Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

Ok,

I decided to upgrade my Sky+ box to a 250Gb Hard disk, just wondering if anyone else has done this and if so what problems you have found etc?

Ive read a thread over at DS, which gives full instructions etc, and have been building / repairing PCs for years so am fairly confident. Just really looking for real experiences etc...


KP

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

i aint , but i seem to recall something about the box complaining about the amount of free space being wrong :erm: :D

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

AFAIK the new software release to coincide with SKY160+ gets around this?!

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

I also believe this is the case, it should recognise the full 250GB ok.

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

Yeah, thats what i read, with the new firmware it should be able to read it... i was just wondering if it would cause any issues, i.e. programs getting lost etc........

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

AFAIK the old firmware was OK keeping programmes etc. it was just the %age free that was wrong (minor issue?) at the end of the day, if it's all wrong you've got a 250gb HDD for your PC!

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

:)

Well will do it tonight (maybe, depends on how much ive had to drink)

Will let you know how it turns out, and what problems (if any) i come accross :)

KP

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

Personally, I think you should do it after Xmas. If things go wrong then you'll miss the Queen's speech :(

I might do the same with my box if yours doesn't fry it! :p:

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

I take it he's blown it up, as we've heard nothing else since. :)

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

The hard disk is a bugger :(

Basically according to DS you should initialize the drive using maxtors powermax (no probs.... done) then you should use a program called wvset to turn write verify off (found the program, no probs, but it cant find the hard disk :S) then you should use a proggie called amset to put it into quiet mode (found the program, but again it cant see the hard drive)

Currently doing a low level format using the powermax software, and will try again :)

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

Amset will only work from pure DOS mode, you can't do it within windows (it won't detect the drive, as you've already found out), burn a Boot CD with those 2 apps on and give it another go.

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

Already using a dos boot disk..... pure dos.... nothing else.....

This low level format is taking forever (21 hours so far) and judging by the numbers, at least another 2 hours to go.....

Ive tried looking on Maxtors site, but cant find anything..... i really hate maxtor drives :( but according to DS they have the best success rate in Sky+ units :(

Im just gonna see if there is a new version of the util or something, cos powermax sees the drives no probs..... but these other 2 dont :(

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

Low level formats are a nightmare, it took a couple of hours to format a 4 gig drive years ago using that method. Not sure what to tell you about AMSET, works perfectly using a dos boot CD here.

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

Well after the low level format all worked perfectly..... had it installed for a while now and its all going smoothly..... only thing is the hard disk is a little noisier, (you hear it spin up when you power the unit up, but thats all) Ive been recording junk just to test it, its about 20% full so far, and i have about 24 hours of Tv to watch :O :O :O

Ive kept the old drive, cos i have the extended warranty on the sky+ box, theres no security stickers or anything, so i can just swap the drives over should i need to have it repaired or anything :)

A worth while update :)

Re: Upgrading with 250Gb Hard disk
 

Question - If you connect the old drive to your PC can you see any data on the drive? - I was thinking of a mod to my SKY+ to allow a docking solution for Laptop 2" HDD's and then I could burn programmes to DVD using my PC