How-to: Make an iPod dock for your Xbox 360 (part I)

The Xbox 360 has iPod support built in, so we thought, “Why not just build the iPod in?” Okay, the train of thought wasn’t really that short. We were probably staring at the hard drive blister during a really long download and wondering, “Why the heck is that on the outside?” You could remove it and haul it around like a memory card — and we’re sure its size would complement your Zach Morris phone nicely. What should be on the outside? iPod dock. The 360 has good iPod support and your iPod it deserves a better home.

For part one of this project we will be moving the hard drive to a new location inside the Xbox. Check here next week for part two where we’ll build a dock in the space vacated by the hard drive. This modification is non-permanent and can be easily reversed.

Warning: Opening your Xbox will void the warranty and carelessness will cause damage to your machine.

The first thing you need to do is follow AnandTech’s Xbox 360 disassembly guide. Stop when you get to the screws. We only need to remove the top cover, so just remove the six long, silver, flathead screws that are size T12. Then you can flip the box over and pull the cover off. We pulled the DVD drive for the photo.

You should continue to follow AnandTech’s guide to disassemble the hard drive. We will be reusing the hard drive and its cable. You should save the extra pieces in case you ever want to return the drive to the original housing.

Only the hard drive is being placed inside the case. The cable will still be plugged into the external connector. You will need to enlarge the hole in the upper right corner of the hard drive’s shallow bay. Once the hole is large enough, thread the hard drive cable through. If you use the hard drive housing in the future, this hole won’t be visible.

Stand the Xbox up and lay the left cover on top. Plug the cable into the motherboard socket. Apply some double-stick tape to the silver side of the hard drive and plug the drive in. Position drive on top of the DVD drive. There’s really only one possible cable route without cutting metal. Make sure you leave enough slack for a future filler panel in the drive bay.

Before you put the top cover on you will need to grind off the two plastic rivets securing the metal shield. After you’ve removed the shield you will have to cut off two plastic trapezoidal protrusions that would otherwise collide with the hard drive.

Make sure you confirm that your console is still functioning properly before reassembly. Once you take it apart the first time, you really won’t want to do it again. Unplug the external hard drive connector so you can move the end cap easily then proceed with the reassembly.

Once the Xbox is back together, plug the external connector back in and fire up the console. Everything should be working as usual. If the connector has slipped off inside the case you should be able to reseat it using a small screw driver since the connector can’t move very far.

Now that we’ve cleared up some space on the outside of the box we can build our integrated iPod dock. Come back next week to see how it’s done!

[KEN @ Dec 22nd 2005 8:41AM]

This is a great idea. I wish i had a 360 and an ipod now. But there both to expencive right now. Great Idea though.

[Joe & Ammie Bradley @ Dec 22nd 2005 8:47AM]

Will moving the HDD inside the 360 case increase the potential for overheating?

[emminentt @ Dec 22nd 2005 12:45PM]

Well I own a 360, I haven't had the problem just yet (over heating). So far so good! Either way the overheating problem lies in the power supply not the entire unit itself. (Correct me if I'm wrong anybody.)



I'm considering this mod, since I have an extra 20G iPod. I like the idea of beeing able to have access to all my music, without really worrying about space. I just don't like the idea of it just sitting there and people beeing able to see it. I like the clean look. So I hope that the housing for the HD will pop righ back on.



Either I'll wit for Part II, before I go off and rip my 360 apart.

[Eliot Phillips @ Dec 22nd 2005 1:20PM]

The housing won't pop back on without a some more modification. I personally didn't want to modify the original HDD case.

[joey deacon @ Dec 27th 2005 5:05AM]

Its a great idea, but I think the more important mod that I'd be looking for is to be able to use the iPod or other generic Hard-Disk MP3 players as the XBox360 Hard disk, instead of shelling out extra cash for a hard drive, just so you can stick into an xbox.



That's likely to require some software hacking first though...

[patrick @ Dec 27th 2005 5:30AM]

hard drives are cheaper than mp3 players, so wanting to use a mp3 player for hd space seems pointless when you can get a 250 gig drive for under 100$

[Mike @ Dec 27th 2005 3:27PM]

Except that is for a 3.5" drive, not a notebook-style 2.5" drive (which run cooler and use less energy). The reason to do it? I could take my iPod with me to anyones house and bring all my files, saves, and media with me. Then go back and still have it. I've got my tunes on the traiin and my movies on the bus. It would be a great use of the PSP if they could integrate it somehow with the PSP to move more media around.

[Bjarke Andersen @ Jan 9th 2006 4:37PM]

Okay maybe Im just stupid or blind.



Some parts I dont understand from this guide. The drive we see being placed internally into the Xbox360, is that the Ipod drive or the Original Xbox360 drive?



Asking since the Ipod case is on the outside on first image, and why have it there if the drive itself has been planted inside.



And following, the cable pictured being hooked up with the Xbox360 harddrive plug and mounted with the internal drive, where is that coming from? Homebuild or just pulled out from original Xbox360 HDD cage?