Canadian Tire has two different Torx folding key sets with 8 Torx keys on them. Both have the T10.

I bought my tamper-proof torx at home depot

hi, just picked up a 8300HD from FS, so I now, somewhat shockingly to my self, own one. My rental's going back in a few days...

There's a lot of good info on this thread, but some of it's out of date (broken links, etc.)

I'm wondering about the following:

1) What's the -largest- HD that can be put in this thing these days, given the limitations/capabilities of the unit (max power consumption, IDE, etc.)?


2) To open it up, I need the secure Torx #10 - is the only way of buying these as part of a set? I see mention directly above regarding CT, HomeDepot, etc., but no current links showing the best/cheapest product to buy. I can't think of anything else I'd ever own that needs this type of driver, so blowing money on a set seems a bit silly (unless you can convince me there are other usages for these bits)

3) I'm assuming that there's no nice way of cloning the data from my existing box - I've got a couple things saved that'd be nice, but I assume the files are encrypted based on the specific serial of the box.

Any other considerations that may have crept up of late regarding the internal upgrade would be good. I know the external SATA option is on the table, but the noise is an issue for me, hence the internal surgery...

but the noise is an issue for me

External will not be any louder than internal. No fan, just drive seeking in both cases. If you open it up you can't return it legitimately under warranty. I got my bits at Princess Auto. They have them all the time. 500 GB is the largest I have heard. Forget about cloning.

Western Digital has just announced a line of CE/AV hard drives.

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/company/releases/index2.asp?language=en

I believe Seagate and Hitachi have them as well. These sound like what we should be using both for internal replacements and external add-ons. The problem will be availability here in Canada. The HDD manufacturers predict a large growth in this segment. Hopefully they will soon be available at your corner computer store.

Western Digital has just announced a line of CE/AV hard drives.

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/company/releases/index2.asp?language=en

I believe Seagate and Hitachi have them as well. These sound like what we should be using both for internal replacements and external add-ons. The problem will be availability here in Canada. The HDD manufacturers predict a large growth in this segment. Hopefully they will soon be available at your corner computer store.
With a form factor of 3.5 inches with less power consuption and noise. Ill take one.

Note though, that according to the specs. on the WD web site, the AV drives (WDxxxxAVJS) have exactly the same noise and power consumption as their equivalent size regular drives (WDxxxxAAKS). Plus, the regular drives have a 16M cache instead of the 8M cache of the AV drives.

I think if you read through the press release there are a number of modifications made to these drives to make them more suitable for CE applications. I don't believe the size of the cache would have much effect on the operation of a PVR. These drive have been optimized for multiple video/audio streams. One thing I believe they do to achieve this is reduce the error correction, making these drive not suitable for computer type data, but better for their intended purpose.

When the warranty runs out on my SA8300HD, I’ll being trying to locate one.

I agree, the cache size is not really an issue. It's just a bonus if you were ever to use the drive later for another purpose, but I wouldn't let it affect a decision on which drive to buy for an SA8300HD.

The SA8300HD has no problem keeping up using a standard 5400 RPM regular data drive, so using a drive optimised for multiple audio/video streams is (as in the case of a larger cache) not an advantage for this use (especially if it does so at the expense of less error correction).

Unless an AV drive has one or more of the following advantages over a regular drive, and no disadvantages, I don't know why you go out of your way to source one for an 8300 just because it was designed for AV purposes.
- really is quieter
- really uses less power
- has better reliability
- is cheaper
- has a better warranty

I hope I can get a bit of advice here. I bought the seagate external esata 500gb that dell had on sale last Tuesday. There was a post in red flag deals saying you could use it on the 8300, which I didn't know was possible. Since I own my 8300 and I run out of space all the time I thought it was a good idea.

I got it set up without any problems but now it clicks all the time causing audio glitches. I'm only at about 7% capacity and haven't recorded anything on the external drive yet.

Can I just replace the internal drive with this one? I've read through some of the forums here but it's not really clear. If I need to rtff more can someone point me in the right direction? I can get the torx bits to open the 8300, I just need to know if this drive will work.

Thanks in advance,

Tryinginvain

Have you checked out the following thread?

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=23773

One of the links in post 1 go to a post with a summary of HDD and the Seagates seem to have a lot of problems....

I did read that. I just wasn't sure if there was a 'fix' somewhere that I missed and I'm not clear if I can use this drive internally.

I have now noticed from my ent system being off for a while that the drive clicks exactly every 5 minutes. It's really annoying and at this point I might just contact dell about returning it. I don't need the space in the summer anyway. It was a great deal, $139 CAD with free shipping - too bad it doesn't work properly.

The warranty on my own Videotron 8300HD is about to expire and am thinking about upgrading the internal hard disk (as it appears to be less of a hassle than the external hard disk). This thread has a lot of info but am wondering if there has been a maximum size determined. Is it 500GB? Can we put a bigger one? Is WD the best brand (since this is what's in my 8300HD)? Is there a series/model that's been conclusively determined as being better/best?

The warranty on my own Videotron 8300HD is about to expire and am thinking about upgrading the internal hard disk (as it appears to be less of a hassle than the external hard disk). This thread has a lot of info but am wondering if there has been a maximum size determined. Is it 500GB? Can we put a bigger one? Is WD the best brand (since this is what's in my 8300HD)? Is there a series/model that's been conclusively determined as being better/best?
I am also researching the replacement of my internal drive, but am not in a rush. You should be able to find posts at this site of 500GB drives being used.

The Western Digital AV drive, model number WD5000AVJB is designed for video and DVR use so that would seem to be the best, but it may have to be special ordered. An alternative is the WD5000AAKB which is available in TO for $123. You can find details of the drives at the Western Digital site.

Remember that the drive you are replacing is not specialized (as far as we know). Just an ordinary OTS PATA drive. I would be cautious in replacing it with an untested line of drives. I still have 2 years warranty left (3+1 from FS) but plan to go down that road eventually. Good Luck.

Edit: 500GB for sure works. Not so certain about 750GB.

Thanks Jake and Bplayer. That's the kind of info I was looking for. I am not all that much in a rush either. I also have to switch my 8300HD from HDMI to component as I've heard it helps with some of the hickups that the 8300HD has when starting and playing recordings. I might as well do this all at the same time as it is a bit of pain given the setup I have with my entertainment centre...

BTW, I just saw in PC World (sept 2007) that WD is making an external hard disk unit that's directly compatible with the 8300HD:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=334

Would anyone know the if the WD above is as simple as advertised? Although, I suspect in the end it will be more expensive than a hard disk replacement and take more space on the shelf...

Those off-the-shelf drives have been available for more than a year now. I believe Maxtor called theirs Quickview. They would be the same size as the Videotron supplied external drive or any DIY drive + enclosure. You basically plug it in reboot follow the instructions, reboot again and away you go.

There is a massive thread here that talks about the external drive option if you want to go down that road too.

Thanks for the follow-up Jake. I get the impression that external drive "packages" are not readily available though. Would you know who has them in our area? How much are they going for?

The bug with that scenario (as compared to the internal upgrade) is the extra piece of gear on the shelf. I think I would go for the internal upgrade unless the external plugin is very cheap (which I suspect is unlikely).

How about the hickups when starting/playing a recording; any experience with that? Would switching from HDMI to component connection really solve the problem?

You can pay a premium and buy Videotron's external package. I recommend against it since you can double that for the same price with a DIY solution. If you want to research the external options read post #1 here. There are hundreds of satisfied customers in that thread. :D

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=23773

As for comparing the internal vs external the only price difference is the enclosure cost which is about $40 extra. The drive cost would be the same in either case. One is PATA and the other is SATA remember.

Also remember accessing the internal drive is not easy since you need security torx bits and a careful hand.

One other thing to consider is about PATA drives is that it appears that they are slowly being phased out (at least based on the selection carried by the computer shop I use).

Don't you also have to be careful about how much power they draw so you don't burn out the power supply in the PVR?