I successfully upgraded 5504 40GB Maxtor Fireball To 250GB WD 8MB 7200 RPM. Used
1. Replaytv_2.4 software
2. Win XP SP2
To attach the original and new replay tv drives as master and slave, do this
1. Remove any primary component like DVD/CD drive
2. Change the jumper of orig. RPTV drive from CS to DS (MASTER) setting.
3. Change the jumper of new drive to be SLAVE
4. Connect the orig. and new drive to the cable (pref. MASTER i.e orig. to be on the far end of the cable and the new to be in the middle of the cable) on the secondary bus slot i.e from where you removed the CD/DVD ROM.
5. PowerUp the computer and if the BIOS gives a warning, then go to the setup and in the drives confgn. make sure that the drive recognition mode is not set to OFF. If OFF change it to AUTO so that the new drives are recognized.
6. The replay tv orig. and the new drive might not appear in the Windows explorer but will definitely appear in the Disk management section of the Computer Management section of Admin. tools of Win XP.
Run replaytv_2.4 program and set the target and source drives to be that of new and orig. drives. Check whether this program identifies the drive sizes to be appropriate but not recognizable drives i.e with a Yellow Questionmark. Now first take a backup of your orig. drive and then copy the System Partn. , then MPEG and finally photo prtn. IF using 55XX you can even change the size of the photo partn. Finally PATCH IT and you're done.
After upgrading here are the statistics
1. On pause it now says 80H of video remaining for pause.
2. On Guide it says 250 Hrs. of recording time.
3. When in Picture Mode it shows 1GB available even though I made the picture/photo partition to be 20GB. I still have to verify the size of the photo partition bu using my computer to connect to the ReplayTV.
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Within 4 days of my upgrading to this 250GB hard drive, the picture started freezing in between.. it would go something like "k.k.k.k.k.k.k.k.k.k.k......." (say if the dialogue started with K) and so on for approx 2 mins and then restart the replay tv.
So I changed the hard dish to Maxtor 160 GB. No problem for 2 days but on the thrid day the Maxtor also started giving the same problem. Can somebody throw some light on this problem.
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It could be a heat related problem. If the the old drive was 5400 RPM and you put in a 7200 rpm drive (which run much hotter) , that could be the problem. I know the old 3000 series units had some problems iwth 7200 drives overheating them and causing problems. They also didnt[ have fans in them though like the 5000 series has.
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I just upgraded a 5508 (80GB Maxtor drive) to a 2 drive system. The master is a 120GB WD and the slave is a 300GB WD. To offset the heat (both are 7800 rpm drives, so heat is about 4 times the original) I mounted double hard drive fans to each drive and ensured that each drive is placed over the venting holes in the base of the box. Mounted the second drive on standard brass rails. Both drives have rubber grommets, however, so they may be retaining heat that might be dissipated if there was metal to metal contact. So far, in one day of operation, the following has occurrred:
1. On initial startup, the box requested that I register it, and could not make a connection through the internet to do so. After a frustrating tag game with the web site (response was "this ReplayTV number has already been registered"), I discovered that the connection information had not been retained during the upgrade. I had to reenter everything for an initial setup -- zip code, program source, router IP address, etc. After that, connection was reestablished with ReplayTV and the latest schedules were loaded in.
2. I had retained all my previously recorded programs - despite the warning during the upgrade, this appears to be a smooth transfer - and the new available recording time at high quality is 127 hours or so. So 420GB converts to about 150 hours.
3. This morning I came down to find the machine had frozen in the middle of recording a football game. Had to reset by turning the machine off and on. The case is slightly warm to the touch above the drives, but by no means hot.
One question I have would be - what is the power available to the extra equipment? Extra power demands will also generate heat, and so adding one more fan -- for the case, perhaps -- might be self defeating. Anyone know? Or, does anyone know of a way to add a secondary power source internal to the case to solve that potential problem?
Tought you'd like to know these things. I got a lot of help from this group in doing what I've done this far, and I appreciate it.
BarryB
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I had the same lock up problem when I upgraded my 5504 to a maxtor 160GB with 8MB cache. I put the orginal disk back in it and it works correctly. I just bought a new WD 160GB with 2MB cache and we will see what happens.
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Any Updates with this issue?
i recently upgraded a failing HD to a WD 250 8MB 7200 RPM as well, and like earlier posts for a short while everything looks great but the screen freezes and make the KKKKKKK sound, I may try to mound the drive a bit higher in the box to get a bit more airflow around the drive, pending the issue is heat related.
Thanks
david@sudsgear.com
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I noticed a similar freezing and or stuttering problem with my RPTV that was upgraded to WD 120G.
I have had the disk in for over 2 years and have noticed that if I turn the unit off with the remote, ( blue light is off but unit is still on to record and such) when In not actually watching TV, it doesnt do it.
Just my experience.
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I just performed the same exact update (using drives from woot.com) and noticed occassional jumpiness. I'm going to swap out the fan and see if that's any better later on today.
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I successfully upgraded 5504 40GB Maxtor Fireball To 250GB WD 8MB 7200 RPM. Used
1. Replaytv_2.4 software
2. Win XP SP2
To attach the original and new replay tv drives as master and slave, do this
1. Remove any primary component like DVD/CD drive
2. Change the jumper of orig. RPTV drive from CS to DS (MASTER) setting.
3. Change the jumper of new drive to be SLAVE
4. Connect the orig. and new drive to the cable (pref. MASTER i.e orig. to be on the far end of the cable and the new to be in the middle of the cable) on the secondary bus slot i.e from where you removed the CD/DVD ROM.
5. PowerUp the computer and if the BIOS gives a warning, then go to the setup and in the drives confgn. make sure that the drive recognition mode is not set to OFF. If OFF change it to AUTO so that the new drives are recognized.
6. The replay tv orig. and the new drive might not appear in the Windows explorer but will definitely appear in the Disk management section of the Computer Management section of Admin. tools of Win XP.
Run replaytv_2.4 program and set the target and source drives to be that of new and orig. drives. Check whether this program identifies the drive sizes to be appropriate but not recognizable drives i.e with a Yellow Questionmark. Now first take a backup of your orig. drive and then copy the System Partn. , then MPEG and finally photo prtn. IF using 55XX you can even change the size of the photo partn. Finally PATCH IT and you're done.
After upgrading here are the statistics
1. On pause it now says 80H of video remaining for pause.
2. On Guide it says 250 Hrs. of recording time.
3. When in Picture Mode it shows 1GB available even though I made the picture/photo partition to be 20GB. I still have to verify the size of the photo partition bu using my computer to connect to the ReplayTV.
Within 4 days of my upgrading to this 250GB hard drive, the picture started freezing in between.. it would go something like "k.k.k.k.k.k.k.k.k.k.k......." (say if the dialogue started with K) and so on for approx 2 mins and then restart the replay tv.
So I changed the hard dish to Maxtor 160 GB. No problem for 2 days but on the thrid day the Maxtor also started giving the same problem. Can somebody throw some light on this problem.
The only time I have seen this is:
1). The unit gets too hot and will not work well
2). the disk gets too full
3). the disk gets badly fragmented
I assume the disks are new, so full or fragmented are not a problem. Have you tried putting the old disk back in and see what happens?
Also, it is possible you have the jumpers wrong and the drive is trying to do other some strange things. Check the jumpers first.
Good luck
It could be a heat related problem. If the the old drive was 5400 RPM and you put in a 7200 rpm drive (which run much hotter) , that could be the problem. I know the old 3000 series units had some problems iwth 7200 drives overheating them and causing problems. They also didnt[ have fans in them though like the 5000 series has.
Would the newer WD 16mb cache HDs perform well for well ventelated RePlayTV's (5500 series)?
I just upgraded a 5508 (80GB Maxtor drive) to a 2 drive system. The master is a 120GB WD and the slave is a 300GB WD. To offset the heat (both are 7800 rpm drives, so heat is about 4 times the original) I mounted double hard drive fans to each drive and ensured that each drive is placed over the venting holes in the base of the box. Mounted the second drive on standard brass rails. Both drives have rubber grommets, however, so they may be retaining heat that might be dissipated if there was metal to metal contact. So far, in one day of operation, the following has occurrred:
1. On initial startup, the box requested that I register it, and could not make a connection through the internet to do so. After a frustrating tag game with the web site (response was "this ReplayTV number has already been registered"), I discovered that the connection information had not been retained during the upgrade. I had to reenter everything for an initial setup -- zip code, program source, router IP address, etc. After that, connection was reestablished with ReplayTV and the latest schedules were loaded in.
2. I had retained all my previously recorded programs - despite the warning during the upgrade, this appears to be a smooth transfer - and the new available recording time at high quality is 127 hours or so. So 420GB converts to about 150 hours.
3. This morning I came down to find the machine had frozen in the middle of recording a football game. Had to reset by turning the machine off and on. The case is slightly warm to the touch above the drives, but by no means hot.
One question I have would be - what is the power available to the extra equipment? Extra power demands will also generate heat, and so adding one more fan -- for the case, perhaps -- might be self defeating. Anyone know? Or, does anyone know of a way to add a secondary power source internal to the case to solve that potential problem?
Tought you'd like to know these things. I got a lot of help from this group in doing what I've done this far, and I appreciate it.
BarryB
I had the same lock up problem when I upgraded my 5504 to a maxtor 160GB with 8MB cache. I put the orginal disk back in it and it works correctly. I just bought a new WD 160GB with 2MB cache and we will see what happens.
Any Updates with this issue?
i recently upgraded a failing HD to a WD 250 8MB 7200 RPM as well, and like earlier posts for a short while everything looks great but the screen freezes and make the KKKKKKK sound, I may try to mound the drive a bit higher in the box to get a bit more airflow around the drive, pending the issue is heat related.
Thanks
david@sudsgear.com
I noticed a similar freezing and or stuttering problem with my RPTV that was upgraded to WD 120G.
I have had the disk in for over 2 years and have noticed that if I turn the unit off with the remote, ( blue light is off but unit is still on to record and such) when In not actually watching TV, it doesnt do it.
Just my experience.
I just performed the same exact update (using drives from woot.com) and noticed occassional jumpiness. I'm going to swap out the fan and see if that's any better later on today.