ALl DVR Events Gone, but I didn't delete them -- Help!

[pablo_s]

625 same problem

I ran into the same problem yesterday but pulled HD and put into another 625 and it booted but the IRD shutdown and updated the firmware creating the same problem. Before firmware update all 145 hrs were there now I can't access HD to know what's there. Seems this was caused by D* firmware.

 

[bebop]

Reorienting a HDD to vertical instead of horizontal will, at times, help the disk be able to be read. I had success with this on my home PC (same kind of HDD as in the ViP722 receivers). The HDD was on it's way out and I removed it from the case, propped it up on it's end and was able to retreive data that I thought was gone. I gave up on the drive a couple days later after I got all the data off that I needed. In this case, unless you want to void the warranty, you might not want to try a disk copy.

There is not a user-friendly method for backing up your DVR recordings/events. You can move them to an external hard drive (if your existing hasn't died yet), but there is no backup in that case.

 

[rrmills]

This is used as a quick fix, i.e. salvage what data you can off of the HDD. After you get the data off, you trash the drive 'cause it WILL happen again.

Yeah, that's what I meant. The drive was clearly toast, but the freezer trick let me salvage my data off of it. I actually had to copy it off in 2-3 chunks, refreezing it in between each transfer. Annoying, but it worked.

 

[primestar31]

Yeah, that's what I meant. The drive was clearly toast, but the freezer trick let me salvage my data off of it. I actually had to copy it off in 2-3 chunks, refreezing it in between each transfer. Annoying, but it worked.

Many years ago as a field tech, I had a user with an older Macintosh Sony harddrive stick due to the old "Stiction" problem. That drive was actually GLOWING ORANGE, and was too hot to even touch, by the time I got there. User had left the Mac on.

I removed the drive (with gloves), wrapped it in a bunch of paper towels, put it in a plastic zip lock bag, and stuck it in the freezer for 3-4 hours, until it was cold. I then reinstalled it, it booted up, and we recovered ALL data!

So, the freezer method AND the "putting it on it's side" does, and can work at times. You can't lose, so it's always worth trying.

By the way, powering on/off repeatedly while hoping for the best, is not a very smart thing to do to any pc, and a PC is all that a Dish dvr is.

 

[pablo_s]

Second HD crashed

A follow up on my first post. The HD out of an non sub'd 625 was working but when I reinstalled it in it's original 625 with the current firmware it isn't recognized now. They both didn't go bad within 30 min. of each other one wouldn't think. Neither 625 has been modded.

 

[volzjr]

I had a very similar problem last night with my 722... was there a recent SW update? While watching The Daily Show, I tried to pause it to talk to my son, and the pause button had no effect. I then realized that the show wasn't recording, and I have it set to record every new Daily Show. I hit the DVR button, and got the "Unable to access this feature at this time. Data not available." message. I tried several re-boots, finally unplugged and left for about fifteen minutes. The green light would come on for about 20 seconds and then shut off with no further activity. I gave up after that and switched to OTA. About fifteen minutes later, I noticed that several lights were lit on the DVR. When I switched to the DVR it was showing a message saying that the data on the HD had become corrupted and the DVR would not operate reliably until the HD had been reformatted... sorry for the inconvenience. (paraphrasing from memory) with one button choice; "Delete now" (some choice ) But pressing the select button didn't do anything. After about five minutes the message disappeared, and nothing was happening. Fifteen minutes later the same message appeared, and again went away on it's own in a few minutes. It did this one more time, and then was off for about 30 more minutes. Then suddenly the lights were back on, and the unit was operating normally. I could pause live TV, but the HD was empty, and the time shown available reflected an empty HD. Also all my timers were cleared. I reset the timers and all was working OK until about an hour ago when it started again. I haven't tried a reboot yet... I'll probably wait until I go to bed and let it go all night and play it's games without my watchful eye. AT&T is installing U-Verse on Friday, so I guess I just have to try and limp it along til then.

 

[whatchel1]

Here we go again

Your HDD went bad and now you are dead. Well the freezing the HDD sometimes works. The other is what I have advised several times. It's the open the case and turn it sideways. As the usnit is starting up tap on the HDD lightly with the handle of a a screw driver. Then it might help the HDD start again. What caused it was the HDD was starting to go bad and then you stopped it for hours instead of just pulling the plug for a short time. So the bearings in the HDD got cold and the HDD just can't start again. So if by chance you get it running pay the fee for the ext HDD for storage. The ext will most likely last longer than the one in the VIP receiver.

 

[bebop]

The ext will most likely last longer than the one in the VIP receiver.

Especially if you don't have it running much like mine. But it sure is nice for storage. And you can have multiple small EHD's, that way you don't loose everything if one goes out.

 

[AngryStamen]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone! I tried re-orienting the DVR but it never worked. Also, I just didn't want to crack it open to take the hard drive out and freeze it, just didn't have the ballz!! In any case, I can always rent the movies I lost from Netflix/Redbox. As for the TV shows...well, that's what they invented bit torrent for, right?!? I also plan on pressing DISH to waive the $40 EHD enabling fee, for my troubles...

In any case, I just got the replacement ViP 722 for my dead one. It came with a purple security card already installed. My question is, do I use the one that came with the replacement box, or should I remove it, and insert the card that was in my (now dead) original receiver?

Thanks!

 

[primestar31]

Thanks for all the great advice everyone! I tried re-orienting the DVR but it never worked. Also, I just didn't want to crack it open to take the hard drive out and freeze it, just didn't have the ballz!! In any case, I can always rent the movies I lost from Netflix/Redbox. As for the TV shows...well, that's what they invented bit torrent for, right?!? I also plan on pressing DISH to waive the $40 EHD enabling fee, for my troubles...

In any case, I just got the replacement ViP 722 for my dead one. It came with a purple security card already installed. My question is, do I use the one that came with the replacement box, or should I remove it, and insert the card that was in my (now dead) original receiver?

Thanks!

The cards are permanently MARRIED to their receivers when first used together, so you can't remove the card from your BAD receiver, and place it in the new receiver and make it work. Return it to Dish with a bad receiver, or they'll probably charge you $60 for it.

 

[AngryStamen]

Well, for anyone that is interested, I got my replacement DVR installed and up-and-running. Of course, I had issues with the infamous CSR's at Dish Network. First off, before I called, I was going to try to activate online. That's when I noticed that they had charged me $15 shipping & handling!! That wasn't gonna fly! They tried to say that the shipping would have been free if I had the $6/month warranty, but I pressed and got that waived.

Then, I started in to try and get the $40 EHD fee waived. Rep put me on hold, and came back saying that she'd meet me half way...$20. I thought about it for a second, but I figured I could press more to get the whole thing waived...plus I was still steamed that they had tried to charge me S&H in the first place. I pressed more, saying how extremely frustrating it was to lose over 35 hours of movies/TV shows, and that it had shaken my confidence in DISH and their equipment (which it has) and that the EHD feature which they called a luxury was, to me, now a necessity. She said that half way was all they could do, so I asked for a supervisor. She put me on hold, and I was transferred to a voicemail, and then disconnected!

Needless to say, I was a bit pissed off now!! I called back and got someone in billing, since i thought that's where I needed to be to get a fee waived. After going through 1 rep, and to his manager, I was transferred to Technical Service, since I was talking about the EHD feature. That's when I finally got satisfaction. I explained the situation, and the rep reviewed my account, saw that I've been a customer in good standing, never missed a payment, auto-pay billing, etc., and he promptly waived the full $40 fee, as compensation for the troubles I had to deal with. I thanked him very much and told him I wish I had gone straight to the Technical Service department in the first place!! He said that the people in the tech department really try to put themselves in the customers' shoes and that, in my situation, there's no reason that they SHOULDN'T waive the fees!

So, all's well that ends well, I guess...although it WAS touch-and-go with the first 3 reps. All I know is that if I have any problems in the future, I'll go straight to Technical Service!!

 

[bebop]

So does your old HDD on the first receiver even work to transfer the files from? You said that re-orienting the DVR didn't work, so even if it was a necessity, it wouldn't work if the drive won't boot up.

I'm confused.

 

[AngryStamen]

So does your old HDD on the first receiver even work to transfer the files from? You said that re-orienting the DVR didn't work, so even if it was a necessity, it wouldn't work if the drive won't boot up.

I'm confused.

No, my original ViP722 is dead and buried. All those TV shows and movies are gone, but I will certainly be filling up the new ViP 722!! I just wanted to get the EHD feature enabled to give me peace of mind, moving forward. So that any future hard drive failures will be less likely to wipe everything out, as I plan to back-up my shows/movies to the EHD.

 

[bebop]

No, my original ViP722 is dead and buried. All those TV shows and movies are gone, but I will certainly be filling up the new ViP 722!! I just wanted to get the EHD feature enabled to give me peace of mind, moving forward. So that any future hard drive failures will be less likely to wipe everything out, as I plan to back-up my shows/movies to the EHD.

You can't backup to the EHD, but you can move recordings there. With that in mind, if the EHD goes out, you'll lose those recordings. I don't want to get into copying your EHD as a backup, as that isn't kosher around here, but you can probably figure out how to do it if it really is a 'necessity'.

 

[AngryStamen]

You can't backup to the EHD, but you can move recordings there. With that in mind, if the EHD goes out, you'll lose those recordings. I don't want to get into copying your EHD as a backup, as that isn't kosher around here, but you can probably figure out how to do it if it really is a 'necessity'.

Hmm, i didn't realize that i couldn't keep the recordings both on the internal hard drive and the external hard drive. But, at least if I transfer some recordings to the EHD and keep others on the DVR, I'll effectively cut the chances of losing all my recordings in half. Of course, hopefully i won't be faced with this problem ever again (knock on wood).

 

[Hall]

I don't have an external HDD so someone can correct me if I clarify this badly... When bebop said you can't "backup to the EHD", I think he means that your recordings won't go there directly when you record a show, i.e. there's no setting that says "Save recordings to EHD" or "Save recordings to internal HDD". They always go to the internal drive and then you have to manually move them to the external later.

So effectively, with an external HDD, you could lose no recordings if you're vigilant about always moving recordings there.

 

[bebop]

Hmm, i didn't realize that i couldn't keep the recordings both on the internal hard drive and the external hard drive. But, at least if I transfer some recordings to the EHD and keep others on the DVR, I'll effectively cut the chances of losing all my recordings in half. Of course, hopefully i won't be faced with this problem ever again (knock on wood).

But you'll also double the chances of a HDD going out - so it's kind of a wash. I suggest cooling your HDD in your receiver with a fan. There is a whole thread about this if you haven't looked into it. I had the same thing happen and now I use a small computer case fan to keep it cooler.

EDIT: By the way, this is my 888th post!

 

[bebop]

I don't have an external HDD so someone can correct me if I clarify this badly... When bebop said you can't "backup to the EHD", I think he means that your recordings won't go there directly when you record a show, i.e. there's no setting that says "Save recordings to EHD" or "Save recordings to internal HDD". They always go to the internal drive and then you have to manually move them to the external later.

So effectively, with an external HDD, you could lose no recordings if you're vigilant about always moving recordings there.

No hall, I meant what I said. Backup would mean that you have an actual backup of the recording on the EHD in addition to the first copy on the internal HDD of the receiver. This is not possible with E*'s receivers that have EHD access.

It is true that the recordings won't go directly to the EHD from the DVR upon initial recording.

The whole point was getting people aware that making a backup in the event of losing a hard-drive is not possible with the EHD+receiver setup. You'd still lose the recordings on your EHD if it died in the same manner that the internal HDD died.

You can take the EHD and figure out how to make a copy of the data, but that is your own business.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I don't have an external HDD so someone can correct me if I clarify this badly... When bebop said you can't "backup to the EHD", I think he means that your recordings won't go there directly when you record a show, i.e. there's no setting that says "Save recordings to EHD" or "Save recordings to internal HDD". They always go to the internal drive and then you have to manually move them to the external later.

So effectively, with an external HDD, you could lose no recordings if you're vigilant about always moving recordings there.

No, what you can't do is make a COPY of the external hard drive. That drive is encrypted, and is not readable by a PC (I know not by a Windows machine, and I am 99% certain not by Linux either). If there is a way to make a copy of the external hard drive, its in the world of the uber-geek.

The whole rationale for the extreme encryption was to satisfy the DRM garbage.

You could record a show, archive it to the HDD; then record it again the next time it is on, and archive it to ANOTHER HDD, but that would be a pain. (ALthough with the 4 EHDDs I have, I'll admit, I have inadvertently done it at few times).

 

[bebop]

No, what you can't do is make a COPY of the external hard drive. That drive is encrypted, and is not readable by a PC (I know not by a Windows machine, and I am 99% certain not by Linux either). If there is a way to make a copy of the external hard drive, its in the world of the uber-geek.

The whole rationale for the extreme encryption was to satisfy the DRM garbage.

You could record a show, archive it to the HDD; then record it again the next time it is on, and archive it to ANOTHER HDD, but that would be a pain. (ALthough with the 4 EHDDs I have, I'll admit, I have inadvertently done it at few times).

Good point about double recording to a 2nd drive, I never thought of that!

I have done HDD disk copies on my comptuer and had the 2nd copy sitting on the shelf if the first one ever died. Even if the data was encrypted it would still get me back up and running right away. I'm sure the same concept works for other devices that use HDD's, not just my PC.