Second--you can, but verbs are recommended, seem to work better and last longer.
Third-- depends on which drive you have. for samsungs and benq's you will need iprep and the latest firmware, 1.4 for samsungs, 1.4.1 for benqs. for hitachis you will need a slax cd, the FW for it, 1.4 and a couple of other programs.
Fourth-- no matter what games come out with future updates, you are risk of being banned. eventually your time will come.
Fifth-- depends on how you look at it. if you are going to download all your games, or rent them and burn them, then yes, as it only takes about 5 games to pay off buying a new 360 when yours is banned. if you dont ever use LIVE then it is worth it. or if you are just going to back up your 'real' games so they dont get all screwed up, then yes.
halo - large crack in disk
gears of war - small crack (i bought a new copy)
planet of the apes dvd - cracked (i can back up dvds easy)
all cracked in the same place for some reason.
anyways i just want to back up my games so this dont happen again.
so i will not be using xbox live at all on this consle.
its just to play ofline and with my mates who come round often.
so if i dont use xbox live is it safer?
i think i got the samsungs in both consles, what firware and whats iprep ?.
if you not going to live, then it doesnt matter if you get banned from it not. and if you dont know what firmware and iprep is, then please read the tutorials on how to flash the drive. this way you will have a general idea of what your going to have to do, or just find someone that will flash it for you.