FATX Manager

XTAF

XTAF is XeCLI's FATX recovery, extraction, repair, and Windows-first disk-management layer for local Xbox 360 disks and images. The primary command name is rgh xtaf; rgh fatman and rgh fatx remain compatibility aliases. It supports image-backed and raw-disk reads and writes, exports, directory creation, file injection, rename/move, delete operations, retail-layout FATX formatting, low-level metadata backup/restore, and safe chain-map repair.

Why It Stands Out

XTAF is meant to cover the awkward cases that normal FATX browsers leave behind. The standout workflows are:

• Open Windows physical disks directly instead of forcing everything through exported images first
• Scan for plausible FATX/XTAF headers, then open a volume manually by --offset and optional --length
• Back up low-level disk-prefix and partition metadata before you repair, format, or otherwise mutate a source
• Audit and repair safe chain-map issues such as orphaned allocations instead of only listing files
• Format a clean retail Xbox 360 layout when rebuilding a blank or recovered HDD image
• Dump whole partitions or extract directory trees when you need recovery output, not just one-off file copies

The goal is a practical disk and image workflow, not just a viewer.

Use it when you want to:

• detect FATX-capable disks or image sources
• inspect Windows physical disks directly
• inspect partitions and volume details
• browse directories and locate entries
• search by name or path
• recover data from .img and .bin sources
• create FATX directories inside an image or writable physical disk
• write host files into an image or writable physical disk
• rename or move FATX entries inside an image or writable physical disk
• remove FATX files or directories inside an image or writable physical disk
• format one partition or a full Xbox 360 retail layout
• back up and restore low-level metadata regions
• check for orphaned or invalid FATX chain-map state
• repair safe FATX allocation issues
• dump partitions to a host directory
• print small files in the terminal
• export selected files or directory trees to the host

Current Command Surface

rgh xtaf devices
rgh xtaf disks
rgh xtaf partitions
rgh xtaf scan
rgh xtaf info
rgh xtaf list
rgh xtaf find
rgh xtaf cat
rgh xtaf get
rgh xtaf mkdir
rgh xtaf put
rgh xtaf mv
rgh xtaf rm
rgh xtaf format
rgh xtaf check
rgh xtaf repair
rgh xtaf metadata backup
rgh xtaf metadata restore
rgh xtaf extract
rgh xtaf dump

rgh fatman and rgh fatx are compatibility aliases for the same command group.

Manual Open by Offset

For nonstandard, partial, or dev images, XTAF can open a volume directly from a byte offset instead of relying on the normal layout detector.

• --offset <VALUE> opens a FATX/XTAF volume at a manual byte offset
• --length <VALUE> limits that manual open to a specific byte range
• both values accept decimal bytes or 0x-prefixed hex
• --length only works when --offset is also supplied
• rgh xtaf scan finds plausible FATX/XTAF header offsets before you open one manually

This is the right workflow when you already know a likely FATX/XTAF header location and want to inspect it directly.

Current Scope

Today XTAF can:

• read local Xbox 360 FATX images or disks
• enumerate Windows physical disks for direct --disk access
• show partition and volume metadata
• list directories and find entries
• recover and dump .img / .bin sources
• export files or directory trees to the host
• create FATX directories in an image or writable physical disk
• write host files into an image or writable physical disk
• rename or move FATX entries in an image or writable physical disk
• remove FATX files or directories in an image or writable physical disk
• format individual FATX partitions or a retail Xbox 360 layout
• back up disk-prefix and partition-header metadata regions
• restore low-level metadata regions from an XTAF metadata manifest
• scan and repair safe chain-map issues such as orphaned allocations

The current XeCLI implementation is strongest at:

• raw-disk and raw-image inspection from the same command family
• weird-image recovery by scan plus manual offset open
• pre-mutation safety with metadata backup and restore
• retail-layout rebuild, validation, and selective export

It does not claim to:

• mount a virtual filesystem
• expose a true driver-backed Windows mount
• rewrite arbitrary security sectors beyond the metadata regions XTAF explicitly backs up and restores

Access and Denials

Image and physical-disk sources support reads. Writes, repair, metadata restore, and format can target either a writable image or a writable physical disk. Physical --disk access is Windows-only and physical writes require an elevated terminal.

Windows can deny access to mounted, in-use, locked, or policy-protected devices. XeCLI does not bypass those denials or dismount devices. Image mutation requires normal filesystem write permission. --dry-run does not write, and destructive commands require confirmation unless --auto-confirm is supplied. These are local storage workflows; they do not access live console storage.

Example Workflows

Inspect a disk

rgh xtaf disks
rgh xtaf partitions --disk 2
rgh xtaf info --disk 2 --partition Content
rgh xtaf metadata backup --disk 2 --out .\xtaf-meta
rgh xtaf check --disk 2 --partition Content

Repair or format a physical disk

Physical-disk repair and format operations write directly to the selected device. Confirm the disk number, keep a metadata backup, close applications using the disk, and review every prompt. Never identify a disk by drive letter alone.

rgh xtaf disks
rgh xtaf metadata backup --disk 2 --out .\xtaf-meta
rgh xtaf check --disk 2 --partition Content
rgh xtaf repair --disk 2 --partition Content

Formatting is a separate workflow for a disk you intend to erase or rebuild:

rgh xtaf disks
rgh xtaf metadata backup --disk 2 --out .\xtaf-meta
rgh xtaf format --disk 2 --dry-run
rgh xtaf format --disk 2

check is read-only. Do not run repair and format as consecutive steps: choose the operation that matches your recovery plan. Run format --dry-run before a physical format; the final format command erases the selected layout. Physical-disk examples intentionally retain interactive confirmation.

Inspect a disk image

rgh xtaf devices
rgh xtaf partitions --image .\Hdd1.img
rgh xtaf info --image .\Hdd1.img --partition Hdd1

Open a nonstandard image by offset

rgh xtaf scan --image .\Unknown.img
rgh xtaf info --image .\Unknown.img --offset 0xB6600000
rgh xtaf list --image .\Unknown.img --offset 0xB6600000 --path /
rgh xtaf dump --image .\Unknown.img --offset 0xB6600000 --length 0x10000000 --out .\partition-dump

Browse a path

rgh xtaf list --image .\Hdd1.img --partition Hdd1 --path Content\0000000000000000
rgh xtaf find --image .\Hdd1.img --partition Hdd1 --query launch.ini

Mutate an image

rgh xtaf mkdir --image .\Hdd1.img --path \XeCLI
rgh xtaf put --image .\Hdd1.img --path \XeCLI\readme.txt --in .\readme.txt --overwrite
rgh xtaf mv --image .\Hdd1.img --path \XeCLI\readme.txt --to \XeCLI\readme-old.txt
rgh xtaf rm --image .\Hdd1.img --path \XeCLI --recursive

Format and repair

rgh xtaf format --image .\blank-hdd.img --auto-confirm
rgh xtaf check --image .\Hdd1.img --partition Content
rgh xtaf repair --image .\Hdd1.img --partition Content --auto-confirm
rgh xtaf metadata backup --image .\Hdd1.img --out .\xtaf-meta
rgh xtaf metadata restore --image .\Hdd1.img --manifest .\xtaf-meta\fatman-metadata.json --auto-confirm

Export a file or folder

rgh xtaf cat --image .\Hdd1.img --partition Hdd1 --path launch.ini
rgh xtaf get --image .\Hdd1.img --partition Hdd1 --path launch.ini --out .\launch.ini
rgh xtaf extract --image .\Hdd1.img --partition Hdd1 --path Content\0000000000000000 --out .\content
rgh xtaf dump --image .\Hdd1.img --out .\recovery

Notes

XTAF is separate from the live-console fs, ftp, save, and content workflows. Those branches operate on the console over XBDM or FTP. FATX is for local disks and images.

rgh xtaf is canonical; rgh fatman and rgh fatx resolve to the same workflow as compatibility aliases.

Related Pages

• Commands Reference
• CLI Help Output
• Home