# Install new Hard Drive in HR24-500



## ron.clifford (Jun 12, 2011)

My year old HR24 was acting wierdly, locking up, turning it self on in the middle of the night etc. Booting up and using the SELECT key got me into menu for checking the system and Hard Drive, which indicated that the Hard Drive was bad. Instructions elsewhere here tell of putting a new Hard Drive in an HR24-100.

HR24-500 is a little different. No screws on bottom, but the same two clips at back that need to be shimmed by 1/2 strip of plastic, like from a credit card. Then a small screw driver to lift the cover at one corner, and then the other opposite front corner, and then keep lifting till it all pops off.

Inside the Hard Drive is inside a black rectangular plastic case with a fan at the end. The case is easily removed if you have a T-8 screwdriver, remove the 4 T-8 screws and the case and drive lifts up and off. 4 Phillips head screws hold the drive inside the case, and 2 more Phillips head screws hold a spring on the side to hold the drive off the floor of the unit. Removing all those screws its trivial to remove that data cable and the power cable, and put in a new drive. I chose a GREEN POWER Western Digital 1 TB AV-GP SATA 3GB/s Intellipower 64 MB Cache AV Hard Drive WD10EURS about $63 + shipping at Amazon. I've read anecdotal stories of larger capacity drives slowing down the unit too much as it fills up with recordings.

I returned a piece of foam rubber that was on top of the drive in the case. The new drive was screwed in, and then the bracket was screwed into the chassis with its T-8 screws.

The Top just popped back onto the case, and upon powering up, the Unit found the new drive, formatted it, and my system is good as new, with now more than double the recording capacity. The new drive is running at about the same 120 degres F that the old 500 Gig ran it, but quieter. No Service call required, no replacement by a pot luck receiver, no buying a new unit for $200 and no new 2 year commitment.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

But you now have the potential to be charged full retail price for the receiver in the event it gets considered "damaged".


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Why you not install 2 TB ? 
If it 1 TB or 1.5 or 2 TB it could slow down at certain %% regardless of the size.
So, you're the owner of the HR24 ?


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

Granted, you now have a 1TB drive. Alternatively you could have added a 1TB or larger ext drive.

Like Robert E says, it reads like its a leased receiver. So someday when its returned don't know what Directv will have to say about the internal drive change. Not for me to judge or decide. 

FWIW, Directv does have a HR24 for HR24 exchange program. My 500 had similar issues (reading alot of 500 hard drive issues on dbstalk), and an HR24-200 showed up in its place, no charge, no commitment. Granted a refurb but in excellent condition and not a problem whatsover.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

ron.clifford said:


> My year old HR24 was acting wierdly, locking up, turning it self on in the middle of the night etc. Booting up and using the SELECT key got me into menu for checking the system and Hard Drive, which indicated that the Hard Drive was bad. Instructions elsewhere here tell of putting a new Hard Drive in an HR24-100.
> 
> HR24-500 is a little different. No screws on bottom, but the same two clips at back that need to be shimmed by 1/2 strip of plastic, like from a credit card. Then a small screw driver to lift the cover at one corner, and then the other opposite front corner, and then keep lifting till it all pops off.
> 
> ...


The bold statement above is wrong. Any large HDD you put internally or externally on any HR will bog the HR down when it reaches a certain amount of content stored. This varies from HR to HR, but it usually happens with 30% to 20% Available on the meter on the Playlist. *P Smith* is correct when he says you should have put in a 2TB drive and kept it a bit over half full. There is nothing "anecdotal" about this, I've done it enough times to say that it's true. I would call this "empirical data" rather than "anecdotal".

I'm assuming that you own the 24-500 and can tell you that you should have gently pulled the side panels out just a bit and inserted the same type of plastic strips you used on the back panel clips in between the four side panel clips and their holders and the whole thing would have just dropped out without taking the chance of damaging the cover.

Rich


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## ron.clifford (Jun 12, 2011)

My whole drive swap took 45 minutes the first time I did it, if it needs to be returned, the OEM drive gets swapped back in and it'll be far easier for me, knowing I need to have my T8 handy, etc.

And I hate this whole F.U.D. being sown by RobertE. Like the accounting mangers go to Tennessee and spend an hour with each returned unit? NOT.

Glad NR4P came out happy in the replacement refurb lottery. Not always the case. And maybe in a year or less he'll have a different opinion of a refurb.

You want to talk maybes and potentials: by the time the HR24 ever gets returned, maybe DirecTv will have HR42s with 10 Terabytes of Flash Memory and will just trash HR24s as they're received without examining them.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

NR4P said:


> Granted, you now have a 1TB drive. Alternatively you could have added a 1TB or larger ext drive.
> 
> Like Robert E says, it reads like its a leased receiver. So someday when its returned don't know what Directv will have to say about the internal drive change. Not for me to judge or decide.
> 
> FWIW, Directv does have a HR24 for HR24 exchange program. My 500 had similar issues (reading alot of 500 hard drive issues on dbstalk), and an HR24-200 showed up in its place, no charge, no commitment. Granted a refurb but in excellent condition and not a problem whatsover.


You're right. The 200 seems to be a better, less finicky HR than the 500s, in my experience using both. The 500s don't seem to like external devices while the 200s have no problems with them that I have seen. My owned 500 with a 2B drive in it internally functions quite well and I had all kinds of problems using an external HDD on it.

Rich


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

ron.clifford said:


> And I hate this whole F.U.D. being sown by RobertE. Like the accounting mangers go to Tennessee and spend an hour with each returned unit? NOT.


FUD is not a good description considering the guy deals with this stuff daily for a living.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

ron.clifford said:


> And I hate this whole F.U.D. being sown by RobertE. Like the accounting mangers go to Tennessee and spend an hour with each returned unit? NOT.


Fear? Perhaps, but there are ramifications if caught.

Uncertainty? No, the only thing uncertain is whether or not you're caught.

Deception? Absolutely not. The unit is leased and if it is deemed damaged upon return, there could be a financial penalty.

The only thing Robert (and others) are really suggesting here is that if you're going to break the rules .. be aware that you're breaking the rules. While you may be aware, someone else reading what you have stated may not be aware. His comments are most certainly not FUD.


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## ron.clifford (Jun 12, 2011)

Anecdotal is when 6 or 12 folks in the forums says the HR24-200 is better than the HR24-500. Empirical is when EVERYONE says its better but theres not proof of it yet.

And F.U.D. is when someone says changing the Hard Drive in an HR-24 will cause you to be charged a full retail price for damage to the unit; with nary a single anecdotal story as evidence.


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## DogLover (Mar 19, 2007)

"ron.clifford" said:


> Anecdotal is when 6 or 12 folks in the forums says the HR24-200 is better than the HR24-500. Empirical is when EVERYONE says its better but theres not proof of it yet.
> 
> And F.U.D. is when someone says changing the Hard Drive in an HR-24 will cause you to be charged a full retail price for damage to the unit; with nary a single anecdotal story as evidence.


Looks to me like what was said that there is the "potential" to be charged if you "damage" the box while making the change. That is very different than what you are claiming as FUD in the quoted post. Since the user agreement states that they can charge you for damage, that "potential" is there. No FUD. You may not need the reminder/warning, but others reading this thread might.


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## ron.clifford (Jun 12, 2011)

You're a broken record. I already said I didn't break anything, and found replacing the drive easy to do and unless you have 5 thumbs, you're not likely to break anything. But of course any change is done at ones own risk.

And I did say, I could trivially replace my new drive with the original if the unit was ever to go back to DirecTv, so I am in no danger. 

I tried to put some signal is a discussion, and all I get back is NOISE.

I quit.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Welcome to the forum...I think.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Hi... ooops, Bye! That was quick, and sorry you felt maligned or misunderstood or whatever.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

hope it passes upcoming firmware to drive firmware checks and not self disable.


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## ndole (Aug 26, 2009)

David MacLeod said:


> hope it passes upcoming firmware to drive firmware checks and not self disable.


Oh, shoot. I forgot about that until you mentioned it. That sucks


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

ndole_mbnd said:


> Oh, shoot. I forgot about that until you mentioned it. That sucks


iirc new error codes are in low 20s and should see them soon.


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## admdata (Apr 22, 2011)

not a question IF the OP get caught it is when, hence why Directv has a sticker on the back of the receiver that states "breaking this seal will void your customer agreement" (or something like that), anyhow it is only time. (If the equipment is leased (like mine is)


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

ron.clifford said:


> Anecdotal is when 6 or 12 folks in the forums says the HR24-200 is better than the HR24-500. Empirical is when EVERYONE says its better but theres not proof of it yet.


Anecdotal means "Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis". Empirical means "Verifiable or provable by means of observation or experiment". I've filled up many HDDs of sizes ranging from 750GBs to 2TBs internally and externally used and have seen the same results. The size of the HDD doesn't matter, how it affects the HR when almost full is a constant.

To put it more simply, I've done the observations and experiments and I'm not telling "stories" that I can't verify.

We all realize you're frustrated, but we're just trying to help.

Rich


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

rich584 said:


> Anecdotal means "Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis". Empirical means "Verifiable or provable by means of observation or experiment". I've filled up many HDDs of sizes ranging from 750GBs to 2TBs internally and externally used and have seen the same results. The size of the HDD doesn't matter, how it affects the HR when almost full is a constant.


Well put. It would seem it acts similar to a computers HDD. As the percentage of free space decreases, somewhere past-possibly well past- the 50% range, 
performance starts getting hit, and as you approach 0 free, the penalties increase.

Therefor it makes a big difference if the, say, 15% free is on a 160Gig drive or a 2TB drive. .... One can fit a bunch of movies in; the other not so much.


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## Joe C (Mar 3, 2005)

admdata said:


> not a question IF the OP get caught it is when, hence why Directv has a sticker on the back of the receiver that states "breaking this seal will void your customer agreement" (or something like that), anyhow it is only time. (If the equipment is leased (like mine is)


I have/had a total of 5 HR's and NONE of them have this sticker that you speak of. These HRs are a mix of NIIB to refurbs BTW.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Joe C said:


> I have/had a total of 5 HR's and NONE of them have this sticker that you speak of. These HRs are a mix of NIIB to refurbs BTW.


I haven't seen many without some kind of sticker on the back. But I don't remember the early ones having them. In any event, most say you break the sticker and your warranty is void. The warranty is only 90 days, so...

Rich


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## admdata (Apr 22, 2011)

my r-16 has one of those stickers, it was a refurb after a r15 I bought on ebay died within about 2 months of purchase (I have the protection plan)


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

admdata said:


> my r-16 has one of those stickers, it was a refurb after a r15 I bought on ebay died within about 2 months of purchase (I have the protection plan)


How it stick to the topic ? Was it HR24 ?? Did you replace HDD ??? Did you read TOS ???? Did you remove the sticker ????? Did you pay the fine ?????? Did you serve jail time ?!!!


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## Mike Bertelson (Jan 24, 2007)

I think, for now at least, this thread is done.

Mike


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