HR21-200 dead disk - add eSATA or replace DVR?

[Riot Nrrrd™]

I have an HR21-200 with a hard drive that has entered the Click Ov Deth phase. The unit is continually rebooting and if it's not doing that, it keeps stuttering or seizing up entirely.

At one point, it restarted and decided - with no input from me - to wipe itself clean and nuke all my recordings I was trying to salvage :new_cussi

(Side rant: It blows my mind that for a box whose most important function is storage, the lack of anything to monitor the internal drive's health - even just simple S.M.A.R.T. monitoring - blows my mind :mad: )

So now I have 2 choices - either I buy an eSATA setup and hold onto the HR21-200, or give up and call DirecTV® up and ask to replace the box (which is just over a year and a half old).

If I buy an eSATA unit, is it guaranteed that the system will completely bypass the now-crippled/unworking internal drive - even during the first stages of booting? :confused:

I don't want to have a situation where I have a working eSATA setup but it seizes on reboot just through simple scanning of busses/drives stumbling across the seized-up internal.

[litzdog911]

Why risk further problems with this DVR? If it were mine I would call DirecTV and have it replaced. You can always use an eSATA drive with the replacement DVR.

[Riot Nrrrd™]

I suppose I'm worried I'll get an old refurbished HR20-700 (I have all-black gear and absolutely zero need/use for OTA capability).

Still, good point :D

[Rich]

I suppose I'm worried I'll get an old refurbished HR20-700 (I have all-black gear and absolutely zero need/use for OTA capability).

Still, good point :D

You're worried about getting the best of the HRs? You won't get a refurbished one, as far as I can tell, the contractor that D* uses does nothing more than repack them and ship them back out.

If D* offered me five fully functional 20-700s to replace my three 21-700s, one 21-200 and one 23-700, I'd jump at the offer, color would not be a factor.

But if you get a replacement, it will probably be a 22-100 and will be black and...well, no matter what color they come in, the 22's cannot perform better than the 20-700s.

Rich

[Devo1237]

My HR21-200 just died as well. Every time I reboot, it says there was a problem with the storage device. I lost a lot of stuff that I wanted, but nothing vital. I'm annoyed I won't be able to watch the Entourage premiere in HD though :(

Anyway, DirecTV said they send me a new box by Tuesday, but I gotta pay $20 in shipping. Anyone know any diagnostic tests I can run in the mean time to try and re-initialize the disc or something?

[hdtvfan0001]

I have contended for years now that some form of backup for hard drive replacement (or moving content to an external drive) is LONG OVERDUE for HD DVR's.

The only obstacle (copy protection) could be overcome through creating a proprietary security control of the drive index using the same Access Card that lets the HD DVR unit operate properly as an "authorized unit".

Despite several polls that I've run, several threads where many folks agreed something needs to be done, it ended up that there are no plans to support the ability to plainlessly migrate/archive content (offloading for backup, if you will) anytime soon.

A shame, and your situation is another example is why a lack of this capability takes no prisoners, and is LONG OVERDUE.

While you will get your replacement unit, and recorded content is gone forever. A shame.

[David MacLeod]

as my boxes start to get fuller I am thinking of external e-sata raid, just don't want to spend the money on it. but something does have to be done. consumer should not lose every recording on a box due to a failure or replacement, especially when the drive itself might be fine.
lost a bunch of stuff on 1 box during replacement due to broken fan.
why?????
if drive would have worked in new box (it didn't) I would have been ok.

[hdtvfan0001]

consumer should not lose every recording on a box due to a failure or replacement, especially when the drive itself might be fine.
We are singing the same song my friend.

I've been humming that tune now for almost 18 months, but to no avail (as far as getting any traction on it).

It was even added as a higher item on the "wish list" for future enhancements, based on strong agreement that it is important.

We'll see....

[roadrunner1782]

You're worried about getting the best of the HRs? You won't get a refurbished one, as far as I can tell, the contractor that D* uses does nothing more than repack them and ship them back out.

If D* offered me five fully functional 20-700s to replace my three 21-700s, one 21-200 and one 23-700, I'd jump at the offer, color would not be a factor.

But if you get a replacement, it will probably be a 22-100 and will be black and...well, no matter what color they come in, the 22's cannot perform better than the 20-700s.

Rich

I'm inclined to agree with that. The only thing my HR22-100 does better is stay below 100 degrees at all times!

[CCarncross]

I don't think you should be allowed to "archive" the recordings at least digitally, but I do believe you need to be able to attach the eSATA to another dvr active on your acct and be able to watch the recordings.

[Rich]

I'm inclined to agree with that. The only thing my HR22-100 does better is stay below 100 degrees at all times!

The difference between the temperatures that the 20-700s and the 21 series run at is irrelevant. The 20-700s can easily run at 123-126 degrees. That's directly from the Earl of Chicago, a person we all trusted. Think of them as large motors. Each motor has a temp rating on the name plate. As long as you don't exceed that temp, you are all right. And the temps vary, sometimes greatly, with each motor.

I wouldn't even consider my statement about the 20-700s an opinion, rather an empirical fact. I use several HRs a day and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the 20-700 is the best of the HRs.

But that fact bothers me. Why haven't we seen a better HR? I know cost plays a part in this, but it's been three years and the first one is still the best one? They (D*) couldn't top the first DVR they produced?

Rich

[Rich]

I don't think you should be allowed to "archive" the recordings at least digitally, but I do believe you need to be able to attach the eSATA to another dvr active on your acct and be able to watch the recordings.

With all the stuff on TV to watch, I don't think many people care about archiving programs. I'm sure that's a generality and that there are some folks out there that do try to archive shows, but if I want to save something, I buy the DVD box sets. Better picture.

Rich

[Riot Nrrrd™]

Update: So, get this ...

DirecTV® shipped me a refurbished HR21-200, the exact same model I had before. I wasn't home at the time but the FedEx guy left it anyway, which pissed me off. (It also pissed me off that I left a note on my front door saying to deliver to the back door - where it's shaded - if no answer; and he left it on the front porch to bake in 90+ °F heat anyway. Grrr. :mad:)

So I called and complained to them that I really didn't want to have the same model given that the disk drive failed a mere year and a half into having it. Then I opened the box and found that the door that flaps open to expose the red reset button & card was broken - one of the two pivot points was broken. I lowered the door and found dust all inside on the inside-part of the door. A clear case of a refurb that was simply packaged up and sent to me. Oh, and did I mention the remote was broken too? It would flash green but nothing would happen on the DVR. Tried to reprogram it, nothing. Had to keep my existing/old remote.

On the plus side they got it to me in one day, because they ship from Fontana, California which is about an hour from me. But on the minus side after I get back from my business trip I'm on now, I have to call in and go through this all over again to replace this crappy refurb. I am going to use a script a certain little birdie in this thread told me to use to see if I can get an HR23-700 instead ;)

I am definitely going to invest in an eSATA RAID 1 mirror this time. Screw it. I am also going to start to use my Hauppauge HD PVR 1212 like I should've, and pull existing recordings (that I am too lazy to get to) over to my Network Media Tank. Losing 40+ hours of programming (including nearly full seasons of Smart Travels With Rudy Maxa and Rick Steves' Europe in HD) has me livid and screaming Never Again.

[CCarncross]

Hard drives fail, its a fact of life, and it has nothing to do with getting the same model. Your blood pressure would probably appreciate it if you learned to accept the little things in life you cannot change.

[Riot Nrrrd™]

I admin 150 Sun, Linux and RAID boxen at work. Hard drives die all the time. My blood pressure isn't bad - because on our work systems we have S.M.A.R.T. monitoring and other monitors that let us know if a disk is about to crap out. On the HR-2x series there is nothing. We already know that the DVRs run some kind of embedded Linux on them, underneath the hood. (Probably µ-Clinux)

It really wouldn't take that much effort on DirecTV®'s part to implement some extra monitoring stuff that would help warn us when we were in danger of losing all of our recordings. While the mantra may be "It's only TV", that doesn't mean losing recordings isn't annoying or somewhat traumatic.

Lesson learned, I won't let it happen again if I can help it!

[Devo1237]

DirecTV® shipped me a refurbished HR21-200, the exact same model I had before.

Crud, I'm in the LA area, too. I hope I don't get a dirty refurb tomorrow :(

[CCarncross]

I admin 150 Sun, Linux and RAID boxen at work. Hard drives die all the time. My blood pressure isn't bad - because on our work systems we have S.M.A.R.T. monitoring and other monitors that let us know if a disk is about to crap out. On the HR-2x series there is nothing. We already know that the DVRs run some kind of embedded Linux on them, underneath the hood. (Probably µ-Clinux)

It really wouldn't take that much effort on DirecTV®'s part to implement some extra monitoring stuff that would help warn us when we were in danger of losing all of our recordings. While the mantra may be "It's only TV", that doesn't mean losing recordings isn't annoying or somewhat traumatic.

Lesson learned, I won't let it happen again if I can help it!

What good does that message do for most users? If they are running off the internal drive, not a thing unless they own the DVR. For an eSATA setup, you could clone the drive hopefully b4 there was any data loss, but still as you said this is not mission critical, it's tv.

[Rich]

Crud, I'm in the LA area, too. I hope I don't get a dirty refurb tomorrow :(

You can rest assured that you will not receive a "refurbished" replacement. A "repackaged" replacement, perhaps, but I've never seen any evidence of actual refurbishing being done.

Rich

[Devo1237]

You can rest assured that you will not receive a "refurbished" replacement. A "repackaged" replacement, perhaps, but I've never seen any evidence of actual refurbishing being done.

Rich

You don't think they just take the old ones we're sending in and throw in a new hard drive so they can send it to someone else? Seems like a waste not to refurbish them, if that's all it takes.

[Rich]

You don't think they just take the old ones we're sending in and throw in a new hard drive so they can send it to someone else? Seems like a waste not to refurbish them, if that's all it takes.

Nope, I think they don't refurbish them, they just repack them and send them out. I could give you many examples.

Rich

[Devo1237]

Well, I just got used HR21-200 as my replacement as well. It has dust all over the fan cover and a new warranty sticker slapped on top an old, broken one. What I find interesting is that it was manufactured on 08/08, which means someone sent it back in even quicker than I had to send back mine, which was manufactured 11/07 (although mine wasn't put into service until 01/08). Doesn't seem like these things have the longest shelf life. Anyone know what brand of HDD they use?

[davel]

Why didn't you just order a 1.5TB drive from Newegg and a t-10 security torx. Open and replace. Less headache.