I'm not suggesting you try this, since, in addition to voiding your warranty, you run a real chance of bricking your Xbox 360, but we just thought we'd mention it: a new firmware hack for the 360, known affectionately as “Xtreme firmware for TS-H943 Xbox 360” by its creators, can apparently mod your 360's DVD drive so that it'll work with just about anything you can put in it, including “backup” discs made for both the original Xbox and the 360. According to about seven pages of posts on an Xbox forum, the hack does indeed seem to work, but only with 360s that have a Toshiba/Samsung DVD drive, and only if you're willing to take the time to follow the instructions very carefully. We'll pass – at least until there's a version that lets the 360's HD DVD drive output 1080p video from protected discs over component cables. Make that work, and we'll happily risk bricking our 'box.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/15/xbox-360-firmware-hack-enables-backups-older-discs/

Now that you've flashed your Xbox 360's firmware to enable the playing of backup discs, you probably want to start actually backing up those expensive games you bought in case they get scratched or perhaps even melted by your toasty 360. And luckily for you, CleverMod has posted just the step-by-step instructions you need for ripping your games and then burning the images onto dual-layer DVDs – but keep in mind, you're voiding about a million warranties with all of this flashing and ripping and such. Basically, CleverMod's method involves disassembling a DVD drive so that you can switch discs without hitting the eject button, and then installing a program called WxRipper that finds a so-called “magic number” from any regular 8+GB dual-layer DVD. The program then uses that data to unlock a substituted 360 disc and dump a RAW copy onto your hard drive, which can be burned onto a blank disc and presumably played using the Commodore4Eva hack on Toshiba-Samsung drive-sporting 360s. And just to be super clear, if you don't own a copy of the game you're ripping, then you're not allowed to do this (i.e. Blockbuster, GameFly games are off-limits)

http://www.engadget.com/2006/05/21/how-to-create-backup-copies-of-your-xbox-360-games/

– Main.FredPettis - 10 Dec 2008