Identifying OS on DVR HD

[juststarting]

I need to duplicate a HD for a RCA Scenium DRS7000 dvd/dvr recorder. I did thorough searches on the web but no one seems to know how to do it. I removed the HD for the DVR and placed it in an external USB HD case but the computer fails to see it.

Is there a way to tell what OS it uses (thought it might be Lynux)? Any reason it doesn't show up in the USB case? I tried another drive in the DVR and followed some directions on the web as to formatting the drive by pushing front buttons at the same time, and it does go to a format stage for a couple of seconds, then init, but shows up with a disc error so that solution doesn't seem to work.

I thought the HD might need to be prepped first but don't know how to tell what OS is being used. I have a very limited understanding of the software part of the system so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[freebird73717]

It's probably some custom linux based OS. From a quick google search it looks like this unit will throw an error unless you use a 40 gig hard drive.

http://archive.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=296046

Check the second page of around the middle of that thread for the info.

Best I can do for you.

[juststarting]

Yes, I saw that post. He replaced the 40G HD with a 120G. I tried 4 different HDs, 120 WD, 80G Maxtor, 100G Maxtor, even a Samsung, but nothing worked with the key method he described. I didn't know if the drive had to be prepared any certain way before the machine tried to format. Still, I would like to know how someone would identify what OS is on a HD.

I was thinking of installing one of the extra drives in place of my present slave drive and trying to install Lynux, but I think it has somewhat of a learning curve right off the bat.

But thanks for your help.

[aedipuss]

hard drives don't use an o.s., the computer or recorder controls them through their o.s. hard drives only store 1s and 0s that they are told to, they don't use anything stored on them at all.

did you try deleting all partitions and not formatting the drive at all before installing?

[juststarting]

No, I figured when the format showed up on the DVR it would wipe the disc and place the new partitions on the drive as needed.

Whenever I've installed a new drive in PC they give you a cd with it that prepares the HD for use. I imagine it sets partitions for C: drive, MBR, etc. But with the DRV, I don't know if it is even a Windows system for sure--One guy said he used the pressing of two buttons at the same time to format the disc and it worked, but most all say that it didn't, some say they got a larger disc to work but only 40G of the disc were usable, etc. Wasn't a very popular machine at the time compared to TIVO so not much research was done on them. I just wanted to at least make a duplicate HD in case of HD failure--going on 6-7 years and always running.

Some have said they were able to copy all the file to a new HD (how'd they do that?) but the new HD still didn't work. I've searched this machine RCA Scenium DRS7000 a number of times but no one has given any definite information so far. Some have written about a DRS7000N, DRS7005N, etc. but nothing has worked for me so far.

So thankyou for taking the time to try and help. Any suggestions on what type of formatting of the disc would be helpful. I have used Partition Magic to create and alter partitions but they have always been for the PC, so if you have any suggestions for the new HD before I try it again or how to duplicate the original HD, I would much appreciate it.

Thanks

[yoda313]

I think aedipuss was suggesting using a totally blank drive, not formatted in anyway.

[juststarting]

It was blank, brand new from the package. Wouldn't format in the DVR and load the program.