360 Hitachi Drive

**mysterym** · 20th March 2008

I've recently bought a new 360 (benq) to sit beside my current one (hitachi) which is over 2 years old now.

I was deliberating which one to flash, and decided on the hitachi simply because I wanted to keep the warrenty on the new one and i know the old one has been fine, my new one could be dead in a week knowing the 360. My primary aim is not to get banned, and once flashed i'm not connecting it online unless i need to flash it back (i need my xbox live fix)

I've ordered a connectivity kit v2 just so that i can supply the dvd drive external power(so as not to get it banned by having it plugged into my 360 whist flashing), and a VIA PCI sata card of ebay.

Looking at all the online tutorials for the hitachi (note i'm assuming its a 79), people use slax to unlock the drive to mode b, and then solder in a mod (passkey) to allow flashing. Is this still the case? Its difficult to determine if these faq's are out of date or not).

I'm crap at soldering so i'd prefer to go the software route, just in case i need to flash it back. In which case, the benq falcon 360 would be the obvious choice.

If the hitachi doesn't need soldering, can someone tell me the name of the best firmware to use, and any pointers to recent tutorials.

The same with the benq, firmware name and any tutorials would be excellent. i'm worried about bricking the drive because i've used an old tutorial.

**MODDIGI** · 20th March 2008

The Hitachi79 requires epoxy to be removed from the PCB and a Passkey soldered on. The passkey should put the drive in to ModeB however if it doesn't then you can use Slax CD instead. You then use Toolbox4.0 to flash it with i-xtreme1.4.

The BENQ requires a VIA SATA vard and the DOSFLASH tool (and obviously an MSDOS operating environment to work in).

I'd do the BENQ personally as it's much easier, requires no solder-mod and generally reads discs better than a Hitachi.

BTW, a tutorial covering both drives can be found here -> http://www.360mods.net/Downloads/get=61/mirror=188.html

**mysterym** · 20th March 2008

Many thanks for that link, i'll be checking it out for later.

You've made up my mind, and i think i'll go for the benq then. I'm assuming DOSFLASH is used within IPREP. I'm quite accustomed to using pc's and dos, however i'd like to minimise the risk of bricking the drive.

**vgopal** · 20th March 2008

your hitachi is 2 years old?
theres no chance its a 79 then. it will be one of the older drives.
google for textbook.2008.pdf, that should help you.

**mysterym** · 20th March 2008

if it is one of the old drives, i'm assuming that it can be flashed directly without any soldering?

**Mario87** · 20th March 2008

yes mate, all Hitachi drives (except the 0079fk) can be flashed without soldering. Seeing as yours is about 2 years old you prob have a 0046, 0047 or 0059 all of which are piss easy to flash!

**mysterym** · 20th March 2008

Cool thanks.

Another question, when i need to reboot the drive, can i just unplug the molex power from the connectivity kit v2 as i am not going to be connected directly to my 360? I don't think it comes with an off switch, and the tutorials all talk about having to shut down and restart your pc.

**vgopal** · 20th March 2008

seeing as it will be an old drive, and youre getting a connectivity kit, the kit has a button on it for mode b. it gets even easier...
just press the switch no need to reset pc etc. boot in to windows and flash, as long as the drive is recognised itll be easy.