I was toying with XBMC last week trying to decide the best install route, so many options, including using a USB Pen... BUT, it's a pain to find a USB Pen that works, not to mention you'll likely have to shell out some green to buy a new pen...

I figured, if the (over glorified) usb port on the original xbox can read a USB pen, it should be able to read a USB SD Card Reader (and considering the popularity of flash media and USB readers for them I gave it a shot).

So, supplies:
  • USB Card Reader (I used LINKSKEY LKA-CR811 USB 2.0 Card Reader)
  • Flash Media (I used a 32mb Sandisk SD Card which came with my Canon SD500 since I wasn't using it)
  • XBox
  • Game - (Mech Assault, Splinter Cell or James Bond, I used SplinterCell)
  • XBox to USB cable (I ordered this however there are various tutorials online to how to make your own, including one which doesn't require destroying your controller (clicky))
  • Software:
    • Krayzie's Ndure Installer (Will be in /XBOX/Console Based Applications/exploits/_Packages/Krayzie Ndure Installer on XBin's FTP Server)
    • Xplorer360
    • An FTP Application (I use RushFTP, but there are millions out there, you'll likely only need to use it once to get this started, so shareware is fine).
    • XBox Media Center


Now, some tutorials will tell you to download all this other crap you don't need, such as the Action Replay software... Well, you don't need that...

Take your USB Reader, plug your media in, and plug it into your XBox (through the XBox USB adapter). Now your XBox should say something about a memory error and say the disk has been erased (hurrah, your XBox just formatted your card). Now bring your card (and reader) to your PC.

When on the PC you'll insert your flash card, windows will say its's not formatted, click no as you don't want windows to format the card you just had xfat formatted from your xbox.

Now, open Xplorer360 and tell it to read your usb device (Drive -> Open -> Harddrive or Memcard), and after a few seconds you should now see Partition 0, which is the xfat partition of your memory card, click on it (Partition 0). From here you'll drag the contents of the saved game (from your game of choice, from the Krayzie Ndure Installer) to the file area of the Xplorer360 window. Be sure you select both folders and move them to the card. It should take a few moments, but now you should see the saved game folders on your card.

Now, plug your reader back into your XBox and load your game. In SplinterCell it was as simple as inserting the disk, clicking load, then selecting "Run Linux" and I was done (after a few minutes of waiting).

Now, don't be alarmed when you reboot and have a red ring on your LED, they chose to use red in the installer to freak everyone out evidently lol... Follow the screens here (and select Install Softmod), and be sure to backup your EEPROM when given the chance to do so. Once you restart your XBox, you'll be booted up to the EvolutionX dashboard.

Now, you'll take and load up your FTP program, use the quick connect and enter the user/pass as xbox/xbox and use the IP address that is shown on your XBox console (it should read out what ip address it is holding on your network in the settings area). Please note that you CANNOT use PASV mode on the FTP, it is not supported by the FTP Server on the XBox and you will either hang, or create blank files (or not create any files) on the xbox.

From here, navigate yourself to /E/Dashboard/ and move all data from the XBox Media Center folder to this folder; it will overwrite the default dashboard (in this case, EvolutionX) with XBox Media Center.

I was up and running in about 20 minutes, and I was just toying around trying to see if I could even get things to work... Your timing may vary.

Resources - These items where helpful in my getting this installed:
Softmod - No USB Driver Exchange/Action Replay
How to Go from XBox to XBox Media Center in 30 Minutes