HOWTO: Upgrade the Hard Drive in an HR20

[bigcat400]

Hi PlainBill,

I was following THIS 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.

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.ph...78#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.ph...78#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?