# Confirm it's going -



## Jupiterhead (Dec 14, 2002)

The symptoms:
Drop outs - audio and video
Pixelization and freezing of recorded shows (including missing minutes)
Occasional freezing (of recorded content)

I'll think it's on it's way out.

I have read some opinions that drives that are begining to die are never really salvagable with Spinrite. (I have had a similar experience several years ago in a PC)

Should I just watch the beejesus out of my recorded content and get a new drive on order? My wife gets kinda grumpy when 10 minutes of Survivor is unwatchable (like last night)!!!!!


----------



## hiker (Nov 29, 2001)

Make sure your dish is in alignment and your signal is strong.
Have you been getting heavy rain there? Could be your problem.


----------



## Jupiterhead (Dec 14, 2002)

It's not weather related, it's similar to rain fade, but the missing parts are missing - no loss of signal message. i.e. The time bar shows 1 hour but the green bar goes to ~50mins and during the playback it has a period of pixelization and freezing and missing show, then it recovers and plays to the end of the show (and the end of the green bar). 

When I have had a recording that was interrupted by rain/snow it always records the "signal lost" message in place of the program.


----------



## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

OTA only, sat only, both?


----------



## Jupiterhead (Dec 14, 2002)

I would say both, with this qualifier: My OTA is kinda weak and I do have some signal drop outs with it. Additionally, most of my viewing is from the Sat, so I can't say for sure it's both, but for sure, Sat.


----------



## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

I've had the missing minutes cheese even with OTA and I don't think you get the "No Signal" banner like with sat. 

The freezing part however, I have always attributed to a croaking HDD. I assume you mean gets to a point in the recording, stutters/locks, sometimes gets through it only to lock up again?


----------



## Jupiterhead (Dec 14, 2002)

Last night I had a new experience. 

While in playback the audio dropped and the video would freeze and then move a few frames. During this time, which lasted about 5-10 minutes, it would not respond to any commands (ff, pause, it wouldn't display the time bar or banner - nothing) when it finally broke loose I was able to play that segment with no problems, it was almost like the processor was loaded up.

It had no pixelization or the other recently typical afflictions. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I thought it was another sign of a dying HD, and then I was able to view it normally.........


----------



## whsbuss (Dec 16, 2002)

Jupiterhead said:


> Last night I had a new experience.
> 
> While in playback the audio dropped and the video would freeze and then move a few frames. During this time, which lasted about 5-10 minutes, it would not respond to any commands (ff, pause, it wouldn't display the time bar or banner - nothing) when it finally broke loose I was able to play that segment with no problems, it was almost like the processor was loaded up.
> 
> It had no pixelization or the other recently typical afflictions. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I thought it was another sign of a dying HD, and then I was able to view it normally.........


I had your exact same symptoms for 2-3 weeks. I called DTV and they shipped me another unit (4th replacement). Its been up for 3 days with no problems. I did check the old unit before shipping back. It had a Western Digital HDD.


----------



## WO312 (Jan 24, 2003)

Jupiterhead said:



> Should I just watch the beejesus out of my recorded content and get a new drive on order? My wife gets kinda grumpy when 10 minutes of Survivor is unwatchable (like last night)!!!!!


Based on my (many) experiences with dying hard drives, I would get a replacement NOW and transfer the contents of your existing drive to the new drive while your existing drive is still readable.


----------



## whsbuss (Dec 16, 2002)

WO312 said:


> Based on my (many) experiences with dying hard drives, I would get a replacement NOW and transfer the contents of your existing drive to the new drive while your existing drive is still readable.


What HDD do you recommend?


----------



## WO312 (Jan 24, 2003)

I can't say that I have a specific recommendation. I have had many Maxtor failures, including the vaunted Quickview. Ditto with WD. I did have one Samsung that never failed, so I guess that's a good sign. I am currently trying Seagates and have not had a failure yet. Perhaps that would be my current recommendation.

(I have had 8 different Tivo's and DirecTivo's starting in Nov. 2000, with 6 currently in-house and 2 at my kids houses. So I have had a lot of experience with HD's.)

Edit: And I take all the precautions. Most of my units have the TwinBreeze fan which does cool it down, and they all are on UPS power supplies, on the battery side. And still the drives fail.


----------



## whsbuss (Dec 16, 2002)

WO312 said:


> I can't say that I have a specific recommendation. I have had many Maxtor failures, including the vaunted Quickview. Ditto with WD. I did have one Samsung that never failed, so I guess that's a good sign. I am currently trying Seagates and have not had a failure yet. Perhaps that would be my current recommendation.
> 
> (I have had 8 different Tivo's and DirecTivo's starting in Nov. 2000, with 6 currently in-house and 2 at my kids houses. So I have had a lot of experience with HD's.)
> 
> Edit: And I take all the precautions. Most of my units have the TwinBreeze fan which does cool it down, and they all are on UPS power supplies, on the battery side. And still the drives fail.


What HDD specifications are recommended? e.g. spindle speed.


----------



## Jupiterhead (Dec 14, 2002)

What is the best source of instructions on transferring shows from the old drive to a new one?


----------



## bpratt (Nov 20, 2004)

> What is the best source of instructions on transferring shows from the old drive to a new one?


http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/index.php


----------



## WO312 (Jan 24, 2003)

whsbuss said:


> What HDD specifications are recommended? e.g. spindle speed.


I don't think it matters. Supposedly 5400 rpm will run a little cooler and quieter, but I have had no problems with 7200 rpm.

The most important thing is to get a hard drive at least as big or bigger than your current one, or the shows won't transfer. And not all hard drives of the same nominal size are equal. For example, you can buy 2 120GB drives from different mfrs. and one will be slightly smaller than the other. So if you are buying a HD of the same nominal size, and you want to transfer shows, check the specs very carefully.


----------

