Hi there

I have had my Sony DVD recorder for over a year and the hard disk which is about 3 Gb. I suppose, is full now and I do not want to delete all the films etc.

How about changing the hard disk for a bigger one? Does anyone know if it an ordinary ide connection and standard power lead and if so is there any problem with a bigger one, will the software pick up the change if I do it?

It is out of warrantee now, but before I start, I wondered if anyone has done it, or if there is any way to dump the contents of the hard disk to a big 1.5 Tb. disk I use for backup for other stuff. There is a USB connection, but can it be programmed to allow this? I could do it via a laptop. I have transferred some to dvd, but with an HD documentary, for instance, I have to reduce the definition to get it all onto one dvd. It takes ages as well. I would like to have an external ide/power connection outside the machine so I could keep several HDs for various subjects.

Any comments would be welcome, before I tear it apart.

Thanks George.












Any comments would be welcome, thanks George.

wrote in message
...
Hi there

I have had my Sony DVD recorder for over a year and the hard disk which is
about 3 Gb. I suppose, is full now and I do not want to delete all the
films etc.

How about changing the hard disk for a bigger one? Does anyone know if it
an ordinary ide connection and standard power lead and if so is there any
problem with a bigger one, will the software pick up the change if I do
it?

It is out of warrantee now, but before I start, I wondered if anyone has
done it, or if there is any way to dump the contents of the hard disk to a
big 1.5 Tb. disk I use for backup for other stuff. There is a USB
connection, but can it be programmed to allow this? I could do it via a
laptop. I have transferred some to dvd, but with an HD documentary, for
instance, I have to reduce the definition to get it all onto one dvd. It
takes ages as well. I would like to have an external ide/power connection
outside the machine so I could keep several HDs for various subjects.

Any comments would be welcome, before I tear it apart.

Thanks George.


Can't say with any certainty for that model, but with many manufacturer's
machines that appear to use a perfectly normal IDE drive, they are in fact
an OEM version, and the machine looks for an identifier block in the drive's
control software. If it doesn't find what it's looking for, the drive is not
recognised.

Arfa

On Sunday, June 17, 2012 6:25:25 PM UTC+1, Arfa Daily wrote:
george wrote in message

Hi there

I have had my Sony DVD recorder for over a year and the hard disk which is
about 3 Gb. I suppose, is full now and I do not want to delete all the
films etc.

How about changing the hard disk for a bigger one? Does anyone know if it
an ordinary ide connection and standard power lead and if so is there any
problem with a bigger one, will the software pick up the change if I do
it?

It is out of warrantee now, but before I start, I wondered if anyone has
done it, or if there is any way to dump the contents of the hard disk to a
big 1.5 Tb. disk I use for backup for other stuff. There is a USB
connection, but can it be programmed to allow this? I could do it via a
laptop. I have transferred some to dvd, but with an HD documentary, for
instance, I have to reduce the definition to get it all onto one dvd. It
takes ages as well. I would like to have an external ide/power connection
outside the machine so I could keep several HDs for various subjects.

Any comments would be welcome, before I tear it apart.

Thanks George.


Can't say with any certainty for that model, but with many manufacturer's
machines that appear to use a perfectly normal IDE drive, they are in fact
an OEM version, and the machine looks for an identifier block in the drive's
control software. If it doesn't find what it's looking for, the drive is not
recognised.

Arfa


Hmmm. That doesn't sound too good. I wonder if there is a way to fool it? Maybe there is a way to export the contents of the HD instead. Thanks for the thoughts though. Regards George.

"georgewbell" wrote in message
...
On Sunday, June 17, 2012 6:25:25 PM UTC+1, Arfa Daily wrote:
george wrote in message

Hi there

I have had my Sony DVD recorder for over a year and the hard disk which
is
about 3 Gb. I suppose, is full now and I do not want to delete all the
films etc.

How about changing the hard disk for a bigger one? Does anyone know if
it
an ordinary ide connection and standard power lead and if so is there
any
problem with a bigger one, will the software pick up the change if I do
it?

It is out of warrantee now, but before I start, I wondered if anyone
has
done it, or if there is any way to dump the contents of the hard disk
to a
big 1.5 Tb. disk I use for backup for other stuff. There is a USB
connection, but can it be programmed to allow this? I could do it via a
laptop. I have transferred some to dvd, but with an HD documentary, for
instance, I have to reduce the definition to get it all onto one dvd.
It
takes ages as well. I would like to have an external ide/power
connection
outside the machine so I could keep several HDs for various subjects.

Any comments would be welcome, before I tear it apart.

Thanks George.


Can't say with any certainty for that model, but with many manufacturer's
machines that appear to use a perfectly normal IDE drive, they are in
fact
an OEM version, and the machine looks for an identifier block in the
drive's
control software. If it doesn't find what it's looking for, the drive is
not
recognised.

Arfa


Hmmm. That doesn't sound too good. I wonder if there is a way to fool
it? Maybe there is a way to export the contents of the HD instead. Thanks
for the thoughts though. Regards George.



You could probably export using Clonezilla
http://clonezilla.org/

or HDAT2, which gets right into the very heart of the disk drive - hidden
areas, passwords, change apparent size of drive, hardware reset etc.
http://www.hdat2.com/

Both of these are freeware.



(I have rescued a couple of apparently dead hard drives with HDAT2, its a
scarily good program)


Gareth.

"Arfa Daily" wrote in
:



wrote in message
...
Hi there

I have had my Sony DVD recorder for over a year and the hard disk
which is about 3 Gb. I suppose, is full now and I do not want to
delete all the films etc.

How about changing the hard disk for a bigger one? Does anyone know
if it an ordinary ide connection and standard power lead and if so is
there any problem with a bigger one, will the software pick up the
change if I do it?

It is out of warrantee now, but before I start, I wondered if anyone
has done it, or if there is any way to dump the contents of the hard
disk to a big 1.5 Tb. disk I use for backup for other stuff. There
is a USB connection, but can it be programmed to allow this? I could
do it via a laptop. I have transferred some to dvd, but with an HD
documentary, for instance, I have to reduce the definition to get it
all onto one dvd. It takes ages as well. I would like to have an
external ide/power connection outside the machine so I could keep
several HDs for various subjects.

Any comments would be welcome, before I tear it apart.

Thanks George.


Can't say with any certainty for that model, but with many
manufacturer's machines that appear to use a perfectly normal IDE
drive, they are in fact an OEM version, and the machine looks for an
identifier block in the drive's control software. If it doesn't find
what it's looking for, the drive is not recognised.

Arfa



You could probably plug the old drive into a PC and access the movie files
that way. they're probably just standard video files.
unless the box has DRM; Digital Rights Management,then you're screwed.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

"Gareth Magennis" wrote in
:



"georgewbell" wrote in message
...
On Sunday, June 17, 2012 6:25:25 PM UTC+1, Arfa Daily wrote:
george wrote in message

Hi there

I have had my Sony DVD recorder for over a year and the hard disk
which is
about 3 Gb. I suppose, is full now and I do not want to delete all
the films etc.

How about changing the hard disk for a bigger one? Does anyone
know if it
an ordinary ide connection and standard power lead and if so is
there any
problem with a bigger one, will the software pick up the change if
I do it?

It is out of warrantee now, but before I start, I wondered if
anyone has
done it, or if there is any way to dump the contents of the hard
disk to a
big 1.5 Tb. disk I use for backup for other stuff. There is a
USB connection, but can it be programmed to allow this? I could do
it via a laptop. I have transferred some to dvd, but with an HD
documentary, for instance, I have to reduce the definition to get
it all onto one dvd. It
takes ages as well. I would like to have an external ide/power
connection
outside the machine so I could keep several HDs for various
subjects.

Any comments would be welcome, before I tear it apart.

Thanks George.


Can't say with any certainty for that model, but with many
manufacturer's machines that appear to use a perfectly normal IDE
drive, they are in fact
an OEM version, and the machine looks for an identifier block in the
drive's
control software. If it doesn't find what it's looking for, the
drive is not
recognised.

Arfa


Hmmm. That doesn't sound too good. I wonder if there is a way to
fool it? Maybe there is a way to export the contents of the HD
instead. Thanks for the thoughts though. Regards George.



You could probably export using Clonezilla
http://clonezilla.org/

or HDAT2, which gets right into the very heart of the disk drive -
hidden areas, passwords, change apparent size of drive, hardware reset
etc. http://www.hdat2.com/

Both of these are freeware.



(I have rescued a couple of apparently dead hard drives with HDAT2,
its a scarily good program)


Gareth.



What is the disk size limit for disk to disk cloning
with Clonezilla?
Their docs are a bit silent on this info.

"Sjouke Burry" s@b wrote in message
2.10...
"Gareth Magennis" wrote in
:



"georgewbell" wrote in message
...
On Sunday, June 17, 2012 6:25:25 PM UTC+1, Arfa Daily wrote:
george wrote in message

Hi there

I have had my Sony DVD recorder for over a year and the hard disk
which is
about 3 Gb. I suppose, is full now and I do not want to delete all
the films etc.

How about changing the hard disk for a bigger one? Does anyone
know if it
an ordinary ide connection and standard power lead and if so is
there any
problem with a bigger one, will the software pick up the change if
I do it?

It is out of warrantee now, but before I start, I wondered if
anyone has
done it, or if there is any way to dump the contents of the hard
disk to a
big 1.5 Tb. disk I use for backup for other stuff. There is a
USB connection, but can it be programmed to allow this? I could do
it via a laptop. I have transferred some to dvd, but with an HD
documentary, for instance, I have to reduce the definition to get
it all onto one dvd. It
takes ages as well. I would like to have an external ide/power
connection
outside the machine so I could keep several HDs for various
subjects.

Any comments would be welcome, before I tear it apart.

Thanks George.


Can't say with any certainty for that model, but with many
manufacturer's machines that appear to use a perfectly normal IDE
drive, they are in fact
an OEM version, and the machine looks for an identifier block in the
drive's
control software. If it doesn't find what it's looking for, the
drive is not
recognised.

Arfa


Hmmm. That doesn't sound too good. I wonder if there is a way to
fool it? Maybe there is a way to export the contents of the HD
instead. Thanks for the thoughts though. Regards George.



You could probably export using Clonezilla
http://clonezilla.org/

or HDAT2, which gets right into the very heart of the disk drive -
hidden areas, passwords, change apparent size of drive, hardware reset
etc. http://www.hdat2.com/

Both of these are freeware.



(I have rescued a couple of apparently dead hard drives with HDAT2,
its a scarily good program)


Gareth.



What is the disk size limit for disk to disk cloning
with Clonezilla?
Their docs are a bit silent on this info.



No idea, I'm afraid.



Gareth.

On Sun, 17 Jun 2012 18:25:25 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Can't say with any certainty for that model, but with many manufacturer's
machines that appear to use a perfectly normal IDE drive, they are in fact
an OEM version, and the machine looks for an identifier block in the drive's
control software. If it doesn't find what it's looking for, the drive is not
recognised.

If the OP can determine what the recorder is looking for (eg model
number, serial number, firmware version), then I can show him how to
use HDDHackr to modify a recent model WD drive for use in the machine.
However it may be that Sony limits the capacity to that of the
original HDD. Also, the OP will need a SATA-to-IDE adapter PCB (
US$10).

I may also be able to modify other brands and models of HDD, eg older
Maxtors.

I suspect that Sony merely uses the standard ATA Identify Device
command to retrieve a 512-byte information block from the drive.

BTW, a HDD model number would help ...

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

On Jun 18, 11:24*am, Franc Zabkar wrote:
On Sun, 17 Jun 2012 18:25:25 +0100, "Arfa Daily"
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Can't say with any certainty for that model, but with many manufacturer's
machines that appear to use a perfectly normal IDE drive, they are in fact
an OEM version, and the machine looks for an identifier block in the drive's
control software. If it doesn't find what it's looking for, the drive is not
recognised.

If the OP can determine what the recorder is looking for (eg model
number, serial number, firmware version), then I can show him how to
use HDDHackr to modify a recent model WD drive for use in the machine.
However it may be that Sony limits the capacity to that of the
original HDD. Also, the OP will need a SATA-to-IDE adapter PCB (
US$10).

I may also be able to modify other brands and models of HDD, eg older
Maxtors.

I suspect that Sony merely uses the standard ATA Identify Device
command to retrieve a 512-byte information block from the drive.

BTW, a HDD model number would help ...

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

The DVD recorder is a RDR-DC100 No. 4516279 44w and it has a 160
Gbs Hard Disk I have yet to strip it down so I do not know the
details of the HD. I shall have a look tonight and see if I can get
the covers off.

Thanks for all the information. George.

On 18 Jun 2012 02:48:04 GMT, Sjouke Burry s@b wrote:

"Gareth Magennis" wrote in
:



"georgewbell" wrote in message
...
On Sunday, June 17, 2012 6:25:25 PM UTC+1, Arfa Daily wrote:
george wrote in message

Hi there

I have had my Sony DVD recorder for over a year and the hard disk
which is
about 3 Gb. I suppose, is full now and I do not want to delete all
the films etc.

How about changing the hard disk for a bigger one? Does anyone
know if it
an ordinary ide connection and standard power lead and if so is
there any
problem with a bigger one, will the software pick up the change if
I do it?

It is out of warrantee now, but before I start, I wondered if
anyone has
done it, or if there is any way to dump the contents of the hard
disk to a
big 1.5 Tb. disk I use for backup for other stuff. There is a
USB connection, but can it be programmed to allow this? I could do
it via a laptop. I have transferred some to dvd, but with an HD
documentary, for instance, I have to reduce the definition to get
it all onto one dvd. It
takes ages as well. I would like to have an external ide/power
connection
outside the machine so I could keep several HDs for various
subjects.

Any comments would be welcome, before I tear it apart.

Thanks George.


Can't say with any certainty for that model, but with many
manufacturer's machines that appear to use a perfectly normal IDE
drive, they are in fact
an OEM version, and the machine looks for an identifier block in the
drive's
control software. If it doesn't find what it's looking for, the
drive is not
recognised.

Arfa


Hmmm. That doesn't sound too good. I wonder if there is a way to
fool it? Maybe there is a way to export the contents of the HD
instead. Thanks for the thoughts though. Regards George.



You could probably export using Clonezilla
http://clonezilla.org/

or HDAT2, which gets right into the very heart of the disk drive -
hidden areas, passwords, change apparent size of drive, hardware reset
etc. http://www.hdat2.com/

Both of these are freeware.



(I have rescued a couple of apparently dead hard drives with HDAT2,
its a scarily good program)


Gareth.



What is the disk size limit for disk to disk cloning
with Clonezilla?
Their docs are a bit silent on this info.

I have found it useful in the 300 GiB+ range. I think the devs avoided
inbuilt limitations.

?-)

Tell you what I would do.

Most PCs now have SATA drives, but they usually also have an IDE controller which is usually used for the CD and DVD drives. So, if it is IDE obviously you will need a new IDE drive. I don't know the biggest you can get but assuming it's IDE, in a PC you can unplug the optical drives and plug both the old and new drives in.

Now you are not booting from either, you boot normally. (if it is a SATA drive then still, same thing) You do not disturb your boot drive or OS at all.. You download a utility from the HD manufacturer's website for cloning. Almost all of them have one and I have yet to se one that is brand specific. For example while I wouldn't hit a dog in the ass with a Western Digital, their cloning software should work fine.

You simply clone drive to drive, letting the default "shrink or grow partition" to be. This SHOULD work.

Now the problem is if it will use the extra space. You would think it's plug and play that way but the capacity might be encoded in firmware or something. Manufacturers are MFs that way sometimes. Of course there may be a service menu setting for that. You will find out I guess.

If that is the case then you might need approximately the same sized drives, and clone the original to all of them. Then delete everything on all of them except for the original. You have a blank slate, and your backup to be plugged in at will.

These utilities are pretty much the same thing as Norton Ghost, they copy an image sector by sector, not file by file. Therefore if the partition is not DOS or NTFS, it should still work.

From what I've heard they were formatted with the Unix/Linux system, which makes some sense for a couple of reasons I need not go into. Back then I heard that to replace a bad drive in these things you needed to use that format. This was of course in case of a drive failure, which is not the case here.

And having an external plug for a HD is not hrd to achieve, get the right cables and drill a hole, literally. I did something quite similar with a PC a long time ago. I had some super long cables. But then this thing is not all that big, standard cables should make it to the outside of the case. I had a full server case at the time, a DVR is considerably smaller. Just don't count on being able to hotswap them.

If the drive is SCSI, you have a new set of problems. Solvable, but new. Most PCs will need an interface card to deal with them. Probably twenty bucks really, but then it doesn't disturb your OS or other drives. It would be nice actually to be able to access the files via PC but I wouldn't count on it. MAYBE if you are running Linux. Maybe.

In fact I could be dead wrong and the cloning utilities don't work for Linux, if that is the format. Then you just need their version of the utility. It's all free and if necessary you can just load a USB stickdrive and run from that. Once the process is over, just put everything back the way it was.. Linux does not require installation to run.

J

On Jun 21, 4:55*am, wrote:
Tell you what I would do.

Most PCs now have SATA drives, but they usually also have an IDE controller which is usually used for the CD and DVD drives. So, if it is IDE obviously you will need a new IDE drive. I don't know the biggest you can get but assuming it's IDE, in a PC you can unplug the optical drives and plug both the old and new drives in.

Now you are not booting from either, you boot normally. (if it is a SATA drive then still, same thing) You do not disturb your boot drive or OS at all. You download a utility from the HD manufacturer's website for cloning. Almost all of them have one and I have yet to se one that is brand specific.. For example while I wouldn't hit a dog in the ass with a Western Digital, their cloning software should work fine.

You simply clone drive to drive, letting the default "shrink or grow partition" to be. This SHOULD work.

Now the problem is if it will use the extra space. You would think it's plug and play that way but the capacity might be encoded in firmware or something. Manufacturers are MFs that way sometimes. Of course there may be a service menu setting for that. You will find out I guess.

If that is the case then you might need approximately the same sized drives, and clone the original to all of them. Then delete everything on all of them except for the original. You have a blank slate, and your backup to be plugged in at will.

These utilities are pretty much the same thing as Norton Ghost, they copy an image sector by sector, not file by file. Therefore if the partition is not DOS or NTFS, it should still work.

From what I've heard they were formatted with the Unix/Linux system, which makes some sense for a couple of reasons I need not go into. Back then I heard that to replace a bad drive in these things you needed to use that format. This was of course in case of a drive failure, which is not the case here.

And having an external plug for a HD is not hrd to achieve, get the right cables and drill a hole, literally. I did something quite similar with a PC a long time ago. I had some super long cables. But then this thing is not all that big, standard cables should make it to the outside of the case. I had a full server case at the time, a DVR is considerably smaller. Just don't count on being able to hotswap them.

If the drive is SCSI, you have a new set of problems. Solvable, but new. Most PCs will need an interface card to deal with them. Probably twenty bucks really, but then it doesn't disturb your OS or other drives. It would be nice actually to be able to access the files via PC but I wouldn't count on it. MAYBE if you are running Linux. Maybe.

In fact I could be dead wrong and the cloning utilities don't work for Linux, if that is the format. Then you just need their version of the utility.. It's all free and if necessary you can just load a USB stickdrive and run from that. Once the process is over, just put everything back the way it was. Linux does not require installation to run.

J

That all sounds very do-able. Thanks very much. FYI the disk is a
seagate ST3160310CS it says it is a Pipeline HD which does not make
a lot of sense to me but the seagate description seems to be talking
about a pretty standard device. Is Ghost still available as I used to
use this in another life about ten years ago. If it has not changed
much I can probably work out how to use it again. Thanks very much
again I understand nearly all of what you said !! I have a friend
who knows all about LInux too. We should be able to work something
out.

Best Regards George.

On Monday, July 9, 2012 11:13:48 AM UTC-7, georgewbell wrote:
On Jun 21, 4:55*am, wrote:
> Tell you what I would do.
>
> Most PCs now have SATA drives, but they usually also have an IDE controller ...

That all sounds very do-able. Thanks very much. FYI the disk is a
seagate ST3160310CS it says it is a Pipeline HD

That is not an IDE disk, it's SATA. And, it isn't 3GB, it's 160 GB.
Probably, it isn't formatted in FAT or NTFS, so a PC won't read the
files UNLESS YOU BOOT YOUR PC FROM LINUX.