Just upgraded my Sky+ (PVR3 - Amstrad DRX280) from its original 160GB hard 
drive to a Seagate ST3500630A http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127212 I know 
it's not a CE (Consumer Electronics) drive but the reviewers there reckon 
that it's whisper quiet and does the job superbly.

I used Copy+ http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/index.php to copy over all 
recordings and stuff from existing to new drives, then put the new drive in 
the box and fired it up. All worked well, the box booted first time, all 
recordings were there (even the series link settings) but, the Copy+ website 
*highly recommends* that you do a Planner Rebuild - so I did and that's when 
it seems to have gone wrong.

I went into the installers menu, selected Planner Rebuild, it said it was 
going to do some housekeeping - and that was about two hours ago!!

We had about 72% free on the existing drive (160GB total, 80GB available to 
end user) and after the successful copy, the new drive said 96% free, so 
with only 4% in use and 96% free, surely it shouldn't take two hours - and 
counting - to do its housekeeping and planner rebuild, should it?

What should I do? Let it chug away for another couple of hours or pull the 
plug?

TIA,

John.

"John" <replyingroup@notemail> wrote in message 
news:mc6dnQUJq6bCJdPVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
> Just upgraded my Sky+ (PVR3 - Amstrad DRX280) from its original 160GB hard 
> drive to a Seagate ST3500630A http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127212 I know 
> it's not a CE (Consumer Electronics) drive but the reviewers there reckon 
> that it's whisper quiet and does the job superbly.
>
> I used Copy+ http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/index.php to copy over all 
> recordings and stuff from existing to new drives, then put the new drive 
> in the box and fired it up. All worked well, the box booted first time, 
> all recordings were there (even the series link settings) but, the Copy+ 
> website *highly recommends* that you do a Planner Rebuild - so I did and 
> that's when it seems to have gone wrong.
>
> I went into the installers menu, selected Planner Rebuild, it said it was 
> going to do some housekeeping - and that was about two hours ago!!
>
> We had about 72% free on the existing drive (160GB total, 80GB available 
> to end user) and after the successful copy, the new drive said 96% free, 
> so with only 4% in use and 96% free, surely it shouldn't take two hours - 
> and counting - to do its housekeeping and planner rebuild, should it?
>
> What should I do? Let it chug away for another couple of hours or pull the 
> plug?
>
> TIA,
>
> John.

John,

I don't know, but I'd say, until someone comes along who does have 
experience of this, let it run.

SW

SW wrote:
> "John" <replyingroup@notemail> wrote in message
> news:mc6dnQUJq6bCJdPVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
>> Just upgraded my Sky+ (PVR3 - Amstrad DRX280) from its original
>> 160GB hard drive to a Seagate ST3500630A
>> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127212 I know it's not a CE (Consumer
>> Electronics) drive but the reviewers there reckon that it's whisper
>> quiet and does the job superbly. I used Copy+ 
>> http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/index.php to copy over all
>> recordings and stuff from existing to new drives, then put the new
>> drive in the box and fired it up. All worked well, the box booted
>> first time, all recordings were there (even the series link
>> settings) but, the Copy+ website *highly recommends* that you do a
>> Planner Rebuild - so I did and that's when it seems to have gone
>> wrong. I went into the installers menu, selected Planner Rebuild, it said
>> it was going to do some housekeeping - and that was about two hours
>> ago!! We had about 72% free on the existing drive (160GB total, 80GB
>> available to end user) and after the successful copy, the new drive
>> said 96% free, so with only 4% in use and 96% free, surely it
>> shouldn't take two hours - and counting - to do its housekeeping and
>> planner rebuild, should it? What should I do? Let it chug away for 
>> another couple of hours or
>> pull the plug?
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>> John.
>
> John,
>
> I don't know, but I'd say, until someone comes along who does have
> experience of this, let it run.
>
> SW

Yeah, my feeling too until someone else tells me otherwise  :o)

John

"John" <replyingroup@notemail> wrote in message 
news:ALydnb_Y592PJtPVnZ2dnUVZ8tPinZ2d@bt.com...
>>
>> SW
>
> Yeah, my feeling too until someone else tells me otherwise  :o)
>

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=746994

Jc

John wrote:
> SW wrote:
>> "John" <replyingroup@notemail> wrote in message
>> news:mc6dnQUJq6bCJdPVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
>>> Just upgraded my Sky+ (PVR3 - Amstrad DRX280) from its original
>>> 160GB hard drive to a Seagate ST3500630A
>>> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127212 I know it's not a CE (Consumer
>>> Electronics) drive but the reviewers there reckon that it's whisper
>>> quiet and does the job superbly. I used Copy+
>>> http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/index.php to copy over all
>>> recordings and stuff from existing to new drives, then put the new
>>> drive in the box and fired it up. All worked well, the box booted
>>> first time, all recordings were there (even the series link
>>> settings) but, the Copy+ website *highly recommends* that you do a
>>> Planner Rebuild - so I did and that's when it seems to have gone
>>> wrong. I went into the installers menu, selected Planner Rebuild,
>>> it said it was going to do some housekeeping - and that was about
>>> two hours ago!! We had about 72% free on the existing drive (160GB
>>> total, 80GB available to end user) and after the successful copy,
>>> the new drive said 96% free, so with only 4% in use and 96% free, surely 
>>> it
>>> shouldn't take two hours - and counting - to do its housekeeping and
>>> planner rebuild, should it? What should I do? Let it chug away for
>>> another couple of hours or
>>> pull the plug?
>>>
>>> TIA,
>>>
>>> John.
>>
>> John,
>>
>> I don't know, but I'd say, until someone comes along who does have
>> experience of this, let it run.
>>
>> SW
>
> Yeah, my feeling too until someone else tells me otherwise  :o)
>
> John

Well, eventually got fed up of waiting so pulled the plug. Wouldn't reboot 
at all after that, so both original drive and new drive back in PC, deleted 
and recreated single partition on new drive and used Copy+ to carry out the 
whole procedure again.

This time, after putting new drive in the Sky+ box I *didn't* do a planner 
rebuild and everything appears to be OK. All existing recordings are there 
and play back OK (tested the first 5 mins of each), series links still in 
place, done a test timer record and playback OK, paused live TV OK - all in 
all, it seems to have worked very well.

John

"John" <replyingroup@notemail> wrote in message 
news:eamdnW6lKub8e9PVRVnyggA@bt.com...
> John wrote:
>> SW wrote:
>>> "John" <replyingroup@notemail> wrote in message
>>> news:mc6dnQUJq6bCJdPVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
>>>> Just upgraded my Sky+ (PVR3 - Amstrad DRX280) from its original
>>>> 160GB hard drive to a Seagate ST3500630A
>>>> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127212 I know it's not a CE (Consumer
>>>> Electronics) drive but the reviewers there reckon that it's whisper
>>>> quiet and does the job superbly. I used Copy+
>>>> http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/index.php to copy over all
>>>> recordings and stuff from existing to new drives, then put the new
>>>> drive in the box and fired it up. All worked well, the box booted
>>>> first time, all recordings were there (even the series link
>>>> settings) but, the Copy+ website *highly recommends* that you do a
>>>> Planner Rebuild - so I did and that's when it seems to have gone
>>>> wrong. I went into the installers menu, selected Planner Rebuild,
>>>> it said it was going to do some housekeeping - and that was about
>>>> two hours ago!! We had about 72% free on the existing drive (160GB
>>>> total, 80GB available to end user) and after the successful copy,
>>>> the new drive said 96% free, so with only 4% in use and 96% free, 
>>>> surely it
>>>> shouldn't take two hours - and counting - to do its housekeeping 
>>>> and
>>>> planner rebuild, should it? What should I do? Let it chug away for
>>>> another couple of hours or
>>>> pull the plug?
>>>>
>>>> TIA,
>>>>
>>>> John.
>>>
>>> John,
>>>
>>> I don't know, but I'd say, until someone comes along who does have
>>> experience of this, let it run.
>>>
>>> SW
>>
>> Yeah, my feeling too until someone else tells me otherwise  :o)
>>
>> John
>
> Well, eventually got fed up of waiting so pulled the plug. Wouldn't 
> reboot at all after that, so both original drive and new drive back in 
> PC, deleted and recreated single partition on new drive and used Copy+ 
> to carry out the whole procedure again.
>
> This time, after putting new drive in the Sky+ box I *didn't* do a 
> planner rebuild and everything appears to be OK. All existing 
> recordings are there and play back OK (tested the first 5 mins of 
> each), series links still in place, done a test timer record and 
> playback OK, paused live TV OK - all in all, it seems to have worked 
> very well.
>
> John
>


My previous Sky+ was an early Amstrad PVR2 model, with a 40 Gb HDD. 
When I installed a standard 160 Gb drive (not a consumer electronics 
version), the Planner Rebuild seemed to take a long time.  I didn't use 
a stopwatch - but from memory, it lasted at least 15 minutes.

I subsequently upgraded the latest Thomson PVR3 with a 250 Gb Seagate 
Consumer Electronics drive.  This time, the planner rebuild completed 
very quickly.  I didn't use a stopwatch - but I doubt whether it took 
more than 2 minutes.

A planner rebuild may take longer, depending upon the HDD and the type 
of Sky+ model.  However, it certainly shouldn't take 2 hours!

The capacity of the Seagate ST3500630A is 500 Gb.  Until recently, Sky+ 
receivers could not recognise or utilise HDD capacity in excess of 270 
Gb.  AFAIK, you would need to use Copy+ to format large drives, prior to 
installation in a Sky+ receiver.  Furthermore, the housekeeping 
functions of Sky+ did not work reliably on drives in excess of 250 Gb.

I thought that restriction had been removed by a software update in 
September 2007 - but that might be wrong.  Does your Amstrad have the 
latest software?

Bob Lucas wrote:
> "John" <replyingroup@notemail> wrote in message
> news:eamdnW6lKub8e9PVRVnyggA@bt.com...
>> John wrote:
>>> SW wrote:
>>>> "John" <replyingroup@notemail> wrote in message
>>>> news:mc6dnQUJq6bCJdPVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@bt.com...
>>>>> Just upgraded my Sky+ (PVR3 - Amstrad DRX280) from its original
>>>>> 160GB hard drive to a Seagate ST3500630A
>>>>> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127212 I know it's not a CE
>>>>> (Consumer Electronics) drive but the reviewers there reckon that
>>>>> it's whisper quiet and does the job superbly. I used Copy+
>>>>> http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/index.php to copy over all
>>>>> recordings and stuff from existing to new drives, then put the new
>>>>> drive in the box and fired it up. All worked well, the box booted
>>>>> first time, all recordings were there (even the series link
>>>>> settings) but, the Copy+ website *highly recommends* that you do a
>>>>> Planner Rebuild - so I did and that's when it seems to have gone
>>>>> wrong. I went into the installers menu, selected Planner Rebuild,
>>>>> it said it was going to do some housekeeping - and that was about
>>>>> two hours ago!! We had about 72% free on the existing drive (160GB
>>>>> total, 80GB available to end user) and after the successful copy,
>>>>> the new drive said 96% free, so with only 4% in use and 96% free,
>>>>> surely it
>>>>> shouldn't take two hours - and counting - to do its housekeeping
>>>>> and
>>>>> planner rebuild, should it? What should I do? Let it chug away for
>>>>> another couple of hours or
>>>>> pull the plug?
>>>>>
>>>>> TIA,
>>>>>
>>>>> John.
>>>>
>>>> John,
>>>>
>>>> I don't know, but I'd say, until someone comes along who does have
>>>> experience of this, let it run.
>>>>
>>>> SW
>>>
>>> Yeah, my feeling too until someone else tells me otherwise  :o)
>>>
>>> John
>>
>> Well, eventually got fed up of waiting so pulled the plug. Wouldn't
>> reboot at all after that, so both original drive and new drive back
>> in PC, deleted and recreated single partition on new drive and used
>> Copy+ to carry out the whole procedure again.
>>
>> This time, after putting new drive in the Sky+ box I *didn't* do a
>> planner rebuild and everything appears to be OK. All existing
>> recordings are there and play back OK (tested the first 5 mins of
>> each), series links still in place, done a test timer record and
>> playback OK, paused live TV OK - all in all, it seems to have worked
>> very well.
>>
>> John
>>
>
>
> My previous Sky+ was an early Amstrad PVR2 model, with a 40 Gb HDD.
> When I installed a standard 160 Gb drive (not a consumer electronics
> version), the Planner Rebuild seemed to take a long time.  I didn't
> use a stopwatch - but from memory, it lasted at least 15 minutes.
>
> I subsequently upgraded the latest Thomson PVR3 with a 250 Gb Seagate
> Consumer Electronics drive.  This time, the planner rebuild completed
> very quickly.  I didn't use a stopwatch - but I doubt whether it took
> more than 2 minutes.
>
> A planner rebuild may take longer, depending upon the HDD and the type
> of Sky+ model.  However, it certainly shouldn't take 2 hours!
>
> The capacity of the Seagate ST3500630A is 500 Gb.  Until recently,
> Sky+ receivers could not recognise or utilise HDD capacity in excess
> of 270 Gb.  AFAIK, you would need to use Copy+ to format large
> drives, prior to installation in a Sky+ receiver.  Furthermore, the
> housekeeping functions of Sky+ did not work reliably on drives in
> excess of 250 Gb.
> I thought that restriction had been removed by a software update in
> September 2007 - but that might be wrong.  Does your Amstrad have the
> latest software?

Not sure at the moment Bob but I'll have a look later on this evening - 
thanks for that.

John

On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:22:38 +0100, "John" <replyingroup@notemail>
wrote:

>Just upgraded my Sky+ (PVR3 - Amstrad DRX280) from its original 160GB hard 
>drive to a Seagate ST3500630A http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127212 I know 
>it's not a CE (Consumer Electronics) drive but the reviewers there reckon 
>that it's whisper quiet and does the job superbly.

I tried the exact same drive in the same box & it wouldn't spin up,
drawing too much power I reckon. I eventually used a Western Digital
AV drive, which works just fine.

I can't remember where I read it (possibly Digital Spy) that someone
had hooked up an external Sata raid enclosure with 2 1Tb drives set to
JBOD making a 2Tb drive, to a Sky HD box. Now that would take some
filling up. 


CD.

CD wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:22:38 +0100, "John" <replyingroup@notemail>
> wrote:
>
>> Just upgraded my Sky+ (PVR3 - Amstrad DRX280) from its original
>> 160GB hard drive to a Seagate ST3500630A
>> http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127212 I know it's not a CE (Consumer
>> Electronics) drive but the reviewers there reckon that it's whisper
>> quiet and does the job superbly.
>
> I tried the exact same drive in the same box & it wouldn't spin up,
> drawing too much power I reckon. I eventually used a Western Digital
> AV drive, which works just fine.
>
> I can't remember where I read it (possibly Digital Spy) that someone
> had hooked up an external Sata raid enclosure with 2 1Tb drives set to
> JBOD making a 2Tb drive, to a Sky HD box. Now that would take some
> filling up.

Which WD drive was it CD?

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:22:21 +0100, "John" <replyingroup@notemail>
wrote:


>Which WD drive was it CD? 
>

It was the WD5000AVJB. Not sure if any of the online stores stock it.
I work in the computer trade so had the liberty of trying different
drives. Couldn't get hold of the Seagate CE drives at the time.

When I started this excercise I had no idea that there were specialist
drives for HD recorders, the CE standing for consumer electronics & AV
for audio visual on the WD models.
I stuck in a non AV WD 250Gb which worked fine but could hear the
clattering, the AV is almost silent.

You'll probably find that the cooling fan spins continuosly after the
upgrade. Someone sells an add on that regulates this relating to
temperature in the box. I did a much simple modification, I unplugged
the fan from the board.

CD

CD wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:22:21 +0100, "John" <replyingroup@notemail>
> wrote:
>
>
>> Which WD drive was it CD?
>>
>
> It was the WD5000AVJB. Not sure if any of the online stores stock it.
> I work in the computer trade so had the liberty of trying different
> drives. Couldn't get hold of the Seagate CE drives at the time.
>
> When I started this excercise I had no idea that there were specialist
> drives for HD recorders, the CE standing for consumer electronics & AV
> for audio visual on the WD models.
> I stuck in a non AV WD 250Gb which worked fine but could hear the
> clattering, the AV is almost silent.
>
> You'll probably find that the cooling fan spins continuosly after the
> upgrade. Someone sells an add on that regulates this relating to
> temperature in the box. I did a much simple modification, I unplugged
> the fan from the board.
>
> CD

That's great, thanks CD.

John

"CD"  wrote in message 
news:vsa454l6brk6qa6hnph3a530b0k8vetrdk@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:22:21 +0100, "John" <replyingroup@notemail>
> wrote:
>
>
>>Which WD drive was it CD?
>>
>
> It was the WD5000AVJB. Not sure if any of the online stores stock 
> it.
<snip>

<http://www.span.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=15454>