Samsung Spinpoint 1TB HDD: Problems with Samsung Sky+ HD Box

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Samsung Spinpoint 1TB HDD: Problems with Samsung Sky+ HD Box

Postby bengunn » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:13 am

I had a Samsung Sky+ HD box fitted last Saturday and (probably unwisely) immediately upgraded the HDD to a Samsung Spinpoint 1TB, with the programs from my old Sky+ box on, courtesy of Copy+.

It all works well except that when the box powers up from standby to do a recording, it almost always seems to reset itself, ending up on channel 998 and giving programmes as part recorded due to power-cut.

As an electronics engineer, I suspect that the new HDD is taking too much current on start-up, dropping the voltage and resetting the box.

I have temporarily increased the padding at the start to 10 minutes, which avoids losing the start of programmes, but need to sort out whether it is a faulty box, faulty HDD, or just incompatibility, so have a couple of questions:

1. Has anyone else fitted a Samsung Spinpoint 1TB HDD to a Samsung HD box and does it work?

2. Has anyone else fitted another HDD to a Samsung HD box which does work and what was it?

Richard
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Postby pcbbc » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:24 am

Thanks for your post.

Have you tried powering the drive in the box with a separate power supply, for example from a USB caddy?

People have reported to me that a Samsung F1 HD103UJ/Y has been used in all 3 models of HD box successfully.

There have been problems with Samsung boxes and WD drives though. But not the same problems you've been seeing.
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Postby bengunn » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:40 am

pcbbc wrote:Thanks for your post.

Have you tried powering the drive in the box with a separate power supply, for example from a USB caddy?

People have reported to me that a Samsung F1 HD103UJ/Y has been used in all 3 models of HD box successfully.

There have been problems with Samsung boxes and WD drives though. But not the same problems you've been seeing.


Thanks for that info, I have not tried a separate power supply yet but it is on my list of things to try; will that result in the HDD running 24/7, or is the HDD running controlled by the data cable rather than the power cable? (Sorry I am not an HDD expert).

Another thing that I will do is use Copy+ to put all my stuff on the original HDD from the Samsung box (it will still fit) and try that, to see if the box is faulty.

Richard
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Postby pcbbc » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:58 am

bengunn wrote:Thanks for that info, I have not tried a separate power supply yet but it is on my list of things to try; will that result in the HDD running 24/7, or is the HDD running controlled by the data cable rather than the power cable? (Sorry I am not an HDD expert).
It can be controlled by the data cable. 12v and 5v lines should be permanently active. However I have not actually tested this on any of the HD boxes (but have on other Sky+ box models).
Note that some USB caddies never spin down, however that is because the USB IDE bridge chips only support a small minimal subset of the ATA commands. eSATA should work differently, as there is no bridging involved.

Another thing that I will do is use Copy+ to put all my stuff on the original HDD from the Samsung box (it will still fit) and try that, to see if the box is faulty.
Good idea.
Remember you can select/deselect programs to copy in Copy+ which might save you some time for a quick test, or if you don't have sufficient room.
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Postby wonderboy » Fri Nov 14, 2008 9:13 am

This may be due to the drive being an HD103UJ rather than an HD103UJ/Y

I am having the same/similar problem with the non-y version in a samsung. (drive resets itself when viewing recording resulting in long pause)

I have replaced the original 300Gb disk and all works, so it's not like the box itself is faulty.
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Postby bengunn » Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:52 pm

Yesterday I tried powering the HDD from a USB caddy, so the the Sky box was not powering the HDD at all. It made no difference, the box still reset when powering up to do a recording :(

I think that the original HDD is going back in soon and I will try to find a larger drive in the same series as the original HDD.

For now, I think that the recommendation is DO NOT try to upgrade a Samsung HD box. It is a shame really, as otherwise the box is great, I have had no lipsync problems, the box is quiet and the fast forward/rewind at x12 and x30 works just as well as my old Sky+ box. I really don't want to get Sky in or I will end up with a Thomson refurb. I will report any future attempts successful or otherwise.
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Postby robin_l » Sun Jan 25, 2009 1:23 pm

Add another to the list of people who have tried the HD103UJ in the Samsung box, without success.

In light of all the negative experiences, I strongly recommend that you alter the compability notes to say that there are mixed reports of whether it works or not with the Samsung box.
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Postby wonderboy » Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:01 pm

I have now managed a successful upgrade using the Seagate ST3750840SCE 750Gb drive, which is nearly-identical to the one that ships with the Samsung. No issues so far, been 3 days now.

You can get one from www.morecomputers.com
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Postby patelc7 » Wed Apr 01, 2009 7:46 pm

Hi everyone
Anyone else got any views on the Samsung drive.
I have my sky HD box coming in 2 weeks and want to buy the drive in advance. should I avoid the Samsung HD103UJ?????
What else works well at 1TB
Thanks
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Postby mrplow » Tue Jul 07, 2009 6:52 pm

I've just replaced a seagate 750gb barracuda with the samsung f1 hd103uj, and the samsung is so much faster and quieter. I've had loads of problems with seagate drives over the last year or so (I work in IT) and wouldn't touch one with a bargepole now.
My sky hd box is a Thomson if that helps.
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Postby skituscanycom » Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:58 am

patelc7 wrote:Hi everyone
Anyone else got any views on the Samsung drive.
I have my sky HD box coming in 2 weeks and want to buy the drive in advance. should I avoid the Samsung HD103UJ?????
What else works well at 1TB
Thanks


Avoid the Samsung drive. I have had 9 months of erratic performance followed recently by drive death and loss of all programmes.

see my post:
viewtopic.php?t=282&start=60
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