Sky + Hard Disk - Running all the time?

redman

Am I right in thinking that the hard disk in my Sky+ is always spinning when on even in standby?

Thus does this mean that there is a set time to failure of this disk given that most hard disks have a set lifespan with the "ball bearings?"

Cheers

Redman

stanley1

it's fairly loud when on but seems to spin down in standby.

digitaldr

Used to spin all the time but after software update about 2 years ago it no longer does - just listen to it!

bpmurray

This raises an interesting point: is it possible to somehow dampen the noise? My digibox is noisier than my PC!

digitaldr

Mine's been very quiet since I out a 120Gb Hitachi deskstar drive into it about 2 years ago.

Cuchulain

Yeah once the Sky+ box is powered up it is always recording whatever you are looking at.
This allows users to rewind back to when they started looking at a program. Also if you are looking at a program for 15 minutes (without switching channels) and press record, Sky+ will record from the start of when you starting watching the program.

The only way is to put box on standby or wrap it in a duvet

redman

Thanks all, yes I've noticed now how it spins down when in standby.

One other question, how can I find out what size HD is in the Sky+ box.
Are some 80 and others 160?
Redman

Mellor

redman wrote:

Thanks all, yes I've noticed now how it spins down when in standby.

One other question, how can I find out what size HD is in the Sky+ box.
Are some 80 and others 160?
Redman

On the sky web site, it says that the HD boxes have 160GB
I dont know how much a sky+ box has, but i imagine its less as the HD would require more space

Cuchulain

If you got you Sky+ box within the last year, you probably have got a 160 gig hd (with 80g of storage). Anything older than that and its probably an 80 gig drive with 40 gigs of storage.

Regarding the noise issue, Im planning to place my Sky+ and DVD player in a cabinet (using remote control extenders) so hopefully I wont hear disks spinning in either dvd player or sky+ box.

Michael Collins

Mellor wrote:

On the sky web site, it says that the HD boxes have 160GB
I dont know how much a sky+ box has, but i imagine its less as the HD would require more space

Regular Sky+ boxes (e.g. Pace V2) had a HD size of 40 GB.

Mellor

Thought it was around that mark, so that in terms of recordingtime the HD box is the same as the regulat plus box.

Is there any way to increase the memory, do sky have an opinion on that??

ixtlan

The HD boxes have a 300Gb drive with just 160Gb available to the user, the other 140Gb is reserved for future use , like automatic download of pay-per-view content...

If you recorded HD content, this would be approx 20 hours...

Some people have reported success replacing the HD box drive with 500Gb and 750Gb models, but this is a much smaller community than have done the same with the Sky+. More details on digitalspy and avforums.

I havn't got one yet... still waiting for that perfect TV...

On the matter of the disk spinning, personally I would recommend turning off instant rewind to save wear and tear on the disk. A spinning disk uses power but is not "working".

Ix.