i'm actually going to try tonite to clone the drive using the USB-to-IDE adapters I bought. Hmm, I had planned on using Acronis, but u say it won't work?

Also, if i don't set the drive to 128 quiet mode, is it really that loud and irritating? (i have the WD 5000A??? 500gb drive that everyone else has).

Let's put it this way, I already said in another post (read previous posts) that watching a recording with the sound high enough, I could hear the hard disk clicking. Others has said the same thing. You can live with it but it's much better to crank it down with the utility since it doesn't any negative impact on quality.

In regards to cloning with Acronis, since I had both software, I did not try very hard, maybe if somebody tried hard enough they could succeed but technically I don't think it's possible. Maybe you're better off waiting for all the proper tools (try their website link) before you take the plunge or forget the old recordings. The change in acoustics can be made (see previous post) afterwards with the disk still in the pvr.

Edit: ACRONIS True Image has been reported as not working properly.

"The change in acoustics can be made (see previous post) afterwards with the disk still in the pvr. "

i can't find this in the forums?

~~~~~~~~~~Scratch that. I thought you meant that you could enter the diagnostics screen on the 8300 and change it with a few remote clicks.

Buzz,

my post #193

and

also #196

SUCCESS!!!

(thanks to all you contributed to this thread).

here's my story:
- bought the WD5000AAKB from canada computers for < $100
- bought 2 "ide sata to usb adapter" off ebay from hong kong for like $20
- pulled the drive outta the 8300hd as per ghost's intructions (sticker came off no prob, despite the fact that i own it)
- attached the new drive and existing drive via usb to my pc with the adapters above
- drives recognized by xp
- tried acronis disk image, but some kinda weird bootup issue with my CD or PC
- downloaded acive disk image 21 day fully functional trial from webpage
- ran under windows environment (not boot cd needed cause of the usb adapters) chose clone, software assumed sector by sector, took about 6 hours to clone
- stuck the new drive in pvr, but perhaps a bit loud, so took it out again to enable acoustic management.
- hitachi tool didn't work cause connected via usb
- found HDDSCAN (a windows based tool for HDD settings via wikipedia) http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.01.22-HDDScan/
- changed acoustic to 128
- put it back in the pvr
- internal drive work, external (the other western digital 500gb SATA drive) works, all old recordings still work!
nice! 1 terabyte of PVR space!

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9029/43368123um5.jpg

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2811/96209785ix7.jpg

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/1605/38804243ir5.jpg

Buzz,

Glad you finally got it to work.

Did you check post #216 right here in our backyard......

Which software did Saison use for acoustics?

This software is a freeware, and allow us to set settings on disc even connected via USB (If disc support acoustic function). This was great for me, because I have a laptop.

Hello everyone. I wanted to write up a quick post here to keep this wonderful thread alive. I used the information within to perform an "upgrade" on my unit as well.

I also had a couple of things I wanted to mention. I live in the United States and I had no trouble getting this done. Also, my unit is one of the newer 8300HDC boxes, and everything went as expected once I turned it on with the new drive.

By the way, the old drive was a WD160 GB and it was replaced with the recommended WD500 GB drive.

Also, my unit is one of the newer 8300HDC boxes, and everything went as expected once I turned it on with the new drive.
I have not heard of those up here yet - what are the differences with the 8300HDC compared to the 8300HD we have in Canada?

Here you go,

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/customers/source/7008360.pdf

Look under features, you will have the description of what the card does.

Hey, thanks for that, Ruby. I really didn't know the differences between the units.

I just read through this entire thread today and found it very interesting. I like the fact that it's been discovered and verified that you CAN clone these SA formatted drives over to larger capacity drives and leave everything in tact. I especially liked Post #225 as this method described is the procedure I personally would use to do the disc cloning process.

I'm already running a 500GB external drive in a separate enclosure, but I think I will use the method in Post #225 to replace the internal drive as well. Once we get into the new TV season a little more my drive will likely be getting close to full as my wife and I fall behind on our TV watching. I like the idea of having 1 TB of DVR space and having the recordings evenly spread out over two drives, which this setup would adhere to pretty closely. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread.

This may be a stupid question but I am having trouble finding the WD5000AAKB, will the WD5000AAKS work as well.

Thanks

Paul, the WD5000AAKS is a SATA drive which is not compatible with the IDE interface inside of the SA8300HD. You will notice in the posts above that I am currently testing an IDE to SATA adapter which if successful would allow for the use of an internal SATA drive. However, if you don't need more than 500GB, I'd stick with the WD5000AAKB IDE drive. You'll find that it is currently in stock at Canada Computers.

Are these pictures for the hard drive replacement still available? That seems like a more elegant way to deal with the space issue than an external drive.

However, two drawbacks:

1) More work.
2) Lose all your existing files unless you clone the drive. (Has anyone used a Mac to clone them?)

Mind you, if my GF would stop filling up my 8300HD with shows she doesn't watch, then I wouldn't have this problem. :p

Thanks for your response, I will look for the AAKB, we don't have a canada computers in London but I am sure theres is an AAKB some where.

For those looking for the 8300HD Internal SATA Hard Disk adapter discussion see here.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=94262

I think this will become a popular option should it prove to be reliable. Rather than have the two methods in one thread I have separated them for clarity.

thanks, for the compliments on my post! one thing i forgot to mention is that those ide-to-usb adapters require you to move the jumpers to make sure the drives are recognized by windows... then after you cloned, you swamp the jumper back to whatever it is so that the sa8300hd recognizes the drive... small potatoes, but it coud save some time and frustration - "why isn't windows recognizing my HDDs?"

The WD 500GB Caviar drive is the same as the 160GB that I took out that was in my unit. I got mine at Staples(product code was 718037119830).

I'm sure even London has a Staples:)

This thread sure has grown. Being the first on Rogers to do this upgrade ( I think) I should of started a new thread originally. Instead I resurected a 2 year old single post thread. Oh well. Hopefully TVJunkie did the upgrade by now.

I have been running the upgrade for almost 2 1/2 years and now wonder how I got by before with a measly 160gb drive.

Good work everyone! I still have hopes to raise the post count higher than the evil external upgrade. lol