, boot it up without a disk, copy an audio track to the hard drive (unless you already have audio files on it) and then start to play a track from it. wait about 3 seconds and then pause the track. Your hard drive has not been unlocked so that it can be read, but it is not actively being read because it has been paused. Disconnect the IDE cable from that hard drive but leave the Power cable plugged in. Disconnect the IDE from your modded xbox, and plug it into your non modded HDD. on the modded box, launch the DVD. it will now boot the DVD drive (takes about a minute, stay calm) and it will show that it is reading the xbox hard drive that is plugged in. go through the options to soft mod the xbox. it will do a bunch of stuff and then tell you that it needs to reboot to continue. hit ok. power off the modded box, disconnect the IDE cable, power off the non modded box, reconnect the IDE cable. boot the non modded xbox. it will now complete the soft mod, and prompt you to reboot again. after that it should be soft modded and good to go. if it is a 1.0-1.5 you should bridge the TSOP points and use the hexen disk to flash it so that it is hard modded. if it's a 1.6 then you should leave it alone and keep it softmodded. back up your eeprom once completed. PLEASE NOTE that when you use the hexen disk and it backs up your eeprom it is backing up the MODDED box eeprom, not your non modded box, so that eeprom it backs up is kind of pointless. back up the proper one to prevent headaches in the future.

Please note as well that if the xbox is a different version (1.0-1.5) this may or may not work without a hitch. if it is a 1.0-1.5 and you are modding a 1.6, it is pretty likely that it will temporarily brick your xbox.

if this is too involved a process, you can get a usb cable and splinter cell and mod it via game save exploit. or you can install a pin header in the new box, put your aladdin chip into it and boot it from that, mod everything you want, and then do a soft mod on it as well.

decisions decisions.
 
THANK YOU!!!!!!! hey thanks a bunch guys t2steve you were correct i had error 05 which was hard drive not locked burned a copy of config magic off using qwix and imgburn and locked the hdd now i can boot into the stock dash thanks a whole bunch :)
 
also my partitions are as such does it seem right to you guys?

free space per partition
C: 323.977.216
E: 5.069.979.648
F: 87.354.376.192 <MY GAMES AND EMULATORS GO HERE
X: 775.045.120
Y: 786.300.928
Z: 786.300.928
 
i do still check this lol...

yes, that looks about right. you have 323 megs open on the C drive so dont place anything in there. E has about 5 gigs of storage, so if you want you can put an emulator or APPS in there. F is a good place to keep your games, it has 87 gigs free. I'm not sure how big your hard drive is but if it is more than 200 gigs, you should setup a G drive as well.
 
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