Thread: Swap hard drive in HDVR2

Guys,

I would like to know if it is possible to replace a hard drive in an HDVR2 DVR with a hard drive from another HDVR2?

I am not asking if it is physically possible but if the DVR will boot and use the other hard drive without problems.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by mjitkop

Guys,

I would like to know if it is possible to replace a hard drive in an HDVR2 DVR with a hard drive from another HDVR2?

I am not asking if it is physically possible but if the DVR will boot and use the other hard drive without problems.

Thank you.

That should work. You can also prepare a new hard drive using
MFSTools

, etc. I used this a few years ago to put a larger drive in the HDVR2 I had. You can even transfer any existing recordings that way.

Thanks, Bob.

I have two HDVR2 recorders that I will call HDVR2_A and HDVR2_B. Last night I opened them and put the hard drive from HDVR2_B into HDVR2_A (swap) and it worked to some extent.

HDVR2_A booted but there was a message about a hardware problem with the recorder. I was able to watch live TV but I could not access the Now Playing list.

I checked the system information and it reported the recording capacity correctly based on the size of the hard drive. However, it could not retrieve the Service Number (something like that, I forgot the exact name).

So it seems that somehow the DVR and the hard drive are linked.

I put the original drive back for now.

What I'll do now is transfer to DVD all the shows from HDVR2_B that I want to archive. Once this is done, I will simply replace HDVR2_A by HDVR2_B. DirecTV sent me an R15 that will replace HDVR2_B.

It will be a long process but in the end it will work.

Does anyone know how to get an external seagate free agent pro connected via eSATA ports to be recognized by another DVR receiver than what it was originally recorded from. My HR20 died and was replaced by an HR22. I have another HR20 that I connected the seagate to. It sees the recording from the List menu but it can not play them back.
Also, I can't get the new HR22 that was sent to recognize another "fresh out of the box" seagate free agent pro.

Any suggestions for either situation is appreciated.

Originally Posted by Hamm3r

Does anyone know how to get an external seagate free agent pro connected via eSATA ports to be recognized by another DVR receiver than what it was originally recorded from. My HR20 died and was replaced by an HR22. I have another HR20 that I connected the seagate to. It sees the recording from the List menu but it can not play them back.
Also, I can't get the new HR22 that was sent to recognize another "fresh out of the box" seagate free agent pro.

Any suggestions for either situation is appreciated.

Hmm,
I'm surprised that you didn't erase your HD when you put it in the new recvr.
Usually it will reformat the HD when initially turned on.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Hmm,
I'm surprised that you didn't erase your HD when you put it in the new recvr.
Usually it will reformat the HD when initially turned on.

Jimbo,
The weird thing is that it sees all the shows I recorded to the seagate from the previous HR20. But when I try to play a show, it indicates all or part of the show was not recorded due to a problem at broadcast time and its scanning the recording for viewable content. Then after a minute or so it comes back and asks if I want to delete this recording Yes or No. I've got dozens of recordings, some I've already watched on the old DVR, so I know the message is erroneous about the broadcast problem. Any new show's I've recorded from this swapped out HR20 to the seagate play back fine. Another weird thing is it also shows the percentage of space available and its taking into account the 45% or so of the old recordings that it can't access. It lists the shows, the show summary, and all the usual info you would normally see from your list view, just can't play it back. If I delete the show, it increases the % of hard disk space available.

Originally Posted by Hamm3r

Jimbo,
The weird thing is that it sees all the shows I recorded to the seagate from the previous HR20. But when I try to play a show, it indicates all or part of the show was not recorded due to a problem at broadcast time and its scanning the recording for viewable content. Then after a minute or so it comes back and asks if I want to delete this recording Yes or No. I've got dozens of recordings, some I've already watched on the old DVR, so I know the message is erroneous about the broadcast problem. Any new show's I've recorded from this swapped out HR20 to the seagate play back fine. Another weird thing is it also shows the percentage of space available and its taking into account the 45% or so of the old recordings that it can't access. It lists the shows, the show summary, and all the usual info you would normally see from your list view, just can't play it back. If I delete the show, it increases the % of hard disk space available.

Curious, can you watch them from the History folder ?