522 hard drive

[RBBrittain]

How did you do ghost the 522 hard drive. You mean you opened the box and was able to take out the hard drive and put it in a computer system where you can ghost to other drive? If so that means it is just like a computer hard drive with same type of connections?

Absolutely. I understand it's a special type of hard drive designed for use in consumer electronics instead of PCs, but otherwise it's a normal PC hard drive. (I'll do a Sgt. Schultz on what the previous poster did with his encrypted data.)

Nothing new; most el-cheapo DVD players from the first Apex on use basic DVD-ROM drives, many of them with IDE connections which people have modded to use HDDs instead. The 522 itself is more or less a computer with a special OS; some say it's actually Linux, but AFAIK it hasn't been proven (though I understand from manuals that part of the 522's source code had to be published under the GPL, suggesting it's based on open-source code).

 

[Smith P.]

If stone could connect his PVR disk to Linux PC, we could hear some facts about file system from him.

 

[RBBrittain]

i swapped 120gb for 120gb though i dont think you can add a larger drive but i have no basis for the previous statment

I do know that HDDs of larger than 137GB require either a special controller card or special OS drivers (which Windows XP has) to access data past the 137GB boundary without data loss; that is an IDE limitation, not limited to any specific OS. So it's very likely that 250GB HDDs would require changes in the firmware.

 

[Smith P.]

Nay, it's just a matter of BIOS. If it support LBA48 like new M$ IDE driver, then disk could be bigger then the LBA28 137 GB limit.

 

[Stargazer]

I think Dish does need a larger hard drive for the 522. 50 hours per tv/tuner adds up pretty fast. 100 hours per tv/tuner makes much more sense. Dish tends to increase the hard drive space from time to time as hard drives become cheaper/bigger.

 

[RBBrittain]

Nay, it's just a matter of BIOS. If it support LBA48 like new M$ IDE driver, then disk could be bigger then the LBA28 137 GB limit.

And where do you think the BIOS is in a 522? Yep, the firmware. If the firmware doesn't support LBA48, then you can't put a 250GB HDD in a 522, even assuming it's legal to go into the box (which it isn't for most of us). If the biggest HDD E* expects to put in a 522 is 120GB, then it only makes sense to write the firmware for LBA28. (That is, unless the underlying OS has LBA48 built-in--and since you still have to install a special driver to get LBA48 even in Windows, I doubt it does.) Of course, if E* is preparing to go to 250GB HDDs, it's a whole other story...

 

[Smith P.]

As it was reported, the PVR is based on Linux kernel - I see no one reason for do not support LBA48.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Nay, it's just a matter of BIOS. If it support LBA48 like new M$ IDE driver, then disk could be bigger then the LBA28 137 GB limit.

You're kinda right in the wrong way.

The BIOS only needs to support LBA48 as a convienence to the software operating system. If it doesn't support it, then the boot sectors need to be below the 137GB line, which is plenty easy enough to do, AND the soft OS disk drivers need to support LBA48.

We've been going round and round on this kind of thing in computers since long before the PC was invented, and several times with PCs, too.

Can you say 2GB limit, boys and girls?

In any event, the operating system's file management system is what needs to really support the bigger drive. If it's built-in to the underlying OS, which MAY be Linux, then you're probably good to go.

 

[stone phillips420]

How did you do ghost the 522 hard drive. You mean you opened the box and was able to take out the hard drive and put it in a computer system where you can ghost to other drive? If so that means it is just like a computer hard drive with same type of connections?

i used norton ghost 2003 and the 522 drive comes up with 3 partitions i copy primary partion to dvd image then i replaced factory Maxtor 4R120L0 with a replacement i bought online if your gonna do this make sure to get the Maxtor 4R120L0 quickview drive.

 

[RBBrittain]

You're kinda right in the wrong way.

The BIOS only needs to support LBA48 as a convienence to the software operating system. If it doesn't support it, then the boot sectors need to be below the 137GB line, which is plenty easy enough to do, AND the soft OS disk drivers need to support LBA48.

We've been going round and round on this kind of thing in computers since long before the PC was invented, and several times with PCs, too.

Can you say 2GB limit, boys and girls?

In any event, the operating system's file management system is what needs to really support the bigger drive. If it's built-in to the underlying OS, which MAY be Linux, then you're probably good to go.

The trick, of course, is that in the 522 the "OS" IS the firmware. If it's a Linux box AND the Linux distribution in the box has LBA48 built-in, then you're clear. Otherwise, you may have a problem...

 

[Hall]

How did you do ghost the 522 hard drive. You mean you opened the box and was able to take out the hard drive and put it in a computer system where you can ghost to other drive? If so that means it is just like a computer hard drive with same type of connections?

Yes, they really are just like PC-style HDDs. The majority of DVRs out there are in fact, just PCs in a different kind of box...

 

[Smith P.]

No one pay attention to that list: Maxtor 7Y250M0 is SATA disk ! It's have 8 MB buffer, 7200 rpm and 133 MBps ATA-7 interface.
I think the time of expandable storage for PVR522 is coming.