Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Which replacement drives can you use and which do people recommend?

Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby Engineer247 » Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:54 pm

Have just fitted a 500Gb Western Digital WD5000AAKB to a relatives Amstrad DRX280 PVR3 Sky+ box , removing a 160Gb Seagate ST3160215ACE in the process (80Gb for user 80Gb for Anytime). I let the Sky box format the new drive and after the usual delay to format , power down and reboot everything worked like a dream , (wait at least 5 minutes after power down before trying to bring box out of standby) . One thing to be careful of is that the layout of the jumpers on the back of the Western Digital drive are totally different to the Seagate , but both have little diagrams on top so no real drama - get it wrong though and your box won't boot up. Have read of cooling fans that mis-behave following hdd upgrade but no such problem here. Early days yet but I've tested every aspect of the units operation and it hasn't missed a beat so far , will keep the forum posted if any reliability issues crop up.
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby pcbbc » Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:59 am

Cool.

Yes, jumpers are always one to watch out for. I've lost count of the number of "problems" I've diagnosed for people which have turned out to be a verbatim copy of the jumper positions from the original drive. Usually it results in setting the 37GB cap!
I've even seen situations where manufacturers have different arrangements on different model lines, and the odd one where the diagram on the drive is upside down!

Anyway thanks for your report, and I'm sure the drive details will be of use to someone.
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby Engineer247 » Thu Feb 11, 2010 8:34 pm

Thanks Stuart I've seen so many questions on the forum about which drive works best with which box ? I thought that a bit of detail would help - after all who wants to fork out £40/£50 or more only to be dissapointed - great forum mate keep up the good work !
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Help!

Postby Delboy » Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:05 pm

Looking for some advice from you professionals!
I have an Amstrad drx280 which has been playing up a bit (have had to reset the planner a few times some recordings are rubbish with sound missing) I feel the hard drive is on the verge of giving up completely. Reading the net I finally found you guys who look like you know a few things about upgrading.
I am definately looking at a Western Digital drive as suggested here. When you say to watch out for the jumper settings what exactly do you mean? Is it the master/slave etc settings or something else?
Any help with what I am about to do would be greatly appreciated
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby Delboy » Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:08 pm

Sorry forgot to ask is this the chap I should go for?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital ... 188&sr=1-2
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby pcbbc » Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:13 pm

It looks okay as it is a PATA drive (not SATA).

However I can not vouch for it's suitability (or otherwise) for use in an Amstrad box. Sorry. :oops:

Check out the forums like DigitalSpy. Search for the drive make and model number and check for problems with your (Amstrad) box.
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby Delboy » Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:19 pm

Thanks
engineer247 in the first posts reckons this is the one to go for though when upgrading an Amstrad. Absolutely fed up of the problems with the existing drive so have to upgrade :(
Just curious to know what the issues with the jumpers would be ??
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby Engineer247 » Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:33 am

Delboy the drive you linked to has "SP" at the end of the manufacturers model no. but otherwise looks identical (I'm afraid I have no idea what the SP means). This upgrade worked fine for me but obviously no-one in his right mind would guarantee it'll work for someone else. The jumper caution is no biggy just be sure to position the jumper at the "cable select" position - sometimes abbreviated to "CS" , it's just that "cable select" was at two different physical positions on the back of the old and new drives in my case. Here's some other info about the box I upgraded to (possibly) assist in making a decision.

Amstrad Model DRX280
Model Number - A2P0705
Version Number - 4F2118
Operating System Version - 1.31B10
EPG Software Version - 5.07.U

Best of luck whatever you decide to do !
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade for sale!

Postby Delboy » Sun Feb 21, 2010 4:26 pm

Right guys got that working and with copy + worked an absolute treat with all the saved programmes from the old 160 Gb drive.
Now by complete coincidence input 2 line in stopped working for some reason input 1 was fine so could watch sky no problem but couldn't watch one and record another as only really had one input. So in my search for a new Amstrad 280 box today I have been coaxed into getting Sky + HD so now left with a 500 Gb WD drive which as I say was perfect for the amstrad 280 but which is no use for me.

So I'll start here, drive cost me £62 would sell for £35 to anyone interested? Pass this onto to anyone looking for a lot more space on their Sky+ box:)
I know I should probably try and sell on Ebay but at least people on here know this is genuinly only 2 days old!
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby Engineer247 » Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:58 pm

Delboy sorry to hear of the problem you had with the lnb input on your DRX280 - you won't regret the upgrade to Sky+HD it's superb - can't help wondering if you've gone the whole hog and ordered one of the new 1Tb 3D enabled HD boxes ? SD and HD are like chalk and cheese - I've got a 50in Panasonic Viera full HD plasma being fed 1080i from an Amstrad DRX780 Sky+HD box and 1080p from a Sony BDP-S350 blu ray player and the HD images from either are absolutely jaw dropping. As an added bonus the latest version of the electronic programme guide (only available to Sky+ HD subscribers) is a sight to behold also , wait until you see the programme search feature - it's great ! Best of luck geting rid of the WD drive !
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby DBMandrake » Tue Mar 09, 2010 10:20 am

Hi Folks,

I have an Amstrad DRX280 PVR3 same as the original poster, operating System Version 1.31B10 and EPG 5.07.u.

I tried to fit a Western Digital WD5000AAKB as suggested in this thread, which co-incidentally I had bought exactly the same model for my PC a few months ago.

I did a full system reset in the hidden menu to format the drive (I intended to use copy+ later to copy the contents if the drive appeared to work ok) and recordings seem to work fine, however I have two problems;

1) The fan runs at full speed all the time when the box is on or recording. It's far to noisy, however I could probably get around this by fitting a resistor in the fan supply.

2) The big problem is that if I switch the box off with the remote, the hard drive does not spin down, and approximately 2 minutes after switching it off it reboots itself and comes on again on channel 998.

Has anyone had problem 2 with this combination ? Basically this makes this drive unusable as it can't be turned off. My guess is that the drive is not responding to the sleep command the box is sending it, causing the OS in the box to crash and reboot :(

Any ideas ?

Unless I can resolve these issues I would have to recommend that anyone thinking of this model of drive in this version of Sky+ NOT attempt it.
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Re: Amstrad DRX280 500Gb Upgrade

Postby Fradbut » Fri Apr 23, 2010 3:56 pm

Hi Folks,

I've tried the same upgrade to my Amstrad PVR3 DRX280 with the same drive - WD5000AAKB but have a different problem. The Copy+ worked great. I did get an error come up during the start of copying but I ignored it (can't remember the message - at my own peril). The new drive booted up fine in the digibox and worked great but when I put it on standby it took 3-4 mins and then to switch back onto full power it again took 3-4 mins. On pressing power on nothing happened or whirred during the 3-4 mins. Any ideas on what it could be ?
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