501/5XX DVR HDD Replacement

[JWC]

Basic Question on Preventive Measures. If/when my HDD in my owned 501 crashes, will I be able to simply replace it with a new drive and will the 501 do all of the formatting etc. I know you cannot get greater capacity by installing a larger capacity drive. If the 501 or 5xx will not do the reformating and load all of the required OS, does it make sense to remove it now, replicate it with a program such as Nortons Gost, and save that new HDD for the day that will likely come when it is least convenient.

I remember seeing a post several months ago about a Yahoo forum that gives greater details on this and similar subjects.

Thanks

 

[dfergie]

We don't talk about that here, but there is a Yahoo forum I understand... would it not be easier just to sign up for the Digital Home Protection plan and let E* take care of it when the time comes?

 

[Pepper]

um, unless things have changed recently I am pretty sure we talk about that sort of stuff here.

What he's asking WILL work fine on the 522 and 625, however not with a 50x/510, which only initialize a new drive when the receiver is booted with factory software. Once it's downloaded new software, drive initialization doesn't exist anymore. Loading factory software in a receiver does require doing things we don't talk about here, simply because they are very similar to the things the bad guys do to steal Dish Network programming.

The answer to his question is, go ahead and duplicate it now while it's not broken. The key is that the target drive must be identical (same model) as the existing one.

The yahoo group is called dishmod.

 

[dfergie]

um, unless things have changed recently I am pretty sure we talk about that sort of stuff here.

Perhaps I should rephrase... I won't

What he's asking WILL work fine on the 522 and 625, however not with a 50x/510, which only initialize a new drive when the receiver is booted with factory software. Once it's downloaded new software, drive initialization doesn't exist anymore. Loading factory software in a receiver does require doing things we don't talk about here, simply because they are very similar to the things the bad guys do to steal Dish Network programming.

Yep,

 

[Smith P.]

Pepper, ppl reported there - no more HDD replacements for 522/625; new software version kill it. Back to stone ages .

 

[JWC]

Thanks for clarification. I did not fully anticipate the sensitivity of the question since the receiver is owned, legally licensed and under my account along with two other receivers, and out of warrenty. This option is no more hacking than doing your own self install. For me, I do not seeing paying a monthly extended warrenty fee for a $200 box. Nor would I pay for a site visit to move my Rs) to a different room, repoint my dish, add a dish, change a switch, etc.

Since many individuals feel comfortable changing a hard drive in their computer (realizing they need a legal copy of the OS if it is to be the primary boot device), I believe this information is of value to others that have not thought about the properity Dish Network Software that initializes the drive and will not re-install itself (even to a legal active receiver on ones' account) to use the DVR functions of the 501 etc.

No hard feelings. A technical discussion forum seems a good place to get information. Again thanks for the information

 

[stone phillips420]

Pepper, ppl reported there - no more HDD replacements for 522/625; new software version kill it. Back to stone ages .

interesting i didnt hear this
i deactivated all my dual tuner irds i upgraded sometime ago because of the way i was treated by the audit team
ie one of my 625's is now at p2.93, i dont know if that curretn softwareor not
the channels i recieve on this ird are 101,213 and so forth
they didnt kill my 625 with upgraded drive
although i cant remember if the original drive was seagate or maxtor
i have 2 625,s and a 522 upgrade to 625 all deactivated though

 

[kb7oeb]

Dish told me they would swap out my 508 for around $70 if the drive failed (if I remember right).

I thought the 50x was keyed to the drive serial number, I didn't think ghost or dd would work. I've read that if you went the yahoo route with the right drive you can upgrade the drive to whatever the 510 uses.

 

[mchapp]

My son's 508 died about a month ago and it was out of warranty. Dish charged me 19.99 plus 14.95 S&H to replace it and send back the old one. I called on a Saturday night and the replacement arrived by Tuesday.

Mike

 

[theseus]

My son's 508 died about a month ago and it was out of warranty. Dish charged me 19.99 plus 14.95 S&H to replace it and send back the old one. I called on a Saturday night and the replacement arrived by Tuesday.

Do you have the equipment protection plan?