Hard Drive
From xboxdevwiki
The original Xbox hard disk drive was 8GB in size. Later releases, 1.3 and 1.4's had Seagate 10GB drives; however, only the first 8GB of the drive was used.
Models
| Xbox Version | Manufacturer | Model Number | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0? | ? | ? | 8G |
| 1.3+ | Seagate | ? | 10G |
Partitions
The Xbox hard disk contains multiple partitions. Unlike a PC, which typically contains either a Master Boot Record or GUID Partition Table to specify the partition information, the Xbox kernel uses a fixed partition layout. The file system used on the Xbox is FATX, a variant of FAT16/32 developed by Microsoft specifically for the Xbox.
| Drive Letter | Description | Offset (bytes) | Size (bytes) | Filesystem |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | Config Area | 0x00000000 | 0x00080000 | Fixed Structure |
| X | Game Cache | 0x00080000 | 0x2ee00000 | FATX |
| Y | Game Cache | 0x2ee80000 | 0x2ee00000 | FATX |
| Z | Game Cache | 0x5dc80000 | 0x2ee00000 | FATX |
| C | System | 0x8ca80000 | 0x1f400000 | FATX |
| E | Data | 0xabe80000 | 0x131f00000 | FATX |
FIXME:
- Add info on how extended partitions are added.
Locking
The hard drives in the Xbox are locked with a key which is unique to the specific Xbox. The drive is unlocked by the kernel at boot.
FIXME:
- Provide more info on locking/unlocking procedure.
- Provide details about the key and how it can be derived from the EEPROM data.
How To: Backup an HDD
FIXME
