I upgraded my non-HD PVR back in November (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=827133&postcount=266) with no problems. I recently upgraded to an HD PVR box (I LOVE HD!). This time, I simply swapped out the 160GB drive and replaced it with the 500GB drive from the non-HD PVR. I booted up and everything appeared to be functioning and all the shows appeared in the the List. New shows record and play fine but any time I try to play a previously recorded show (recorded on the the non-HD box) the PVR freezes (screen goes grey) and the PVR reboots.

Two questions:
1) Is there a way to salvage my previously recorded shows?
2) If not, how can I wipe the drive to at least start with blank disk?

Thanks,
Fred

Fred,

I don't know if you can keep the old ones, but just erase them if you don't want problems and get the space back (like starting blank), am I missing something?

Good suggestion by digiquebec - simply select and erase (instead of play). If that doesn't work to your satisfaction and you do wish to reformat, the instructions are at the bottom of post 1 of the following FAQ:

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


See also the following post, useful for those new to HD - FAQs, Search Tips, Optimization, etc:

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

I followed Ghost's instruction for replacing the internal hard drive which worked perfectly. I did not want to lose all of my settings and recording so I created a drive image. Here is what I did.

1. Removed the old Western Digital 160GB IDE drive and installed it into my
computer

2. Installed the new drive into my computer, a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB IDE drive.

Note: you may need to set one of the drives to master and the other to slave to get this working. Be sure to set them back to CS (Cable Select) before you reinstall into the 8300HD.

3. I used Active@ Disk Image version 3.1.5 to create a clone

4. The software has the option of creating a boot image. (ISO) So I created a bootable CD using this image.

5. I booted the CD and chose the clone option.

6. I selected the 160GB as the source and the 320GB as the destination and started the copy.

The copy took about 2.5 hours as it does a sector by sector copy. Once completed I installed the new 320GB drive into the 8300HD and it booted right up. My free space went from 80% in use to 40% in use. I would imagine that Symantec Ghost would also work but I did not try it.

I do own my 8300HD so I was not worried about voiding the warranty. Use these instructions at your own risk! I would recommend reading this entire threat before attempting this upgrade.

Hope this info helps.
hi all

new to this....just a quick question...

regarding the changes of hard drives......would this apple to a dvr with hard drive?

thank you blackice_plz
ps excuse of any typos..just 1 finger typist :)

blackice_plz I assume you mean apply, not apple. This thread is specifically about the SA8X00HD PVR, not about generic DVRs, so I'm unsure what you're asking.

If you're asking about changing the HDD in a DVD recorder, please ask your question in the DVD recorder forum here - giving make/model/desires, etc.

just a quick reply to Active Disk Image...its a great program........

I ended up reformatting per 57's suggestion. I supposed I could have deleted each show but I had 273 shows (all kids shows)...reformatting worked nicely and now I plenty of space and all new shows play fine.

Ruby,
I did in fact use USB-to-IDE adapters and did the cloning of drives from one to another. I would suggest that as long as you're not trying to clone the Primary active Windows drive (ususally the "C" drive) then you should be able to clone any other two hard drives in your system whether they're connected to the motherboard through the on-board IDE or SATA connectors, or through an external connection like a USB cable. The software doesn't seem to care as long as Windows can identify the drive is there and assign a drive number to it. Just avoid the situation where you're trying to clone one drive to another in a two-drive setup because one of the drives will be the active one. As you mentioned, the way around this would be to boot with a boot CD or similar device so that neither hard drive is active. BUT, in my opinion that is more work and more difficult, although less expensive for someone who doesn't already have the hardware that I have. One last comment regarding the jumpers that you commented on... the nice thing about USB adapters is that you can leave the hard drive jumper on Cable Select the whole time. They work fine in that position, which also how the jumpers should be set when connected to the 8300HD.

Hi,
The above (post #370) is exactly what i'm trying to do i.e. clone using USB-to-IDE adaptors to keep my existing recordings while increasing my storage capacity, however Windows (Vista or XP) won't allocate a drive letter to enable me to perform the clone.
The drives will not show up in Active Disk Image or Windows Explorer, but do in 'Disk Management' (however the drives only show up as 'Unknown' and 'not initialized') or in the 'Safely Remove Hardware' utility (as a USB to IDE/SATA Device USB Device).

Has anyone else encountered this, and more importantly, found a solution? :confused:
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.

There was no typo in my previous message that you quoted: It is not a drive LETTER you need, only a drive NUMBER as identified by Active Disk Image. Active Disk Image should see the drives if they show up in Windows Disk Management, even without a formatted partition and/or a drive letter.

Crazy Brit, I have done many clone operations using USB to IDE/SATA adapters with a laptop and I have found that WIN XP sometimes has trouble detecting a PATA drive connected to a USB adapter. I'm not sure if this will help you but when I have this problem, here's what seems to work for me. Starting with everything disconnected and the hard drive powered down, I first turn on the power to the PATA drive and then immediately plug the USB into the PC. It seems that if the drive is spinning up while Windows is detecting the USB device, then it will recognise the drive. When you see the drive type listed in the "Safely Remove Hardware" list ("WD1600BB-56RDA0 USB Device" for example), then you should be good to go. The drive won't show up in Win Explorer since it's not initialized but it will show up in Active@Disk Image. Good luck.

Slyboy & LesE,

Thanks very much for the quick responses.
I did the 'power up the drive & quickly plug in the USB..', Active Disk Image now sees the drive, so i should be good to go, woohoo! :D

Cheers :cool:

I'm doing another hard drive swap/cloning for a client right now so I just went through this very process. For the record, I recommend you connect power to the hard drive to get it spinning and don't rush to connect the USB cable. Rather, allow the hard drive to get properly booted up and spinning by waiting several seconds, then connect the USB cable. I leave Disk Management open so I can see the new drive as Windows recognizes it. This process works for me consistently.

Hello,

I replaced the hard drive in my explorer 8300HD with a WD5000AAKB. The machine rebooted properly but when I watch a movie it is freezing really often: the film stop for 2-4 secs and restart from the same position after. This is really annoying.

Any suggestion ?

Thanks
Carl

gauts,

I have the same disk since many months now, everything was fine with it until the last 2 weeks, now I am experiencing the same problems as you.

Try a cold reboot. Unplug the unit and let it come back up. FYI: I just noticed that my 8300HD downloaded a new firmware (Videotron) last night after a power failure. I didn't check to see if it was just a reflash or an actual upgrade. Also, I think most PATA drives come jumpered as CS (cable select). Just make sure that is your case.

Ok, I will try a cold reboot tonight and let you know how it goes ...

Would you mind to give me more information about the CS (cable select) jumper your are talking about ?

Regards,

Carl

Every hard drive manufacturer use a slightly different configuration. It is usually printed on the end of the drive. Here is an example.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/31553_jumpers1.gif

I own one of the first Rogers PVRs (SD) - I think I may have purchased it on the first day when they started selling them (no rentals back then). I am now getting the message "unrecoverable disk error". If I reboot, it will work fine for a few days, and then the message will appear again.

Can I simply replace the internal hard drive? Its probably a 80G inside now - can I make it larger?

If you don't mind losing what's on the internal drive, you can simply replace it - instructions earlier in this thread - read post 1 for a start. If you want to keep the programming, you'll need to clone the drive, instructions link provided in post 1.

Hi all,

I'm a newbie here, so excuse me if I'm not at the right place. I've spent the last hour(s)(!) reading this great topic about upgrading the hdd of the 8300.

I own a 8300sd that is about 3 years old. It has been used a lot and it started having problems in the last months. Whenever I program it to record something, altough it's supposedly recording it entirely (the record indicator light is on for the whole show) when it's finished I end up having only part of the show. at first it was variable in how much was recorded (5 minutes, 12 minutes, 27 minutes, etc), but now it's only recording about one minute or two at the most. Playback is a problem too, it's freezing and getting full of mosaic too. If I'm recording and watching another channel, often the image will freeze.

I had the cable provider send me a technician, and after checking if it was the signal coming in that was at fault, the verdict was that my 8300 was now being defective and since I was out of warranty, they couldn't (wouldn't) help me. Their solution was to get a new cable box or find a place to have it checked and fixed (may be!).

Since I intend on getting a new HD TV next year, I don't intend on paying big bucks for a new machine just yet. My question is, could my problem with the 8300 be the hdd that is now worn out? If I watch live TV everything is correct most of the time. But if I watch a program after having paused it, it's erratic and sometimes I even lose part of the program and have to get back on live settings.

If I could fix the problem by simply changing the hdd, it would be great.

Would the Western digital OE-HDIP-160W work as replacement hdd? I don't need to have a huge storage capacity.

Thanks for any answers, and sorry for the long post. I wanted to be sure to explain my problem correctly.

Steve