Hard Drive upgrade for Pioneer DVR-520H

[orsetto]

can someone please send me links to help me put in a new dvd-drive/burner into my pioneer dvr 531. i tryd to clean out the lens with my dvd lens cleaner but it made my drive not able to read dvds. not even shrek1 and now my dad is angry at me.

You need to look on the internet and eBay for a standard Pioneer 109 burner that was sold for computers in 2005. These are pretty rare now but sometimes turn up for as little as $20 as people upgrade their computers and sell their old drives. Once you get the new burner, you need to have some patience and some familiarity with disassembling electronic devices: do not attempt this if you are at all unsure of yourself. You need to remove the 531 burner, carefully open its case, and remove its controller board which is attached with three fragile ribbon cables. This board must be swapped for the board in your replacement burner or the new drive won't work in the recorder. You must also transfer the black cloth tape and the four foil tapes to the new burner before putting it in the recorder. Full details can be found in the thread "DVR-R09-XP needed". I'm sorry, but none of us who have done this "surgery" thought to post images, you'll have to wing it with the text instructions.

[Seeker47]

Hi,

I am using DVR-340H and would like to upgrade the HDD capacity. I have gotten the necessary service remote and a 500GB HDD. However, I do not know which service disc to use and where to get it. Could anyone help me?
Thanks.

Much of the procedure is the same, some may vary per Pioneer model.

https://forum.videohelp.com/posting.php?mode=quote&p=1878766

Contact Hkan at pioneerfaq.info

[sinhong]

I have read through the posts. Shall I be using GGV 1273 type 2 or GGV 1283 and where to find the required service disc? Could HKan or anyone help?

Thanks a lot.

[swatkins]

Dear all,

This topic may be a bit old now (and this post may not be that widely read) but I wanted to write to give my thanks to everyone that has posted here and to report that I too, have successfully upgraded my DVR-520H.

I've had my DVR-520H for nearly 4 years and it has worked wonderfully. About 2 weeks ago my hard drive crashed. Initially, I took it to a Pioneer service centre and was very surprised to be quoted $AUD 250 to replace the HD (with the same 80Gb drive). To add insult, they would only give a 90 day warranty on repairs.

A quick search on the net brought me here. I read through the entire forum (all 26 pages!) as well as hkan's website and I then prepared myself as has been described here. To summarise:

1) I downloaded the GGV1179 dvd from the sites described on here
2) burnt it to a dvd using a trial version of Nero 8 (burning the dvd using imgburn gave a dvd that didn't match the MD5 codes described here)
3) I purchased a Seagate 160Gb/8Mb IDE hard drive (I took the advice of one of the psoters and decided not to go too big, I agree that the navigation system on the DVR-520H would become unwieldly if I'd have gone for a 500Gb - 70 hrs of recording time will be plenty for me)
4) I purchased a Logitech Harmony 525 remote (the original Pioneer remote was beginning to be worn-out anyway)
5) I setup the Harmony 525 with the codes for the Pioneer GGF1381
6) I followed the instructions on pioneerfaq.info

The whole process (including installing and setting up the Harmony 525) took less than an hour and everything worked perfectly first time.

I cannot thank you all enough, if, by chance, someone does stumble across this who is also looking to fix or upgrade their DVR-520H, I'd be very happy to help.

Cheers,

Scott.

[Hkan]

It seems that this tread is for ALL Pioneer DVRs

[Nøtteliten]

It seems that this tread is for ALL Pioneer DVRs

Sikker på det?

Jeg tenker å skaffe meg en Pio DVR-555 eller Pio DVR - 560 på tilbud (rea),
hvor lett er det å skifte den lille harddisken til f.eks.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB IDE ATA/100 16MB 7200RPM

den disken koster rundt nok 700,-


-------
In english:
Sure?
How easy is it to replace the standard 160 gig disk with a
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB IDE ATA/100 16MB 7200RPM
in the new Pio. dvr-560?

---

[Treesmaker]

Dear all,

This topic may be a bit old now (and this post may not be that widely read) but I wanted to write to give my thanks to everyone that has posted here and to report that I too, have successfully upgraded my DVR-520H.

I've had my DVR-520H for nearly 4 years and it has worked wonderfully. About 2 weeks ago my hard drive crashed. Initially, I took it to a Pioneer service centre and was very surprised to be quoted $AUD 250 to replace the HD (with the same 80Gb drive). To add insult, they would only give a 90 day warranty on repairs.

A quick search on the net brought me here. I read through the entire forum (all 26 pages!) as well as hkan's website and I then prepared myself as has been described here. To summarise:


4) I purchased a Logitech Harmony 525 remote (the original Pioneer remote was beginning to be worn-out anyway)
5) I setup the Harmony 525 with the codes for the Pioneer GGF1381

The whole process (including installing and setting up the Harmony 525) took less than an hour and everything worked perfectly first time.

Cheers,

Scott.

How do you programme your Logitech Harmony remote using the Pioneer remote codes?

[Hkan]

How easy is it to replace the standard 160 gig disk with a
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB IDE ATA/100 16MB 7200RPM
in the new Pio. dvr-560?

---

I think DVR-560H is using a S-ATA disc!
But the replacement is the same as the old DVRs!
You still need some 'special' tools to achive this replacement.
Something that can emulate an Pioneer Service Remote
ID Data Disc!

[Nøtteliten]

How easy is it to replace the standard 160 gig disk

in the new Pio. dvr-560?

---

I think DVR-560H is using a S-ATA disc!

Ah ! Much easier -- like the disks in my PowerPC (Mac), the:
Maxtor MaXLine Plus II 250GB SATA 8MB 7200RPM
a supersilent, superfast s-ata disk, 3,5 " form factor. ---my favourite!
Do you think 560 will accept it?

------------

PS:
A new disk, easy to get is the:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB, SATA-300, 32MB, 7200RPM
also 3.5" form factor., a very popular s-ata disk which sells for usd 75.

500 gb disk in a Pio dvr - 560 must be a perfect combo, Hkan write me a how to ! 8)

[orsetto]

The 560 can use any SATA hard drive with similar performance specs to the original drive. The Seagate should work, just be aware navigating a 500GB drive on these machines is not fun (anything over 160GB and they become extremely awkward). Don't fill a 500GB drive to capacity or you will be very disappointed. Visit Hkan's website for how-to PDF with complete illustrated instructions. You'll also need a service remote and service disc, or good substitutes.

The Logitech Harmony remotes have been known to cause problems when some members here tried to program them as Pioneer Service Remotes. The code set appears and disappears from the Harmony website on a regular basis, as Harmony evidentally fears being blamed for mishaps caused by non-professionals using a service tool. Also, the code for the service remote tends to have issues loading into the Harmony and has resulted in loss of features or previously added codes for some owners. So be VERY careful if you attempt to make a Harmony into a Pio Service Remote: its best to try this on a fresh, non-customized Harmony. If you have a highly customized Harmony you've been using for a long time, think twice and consider using another alternative.

[the-paperboy]

Just an FYI, if using a previously formated hard drive, some of the procedures may not work. I fought with this for some time, until I found a way to completly write zero's to any drive. Under Knoppix, if you want to completly blank out a drive, issue the command "shred -n 1 -z -v /dev/hdX" (no quotes, and be sure the drive you want to blank is hdX. This will write a bunch of garbage to the drive, then overwrite it all with 0's. Example, you want to blank out hdc1, issue command: shred -n 1 -z -v /dev/hdc then wait... it could take an hour or much more depending on the drive size, but when done the drive will be identifyed as hdc (no 1 indicating no partitions). After that follow instructions from pioneer0faq and things will go much more smoothly.

[swatkins]

How do you programme your Logitech Harmony remote using the Pioneer remote codes?

In the setup program for the Logitech Harmony create a new device "DVD recorder" and enter GGF1381 as the model number. This will setup your Harmony remote to replicate the Pioneer service remote. The required buttons (stereo, esc etc.) appear in the menu on the Harmony remote.

[swatkins]

The Logitech Harmony remotes have been known to cause problems when some members here tried to program them as Pioneer Service Remotes. The code set appears and disappears from the Harmony website on a regular basis, as Harmony evidentally fears being blamed for mishaps caused by non-professionals using a service tool. Also, the code for the service remote tends to have issues loading into the Harmony and has resulted in loss of features or previously added codes for some owners. So be VERY careful if you attempt to make a Harmony into a Pio Service Remote: its best to try this on a fresh, non-customized Harmony. If you have a highly customized Harmony you've been using for a long time, think twice and consider using another alternative.

I did my upgrade last week using a brand new harmony 525 remote. All worked well. I guess if you are in doubt your could completely wipe the memory of your harmony and only add the GGF1381 device.

[Seeker47]

The Logitech Harmony remotes have been known to cause problems when some members here tried to program them as Pioneer Service Remotes. The code set appears and disappears from the Harmony website on a regular basis, as Harmony evidentally fears being blamed for mishaps caused by non-professionals using a service tool. Also, the code for the service remote tends to have issues loading into the Harmony and has resulted in loss of features or previously added codes for some owners. So be VERY careful if you attempt to make a Harmony into a Pio Service Remote: its best to try this on a fresh, non-customized Harmony. If you have a highly customized Harmony you've been using for a long time, think twice and consider using another alternative.

I did my upgrade last week using a brand new harmony 525 remote. All worked well. I guess if you are in doubt your could completely wipe the memory of your harmony and only add the GGF1381 device.

How do you wipe it and start over ? Their documentation for my Harmony 880 is close to nonexistent, and I couldn't make too much sense out of what Harmony Tech Support suggested I do via email response -- for this and some other issues. I happen to be one of the users who had some prior programming wiped out by trying to apply the Service Remote file from the User-contributed area of tje Logitech Harmony website. I still don't know if I got the right file -- it was difficult to find. Whatever did go into the 880 from that online file was almost certainly not the Pio service commands.

[MDR365]

I have two DVR-450H-S recorders. One has a hard disk problem. I would appreciate comments about this potential fix:

Image the working disk in recorder 1
Restore the image to a new disk
Use a disk editor to change the unit ID number on the new disk to the serial number of recorder 2
Install the new disk in place of the bad disk in recorder 2

I have access to forensic level disk imaging software, not just Ghost or Acronis. Obviously the disk is not a DOS format, but the imaging software will image the bits, not the OS.

As this is a repair, not an upgrade, I will stay with the same size disk.

Has anyone tried this? Do you think it will work?

[MDR365]

Can anyone tell me what service DVD I need for a DVR-450H-S?

Thanks

[orsetto]

MDR-365, a GGV-1305 service disc will work in a DVR-450. Cloning the HDD is a crapshoot: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If the HDD broke down from data corruption, your cloning software will likely clone the damaged sectors to the new drive resulting in the same recorder lockup. There are a few (very few) gearheads here who have successfully used Unix disk editors to repair or delete the damaged videos prior to cloning, by "flying blind" in the editor with no visual feedback, but this is very tedious work and damn near impossible for the average user. Regardless of your cloning success or failure, any new drive will require initialization with the service remote and service disc: the recorder will smoke out the cloned disc as "new hardware" and insist on registering the HDD firmware chip using the service mode. Good luck!

[MDR365]

I agree that cloning a bad drive would be problematic. That's why I am thinking of cloning from a working recorder. The CPRM ID would be the wrong one, so I hope I can fix that with a disk editor.

If I understand what you are saying, not only does the disk need the recorder CPRM ID written to it, the recorder needs some disk ID written to it, and that is part of the process performed by the initialization disk?

Does anyone know if the Harmony 550 remote will work?

And does anyone know where I can get hold of the GGV-1305 disk?

Thanks.

[orsetto]

My apologies, I misunderstood what you are trying to do: somehow I thought you were trying to clone a hard drive from one of your 450s that was full of videos but had got corrupted and stopped working. I thought you were hoping to clone that drive in order to rescue the videos.

Apparently what you REALLY want to try is to replace/update the HDD in a Pioneer recorder by cloning a working disk structure, hoping thereby to avoid the use of a service disc and service remote. This never works, it has been tried year after year. Upon powering up, all Pioneers verify that the hard drive firmware number matches the number stored for it in the recorders motherboard (cloning cannot get around this restriction). If the numbers don't match, the recorder will go into HDD ERR mode and refuse to access the hard drive. The ONLY way to replace a hard drive in a Pioneer is to use the service remote and service disc to change the hard drive registration data on the recorder motherboard. This takes all of a minute to do, but you have to have both those service items. This number registration process is camouflaged: the numbers you enter with the service remote bear no relation to the actual codes memorized by the recorder, they're just a reference point and they cannot be decrypted from the hard drive (because the number is logged in the recorder via the service disc, not the hard drive).

Scroll a few entries back for previously posted info re the Harmony, and service disc advice from pioneerfaq. You can also search earlier in this thread for other DIY service remote suggestions.

[MDR365]

Thanks for the clear explanation: based on what you said, I will not take the risk of pulling the working drive from the recorder which is functional. I will follow the advice to use the service remote/disk.

[Treesmaker]

The Logitech Harmony remotes have been known to cause problems when some members here tried to program them as Pioneer Service Remotes. The code set appears and disappears from the Harmony website on a regular basis, as Harmony evidentally fears being blamed for mishaps caused by non-professionals using a service tool. Also, the code for the service remote tends to have issues loading into the Harmony and has resulted in loss of features or previously added codes for some owners. So be VERY careful if you attempt to make a Harmony into a Pio Service Remote: its best to try this on a fresh, non-customized Harmony. If you have a highly customized Harmony you've been using for a long time, think twice and consider using another alternative.

I did my upgrade last week using a brand new harmony 525 remote. All worked well. I guess if you are in doubt your could completely wipe the memory of your harmony and only add the GGF1381 device.

Unfortunately, don't have a Logitech Harmony remote, I have a URC MX500 remote. I can enter certain codes for TV, Video audio, as given in my manual. Does any one have the codes for the Pioneer GGF1381? I believe the codes for the Harmony might work on my URC MX500

[sinhong]

Hi,

I would like to thank HKan. With his help, I have managed to upgrade my 340H to a bigger HDD capacity.

By the way, I found that 340H is using a non-statndard compuer burner in the unit. Should the original burner be faulty, we could not replace it with a standard desktop computer writer. Any view from anyone?

Thank you.

[Seeker47]

By the way, I found that 340H is using a non-statndard compuer burner in the unit. Should the original burner be faulty, we could not replace it with a standard desktop computer writer. Any view from anyone?

I'm not familiar with the 340, but most of their models used different, specific burners, and you could not substitute for them. (There may have been one exception along the way. 510 ? It is probably mentioned here somewhere, either in this thread or in a thread just concerning the burners.) The 520, I know, used a Pioneer 107 or A07. Of course, these aren't available anymore, so that meant a choice of getting lucky and finding one on Ebay (though you'd still need the right Service Disk, and a device to impersonate the Pioneer Service Remote), or paying about $300. for the part replacement by Pioneer Service. And as of the model 640 or later, design changes they've made to the DVDR apparently leave us only this last option.

The first thing you need to determine is exactly what brand / model of burner was used in the 340. (It's possible Hkan knows. Note to Hkan: maybe there should be an info table for this on the website ? HDD, burner, and Service Disk, identified for each of the Pio DVDR models ?) Then you would at least know what to look for on Ebay, should you decide to try to do this yourself.

[orsetto]

All Pioneer models since 2006, including the popular 640 and the global-market 340, have been co-productions by Pioneer and Sony, meaning Pioneer recorders no longer use slight variations of standard Pioneer PC burners. As you noted, the burner in your 340 looks "non-standard": thats because it is. I love Pioneer recorders, and have become skilled at servicing all of them, but they have now become virtually impossible to self-service if the burner dies. Be prepared for a major repair bill when these burners go, unless Pioneer decides to follow Panasonic and offer a reasonable flat-fee out of warranty repair program.

The burner in current Pioneers is a completely unique, custom Sony design which is exclusively made for Pioneer and Sony DVD recorders. There is NO off-the-shelf cheap PC version of this burner which can be cannibalized for parts, as was possible with older Pioneers. Furthermore, this burner is melded to the recorders motherboard and so completely secured inside the chassis that only a fool would tamper with it. I say this with all due emphasis: having repaired nearly 30 Pioneer recorders in the last 4 years, I would not under any circumstances touch the burner in a 640 or later Pioneer, or the equivalent Sony model, unless I was fully prepared to accept hosing it by accident. In theory, if one has the right service manual, and if that service manual has detailed exploded diagrams showing how to remove the recorder motherboard from inside the burner without harm, you MIGHT be able to buy a cheap Sony DVD-only recorder and harvest its burner as a replacement to swap into a Pioneer DVD/HDD unit.

But thats a lot of "maybes", and the cheapest alternate recorder that has this burner in it costs $180, so it doesn't make economic sense to take the risk. These newer Pioneer models really must go to a Pioneer service center for any burner repairs. That can be a big problem for Americans who bought 2007 and 2008 Pioneers from Canada or world imports, because Pioneer USA service will not repair any unit made after the 2006 USA cutoff date and Pioneer Canada won't touch them without a purchase receipt from a Canadian retailer. For USA residents these units might just be unrepairable in any manner upon breakdown, so factor this in before you spend $600 for a Canadian 660.

On the plus side, this one-off burner is very sturdy and we are only now beginning to get reports of burner wear two and a half years after the first 640 model arrived. These wear reports center around the unit getting noisier, not failing to burn, so its a good bet these burners will last three full years under heavy use: a far better performance and durability record than the earlier Pioneers, which died within 18 months. Also on the plus side, the burner issue has nothing to do with the hard drive: it is still possible to replace a Pioneer hard drive with almost any substitute you like, using the same service remote/service disc trick used in the older machines.

[Nuts94]

Hi,

I want replace my HDD on my DVR-LX60D but i don't know if it is a IDE or SATA hard drive on ( i prefer have all i need before open it ).
Another question if I read correctly I need the GGV1305 for replace the ID on my pioneer and if it's the good disk i can't download it for the moment, if someone as it please give me it by mp :P .
Sorry for my english i know that it is not good .

[MDR365]

I am still trying to find a source for the 1305 disk too. I have my Harmony remote, so the disk is the last piece I need to do the upgrade. Anyone know where I can find this elusive 1305?

Thanks

[Seeker47]

If the HDD broke down from data corruption

I think this is likely to be a false alarm, but I got several freezes in the first few minutes of a recording I made last night on the 640. I say that because I think there is at least a 50% chance that this occurred at the broadcast end of it -- I've seen that happen before. They each lasted a few seconds, and then show progress resumed. But it brought up a couple questions, and I thought you might be the best person to ask. How risky is the Disk Optimization function on the 640 ? Is there any appreciable chance of losing something, or losing everything ? (This feature does not exist on the 520, so far as I know. It probably started somewhere in the 53x series.) When you defrag a PC HDD, I think any bad sectors that are detected get locked out, so I was wondering if that also holds true re Disk Optimization on the Pioneer ?

[wabjxo]

There might be one other explanation, instead of a bad HDD, that I ran across with my Pio 640.

One day long ago, I was watching a recording in progress when at a commercial break, the screen went black and some message on "copy protection" appeared on screen. I think it happened again at next comm. break, then OK from then on (can't remember all the details).

Somehow, someone had inserted a CP flag or something for one or more commercials, and the 640 just said it couldn't record that section... weird but true!

Obviously, this "bad-flag" could be inserted anywhere, not just a rogue commercial or two, if the producer or broadcaster is asleep at the switch, doing tests, .... ?

[Seeker47]

Somehow, someone had inserted a CP flag or something for one or more commercials, and the 640 just said it couldn't record that section... weird but true!

Obviously, this "bad-flag" could be inserted anywhere, not just a rogue commercial or two, if the producer or broadcaster is asleep at the switch, doing tests, .... ?

Well, in the case I just reported, there was no black screen, and no CP-related message -- just a static, frozen scene, during the early minutes of a show. I know this can be solely on the broadcaster: I recall one incident about three years ago, when I had a movie up on some cable channel. The actor just froze with his mouth open, right in the middle of a word, and remained that way for over 20 minutes ! Can't blame the Pioneer -- it wasn't even turned on, as this was just the cable going straight in to the TV. Can't blame it on something not working right on the LCD panel, since I did not have one back then; it was on a plain, old CRT set. No, it had to be those useless clowns at Adelphia. Definitely someone asleep at the switch. I was so glad when they went out of business. TW may not exactly be the cat's pajamas themselves, but our cable service has been so much better since they took over.

[MDR365]

I am still hoping that someone can tell me where I can obtain the GGV-1305 disk.

Thanks.