501 hard drive replacement

[skankyho]

I have been having some issues with my hard drive and of course "they" want a heafty sum to fix it. I figured that since I have to replace it and lay out some cash I can get my own HD and put it in.

Anyone know how it needs to be formatted?

I want to get the largest drive I can, like a 250 GB and go nuts!

[mouse01]

i am not sure if this is what you are looking for.
http://forums.digitalinsurrection.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=155374&highlight=hard
or this one...
http://forums.digitalinsurrection.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=155741

[skankyho]

I checked out both the links and left with one problem. One if for replayTV and the other , I can't tell. So, What I need to know is how to reformat a HD for the PVR501. anybody with another clue?

[Roger Laska]

Found this on DBSTalk.com:
You can't replace the hard drive of the Dish PVR 501 because it is "married" to the receiver, and it is almost impossible to get a "divorce without hacking into the unit.

[skankyho]

Oh well, it was worth a try. Thanks for the info.

[md2020]

Originally posted by Roger Laska
Found this on DBSTalk.com:
You can't replace the hard drive of the Dish PVR 501 because it is "married" to the receiver, and it is almost impossible to get a "divorce without hacking into the unit.

Wrong....
there are many mirror images to allow you to clone the 30x-50x PVR Dish Recievers... its fairly EZ to do - you can get up to 120 Hrs of PVR - I have yet to see the 200+ gig clone with success but 120 is ok.
-
Heres a way to get you started .

use winimage to clone the image of your current drive.....
________

keyword -> winimage
dish clone

for repair - sorry links and other info will violate the new (I WANNABE A DSS HACK SITE BUT LEAVE OUT THE HACK POLICY)

[skankyho]

thanks for the start.

[RiseStar]

Yes, I do believe that there is the same 137GB kernel limitation as is true with Tivo, UTV as well, so you will be able to upgrade to at least a 120/140 GB drive, which is a far cry from the stock drives. You can use a larger drive, however you will only be able to partition off 137GB of it, so its pointless to put in one larger than 140

For those with members access, there is a basic Dish player upgrade tutorial on the FAQS in the members area.

[NONSTOP]

there is actually a way to format the hard drives that very few people know about. I found out about it as working as an ATR for echostar, to do it all you have to do is go the the MEMORY DUMP screen or menu 6 3 info browse theme then press play play recall on your remote and it will reformat the drive. Sometimes it will take multiple attempts to get the notification message up. If you have any questions feel free to ask.....

[t999]

So what's the proceedure for formatting a larger new hard drive. Is there such a proceedure?

[NONSTOP]

In theory this should work for the larger drives also haven't tried it yet waiting till I have a hard drive problem on one of mine before I try it

[airwar]

there is actually a way to format the hard drives that very few people know about. I found out about it as working as an ATR for echostar, to do it all you have to do is go the the MEMORY DUMP screen or menu 6 3 info browse theme then press play play recall on your remote and it will reformat the drive. Sometimes it will take multiple attempts to get the notification message up. If you have any questions feel free to ask.....

Does that mean that you can simply replace the harddrive with a new one and the receiver will format it?

[airwar]

FYI....I found this "hard reset" instructions in another forum. I have not tried it, but maybe it will be useful to someone out there.

***************************************************
Hard reset for 501
Press menu
then 6
then 3
you will now be at the diagnostics screen

now within 5 seconds hit
info, browse, theme
The memory dump should appear.. if it does not then you are not doing it right..

Then hit your stop button on the remote..
a screen will appear telling you that you have re initilized the hard drive and blah blah blah..
then just hold the power button on the receiver not the remote until the read record light appears..
that should do it..

if you get all those screens the dump and the initilize screen.. and it still does not work.. then you may need to erase the NVRAM as well. keep in mind that will erase all the timers passwords etc.. to do this.. follow the directons above.. and after you hit the stop.. then hit the TV Video button on the remote.. and a different screen will pop up telling you that you have erased the NVram.
proceed with the power button part of the instructions.. that should be it..

[wwind]

I had no problem by formating (in NTSF) the existing HD and getting it stream updated again. I re-formatted it by attaching it to my computer as another HD (secondary master). You need to play a little in the computer bios to see both drives.
If you cannot find the drive in "MY Computer" go to control panel, Admininstation tool, Computer Management, Disk Management.
You can format it right there.
The formatted HD works like new !

On another machine I replaced the 40gig DH with a new 80gig like this:
Newegg.com - MAXTOR 4R080L0-QV Hard Drives
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-346&depa=0
Worked fine as well.

I think you only have to stick with the same brand (Maxtor or Seagate).
Make sure you purchase a drive made for DVRs.