Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums banner

SA8000/8300HD - Internal Hard Disk Upgrade Works (Cloning too) See Post 1.

657K views 1K replies 236 participants last post by  Morryg 
#1 ·
Edit by 57 2011.06.13. It works - See post 2, 21.

Please note that only certain drives work properly. Use the experience of others in this thread and you may wish to also see the thread on the external drive addition.


Becoming frustrated with running out of space on my 8000HD. My wife records multiple shows in HD and they chew the disk space. Hard drives are now a dollar a gig so it has to be time to upgrade. I remember hearing rumours of people upgrading the 8000 and wanted to know if anyone has done this on the 8000HD yet.

1, Has anyone taken the cover off yet. Is there room for 2 drivers and does it support master slave type capabilaties.

2, Is it simply a matter of unplugging the drive and plugging a new one in.

3, Is there a certain recommended speed would 5600 RPM be to slow would 7200 create to much heat.

4, Are the drives locked ie do they use the IDE Hard disk password


(Obviously renters who are not afraid of violating rental agreements and people who value warranty this is not a good option).

Instructions & Photos - see:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/61-...-cloning-too-see-post-1-a-68.html#post2854378 Useful PDF.

SA8000/8300HD - Internal Hard Disk Upgrade Works (Cloning too) See Post 1. - Page 9 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums Images seem to be dead, if anyone has images, please post in this thread and I'll modify this link. Thanks.

For Torx bits, please see posts 621, 622, link below:

SA8000/8300HD - Internal Hard Disk Upgrade Works (Cloning too) See Post 1. - Page 42 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums


SATA Adapter thread: Note that recent firmware may have created issues for some people with Adapters.

8300HD - Internal SATA Hard Disk adapter Upgrade - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums


"Cloning" summary post - read the post and several posts that follow (at least to post 371): Edit - Cloning appears not to work properly any more after the most recent firmware update. This is discussed in a few posts on page 46 of this thread. Apparently the drive can be cloned, however, the "extra space" available above 160 GB is not available any more? (or whatever drive size you are currently using) Experiment if you wish...

SA8000/8300HD - Internal Hard Disk Upgrade Works (Cloning too) See Post 1. - Page 25 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums


Note: If you get a Video Recorder Not Ready message after installing a new internal drive, you may need to do the "last resort" format as outlined at the bottom of post 1 of the SA FAQ below. This came about after a recent firmware update.

57 FAQ - Tips For SA (Cisco) STBs. (also Pace) - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

Note that it's getting difficult to find PATA drives, especially 500 GB and sometimes even 320. See the following post (and the posts that follow) for additional recent information.

SA8000/8300HD - Internal Hard Disk Upgrade Works (Cloning too) See Post 1. - Page 54 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums
 
See less See more
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hard Drive Upgrade on 8000HD!

I just ordered a Maxtor MAXTOR 300GB 7200RPM ATA-133 16MB (HD-MA-6L300R0) for 127.28$

I want to use this drive to upgrade my existing Maxtor 160GB (4R160L0) in my SA8000HD. According to some on AVS forum, they have perform the upgrade it should be as simple as swapping drives. Power on, wait 50 minutes and voila!

Since some 8300HD comes with 160GB at 7200rpm I don't foresee any heat/ventilation issue compared to my current 160GB at 5400rpm.

p.s. Some also have done this with the 8300HD instead of an external drive.

Ill let you know the outcome! :)
 
#4 ·
Yes. ATA = PATA = IDE.

From what I know there is only room for one drive. The drive is set to 'cable select' so I don't know what would happen rigged a second by using a two-headed PATA cable. It may only be a single channel PATA controller.

For internal I know some users have reported a 5400rpm drive via the diagnostic screens. I have a WD some others have Maxtor.

They replacements drives have been play-n-play.

The drives are encrypted but not password protected.
 
#5 ·
Jake said:
From what I know there is only room for one drive. The drive is set to 'cable select' so I don't know what would happen rigged a second by using a two-headed PATA cable. It may only be a single channel PATA controller.
Correct - I couldn't see a IDE controller on the mainboard, only a ATA to SATA bridge chip for the external port (so we can assume this is on the scondary controller) I suspect a second drive on the existing channel would not work. All parrallel ATA RAID controllers do not support 2 drives on one cable. The IDE bus is just not as good as SCSI and can not handle queuing of data or commands very well.
jake said:
For internal I know some users have reported a 5400rpm drive via the diagnostic screens. I have a WD some others have Maxtor.
The original units had 5400RPM Maxtor Quickviews. Some newer models have 7200RPM WD drives.
jake said:
They replacements drives have been play-n-play.
Jake - your brains working quicker than your fingers ;) "Plug-n-Play"
 
#6 ·
Play 'n Play. Oops. ;)

Just for the record my original 8300HD contained,

Maxtor Diamond Max 16 4R160L0.
5400rpm
2MB buffer
ATA133
3 platters
FDB motor
Avg. Seek: 12.6 ms
Avg. Latency: 5.6ms
5V seek: 628mA
12V seek 587mA

My replacement 8300HD contained,

Western Digital WD1600BB.
7200rpm
2MB buffer
ATA100
3 platters
FDB motor
Avg. Seek: 9.9ms
Avg. Latency: 4.2ms
5V seek: 450mA
12V seek: 530mA

I certainly like the specs of the WD. If I ever swap out a drive I will look for something as good or better than the WD. Especially the power requirements and seek performance.
 
#623 ·
Thanks scotta. I could have gone to one of those electronics stores, but this was late on a Sunday, and I wanted those bits right away. Gotta have that TV working. ;)

Just for the record my original 8300HD contained...
Perfect. My drive that just died is a Maxtor (although I can't remember the exact model number off hand). I just took apart my old unused Firewire drive, and it has a WD1200BB in it.

So, only 120 GB, but it's good to know that its brother is one that ships with the unit. The reduced size is OK since I don't leave much recorded stuff on this machine, and I didn't feel like spending another $70-$100 on a new IDE drive. It's been said before many times, but it's too bad they don't use internal SATA, since they already have (e)SATA.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I remember a post way back on AVS where someone was saying that 5400rpm was actually better than 7200rpm for AV use. Seemed like BS to me at the time. However, they also said that a smaller buffer was better as it would introduce less latency.

The WD is rated at 35-37 dBA whereas the Maxtor Quickview is 26dBA so the WD is significantly quieter too. The newer are 29dBA and the [url=http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/marketing/po_db35.pdf]Seagate DB35 I can't find any real specifications on. The Hitachi CinemaStar are 29 - 30 dBA.
 
#11 ·
JonSS said:
I went to Home Depot to see if they had a security torx bit (T10) and said they never heard of a security torx. Where did you guys get yours from?

Thanks
Jon,

The Canadian Tire set is $30 and way over priced. Princess Auto is much more reasonably priced.

I got my bit as part of a kit for upgrading the Radio in a Cisco Aironet Access Point - just happened to work!
 
#12 ·
Hello,
Just a reminder that I did not forget to update the forum. I finally did received my disk drive last week. Unfortunately I did not have time to watch all my recordings this weekend. Which I want to do before upgrading the disk drive. Hopefully this weekend will be less hectic.;)
 
#14 ·
I am using a SA-8300HD that I got from the winback/Real Choice promo. So essentially it is a rental unit. But I'm really interested in upgrading the hard drive inside. How does Rogers know someone has opened up the box to tinker inside? If I had to return the box back to Rogers, if I replace the original HD back before I return it, would Rogers know/care the unit was upgraded with a bigger HD?

Thanks.
 
#15 ·
rvs007 said:
I am using a SA-8300HD that I got from the winback/Real Choice promo. So essentially it is a rental unit. But I'm really interested in upgrading the hard drive inside. How does Rogers know someone has opened up the box to tinker inside? If I had to return the box back to Rogers, if I replace the original HD back before I return it, would Rogers know/care the unit was upgraded with a bigger HD?

Thanks.
I guess what you have to ask yourself is "Am I willing to pay Rogers $599 in the event they do figure it out?" You are talking about breaking the terms of your lease agreement with Rogers and would be subject to any penalties specified and possibly legal action (or at the least them disconnecting your service until you pay for the box).

If you really want to add space get an external drive. The internal drive has a warranty sticker between the drive & the case on my unit.
 
#19 ·
nfitz said:
As I understand it, the 8000's and 8300s both still come with the same size drive - 20 hours of HD programming only. Does Roger's have anything else? I'm renting an 8000, so changing the drive isn't a great option.

Nick
Nick,

If you are renting an 8000 (a 8000HD I assume) then you are correct - there aren't many options as the 8000 lacks the external connector (eSATA) for adding a disk to the box.

You should, however, be able to exchange the 8000 for a 8300 which does have the eSATA connector then add an expansion drive. Many people have reported that they have been able to exchange rental units to upgrade to a newer model. Try calling the Rogers Cable counters at local Rogers Video stores and talk to a CSR there and if they agree (if they don't - try another) then ask them to confirm they have a 8300HD in stock and ask them to hold it for you.

You can buy one of the Maxtor Quickview Expander from Maxstore if you want a turn-key solution or for less money (and possible more risk) assemble one yourself using off-the-shelf components from a local computer store.
 
#20 ·
Another Success Story from AVSforum

Hello,

I stumbled across this thread at AVSforum. This person upgraded a ancient 8000HD that had a 80GB HDD with a WD250.

Of intereset is that the first post claims that using the standard Linux tool dd (disk duplicate) worked for mirroring the data from the old drive. I meant to give that a try if I ever can get the content off the internal & external drives and try out another internal drive.

As the Encryption key seems to be associated with the box and the OS is stored in Flash on the mainboard then one would assume that the Key is also on the mainboard. So one might be able to:
  1. Remove internal drive & install in a Linux box.
  2. Use fdisk -l to display the partition info
  3. Use fdisk to create partitions on a new drive that mimic the size of the existing drive (i.e. a 1GB primary partition, the balance of the space in a primary & a second 1GB partition)
  4. Use dd to do a sector copy from the old to the new drive.
  5. Install new drive.
 
#21 ·
Internal hard disk drive upgrade for 8000HD works!

Hi guys and gals!
I finally had time to do the upgrade and guess what, it worked! No ghosting using Linux needed if you don’t mind losing the recording you have on the current drive. The special OS actually resides on the 8000HD board and not the hard drive.

What needs to be done:
1- Open the cover by removing three #10 Tamper-Proof TORX from the back. The cover then easily flips open.
2- Disconnect the IDE and power cable from the Maxtor 160GB 4R160L0 hard drive. Someone on AVS forum had mentioned a warranty sticker that needs to be removed. I couldn’t find one on my unit. So for the ones renting you might want to take a look.
3- Removed three more #10 Tamper-Proof TORX screws from the bracket that is holding the hard drive.
4- Remove the bracket and hard drive from the 8000HD.
5- Unscrew the four phillips that is holding the hard drive on the bracket.
6- Replace the hard drive on the bracket with any ATA-133 compatible hard drive. Mine was a MAXTOR 300GB HD-MA-6L300R0. (Look at my first post for more details.)
7- Place the bracket back in the unit with screws. Connect back the IDE and power cable.
8- Replace cover with screws.
9- Connect the power cable of the 8000HD, wait 45 minutes and presto!

Bring on 39 hours of HD marathon woohoo!:p

This can easily be performed on 8300HD or regular 8000 since they use all the same firmware. There is no external cable or extra conversion of SATA to PATA the recordings are very smooth. Also I find when selecting a recording and confirming, there is no more half a second delay. Very fast now. Not sure if this is because of the 16mb buffer or the faster seek time of the new hard drive.

Hey 57, can the subject of the thread be changed to “Internal hard disk drive upgrade for 8000HD works!” And the thread be placed as a sticky?
 
#22 ·
Cool!

Thanks Phatboyc.

Once management has watched all the season finalies I will try installing a new HDD in my 8300HD and try using dd to clone the old drive but I suspect that there may be geometry issues.

Just curious. Some on AVSforum have reported that the expansion drives show up in the diagnostics at full size but tend to get formatted with 20 - 30GB of space missing. Can you look at your diagnostic screens and report what the total reported drive size is and what the three partition sizes are?
 
#24 ·
drive type ?

the actual internal drives are not SATA?

I have added an external Sata - which still has some issues, so the internal

upgrade may be better, just a regulr IDE type is required?

Thanks
 
#26 ·
I have just upgraded my internal drive to a Western Digital 320gb (7200rpm 8mb). Seems to be working so far. It took me about 15 minutes to install (about 20 screws in total) but pretty easy. Waited about 45 minutes after putting the power on and everything was working.

I had a sticker that I touched by mistake and a VOID label appeared, I have had my 8300HD over a year already so its ok.
 
#27 ·
I just upgraded my SA8300HD to a Seagate ST3400832A 400 GB drive and everything seems to work fine so far. The ST3400832A is a 7200 RPM, 8 MB Cache drive. The old drive was a 160 GB Maxtor QuickView.

The install itself went without a hitch. I picked up a set of tamper resistant Torx bits at Princess Auto for $3.99. You only need the T10 size to do the job.

After removing the 3 screws at the back and lifting the lid the hard drive was clearly visible on the side opposite the power supply (on the left when viewed from the back). Removing 2 Torx screws from the "strut" and 3 Phillips screws holding the drive allowed me to remove the drive bracket. Four more Phillips screws dropped the drive off the bracket. Reverse the proceedure to mount the new drive.

My unit had a tamper sticker on the drive barely touching the bracket. I used needle nosed pliers to gently remove it and put it aside. When I was done I stuck it loosely to the old drive and put it away in case I ever need it again.

When I repowered the STB it went through some unusual gyrations (counting down to 0000 in hex numbers and then rebooted. A few minutes later the message HDDF appeared and the box hung. I rebooted using Vol+- & Info. Same countdown etc. this time but when it finished the HDD was ready to go.

I was not concerened about the HDD shenanegans because, when I installed an external SATA drive (way back when), the new drive required 2 boots to make it work too.

The system info shows 372 GB drive which should equate to 45-50 hours of HD recording. Now I'm ready for the new fall season.

ltj
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top