# HR20 and HR21 Software and hard Drive Upgrades



## funinthesun (Jan 20, 2008)

Can someone nicely spell out the information on HR20 and HR21 units...

1 - can they be hard drive upgraded like the hr10-250 units ourselves? is it a plug in external and installed internal as well?

2 - i think you can buy one of those units at costco for $169 but for current subscribers. are these the hr20 or hr21 units or some DVR Plus unit or maybe that is the same. i couldnt figure it out from the box. if not then can whatever is in that box be hard drive upgraded?

3 - what kind of hard drives do i need to upgrade these if i buy them? sata, pata and where do i get the software for the new drive. dvrupgrade? i couldnt find the software for those on that site.

4 - what size hard drives come with these units?

5 - if you upgrade these do you screw the warranty?

6 - where can i find more people and info about doing this stuff to these specific boxes?

7 - if we cant upgrade the software like we did for tivos why not? what made it so nice for us to have fun with the hr10-250 units for so long but no dice with the directv only boxes? just just decided to allow us to do it and directv wont?

thanks a lot for your replies :up:


----------



## kkluba (Oct 18, 2002)

1. You can add hard drives externally or internally. HR20/21 will only use one drive at a time. Some folks are doing external raid 0 setups with 2TB.
2. Yes they are HR20/21.
3. SATA
4. 300/320gb
5. Not externally and many boxes have no sticker on the outside, mine don't.
6. Go to DBSTalk. Tons of info.
7. You can's customize and tweak the OS and interface on the HR20/21's but they come with lots of features and D* is updating them constantly. Since they are Linux based I suspect there will be some software for them eventually...


----------



## funinthesun (Jan 20, 2008)

thanks!

A - so all we do is connect an external drive using a double ended sata cable and it formats and loads the software onto the drive all by itself?

B - is this also true for a internal hard drives as well? just plug it in and it formats and loads it with the correct software - simply plug an play easy as that?

C - if they dont have the sticker on the back then does that mean d* wont find out that you changed the hard drive inside, etc? or is there something else that gives it away? (assuming you do it carefully and cleanly)

D - anyone know if the units bought from costco can be bought, looked inside and upgraded/tested and returned or do you have to sign up with a commitment before leaving the store somehow?

E - how does weak* get away with upgrading and not screwing the warranty? is all they do is plug in a new larger drive and it self formats and loads on its own?


----------



## RS4 (Sep 2, 2001)

funinthesun said:


> thanks!
> 
> A - so all we do is connect an external drive using a double ended sata cable and it formats and loads the software onto the drive all by itself?
> 
> ...


D - You are not buying the unit - only leasing it, so at the end of the lease you have to send it back to Direct. There is no trial period, so once you activate it, you are automatically signed up for a 2-year commitment that will cost $20.00 per month to terminate. The net is, check out the box carefully at Costco before bringing it home.


----------



## kkluba (Oct 18, 2002)

A - Yes. It is all automatic. Whatever you have on your internal drive becomes inacessible unless you unplug the external drive and reboot. Same holds true for doing an internal swap. Whichever route you go it is only a one drive at a time solution. It works totally automatically, seemlessly.

B. Yes

C. Probably. Somehow unless your steeling content or hacking the box I don't think they care.

D. Don't know this. You could buy and try.

E. I've wondered that myself.. maybe they are warranting the box at that point and not D* ?


----------



## funinthesun (Jan 20, 2008)

the units from costco here have the small white rectangular warranty sticker on the back of the unit.

if you start to mess with the sticker the white gets pulls off of it.

not sure if there is a way to lift the sticker without messing up the tag.

where do you buy them without the stickers?

the costco units were HR21-700


----------



## Mark Lopez (Jan 1, 2000)

funinthesun said:


> A - so all we do is connect an external drive using a double ended sata cable and it formats and loads the software onto the drive all by itself?
> 
> B - is this also true for a internal hard drives as well? just plug it in and it formats and loads it with the correct software - simply plug an play easy as that?


To expand on the previous answers, what makes the way DirecTV does it so much better than Tivo, is that you need no software at all on any drive. If your internal drive were to fail, all you have to do is plug in a new one and it will automatically get it going. No more putting in a PC and fussing with images or backups.

On a side note, putting any warranty/lease issues aside, since the unit only uses one drive, either the internal or external, I found it good to unplug the internal one if you are using an external. Not only does it save wear and tear on a drive not being used, but the unit runs MUCH cooler.

As for external drives, I'm running 1TB WD drives in MX-1 cases on both of mine. I know WD has not had the best reputation, but these new drives run so cool they barely even get warm and are extremely quiet. What a joy it is to have DVRs that you can't even hear running.



funinthesun said:


> E - how does weak* get away with upgrading and not screwing the warranty? is all they do is plug in a new larger drive and it self formats and loads on its own?


I don't know how they get around the warranty unless they offer their own. But yes, all they are doing is sticking in a new unformatted drive in it. While I would not call it a scam, I would not pay a premium for the 'service'. At least with the HR10, there at least was the loading of the image (although still fairly trivial). Unless you absolutely do not want an external drive, there is no reason not to just buy an external unit and save some money.


----------



## funinthesun (Jan 20, 2008)

if you break the warranty sticker on the back does that mean you own the box and have to pay extra (if they figure it out) or jsut that they will not repair it for you?

some people have stickers and some dont so i wonder what happens if i just remove the sticker all together.

is the internal drives on "ALL" HR20 and HR21 units sata as well regardless of wether they are the -700 models or the others?


----------



## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

All drives in HR2x-y DVRs are Sata


----------

