# R15 300 hard drive swap/ghost/save!!!!



## Mike Holderfield (Feb 12, 2010)

A week ago my system started to reset to default settings. I managed to stop it before it reformatted the hard drive and losing all my data. However, now when I start the system, it tries to continue the task. I have since removed the drive in hopes of saving the data. I have replaced the drive with a pc drive but it did not work once the reformatting completed, it just loops back to the formatting step. I saw an earlier thread from Carl6 that talked about "ghosting" and thought this might be a solution to my problem. I would like more information about how to save my stuff. Thanks.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

If the DVR is not working with a new drive in it, then it may have some other problem (drive controller for example).

As to cloning the drive, I was able to do so using a unix dd copy. It took a long time, but it worked. There have been posts with other procedures for copying the drive, but all essentially involve a sector by sector copy (as opposed to a file copy), and may not succeed if the source drive is bad.

Check in the HD receiver forum for threads about replacing/upgrading the hard drive. The basic procedure is the same, and there is a lot of information there.


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## Mike Holderfield (Feb 12, 2010)

Carl, thank you for the info. This really is important due to the data in the disk. Would you consider contacting me via email to discuss further? - Thanks.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Dont forget there's a good chance that if the drive is already bad, you wont be able to copy it anyway. Too often people want to back up a drive that has already failed....thats why DVR's are not meant to be permanent storage or archiving of anything important.


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## Mike Holderfield (Feb 12, 2010)

No problem with the drive, just a screwup on my part that I am trying to salvage. Thanks for the heads-up however.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Mike,
I don't object to contacting you directly, however I'm not sure that I can offer you any more information than you have already found, or can easily find, in these forums. I did this once, about 3 years ago, with a good R15 drive just to test. I've never tried to recover from a problem dvr or failing drive.

If the DVR is the problem (possible based on your symptoms), there is no recovery. The drive (or a copy of it) will not give you access to the recordings in a different DVR.

These two threads have way more information than I would be able to provide. Take a look at them if you have not already done so.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=148760
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=167440

If that doesn't help and you have some specific question you don't want to post openly, then go ahead and send me a PM through dbstalk.

Carl


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

He probably don't aware of standard IT rule - check the disk first, then try to recover data.


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## Mike Holderfield (Feb 12, 2010)

No, I'm afraid it's much worse than that! I am a software guy who knows enough about hardware IT to get me this deep in trouble. Thanks guys, I will keep reading and following your suggestions until something clicks!


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Anyway, start from MHDD tests. Download ISO, burn CD, connect only the drive to PC and boot from the CD.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

And mask your e-mail address so that it is not milled by spambots...

- Merg


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