Dish DVR HD content transfer

[jkotsonas]

Wondering if anyone might have a helpful suggestion. Our (Dish) DVR
died (Model # DVR522), along with about 75 hours of shows/movies I had taped.

We have a replacement, and I don't have to return the dead box (which is
about 6 years old). I've pulled out the HD from the DVR - it's a standard pc
hard drive. I have it slaved up via an external USB enclosure to my laptop.

The driver installed, and in Disk Mgmt (Windows 7), it recognizes the drive.
It's divvied up in 3 partitions, but it's not formatted in either FAT or NTFS,
so it's not showing up as a drive (when you dbl click on "Computer").

Any way to get access to the content so I can transfer it over?

 

[garys]

No, even if you can transfer it, you won't be able to play the recordings. Dish encrypts them.

 

[Tampa8]

Basically no there is not. The drive is formatted for the DISH receiver, not Windows or Apple etc.. When you say your 522 died the vast majority of the time a receiver dies is because of Hard Drive failure. Are you sure your hard drive is even any good?

 

[jkotsonas]

Basically no there is not. The drive is formatted for the DISH receiver, not Windows or Apple etc.. When you say your 522 died the vast majority of the time a receiver dies is because of Hard Drive failure. Are you sure your hard drive is even any good?

I can't be sure - I can see the partitions in Disk Mgmt, and I've installed Linux Reader and I can see the files. The 3rd partition showing in LR has about 250 files, and it looks like the files with the .tsp ext are the ones I want/need, as they are all about 400 > 900 MB in size. But until I transfer one over and try to play it, or convert so I can burn to dvd, I guess I won't know for sure.

 

[TheKrell]

Any way to get access to the content so I can transfer it over?

I think the 722 version of PVRExplorer might do the trick.

 

[jkotsonas]

I think the 722 version of PVRExplorer might do the trick.

It's like, how much more easy could this be? and the answer is none. None more easy.

Thanks very much! (and HD appears good).

 

[ChadT41]

Why not put the hard drive in the new 522/625???

 

[jkotsonas]

Why not put the hard drive in the new 522/625???

That would have been a last ditch possibility, if no other options worked.

You have to break a seal to remove the HD, which voids the warranty, and, not knowing if the orig. HD was still good, I was
hesitant to risk that process. Plus, the new DVR is 155 GB, and the old one is 90 GB.

 

[ActionClaw]

Rather than starting an entirely new thread, I'll post here as it seems I'm attempting to accomplish, basically, the same thing as the OP. Also, unfortunately, I'm confident others will continue to experience the same issues and seek the same solution.
(Obviously, my question is in reference only to a user owned machine; not those being leased from DISH, owned by DISH, or owned by anyone other than the user.)


Is an external hard drive formatted the same as the internal hard drive?

I realize that "the vast majority[sic] of the time a receiver dies is because of hard drive failure" but, let's say hypothetically, if a 722K receiver failed due to a different reason: bad power supply, motherboard, processor, etc. could the drive be removed, installed into an external hard drive enclosure, then connected to another functioning 722k (same user) in order to access its content?

Can a hard drive already formatted for use as a DISH Network internal drive be installed into an external enclosure and be accessible via USB?

1. Part one of this is whether a drive is formatted the same regardless of whether it's to be used internally or in an external enclosure.
2. Part two is in reference to whatever scheme is used to "marry" that external drive to a specific DVR, particular user account or whatever. I don't know which info (DVR id, user acct. no, etc.) it uses or where this info is stored (on drive, smart card, or DVR PRAM or similar) so if stored on the drive I imagine it could be problematic if it saw an internal DVR drive being connected to an internal DVR drive.

(I have a few other thoughts regarding possible alternative solutions but will leave it at this for now.)

Thanks for your thoughts, input, assistance, etc.

 

[TheKrell]

1. The EHD on a 722 is definitely not formatted the same as the internal.
2. As I stated above, look into PVRExplorer Pro for the 722 using the internal drive in an external enclosure.