Wiping my boxes-can anyone help?

XBOX, but not XBMC4XBOX related discussion
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denmalley
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Wiping my boxes-can anyone help?

Post by denmalley »

Man, it has been a long time since I modded these things.

I have two of these boxes that have been sitting unused for several years, planning to get rid of them in the age of teeny tiny streaming boxes available everywhere. I figured I'd donate them but I want to make sure that I have all my personal info and passwords wiped before I do. These were softmodded using the game save mod.

I think I even still have one of the old t3ch builds saved on my computer. Is it as simple as just over writing the existing data with one of those sets of files, without saving off the user data?

Is there an easier way, or better yet a more current build I should use to help someone along?
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GoTeamScotch
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Re: Wiping my boxes-can anyone help?

Post by GoTeamScotch »

In theory, the drive can store new data to where your deleted files used to be once they're gone. So it should be as simple as deleting any files you think may contain sensitive info and then copying over new/more data (and repeating a few times if you're paranoid).

If you need to be sure, you can take the drive out, hook it up to a PC and do a low level wipe same as any regular hard drive. Copy backed up files back to the drive after and you should be good. Not sure how much of that makes sense but feel free to ask and I can elaborate.
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Coldly-Indifferent
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Re: Wiping my boxes-can anyone help?

Post by Coldly-Indifferent »

There's a problem with that ^ because you'd need to reformat the HDD you're wiping on PC for the cleaner and sometimes even the OS see it is attached. That means it won't be FATX formatted and in any case when you put it back in the Xbox it won't have the softmod so you'd get an error message anyway.

It could probably be done by FTP ie. replacing everything with virgin files but there would be great risk involved. You could use XBHDM and 'simply' build a new Xbox HDD on a new or cleaned second HDD. Of course you'd need the eeprom which you should have backed up anyway.

Whatever way you do it you really need a second HDD to do this safely.

Not using XBHDM: delete as much as of the 'sensitive' data as possible via the file manager but don't stuff up your softmod doing this.

Then use Chimp261812 (sector by sector) to clone just your existing HDD's C:\ and E:\ drives. Finally install that new HDD and wipe any stuff you want to remove via the XBMC file manager. That means XBMC's UDATA/TDATA and other dash/app settings folders ie. their specific game saves not the UDATA/TDATA folders entirely.

Maybe update the softmod afterwards using Rocky5's XBST or HeXEn.

Even after all this any stuff you've 'deleted' on the Xbox would, in theory, be recoverable unless it had been over-written (preferably several times) as GoTeamScotch said. Recovering deleted, even overwritten stuff, from a FATX formatted HDD is probably possible if you went to a specialist data recovery firm but would even they have the forensic tools let alone the desire to do so?
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Re: Wiping my boxes-can anyone help?

Post by Nextelhalo »

You could always pop in the latest Slayers disc and format/restore to retail. Done and Done.
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Re: Wiping my boxes-can anyone help?

Post by Coldly-Indifferent »

You could do that with any installer disc or softmod with the option to return it to retail but as I said earlier even re-formatting won't actually delete the files. They're still, potentially, recoverable like any HDD or similar storage device unless they're over-written multiple times.
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Re: Wiping my boxes-can anyone help?

Post by Kevin G. »

Jumping in here...haven't been active on the forum for a while. I have a softmodded 1.4 that I had done a few years ago, and am trying to return to stock to give to my daughter at college. (Krazie's softmod via HeXen...) I have XBMC4Xbox 3.5.1 on it, I think.

It will just be a game box for her, and since games are not saved...I don't think she and her friends would be using it very much.

I have my HeXen disc, but when I pop it in...the LED glows red and the box crashes to the last screen. I have UnLeashX and the EvoX dash, but see no restore option as stated in several online threads that I have read. I am certain that I have the original EEprom and original files on my server.

What's the best way to go about restoring to factory?

Thanks guys
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