Optical Disk Drive Emulator (ODDE):
---------------------------------------------
Optical Disk Drive Emulator is basically a small PCB that connects between the 360 drive & the 360 motherboard. there is two modes. drive mode is using the 360 as normal. in drive mode the drive & the 360 operates as if was stock. in emulation mode, the 360 connects to laptop/desktop and you run a small program on the computer where you can select the ISO, and its sent through the USB cable to the (ODDE) board thats connected between the 360 drive & the 360 motherboard, which the 360 thinks a disk has been loaded into the drive. the game loads up, and play as usual.
The Optical Disk Drive Emulator, which allows you to load games from your external HDD, or directly from your PC's internal HDD. With the (ODDE) you can throw away your disks, and enjoy playing games from any USB HD or pc HD. It is a solderless item, easily upgradable, and user friendly as well.
General Info:
-----------------
There are currently four (ODDE) on the market as of this posting. most consist of a small board that has two sata connectors, and two dvd power connectors like that on the 360 dvd drive. setup involves taking your 360 apart, hooking the 360 dvd drive to the computer (to obtain two files: key.bin & inquiry.bin). samsung & hitachi drives dont have inquiry.bin, so you just make a copy of the key.bin file and rename it inquiry.bin. once you have these two files, you simply place them in the same folder where the program.exe is and your all set.
Some (ODDE) require a laptop/desktop hooked up to 360, so the ISO can be loaded into the program, and sent to the 360, but most are coming out with touch screen remotes, which doesn't need a pc at all.
Advantages of (ODDE):
------------------------------------
Some advantages are:
1.) no flashing/re-flashing your drive
2.) no need ihas burners
3.) no more buying verbatiums dl disk
4.) reduce wear on your dvd drive
5) your 360 doesn't work as hard (less likely to see RROD!)
Current list of (ODDE) available:
----------------------------------------------
XKEY: www.xk3y.com
BOXZII: www.boxzii.com
X360DOCK:
http://x360dock.com
WASABI360: www.wasabi360.com
Final Thoughts:
----------------------------
the TWO question that seems to always appear is " which one is better?". honestly, they are pretty much the same, but i recommend checking them all out and deciding which one you like better. they range in price from $75 to $110, and you may think "thats too much". but in the long run you will save alot of money, and its the easiest way to play your backups while your drives firmware stays stock!
The other question is "is it safe for xbox live?". you can go online in both modes, but M$ is always updating and therefore its not recommended. no one know if or when M$ will be able to detect (ODDE). I currently own the x360dock, and it works flawlessly on my slim 0225 drive. xgd3, and ap25 ISO's boots & plays great. i have encloses pictures of it installed in my 360 to show how easy it is to install.