abgx360 and xbox backup creator, you 1st new to replace the current firware on your dvd drive with ixtreme LT, all can be found on xbins, guides found on jungleflasher.net....
have fun...
two trains of thought on this...
do i ever want to use xbox live or not, and if so am happy with the risks of being banned running a modded 360 on it.
in answer to your questions
1.sure, you will also need to mod this (as well as firmware) but also hardware as it's power connectors are not standard and some soldering is required, or just buy a connector kit for it.
I myself use a standard pc samsung d162 dvd drive with the kreon 1.x firmware.
i don't use live so i have no problems with its inability to correctly account for the angles post wave 3 gen games. so far have not had one coaster, last rip was bc2, no issues...
Remember you also need to flash your x360 dvd with ixtreme lt firmware, otherwise when you're done all the above and play the rip, all your see is "insert x360 game disc" on screen...
forgot to mention, the 0800 firmware is for reading only, so if you want to rip games, then the drive you read the game disc from must have kreon or 0800 firmware in place of its original firmware, use any standard dual layer drive to write the rip to disc.
get liteon drives off ebay and flash with 0800 or buy a samsung d162 and flash with kreon. Everyone is moving to the 0800 side of the fence so i'd advise you to do the same....