Original Xbox Bios Limit??

[Bingowings]

Forgive me if this question has been posted before but I have an original xbox, softmodded running UnleashX V0.38.
I have a replacement HDD WD5000JB and after putting emulators and other features on I thought I'd backup my Xbox games.
I have over 80GB left on the G Partition and now if I copy anything or attempt to move anything I get "Error Code 3".
After doing a lot of reading I've come to the conclusion this is because the HDD is too big for the bios to fully handle.
It's very difficult to get information on this subject as most search engines return information on 360games and this is bound to get worse when the XboxOne comes out (seriously what a daft name).
Does this sound like the case and if so is there a way around it known to anyone here?

My thanks in advance.

[Zorlon]

What size is your HDD? actually what size is the G partition?

Mine is 750GB and no such error, but I could do with second partition as there is a limit of some sorts I have been to a point that files just don't copy to that partition that is apx 700GB it's not a limit of how much in MB or GB though that can be stored but the number of files and folders, the simple way to get round that is to create more partitions.

At the moment I only have F: setup the same issue will happen on Mod Chip bios's though aswell

You may just need to change the cluster setup for that partition, you will however lose all the files in doing so, this will make it show the correct partition size

I can't argue about the xbox one it's the lamest name you could think of considering most call the original xbox as an xbox1

Hint for google use -360 and -One when you are searching for anything xbox original related using - will make most 360 and one related results not show a few seem to still get through though

[deadlegion]

I don't think I've even heard of that particular error code

[Bingowings]

What size is your HDD? actually what size is the G partition?

Mine is 750GB and no such error, but I could do with second partition as there is a limit of some sorts I have been to a point that files just don't copy to that partition that is apx 700GB it's not a limit of how much in MB or GB though that can be stored but the number of files and folders, the simple way to get round that is to create more partitions.

At the moment I only have F: setup the same issue will happen on Mod Chip bios's though aswell

You may just need to change the cluster setup for that partition, you will however lose all the files in doing so, this will make it show the correct partition size

I can't argue about the xbox one it's the lamest name you could think of considering most call the original xbox as an xbox1

Hint for google use -360 and -One when you are searching for anything xbox original related using - will make most 360 and one related results not show a few seem to still get through though

Thanks for the swift response.

The HDD is 500GB so smaller than yours, the G partition is reading as 345,783 MB with 82,232 MB spare.
I formatted the F and G before copying over to them and I started getting the message not knowing what it meant.
At first I thought maybe the disks were damaged but then it did for disks that had copied over successfully before.
Looking into it, it looks like a memory issue. I have only 2GB left in the F partition which was formatted at the same time so it's only affecting G.
I hope there is a way around it without having to start from scratch with G again because that would be a real pain in the lower back.

[Zorlon]

I am wondering where you are getting the error code 3 from? an FTP error an Error directly on the xbox, when and where are you seeing this Error 3?

Start up ERROR 3 is a rather serious one as Errors 1 to 4 are motherboard and or chip related (Error 1 & 3 are unknown ones though 2 is eeprom and 4 is ram)

1 to 4 are motherboard related (including the eeprom and ram)
5 to 9 are HDD drive related
10 to 12 are DVD drive related
13 to 16 are Dashboard related (the real dash not your custom dash)
20 is kernal related

the rest are currently unknown as to why they would show

P.S. It was XBpartitioner 1.3 that I used back in the day that has large partitions/drives supported

My F Partition is 691.18 GB with 64 KB clusters so the xbox can read the entire amount of space available (up to 1024GB aka 1TB) having the cluster size 32 KB will result in only 512GB being seen and 16 KB 256 GB being seen

You can even put a 2TB drive in your xbox but as the only drives to have that amount of space are SATA you would need an IDE to SATA board stuffed into the xbox as well and have at least a F: and a G: drive with apx 3 GB kept for the other drives and F and G split even with 64KB clusters, think XBpartitioner even supports 128KB partitions as well now

[Bingowings]

I am wondering where you are getting the error code 3 from? an FTP error an Error directly on the xbox, when and where are you seeing this Error 3?

Start up ERROR 3 is a rather serious one as Errors 1 to 4 are motherboard and or chip related (Error 1 & 3 are unknown ones though 2 is eeprom and 4 is ram)

1 to 4 are motherboard related (including the eeprom and ram)
5 to 9 are HDD drive related
10 to 12 are DVD drive related
13 to 16 are Dashboard related (the real dash not your custom dash)
20 is kernal related

the rest are currently unknown as to why they would show

The error is from unleashX trying to copy a game disk (any game disk now).
It usually gets to about 33percent before issuing an error crash report.
Earlier on I got the same message when I attempted to move a folder from E to G.
I just deleted one of the game folders using File Manager and attempted to copy a different disc.
This time I got Error Code 1117
It only seems to effect the G Partition.
Any activity inside the E and F Partitions are perfectly okay.

Weird.

***UPDATE*** tried that one again after giving the disc a rubdown (so maybe 1117 is an optical disc error message) and managed to copy it over

[Zorlon]

Now I understand

Try using DVD2Xbox instead to copy discs, it includes a few HDD fixes and has better error handling

Myself i use a different Dashboard anyway, but DVD2Xbox is one of the best Disc to Xbox Hdd progs, there are other good ones as well though

I don't do disc to hdd though in favor of just having iso's stored and ftp the iso over via qwix/avalaunch (I know avalaunch can be used as a dash but I just use it as an extra app that speeds up FTP access)

[Bingowings]

Thanks again for the help.
I have that in my Apps folder now. I was going to backup a few DVDs with it but I guess it should work for games too so I will give it a try tomorrow and let you know.
I imagine I will have to move the items to the games folder.
As I said before even moving things has prompted the error message in the past so we'll see.
I'm going to try to go for XBMC4XBOX as my dash once the copying is done but getting the shortcut to work is a whole new problem for me to enjoy.

[Zorlon]

XBMC is what I have used for a long time now, I wouldn't say it's any better than any of the others but I do like the look and feel of it and think it's kinda funny the skin I use looks like the older Xbox 360 Dash that I like more than the newer 360 Dash/Windows 8



That's my xbox in action, not the best vid, that's rather low res

[Bingowings]

I gave it a try. About 75percent in and DVD2Xbox just kicked the disc out, reported no missing transfers and the game doesn't play from the menu.
Further if I try to FTP to the G partition I get the roughly the same limit before Cyberduck or Filezilla starts throwing up transfer fails.
It's like I have run out of memory there but the Xbox won't own up and is still claiming I have 80GB (which it should do unless I have another hidden partition full of naughty French postcards).
This guy seems to have been having the same problem but got less help.
As I said I reformatted the partition before starting so short of reformatting it again and spending a couple of weeks rebuilding the G partition (with no evidence it won't do it again) I'm stumped.
I have another HDD and another Xbox so I may try to use XBpartioner on that disk and build a single large F drive and do a console to console copy of the folders in my current console's drive and see if I can progress from there.
But if anyone else can think of reasons or solutions without that rather long winded and possibly risky scenario I would be as always grateful for the imput.
Modding Xboxes has proved to me to be as much a game of chance as skill (or maybe I'm just chronically unlucky).

[Zorlon]

try the FTP way again but from an ISO via Qwix and use Avalaunch, it just sounds like you are trying to have too many files on the drive, to the point it is refusing to copy any more

It's a file number of issue rather than a space issue, and that's a fatx issue rather than a bios issue

FatX limitations

• 4GB / 4096 Megabyte 4294967296 bytes Max file size
• 42 characters for file names (there are also a bunch of characters not supported , accepted ones are limited to (that includes spaces)
  Download Links:
  Links are hidden from guests. Please register to be able to view these links. (DVD's do not have the same limits and don't use FatX)
• A maximum of 240 in total folder depth (thats a folder inside a folder inside a folder inside a folder up to 240)
• A maximum of 240 folders/files in each fold (thats a flat limit)
• A maximum of 4096 files/folders in a single root folder (this is the grand total of files that can be stored in any single root sub folder)
• Cluster sizes supported = 4 KB (0x1000 bytes, 0x8 sectors per cluster), 8 KB (0x2000, 0x10 SPC),16 KB (0x4000, 0x20 SPC), 32 KB (0x8000, 0x40 SPC), 64 KB (0x10000, 0x80 SPC)

You can always try and FTP to a new folder on the root of G:\ say games2 I would guess that you currently have 4096 or close to that in files and folder in the games folder of G:\ so FTPing to that will results either in only some files get copied or result in the dashboard clearing the folder you attempted to fill with game data, e.g. if the game was say Sonic and installs to G:\games\Sonic the Sonic folder will either end up empty or only have part of the data stored.

The info is a bit confusing I mean is the 4096 limit per sub folder including every file in that folder including what is in sub folders or does that mean per partition instead, with that in mind I wouldn't mind know the results of your FTPing if it still will not to the games folder of G:\ but try to do that to a new folder called games2 I never bothered at the time FTPing was refused for me I just cleared a few games off as I was mass testings at the time

Before I forget there is one last limit there is also a save data limit of 240 as well, that is obvious by the limits list but if you do actually hit that limit you are stuck as new games will just not work as they need to be able to create save data, if they can't it will just go to a black screen if you try to boot the game, this also effects Homebrew, emulators, games and programs, even if it's a program that does not have settings saved it will still create a save folder to be able to run

Just delete game saves from time to time or back them up if you like, just make sure you don't hit that limit as it can be a pain to get the xbox to see that you have removed saves after to hit the limit so the best way is to avoid hitting the limit. (p.s. saves are also used as part of the exploit to mod your xbox so never just delete all the saves)

For deleting games and saves I like to use qwix but you can only do that through Avalaunch, backing up saves can be a pain because they are not plainly named and sometimes have no icon, while I was doing testing though I took note of the retail games save reference, that you are welcome to use, you can look at that at google docs

[Bingowings]

Thanks again, some of that information I know all too well, the filenames I've had to change because a romset of hundreds was full of people showcasing their name with odd punctuation marks.
Much of it was new to me.

File numbers are pretty much the same thing as memory in my current position.
True I could put X number of empty folders on the drive and have the same effect as the same number full of stuff but the hard facts are that Certain Obscenely Popular Segmented emulation packages have to use a heck of a lot of folders to work (it takes ages to ftp the bloody things).
That then puts a limit on how much folder allocation is left free so in my current set up that 80GB might as well not be there unless I were to put one enormous folderless article on the drive.

Bad News, last night I made a second games folder and that allowed me to copy a couple more games which played and then the whole G Partition died (no one to blame but myself).
Some of the items appear corrupt and those that don't won't start.
E and F are okay thank heavens but it's going to be a lot of work rebuilding G after reformatting it.

Is the folder limit restricted to each partition or to the whole drive?
If it's just the partition, XBPartitioner if memory serves allows for tailored (on the whole) partitions.
If on my other machine I made a G partition tailored just for the folder hungry emu compilations would that allow my larger F drive to carry more games discs (Xbox games are more memory heavy but they tend to have less of a folder/memory ratio).
I could then rebuild my current machine using the other machine as a template.

Despite losing a couple of weeks work here I'm actually rather chipper because at least there is a searchable page of information that someone else in the same boat as myself could look up.
Finding no information on what must be a pretty common problem was frustrating a few days back and I thank you for collecting all that information in one place.

[Zorlon]

Each partition I would of thought as a partition acts as if it's a different drive

I made a new guide on FATX limitations as I thought that most of the info is reasonably unknown to most

Yeah the 42 characters for file names and limited character types should be very well known to most xbox HDD users

The rest is less commonly known though.

I will most like be altering my drive myself to have a G:\ partition as well currently I just have a super huge F:\ partition, just under the 700GB mark

P.S. that really does suck about your G:\ partition though

But thank you for verifying the extra games folder trick worked even if your partition died while trying :/ I will get the chance to re-verify that at a much later date after some other tests have been completed there are some game mods I want to get out the way and tested as well, before I top the drive up full of games and later wipe the drive to split the partition into 2 or 3 smaller partitions

[Bingowings]

I did a double check.
The Folder heavy emulator programs like FBL, CoinOps and Vision didn't work but somehow the games folder was spared on G.
Indeed after deleting the now screwed Emulator folder (on G) I was able to move Xbox games from F and from the second games folder I made into the prime games folder on the G drive.
I'm currently moving everything from F to G (plenty of memory and the programs have much less in the way of folders).
So that will hopefully leave me with an empty F to put those naughty Folder hungry programs on.
Hopefully I will be able to squeeze more on G with less folders and get all the programs with lots of folders on the partition with less memory.
Naturally I have crossed my teeth for good luck

[Bingowings]

Just an update really.
I managed to squeeze most of my emulators packages into either the E or F drives (I had to sacrifice a few which was annoying but most of the games I would have played are still there).
I then reformatted the G Drive and began again loading the games in. This time I'm almost finished so it looks like all the help you gave has paid off.
I noticed one other interesting problem with backing up game discs onto the HDD.
If the names are similar and saved to the same folder the resultant game folder merges.
KOTOR 1 and KOTOR 2 for example both save as a folder called Star Wars (annoying) so when the second game was saved it put all the files in the same folder as KOTOR 1.
The default XBE is naturally going to boot the second game put in so the only way around this is to make another games folder and move the first game into it before loading the second game disc.
This happened with Prince Of Persia Sands of Time when I tried to put Two Thrones on as well.
Thanks again for your help. Hopefully this thread will help some other chap or chapess in the future.