Freesat recorder HDD

Has any one replaced a HDD in a Freesat box? It’s a Manhattan 4K 500GB recorder, it’s only 18 months old but the HDD has failed and Manhattan tell me that I will just have to buy a new box. A replacement HDD is less than £15 so I am tempted to buy one. I can hear the old HDD operating so I know it is getting power. Does anyone know whether you can just replace the HDD or will it need formatting or pre programming in some way?

Don't know but before you do, take the mains plug out of the wall socket, then open the Freesat box and very carefully and one by one; remove and replace all the mutli-connectors you can see, starting with the one from the HDD block to the main board. Bear in mind some have locking tabs.

If you are not familiar with electronics, don't touch any metal or components - there is a small possibility of power supply capacitors giving you a shock - only touch plastic multi-connectors.

Then replace the housing and try the box again. 80% of "electronic" faults are due to interconnections going bad, so you might be lucky.

I have changed hard drives in a lot of DVR's from cheapys to very expensive units. It is not a difficult job usually a few screws and 2 cables on the HD. Just the same as doing it on a PC. Every unit I have changed has gone through it startup procedure and formatted the HD to suit its own system. You can on most DVR's put in a larger HD than was originally fitted. Observe all the usual rules when dealing with electrical and electronic items.

regards

Really useful information Oldiron, thanks for when I might need it.

John

Thanks Oldiron, that’s encouraging. I decided to risk it and have sent for a new hard drive. Hope be up a running again soon. Thanks again.

There's quite a lot of information on doing this (including YouTube tutorials) if you Google:

freesat hard drive swap

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 05/06/2023 21:14:03

Thanks Peter, I’ll check them out.

Don't touch it! Quote the Sale of Goods and Consumer Protection Act to them. It states that goods should be of merchantable quality and it is generally accepted that that means a lifespan of 6 years. Threaten them with taking them to the Small Claims Court and or reporting them to your local Trading Standards. 18 months is totally unacceptable.

The HDD in a recorder is under way more stress than a PC so the disc manufacturers make special versions for them, so your replacement might not last as long as you expect. Some Freesat boxes may be less regulated than Sky or VM which are required by the film makers to pair the disc to the box during production so that you cannot switch and pass the disc plus recordings to a mate to watch films they haven't paid for,

I had a few problems in the past with these recorders. I kept thinking the hard drive had failed. But it was usualy because the drive was nearing its full capacity & would simply fail. I used to remove the drive & fit to a P.C. Then delete the recordings & then refit to the recorder. They would then run fine. I soon came to the conclusion that they regularly needed the watched content deleting. Even now with our SKY Q box I delete regularly or they start to play up.

Steve.

I posted this question on a specialist AV website forum - I’m still waiting for a reply. I’ve found in the past that I can usually count on a response from you fellas. I’m always amazed at your breadth of knowledge and willingness to help. Thanks again to all.

Yeah, I would have tried reseating all the internal interconnections before buying a new HDD though. Nothing to lose.

A report of an HDD fault does not necessarily mean there is an actual HDD fault. It could be a problem with the data from the HDD not reaching the main board, or being corrupted, owing to a poor connection.

Having said that, I agree with Sakura and would have been back to the shop manager first.

Not sure I'd make much fuss over a £170 HDR that's out of warranty. It's borderline. A Small Court Claim costs time and money, plus the hassle factor. The court decides what a reasonable lifetime is, it depends on the item, and they might not agree with the plaintiff!

What's the actual error? Steve's suggestion the disc is full rather than broken is a possibility.

I'd try a factory reset and disc format. If that fails swapping the HDD is worth a punt.

Dave

This recorder had been playing up for a week or two, failing to record, incomplete recordings etc. I tried factory resets a couple of times to no avail. Finally it displayed a “Something is wrong” screen suggesting to re boot the HDD. However it repeatedly refused to reboot. I rang the Manhattan service and explained all this and they said that the HDD was at fault and my only option was buy a new recorder. I complained, saying that it was only 18 months old, they said that whilst they did have some leeway in their guarantee period I was not eligible after 18 months. Having nothing to lose I opened the box and checked and cleaned all the HDD connections - no luck. I could hear the HDD running so I felt that it was getting power OK. At this point I found the exact same HDD on Amazon for £13:40 and thought that it was worth a gamble at that price. It should arrive tomorrow so I’ll soon know whether my gamble paid off.

In light of this thread I was just considering our PVR. Bought in 2009, it is now 14 years old. Due to a fault where it sometimes fails to record from standby, we have left in permanantly on. As it is a 'pause' live tv type then we can assume the disc is spinning at full speed 24 hours a day? (5400 rpm)

so it may ave spun round 45 billion times - impressive bearing!

and if its little 3.5" disc had been a wheel it would have made it around the world 315 times ! averaging just under 60 mph

Edited By Justin Thyme on 06/06/2023 23:03:40

Edited By Justin Thyme on 06/06/2023 23:04:13

Justin,I have Humax pvr of similar age to yours. Like you I had to leave it running . Eventually (yesterday ) it gave up completely on recording or playing. In a try anything mood, I cured it with a re-set to the settings and a re-format of the hdd. You lose your recordings, but it's running like new now.

dave8

Edited By david bennett 8 on 07/06/2023 01:37:12

Don't really know the hardware under discussion, but normal design would have the HD sleep when it isn't actually being used, even if the equipment is powered. Network drives for example typically do this.

Even so, it could be advantageous to use a SSD if replacing the drive. The spinup time is essentially zero and the power consumption much less.

Hi, not sure it makes the HDD to be matched exactly. I have my main TV in my lounge, and a small one in my kitchen, both of which can record any of the TV programmes onto any USB memory device, however, if I record something on my main TV, it can't be watched on the TV in the kitchen, or vice versa, nor can it be view on a PC or through the USB ports on my Blu-ray player . So I imagine the recordings are encrypted to only be read by the device they are recorded on.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 07/06/2023 07:20:38

It is a 'pause and rewind' one, so at any moment you can rewind up to one or two hours of whatever side you are on (providing you have not switched channels) So it never ever has a rest. so wasteful in so many ways, but also quite incredible it achieves this, 14 years of non stop spinning and recording.

How are the bearings formed in these HDD ? and then there is that little arm that continuously moves back and forth across the surface of the hard disc with such incredible accuracy.

Reported on this a while ago, mine was a 500G Seagate in a 'Humax Freesat 1100S. Prices ranged from about £40 to £15, both for new units and again on this site (M E) was advised to go for a 'Blue badge' grade, these seem to be for CCTV recorders. Mine came as this without asking. It's a SATA drive, so only one connection.

Easy job, but make sure you 'Discharge' yourself before doing it.

Regards Ian.

Edited By Circlip on 07/06/2023 10:54:37