update: got rid of the 7th gen for a bit for a Naples Gold CG2. Still drove great, clutch pedal just snapped at the worst possible time. Traded at around 204XXX, last picture taken below.
yeah i've been looking everywhere for a flashed drive.
i think the best i can probably do is just find someone with a broken xbox with the same gen. drive and gut that one.
Unfortunatly it doesn't work that way Each drive is locked to the mother board via a lock code which is embedded in the software. If the drive falure is mechanical you can take the board from the old DVD drive, and put it in the new one and your all set but, if its a software issue you will either have to have some one reflash the new drive to match the mother board, or send it to microsoft for repair ($119).
I've already replaced/modded a few. I just couldn't remember how to explain it at the time.
And for some reason I thought the two pages to this thread were actually two different threads.