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Hi all
My trusty 1tb 5000t has worked very well for nearly 7 years, but the HDD has stopped being recognised overnight. It works fine as a set top box still. I had an old 80GB sata drive which I swapped and was recognised, but wouldn’t format.
My dilemma is:
Buy a second hand Seagate 1tb video drive from CeX for £13 which is likely to fail sooner rather than later as it will be the same vintage, then take advantage of their 5 year warranty; or
Buy a new Seagate Skylark 1tb video/av drive for £50, not knowing if it will work; or
Buy an Aura or Manhatten, but I believe both have issues (Manhattan doesn’t store other video files as media etc).
Your advice and guidance would be welcome, especially if there was a list of known working HDDs somewhere!
Thanks
Earl_Hickey – 5 hours ago »
My trusty 1tb 5000t has worked very well for nearly 7 years, but the HDD has stopped being recognised overnight. It works fine as a set top box still. I had an old 80GB sata drive which I swapped and was recognised, but wouldn’t format.
I think there have been some reports of the SATA connectors to the hard drive causing problems; you might want to check that they look clean and if not try and clean them.
My dilemma is:
Buy a second hand Seagate 1tb video drive from CeX for £13 which is likely to fail sooner rather than later as it will be the same vintage, then take advantage of their 5 year warranty.
I think that is the option I would go for.
Hi Martin
Thanks for the speedy reply. I was leaning towards the brand new Seagate drive (Skylark – designed for AV usage), only as I use the Hummy as a film store too (and the kids use the Media bit to watch a lot of films), and I’d need to re-create this each time on potentially time-limited older CEX HDDs. Is there any experience with the Skylark drives? I’d like another 3-5 years out of the unit if possible before buying something new.
I’ll try cleaning the SATA connectors, but when I connected the existing HDD to my Linux PC yesterday, it wouldn’t even boot, let alone not recognise it – hence I thought it was a dud!
Thanks again
Earl_Hickey – 1 hour ago »
I was leaning towards the brand new Seagate drive (Skylark – designed for AV usage)
Do you mean Skylark? Ther is certainly some positive experience reported for the Skyhawk.
only as I use the Hummy as a film store too (and the kids use the Media bit to watch a lot of films), and I’d need to re-create this each time on potentially time-limited older CEX HDDs. Is there any experience with the Skylark drives? I’d like another 3-5 years out of the unit if possible before buying something new.
Fair enough; I suggest buying from a supplier who will readily accept it back if it doesn’t fix the problem.
I’ll try cleaning the SATA connectors, but when I connected the existing HDD to my Linux PC yesterday, it wouldn’t even boot, let alone not recognise it – hence I thought it was a dud!
How did you connect it to the Linux PC?
Skyhawk – that’s the one! Would you try an SSD instead? Or is that more variable? I can always use whatever I buy as a spare drive in the pc if needed.
I connected the HDD via sata straight to the motherboard.
Thanks again, I’ll give it a go and report back.
I concur, buy a second hand 1TB H/D from CeX and make sure you format it in MBR mode before you fit it to the Humax.
kacout – 14 hours ago »
I concur, buy a second hand 1TB H/D from CeX and make sure you format it in MBR mode before you fit it to the Humax.
Is that because you think the whole thing will be obsolete sooner rather than later? My concern is any drive I get for a tenner + postage from CEX is likely to last a year max and, although they will replace it, I have still lost all the recordings again! Hence why I was leaning towards a new Skyhawk (if it works) for another 5-6 years of use.
I haven’t managed to get hold of a spare SATA drive to test before buying though yet. Might just have to take the plunge and keep it as a spare for the PC if it doesn’t work.
No, I think they will be around for a while yet. You are always taking that risk with a mechanical drive and as for the Skyhawk range, I have no experience of them I’m afraid but yet again a mechanical drive. If you are looking for another 5-6 years of use you might be better going with an SSD! I am currently in the process of changing to an SSD on a 2TB Aura (again due to failure of mechanical Seagate drive!), so will let you know how I get on. If you find that your current drive is actually fine and the fault is in the unit then let me know as I might be able to help.
I assume a 2.5″ factor SSD will need some sort of bracket to fit? I can look into that as well, but have seen mixed success on my trawling on here with SSDs, hence why a direct replacement was my first option.
Yes, would need either bracket or double-sided sticky pads to keep it in place on the FVP-5000T, Aura is different as it already has a 2.5″ drive. I buy and sell Humax boxes so have some replacement H/D’s which I sell on eBay now and then (roughly same price as CeX), and it would be formatted in MBR format so a direct replacement into unit if you are interested?
Earl_Hickey – 2 hours ago »
I assume a 2.5″ factor SSD will need some sort of bracket to fit? I can look into that as well, but have seen mixed success on my trawling on here with SSDs, hence why a direct replacement was my first option.
A SSD should work but usually they are more expensive than a conventional hard drive and although they are certainly faster you are unlikely to see any performance benefit. The only guaranteed benefit is that they will be much quieter.
Thanks to both for your suggestions so far. I’m getting there!
I formatted the old 80GB drive and checked it for issues (2 bad sectors) and have just popped it in the PVR. It was recognised and I went into Storage and formatted it in the system. After a restart it was all good – obviously not much space (8hrs max! after system files), but working.
I then recorded ITV Lunchtime news, then watched it back. All good.
On this basis, I reckon a new drive would work. My revised plan is to go for a newer but second hand drive, either from CEX or kacout. With CEX you can return the drive if you don’t want it for a full refund including postage, so may go this way first.
The choice is between:
Seagate 1TB Skyhawk Lite 3.5″ SATA – £20 + p&p (newest)
Seagate (ST1000VX005) 1TB Skyhawk – £18 + p&p
Seagate Video ST1000VM002 1TB SATA – £10 + p&p (oldest, but the original drive)
I reckon I’ll try the top one unless there is a good reason not to?
Thanks all – nearly there!
Sounds like a plan!
Went for this one: Seagate 1TB Skyhawk Lite 3.5″ SATA – £20 + p&p.
Hooked it up to my Linux PC and deleted all partitions and formatted it as MBR. Popped in the machine and formatted, then did a Disk Check (all good).
Apart from one random restart when a recording finished but was being watched in chase-play, it has been performing well. I’ll keep an eye on it and (hopefully) I’ll get a few years out of it. I’ll start adding media to the Media Server bit soon, so that may make it work a bit harder.
Thanks again for everyone’s help.
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