I think it's natural that the thread on external drives is larger than this one, for two main reasons:

It's simpler, and perhaps less risky, to connect an external drive than to replace the internal drive.
Many people rent their PVRs, so it's not contractually possible for them to open and modify the PVR.

Is the HD size the only diffrence between the 160GB and the 320GB HD PVR receiver? I just got the 160GB receiver from Videotron for 129$ (promotion deal) and now I was thinking of swapping the internal HD. Anyone got a 1TB working?

320GB HD PVR receiver...What 320 GB HDPVR? Does Videotron now offer a PVR with 320?

Apparently yes. But I am more impressed with the price that he paid. But to answer your question no I do not think there are any differences in the hardware. A quick diagnostic check should give you more hardware information to confirm this. I suspect the larger hard drive is to extend the life of the 8300HD model before being forced to go with the next gen hardware.

I got it because I also got a phone plan. But they are selling these for 229$ until end of stock...

You should check it out at your local Videotron store.

And for anyone who wants to know, you cannot use the Videotron SA8300HD on any other service provider. See:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=35032

We should now get back to the original topic of this thread, which is the internal drive upgrade.

Turbo, see

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

you have your answer there and yes it's possible.

My 8300HD rental free period is ending so I'm going to buy another unit, own it, and clone my current internal to a new drive using the methods described in this thread. What is the largest tested drive to date? What would you guys purchase for this upgrade if you were doing it today?

My 8300HD rental free period is ending so I'm going to buy another unit, own it, and clone my current internal to a new drive using the methods described in this thread. Cloning is to enable transfer of recorded programs from the existing HD to a larger HD to be installed in the same PVR. I don't believe you can clone a disk from one PVR to a disk to be used in another PVR, as the recorded programs' encryption is dependent upon a key or serial number of each unique unit.

Alan, that actually does sound familiar, but has that been verified?
I know that the recorded list is stored on the internal hard drive and the proprietary OS is on a EPROM chip on the 8300 board.

Another related question... has anyone verified that the 8300 unit is the same as the 8300HD other than the internal hard drive that is supplied with each? In other words, if I find a 8300 and put a large hard drive in it is it the same as a modified 8300HD?

Alan, that actually does sound familiar, but has that been verified? I would hope that those who posted about it first verified the information. However, I'm all in favour of challenging assumptions, just in case people didn't formally verify or test things. That's why I tested the recovery of an external drive without a UPS, and found that a UPS is not necessary at least for some setups.

In that same spirit, I encourage you to try out your idea and then post back here with the results. Actual testing beats speculation!

I'm very excited to try this out! Quick question....will this work on a standard Rogers 8300 PVR (not HD)?

Whoops..just saw post #212...thanks.

Alan - you're right. I've found many references on here and other forums referencing how the 8300HD box locks down the recordings to the box they were recorded on. I knew that previously but had forgotten and I appreciate your post that corrected me before I got too far into this upgrade I'm doing. This is unfortunate because I've got a lot of HD recordings on my current setup (new Fall TV season), and with my rental unit needing to go back soon I'm left with only the options of deleting the programming or watching A LOT of shows within the next week or so. Again, I appreciate you correcting me on that.

PS - I would, as you mentioned, spend more time and challenge this "proven fact" myself (move the drive between units or clone it first and put the cloned drive in the second 8300HD) if I didn't feel so strapped for time. I'm really trying to get this done before my rental unit becomes an additional $25 monthly charge on my bill.

Other options (besides deletion or holding marathon TV-watching sessions):

Keep the existing unit for another month after obtaining the new one. Record new shows to the new unit, and gradually watch all the shows on the old unit before returning.
Output the existing shows to DVD-R or VCR for later viewing. Those will output as SD.

Your option #1 is the one I'm leaning towards, although I've been thinking that if I can watch all the shows within the next two and half weeks then I will save another month's rental. The new unit has been purchased and is opened up right now. I'm debating between the 500GB IDE drive or the SATA with adapter route. Very likely I will just go buy the IDE drive at lunch today, set it up when I get home and get it to start recording everything beginning tonight at prime time. I'll turn off all future recording on the rented box and begin watching the previously recorded shows on it.

As for your second option, I never actually purchased a DVD-R (other than what my computer has). I never could see the value in them given that I'm very much into HD quality video whenever possible. What I likely will do is decide which shows I really want to watch in HD, watch them and get torrents of the other shows that I'm less fussy about. That combination will hopefully have my rental box and external hard drive empty in two weeks. Thanks for your feedback.

Anyone successfull on internal drive upgrade on the new SA 8300HDC Box?

Here's my story -- Read all the posts and used previous posts' step by step to upgrade internal drive on SA 8300HDC. Replaced 160G Western Digital caviar drive with 500G WD PATA (AAKB version). Power up and success - I think!

Box works fine, diagnostic page(something like page 36!) shows the 500gb drive correctly recognized. Everything looks fine...

However, when I use the on screen display the "space used" bar indicator doesn't seem to be see the new capacity. It still seems to "think" it's still a 160G drive???

Anyone have any experience with this one??

Thanks.

Have you preformed a (second) cold reboot?

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=17719


See also the following post, useful for those new to the forum:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741

BurgerJeff - I just did the same upgrade myself yesterday.
When you switch the hard drive and power the unit back on it does it's own reboot a couple times. I don't think I have the HDC model (doesn't say that on the front of the unit) but I do have a new 8300HD, and it did have a WD 160GB hard drive in it (not the older Maxtor). I found that the additional reboot was not needed for this model - I checked the space before and after an additional reboot and it didn't make any difference (because I think this unit forced the extra restart). I've got 3 HD hour long recordings taking up 5% of the space. What are you seeing in your "LIST" for spaced used in terms of percentage and number of programs? It should be about 5% for 3 hours of HD content although that can vary slightly between shows and channels.

Thanks for the replys!

57 - thanks for the links - I have done numerous cold and warm reboots.

Slyboy - exactly the same experience. My list has about 9 shows and it's showing 50-60% space used. Same as what I'd see before with 160G original drive.

Could it be something to do with the disk image from the original 160G drive?

Could it be something to do with the disk image from the original 160G drive

Did you follow the steps listed here and use the same software?