# Powering a VIP622 internal drive in a PC



## BoboLeo (Feb 26, 2009)

I took out the internal drive from my VIP622, to work with it on my PC, but can't get it powered up on account of some very slight cable differences. The regular SATA power connectors on my PC won't power it up like they do all my other drives. I checked the power cable that attaches to the disk drive when it is in the 622, and noticed two differences between it and the ones in my PC: the connector that attaches to the VIP622 motherboard is different from the one that attaches to my PC on my PC SATA cables, and one of the gold connectors on the end of the power cable that attaches to the actual drive is missing from the VIP622 cable, but not on my PC cables. The disk drive end of the VIP622 power cable looks like the ones on a regular SATA cable, and both snap on the drive the same way. Any advice on getting my drive powered up in my PC would be appreciated.


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

The drives are not sata so this will never work if that is your only connection type. The drives are EIDE. What you can do with the drive in a PC are limited and require special drivers.


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## RickDee (May 23, 2006)

tnsprin said:


> The drives are not sata so this will never work if that is your only connection type. The drives are EIDE. What you can do with the drive in a PC are limited and require special drivers.


You need to look inside a 622 sometime. The hard drives used in the 622 are SATA, not EIDE!


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## RickDee (May 23, 2006)

BoboLeo said:


> I took out the internal drive from my VIP622, to work with it on my PC, but can't get it powered up on account of some very slight cable differences. The regular SATA power connectors on my PC won't power it up like they do all my other drives. I checked the power cable that attaches to the disk drive when it is in the 622, and noticed two differences between it and the ones in my PC: the connector that attaches to the VIP622 motherboard is different from the one that attaches to my PC on my PC SATA cables, and one of the gold connectors on the end of the power cable that attaches to the actual drive is missing from the VIP622 cable, but not on my PC cables. The disk drive end of the VIP622 power cable looks like the ones on a regular SATA cable, and both snap on the drive the same way. Any advice on getting my drive powered up in my PC would be appreciated.


There seems to be conflicting information about the drives used in the 622. They are SATA, but I have seen posts that they need a 'spin up' signal. I bought a Seagate 500GB replacement for mine. Just for kicks I connected it to my system and even formatted it. So, I'm not sure what the strait poop is on these drives. My 622 had a Maxtor, but the HDMI died and I never replaced the drive. I put the Seagate ST3508830SCE in an external USB enclosure, but I haven't hooked up to my 622 yet.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

So why did you take your 622 hard drive out and put it into your PC in the first place. What are you trying to accomplish?


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## RickDee (May 23, 2006)

Ron has a good question, especially since there is absolutely nothing you can do with the 622 internal HDD, or an EHD either, connected to a PC. The file system is a Linux variant and any files you might be trying to extract are totally unreadable on a PC plus the ones on an EHD are encrypted.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

BoboLeo replied to my PM. Appears he is trying to recapture his data from a bad 622 to a new 622. Below is a link that might be helpful. Search on Hard Drive Swap and you might find some more hits on the topic

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=148923&highlight=Hard+Drive+Replacement


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## Snydley (Mar 30, 2007)

RickDee said:


> Ron has a good question, especially since there is absolutely nothing you can do with the 622 internal HDD, or an EHD either, connected to a PC. The file system is a Linux variant and any files you might be trying to extract are totally unreadable on a PC plus the ones on an EHD are encrypted.


This is absolutely untrue! You can copy or move EHD files from on drive to another connected to a PC if it is running Linux. I've done it, when upgrading to a larger drive, and it's really quite easy, if you know how to run a PC from the command line. I imagine you can do that with the internal drive too, if the drives are standard SATA drives. I don't know, I've never had a receiver apart.
Snyde


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## RickDee (May 23, 2006)

Snydley said:


> This is absolutely untrue! You can copy or move EHD files from on drive to another connected to a PC if it is running Linux. I've done it, when upgrading to a larger drive, and it's really quite easy, if you know how to run a PC from the command line. I imagine you can do that with the internal drive too, if the drives are standard SATA drives. I don't know, I've never had a receiver apart.
> Snyde


And just how many people are you assuming is proficient enough in Linux to do as you propose? Are you forgetting that MS controls around 90% of the computer users like a Big Brother?


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## ehb224 (Apr 4, 2008)

RickDee said:


> And just how many people are you assuming is proficient enough in Linux to do as you propose? Are you forgetting that MS controls around 90% of the computer users like a Big Brother?


Jost one more reason to dump M$ and switch to linux!


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## dmspen (Dec 1, 2006)

I wonder if it's possible to take a drive out of a 622, put it in an external closure and connect it to another receiver as an external drive?

Anyone tried this?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

DOesn't works at all. Only 622 FW could spin up the disk.


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## sotti (Jan 6, 2006)

my question would be can you drop a larger drive in?


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## RickDee (May 23, 2006)

You can put a 500GB Seagate ST3500830SCE in. There are a few others that are supposed to work, but I have never been able find any for sale.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

"A few" you mean two 500GB models: 
* Hitachi HSC725050VLA380
* WDC WD5000AAJS-57xxxx


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Found this list elsewhere... not sure it is correct but where I found it would seem to lend some authority to it.

HDT722525DLAT80
SAMSUNG HA250JC
ST3500830SCE
ST3250823SCE
ST3320832SCE
ST3320820SCE
ST3250820SCE
ST3250820ACE
ST3250823ACE
Maxtor 6L320S0
Maxtor 6L250R0
Maxtor 6L250S0
WDC WD5000AAJS-57
WDC WD3200AAJS-57
WDC WD3200JS-57PDB0
WDC WD2500JB-57REA0
WDC WD2500JB-57GVC0
WDC WD2500JS-57MHB1
WDC WD2500JD-57HBC0
WDC WD2500JB-57GVA1
WDC WD2500JD-57HBB1


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## RickDee (May 23, 2006)

That's the list I saw, but when I started searching the internet for each of them the Seagate ST3500830SCE was the only one I could find. My understanding is that the drives on the list are usually only supplied to manufacturers and not generally available on the retail market.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Is that list provided by Dish ?


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

No, other sites that have subjects we can't discuss here.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Then we can't trust to the list. It could be bogus models and ppl will spend money for discover they lost it.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Could be, the discussion lends me to believe those models have been used successfully. YMMV.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Then the list had been leaked from Dish if there is a proof of success using the models.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

As far as I know, Dish does not release any list of Drives it uses. 

The list could be form people that reported having success. However, I would say that it definitely is a buyer beware situation. My recommended action is that these type of actions should be done through proper support channels and people that attempt them should understand there are consequences tied to doing something like this.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Could be 'third hands' leakage if every model from it has accepted by 622/722 firmware.


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

P Smith said:


> Then we can't trust to the list. It could be bogus models and ppl will spend money for discover they lost it.


Well said, P.


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## RickDee (May 23, 2006)

As far as I know, swapping out the hard drive is not considered "hacking" and on Satellite Guys there are a couple of posts I have read where they have replaced the hard drive in the 622 with a Seagate ST3500830SCE. They have also reported that the 622 does recognizes and use the extra space.

I personally have Seagate ST3500830SCE I can report that is does not require any kind of "spin up" signal from the 622. I intended to put it in my old 622, but the HDMI quit working. Dish replaced my 622 and I now have the Seagate ST3500830SCE in an external enclosure for my EHD and it works just fine. In fact Seagate actually recommends this type of drive for the EHD.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

That's because of getting the 500 GB from regular retailer. 
Ppl reported the 'spin-up' issue when the disk taken from 722.


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