HOWTO: Upgrade the Hard Drive in an HR20

[TimeHorse]

This is the place where you will find instructions on extracting video from your HD-20 DirecTV DVR.

Special thanks to PlainBill, RonnyThunder, Stevel and Vurbano for helping create this FAQ.

Version 1.2

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The fact that the Hard Drive contains no critical OS files means that upgrading, by replacing or adding drives in the HR20, is relatively simple.

The following recommendations come thanks to PlainBill:

Easy way:

1) Obtain an eSATA drive
2) Unplug power to the HR20
3) Hook up the external drive
4) Power on the external drive
5) Power on the HR20.

Hard way:

1) Obtain an internal SATA drive
2) Unplug power to the HR20
3) Open the case
4) Remove the existing drive
[Specifically for the HR21-700]
4.1) Find the ribbon cable that connects the front panel to the mainboard. On the mainboad end, there is a plastic pull-tab on the connector. Gently pull on it to disconnect the cable.
4.2) Disconnect the SATA power and data cables from the old drive.
4.3) Unlatch the tabs holding the front panel onto the chassis and remove the front panel.
4.4) There is an L-shaped metal plate attached to one edge of the hard drive and the mainboard. Using a #2 Philips screwdriver, remove the screw attaching the plate to the mainboard. Leave the screws attached to the drive for now.
4.5) From the front of the unit, remove the two Philips screws securing the drive to the front of the chassis.
4.6) Lift out the old hard drive. Remove the remaining screws on the L-shaped plate
5) Install the new drive
5.1) Reverse the steps in 4.6 to 4.1, remembering to plug in the front panel ribbon cable before continuing.
6) Close the case
7) Plug power back in

For information on how to preserve recording, please read the following post by vurbano...

[vurbano]

There is currently no way of replacing the Hard Drive in the HR20 unit without loosing your current recordings.
Untrue.

Someone at DBStalk gave instructs on how to replace the hard drive and restore all recordings and "season passes". basically doing a disk copy under linux and then expanding the partition. He upgraded to a larger disk.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=100894&highlight=replace+hard+drive

I received Earl's permission to post this, but with the following prerequisites:

Please take the poll above to show that you are aware of the risks of opening your DVR. Please DO NOT DISCUSS extracting programs from the DVR in this forum. This will NOT be tolerated by the moderators! Okay, here we go!!!

FYI- I have successfully performed this upgrade on 2 HR20's, so this is NOT theory or speculation. It actually works, and I maintained all settings and content from before, plus gained extra space.

First, why did I want to do this?

1) I don't want an external hard drive box on top of or beside my HR-20 making more noise and using more power.

2) I want to retain all of my settings, recording lists, and current recorded shows.

3) The same reason a dogs licks... Well you get the idea, I wanted to do it as a challenge.

Second, What do I need to do this?

1) A T10 Torx screwdriver.

2) A Phillips screwdriver.

3) A computer with SATA interface.

4) Proper software for the computer. You could possibly do this completely with Linux. I didn't. I used Ghost, MBR Tool and Tiny Hexer.

5) A SATA internal hard drive. I used a 1TB Hitachi Deskstar.

6) A pair of snips.

7) Possibly a pair of pliers depending on your unit.

Lastly, let's get to it!

1) Take out the 5 T10 Torx screws from the back of the unit.

2) Note that you are breaking a seal that violates the warranty when you remove the cover.

3) Slide the cover towards the back of the unit and it will come unlatched, then you can remove it.

4) Remove the SATA connector, Power connector and Fan Power connector from the internal hard drive.

5) Find the 2 plastic fasteners that attach the drive mount to the frame. Place your Torx screwdriver in the center of them and push the plastic pin downward. This will release them and they can be removed.

6) Use a phillips screwdriver to remove the ground wire. You can't remove the Torx side unless you have some type of tamper-proof driver, as far as I can tell.

7) Now is the hardest part. I have done this on 2 different HR20's and they were both different. You have to remove the 2 screws holding the drive mount to the front of the unit. On one of mine, their were nuts holding them, so I just removed the nuts with a pair of pliers. That was fairly easy and I didn't have to remove the front panel. On my other unit, they were screwed in from the front, so you have to remove the front panel and unscrew them with your Torx screwdriver. It takes some patience and coodination to remove the front panel. Good luck!

8) You have to snip the tie wrap on the fan power connector in order to remove the hard drive.

9) Remove the hard drive mount (and hard drive) from the unit.

10) You need to install the new drive into the HR20 temporarily and power it up. Let the HR20 format the drive and then shut it back down. This is important because you have to write down the partition information from the new drive.

11) Now is the fun part. Hook your new drive and current internal drive up to a computer with a SATA interface.

12) Next, you have to get the raw parameters from your new disk's MBR. I used a utility called MBR tool, which is free and is bootable media. I used the Edit Partition option in MBR Tool, and wrote down all of the Hex numbers that make up each of the 3 partitions. If someone could post a similar process in Linux, it would be most appreciated. It would be nice to be able to do this whole process in Linux from beginning to end.

13) Next I rebooted the computer and started a bootble media version of Norton Ghost, using the command line "ghost -ia" which tells Ghost to start in a "copy disk sector by sector mode."

14) Go through the Ghost wizard and start the copying process. It took me about 2 hours and 10 minutes to copy the entire 250GB drive.

15) You can also do this in Linux with 'dd', but I found it took much longer. I just used the command 'dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb' but maybe someone knows some other command line switches that can make this faster. It took SEVERAL HOURS!

16) When you have finished copying the disk, you can remove the 250GB original. You are done with it. Remove it from the mount if you haven't already. It is just mounted with some Phillips screws.

17) Next, you have to edit the Raw MBR table on the new disk with a Hex disk editor, in order to tell the HR20 that the disk is bigger. This is where you use the information you gathered earlier. You are going to overwrite the hex data for the 3rd partition in the MBR. This partition is where the HR20 stores recordings. Again, if someone could post a similar process in Linux, it would be helpful. I know there is a package called 'lde', Linux Disk Editor, which should work. However, most people will probably boot up on something like a Fedora Core rescue disk, which I doubt has this package installed.

18) I hooked my Windows drive back up to my PC, booted to Windows, and used a utility called Tiny Hexer to do this. It is a free software that you can use to edit the MBR.

19) When you open the disk with Tiny Hexer and start browsing Sector Zero, which is where your raw MBR is stored on the disk, you'll notice towards the end of the sector, that you'll start seeing the data that you wrote down for the three partitions. If you follow, you'll see the first partition data, followed directly by the second partition data, followed directly by the third partition data. No need to edit the first or second partition data. Mine mine was not exactly the same, I think it differed by a hex value or two but I left it alone. Only change the partition 3 data.

20) When you get to the third partition data, recreate it EXACTLY as you copied it from MBR Tool earlier.

21) Don't forget to write the data back to disk.

22) Now you can mount the new drive and put everything back in the HR20 and fire it up. If everything works okay, you'll have your original settings, recordings, record lists, etc. AND you'll have a heck of a lot more free space showing. Good luck!!!

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: All of this was done on HR20-700's. I don't know how different the process will be using an HR20-100. I also don't know if the whole disk process is any different with an HR20-100. If anyone upgrades an HR20-100, PLEASE POST THE RESULTS!

If you see errors, problems, issues, etc. with this process, please message me and I will edit and make changes. I am also interested in hearing any alternate ways of doing this, or any ways that are easier or will save time.

[PlainBill]

Thanks for the updated information.

PlainBill

[TimeHorse]

Thank for the info Vurbano. I've updated the FAQ to refer to your instructions. If you don't mind maintaining them, I'll let you be the master of that. If you want me to maintain them, I will merge them with the main instructions, above. Anyway, thanks again!

[asicguyca]

If one should install an external esata drive, is it married to the hr20 forever, or
could it be unplugged and have the hr20 work normally?

[ronnythunder]

If one should install an external esata drive, is it married to the hr20 forever, or
could it be unplugged and have the hr20 work normally?this is covered at dbstalk also, but in short: the external drive essentially "replaces" the internal drive. when you connect the esata, it disables the internal drive and you start over with a new blank drive (the external). this means you have to re-enter your season links and other settings. however, if you power off the machine, disconnect the esata and reboot, you go back to using the internal drive with no issues.

some find this a flaw, some find it a feature.

ronny

[stevel]

If you have an HR21-700, removing the hard drive has the following steps once you have the cover off.

1. Find the ribbon cable that connects the front panel to the mainboard. On the mainboad end, there is a plastic pull-tab on the connector. Gently pull on it to disconnect the cable.

2. Disconnect the SATA power and data cables from the old drive.

3. Unlatch the tabs holding the front panel onto the chassis and remove the front panel.

4. There is an L-shaped metal plate attached to one edge of the hard drive and the mainboard. Using a #2 Philips screwdriver, remove the screw attaching the plate to the mainboard. Leave the screws attached to the drive for now.

5. From the front of the unit, remove the two Philips screws securing the drive to the front of the chassis.

6. Lift out the old hard drive. Remove the remaining screws on the L-shaped plate

Reverse process to install new drive. Don't forget to reinsert the front panel ribbon cable.

[scgiants]

..found answer elsewhere.

[ntrance]

Untrue.

Someone at DBStalk gave instructs on how to replace the hard drive and restore all recordings and "season passes". basically doing a disk copy under linux and then expanding the partition. He upgraded to a larger disk.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=100894&highlight=replace+hard+drive

The method described in that first post has been shown to cause lockups when the recordings reach the capacity of the original drive. Using a different method I was able to surpass the point at which the lockups were occuring. I let the hr20 format an eSATA drive, and then with both drives in a linux PC I did something like this:
mount -t xfs -o rtdev=/dev/sdb3 /dev/sdb2 /mnt1
mount -t xfs -o rtdev=/dev/sdc3 /dev/sdc2 /mnt2
xfsdump -J - /mnt1 | xfsrestore -J - /mnt2
I haven't been running on this solution for very long but it seems to be working.

[JohnnyGP]

First and foremost, THANK YOU ALL for being so detailed, especially for e-nit-wits like me. :confused:
Can we use any quality hard drive? I've read to use Seagate DB 35 series as they are made for DVRs and I saw someone used a Hitachi. Will any TB hard drive work dependably? I lean towards Seagate with it's warranty so will any Seagate series work fine?

Thanks again all for really going out of your way to help out.

[PlainBill]

First and foremost, THANK YOU ALL for being so detailed, especially for e-nit-wits like me. :confused:
Can we use any quality hard drive? I've read to use Seagate DB 35 series as they are made for DVRs and I saw someone used a Hitachi. Will any TB hard drive work dependably? I lean towards Seagate with it's warranty so will any Seagate series work fine?

Thanks again all for really going out of your way to help out.

I like Seagates; others swear by Western Digital. Many swear at Maxtor. Hitichi bought IBM's hard drive division. IBM Deskstar drives were notorious for not working with TiVos.

PlainBill

[CopyCat]

this is covered at dbstalk also, but in short: the external drive essentially "replaces" the internal drive. when you connect the esata, it disables the internal drive and you start over with a new blank drive (the external). this means you have to re-enter your season links and other settings. however, if you power off the machine, disconnect the esata and reboot, you go back to using the internal drive with no issues.

some find this a flaw, some find it a feature.

ronny

Has anyone tried to move recordings that they had on an external drive to another HR20 by unplugging from HR20-A and plugging into HR20-B and watch the recordings ? Just thinking ahead if we can't move recordings via ethernet, etc.

[bigcat400]

I thought I'd ask here. Once the original DRV HDD has been replaced, has anyone found a way to use this drive in a non-DVR system such as a Windows PC. Mine is just a paper weight right now. It seems the drive needs a spinup command that only the DVR can send. I contacted WD about a firmware and the said "forget it".


Hard way:

1) Obtain an internal SATA drive
2) Unplug power to the HR20
3) Open the case
4) Remove the existing drive
[Specifically for the HR21-700]
4.1) Find the ribbon cable that connects the front panel to the mainboard. On the mainboad end, there is a plastic pull-tab on the connector. Gently pull on it to disconnect the cable.
4.2) Disconnect the SATA power and data cables from the old drive.
4.3) Unlatch the tabs holding the front panel onto the chassis and remove the front panel.
4.4) There is an L-shaped metal plate attached to one edge of the hard drive and the mainboard. Using a #2 Philips screwdriver, remove the screw attaching the plate to the mainboard. Leave the screws attached to the drive for now.
4.5) From the front of the unit, remove the two Philips screws securing the drive to the front of the chassis.
4.6) Lift out the old hard drive. Remove the remaining screws on the L-shaped plate
5) Install the new drive
5.1) Reverse the steps in 4.6 to 4.1, remembering to plug in the front panel ribbon cable before continuing.
6) Close the case
7) Plug power back in

For information on how to preserve recording, please read the following post by vurbano...

[ronnythunder]

Has anyone tried to move recordings that they had on an external drive to another HR20 by unplugging from HR20-A and plugging into HR20-B and watch the recordings ? Just thinking ahead if we can't move recordings via ethernet, etc.quite a few posts at dbstalk say that this doesn't work. the shows are encrypted and/or otherwise keyed to the box they were created on. pretty obvious why, imho. :)

ronny

[PlainBill]

I thought I'd ask here. Once the original DRV HDD has been replaced, has anyone found a way to use this drive in a non-DVR system such as a Windows PC. Mine is just a paper weight right now. It seems the drive needs a spinup command that only the DVR can send. I contacted WD about a firmware and the said "forget it".

That doesn't make any sense. It is possible to copy the original HR20 drive to a new drive using a PC running Linux. This requires the drive spinning up.

Remember, Windows will not recognize the partitions on the HR20's drive, but WILL recognize it as having a valid MBR. As a result, Windows fdisk will not modify the drive.

You can test this by downloading the WD diagnostics for the drive; odds are the diagnostics will be able to access it without any problems. When Winblows refuses to access a drive I use a very old copy of Norton's Disk Edit to zero out the first sector of the drive. Now Microflop's fdisk recognizes it as a blank drive.

PlainBill

[bigcat400]

Hi PlainBill,

I was following THIS (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=104605) thread at dbstalk, that's why I thought it has something to do with the drive's firmware. Maybe that isn't the case.

I can't get the drive to power up when connected to the PC. Windows does not see the disk at all. The BIOS just reports a "Hard Drive" connected, but does not report the model or anything. The BIOS raid tool does not see it.

Following that thread, I booted with a gparted live cd and it logs the drive model perfectly, however, there is "failed to spin up drive" error right after detection. It appears some people have managed to spin up the drive with an enclosure connected to the DVR then moved and connected to the PC port without powering down; this is how they have copied the data.

I havent tried the diagnostics tool you mentioned.

That doesn't make any sense. It is possible to copy the original HR20 drive to a new drive using a PC running Linux. This requires the drive spinning up.

Remember, Windows will not recognize the partitions on the HR20's drive, but WILL recognize it as having a valid MBR. As a result, Windows fdisk will not modify the drive.

You can test this by downloading the WD diagnostics for the drive; odds are the diagnostics will be able to access it without any problems. When Winblows refuses to access a drive I use a very old copy of Norton's Disk Edit to zero out the first sector of the drive. Now Microflop's fdisk recognizes it as a blank drive.

PlainBill

[bigcat400]

You were right. There is no such special spin up command. Got the drive going with WD tools, zeroed it out with the same tool and I am using it in Windows now.

Thanks for the help.

That doesn't make any sense. It is possible to copy the original HR20 drive to a new drive using a PC running Linux. This requires the drive spinning up.

Remember, Windows will not recognize the partitions on the HR20's drive, but WILL recognize it as having a valid MBR. As a result, Windows fdisk will not modify the drive.

You can test this by downloading the WD diagnostics for the drive; odds are the diagnostics will be able to access it without any problems. When Winblows refuses to access a drive I use a very old copy of Norton's Disk Edit to zero out the first sector of the drive. Now Microflop's fdisk recognizes it as a blank drive.

PlainBill

[bigcat400]

Spoke too soon. Powered off, powered on, drive is gone. I won't consider booting with a WD floppy all the time, so I guess no hope now.:)

You were right. There is no such special spin up command. Got the drive going with WD tools, zeroed it out with the same tool and I am using it in Windows now.

Thanks for the help.

[PlainBill]

I'd bet a quarter (now worth about $.15) that this is a settable parameter, either by jumper, or from a tools cd.

PlainBill

[ntrance]

I'd bet a quarter (now worth about $.15) that this is a settable parameter, either by jumper, or from a tools cd.

PlainBill
The jumpers have no effect on this issue. I have not tried a tools CD though.

[bigcat400]

Possibly.

One more thing.... My system detects and accesses the drive fine only when booting with the BIOS SATA Config option set to IDE.

The other two choices, AHCI and RAID cause the drive to go undetected, even by the WD tools. I have a P5K ASUS board w/ 6 SATA ports. I believe AHCI is to run independendent SATA drives (typical config). I use RAID because I have an array setup with 2 of 4 drives I have connected. The non-raid drives work normally as indepedent drives.

As per the board's manual, the IDE mode is to run SATA drives in a PATA configuration, requiring master/slave setup. I don't know why anyone would want to use this option with SATA drives; however, it is the only one that gets this drive going.

I tried all jumper settings without luck. Perhaps the drive is permanently jumpered for a configuration compatible with the IDE setup I described above. :confused:

I'd bet a quarter (now worth about $.15) that this is a settable parameter, either by jumper, or from a tools cd.

PlainBill

[JoeSchmuckatell]

I have not seen a comment (yet) that specifies if the internal hard drive stops spinning if an eSATA drive is used. I now have an HR21-700 and it's okay, nothing like my DTiVo units (I miss them) but I'm thinking about an external upgrade but I would like to know if the internal drive shuts down.

I don't have a problem with opening the case and disconnecting the drive but replacing the drive on this unit seems to be more involved than normal. To be honest, it being a new unit I'd rather not mess with it for a few more months.

Thanks,
Joe

[ntrance]

The internal drive does not stop spinning if eSATA is used. The post linked below states that disconnecting the drive disables the temperature monitor for the unit:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=1219178#post1219178
I verified this by checking the temperature after unplugging the internal drive and it was 32F, whereas it was 89F before doing so.

[JoeSchmuckatell]

The internal drive does not stop spinning if eSATA is used. The post linked below states that disconnecting the drive disables the temperature monitor for the unit:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=1219178#post1219178
I verified this by checking the temperature after unplugging the internal drive and it was 32F, whereas it was 89F before doing so.

Thanks, I read just that thread and will be making a post there.

Joe

[ntrance]

You're welcome. As I stated above though, it does not spin down. I verified this on mine.

[JoeSchmuckatell]

You're welcome. As I stated above though, it does not spin down. I verified this on mine.

Thanks for the info. I haven't opened my unit yet. Still looking at an external drive. I need to look into the 750 FAP. I have not done much reading on this at all so more to come. From what I understand it does not play well with the HR21-700 but I need to find out if that is only using the case mounted eSATA connector (on the FAP) or if someone has tried to connect the drive within the FAP directly to the HR21-700, assuming the internal drive is a SATA drive. Again, I need to do more research about the FAP product and if it's a SATA drive, has someone tried what I'm suggesting.

Again, Thanks,
Joe

[captainjrl]

I have tried the FAP with an HR21 and it did not work. However removing the drive from the FAP and putting it in an Antec MX1 external enclosure solved the problem. So my assumption is that it is the FAP's eSATA controller that is the issue with the HR21.

[JoeSchmuckatell]

I have tried the FAP with an HR21 and it did not work. However removing the drive from the FAP and putting it in an Antec MX1 external enclosure solved the problem. So my assumption is that it is the FAP's eSATA controller that is the issue with the HR21.

So the internal drive is a SATA drive? Can you state the drive model number? A 750GB Seagate DB35.3 drive costs ~$230.00, the FAP comes with a powered enclosure and is roughly the same price.

Thanks,
Joe

[captainjrl]

So the internal drive is a SATA drive? Can you state the drive model number? A 750GB Seagate DB35.3 drive costs ~$230.00, the FAP comes with a powered enclosure and is roughly the same price.

Thanks,
Joe

The internal drive of the FAP is definitely a SATA drive. I was able to look up the model number on Seagate website. The exact info on the drive is not readily accessible to me (its inside the other enclosure I bought), but it was a current model of Seagate SATA HDs.

[grundy2]

Can you use an external USB drive or does it have to be eSATA?

[JoeSchmuckatell]

Can you use an external USB drive or does it have to be eSATA?

Must be a SATA drive. I have a SATA drive and an external power supply and data cable, works like a champ but it's not case mounted. I'll be purchasing a case some day because leaving a drive out in the open running is an accident waiting to happen. But I was just testing to see if my drive and data cable would work, it does.

Also, read the threads, not all eSATA drives are created equal and some just don't work well.

Joe

[stevel]

[Please Ignore]

[CasaDelGato]

I just upgraded my HR21-100 to a 1GB HD. (A WD10EACS )
Replacing the drive was just a little different (and easier) than the instructions I've seen posted here.
Note: Your Favorites and Recording Schedule are on the HD, so when you replace it, you have to recreate both of those.
All the screws are SECURITY Torx, so a normal torx bit won't work. (Security torx have the little pin in the middle.)

1) Unplug everything (duh!)
2) Remove cover. Screws on back, then just slide cover back a little and lift it off. (Just for the heck of it, before I removed the cover, I used a razor blade to carefully peel back the warranty foil sticker so it isn't broken.)
3) Unplug cables from HD. (slide the little metal latch plate on each plug to release it.)
4) The HD is mounted to a plastic frame. There are 4 screws holding the frame in. 2 on the top front edge through the front cover, and 2 at the back bottom holding it down to the PC board. Remove all 4 screws.
5) There is a little black wire hooked around the plastic frame, carefully move it out of the hooks on the frame.
6) Slide out the plastic barrier that extends to the back of the case.
7) Left the back of the frame up to clear things on the circuit board, then tilt/slide it to get the fan out from under the front cover. Then you can slide it all further to the left to get the other front corner out from under the front cover.
8) The drive is held in by 4 screws from the bottom of the frame.
9) Replace the drive.
10) Reverse order the steps to put it all back together.

[jt1134]

I just upgraded my HR21-100 to a 1GB HD. (A WD10EACS ).

Wow! A whole GB!

[JoeSchmuckatell]

I just upgraded my HR21-100 to a 1GB HD. (A WD10EACS )
Replacing the drive was just a little different (and easier) than the instructions I've seen posted here.

I know you meant 1TB, but do you have all the hard drive available?

-Joe

[CasaDelGato]

Of course I meant 1TB. (which kind of boggles my mind, as my first HD was 10MB - and I was happy to have such a huge amount of storage!)

Anyway, as far as I can tell, all the space is there. I've made a few recordings, and there was still 99% available.
We won't know for sure until the drive starts getting full.

[badzy]

nice info!
thanks for shraring

[wdm]

I just purchased a WD My Book 1 TB drive. Has anyone used this drive with a HR 20?
Second question, this drive uses a eSata connection. Is the connection on the HR 20 a eSata or just Sata. I'm not sure what the diffence is but I'm having trouble finding an external cable and don't want to get the wrong one.
Thanks for any help.
Bill

[stevel]

Lots of discussion of use of external drives at dbstalk.com. The connection is eSATA and you want one that is "eSATA 2.0" otherwise the connector may not seat firmly. The physical connector is slightly different than a normal SATA connector.

[wdm]

Can't get the WD 1TB to be recognizes by the HR20. Have checked the connection and powered the dvr off an on several times.
Any suggestions?

[wdm]

I've tried 2 different cables and also put the Western Digital drive on a second R20 without it working. I'm returning it and will try a differnt drive.

[wdm]

Installed Acomdata 1TB drive and it works great.

[Smooth1]

ok well I'm in the same boat here. I have a brand new hr20 and want to put in a wd1001FALS and just want to know if anyone have done this or if anyone knows if it will work. I think from reading I just open up the case and remove the drive and put this one in. is it really just that easy?


Thanks

[PlainBill]

ok well I'm in the same boat here. I have a brand new hr20 and want to put in a wd1001FALS and just want to know if anyone have done this or if anyone knows if it will work. I think from reading I just open up the case and remove the drive and put this one in. is it really just that easy?


Thanks

I haven't gotten approval to do this yet, but I understand that with a few caveats it's just that simple.

The drive is more firmly embedded in place than is usually the case.

Some drives may work better than others.

Unless you copy the contents of the old drive to the new you will loose your exiting recordings, season passes, etc.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, more discussion is available on dbstalk.

PlainBill

[Smooth1]

Ok well all went very well and very easy. I used a T9 screw driver and did not take as mush apart as stated above. You can take the whole hard drive and fan out and pop the fan out and the screws are right there to remove the hard drive. Does anyone know how to display the number of hours I can now record?

[stevel]

There is no single number for hours, as it depends on the program. But there is a space used display at the bottom of the recorded programs list.

[Smooth1]

So there is no real way to know if my new hard drive can be used up to the new space. How do you know other then I put in the new drive and can record show?

[PlainBill]

So there is no real way to know if my new hard drive can be used up to the new space. How do you know other then I put in the new drive and can record show?

Three ways: Bring up the list of recordings. There is a 'gas gauge' which shows the % of drive space available. If it indicates less than 50% of the drive is used you can surmise that the full capacity is available.

Compare the 'gas gauge' on original and new drives.

Trust. Many people have hooked up larger drives and reported using the increased capacity. You are special, but not so special that DirecTV would deliberately sabotage your attempt to gain more recording capacity.

PlainBill

[ntrance]

Possibly.

One more thing.... My system detects and accesses the drive fine only when booting with the BIOS SATA Config option set to IDE.

It appears that linux kernel 2.6.24 can deal with the "power-up in standby" feature of this WD3200AVBS drive, as I spin-up and access the drive with two different live CDs using this kernel:
gparted-live-0.3.7-7.iso
ubuntu-8.04.1-desktop-i386.iso

I may be possible to disable the feature using hdparm or http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=136732&package_id=226068 but I didn't want to mess with my drive.