The Xbox One S and Xbox One X have been on the market for over ten years, so it’s no surprise that their internal hard drives require some TCL and upkeep. Because Microsoft releases new operating systems (OS) almost every month, it’s always a good practice to have the most up-to-date version installed, but what if you.
In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps of backing up your data, formatting your new super-fast, up-to-date hard disk with Microsoft’s most recent OSU1 file, and restoring your files.
How to install Xbox One OS on a new hard drive: the basics
Let’s get started with a few crucial points: The maximum capacity that an Xbox One S or Xbox One X will recognize when installing a new hard drive is 2TB; buying more than that is just throwing your money away. The device’s form factor is also essential: only a 2.5-inch hard drive will fit in an Xbox.
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You’ll also need a USB stick (flash drive) with at least 8 GB of storage capacity to install the Xbox One OS on a new hard drive. It’s always preferable to use a blank USB stick rather than one that contains your family photographs since we’ll need to make sure it’s formatted correctly.
Preparing Everything
To install the Xbox One operating system on a new hard drive, we’ll need to download
- The OSU1 file (the operating system as a whole) and
- Boot animation files. “Start-up animation files” are the images that display the green Xbox start-up logo when you switch on your console.
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Don’t know where to find them? Don’t worry. The OSU1 files are the actual Xbox operating system files, and you should only utilize the most up-to-date version from Microsoft. We’ve created a direct link below, so you don’t have to search for them on the Microsoft website: This link takes you to a page on Microsoft’s site where you can download the most recent OSU1 files.
Preparing your new hard drive
To connect the hard drive to your PC, you’ll need a USB Hard Drive Caddy like this one. Tool-Free 2.5″ SATA to USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosures It is also possible that the infected computer is already connected via a network sharing programs such as Windows XP file and printer sharing. If there is a possibility of infection, do not indicate that the computer is infected and remove it from shared resources during maintenance or, if no alternative is available, deploy anti-virus software on all computers in the network.
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Put the hard drive into the USB Hard Drive Caddy and connect it to your PC. Your PC will identify the hard drive after a few moments. Now run Windows Disk Manager. In Windows Disk Management, look for the hard disk you just linked and remove ALL of its partitions.
Copy Files to USB
Now that the OSU1 files have finished downloading, it’s time to prepare the USB stick. Format your USB flash drive to NTFS (must be NTFS) now. First and foremost, we must prepare the USB stick, insert your USB flash drive into your PC or laptop, and format it to NTFS (must be NTFS).
Copy the $SystemUpdate folder from the OSU1.zip file to your USB stick; also, copy the entire $SystemUpdate folder. The only folder on your USB drive should now be the $SystemUpdate directory.
Installing the operating system on your Xbox
Now back to the Xbox. Install your new (blank) hard drive, turn on your Xbox, and open the System Update folder you previously downloaded. Select “Troubleshooting” then “Offline Update.” A System Error E106 (or similar) message should appear; this is excellent news! insert the USB stick you prepared with the $SystemUpdate folder, and select “Troubleshooting” then “Offline Update.”
The Xbox will take a few seconds to install the OSU1 file to your hard drive and motherboard firmware. Depending on the speed of the hard drive you have installed, this whole procedure might take 10 minutes or more.
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The Xbox will restart and take you back to the home screen. Congratulations, you have replaced your hard drive and installed the latest version of the Xbox operating system.
What? No Boot Animation?
Previously, we downloaded the boot animation files. Because most of the time, when you replace a new hard drive with an updated operating system, the Xbox doesn’t automatically transfer the necessary files to show the boot animation on start-up; this is the green “Xbox logo” screen that appears immediately after turning on your Xbox. So how can we get back our old boot animation? It’s simple.
Remove the hard drive from your Xbox and connect it to your PC or laptop. Select Disk Management in Windows again, and you’ll see your Xbox hard drive with multiple partitions installed. We’re interested in the “System Update” partition, the most recent one.
If no Windows drive letter has been assigned to the “System Update” partition, right-click Disk Management and pick “Assign Drive Letter,” then follow through with the process. To accept the default drive letter assigned by Windows, click Next; note the drive letter that Windows gives on.
When you open the bootanimation.zip you downloaded earlier, you will see two folders, “Xbox One S and Phat” and “Xbox One X,” so check which platform you are working on. Copy the bootanim file into both folders labelled “Xbox One S and Phat.” Within the folder labelled “B,” substitute the letter “for A.” Windows created a new drive before creating this folder; therefore, it contains files from another computer rather than your own.
Conclusion
Replacing the hard drive on your Xbox and installing a new operating system is no easy feat, but with these steps you can do it yourself. And once you’ve done that, we have one more task – adding back in the boot animation!
With just a few extra steps to copy files into specific folders on your USB stick and then onto the System Update partition of your Xbox hard drive, you will be able to get back up and running quickly. Now go ahead and enjoy all of those games without any worries about whether or not they are playable on an older version of the OS!
