Upgrading hard drives!

[jonnymorris]

Hi!

I'm wondering if anyone knows about this or has tried it themselves - take a unit that's out of guarantee and slap a bigger HD in it, does it work just like that? Does the unit have formatting software or does it use a standard PC format such as FAT32 or NTFS (etc)? Does anyone know if there is a limit on the size for particular models? ATA or SATA? Would the unit recognise a new HD and automatically format it etc? What about cooling?

I have a lot of questions, sorry!


I find the lack of technical and general operating detail fustrating, all I seem to be able to find is the stuff people like Panasonic put on their website. One might have hoped that in this technological world they might include a bit more detail.

[guns1inger]

If you search (or even just scroll through) this forum, you will find a number of posts regarding upgrading HDDs. Some can be done relatively easily. Others require you get access to a service remore or even service disc to be able to do. Some can only have certain drives and certain sizes. Some just cannot be done at all.

There is no generic answer - you need to specify a particular brand and model if you want a specific answer.

[MOVIEGEEK]

EDIT

[greymalkin]

no manufacturer is going to tell you the internal workings of the unit. They don't want you in there. This is a "hack" and as such the mfg. has no obligation to tell you anything about it.

so you need to do some research or just try it out. I had a dvd-recorder with a 40gb drive go bad..I believe from overheating. Lucky for me I just plugged another drive. When I turned the unit on it said "RECOVER" on the display and allowed me to format the drive.

If you put a bigger drive in, be prepared to wire in some additonal cooling as well. Some of the drives are designed to be slower and cooler than the latest and greatest hard drives you buy off the shelf.

[ROF]

no manufacturer is going to tell you the internal workings of the unit. They don't want you in there.

That must be why they put that label on the back that says "No user serviceable parts inside".

[trhouse]

take a unit that's out of guarantee and slap a bigger HD in it, does it work just like that?

It depends on the brand. With the new Polaroid DRM-2001G, the answer is apparently yes from the experience of others. With Pioneer no. Pioneer has a CPRM id # embedded in the drive electronics. If you remove a working drive from the Pioneer and put it back in, it will no longer recognize it and display HDD ERR.

Does the unit have formatting software or does it use a standard PC format such as FAT32 or NTFS (etc)?

I did not have to format with a Pioneer 531H, but I did have to copy all the info from the original hard drive over to the new drive under Linux not Windows. What needs to be done also depends on if you have a PAL or NTSC model. The Linux step is not necessary with PAL versions.

Does anyone know if there is a limit on the size for particular models?

This is harder information to come by. Most manufacturers service manuals only explain how to replace the drive not increase its size. I took a gamble and put in a 500 GB drive and it worked.

ATA or SATA?

I have never seen a SATA drive in a recorder yet. The new Polaroid is ATA as well but there are SATA to ATA converters in stores.

Would the unit recognise a new HD and automatically format it etc?

The Pioneer has a "initialize hdd" function. It only appears if there are bad clusters on a drive or a new drive is installed.

What about cooling?

Generally not a problem. If you look at the specifications for a new 500 GB drive vs a 80 GB drive like the Western Digital WD800 found in Polaroid and Pioneer recorders, the power requirements are very similar so there is little difference in heat generated or power required from the power supply.

I find the lack of technical and general operating detail fustrating

Get the service manual for the product you are interested in; information about how to replace the hdd is in there.

[greymalkin]

What about cooling?

Generally not a problem. If you look at the specifications for a new 500 GB drive vs a 80 GB drive like the Western Digital WD800 found in Polaroid and Pioneer recorders, the power requirements are very similar so there is little difference in heat generated or power required from the power supply.

This is an interesting observation...can you say assuredly that because the power requirements are the same, therfore the hard drives must put out the same amount of heat? Is it not possible to have a drive that uses the same power yet is able to spin more platters at a higher rate of speed?

[trhouse]

There may be a dynamic difference in efficiency during spin up due to the difference masses involved but motors are very efficient at 90% or better. If the same power is going in and the efficiency about the same, then there is not going to much difference in the power which becomes heat.

My Seagate 500 GB requires 9 watts vs my Western Digital 80 GB which requires 7.75 watts but that is distributed over a volume of 23 cubic inches. The 500 GB drive runs at 39 degrees C. case temperature measured on a digital thermometer. Just a litte warmer than the 80 GB drive. These numbers include fan cooling in the Pioneer.

Both drives are 7,200 rpm so no difference there. The spec for ambient operating temperature for the 500 GB is 0-60 degrees C. and the 80 GB is 5-55 degrees C.

[TBoneit]

trhouse, are you saying you didn't need the service remote and disc for the 531h?

[trhouse]

TBoneit,

You need both. The remote is necessary to reenter the CPRM code embedded in the hard drive. The service disk is needed to burn the CPRM code back in. Do not remove the hard drive from your 531H or it will require both for it to be recognized again. The code seems to be lost just by unplugging the drive.

After I removed my hard drive and tried to put it back in, it was not recognized until I reentered the code with the remote and service disk.

The whole process sounds cumbersome but it goes pretty fast, especially now that I have done it a number of times.

I did have a bunch of missteps. First was downloading a CCF file that had every remote button work except the "9". My CPRM code had two "9's" so I could not even get the original drive to work. Downloading a different CCF file from "Mark Venture" worked.

The next misstep was that I did not realize that the new hard drive would cause the "Optimize HDD" function in Setup to change to "Initialize HDD". I was looking for "initialize" in the wrong place under Setup. The "Initialize" which is always there is for dvd-rw's only.

My experiences with upgrading the 531H from 80 GB to 500 GB are described on this link,
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=253998&start=360

[Hkan]

Here you find a Guide for Pioneer DVRs: http://www.pioneerfaq.info/english/dvr630.php.