Was wondering - is it possible to swap the 80GB hard drive for a larger hard drive? Will this conflict with the firmware?

I wouldn't think so. Motorola is generally fairly specific with their firmware in terms of drive limitations.

You could always try I guess.

Does the 3080 use an ide or sata drive?

I would also be interested to know if you can in fact make your hard drive bigger on a dct 3080

I e-mailed Motorola (the manufacturers of the 3080) about the SATA connector on the back but they said that my cable provider is the one who is responsible for enabling it.
I talked to Shaw about the SATA connector but they say they have no plans to enable it.
Not sure if you can crack open the box and simply upgrade the hard drive. Probably voids the warranty.
Don't you love it when companies can be so arrogant that they can sell you an expensive piece of electronic gear and then disable half of its features? :mad:

I recommend that you read the Larger Hard Drive for the 6412 limited to 160 GB by firmware thread by using the following link.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=40947

If the 3080 has the same firmware limitation, that would double your capacity, which isn't too bad.

The only reason you can use a 160gb drive in the 6412 is because the 6416 is based on the exact same hardware/firmware.

The 3080 would use a totally different firmware.

I don't have a 3080 so I can't say 100% either way. If you're in the vancouver area, and want to see if it will work you can always pm me. The whole procedure should take about 20 minutes max.

I e-mailed Motorola (the manufacturers of the 3080) about the SATA connector on the back but they said that my cable provider is the one who is responsible for enabling it.
I talked to Shaw about the SATA connector but they say they have no plans to enable it.
Not sure if you can crack open the box and simply upgrade the hard drive. Probably voids the warranty.
Don't you love it when companies can be so arrogant that they can sell you an expensive piece of electronic gear and then disable half of its features? :mad:

Well according to an interview Shaw President Peter Bissonette gave on CNKW, he had said that the SATA ports on the 64xx would be enabled by a future firmware update.

See this thread (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=44460) for discussion on the interview. There is a link to an mp3 of the interview on this post (http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=392651&postcount=20) of that thread.

I can confirm that it definitely can be upgraded to a 160GB hard drive. I know someone who did it. Go to the 6412 Larger Drive forum that was posted above and follow the directions. You will need a special screwdriver bit and there are some plastic security tabs that will break off, so shaw can tell you opened the box. Both the bit and the tabs can be ordered online though. Just open it up put in the new drive and plug it in and wait for the format, thats about it.

I e-mailed Motorola (the manufacturers of the 3080) about the SATA connector on the back but they said that my cable provider is the one who is responsible for enabling it.
I talked to Shaw about the SATA connector but they say they have no plans to enable it.
Not sure if you can crack open the box and simply upgrade the hard drive. Probably voids the warranty.
Don't you love it when companies can be so arrogant that they can sell you an expensive piece of electronic gear and then disable half of its features? :mad:
Have you tried the SATA connector recently? They do not always tell you the whole truth - it could be active and they say it isn't even the current firmware they received from motorola could have activated it? Just wondering.

You should be able to see not only which ports and sockets are active, but also if they are enabled, by going into the diagnostics menu (power off the box, then press select). It's d-somethingorother, LOL. I'm terrible remembering the numbers. :D