Hr-20, can I simply add this SATA drive I have laying around ?

[spystyle]

Hello from Maine

I have an HR-20 and it's hard drive is failing, it scans for hours, often.

I happen to have a spare 500 gigabyte SATA 3GB/s drive (Seagate Barracuda ST3500630AS)

All I need to do is buy a special cable and plug this drive in to the back of my HR-20, right?

?

Thanks
Craig

 

[Jimbo]

You need to hook it up to the ESATA connection on the back of the unit.
Is it an Exterior unit or interior one, you'll probably want an enclosure if it's an internal.

 

[spystyle]

Yes it's "internal", I'll just sit it on top

It's too bad the back of the receiver is e-sata rather than plain old sata, I have a bunch of sata cables LOL

Thank you,
Craig

 

[spystyle]

a quick search of eBay and this one is closest :

http://cgi.ebay.com/SATA-eSATA-Cabl...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4399d7b5a9

Can I use that?

Thanks
Craig

 

[spystyle]

And I'll need this to split the power cable ?

SATA 15 pin Y splitter 5 wire Power Cable - 6 inches - eBay (item 290343979035 end time Jul-23-10 08:10:24 PDT)

I take it both hard drives must be present so the first hard drive can configure the second?

I can't simply replace the first hard drive right? The software won't allow that?

 

[Jimbo]

When you hook up the external, you'll no longer have access to the internal one, till you disconnect the EHD and reboot.

If your using an internal I would suggest getting an enclosure.

btw, Best Buy has ESATA cable in stock, figure it's quicker than waiting for it to be mailed to you.

 

[Davedirectv]

And I'll need this to split the power cable ?

SATA 15 pin Y splitter 5 wire Power Cable - 6 inches - eBay (item 290343979035 end time Jul-23-10 08:10:24 PDT)

No, this is not what you need. External hard drives are powered.

 

[ryotgz]

You'll want to buy an enclosure for the hard drive and make sure it has esata connection.

 

[spystyle]

OK thank you all I'll see what I can do and post pics when I'm done

 

[Davedirectv]

OK thank you all I'll see what I can do and post pics when I'm done

Haha, sounds like a modification is in the works!

Please, do post some pics...

 

[spystyle]

(click)

Here is my computer.

Backup drive on top - used only once per week, then unplugged to keep it safe from surges etc.

RAID array out of the case for passive cooling. "RAID" means multiple drives act as one, it is faster by (I think) about 30% than just a single drive.

The fans in the side of the computer are 4 inch fans* at 5volts. They are quiet yet move a lot of air. The computer is very quiet and runs relatively cool

Hard drives run so hot I don't care to have them in an enclosure, but that's just me.

I ran my DirecTV receiver with no lid so the hard drive would cool passively... But I guess it didn't help, the hard drive is fragged and the receiver scans it for hours every time.

So when the cables come in I'll just run the bare hard drive on top of the receiver, I see no reason to have it in an enclosure.

But by all means, if you prefer to have yours in an enclosure go for it It's reasonable

I work with computers all the time but that doesn't mean I know everything about them - or even like them LOL!!! I hadn't heard of ESATA cable before.

OK, so I'll see what works when the cables come in the mail and I'll post pics.

Thanks for the tips and have fun!
Craig

*
NMB 4715KL-04W-B39, 120mm X 38mm fans rated @12v but work fine and quietly @5v

 

[Jimbo]

(click)

Here is my computer.

Backup drive on top - used only once per week, then unplugged to keep it safe from surges etc.

RAID array out of the case for passive cooling. "RAID" means multiple drives act as one, it is faster by (I think) about 30% than just a single drive.

Hard drives run so hot I don't care to have them in an enclosure, but that's just me.

I ran my DirecTV receiver with no lid so the hard drive would cool passively... But I guess it didn't help, the hard drive is fragged and the receiver scans it for hours every time.

So when the cables come in I'll just run the bare hard drive on top of the receiver, I see no reason to have it in an enclosure.

But by all means, if you prefer to have yours in an enclosure go for it It's reasonable

I work with computers all the time but that doesn't mean I know everything about them - or even like them LOL!!! I hadn't heard of ESATA cable before.

OK, so I'll see what works when the cables come in the mail and I'll post pics.

Thanks for the tips and have fun!
Craig

Dynex? - 6' eSATA Cable - DX-C113221

 

[spystyle]

I don't know why you quoted my post then linked to that?

A 6 foot ESATA to ESATA cable won't help me with the parts I have. I am using a bare SATA hard drive so I need a ESATA to SATA cable (to connect the new drive to the back of the receiver) and a Y power splitter cable (to split power with the other drive). I ordered it and I'll see what happens when it comes in the mail.

Can it be done like that ? Stay tuned to find out

 

[Jimbo]

I don't know why you quoted my post then linked to that?

A 6 foot ESATA to ESATA cable won't help me with the parts I have. I am using a bare SATA hard drive so I need a ESATA to SATA cable (to connect the new drive to the back of the receiver) and a Y power splitter cable (to split power with the other drive). I ordered it and I'll see what happens when it comes in the mail.

Can it be done like that ? Stay tuned to find out

Good luck, your making this WAY to complicated.

 

[chargerrich]

I don't know why you quoted my post then linked to that?

A 6 foot ESATA to ESATA cable won't help me with the parts I have. I am using a bare SATA hard drive so I need a ESATA to SATA cable (to connect the new drive to the back of the receiver) and a Y power splitter cable (to split power with the other drive). I ordered it and I'll see what happens when it comes in the mail.

Can it be done like that ? Stay tuned to find out

You are definitely making this harder than it should be. First you need to either buy a drive in an enclosure (read true external drive) that provides you power and an ESATA connection. This is what I bought:

Newegg.com - Cavalry CAXB 2TB USB 2.0 / eSATA Black External Hard Drive CAXB3702T3

Otherwise you will need to buy just an enclosure without the drive and install yours. Either way, you need to make sure you have the ESATA connection AND power since the internal drive is powered by the DVR.

 

[spystyle]

Regarding the link : 2 terabytes ??? Groovy !!!

I wonder what the maximum capacity for the HR-20 external drive can be ?

Thanks and have fun!
Craig

 

[Jimbo]

Regarding the link : 2 terabytes ??? Groovy !!!

I wonder what the maximum capacity for the HR-20 external drive can be ?

Thanks and have fun!
Craig

Keep in mind, if you have a recvr go bad, all that 2 TB of shows gets reformatted when you plug it into the new unit.

 

[spystyle]

Alright Satellite guys, you didn't help me

But I forgive you

The Hr-20 can simply accept a new SATA hard drive, it's bios will "program" the new drive so you just stick any compatible drive in there.

So my question was : Hey my HR-20 receiver's internal hard drive is failing, causing the receiver to scan the hard drive for errors. I have a spare SATA hard drive, can I use it ?

The correct answer should have been : Yes, you can stick any old SATA hard drive in there. But you'll want to use a quiet one or the receiver will sound like it's "crunching" all the time.

A good series is "WD Caviar Green" - they are very quiet with high capacities.

--------------

So I got the cables described in this thread, thinking I had no choice but to use an external hard drive, thinking the receiver's bios wouldn't allow me to just replace the internal hard drive.

I attached a noisy drive externally using E-Sata to Sata adapter (Seagate Barracuda ST3500630AS) ... but I wasn't comfortable having a superfluous hard drive inside the receiver, generating heat and using power for no reason. So I unplugged the internal hard drive while using the external hard drive. The received didn't seem to like this - So I replaced the internal hard drive with the new hard drive and it worked ! Sweet But it was noisy, the hard drive is constantly being accessed to record programs and defragment (maybe?) so it was crunching away all the time. It annoyed me so I replaced it with a WD Caviar Green 1 Terabyte hard drive (WD10EAVS) that is very quiet (It uses fluid bearings*).

So in the end I didn't have to mess with ESata or any external stuff at all. But we all leaned something I bet

OK have fun !
Craig

*
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2579-001052.pdf

 

[cfb]

Here's the long and the short of it. You can stick a drive inside the HR series, but you void your warranty and violate your customer agreement with directv when you do that. Which didnt stop me either. But its not a seriously recommended course of action unless you're okay with them possibly charging you $480 when you return the receiver to them, if its not working properly or they detect that you opened it and messed with it. Definitely if you broke it.

I hope you kept your old broken internal drive. Before you cancel with directv you should probably put that back in, hide any traces of your hackery, report it as broken, have it replaced, then cancel...because if you send it back without a drive, without the original drive, or with a broken drive then they may charge you for it.

Onto the rest of the story. Hard drives are very susceptible to ESD, and while some recent 5400 models with a small number of platters can survive okay in open air without either a bit of active cooling or a good sized contact heat sink like a thick aluminum case, for the most part sitting one on top of a computer or sticking it in a closed or open case without airflow will lead to a reduced lifespan. Perhaps significantly reduced.

So you probably caused the early death of the internal drive by removing the case and eliminating the active cooling scheme, and you may have shortened the life of the rest of the components in there. The tuners run especially hot, and directv doesnt stick a lot of heat sinks on their components because they have a fan in there thats supposed to be sucking in cool air and blowing the hot air out of the case with a fair bit of internal turbulence.

Putting the drive on top of the case? Also not a great idea. Your computer setup with bare drives in an open chassis without airflow is also not highly recommended for long term operation.

For external sata setups, the Antec MX-1 is commonly used as its highly compatible with the HR series and has a nice little fan in it blowing air across the drive. The Cavalry that was mentioned above is also often used, and is passively cooled with a very thick aluminum case that contacts the drive. My Calvary experience wasnt that great though, it didnt last more than a year before the drive got hinky.

 

[spystyle]

I disagree. Components without cases are passively cooled. The HR-20 receiver has an 80mm fan cooling the underside of it's internal drive and with no lid the rest of the components are passively cooled. As for ESD ? Well there is no carpet in the room and no one touches the components, so I can't imagine any ESD getting in there.

As for renting the receiver, well it's true what you say but we intend to use it until it's obsolete, so by then no one will care.

OK good luck!
Craig