Sky HD box hard drive swap

Stoolbend

I have a 1Tb sky HD box that's linked to an account that's not settled.

Can I just swap the hard drive into a newer non WiFi sky HD box?

I'm not worried about any previous recordings or anything like that. If I just do a straight swap am I likely to run into any issues?

chas.f

Hi,

If the drives from the WiFi Amstrad and going into the slim non WiFi Amstrad it should work without the box formatting it.
But it's always best to go to "Services 701 select" and reset the box.

I know you didn't need them but old premium recordings are tied to the original card.

The Hard bit is the later Amstrads are the worst to get the drives out of, as you have to remove the printed circuit boards and the back metal plate.

plenty of video's on YouTube.

Stoolbend

They're both later model amstrad boxes. One is a year and a half old and the other is two and a half so neither are WiFi.

It's just to get the extra space as recording in HD fairly fills the hard drive.

I've the 1Tb box stripped already. It's just to make sure the software will be able to use the bigger drive.

chas.f

Fairly Sure they are all ok up to 1TB its the 2TB that needs to be the latest Boxes.

Vic_08

All drx890 "SKY" amstrad boxes will take up to 2tb hdd.

They actually give more space than the "2TB" drx895 boxes because they keep the on demand reserved section to 250GB rather than the 500GB on the boxes designed for 2TB disks.

If you want to check without pulling the box completely apart just tale the plastic case and metal lid off and connect a replacement HDD externally to the SATA cables leaving the original disk in situ.

I did this rather than take the box apart, I used SATA extension cables and have the disk housed outside the box. It also means I have no need for the cooling fan so the setup is almost silent. Works perfectly and I also have easy access to the HDD so I periodically back it up with a duplicator in case of disk or box failure.

Morrisseeee

Q. Is there a specific type of 2TB HD that's needed for the Amstrad boxes, ie. RPM, SATA II or III, etc?

chas.f

Hi,

I've always used Western Digital Green drives, WD-2TB is about £60
They Run cool as their not as fast, which is ok for TV recording and so far have been reliable.
Their probably all Sata III now but either will do for TV application.

Morrisseeee

OK, the WD 2TB EURX drive has arrived and I'm ready to upgrade a friend's Sky HD box.......

Except I've read about : Intellipark (head parking), jumper settings for 6 > 3Gb/s speed and Advanced Format (4k aligned as opposed to my old drive being 512 and possible data loss) ! !!

Some people recommend disabling Intellipark and doing the jumper ?!

Anyone any ideas or should I just belt away as is ? :o

chas.f

Hi,
New one on me, might be worth looking through the ExPVR Q&A as it should be covered if its an issue.
also you won't delete any info off the old drive so its always there as a backup.

Last two I did were only 1TB and I left the original drive in the box and used longer leads to attach to the drive then tested the new drive once ExPVR had completed.

Morrisseeee

Cheers, yeah just trawling through post after post on various forums for advice/hints.
Did you transfer recordings from the old HD to the new one ? what was the procedure?, ie. I don't want to click on something and then discover oooops!!

chas.f

Yes I transferred my entire disk, only one option if you want to transfer recordings Download ExPVR you can use the free version to prepare the new drive and transfer I think 15 recordings or pay for the licence and copy entire drive, costs £19.99 use it as often as you like then. Very easy instructions just make sure you know which drive letter is which on your PC or you will wipe the donor.