Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

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Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

Postby heronme » Thu Jun 24, 2010 3:04 pm

Hi
I am attempting to upgrade from the standard 300Gb hard disk supplied with my PACE TDS850NB SKY+/HD/HDMI 300GB HDD DIGITAL RECEIVER PACE TDS850NB SKY+/HD/HDMI 300GB HDD DIGITAL RECEIVER

with a

SAMSUNG 1.5TB SATA HARD DRIVE-1500GB

firstly as I was using a beautifull USB external caddie I created the image file on the pc. Then I transferred this image to my new 1.5 Tb drive.

Whenever I access any service that uses this drive the system reboots.

There was a message at the end of the copy+ thing which i will re-do tonight and I also need to try to use cable select!!!
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Re: Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

Postby pcbbc » Thu Jun 24, 2010 3:37 pm

Pace boxes only support a maximum of 1TB. 1.5TB drives only work in Amstrad boxes at present.
Use a 1TB drive, or limit the capacity of your drive to 1TB using the drive manufacturers LBA limit tool (restricting the capacity in Copy+ will NOT work).
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Re: Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

Postby heronme » Thu Jun 24, 2010 8:38 pm

thank you very much for your very fast response.
If you can recommend any particular Amstrad box i'll consider getting one.
In the meantime i'll try finding the drive manufacturers LBA limit tool for my Samsung HD154UI drives.
As you said i can always un limit them should i ever get a compatible device or need them for something else (media player).
If I manage to limit the drive and it works i'll let you know...
Cheers
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Re: Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

Postby pcbbc » Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:05 am

heronme wrote:thank you very much for your very fast response.
If you can recommend any particular Amstrad box i'll consider getting one.
I can't really recommend one as I don't own any!
The brand new DRX890/5 models are reported to be excellent, but have only been out a few months - so I think you'll be lucky to get one other than through Sky.
From all reports they are certainly much faster than the previous generation boxes, and I don't think I'd try using a drive over 1TB in the Amstrad DRX780 even though it works - just too slow with the new EPG.
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Re: Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

Postby heronme » Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:27 pm

Success

OK as you rightly said I could not use a disk larger than 1TB in my Pace box without changing its MAX LBA.
So, as recommended, I used the manufacturer’s diagnostic tool which I downloaded from Samsung.
Just for confusion it is a zip file called ESTOOL300g_CDROM.zip which then uncompressed to in ISO image called Image(300g).iso
Using winiso this creates a bootable CD which automatically ran the program “ESTOOL.EXE”
If you had a dos boot floppy you could just use the dos file direct but finding a working floppy disk & drive was beyond me.
Anyway after trying several PCs with various SATA and CD/DVD abilities I eventually managed to get one to run the tool and recognise my 1.5Tb Samsung hard disk.
Set the LBA MAX SIZE (as in the instructions from Samsung) to 1000000Mb – Processed the command and VOILA a 1Tb drive.
Connected it to my Laptop using my USB caddy and checked it in the Disk Management. Found it correctly to be 1Tb but it had created a 500mb partition. Deleted this partition which made the drive exactly as required for copy+
Ran copy + and dumped the image of the original hard disk onto this new one.
Put it in the Pace digibox and hey presto a working drive. Recorded a few minutes of TV and played it back. ALL IS WELL!!!
Finally as i've time on my hands (semi retired) i'm definately going to get my hands on an Amstrad DRX890 (PVR5) as I want to make the most of the hard disks I purchased. Might even try a 2Tb assuming thats the max...
I'll let you know how it goes
Cheers :D
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Re: Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

Postby ChasNott » Tue Nov 09, 2010 2:30 pm

Hi

Does anyone know if the Pace TDS850NB boxes will get updated with Darwin? If so then will they then be able to handle larger than 1TB drives? How will I know if my Pace box is running Darwin?

Thanks :?:
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Re: Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

Postby pcbbc » Tue Nov 09, 2010 2:47 pm

ChasNott wrote:Does anyone know if the Pace TDS850NB boxes will get updated with Darwin?
There seem to be conflicting reports about this.
Sky seem to be saying that "ALL" HD boxes will get the update eventually, and no reason not to believe them. So I'd take it as just rumour that they won't.
For a box that's only a few years old it would certainly be a big cock-up on the spec front if it turns out they aren't capable of running it. Effectively leaving Sky with 3 different platforms to support (one for SD and 2 for HD with and without Darwin).

If so then will they then be able to handle larger than 1TB drives?
No idea on that one. A cynic might argue that the will not in order to maintain the market for the official 1TB box. However that is just idle speculation on my part, so not really worth much.

How will I know if my Pace box is running Darwin?
At last a question I can answer!
1. Model Number starting SYSF
2. Network option in the setup menu for configuring the Ethernet
3. First time box boots with the new software you get the "Open Source Software" confirmation screen
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Re: Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

Postby ChasNott » Tue Nov 09, 2010 3:46 pm

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

At present my model number is 222.4.5. Will this change to SYSF when it upgrades to Darwin?? Operating System is 1.32B12

Is there anyway to force it to go to Darwin? I have tried doing the manual download but nothing has changed.

BTW is there a way of going back to an earlier firmware version?

I didn't expect my box to continue working with the HDD removed!! :)

Charlie
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Re: Pace and 1.5 Tb disk problem

Postby pcbbc » Tue Nov 09, 2010 4:07 pm

ChasNott wrote:At present my model number is 222.4.5. Will this change to SYSF when it upgrades to Darwin?? Operating System is 1.32B12
Probably.

Is there anyway to force it to go to Darwin? I have tried doing the manual download but nothing has changed.
No.
As far as I know, Darwin hasn't even begun roll out to these boxes yet. It might be in beta test on some employees boxes - dunno.

BTW is there a way of going back to an earlier firmware version?
Sometimes for a short while after receiving it, a forced update may revert you to an earlier version. However the box will usually soon update itself again, and there is no way to prevent this.
Once the software is declared stable (and put on the forced download stream) there is no way back, unless Sky deliberately roll it back for you (rare, but it has happened).
Also reverting from Darwin to the previous version will lose all recordings made since updating - I do not recommend it.

I didn't expect my box to continue working with the HDD removed!! :)
A change was made to allow this a while back.
Seems like a sensible measure to at least allow viewers some functionality form their box (live viewing) in the case of a HDD failure (as opposed to no service whatsoever).
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