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Reformat DVR hard drive for PC use
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Junior Member
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16. September 2011 @ 23:07 |
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Originally posted by eireireland:
[]I have spent weeks and countless hours trying to hack into the two 500GB HDDs that I removed from two HR22s. Sadly, I have not ..............................SOLVED... EASEUS PARTITION MASTER HOME EDT...drive should show up there,,right click on it and change it from logical to primary..the highlight drive and format.press apply on top tool bar and that should be it,close program and it should b there..worked on a maxtor,,hope it helps,,,,,,maxtor sata drive connected to pc using a external hardrive hub into usb port,,,,,,,,slan
I tried today, and it did not show up for me. Different I guess. What OS did you use? Man I've been at this for over a year. Even made it a prize for any of my classmates who could do it. They fail too. Anything else guys?
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eireireland
Newbie
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21. September 2011 @ 18:42 |
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Originally posted by Vejeta77:
Originally posted by eireireland:
[]I have spent weeks and countless hours trying to hack into the two 500GB HDDs that I removed from two HR22s. Sadly, I have not ..............................SOLVED... EASEUS PARTITION MASTER HOME EDT...drive should show up there,,right click on it and change it from logical to primary..the highlight drive and format.press apply on top tool bar and that should be it,close program and it should b there..worked on a maxtor,,hope it helps,,,,,,maxtor sata drive connected to pc using a external hardrive hub into usb port,,,,,,,,slan
I tried today, and it did not show up for me. Different I guess. What OS did you use? Man I've been at this for over a year. Even made it a prize for any of my classmates who could do it. They fail too. Anything else guys?
..........................................................................................................Hmmm,i had spent some time trying to figure it out also,,was it connected using usb hub? i was using xp pro on an old desktop, did it not show up in the easeus program? i have another hardrive currently in use in the dvr and when i get time il try it step by step again, il let you know how it goes anyways,,,, dont give up:)
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blowe3711
Junior Member
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23. September 2011 @ 08:33 |
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Wondering if using a x360 usb pro could help gain control of the drive? it is a hard drive hacking tool.
team-xecuter.com if you wanna read and decide.. maybe ask on the forums from that website
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 23. September 2011 @ 08:37
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Jerw39
Newbie
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3. November 2011 @ 00:46 |
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I just did the DVR-to-PC reformat! However - The drive was one I'd originally supplied as an external, and it had been originally formatted for PC use.
I used Seagate's "DiscWizard for PC" (just because it was laying around), but the hard drive in question is a Western 500 GB! I got the boilerplate warning that the software only works with Seagate drives, etc.
But it did see the Western drive (SATA Drive 1). When I asked it to reformat, it took only a few seconds (quick format), and the drive is alive and useable. However, there is a small partition (~500MB) that sits there useless - the Seagate SW didn't offer any partition options. But I now have nearly all the original capacity of the drive back - I tried a few test files in and out with good results.
No idea whether this would help with a drive originally supplied with the DVR. Oh, the DVR is a Scientific-Atlanta 8340, and my OS is Windows XP.
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um4u211
Newbie
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20. November 2011 @ 17:21 |
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Originally posted by KillerBug:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Try this; it should wipe out whatever is on there and give you a nice clean space to put a NTFS partition:
Open the command prompt as administrator
type diskpart[enter]
type list disk[enter]
type select disk X[enter] (where X is replaced with the number of that disk).
type clean[enter]
type create partition primary[enter]
type exit[enter]exit[enter]
Also, there might be a new firmware file for the drive...I would check the seagate website...even if it is just the first firmware, you never know what the DVR maker might have done to the firmware on the drive.
This is right all the way up till the Exit command
after creaing the partition primary you need to select the partition by typing
(select partition 1)
After getting the prompt that partition 1 in now the selected partition you neeed to make it active by typing
(active)
you'll get a prompt that says that the partition is now active once you get that you'll wat to type
(format fs=fat32)
That process will take a little while but oec its done your disk will pop up in the computer as a local disk or removeable disk if connected by usb.
I've been doin this now for a few friends of mine and I've been able to do direct TV, time warner and personal DVRs with no problem hope this helps ALso I use an IDE/SATA to USB adapter for all of my jobs which makes it a lot easier than having to take your pc apart. about 15 dollars at most computer stores like frys and Micro Center
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UnifiedCitizen
Newbie
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24. December 2011 @ 04:54 |
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boot from an xp pro disk. format hdd, worked for me. w7 disk wont work.
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binsy1
Newbie
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27. February 2012 @ 20:13 |
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If you gave up on this project I certainly understand but, if not, I solved the problem using a piece of software named hdat2.com and it was a breeze. I can walk you through it if you'd like. That is, of course, if your drive isn't with Davy Jones!
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Junior Member
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27. February 2012 @ 20:33 |
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Originally posted by binsy1:
If you gave up on this project I certainly understand but, if not, I solved the problem using a piece of software named hdat2.com and it was a breeze. I can walk you through it if you'd like. That is, of course, if your drive isn't with Davy Jones!
Unfortunately I left the drive back at the class I was taking for computers. No idea where it ended up at. I moved on from it though. I made it a prize for who ever could get it to work. Hopefully someone made use of it.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. February 2012 @ 20:34
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smoggie66
Member
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28. February 2012 @ 14:39 |
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u could try with parted magic if u havnt already google it its a free download and a handy tool.
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bighodgey
Newbie
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13. April 2012 @ 13:35 |
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I have a WD5000AVVS-63ZWB0 hdd out of a direct tv hr22 box and tried hooking it up and windows xp will not see it(it is a good hdd working in the dvr, I was if anybody ever figured out this drive to work in a pc
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ddp
Moderator
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13. April 2012 @ 20:45 |
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does the bios see the drive? have you gone into control panel\administrative tools\computer management\disk management?
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bighodgey
Newbie
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13. April 2012 @ 21:28 |
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Originally posted by ddp:
does the bios see the drive? have you gone into control panel\administrative tools\computer management\disk management?
It does not show in any of these,It doesn't spin up it just acts like it don't have power.
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ddp
Moderator
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13. April 2012 @ 21:45 |
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do you got 2 cables plugged into the drive?
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bighodgey
Newbie
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13. April 2012 @ 22:10 |
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Originally posted by ddp:
do you got 2 cables plugged into the drive?
yes both plugs are plugged in I hooked up another hdd to the plugs and it was found
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ddp
Moderator
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13. April 2012 @ 22:29 |
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bighodgey
Newbie
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13. April 2012 @ 22:33 |
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Originally posted by ddp:
ide or sata?
It is sata
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ddp
Moderator
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13. April 2012 @ 22:42 |
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does it still work in that box?
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bighodgey
Newbie
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13. April 2012 @ 22:48 |
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Originally posted by ddp:
does it still work in that box?
yea it works just fine.
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Senior Member
4 product reviews
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14. April 2012 @ 04:45 |
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you have to use the box to start the drive. DVR's use a weird hardware call to spin up, and shut down the drive. to get the drive to spin up all you have to do is record something using the DVR. the drive will then initialize and you can hot swap it from the box to the PC. the fun doesn't stop there, you then have to modify the drive's firmware to turn hardware calls off. the drive's firmware interface looks allot like what you would find on a SCSI/SAS drive.
if you managed to get this far you have 2 out comes
1.) if your lucky you now have a drive that cant handle day to day PC activity's.(("these drives have variable motors they may say they operate at 5200RPMS on the tin but more like than not the drive will probably only cap out at about 3200RPMs, even worse is the 1990's cache size of 2mb if your lucky."))
2.) if your not so lucky you now have a paperweight(("some DVR drives only respond to those commands even if you bybassed the drive's calls properly the drive will never respond to the hardware calls required to operate again....ever."))
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tnhanif
Newbie
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4. July 2012 @ 09:26 |
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i had try use my xternal hdd as a dvr on my smart tv. Smart tv then formating it into dvr format. I tried then to use as xternal hdd back on my notebook. Suddenly it cant detect as a drive. I tried several way and this one work.
1- Launch computer management which is located in the >control panel>administrative tools
2- select storage>Disk management
3- format the drive and assign a drive letter or
4- (if the drive is formated) right click at the drive then select >change drive letter and path
5- here u go..the drive is now useable
*im using windows 7 ultimate
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scorpNZ
AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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4. July 2012 @ 15:00 |
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you did not read the op's question nor the answer diectly above your post this is NOT an hdd from an external housing nor is it from a pc or a bought oem part it is from a dvd recorder with an internal hdd already installed your smart tv is also not a dvr in the context this thread is in
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Junior Member
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4. July 2012 @ 16:33 |
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Couldn't have said it better myself. Besides all that the point to this topic is no longer of interest to me. I have long since given up and I don't even know where the hard drive got to. It's not in my hands anymore. Although if anyone does find out anything about performing this task of formatting a dvr hard drive for pc use please tell me all you know.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 4. July 2012 @ 16:35
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bocaveli
Newbie
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12. July 2012 @ 12:46 |
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Start >settings> control panel> admin tools >computer management >disk manager.
delete the volumes and reformat the entire disk ... it should step you through a wizard.
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wvtimberwolf
Newbie
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21. September 2012 @ 23:16 |
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hello all i know this is an old thread and im new here but i have figured the solution. i took all the posts i read in this thread and used all the data to formulate the solution
the main tools you will need is a working directv dvr in my case a HR22-100 it has a 500gb seagate hdd model ST3500312CS
and HDAT2 bootable cd
these drives are DCO frozen you have to boot the drive up in the dvr so it wakes and unlocks them then do a hotswap meaning leaving power to the drive after it activates then connect the sata connector to a computer and boot the computer with hdat2 cd.
the proceadure:
1: select option 1 from the menu
2: once it goes to a command prompt type HDAT2
3: once HDAT2 has started select the drive model that you are working on and press enter
4: the first thing under the menu you want to do is select "Device Configuration Overlay (DCO) menu"
under there you need to select "Restore" at the bottom of the screen it will prompt you for a Yes/No just hit Y let it do its thing and it should comeback with some code and some words in green.
5: now we need to hit escape till were back to the menu and we need to select "Comands Menu" and hit enter
under comands menu select "commands/feature sets" and hit enter you will see a lot of things in gray and yellow we are only going to touch one thing here and thats the "Power-Up In Standby (PUIS)" we want to disable this by highlighting it and pushing the right arrow then hit the s key it will prompt you for a Y or N ht Y for yes it will say working and then should finish wothout error and turn to dissabled.
now to test to make sure it worked. remove the boot cd turn the computer off. disconnect the drive from the computer now put the drive in the computer and connect to computer sata and computer sata power power on the computer go to bios see if the drive shows its information. if so you can now use the drive like a standard sata drive.
for me what i did was after unlocking the drive i connected it to a computer running windows 7 via usb enclosure/dock and used easus partition to prepare the drive and it is working perfect just like a new 500gb hdd
NOTES and WARNINGS:
the drive MUST maintain power at all times during the proceadure if the drive looses power it will lock and you have to start over. just the nature of the beast
doing this will also make the drive non useable in any directv hd dvr this removes directv's custom firmware codes and flags.
if anyone wants a pdf with step by step pictures and instructions let me know if i was allowed to upload it here i would.
enjoy and any questions feel free to ask and if anyone trys this and is successfull please report back.
also this should work for any device locked drive it does not even have to be a directv box.
the hotswap trick is what we had to do for the old xbox hdd's they were also dco locked.
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sOOper_nOOb
Newbie
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25. January 2013 @ 14:52 |
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@wvtimberwolf
Hey, thanks a bunch. This did the trick for a drive that came out of a DVR. Just like you mentioned, the PUIS was enabled, keeping the drive from spinning up. I used a newer version of HDAT2 and some of the menus were just a little different, but close enough to follow your instructions.
After I was done, the drive would spin up normally, but still wasn't being detected by Windows. The BIOS did see the drive.
I booted to EASE Partition Master and found there were 3 partitions. After repartitioning and formatting it, it worked perfectly internally and with an external adapter.
Thanks again for putting together such a thorough tutorial.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. January 2013 @ 14:55
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