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April 01, 2004
Humax PVR-8000T hard disk upgrades
A few people have asked how to upgrade their shiny new Humax PVR-8000Ts. If you are one of those, you'll be pleased to hear that the PVR-8000T has a reputation of being as easy as it gets. Just swap the hard drive and use the menus to format the new drive...that's it! A particularly popular drive for this upgrade seems to be the Maxtor 120Gb Diamondmax Plus 9 which has "Quiet Drive Technology", making it suitable for use in your living room. It's available from retailers such as Scan and Dabs for around £65.
Got any experience of upgrading your PVR-8000T or questions? Just click on the Comments link and add your thoughts...
April 1, 2004 in Freeview, Humax | Permalink
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Comments
There are two versions of this drive available - one with 2 Mb cache and one with 8 Mb. Do you know which one is proven to work? Also, can anyone who has done a swap let me know if it is as quiet and reliable as using the 40 GB drive - I would have thought it would take longer to locate the right section of drive and this could cause a lot of mechanical movement
Posted by: Stephen Carter at Apr 14, 2004 10:41:57 AM
The amount of cache should not make a difference in the 8000T - either should be fine. The smaller capacity drive will have less capacity because it has less disk platters...therefore there should be no difference in the amount of mechanical movement required.
Posted by: Mike at Apr 14, 2004 1:10:37 PM
I've been tempted to buy a large drive to put in this, does it have a 137gb limit? Has anybody tried a 300gb in one of these units?
i've been talking to a friend of mine and I think we are going to have a stab at the file system to see if we can open it up, I'd love to be able to save some tv more long term
Posted by: Mike Green at Apr 16, 2004 2:51:54 PM
It doesn't seem to have a 137GB limit. I upgraded mine today with a 160GB Samsung SP1604N, and it now shows as 157GB free.
Posted by: PM at May 10, 2004 11:00:42 PM
IMPORTANT INFO REGARDING HDD UPGRADE!!!
I have heard a number of reports that certain HDDs are not fully compatable with the Humax PVR-8000T (see http://www.homecinemachoice.com/frame.html?http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-bin/displayreview.php?reviewid=3877). While the unit does recognise the drive and the correct size, the unit will crash or not be able to record on the upgraded drive. The manual for the 8000 model (NOT the 8000T - both downloadable from the Humax site) does give the exact model numbers of the drives it recommends - 40, 60 and 80 GB Seagate drives (ST360020ACE is the 60GB version).
The specs for these drives are that they are 5400rpm, 2MB buffer, Ultra ATA 100 (a very detailed spec is available @ www.Seagate.com).
From my lengthy and extensive experience in IT, I have found that Seagate drives, while not always the fastest or most reliable, are by far the quietest. I will report back when my unit arrives and I have upgraded. Wish me luck!!!
Posted by: Mike Compton at May 17, 2004 11:23:37 PM
I have tried upgrading Humax 8000T to a Samsung SP1604N 160GB Hard Drive. It has failed to make recordings, wiped the recording schedule, frozen the box and pauses from time to time. It seems to run very hot. This has been reported on the radio and telly forum http://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?board=freeviewbox;action=display;num=1077194110;start=390#390 am planning to try a 160GB Seagate Barracuda next as soon as I've sent the Samsung back to Dabs
Cheers Tom
Posted by: Tom at May 18, 2004 9:29:15 AM
I've tried the Samsung SpinPoint P80 SP1203N 120 GB and it works fine and is very quiet.
Posted by: DB at Sep 10, 2004 8:38:33 PM
Scratch that, the Samsung only works if you manualy record
Posted by: DB at Sep 15, 2004 11:43:14 PM
Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 160GB Parallel-ATA (DMA100) 8MB didn't work - the drive is recognized correctly, but the systems freezes when trying to record. Will try the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB FDB which I gather is reported to work.
Posted by: J Kuoppala at Sep 29, 2004 11:35:48 AM
Seagate Barracuda7200.7[plus] 160GB UDMA100 works without any probems. The disk logical configuration is 16,383/16/63 (cylinders/heads/sectors). This may not be the only configuration supported by the Humax disk interface and BIOS. Check the manufacturers spec sheet for other drives.
Posted by: Ian at Oct 12, 2004 11:56:47 PM
Since we've had a software update recently, has anybody tried bigger drives?
Posted by: Mike Green at Nov 26, 2004 12:14:38 PM
I upgraded my 40Gb Humax using a spare IBM 120Gb drive. Works well, but runs a bit warm and loudish (its from back in 2002, I think no fluid bearings). Also the drive has a habit of doing an occasional (noisy for the living room) thermal recalibration.
Model number is ICL35L120AVVA07-0. 7200rpm, 2mb buffer.
Here's a full review of the drive from when it came out.
Posted by: Will Smith at Dec 11, 2004 1:46:55 AM
Dur, here's the review URL :
http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200202/20020221IC35L120AVVA07_1.html
Posted by: Will Smith at Dec 11, 2004 1:47:42 AM
I work in IT for a company who sell thousands of hard disk drives every month from Maxtor & Seagate and I thought I'd just give my input based on experience and information from the actual manufacturers...
If you open the Humax you will see that the HDD is a Seagate with a model number ending in ACE. Normally Seagate HDD model numbers end in A or AS (for SATA). The reason the model number is different is because ACE stands for 'Consumer Electronics' version. The main difference between an ACE drive and a standard PC drive ('A') which everyone on here is using to upgrade is the way it handles error correction and checking (ECC).
Simplistically...with a normal PC drive when you write data to the HDD the drive will 'double-check' with the PC that the data it has received is accurate (check for errors) and if it is correct will write it and if not will try again. This process (ECC) takes milliseconds and you do not notice it when you use your PC.
However, the ACE drives have this function removed..
Why? because if you put a standard HDD in a consumer electronics product which relies on streaming video (such as a PVR) you are more likely to get stuttering images and/or frozen screens as the HDD continually tries to double check the data which has been written.
In summary normal drives do work but be aware that they will a. run hotter because they are not designed to be put in such a small space b. potentially give stuttering images/freezing.
You cannot buy ACE drives from the open market normally - they are sold directly by the manufacturers to the PVR companies.
For reference Maxtor's equivalent drives are called 'Quickview'
Hope this helps
Posted by: Darrow at Feb 18, 2005 3:06:52 PM
Sounds ideal - does anyone know where to get a Maxtor Quickview in the UK?
Posted by: Tom Dolan at Feb 21, 2005 11:29:58 AM
Hi
You can't buy Quickview off the shelf in the UK. I even have resellers of PVR equipment who cannot buy them. You might be lucky and find one on Ebay but I doubt it and even then it will probably only be someone who is selling it because they have upgraded their own PVR and the capacity therefore won't be high enough for you.
Posted by: Darrow at Feb 21, 2005 5:32:58 PM
You can get Quickview Maxtor drives from DABS, in 200 and 300G sizes.
Posted by: Martin at May 17, 2005 7:20:55 AM
I have a satellite receiver in which a hard drive can be installed. I first installed one of the recomended drives, an IBM Hitachi and it gave almost the exact symptoms given by Will Smith, ie it ran VERY hot and kept pausing and stuttering on playback.
I have now fitted a 120Gb Maxtor ATA 133 7200rpm with the 2Mb Cache and it performs almost faultlessly, and much cooler. I say almost because it stuttered once in playback, but it may have been a signal issue, ie a bird on the dish or something when the recording was made.
Don't know whether this would be the same in the Humax, but I can only state what happened and hope it helps someone. At the end of the day I still have a use for the IBM drive which serves as additional storage in my PC where it performs faultlessly, even when recording TV from my Hauppauge DEC2000!, so if you buy a drive that it doesn't like, just try a different one. I suppose if you are really unlucky you could end up with loads of storage in your PC!!
Hope this helps.
Posted by: Hedgidj at Jul 15, 2005 3:37:59 PM
Apologies it was Darrow, not Will Smith, see my previous post. Apologies again.
Posted by: Hedgidj at Jul 15, 2005 3:39:11 PM
I've recently installed a Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 250GB UDMA100 drive. This was a drastic overkill, but I'll never run out of storage again! (I hope). The drive performs well - it is quieter than the original, and doesn't give out that changing whining noise. However, you do get a clicking sound from the hard drive with playback after pausing live tv (i.e. playing back a video signal from the 'buffer'). The playback video signal in this state is fine however. All in all, I am very pleased. Watch out for clearance between the case and the top of the drive though - it is only 2-3mm, which is fine if you're not stacking anything ontop of the unit.
P
Posted by: Pedro at Jul 18, 2005 9:49:55 AM
well i dont think ta=hat any of u have any thing to worry about HDD sizes, but buffer sixe does matter, the higest buffer size (16MB) gives u optimal video quality and menu speed. i have put a £300 - 750GB HDD in a PVR and it works fine so i dont see that there is any limit past 750GB plus u can also fit 1.5TB HDD with RAID tecknology and they will also work fine.
Posted by: dobsonator at Sep 27, 2006 9:14:44 PM
I have installed a 250Gb Diamondmax 21 into my 8000t. it is quieter than before and works perfectly. no probs so far, it records live, pauses live, records scheduled and plays back eveything properly. The only thing is that I still have the old 80Gb drive full of tv and films. Can I copy the old stuff to the new drive if I put them both in my PC. Would that work?
Posted by: Vijay at Oct 21, 2006 1:30:38 PM
Happy New Year 2008.!
Posted by: BridgetAnjellla at Jan 12, 2008 6:12:04 AM
I'm not sure what the hold-up is... maybe they have re-thought their stance on how this is going to actually make the company any money. Or perhaps their lawyers pointed out the liability of providing agents a platform to stick their feet in their mouth. Whatever it is, it's hardly something I'd claim as being "Well done".
www.jebshouse.com
Posted by: Jeb Simons at Apr 24, 2008 11:32:32 PM
Love may laugh at locksmiths, but he has a profound respect for money bags.
-- Sidney Paternoster, "The Folly of the Wise"
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