Microsoft‘s choice of launching its Xbox 360 video game console with only a 20GB harddrive was criticized already before the launch and when it expanded its services so that you needed more storage space the situation didn’t exactly improve. Microsoft’s answer seemed to be a new HDD accessory in the form of a 100GB/120GB harddrive. The problem with this is of course that the price of the accessory will be higher than that of a new harddrive. Sony solved this by letting the users upgrade the harddrives themselves, but Xbox 360 owners will have to put their trust in the community.
Their prayers have now been answered by the hacker TheSpecialist, known for his work on the Xbox 360 firmware, as he has released a tool that lets you upgrade your Xbox 360 harddrive. HDDHacker v0.5B has some limitations, for once it only supports Western Digital’s BEVS series of harddrives, but the biggest problem is that even though you swap for a bigger harddrive you will only be able to use 20GB. If/when Microsoft will release a new harddrive with a higher capacity this will be remedied though.
Q. Will this tool allow me to connect a 500 gb drive to my x360 ? A. No. The information on sector 16 is signed and can’t be changed. You can only use size where you have a valid signature for. In otherwords, if a bigger HDD comes out, you can use that signature.
This means this mod doesn’t really do that much, but those who aren’t afraid of experimenting a little may have found a more affordable alternative to Microsoft’s coming harddrive upgrade.
