OG Xbox Debug HDD upgrade

[Deleted member 211]

Hola!!

I recently dug out my OG Xbox to play the SC Ghost leak, had had a fun time getting it working. When I turned it on, the hard drive was making some horrible sounds, but eventually started working.
Then needed some help getting it going, huge shoutout to @JustAnyone for helping me discord.

Now, I want to upgrade the hard drive and read that I can only go to 120GB, is this true? Also, do I need to find a recovery dvd to match the firmware that’s on it now to rebuild?

 

[Trimesh]

The HDD capacity is limited by the use of 24 bit LBA in the kernel, so the actual maximum size is about 137GB - in practice, 120GB is the largest drive you can use and have all of it accessible.

You can use any recovery disc you like - it reflashes the boot ROM as part of the recovery process and you will end up running whatever kernel, dashboard and XDK launcher is on the recovery disc.

Note that this only works for real debug kits - trying to run the recovery image on a hacked retail will result in a large black paperweight that you can't recover without physically removing the TSOP and reflashing it.

 

[Mord.Fustang]

I've heard of people using larger drives, like 500gb+ in their (non debug) OG Xboxs. Is the 120gb limitation because it's a debug unit?

 

[cta]

It's a BIOS limitation. There's hacked ones for retail units that get around that; dunno whether any exist for XDK.

 

[Trimesh]

I've heard of people using larger drives, like 500gb+ in their (non debug) OG Xboxs. Is the 120gb limitation because it's a debug unit?

There is nothing actually stopping you from using a modified kernel with LBA48 support on a debug box - but the original MS kernel only supports LBA24, and that's what get's flashed when you run recovery. Hence to enable access to the larger drive you would have to reflash the kernel with a patched one - and if you're going to do that you might as well just use a modded retail which is cheaper and more readily available.

 

[Deleted member 211]

Thank you, everyone! I will get the 120GB from eBay!

 

[JustAnyone]

glad i was able to help