[stillvip187]

8300hd dvr WD5000AAKB

hello eveone i need some help i have a 8300hd dvr 160hd it went out so in the bios it says its corrupted so i added a new WD5000AAKB 500gb not working it says not formatted on the WD5000AAKB any ideas ? Cable select) is set on the hard drive

 

[57]

Try formatting the HDD on a PC first if you can? Also try the "last resort" format per post 1 of this thread? I assume you've installed this inside the PVR replacing the 160? Check to ensure you've connected it properly/well. Are you saying you changed some DIP switches? The defaults usually work if I recall correctly?

Also, I see you're in California. Not sure if the firmware from your particular service provider allows for a 500 GB iHDD. This thread was specific to Rogers (Ontario, Canada), although it does work for most providers. Who is your provider?

 

[stillvip187]

what formatt dose the drive need to be ?

Time warner cable

 

[stillvip187]

will i set the drive to ntfs and did not work so i set the drive to 0s and that did not work

i aslo tryed doing the format throw the box and its not letting me format the 500gb or the oem drive but it will read them 160corrupted and 500 not formatted any ideas

 

[snorlax]

Set the drive to master (not cable select). See if that helps. The actual format you do on the drive shouldn't matter since the box should reformat the drive to the proprietary standard that Cisco uses, which is why we can't read the contents of a PVR recorded drive with a PC.

 

[alebowgm]

Agreed. You likely we want to be in master, and once your unit boots, attempt a poor boys format.

 

[urself25]

Thanks to everyone on this thread.

I had previouslt installed an External 1Tb HDD to my Living Room unit but after 2 years, it failed on me. Was laggy and could no longer watch a recording and record 2 other show at the same time. Decided to replace it with another External HDD but after 2 months, and 3 blackouts, it didn't want to record anymore. So I decided to change the internal HDD instead.

Following the instructions found in the earlier posts, I upgraded my 2 units (8300HD) in the past weeks. I started with the unit in my HT room where I am the only one recording shows there. Just in case that if I do something wrong, I won't paralyze the main unit in our living room. I used a Refurbished 400GB Seagate Baraccuda from NewEgg. The installation went very well. The HDD is a bit noisy but working flawlessly. After that I changed the main unit HDD to a new WD 500GB from AliExpress. Installation went perfectly. The HDD is very quiet.

 

[JamesK]

Need new hard drive for 8300HD

The 500 GB WD drive I installed in my PVR has died. I have put the original 160 GB back in, but I'd like to get back to 500 GB. Does anyone have a good source of suitable drives, either IDE or SATA and working adapter?

tnx jk

BTW, I can still read from the drive, but it reboots occasionally. After I've watched all that's on it, I plan to reformat and see if that fixes the problem. If not, I'll need a new drive.

 

[57]

Moved your post to this existing thread. Good luck finding a larger (320-500 GB) IDE/PATA drive. Some people have been able to do so. As for SATA adaptors, there has been almost no action in that thread - see link in post 1.

 

[JamesK]

^^^^
That's what I figured about the SATA drive and adapter, but one can always hope. There are some of those WD drives on EBay, but I have no idea how good they are.

 

[romulus]

Infonec (in Markham) appears to have WD 320G ide drives. I doubt if you'll
be able to find a new 500G ide drive.

 

[JamesK]

^^^^
TigerDirect also has them. They're $15 more, but I'd have to drive from Mississauga to Markham to buy from Infonec.

 

[David Susilo]

how many hours can I cram into a 320GB HDD again? about 35 hours, right?

Also, before I spend money in getting a new HDD for my 8300, is it true that as long as the HDD is okay the PVR will virtually last somewhat indefinitely? (if not, I'd rather buy more of the new Netbox 3.0 to replace all my three SA8300)

 

[57]

1. Roughly 40 hours, depending on the channel since the bitrate varies from roughly 13-18 mbps - you do the math.

2. Yep, STBs typically last a very long time. My two 8300HDs are both about 9 years old now.

 

[David Susilo]

Thank you!

 

[JamesK]

how many hours can I cram into a 320GB HDD again? about 35 hours, right?

I used to get about 90 hours on a 500 GB drive. In general, electronic equipment should last forever, unless it's overheating or otherwise abused. Of course power transients etc. can also cause problems.

 

[Wayne]

In general, electronic equipment should last forever, unless it's overheating or otherwise abused.

I don't know that your statement is true with hard drives that have moving parts - I believe that sooner or later they will all fail - except they normally become obsolete far before they fail.

The other thing that has caused me (and many others) lots of headaches is capacitor plague which is due to bad initial components. I have had this cause failures on power supplies for two Hauppauge HD-PVRs and also the power supply for my SiliconDust HDHR.

 

[57]

Both JamesK and I were referring to the electronics (non-moving) and not the HDDs. HDDs that are used a lot often fail after 3-4 years. I've replaced two eHDDs and two iHDDs in the 10 years I've had my 8300HD.

That's why we always say - it's a matter of when, not if your HDD will fail and to be sure to back up anything that's important to you - computer especially, PVR, up to you. I always recommend agains "archiving" on a PVR because it's designed for time-shifting. If you wish to archive, you need to offload.

OTOH, I have another 10-year old 8300HD that I purchased used, but is rarely used to record. It's still on it's first iHDD and eHDD. Knock wood because it's full of my wife's Star Trek collection and her Yoga instructions. This unit has seen less than 1/10th the activity that my primary PVR has.

Make sure you've got your PVR plugged into a UPS too.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=413403#post413403

 

[MiG Hunter]

I guess my original 160GB Maxtor iHDD has finally died because the unit displays FAIL in the front display and reboots itself as of last night.

Can 8300HD work without iHDD and only with eHDD? Can I just remove the iHDD and work with eHDD?

I have a working 1TB eHDD that has been connected to my SA8300HD unit and working flawlessly until last night when this happened.

Please advise.

 

[alebowgm]

You must have an iHDD in the unit for it to operate. Also, your recordings on the eHDD are going to be lost since the index for the recordings is on the iHDD.