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Xbox 360 DVD Drive Comparison:
How to Identify Your 360 DVD Drive Without Opening the Console
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Copyright 2005 Llamma Corp. This
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articles for the purpose of linking.
This page is dedicated to information that will help you
determine which version DVD drive you have in your Xbox 360 as well as
information about each drive. The photos below should assist you in
identifying your drive version without opening your Xbox 360 by comparing the
DVD drive trays.
We now have three drives shipping in retail Xbox 360's.
Units with a manufacture date of 11/06/06 or newer may contain the new BENQ
VAD6038 DVD drive. This drive is rumored to be the quietest of the bunch.
  
Take notice of the shape of the DVD tray itself.
Each have a unique design that makes it a relatively easy task
to determine which drive you have without opening your console.
Another method to determine version is to look through the hole in the front of
the DVD drive that is visible when the faceplate has been removed. See
Xbox 360 emergency eject for
more info
| Circuit board
and red wire= Samsung |
Black plastic
divot = Hitachi |
White
wires and empty space = Benq |
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Xbox 360 DVD Drives
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Hitachi GDR-3120L Xbox 360 DVD Drive |
| The Hitachi GDR-3120L has shipped with
numerous firmware revisions during its tenure. Auto-flashers and
scripted firmware tools have made firmware modding the Hitachi very
easy. But, unlike the Samsung drive, it is possible to brick your
Hitachi drive if care is not taken to ensure you are following the
correct procedures.
Some revisions include: 46DH, 47DG, 47DJ, 59DJ ,78FK
Hitachi 360 DVD Drive Disassembly Instructions
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Toshiba/Samsung TS-H943A Xbox 360
DVD Drive |
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There are currently two revisions of the TS-H943 drive out in the
wild; the MS25 and MS28. Virtually impossible to brick by flashing
the firmware, this drive is the most forgiving and easy to work with
drive to date.
The MS25 is a very popular drive due to how easily you can flash the
firmware.
The MS28 requires hardware modifications and special techniques to
allow flashing the firmware. Other than these extra steps it is
virtually the same as a MS25. Nevertheless these steps can
complicated making it considerably more difficult to work with if you
are not familiar with the techniques.
Toshiba/Samsung 360 DVD
Drive Disassembly Instructions
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BENQ VAD6038 Xbox 360 DVD Drive |
| We know very little about this drive at the
moment. It is based on the Philips VAD6037 drive found in some dev
kits. Popular opinion is that the BENQ is the quietest and fastest
of all the current Xbox 360 DVD drives. No firmware mods or tools
currently exist for this drive. (04/05/07) This also implies that
you cannot swap drives if your goes bad or you just want to replace your
existing drive with one.
BENQ 360 DVD Drive Disassembly
Instructions |
Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive
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Toshiba SD-S802A Xbox 360
HD DVD Drive |
| This is not a standard
360 DVD drive it is the one that comes in the add on HD DVD unit. We have little to report
about this drive at the moment (05/08/07) It is very quiet.
It was designed to fit in the footprint of the standard 360 DVD so it
makes us wonder if we will see one in a "special" console coming soon.
Few more details in our
360 HD
DVD disassembly tutorial
Toshiba HD DVD Drive
Disassembly Instructions |
-Llamma
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