why should he buy a 300$ console just to try a perfectly safe procedure? :)

Well i would recommend having 2 consoles when trying that.
Because the warranty wont work.
So i would recommend trying it first on a cheap core package first.

Also his xbl account is tied with that HDD.

ORIGINAL: QuezcatoL

Well i would recommend having 2 consoles when trying that.
Because the warranty wont work.
So i would recommend trying it first on a cheap core package first.

Also his xbl account is tied with that HDD.

That' s why i said i' d do it when the black version is released/announced.

I can easily switch the HDD' s and migrate my account to the new machine.

I believe that when you do get banned from Xbox Live due to a software mod it is not reported to MS. I had my Xbox soft modded to run XBMC and accidentally logged on to Live and my system was banned. When I called MS they had no idea my system was banned and were very persistent to sign me up for another year of Live service. I gave them every excuse I could to cancel but they had a counter agruement for every scenario. The rep actually thought my system was able to go online, of course I was not able to.

And yet the console wpould still be unable to use Xbox Live which was my initial point.

I also said i wouldn' t connect it to Xbox Live and would buy another 360 (in black) and migrate my current account to that machine.

Days are numbered till this thing gets locked, so here I go. If you value your 360, wait till a chip comes out with a switch. It saves you from having to buy another 360 for live & other legal exploits, and if you get someone who knows what they' re doing, you shouldn' t have alot to worry about in terms of the box malfunctioning.

A better alternative , is softmodding, never touching hardware, and popping in bootdisk after bootdisk. I' m cosmetic-modding my friend' s PS2 with a fliptop for just that purpose.

The best option of course is to wait for TGS, to see if they' re releasing a black 360!