The first FATXplorer release of 2025 is finally here with big tech updates and a new innovation: XDON.

What is XDON?

In December 2024, a new idea came to mind: what if FATXplorer could connect directly to a console and interact with the disks? A lot of people use FTP, but it’s always been a bit cumbersome and required full transfers to be able to do anything with specific files. If you wanted to, for example, modify a save file, you would have to download an FTP client, figure out the username and password, transfer the file to your PC, edit it, then transfer back. With XDON, FATXplorer automatically discovers your console – no username or password needed, and then you can mount the disk as if it were physically connected to your PC. Then you can edit the file in-place using your favorite program. XDON is a much less cumbersome way of working with your Xbox files and you can even use FATXplorer’s formatter to reformat any storage device connected to your console.

In a nutshell:

  • XDON (Xbox Disk Over Network) is an app that runs on your Xbox that exposes storage devices over the network. It provides the ability to perform IO operations at a raw level using a simple protocol.
  • When you wanted direct disk access in the past, you would have to remove your storage device from your console and connect it to your PC. With XDON, you can now leave your storage device in place and interact with it at network speeds.
  • XDON is available for both the Original Xbox and Xbox 360.

This initial release of XDON has support for even more features that go beyond what FATXplorer will use. Things like dumping game discs, reading/writing nands, and sending ATA registers to the internal HDD are baked in and a sample app/SDK will be released in the future to showcase XDON’s full range of features. Also, XDON itself is open source on GitHub.

A comprehensive readme with more details is included in the download. Download links are here!

XDON in action

The logo screen
How FATXplorer sees XDON drives

Enable the setting!

Since most FATXplorer users will probably not use XDON, it is disabled by default to not add unnecessary delays to device detection. If you want FATXplorer to discover consoles on your network, enable the setting:

SSD flashing up next

Many questions have been asked regarding previously teased SSD support. XDON has been the priority lately, but with it now complete, work will refocus on this immediately and the next beta is expected to have an SSD flasher. More info on the SSD flashing project is here.

Beta 24 also has several other enhancements, including a major driver update and upgrade to .NET 9. As always, check the release notes for all the details!