How to Upgrade a Hard Drive on a Softmodded Original Xbox | Xbox Softmod HDD Upgrade Tutorial

Tired of dealing with the 8 or 10 GB hard drive sitting in your softmodded Xbox? Why not upgrade it? This much requested tutorial breaks down the steps and shows you how to pick out a compatible hard drive, select the tools you need, and clone your current setup to a new drive successfully using Chimp 261812!
Keep in mind this will require several different pieces of hardware and software, and it does require a "hotswap" meaning you will have to disconnect your DVD drive and connect it to your new hard drive while the console is running. If done properly, everything will be successful, but keep in mind there is a risk of causing physical damage to your hardware if done improperly! This tutorial assumes you are aware of the risks and are willing to proceed.
Need to get around to softmodding your Xbox? Check out the tutorial here!
• How to Softmod Your Or...
What about people who softmodded using something other than Rocky5's Xbox Softmodding Tool? Update to his tool using this tutorial!
• How to Upgrade Your Or...
#OriginalXbox #OGXbox #XboxModding
This video has been made with Fair Use in mind and has been created as an educational piece of media.
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Hardware Used! (Affiliate Links)
Modding & Repair Hardware I Use:
US - www.amazon.com/shop/mrmario2011
UK - www.amazon.co.uk/shop/mrmario...
Original Xbox Console:
Amazon - geni.us/tQUtt9
eBay - ebay.us/VgCKjw
Molex 4-Pin Y Splitter:
AliExpress - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/sDHxZxi
Amazon - geni.us/tmzjUgG
eBay - ebay.us/HNoqEi
80-Wire IDE Cable:
Amazon - geni.us/hoUIl
eBay - ebay.us/4lK6x2
IDE to SATA Adapter:
AliExpress - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/Ba2tfC3A
Amazon - geni.us/uqDBj1
eBay - ebay.us/2mQT2o
WEme USB 3.0 to SATA/IDE Adapter:
Amazon - geni.us/I4EiBvt
eBay - ebay.us/QX6ujK
Western Digital 160 GB Drive I Used:
Amazon - geni.us/h6hPjzt
eBay - ebay.us/gVAqud
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Downloads & Links!
Original Xbox Hard Drive Compatibility List:
xboxdrives.x-pec.com/?p=list
Rocky5 Xbox Softmodding Tool:
github.com/Rocky5/Xbox-Softmo...
ImgBurn:
www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-...
Using Xbox Softmodding Tool's Extras Disc from HDD:
• Using Xbox Softmodding...
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Social Media & More!
Discord: Discord.Me/MrMario2011
Patreon: / mrmario2011
Second Channel: / ipsychozoa
Twitter: / mrmario2011
Facebook: / mrmario2011
Instagram: / mrmario2011
Twitch: / mrmario2011
--------------------
Song Information
Artist: pyama
Song: plugged in
Soundcloud: literalbagoftrash
Link: / literalbagoftrash
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Any links specifically listed as affiliate links give me a small monetary kickback at no extra cost to you and no influence on the content.

[@GMAN4737]

I love that your videos are still posted for original xbox mods/upgrades. This helped greatly! Thanks!

[@clif_roberts]

Did this immediately following your soft mod tutorial in June 2020, FANTASTIC!

[@RANDOMPEPSIBOTTLES]

Did this with a WD 500gb HDD. Best Christmas present ever.

[@MrMario2011]

Merry Christmas!

[@LouiesLog]

Nice

[@oakwaymultimedia2836]

Thank you MrMario2011, great high quality tutorial! For the other guys out there: For cloning I used the IDE cable from the XBOX itself, after cloning I did a reboot and ended up with error 13. That's what happens, when a 40-wire-cable is used - if a UDMA-drive is used, the 80-wire-cable is mandatory - as stated by MrMario2011.

[@Junkman444]

It feels like you are making these videos just-for-me! Spare WD1200 drive that was removed from my PC in the late 2K is now working in my recently soft-modded XBOX. Now need to upgrade the video output. Keeping the original drive as spare.

[@MrMario2011]

Good stuff! Glad to help.

[@BRUTALSHANZ1988]

Thank you for the tutorial. I originally bought the SATA to IDE conversion kit and 3 of my 2tb Drives were not lockable so I put the system away for a week until I bought a Hitatchi Deskstar HDS724040KLAT80 400GB IDE Drive and now I have went from 10GB to 400GB which is plenty of space for my needs.

[@christianmaldonado567]

Another helpful video Mr. Mario! Just finished a soft mod using Rocky5's tool and upgraded to a Hitachi Ultrastar A7K2000 2TB Sata hard drive. It locked successfully and I now have two extra partitions (F & G), each 1TB! Thank you a million times! SO much modding getting done during this pandemic and quarantine lol, kids are loving the games I grew up with!

[@MrMario2011]

Have fun!

[@pokiblue5870]

is 2TB overkill ? to install tons of xbox games ?

[@christianmaldonado567]

It depends on your choice of use for the 2tb. It's very useful for Xbox Media Center content, music, homebrew apps too. And if your game library is large enough it will most certainly take up the entire 2tb. Especially if your games aren't compressed 🙂

[@commanderphantom]

Followed your old Rocky5 video several years back and upgraded the HDD to a spare 160gb IDE drive laying around. Used Qwix to create a burnable ISO from the new Rocky5 linked in your new video, used imgburn with a DVD-R, launched disc, used the advanced tools option to update, redumped EEPROM and backed up to a labeled folder, installed MS Dash for Insignia and reinstalled UnleashX for default dash, and happy so far! No games or save data on existing partition were lost in the process. Got my StarTech IDE to SATA adapter and a new HDD prepped for a 2024 refresh and Chimp ready to go!

[@KenPurchase]

Despite a lack of technical skill I was able to complete a drive swap thanks to this guide, thank-you!

[@-mm-4434]

Quite literally, your videos are the best tutorials out there. This was an easy sub. Just found you tonight!

[@MrMario2011]

Welcome aboard!

[@dannyblancett1445]

Saw this on Tuesday and now I have a green Halo edition with the necessary components you linked, on the way. I cannot wait to get home this weekend to try it out. Top notch tutorials. I have never owned an original xbox, this should be fun!👊

[@MrMario2011]

Good luck! My main console is my TSOP flashed Halo Green console with a 2 TB SATA HDD. Awesome looking system to mod up!

[@LouiesLog]

What did you do with your Xbox?

[@dannyblancett1445]

@@LouiesLog I did a tsop flash and installed a 2tb HDD and added all the games i could find!

[@simonseidel6684]

Thanks for the excellent tutorial! Just installed a 1TB harddrive and works like a charm, seems to be lagging at bootup but after that it seems fine!

[@JWD2000]

Thank you. Using your tutorials I’ve successfully softmodded my pal crystal Xbox with Rocky5’s softmod installer and I’ve upgraded the hard drive to 500GB. 👍🏻 congrats on 100K

[@MrMario2011]

Excellent!

[@abdelfonseca1937]

What brand and model drive please?

[@thegingerbeerguy]

@@MrMario2011I know you probably won’t see this but I did this and got error code 9 what do I do, how to change jumper??

[@pixel_overkill]

Worked 100% with 500GB Sata WD and the startech Sata adapter. Tutorial worked great!

[@TuNeNe90]

Would you mind sharing what drive did you used? I just decided to mod an Xbox I bought a year ago and the person did not disclose the DVD drive not working and I jus saved the console until I could mod it later on and finally got into doing it now. Originally I wanted a 2TB drive but If I am understanding correctly since it is softmodded, we are limited in the options of drives. I saw your comment with a 500Gbs Sata WD and has me curious if I am wrong. Would you mind sharing some info? Thanks!

[@winlover37]

Just cloned my old drive with an old PS4 drive I had laying around. 2 weeks ago I started with an unopened Xbox that was in the throes of death, now I got a cleaned, repasted and upgraded Xbox that runs like a champ. Your videos have been immensely helpful on my journey, can't thank you enough Mr.Mario!

[@MrMario2011]

Glad you've gotten to breathe new life into it!

[@winlover37]

​@@MrMario2011 Very relieving! Now to do it to my 2 other boxes. Ugh lol

[@chadkirk150]

Alright! Got my Xbox upgraded and my stock HDD stored just in case anything happens to my new HDD. Informative as always

[@oldandboring01]

For those having issues when booting Chimp (blue screen) - I had to switch to AV cable rather than my component. Worked fine after that.

[@terryhollingsworth]

I started with an AV cable and Chimp still won't boot and the screen will lock at times.

[@amak1131]

Man has this gotten easier.... as a kid, I remember booting into some program on a PC and having to do command line stuff.

[@MrMario2011]

Things definitely have gotten better, although you can still use a PC to do this!

[@amak1131]

@@MrMario2011 You can, but I don't see why you'd want to lol. I vaguely recall booting from a CD on an old XP machine that had the EEPROM on it. The program read the key and I think did the imaging for you. This is the same, but man is it streamlined... I feel old now.

[@MrMario2011]

It's quite useful to use a PC if you have a busted DVD drive, I did that with one of my consoles years ago for that exact reason. You can also build your own hard drives and lock them all on the PC as long as you have a EEPROM. The second option is quite useful if you're in a situation such as reviving a stock Xbox without a working HDD, assuming you have a way to pull the EEPROM from your motherboard.

[@davidcage2646]

Getting an original xbox hopefully today and that it'll ship and be here next week. Gonna try and softmod it soon after. Thanks for the great tutorials!

[@justins7169]

Ty so much Mr.Mario , I did this with a 2tb hdd seagate barracuda omfg! You have helped me and the community greatly! Appreciate everything you do!

[@usagiakimbo2506]

Great video as always dude. I keep all my stock drives and always unlock them so I can reuse them later if I get console with broken or missing hard drive.

[@brennandoherty1778]

I literally just did this last week 😂 I was looking for your video for this specific topic but I couldn't find it

[@MrMario2011]

It's here now at least? 🙃

[@silentblackhole]

Thank you for this well-made tutorial!! It worked great for me, cheers!

[@davidturrentineii8992]

Thanks again for another great tutorial video, gave my Xbox a second Life!

[@jasonrichardson9049]

I had bought six of those cheap IDE adapters and only two worked correctly for me in my Xbox, they are fine in my old Win98 PC, I would play it safe and buy the StarTech IDE2SAT2, also they seem to boot faster when using bigger HDD's, thanks for all the OG Xbox love, great videos.

[@E3T7]

That one would make it so I don’t have to buy splitter or ide cable right? On Amazon it would then be cheaper I assume?

[@GlobalGarageAus]

Superb video! I was going to make a tutorial myself, but this is so good I couldn’t improve on it. Thank you

[@MrMario2011]

Glad it helped!

[@JunkieXXLde]

Thank you for this tutorial. I was able to figure it out by my self (couldn't wait :)) but your vid has tons of information for me. I have made a few observations througout the process that might be interessting. First: upgrading from an oldish softmod to Rocky5's Xbox Softmod following your tutorial solved the issue of the pound HDMI cable not working with my pal 1.0 xbox, amazing! I tested the ide to sata adaptor shown in the vid on a 500 Sata drive. It worked but bootup and loading times where not that great, so i went back to a 200gb ide drive. And lastly: I startet Chimp before I unplug the ide cable from the DVD drive and took my time to plug it into the slave drive. Worked fine, no issues. Keep up the good work!

[@MrMario2011]

Interesting on the Pound cable not working prior. Did you have HD resolutions unlocked and NTSC mode enabled prior to upgrading your softmod? That's something that any softmod out there should help cover.

[@JunkieXXLde]

@@MrMario2011 I think the cable was not detected as HD before. I tried to enable the resolutions before and after, but saving would not work. Ntsc per enigma was enabled, but no luck. Now it works even in pal mode

[@mrmicycle]

250 gb hard drive installed! Thanks for the tutorial, my childhood xbox will live on.

[@MrMario2011]

Enjoy it!

[@iplyrunescape305]

Just upgraded my Xbox to 2TB. It was very easy. For those that might not know, in the same ISO file you get to install Chimp, you install xbpartioner to extend the partitions so you can utilize the 2TB. Installing all my childhood games, thank you very much man. I used the startech adapter and my 2nd xbox to power it for the process. Went smooth as butter.

[@iamwonderFil]

HEY YOU, superstar, your ass is gracias

[@HDbacon]

Just wondering, I assume Xbox has a bit of trouble reading 2TB but you made 2 partitions (for example) into 1TB each so the Xbox could read it? What was the need to extend the partition in the first place? (I've not softmodded I'm just looking into it all).

[@DirtyOne614]

@@HDbacon disk backups, is why the storage is needed

[@patrik_x86]

Worked beautifully with a Seagate Barracude 1TB + Cheapo eBay adapter. Nice work!

[@patrik_x86]

2 years later, this tutorial worked again for my halo xbox with again a cheap ebay IDE/SATA adapter

[@dannyblancett1445]

Figured out my problem. The HDD from the amazon link did not work. I returned it and tried ebay. Just came this afternoon, brand new. Everything worked on the first try. Thanks a million for this tutorial and the help!

[@MrMario2011]

BIG LOVE

[@elspuddy]

i would my spare hard drive away just incase in would need it in the future :) keep up the good work with the vids , im loving them :)

[@Wolfwood428]

Hey Mr Mario, I love all your vids. Fantastic Camera work, and really shows the modding process. One mod you haven't covered (at least to my knowledge and YT search function) if the 128MB Original Xbox mod. I would LOVE if you could make one up. there aren't really any good videos showing how to do it properly, and write ups leave a lot to be desired

[@callmexxjacobxx]

5:20 i remember when i first put up that video and posted it in iso zone to make sure people would never get a wrong sata adapter again. Love your work mate, i just checked in to see if you mentioned that detail in this video and your videos are just so impressive they're everything i wanted my videos to be, i just have all the information but can't be bothered to edit the videos and take the time. I wish in 2009 when i did my first xbox i had all this information. and all the links! it took me months to find working links for the softmod. As mentioned before, you should put a few more warnings out there, getting that eeprom all safe before the swap! maybe even to google drive. because you never know, someone might pop that molex in the wrong way and pop a drive haha :D :D keep up the good work, again, i love the detail, you dont see many people asking questions here because you have thought of them so well. good man

[@MrMario2011]

Your details definitely helped out!

[@winlover37]

Man I remember being a regular on TheIsoZone. Rest in peace...

[@perryhutchlee3743]

Finally accomplished soft mod & hd swap! Thanks for the videos! I steered a little off track of your instructions due to rocky 5 download linking me to download a different zip which worked out fine. And the extras disk I burned with windows 10 default burner software instead of image burn. Also I had to unlock the slave hdd before cloning. And my clone took hours maybe because I swapped to a 1 tb. But your videos are great and very helpful 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@WMSchoenhofer]

what ide to sata converter did you use?

[@bobsteve7312]

Just upgraded the hard drive of my Xbox using your guide, works like a charm!! The only thing I MUST warn to anyone that wants to upgrade the HDD, The IDE cable is very fragile. I was getting a feel for switching the IDE cable from the DVD drive to the new hard drive and I broke the IDE connector. So, I had to order another IDE cable but they are pretty cheap. The only tip I can give on that aspect is when you unplug the IDE cable from the DVD drive you can partially put it on, so it's A LOT easier to take out and minimize the risk of using too much force on swapping it and breaking the connector like I did. :)

[@yamato-999]

Mine broke instantly when I started to remove it, luckily I had a spare. I couldn't believe how fragile it was.

[@winlover37]

This is surprising, I was very careful with mine and needed a lot of force to remove. I feel like I need to actively try to break mine...

[@fcaruana1978]

Had a nerve-wracking afternoon switching to the new cable etc, and trying to find a usb stick the Xbox would recognise. In then end I hooked up my PSP over usb and it was recognised, so I used that for the softmod file transfer! Just finished the cloning stage to a Toshiba 250gb mk2565gsxv SATA drive and successfully locked! And it is soooooo much quieter.. Also - worth mentioning.. when it came time for the the drive switch over from dvd drive to the clone it took me a good 8-9 seconds to get the cable connected - my stupid cable has that connector upside-down - and it was still detected and worked fine!

[@VIRACYTV]

This still works the same in 2022. I just followed this perfectly. The only caveat was I was upgrading to a locked hdd from a broken hdd without an hdd key to use. I simply connected it to the PC with a IDE to USB adapter and unlocked it with one of the various unlocking tricks baked into FatXplorer64 beta. After I ran chimp, the only thing different was that Chimp didn’t ask me to relock the drive. I had to reconnect it to the PC one last time. FatXplorer’s beta now lets you remove the old password and assign a new one. I took the eeprom file from this xbox and loaded it into Fatxplorer and assigned the password to the newer hdd and relocked it. Then it recognized just fine in the xbox.

[@tommysixrings6026]

Great guide. Got myself setup in no time. I will say that you NEED an OEM Xbox controller to run Chimp. I was using my Gamestop controller and Chimp wouldn't recognize it. I put in my stick drift OEM controller and it worked fine.

[@the12345marko]

With the help of your videos I managed to mod and upgrade my xbox. Thank you!

[@REDDF1VE]

Thanks, worked well with my new 2TB SATA drive, even though I needed like 10 seconds or so for the IDE switch. Also removed the clock capacitor. Everything seems to have worked fine, just copying my first game to the drive. You explained everything very well, thanks for that! I have no idea what to do with my old Xbox drive now, though. Good question! ;)

[@MrMario2011]

Great to hear!

[@MADmardigan138]

What exact drive did you use?

[@REDDF1VE]

@@MADmardigan138 Hey, I think it was this one: WD Blue 2TB BULK WD20EZRZ

[@Billy_Souls]

For what it's worth, I practiced and got the hot swap down in a few seconds, but when it actually came time, it took me 20 seconds and it still worked perfectly fine. I have a 1tb HDD in my Xbox thanks to you

[@andrewnorris5415]

lol sods law. about to try it now, wish me luck!

[@danielyoung_]

@@andrewnorris5415 ikr, my xbox turns off every time

[@oculedo9137]

Awesome. I'm about to do this with a 1tb as well, which hdd did you use? Also, how did you go about the partitioning/which option did you choose?

[@hesiolite]

1 to? Isn't that a bit overkill?

[@fivebrosstopmos]

@@hesiolite Not really, if you're wanting to load a lot of games. The whole library is somewhere around 2tb.

[@jaymclain295]

To run Chimp, on my v1.0 Xbox, I needed to connect an original Xbox Component cable to the Xbox for video. Chimp would not load with the Composite or 3rd Party HDMI cable. Hope this helps someone! Thanks for the great content Mr. Mario!

[@MrMario2011]

Good to know! This seems to be different across consoles. This video was recorded using a third party HDMI cable, and I've used component cables just fine, but many people have to revert back to composite cables.

[@MyLastSong719]

Thank you so much! I had to switch to my composite cable to get it to show up and when refreshing after hot swapping I had to let it sit for some time but it all worked

[@silky1725]

Amazing! I would be scared of touching the drive when the system is on haha. Looking into buying an xbox and tsop flashing it

[@luke070610]

Great tutorial! Thanks! Is there going to be a next part showing how to add Xbox games? 👍

[@peachylover4598]

Definitely need this

[@fuhgawz500]

I didn't want to spend $7 for the Y cable after losing the one I had, so I just gutted an old IDE external enclosure I got at a thrift store for $2 - and took out its power supply bits. Throwing that into a small project enclosure and now I have a stand alone molex power supply/IDE HDD tester. An idea inspired by your little USB gadget and this video. Thanks for the assist!

[@MrMario2011]

Glad you're up and running!

[@piratestation69]

Worked very nicely. I had some very old hdd's lying around my xbox has a nice 200gb Western Digital in it. Only screwed up a couple of things but were fixable. Now on to the recapping. Bulging caps suck.

[@eddiehammons5047]

There is one small area where he failed to mention that may lead to a lot of frustration during the modification. When you get to the chimp software some hard drives take as much as 15 to 20 minutes to initiate the software. This part drove me mad until I walked away leaving it at the chimp software and came back about a hour later after eating dinner figuring I get a fresh start and it initiated. Good luck all!

[@MrMario2011]

I've NEVER run into it taking anywhere close to that long, but thanks for letting the masses know!

[@headnotfound0]

I'd like to second this, I thought my replacement hard drive was a dud, until i read this, and waited 10 or so minutes for the chimp software to detect the hard drive.

[@taufox4419]

this happend to me too, I thought my chimp loader was corrupt, that my drive was bad, that my softmod was bad, but i never have guessed that chimp loader would take more than in the video

[@cleverduenas]

i found a 500GB IDE drive at my local salvation army store for 10 BUCKS!!! brand new sealed i said to myself well i guess ill throw it into my original xbox used this guide to do it everything seems to be working great thanks for the tutorial

[@undeadgenesis6713]

I heard if you have a spare xbox 360 sdd you can just use that

[@frogz]

@@undeadgenesis6713 you need a ide drive, 360 is sata

[@undeadgenesis6713]

@@frogz I'm not sure because there are converters that can come in hand but maybe your right

[@undeadgenesis6713]

@@frogz yeah i just double checked JCRocky video guide on upgrading the original xbox hdd and you can use a converter but using an ide drive can be an option too

[@MrTonythemasta]

hey defo the best tutorial out there ive used it a couple of times but cant seem to be able to perform a successful hotswap with numerous drives

[@limydread]

Just got this to work! If you guys are having issues with chimp not starting up you might just need a little patience even if you waited 5 minutes, after about 15 minutes of sitting on the chimp screen it finally worked

[@grossincandescant8358]

Learn from my mistake: just buy the red Startech Sata/ide adapter. It's a few bucks more than the cheapos, but it's worth it over waiting for shipping only to discover it doesn't work.

[@NicklL0809]

I wish i saw this earlier. Same thing happened to me

[@allouttabublgum]

You totally saved my project.. I wasted HOURS trying to get it to work with with 2 different HDDs and multiple methods just to get nowhere with those cheapo green boards with the capacitors... You're the man

[@grossincandescant8358]

@@allouttabublgum Glad I could help!

[@lookitskazzy]

Cheapo boards work perfectly fine for me. The issue is generally cold solder joints, which you can spend a few minutes reflowing fairly easily. If you don't have a soldering iron or don't want to bother, yeah, pay more for a StarTech board. One other quick note here regarding the cheapo boards: You need to use a 80-wire IDE cable, or else they definitely will not work. Verified this myself across multiple Xboxes, SATA HDDs and SATA SSDs.

[@dieselpcs]

Which hard drive did you use?

[@therealskrubby712]

After years of modding every other system. I'm gonna finally softmod than installing a 2tb hdd

[@apaleguy]

So I ended up using a 2TB and was experiencing a lot of shutdowns... turns out! My Xbox was SDing because of too much power using both HDDs 8GB & 2TB. So I bought THAT "OVERKILL" adapter (which is awesome this is a forever useful tool) plugged the DC adapter and molex to the IDE SATA port to my 2TB. THEN I used the 8GB molex stock powered it up while the OVERKILL adapter was power via outlet then I used Chimp and now it's up and running! Thank you for the tutorials as always dude!

[@MrMario2011]

Thanks for sharing!

[@ThePCPitChannel]

I did this too today, installed a 200Gb Seagate Barracuda :) Thanks again!

[@Troglodytemtg]

i didn't have any troubles swapping the cables immediately after starting up. i just launched chimp and swapped the ide when chimp said to connect it

[@markmercier]

Great video! Now we just need one that shows the 2tb procedure...

[@cyphaborg6598]

The window to switch is very small indeed but so nice to see everything being cloned. Thanks.

[@josh2838]

Thank you for this guide. Now i have a 1.5TB Seagate drive in my xbox working great. Great Video easy to follow A+ Your Awesome!!!

[@Demostepz]

I found, if you don't have any other way to power the other HDD, use a computer PSU that has molex on it. My CoolerMaster MasterWatt 550 came with the additional molex so by using that, you can power the drive, as long as your system is on. Also, you don't need to do it in 5 seconds, I took a 30 seconds to get my IDE lead in and the process was fine.

[@cleverduenas]

ya it took me about 15 seconds to swap IDE cables on my first try and it worked fine for me

[@criticalhitscombr]

I'm getting a green screen every time I change the ATA cable from the DVD to the HDD. If i take de ATA cable and don't put it on the new HDD, it's fine, the system doesn't freeze. What am I doing wrong?

[@millmr20]

Same any help?

[@oldandboring01]

You need to use standard AV cables rather than Component or HDMI was having the same problem until I switched the AV cable.

[@millmr20]

@@oldandboring01 I’m using AV

[@oldandboring01]

@@millmr20 double check your HDD is compatible and using an 80 wire cable if needed?

[@ricflair5384]

You need a new IDE pin cable.

[@UKDazarusUK]

Excellent tutorial just upgraded mine to 160GB ide. Cheers mate. Got yourself a new sub. Happy days.

[@MrMario2011]

Glad it helped

[@ap89]

I tried a 2TB Seagate Barracuda with this guide and it worked. At first, the XBOX wouldn't boot with the newly cloned HDD, but it was because I forgot to swap the ribbon cable for an 80-pin one.

[@DreamSquad]

Note: If you're running your xbox with component cables, chimp MIGHT NOT show up correctly on your TV. I'm running a Trinitron and until I plugged in the regular composite cables, it didn't show the bootup screen correctly (Displayed wavy lines; Wasn't able to read anything). Caused me hours of troubleshooting and a couple burnt disks so might as well post it here to save someone the hassle.

[@xIJokerIxHD]

You are the best!!!!

[@BlazinX]

Thanks for the super helpful pro tip!!! :D

[@jjhack3r]

It looked like crap but worked for me

[@Billy_Souls]

Thanks man. I thought i was going crazy

[@the-pink-hacker]

This applies to HDMI adapters as well. So glad I found out I just needed to use RCA instead.

[@drewjbx228]

Can we use ide to SATA adapters for say a 2tb hdd? *edit nevermind just seen the rest of the video 😁 Thanks for this tutorial!

[@disruptfam]

You the real one for this!

[@bigdaddyofsi]

Great video! Going to attempt this weekend.

[@MrMario2011]

Good luck!

[@HackDaBox]

Keep old hard drive for backup if softmod fails.

[@Clouse1988]

good tutorial but i found out that when you are using the cd you need to have composite cables

[@Felixbucket]

Why’s that?

[@jamesedwards112]

Worked perfectly. Soft mod. Version 1.6. Sata 2tb. Thanks.

[@daniellorenz5993]

I had to do it like 4 times but then it worked. Thx m8

[@chemergency]

I just opened the Xbox my old friend gave me to find a horrific site of bug corpses, stains, dust bunnies, and God knows what else so I'll have to put this project on the shelf for a while til I get the poor bastard cleaned up a little bit without getting too much (or any) moisture around critical components.

[@studiomg3212]

😋

[@theburntcrumpet8371]

I'm doing this purely so that I have a bootable backup of my original drive

[@chrismiracle]

You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

[@MrMario2011]

I tip my hat to you.

[@Cain532.]

I've had my original (initially softmodded) 8GB hard drive forever. It finally came in handy today!~ I have an Xbox Original with a corrupted eeprom, used a Raspberry Pi 4B to dump, checked, the entire eeprom was filled with 0xFF :'( so, I took the eeprom from my 1.6 softmodded xbox, edited the serial and version info to match the dead Xbox, flashed it over and plugged in my old 8GB drive, and viola! brought the xbox back to life! :D so yes. SAVE THAT DRIVE Y'ALL!!!

[@oldskool7706]

So I fired up my old Xbox It came on for 10mins then has died with a flashing orange light 😭. I'm guessing recapping the mobo is needed to fix it. Fun times

[@joegore146]

My xbox freezes when I select applications after the hotswap any idea what's up? I tried the tsop and lifted a pad so this is my only path left for a bigger hdd

[@MrSoupinmytummy]

joe gore make sure your new hard drive is set to slave!

[@HIPPIEXVA]

Make sure you are using composite cables and not component. This took me forever to figure out

[@GMack523]

Just did this with a 2TB Seagate 7200RPM drive from the compatiblity list. Thank you!

[@briandurard6257]

Thank you MARIO just upgraded with the use of another Xbox to power the replacement hard drive wish there was someway to send you a picture of it

[@SnaxxNZGaming]

Just want to point out that the adapter you show in your video is rather dangerous to use. The solder points for the molex plug extrude out from the back of the PCB far enough that they can actually touch the hard drive and cause a short. Its even worse when doing the hop swap as plugging in the IDE cable will push the points into the HDD and guarantee a short (I found this out the hard way and bricked my Xbox). If you are going to use the adapter shown in this video then make sure you find a way to stop the adapter from touching the hard drive and shorting out.

[@sdFreerey]

Someone recommended using electric tape

[@RealGengarTV]

I have a chipmoded Xbox. Will this work with that? Could you make a video where you take a chipmoded Xbox, and switch hard drive?

[@MrMario2011]

Soon.

[@RealGengarTV]

@@MrMario2011 Sweet.. I'm looking forward to it. Mine needs new thermal paste, some cleaning and general maintenance, So it's a great time to change to a more modern storage media

[@scott0852]

If your system is chipped, I'd assume you can burn a disc to softmod it too, or just use the hardmodded option instead of softmodded in the drive cloning program.

[@havalopez]

if your system is chipped, watch the videos on TSOP flashing and skip to the software section of the video

[@robboreeves6993]

thank you mr mario worked a treat great video

[@bryanfocht5197]

Just upgraded my Harddrive on my OG xbox to a 250Gb. Copying Halo2 to the F: drive. I used a sharpie to label the old drive and put it up on a shelf. I did also FTP and grabbed my EEPROM backup.

[@TFro3]

For some reason I cannot get my HDD to be recognized by the Xbox. I'm making sure to hot swap very quickly too. :/ By that I mean I cannot proceed past the first screen that states to connect the drive and then press (A), any ideas? ***EDIT*** Turns out the wireless controller I was using was the issue. Luckily I thought of using the USB adapter (used for transferring the XBOX modding tools to the XBOX) and hooked up a USB keyboard to carry out the rest of the guide. To do this if you let CHIMP sit on the first screen it will eventually load you into the tool after about 5 minutes of sitting on the screen. I found this out by accident by letting the XBOX sit on the screen while searching on the web for a possible solution for my issue. I hope this helps someone, what a pain this can be depending on the hardware being used!

[@Tiagotaf]

I have a 1.0 softmodded with the rocky5 software. I just upgraded my drive using the hot swap technique: as soon as the modded dashboard loads, you can make the swap. Take your time, no need to rush. First you plug and unplug the data cable, and then the power cable. Good to know about the keyboard though, as I used the original controller and did not experience the issue.

[@jjhack3r]

Got stuck at chimp because I don't have a Microsoft brand controller but found out that a usb key board works in it's place.

[@drevilds6051]

Thanx a lot for your comment dude! It saved my time and money!)

[@jjhack3r]

@@drevilds6051 No problem man! I got stuck for more than a week because my local game stores don't have any official controllers. The stock HDD is pathetic and I was pretty bumbed out.

[@jjhack3r]

@@drevilds6051 you probably already know but it's wise to keep the old drive and also make a copy of the larger drive after you have ripped all your games to the Xbox. File transfers to and from the og xbox is slow and buggy from my experience so you're better off cloning a drive full of games.

[@thekingofpoon]

i know this is old but ive been hot swapping for 2 hrs till i found this comment....no homo but i love you

[@communistpootisbirb]

I don’t know if you mentioned this, but if anyone is having issues with chimp shutting down/not displaying when launched, USE THE STANDARD AV CABLES and make sure you have 480p, 720p, and 1080i OFF in the screen settings.

[@TheDudeson]

You've got yourself a new subscriber, good sir. This was so easy to follow and one of the most satisfying mods I've ever done to a console. Gonna settle in for the weekend and dive back into some Ninja Gaiden Black, Burnout 3 and Otogi. :D

[@MrMario2011]

Have fun!

[@GuiltyGaming]

Thumbs up for NGB and Otogi. That’s practically all my channel is. LOL

[@deshelly_athetos]

Hey MrMario....! Can you give more Love on Gamecube plz? the only mod you have on your channel is the Xenochip Installation... and i have a suggestion too, like a cheap way to get a Hdmi on XBOX OG like the mod on wii2hdmi on xbox og... i asking for it because i dont see anyone doing it on a video...

[@MrMario2011]

Big love.

[@JimBobJoeB0b]

There’s something called the Xbox HD Link 2. It’s an upgraded version of the original HD Link cable, who’s purpose was to convert the original Xbox’s output to HDMI, and also fixes some issues such as dull colors, grainy ness, etc. Tge HD Link 2 is even better than the original apparently. I’ll link it.

[@JimBobJoeB0b]

Correcting myself, the upgraded HD Link cable shares the same name. The original cable was discontinued, and the page for it gives a link for the upgraded one: www.poundtechnology.com/original-xbox-v2

[@izzie31]

Keep my stock drives, just incase upgraded drive dies ...without the stock drive the xbox is only good for the bin.

[@codykamminga9667]

Injustice well, the Xbox backs the eeprom from the drive to a usb drive so you can make a new drive

[@yansoloextreme8]

thats why you null the eeprom

[@kristianperryadams]

But if you do as recommended and null the eeprom key, any harddrive locked with the null password (32 zeroes) can be used. I null every xbox I come across and can then use the same xboxhdm boot disc to create and lock a new drive.

[@callmexxjacobxx]

put all your eeproms on google drive. but yeah i kept my stock drives too. not handy if you're doing bulk upgrades i had like 50 8gb seagates and some poor guy actually bought them all for $20 on ebay for some reason, maybe for raid? who knows hahaha

[@robmcraf2765]

Yeah, not much use for those ~10GB drives anyways, might as well keep them with the console. I label them with a serial # that matches the XBOX to remember which is which. I know there are things to do like null the EPROM, but usually just do it once ever, and I think the nulling thing didn't exist back when I modded mine. I might be remembering wrong. Was a while ago.

[@bigbear6452]

Thanks Mr.Mario. with the OEM controller works everthing fine..i copy my games on the HDD. Next days i try my Xbox 360.

[@nathanmilnthorpe11]

Twice now with Success I have used this Tutorial! Thanks Bro

[@nathanmilnthorpe11]

Seagate Barracuda Work Really Well!!

[@MrMario2011]

You're a pro now, Nathan!

[@nathanmilnthorpe11]

@@MrMario2011 Bless you I wouldn't say Pro yet Considering I had to use the Tutorial twice as the Mods were a year apart. What a Butt Clinching Moment hot swapping though 😂😂😂

[@nathanmilnthorpe11]

@@MrMario2011 In regards to My 8GB Drives they Are Labelled now As Crystal Backup and Og Backup as my System Was a Crystal this is For My Nephews :-) Will Keep for Sure but mine has been going Strong no issues for over a Year and have done the Rocky 5 Softmod today Via .iso as I already had SID Final 11. Was So Scared that my Files wouldn't be there After but All was as it Was! Just going to Get to Grips now with FTP again and Placing Emulators ETC in the Right Paths. I have Missed this!!

[@nathanmilnthorpe11]

@@MrMario2011 Already the Rocky 5 Softmod is Infinitely Better!

[@Mr.NiceGuy1986]

Can I play burned Xbox games with the soft mod @MrMario2011

[@peachylover4598]

Yes! i just did this with mr marios tutorial on softmodding. I used imageburn and I’ve been playing burned games for awhile now!

[@Mr.NiceGuy1986]

@@peachylover4598 what DVD work best?

[@pausebreakreviews]

It's best to just run games from the HDD. they load quicker and it puts less wear and tear on your DVD drive.

[@thePiratePimp]

You mean backups of your original games that you already own right?

[@Mr.NiceGuy1986]

@@thePiratePimpoh yeah, yeah that's what I mean.

[@Ian.Smith44]

If you are putting the hard drive on the anti-static bag, you should put it inside out because the anti-static bags can sometimes be conductive on the outside

[@REMEDY-REPAIRS]

Thanks bro your tutorial was great 💯💯💯

[@MrMario2011]

Glad it helped!

[@Scolio]

I softmodded years ago and instead of cloning my drive i built one from xbox hdm. Eventually i made a component cable and was wondering why changing my options in unleash x for hd wouldnt work. I found out i needed to change it in the MS dash (which i didnt have because my drive was built and not cloned so it didnt have a working ms dash). I dug through old boxes and found the original hard drive, hooked it up and loaded the MS dash, changed the video settings and put my other drive back in and BOOM. 720p when unleash x launched. Many ways to go about it but in the end, having the stock drive around helped me out. I also used the stock drive as a test drive to test if the rocky5 upgrade would brick my system or not. Once it worked, i upgraded my main drive with no fear. Moral of the story, you never know what you will need the stock drive for. Just keep it and it can have a use some day.

[@davidlightman5839]

It runs fine. Thank you

[@verylongchannelhandle]

I really needed this

[@MrMario2011]

same

[@NikkeFIN]

Kinda butchered the hot swap but it still worked. Thanks :D

[@kappo34]

Will you be covering all of this for hardmodded xbox as well? I'm really loving your content so far!

[@MrMario2011]

Soon™

[@kappo34]

@@MrMario2011 Eeeexcellent!