Questions about SATA HDD upgrade

[daicon]

v1.6 Xbox (softmodded)
465GB Sata HDD Western Digital
My SATA->IDE bridge: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-PATA- ... 4179969683

Noob here trying to install a larger Sata HDD to my Xbox and I'm confused at the most fundamental level of the process. That and I worry that the guides I read might be leaving out the basic 'idiot' info.

How do I prep my SATA HDD to use it before installing it into my Xbox?

How bad are the loading times on a SATA? I mostly plan on using my Xbox to play my old games from the HDD along with some emulators. Will I see any increase in performance over playing discs? Will boot-times be horrible?

Is there a preferable SATA -> IDE converter that performs best within the Xbox? I already have one but I wouldn't mind picking up what the community considers the 'best' option.

Will I need an external power source for the Sata HDD I want to install (for during the installation process).

I've heard that it's a good idea to backup your drive keys or EEPROM or something for your original Xbox, cause if something happens you need them to recover from a critical error. How do I do this?

Thank you

[mrmajikbus45]

See this thread. http://www.xbmc4xbox.org.uk/forum/viewt ... f=13&t=612

[bigkidoz]

The sata bridge in the ebay link looks like the type that work, price is a bit rich though as i got the same ones for $1.99 each with $1 shipping.
Read times are just as good if not better than an old ide hdd so its not a concern.

[daicon]

The sata bridge in the ebay link looks like the type that work, price is a bit rich though as i got the same ones for $1.99 each with $1 shipping.
Read times are just as good if not better than an old ide hdd so its not a concern.

On closer inspection I seemed to have linked the wrong one. This is the one I have I believe, as this one has a jumper on it:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-PATA- ... 4179969683

Do you have a link to the one you got that was so cheap?

EDIT: Maybe I'm tired and I linked the exact same one...

I've also read that I should upgrade the IDE cable to 80 wire. Is this sort of what I'm looking for? http://www.ebay.com/itm/USA-SHIPS-WITHI ... 3374a9d510
Thanks again

[fxmech]

Same adapter as I have (yes, the one in the OP has a jumper). I have great results with transfer rates on both 2TB and 1TB drives. I haven't had luck booting with the stock/40wire IDE.

Both a X3 chipped box and TSOP flashed box would hang at power on (pre-flubber).

Good luck, and I will have to double check that I tried using a non-ini-file bios config.