DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby Jerome32 » Tue Oct 19, 2010 8:40 pm

baz7795 wrote:hi,
I am new to this site, please could you send me image for 1 TB and 2 TB many thanks


Hi baz7795,
From your posts, I assume that you are trying to upgrade a DRX890 with a drive larger than 1TB?

If it's a 1TB drive, just do a "Full System Reset" after installing the drive and it will correctly format to 750GB Personal/250GB Anytime.

If you're trying to install a drive larger than 1TB, you will need to use Copy+ to initialise the disk - but to do this, you need to pull an image off an existing Sky+ drive. Unfortunately, I think you've found that with the latest DRX890 system software, Copy+ can no longer see the drive - so no way to pull the image off the original drive.

I am happy to send you the vanilla XTV image if you furnish an email. It was pulled off my DRX890 drive prior to the latest software update. It will work whether the drive is 1.5 or 2TB. Suggest you spambot-protect your email by posting it as eg: myemail_getridofthis@somewhere.com. It's 10MB, so you will need a mail server like hotmail or gmail which will accept large file attachments.

You can then open this image with Copy+ and transfer it to the >1TB drive. Once this is done, you can put the drive back into the box, it will do its thing and you should find it works just fine with 250GB Anytime/Remainder Personal Recording Space. (ie: For a 2TB drive, 1.75TB Personal/250GB Anytime).

Note that you will not be able to transfer any existing recordings from the old drive. This is only to allow the >1TB drives to be initialised for use in the DRX890.
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby jimdunleavy » Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:58 pm

Jerome32 wrote:
baz7795 wrote:hi,
I am new to this site, please could you send me image for 1 TB and 2 TB many thanks


I'm in the same boat with a 1.5Tb drive and no way to get an image from the original 500Gb, if you could e-mail me the necessary file I would be grateful.
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby Jerome32 » Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:43 pm

Better news - the 10MB file compresses to a 700kB zipfile - easy to forward via email. If you want it via this route, you'll need to post your email on the forum unless someone is able to tell me how to enable personal messages/emails on this forum via the member profiles.

Personally, I'd avoid posting my email on public boards like this to avoid spam-bots. To make it easier for anyone who wants this XTV drive image, use this link:
http://rapidshare.com/files/426054701/DRX890image_vanilla.zip
(This file is a "vanilla" XTV image (ie: no recordings) from a DRX890 created using Copy+ 1.2.0.7 prior to the latest Darwin software update which made drives unreadable by Copy+. It can be used to initialise drives >1TB for use in the DRX890)
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby baz7795 » Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:34 pm

hi,
many thanks your quick response,
that was spot-on, please if you could send me one be much appreciated .need an image so my 2 terabyte can work, I have managed to get my 1 terabyte to work, also would I be right in saying if the box gets reset at any time, will it downgrade it to 1 terabyte even though hd disc is 2 TB? Also noticed since I have put my 1 TB in their, fan does not work, left it running for two hours recording HD, didn't come on at all, so wired fine up to powersupply it is on constantly the moment, do you know why the fan is not working. Many thanks for your help
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby baz7795 » Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:35 pm

Nearly forgot
my e-mail address baz3@ntlworld.com
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby pcbbc » Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:06 am

Jerome32 wrote:(This file is a "vanilla" XTV image (ie: no recordings) from a DRX890 created using Copy+ 1.2.0.7 prior to the latest Darwin software update which made drives unreadable by Copy+. It can be used to initialise drives >1TB for use in the DRX890)
But will result in complete disaster for any pre-Darwin recordings once your box receives the Darwin update. :roll:
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby Jerome32 » Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:47 am

pcbbc wrote:
Jerome32 wrote:(This file is a "vanilla" XTV image (ie: no recordings) from a DRX890 created using Copy+ 1.2.0.7 prior to the latest Darwin software update which made drives unreadable by Copy+. It can be used to initialise drives >1TB for use in the DRX890)
But will result in complete disaster for any pre-Darwin recordings once your box receives the Darwin update. :roll:


Actually Stuart, that's not the case, though I do understand where you're coming from! :)

The problem is that a DRX890 with post-Darwin software results in a drive which is unreadable by Copy+. Also, a post-Darwin DRX890 will only natively format to a maximum of 1TB. So how does someone now upgrade to a drive larger than 1TB if all you've got is a post-Darwin DRX890? Answer follows...

Anyone who wants to upgrade a post-Darwin DRX890 to a drive exceeding 1TB currently has no way to initialise the larger drive since the native 500GB drive pulled from the box can no longer be recognised by Copy+, and cannot therefore capture a basic drive image with which to initialise the larger capacity drive.

The "vanilla" XTV image I posted was captured from my DRX890 drive when in pre-Darwin state. It contains no recordings. This image can be copied to a >1TB drive to initialise it for use in a post-Darwin DRX890. The larger capacity drive will then be formatted to the maximum capacity and will run fine in a post-Darwin DRX890 with no problems of glitches, etc. since any recordings made will be laid down correctly. I can attest to this from personal experience. The 2TB WD20EVDS I've got in my post-Darwin DRX890 runs perfectly with no glitches. It was initialised using this "vanilla" image.

The situation you're describing is that of people who are using a pre-Darwin drive image containing recordings which are then transferred to a larger drive and installed into a post-Darwin box. The old recordings are progressively overwritten by the newer recordings and lost. Anyone with a pre-Darwin DRX890 does not require this "vanilla" image since they can easily create one from the native drive in the box. What's important is that once the >1TB drive has been setup, they should get the box updated to post-Darwin software before attempting to use the recording facility.

So, Copy+ may not currently enable successful transfer of existing recordings from an older box to a newer post-Darwin HD box. But it can still be safely used to initialise drives larger than 2TB by the method above so long as one understands the limitations - ie: you cannot import your old recordings.

See, even with all the recent issues, Copy+ remains useful! :D
Last edited by Jerome32 on Wed Oct 20, 2010 1:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby Jerome32 » Wed Oct 20, 2010 12:57 am

baz7795 wrote:hi,
many thanks your quick response,
that was spot-on, please if you could send me one be much appreciated .need an image so my 2 terabyte can work, I have managed to get my 1 terabyte to work, also would I be right in saying if the box gets reset at any time, will it downgrade it to 1 terabyte even though hd disc is 2 TB? Also noticed since I have put my 1 TB in their, fan does not work, left it running for two hours recording HD, didn't come on at all, so wired fine up to powersupply it is on constantly the moment, do you know why the fan is not working. Many thanks for your help


You've got email!

If you do a full system reset, the 2TB in the DRX890 (with its current software) will format the drive to give 1TB recording capacity only (750GB Personal / 250GB Anytime). In over 7 years of Sky+ usage, I've never had to do a FSR. Nor have I ever suffered a spontaneous FSR following a system crash or software update. And my wife really does use the box an awful lot! So I've never worried too much about this issue.

If the fan does not seem to run much with the 1TB, that's normal behaviour in the DRX890 - don't worry about it. If the fan spins all the time with your 2TB drive, it's because the box firmware is unable to read the hard drive temperature data and as a failsafe response will cause the fan to spin all the time.

What make are your 1TB and 2TB drives?
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby pcbbc » Wed Oct 20, 2010 9:28 am

There are still inconsistencies with the way Copy+ formats the disk as to how the Sky box would for drives over 1TB. This is almost certainly how we got in this mess in the first place.
Until I fully understand what went wrong, it's impossible to say if this is "safe" or not. Although I agree if you are only making post-Darwin recordings then the overwriting problem won't come into play.
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby jimdunleavy » Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:06 pm

I've now downloaded thew Vanilla image, many thanks. I've now got a dilemma.

As an IT consultant I've got access to lots of new hard disks, I've now setup my Tivo to take over recording duties while I watch all that's left on the Amstrad HD box. The
Question is this.

Do I install a 1Tb, do a full system reset and end up with 750Gb useable space (3 x more than before) or do I use the vanilla image with Copy+ to prepare a 1.5Tb drive,(which will give 1Tb useable space) install into the Amstrad and force a software update before doing any recordings???

BTW is the method of forcing an update the same as a SKY+ box??
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby Jerome32 » Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:40 pm

jimdunleavy wrote:I've now downloaded thew Vanilla image, many thanks. I've now got a dilemma.

Do I install a 1Tb, do a full system reset and end up with 750Gb useable space (3 x more than before) or do I use the vanilla image with Copy+ to prepare a 1.5Tb drive,(which will give 1Tb useable space) install into the Amstrad and force a software update before doing any recordings???

BTW is the method of forcing an update the same as a SKY+ box??


Whether you wish to use the 1TB or 1.5TB is largely a personal choice based on how heavy your recording usage is. If you use the 1.5TB drive, you will get 1.25TB personal space as the DRX890 will only allocate 250GB to Anytime, no matter how large the drive you install.

The safest way to reduce the chance of problems with the 1.5TB drive is to make sure your box has the updated software prior to installing the 1.5TB drive with vanilla image.
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby jimdunleavy » Fri Oct 22, 2010 9:59 pm

I thought the software resided on the hard disk, not the box, or am I completely wrong?
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby pcbbc » Fri Oct 22, 2010 10:14 pm

jimdunleavy wrote:I thought the software resided on the hard disk, not the box, or am I completely wrong?
Software is in Flash EEPROM inside box.
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby jimdunleavy » Sat Oct 23, 2010 10:00 pm

pcbbc wrote:
jimdunleavy wrote:I thought the software resided on the hard disk, not the box, or am I completely wrong?
Software is in Flash EEPROM inside box.


OK, you learn something new everyday, at the moment it's SYSF26.28.06 and the EPG is 38.2.1.6_1.

Is that the latest?
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Re: DRX890 and WD20EVDS 2TB - Compatible

Postby Jerome32 » Sun Oct 24, 2010 12:45 pm

jimdunleavy wrote:.. at the moment it's SYSF26.28.06 and the EPG is 38.2.1.6_1.
Is that the latest?


That's the latest post-Darwin software. You're good to go.
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