There's been a discussion about a way to uncripple your harddrive AFTER you got banned.
As you know Microsoft decided to 'remove' some HDD features (like play games from HDD, etc) when your console gets banned.
Microsoft does this by modifying data in the secdata.bin on the NAND (that's why write-lock the NAND was a way to prevent HDD-crippling).
But people found out the NAND has older (backup?) copies of secdata.bin stored on the NAND as well. Now the hack consists in making your Xbox 360 use an old version of the secdata.bin.
All secdata.bin are tagged with a date stamp so you can easily find out which one is newer or older. As your console is already banned, it does not really matter if MS can detect this or not.
Thwack wrote a good tutorial with a method to do this (below).
This is pure HEX editing in the NAND image, no CPU-key or whatever is needed. However, for those new in dumping the Xbox 360 NAND... if you do via LTP with nandpro, make sure to dump it a few times and check to make sure your image is good.
Before wild stories go around... this does NOT unban your console from LIVE.
To start with, you'll need to know a few things. This is going to involve a small amount of soldering, and a little knowledge of Nandpro and Hex (and a lot of patience if you've got a 256/512mb Jasper). Also, and an important point: THIS WILL NOT UNBAN YOUR 360 - ALL THIS DOES IS TO ALLOW TRUSTED CONTENT ON YOUR CONSOLE. That out of the way, lets get on with the tut.