I've seen enough posts around here referring to hotswapping, but I haven't seen a good guide. So, without further ado, I present the art of hotswapping.
Why would I want to hotswap?
Two reasons. One is, you tried to do a softmod and fuxed it up, and now your xbox is giving you error 21. This will allow you to install the default MS dashboard files, and repair your box. Second is you don't wanna hack up a controller or buy an action replay, but still want to do a softmod. You can use this to copy the hacked gamesaves to your xbox.
WARNING: MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS HERE, AND HAVE SOME IDEA OF WHAT YOU'RE DOING. FAILURE TO DO THIS COULD RESULT IN A USELESS XBOX.
You will need:
Xbox
Torxx screwdrivers
a small phillips screwdriver
PC with at least one free slot for a hard drive
FatXExplorer (It's in french, but more stable than xplorer360)
http://dwl.xbox-scene.com/~xbox/xbox-scene/tools/harddrive/FATXExplorer.zip
OR
Xplorer360
http://dwl.xbox-scene.com/xbox360pc/harddr...rer360beta4.rar
1. Remove the four feet from the bottom of your xbox. Use the torxx screwdriver to remove the four screws. There are two more in the center, beneath the stickers. Take these out as well.
2. Take off the top cover. Use your torxx screwdriver to take out the two brass screws that are in the center holding the drive housing down.
3. Remove the section of casing with the harddrive in it.
4. Use the phillips screwrdriver to take out the four screws holding the HD in place. (You don't have to do this, but it makes getting at the data cable much easier)
5. Open up your PC, and make sure that you can plug the a data cable into the HD with the xbox's power cable still attached to the hard drive. Make sure your PC is already booted and logged in.
6. Now we've got everything ready. Making sure the a/v cable is attached to the xbox and that the power/data cables are hooked up to the hard drive, turn your xbox on. Wait a little bit to make sure the boot process has completed.
7. Being VERY careful not to jolt or shake the HD too much, disconnect the DATA cable from the harddrive WITHOUT powering off the xbox. Now plug in your PC's data cable.
8. Run xplorer360. Go to drive->open->harddrive or memcard
9. Xplorer360 SHOULD read the harddrive. If it doesn't, you may have to go to the device manager and have it scan for changes.
10. Once you've modified the harddrive as you like, BE SURE TO RECONNECT THE XBOX'S DATA CABLE TO THE HD BEFORE POWERING OFF YOUR XBOX. NOT DOING THIS CAN MAKE THE HD STAY UNLOCKED, WHICH RENDERS IT USELESS FOR YOUR XBOX. DON'T MESSAGE ME SAYING YOU FUXED YOUR BOX UP BY IGNORING THIS STEP.
11. Provided you didn't delete any important files, you should now be good to go.
Edit: If you've used this and found it helpful, go ahead and click that "thanks" button right down there.
How to Hotswap
*KISS* *KISS* *HEART* *HEART* 
