# R.I.P. my 722 receiver full of unwatched programs



## dbssbd10 (Aug 11, 2011)

My VIP 722K receiver died. :crying: It powers on but does not boot up. Tech support tells me it can only be backed up if it powers on.

My question is can the hard drive be taken out of the old 722 and put in the replacement 722 once it gets here? Obviously opening up the unit voids the warranty so they wouldn't have told me if this is possible.

Or is the hard drive most likely the reason the thing is not booting up to begin with? :nono2:

Disclaimer: I'm not trying hack or steal programming or watch the content on some other device. I'm just talking about swapping out a hard drive from a defective unit to a non defective unit.

And I guess it's worth a shot but if I can't do that, I don't suppose there's any way to at least recover the timer schedule or the shows that were in the timer?


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## klang (Oct 14, 2003)

You might try unplugging it for a few hours. I've had a receiver recover for a while after being allowed to rest and cool off for a bit. Have an external USB hard drive handy just in case it comes back so you can move your recordings.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

dbssbd10 said:


> Disclaimer: I'm not trying hack or steal programming or watch the content on some other device. I'm just talking about swapping out a hard drive from a defective unit to a non defective unit.


Are you sure you own the receiver outright? Chances are pretty high that you're leasing the receiver and opening up DISH Network's equipment is expressly prohibited.

I'm not sure it is reasonable to assume that a hard drive from one DVR will work in another DVR. The issue you raise about the drive possibly being dead anyway is also a consideration.


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

If the Hard Drive did fail, putting it into another receiver will not make it work.


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## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

I have a 722 receiver and on 2 occasions after an attempted reboot, the receiver would not complete the reboot process. It would power on and off. I unplugged and plugged back in, to no avail. Once I left the receiver unplugged for several hours (one time over night), it rebooted properly and I haven't had an issue since. Give that a try to see if it will work again. As garys stated, if there is a problem with the receiver hard drive, the problem will move with the HD. The 722k allows you to save your timers to the 20.0 or 21.0 remote but not the 722 receiver.


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## dbssbd10 (Aug 11, 2011)

I'm at work at the moment and can't reply with all that I want to reply with but I can tell you that it did spend the night unplugged and still won't boot up.It also spent several hours last night unplugged before it was plugged back in. It seemed to work fine practically immediately before that, even tuned in to record the car show.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Regardless of HDD health, the 722 should boot; seems to me it is not HDD fault and your recording still intact.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

You can't swap hard drives on leased units... because they aren't yours to swap.

Even if you own the receiver, there may be an issue with it... When they send a replacement (under warranty) for an owned unit, I would expect they would want the old unit back intact... since opening the unit would void the warranty...

So unless you want to risk buying a receiver that doesn't work and still needing another... I honestly wouldn't even consider that suggestion.


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## dbssbd10 (Aug 11, 2011)

Frankly I don't mind buying the malfunctioning unit it if it makes all my lost programming come back.

The only thing worse than losing data is the realization that you missed the chance to back it all up. Let this be a reminder to everyone. Back up your data. Not just your dvr but everything.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Definitely, it will make. Tested and has been posted here not that long ago.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

dbssbd10 said:


> Frankly I don't mind buying the malfunctioning unit it if it makes all my lost programming come back.
> 
> The only thing worse than losing data is the realization that you missed the chance to back it all up. Let this be a reminder to everyone. Back up your data. Not just your dvr but everything.


You might actually have to buy BOTH receivers if you open them, since you would have to open both of them to swap a hard drive... thus invalidating two warranties.


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## dbssbd10 (Aug 11, 2011)

I'm very happy to report that I got my programs back.
As some of you may know, the hard drive is encased in a frame on the inside and there's a "do not tamper with" label on the hard drive.
I didn't even need to take the hard drive out though. It was tricky but with some careful maneuvering I just unplugged it from the old box and plugged it in to the new box. Moved everything to an external hard drive then moved it over to the new receiver.

I tried backing the timers up to a remote but didn't have any luck actually restoring them so had to do it manually.

At the time I didn't realize it wasn't making a copy but actually moving all the files. So I ended up moving them back to the hard drive.
Does anyone know if there's either a way to just copy the files as a safety backup on the external hard drive from the menus or can I use a PC to make a separate folder and copy all the files to that folder so everything can be both on the external hard drive and also on the hard drive in the receiver at the same time?

Thanks to everyone for your help.


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## tampa8 (Mar 30, 2002)

If the intent is simply to have a copy of the files, yes but not just with a Dish receiver doing it. As you found out that will move files.
You can not watch those files unless it's through a Dish receiver.


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## euro_boy (Jun 20, 2005)

Ray [email protected] Network said:


> The 722k allows you to save your timers to the 20.0 or 21.0 remote but not the 722 receiver.


Interesting.
Could you post instructions (or a link to) how to do that?


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