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Replacing and upgrading the DVR530 Hard Drive (will Void your warranty!)

100K views 231 replies 82 participants last post by  kcowan 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
About the Author and this thread - ARR is a former Shaw employee who worked for several years assisting the Star Choice team that developed and tested the Star Choice DVR530. He previously posted on the Digital Forum as digitaldude.

This is a revisit of a topic discussed in previous posts and hopes to shed some clarity for those interested.

DISCLAIMER: If your unit is under WARRANTY, then this procedure is NOT recommended.

A little history:

The very initial hard drive in DSR530's were Maxtor, but never went into production with that model as it proved unreliable and not up to the task.

The CE version was chosen for it reliability and performance.
Read the specs here: http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_ce.pdf

A little known fact is that ~ 30K 'special' dsr530's were shipped with the Seagate 250GB hard drives for in house use at a major N.A. auto manufacture that operates their own DCII transponder and had been using Moto DSR4XX units, but needed a DVR and the 530 was the ONLY DCII DVR around.

While its easy to criticize Moto/*C for selecting the 160GB, initial plans which I took over spec'ing originally had the 80GB and the 120GB was only a consideration as they were being used by the cable HD PVR's and only recently in the DCT6416 went to 160GB. I examined the cost and made a case for our current 160GB, so be thankful we got that.


continued....
 
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#28 ·
Got home from work today and my part has arrived. I plan on swapping drives tonight.
If a receiver is left alone overnight will it download the approriate channel map on its own or do I have to call starchoice for the hit? I don't mind waiting overnight if everything will reload and be ready for tomorrow morning. If not, Wade, what did you tell starchoice when you called for the hit?
 
#32 ·
a word of caution and from experience

folks - I've installed too many hard drives into DVRs to remember them all.

Some of these drives are flat-out loud. Keep it in mind. The drives chatter, etc. Just a warning.

The most quiet, and perhaps the most reliable are the Seagate DB35 series. They are specifically designed for DVRs, and it isn't hype. I have them in my Tivo Series 3 units. They are really quiet.

I am installing a 750 DB35 Seagate into my SC 530 so I have parity with my Tivo DVRs. ;-)

I also fully intend to extend the USB to the outside and use a properly cooled enclosure. There is really nothing to this and it precludes opening the unit for drive swaps. My 250GB drive has been stable, kept full and operating without issue for two months so it is time to join up and raise the bar!

regards,

chmod
 
#33 ·
Would the 530 w/o the HD create the same amount of heat as a 505? I'm just wondering if I might want to use an external drive as well.

I'm able to close my TV cabinet door w/ a 505, but the 530 requires much more cooling so I have to leave the door open all the time.
 
#34 ·
others need to help on this question

As I have never even seen a 505.

But I can tell you the power supply is the real source of heat so they are likely very similar. You need to cool it for good long term stability and life. Not chill it, but not let it sit in still, hot air.

regards,

chmod
 
#35 ·
My tool finally arrived and I replaced the original drive with a 320G seagate drive that I was using in my old computer. Did the factory reset with hard drive erase and then called starchoice for the re-authorization. Sytem is up and running with 53 hrs of HD available. Everything seems to be working. I've recorded programs manually and via timers, paused live tv, and replayed everything back perfectly. I have also swapped the drives around and yes I was able to play recordings from either drive. I will continue to test to make sure everything is working properly. The only issue that I've had is with the usb board, the power connections are very difficult to unplug and plug into the hard drives and I'm afraid of damaging the board. I will experiment with external hard drives next and hopefully that will avoid the problem of damaging the USB board. Keep you posted as I do more testing.
 
#37 ·
Perhaps I don't comprehend since I haven't looked inside and am only going by the photos but can't you plug in an eide cable and a power cable into the board and new/old drive and leave the drive outside the PVR? Then you can plug and unplug to your heart's delight?
 
#38 ·
Good Point!

I don't see ANY reason you couldn't relocate the USB/IDE adapter outboard.
Just route or extend the Power and USB cable.

I would want to observe all sorts of RFI precautions about having equipment running outside the cabinet and NOT in an enclosure.
A hobbyist might even modify an enclosure to accept the adapter board to a hot swap sled system and terminate the USB/Power cables on the rear and make shielded external ones.

The possibilities are pretty endless.

Basically as long as the signal flow connections are maintained and work really.

The unknown in my mind is will a USB enclose work due to differences in the NEC USB/IDE chip and the other brands out there.
How chip driver dependent is it.

If not, then the sky is the limit.
That makes this machine as attractive or even more so than a Tivo due to its HD and integration now that drive capacity issues have been exposed.

Even the familiar Echostar 5100/5800/5900 upgrade path from 40GB to 80GB & 120GB was riddled with very specific drive models and capacities.
While I can't say if it's ever been done, the HD PVR's are typically only upgraded externally and for the moment ONLY U.S. models due to firmware restrictions.

Wether this was planned or just an oversight (most likely), this is great news for all current and future DVR530 owners.
 
#43 ·
I recently upgraded the hard drive with a Seagate 750GB model #ST3750640A. Its not a DB series, but I had it in an external hard drive just sitting around so I decided to put in in. All seems well so far, I recorded one minute of programing originally to see how space there was. It said 529 SD hours/132 HD hours. I now have about 20 hours of mixed recorded content.
 
#45 ·
What/Where is the DVR530 Temperature Sensor

Does anyone know what the DVR530 is using for the temp. reading on the Diags R screen? Does it have its own temperature sensor and if so any idea where it’s located in the case? Many hard drives have a built in temp. sensor so the 530 could possibly ask the hard drive directly. Anyone know?
 
#48 ·
Good on ya!

I'll be doing my own this weekend, but just a small spare 250GB I had lying around.
Been having a lot of spontaneous reboots, mostly during DVR use, so figured I try a faster driver with a bigger cache and see how the performance improves.

Their are some reports of improved performance from an early adopter and former field tester to support this claim.

Don't really need a super big drive with multiple other HD PVR's kicking around.

As for my 'problem', I'm hearing it's more likely due to the particular vintage of the unit, we shall see.

Keep those report of drive sizes, observation and successes coming.
 
#50 ·
improved stability and Happy Holdays to everyone

Well, I'm not a long timer, but as I installed a 250 GB initially, before the service was even activated - and upgraded to a Seagate DB35 500GB (had a hard time sourcing a Seagate IDE DB35 at the larger size) I have not had a single freeze or reboot. Both of the drives had larger than stock cache, and both were/are 7200 RPM units.

I've been "live" since early November. So I hardly think I qualify as a good reference site, but thus far, I am totally happy with the stability. The drive is over half full of HD movies....and growing. It's a media device for me, a storage box for HD movies. ;-)

chmod

ps - happy holidays to everyone
 
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