Add Capacity to a 20GB Xbox 360
Difficulty: Hard; Time: 90 minutes
Microsoft expects you to pay close to $200 to upgrade your Xbox 360's hard drive from 20GB to 120GB. That's about $150 more than a 120GB SATA drive actually costs. But with this slightly tricky hack, you can save a bundle while boosting your game console's storage capacity to hold more music, video, and other media files.
You'll need a DOS installation on a writable flash thumb drive for this hack. (The utility doesn't work under Windows, and you'll also be disconnecting your PC's hard drive.) First, grab a spare USB thumb drive and copy the HP Drive Key Boot Utility to it. The utility is designed for HP flash drives, but it works on other types of flash drives, too. Also download and mount a DOS image file.
In Windows Vista, right-click the HP utility and run it as an administrator. Select the thumb drive, choose the FAT structure, click the Create a DOS startup disk check box, and pick the DOS files when prompted. Then download the DOS Xbox utility, HDDHackr, and copy it to the root level of the thumb drive.
This hack is designed to work with a specific drive, the 120GB Western Digital Scorpio, model number WDGWD1200BEVS. You'll be replacing the drive's native firmware with Xbox-recognized firmware. You can track down the firmware online by doing a search for "hddss.bin 120 Xbox 360." Place the hddss.bin file in the root of your DOS thumb drive.
With your PC turned off, unplug any other SATA devices and then connect the new Scorpio drive to one of the SATA cables and to a power lead. Afterward, boot from your DOS thumb drive (specify a boot drive in your PC's BIOS, if necessary). At the DOS command line, type run hddhackr -f and press Enter. You'll be prompted to make a backup of the original drive firmware; do so.
Continue with the process to flash the firmware on the new hard drive. After a few seconds, you'll be prompted to restart the computer. Once you have done so, run the "hddhackr -f" command again, and it should report that the hard drive has been formatted for the Xbox 360.
Use Torx screwdrivers to remove the 20GB hard drive from your Xbox 360 and to remove the drive from its case. Swap the formatted Western Digital drive into the case, put it back together, and start the console. Follow the prompt under System, Memory to format the new drive; after formatting is complete, the drive will be ready for use.
Play iTunes Purchases on Any Music Player
Difficulty: Moderate; Time: 30 minutes
Here's how to make music you bought via iTunes play on any media player. Like the other hack on this page, this DRM-stripping trick could get you into legal hot water, but it also gives you control over songs that you rightfully own.
I recommend using myFairTunes to set iTunes downloads free. You'll also need to use an older version of iTunes (and yes, give up some features), because this utility strips tracks of their copy protection, and Apple regularly updates iTunes software so hackers can't remove the DRM. Search online for "Old iTunes 7.4.1 download" and "myFairTunes7 download" to find the two applications.
If you're already running iTunes, choose Store, Deauthorize Computer, and then close the program. Temporarily rename the iTunes folder something simple like 'iTunes Recent'. Uninstall iTunes, and then restart the PC.
Install iTunes 7.4.1 and myFairTunes7. Next, install Visual C++ SP1 and .Net Framework 2.0. Restart your PC, and launch iTunes. Import your DRM-loaded songs, and play one of them. Enter your iTunes Music Store account information when prompted to do so.
