My dvd recorder crashed, can I salvage the hard drive?

[missparker10]

I have had this dvd recorder for years, it's been great up until it broke. It's as panasonic dmr-hs2. The problem was the tray wouldn't spit out the disk. I'd tried every trick I'd read about. It got stuck before but it would always pop out after about 10 - 20 eject tries. This last time, it'd been days and no luck. My hubby and I took it apart, which we'd done before to get out a disk. This time, it must have been on it's last little legs.

So I took out the HDD, there are a couple of things on it I would like to save. We stuck it into an external drive and hooked it up to the PC. The files don't show up as anything. I have been looking up topics like this. One tip was try partition magic and see if you can find out what kind of file format it is. Anyone have any other suggestions? I know I can probably put the HD into my new recorder but I am not too keen on opening up a new machine right away. Now I'm paranoid.

Maybe someone else has had some luck with this.

I am running windows vista. If you need more info, just ask. : )
Thanks for your replies!!

[DB83]

If the old recorder will still read the hard drive AND you have a new recorder simply connect the two by means of a scart lead and re-record the items you want from playback on the old machine.

[fredfillis]

I think the file system on that beastie is UDF. Someone with UDF experience might be able to help.

[Marvingj]

Why don't you just replace the burner, less headaches...

[stackner]

Why don't you just replace the burner, less headaches...

i think most if not all dvd recorders use burners inside them that do NOT use the standard ide connector so how do you suggest he replaces the dvd burner?

i have an lg hdd dvd recorder that i opened up to see if i could replace the burner IF/WHEN it dies and same thing a non standard ide connector.

i have not seen burners for sale with these connectors nor adapters but please correct me if i am wrong.

[missparker10]

Thanks, I will look into the UDF file issue and see if I can figure that out. As far as replacing the burner, it's definitely not replaceable with a regular dvd burner, it's a proprietary drive.

I know I have the external drive hooked up correctly because I can see it in my devices, where it says safely remove hardware. But it doesn't show up in my PC, as one of the hard drives. So it's there but not...?

[Marvingj]

Panny has a refurbish depot that have parts that are cheap & replaceable.. should not be a problem unless you want another alternative

[LCSHG]

missparker10

WILL the old unit recognize the HDD and Play it

I believe -- DB83 --- asked that question.

IfF SO --- And by your post. --- He gave you the Answer

The file format has nothing to do with a recording. A file recorded on one unit with one format will record to another unit with a different format.


Edit

If nothing else get the HDD to another Panny unit that will recognize the HDD and record it.
However by messing with the files, like the use of Partition Magic, You may have damaged them

[fredfillis]

The file format has nothing to do with a recording. A file recorded on one unit with one format will record to another unit with a different format.

Hmmm, try that with a tivo. Or try hooking up a tivo hd to a PC and let it boot into windows!

[missparker10]

missparker10

WILL the old unit recognize the HDD and Play it

I believe -- DB83 --- asked that question.

IfF SO --- And by your post. --- He gave you the Answer

The file format has nothing to do with a recording. A file recorded on one unit with one format will record to another unit with a different format.


Edit

If nothing else get the HDD to another Panny unit that will recognize the HDD and record it.
However by messing with the files, like the use of Partition Magic, You may have damaged them

The problem is my hubby took the drive out to see what was locking it up and not ejecting the disk. He found out it was because a little tip that was supposed to go up and down when you hit eject, and allow the tray to slide out, was disconnected somehow. So he connected the little piece and it seemed to be all fixed. But when we out the drive back in, it wasn't really recognizing it anymore. It stayed on dvd side, lit up, but when powered on, would just keep basically spinning. It never got that 'auto set' message that I get or even recover.

My husband does have alot of experience with electronics and things, so I can't quite figure out what went wrong. He put together 3 of our PC's that function fine and also went to school for some PC stuff. Not saying he is an expert or anything, by any means, but, basically, we just followed the disconnect steps backwards and it went back together exactly as we found it, or so we thought. We can't figure out what the difference is.

Anyway, that long story means we can't even get the Panny to recognize the HDD because we can't get it over to the HDD side, It won't switch from the non functioning dvd drive side. Hope I explained that right.

I didn't use anything like partition magic yet. I was looking into what I saw suggested in some other threads and forums. Turns out partition magic won't work with vista, well, not for me, anyway.

So any clue as to why the external drive isn't really being recognized even though I see it connected.

I really appreciate all the replies and responses I have gotten and all the help.

[LCSHG]

fredfillis

Your Quote
Hmmm, try that with a tivo. Or try hooking up a tivo hd to a PC and let it boot into windows!



Im not sure what that means

[trhouse]

I would do the following. Search the Internet and find out which non-hdd model dvd recorders Panasonic introduced at the same time as the HS2. There is a very high probability that the dvd drive is the same as used in the hdd model. Buy one of these recorders off eBay and swap the drives.

Non-hdd recorders are selling for very low prices where the hdd models are going for a premium.

[DB83]

If the HDD is still in the PC then this is worth a try.

Has Windows recognised the drive (not the data) - check 'My Computer'

If not then try the 'Add Hardware' wizzard

UDF - that would make sense. Windows will not recognise UDF data without software. Do a google search for 'UDF reader'. There are many such programs. You never know.

[missparker10]

It isn't recognized in My Computer and I tried the add hardware wizard and I get stuck at Select the type of hardware you are installing. I click what it is, an IEEE device, and then it wants you to select the manufacturer and model of your hardware, but it's blank, and you can also click Have Disk but I don't have one. I appreciate all the help. I think if I can get the PC to recognize the drive, I can figure something out.

[trhouse]

I think if I can get the PC to recognize the drive, I can figure something out.

Should you want to pursue this, you might want to give Panasonic support a call and ask if the hdd is CPRM encrypted. CPRM encryption prevents copying to another drive.

[DB83]

I've just re-read your early comment "We stuck it in an external drive"

You may well have to 'jumper' the drive as a master or single disk.

Another option would be to install it internally. But then you would have to re-jumper your current HDD to master and jumper the drive from the recorder as slave.

But with an external drive, I would check that the PC recognises that with it's original disk first. It will need a driver.

[missparker10]

I have a different drive in that external before and it did work. What would be my next step though? I am close to just giving up because I just don't know how to get this done. I will see how much further along I can get but, to be honest, I don't know too much.

[DB83]

My last word.

Maybe you do not understand what 'jumpered' means. Take close look at the back of the drive that came out of the external. There will be 2 rows of six or eight pins(2*3 or 2*4) and possibly one or two plastic caps covering the pins. On the top of the drive there will be a diagram which explains the settings for the jumpers (the plastic caps).

Now on the drive you took out of the recorder there should be a diagram explaining the jumper settings for that drive - all drives are different. You must equate the settings for the recorder drive to the one originally in the external - that is if the external drive said single disk then jumper the recorder disk to single disk. ALSO note any original jumper settings for both drives should you wish to reset them as they were originally.

Unfortunately, there is still no guarantee of success as the PC, even if it now recognises the drive, could still have problems with the data on it.

[Marvingj]

Panasonic used parts like burner www.73.com/a/0317.shtml

[missparker10]

I have no idea what it looks like back there but my husband did hook it up and he does. There is something different about the connection and that is why it isn't working, I am sure. I don't think it's going to work. I do appreciate all the help though. This is a great forum and everyone is so nice.

I checked out the panasonic used parts link and I couldn't find dvd burner anywhere. I think I am just hopeless.
Can't do anything on my own, huh?

[handyguy]

'It got stuck before but it would always pop out after about 10 - 20 eject tries.'

This even happened with their vcrs that I owned. Lol...

It's usually the door switch, you could take off the front plate of the door or I just jimmy it open with my finger.

[DB83]

"There is something different about the connection"

If my memory serves me right, there are only 3 types of HDD.

SCSI - never seen one. not really for consumer products. best guess it's not one of these

SATA - the interface is only about 1 inch wide. just a slot

EIDE - 40 pins (2*20). cannot mistake it. almost guaranteed to be this type. Was the cable inserted the right way ? Sometimes it can be fitted both the right way and upside down.

[missparker10]

Ok, finally got the computer to 'see' the drive. I went into disk management and gave it a letter name and now it shows up. That's one thing anyway. But now it asks me to format it before I use it, which would mean erasing all the data, right?

[DB83]

Correct !

The HDD appears to be un-formatted because Windows does not understand the format of the data on it.

All you can now do is try some UDF reader software - do a tool search on this site as a start

[jameshgross]

There are bunchs of `UDF readers available. ISOBUSTER makes one and their products are pretty good.

[missparker10]

Thanks, I will be doing this right now. At least we are on to something right? Again, your help has been greatly valued. I'll see what I can do.

[missparker10]

Ok, I have tried UDF readers and they only want to read what's on disks. How do I get it to read the hdd drive? I have used Adaptec, some roxio one and cdroller. Any suggestions?