Hi, My name is Thomas, I have some questions since this is the very first time I will attempt to mod my 360. I have also tried to search for this topic already. First off I have a computer that is all sata, Hard drive's sata, DVD is sata. My main question is do I still need to buy the sata ports that everyone seems to be using? I figure that there has to be away around spending any more money then nessary considering I'm going to be buying a new Dual Layer DVD player this saturday and thats $55 right there. If you need my computer information I would be glad to post up a screenshot of everything including my manufactur information.

Also I have checked what kind of drive I have in my Xbox, considering it has a black piece across were the wires would be I am shore it is a Hitachi, I do have another drive from my old 360 that is a Samsung. but I had to take the eye out of it and place it into my Hitachi so I could play games again, the eye had just died and would not read games, So basically the way it stands is my Hitachi drive has a Samsung eye in it, but i don't think that's going to have any effect on something.

so you have a hitachi - you do realise that current fw for Hitachi is not safe and you will end up banned / flagged from live!

however

for info on flashing

www.jungleflasher.net/...loads.html

there are 3 guides on there you should definately read!

Okay, thanks, but do you know if I can mod my xbox with my computers normal sata ports? That is my main question, along with, I do not plan on playing any back up games on live, so is it possible that I flash my drive when I want to, then put the OFW back on after I am done, and or want to connect to live and would be safe? I am also not shore how the ban works, would I be okay as long as I just don't play my burned games while connected? for example I just create a second profile on my xbox that I just use for the back up games and never get the achievements for them on my live account, would that work? because I really don't care if i log the achievements online if I don't own the game, If that makes sense. If that idea works, would I still need to flash and unflash? The only reason I am really keeping my live account is for Halo, and Netflix, Netflix over Halo.

for a hitachi drive your onboard probably will work! as it flashes differently to MTK drives! d/l and run CPU-Z
look under mainboard tab for southbridge chipset
should be able to tell you if its compatible or not

Thanks I will and ill report back to as if it works or not, Do you know if I just run the games if I will be safe as long as I am not on a Xbox live gamer profile?

okay I ran it, it says in the south chipset, Intel 82801 GB (ICH7/R)

yes thats chipset is fine!

and No - using known unsafe fw is not advised! (for live safety anyway)

No i what i mean is, use the safe firmware, but not going on line with the games, making another profile on my xbox so that all the achievements and game saves are there, n then I just play live on my main gamer profile with original disks, and once I know a updates comming up I flash back to the original firmware, update, then go back to what ever firmware I should from there. Would doing that keep me safe? Do you know? I would hate to get banned and not be able to use my netflix through my xbox lol.

The current Hitachi fw is not considered safe! With regards to trying to fool the 360 - its a real gamble! if you have old fw there is a real chance of them detecting it - even without playing a copy in it!

Can they detect it If I in fact flash to the OFW b4 I connect to live?

that is a possibility - but no one knows for sure!

Thanks I really appreciate all this help, Can you direct me into the right direction for a tutorial? Also one about how I should run everything since I have the right South Bridge.

jungleflasher tutorial, on home page or in downloads section

Thanks, I will post if I have any issues later, now just for the task of doing it, and also finding a good place to get games lol.