I get this in the RDR-HX900 display "HDD ERROR" so I follow the recommendation in the manuel by pressing the HD button in the unit for 10 seconds and it's supposed to reformat the hard drive but after it restarts it still displays HDD ERROR.

I took the original hard drive out and put a spare drive in (wrote zeros to the drive before putting it in so it would look like a fresh new drive) and it says RECOVERY in the display when I turn it on for about 2 minutes then turns off. When I turn it back on it still displays HDD ERROR.

Does the replacement hard require some special files? Any advice? Tweeters wants $490 to repair it which is absurd! Thanks in advance.

That is absurd, considering some Sears stores were recently closing them out for less than $300.00.

I've done search after search and can't find any references to replacing the drive in my Sony 900. Anyone have any suggestions before I Ebay it?

have you called sony to ask about repair?

Every time I've called Sony it seems I end up talking with a robotron reading from a script that doesn't know jacks***! It's a shame, the unit is only about 17 months old and I paid about $600 for it. Oh well, time to decide what to replace it with.

I know this thread is old, but perhaps this may help others. You may consider a service manual. I downloaded one online. Here is how to access the service mode. Be very careful in here! You can do real damage in here! After the unit is plugged in, let the unit go to Welcome on the display. Connect Video 2 out to a monitor. Holding down the REC Pause, SYSTEM Menu, and TOOLS all a the same time, turn the unit on with the front on/off switch. Continue to hold the 3 buttons until you enter the service mode. From there go to the HDD menu to format, etc. Good luck, the service menu is very sketchy on what all of thes functions do. I have tried to format a new drive without success. Does anyone know of a compatability list for HDD replacement? I tried a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160GB. Gives me a format error. Any ideas?

Thanks

JC

I know this thread is old, but perhaps this may help others. You may consider a service manual. I downloaded one online. Here is how to access the service mode. Be very careful in here! You can do real damage in here! After the unit is plugged in, let the unit go to Welcome on the display. Connect Video 2 out to a monitor. Holding down the REC Pause, SYSTEM Menu, and TOOLS all a the same time, turn the unit on with the front on/off switch. Continue to hold the 3 buttons until you enter the service mode. From there go to the HDD menu to format, etc. Good luck, the service menu is very sketchy on what all of thes functions do. I have tried to format a new drive without success. Does anyone know of a compatability list for HDD replacement? I tried a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 160GB. Gives me a format error. Any ideas?

Thanks

JC


Thanks for the info on the service menu. Have you tried asking Sony for a drive compatibility list? What kind of drive was in it originally? That might help you figure out what would be compatible.

I sure wish you good luck with this!

Thanks for the info on the service menu. Have you tried asking Sony for a drive compatibility list? What kind of drive was in it originally? That might help you figure out what would be compatible.

I sure wish you good luck with this!


Looking into this also. The HDD that JC was using was replacing a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160 Gig. I have spent a little time researching and comparing the two drives. They are basically identical. Something else must play into this. I will talk to JC more and see if there is anything new to try. :confused:

Good luck.

Well, It seems that the new Maxtor formatted in a known good RDR-HX900. The HDD control circuit must have been damaged at the same time as the HDD. I formatted the drive from the Service Menu. After this, you must Write the ID from that same HDD Service menu. Just a side note, when I put my original drive back in my known good RDR-HX900, I had to go back to the HDD service menu and Write the ID back to my original HDD. Apparently, this ID is copied and stored in an EEPROM on board and they need to match. Otherwise, I was getting a HDD Error. All of my original recordings were still there. As far as the bad unit, looks like we have a parts unit now. I can't imagine that it is economical to repair. JC

How do you write the ID, after formatting the new drive?? Has anyone had this model repaired and at what cost? I bought one of these recorders at a liquidation sale and the harddrive dosen't work! However the burner works! JW

Just an update to my question, it was an easy answer after my new drive was installed! Before I put the new drive in I did not get the second screen where you write the ID. All that I got was that the initailization failed!! JW

Every time I've called Sony it seems I end up talking with a robotron reading from a script that doesn't know jacks***! It's a shame, the unit is only about 17 months old and I paid about $600 for it. Oh well, time to decide what to replace it with.

That's pretty disappointing to read. I'll have had mine two years next month and I still have stuff on the hard drive for almost a year that I've been too lazy to edit and move to dvd. Guess I better get on it.

I just got the service manual for the RDR-HX900.

Anyone is welcome to PM me if they need any information from it.
(Hope this sort of thing isn't frowned upon at avsforum.) :)


Shplad

Saw this listing for a replacement HDD assy for Sony HX-900:

HDD (WD-XL80-2-160G) ASSY

Looks like it's a Western Digital HD if that helps anyone.

I've got the same problem now on my Sony machine. :( Had it for about 2 years, and tons of recordings on there I meant to convert to DVD. Sounds like it's not worth having service from Sony? I paid $700 for mine. There was a spike in the electrical lines...a really brief brown-out in the area...that seemed to have broke the HD part of it.

I have successfully replaced a failed hard drive in one of my RDR-HX900's, thanks to the information on another thread in this forum. (Search for the model name and you should find the thread.)

One day the drive started making loud clicking noises, and "HDD ERROR" was flashing on the front panel. I tried rebooting and reformatting as instructed in the user manual, but that didn't help.

I tried calling Sony Support. Got a clueless guy in India that was obviously reading from a script. He was of no help, except to confirm what it said on the Sony website, which is that I had to ship it to Texas for service. No place locally would handle it.

Since it was out of warranty anyway, I decided to open it up and see how difficult it would be to replace the drive myself. It was right on top and came out easily with a screwdriver (although the data cable was taped to the top of it, so I carefully untaped it).

I bought a replacement drive at CompUSA as close as possible -- same manufacturer (Western Digital), same specs (ATA 100, 7200 RPM). Put it in and reformatted by holding down the HDD button on the front panel. Reformatted okay, but upon reboot it was still flashing "HDD ERROR".

I then found on this forum how to enter "Service Mode". Did that, and used the "Format" option from Service Mode, and then told it to write the ID to the disk. This solved it, the new drive now works.

[A side note. Once I got it working, I found that all the old recordings scheduled, all options, and even some of the TV Guide programming was still there. So obviously it must have some other non-volatile memory in there, since apparently it doesn't use the hard drive to store that information.]

Since there was only a small cost differential, I bought a bigger disk (320GB) than the original (160GB), hoping it would just automatically use the extra space. However, as others have noted, it doesn't recognize the bigger size and still uses only 160GB. In my research I found that Sony, before apparently abandoning the DVR market, released models HX915, HX1000, and HX1010 outside of the U.S. with bigger drives (up to 400GB), so I'm guessing there's probably some way to tell it to use the larger drive.

If anyone figures out how to get it to recognize the extra disk space, I'd love to hear it. However, I'm happy just to have this unit working again without having to ship it to Texas.

Also, by the way, does anyone know why Sony appears to have abandoned this market? These models all seem to be discontinued, and I couldn't find any hard drive recorders listed on their website any more. Is the competition from Tivo and the cable and satellite companies too much or something? Maybe they got tired of all the complaints about the problems with the TV Guide system resetting itself? Just wondering, because I do actually like the product.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this forum I just replaced the faulty Maxtor HD in my unit. Used a Seagate - 160Gb ATA100 7200 RPM with 5 yr Warranty from Comp USA. The 3 Button press procedure to get the service menu to load is a little tricky. However, don’t give up! Eventually you will see the S in the front display and the fan will start! The only issue I had was how to drive the menu on the screen. This took some time to figure out! This can be done with the remote. Be sure you have a good set of batteries in the remote. Set the mode switch (Under the Slide Cover at the bottom of the remote) to position 3. The number entries on the pad correspond to the menu picks. Enter 9 for the HD section.. Format the drive 1st. Then write the drive ID. This should do the trick. The return button on the front of the unit will take you back a level though the menu. The enter button on the remote will execute the menu pick.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this forum I just replaced the faulty Maxtor HD in my unit. Used a Seagate - 160Gb ATA100 7200 RPM with 5 yr Warranty from Comp USA. The 3 Button press procedure to get the service menu to load is a little tricky. However, don’t give up! Eventually you will see the S in the front display and the fan will start! The only issue I had was how to drive the menu on the screen. This took some time to figure out! This can be done with the remote. Be sure you have a good set of batteries in the remote. Set the mode switch (Under the Slide Cover at the bottom of the remote) to position 3. The number entries on the pad correspond to the menu picks. Enter 9 for the HD section.. Format the drive 1st. Then write the drive ID. This should do the trick. The return button on the front of the unit will take you back a level though the menu. The enter button on the remote will execute the menu pick.


Thanks, JLP13! All of us HX-900 owners are taking notes! ;)

thanks for all, i have a RDR-hx1000 , (2 years and 2 months old, then it is out of garanty) i just replaced the faulty Maxtor HD in my unit. Used a MAXTOR DIAMONDMAX 10 250GB PATA133, I didn´t write ID , "Service Mode" detected it. And all is alright.

The faulty old Maxtor hd isn´t broken, i have fomated it with win xp in NTFS ,it is running in my pc and it works perfectly. i think that if i replace once again the new hd and i put the old repaired old hd it'd work.

I had a 900 and now have 2 of the newer 715s. TO the poster wondering why Sony dropped HDD units, it's not just Sony... all the majors have dropped them: many reasons; new US govt law on digital tuners, complexity of use by average consumers, cost. I'm hoarding my 2 715s.

I've replaced the Hard Disk Drive in a couple of Sony RDR-HX900 units for friends. The part number posted earlier by "BRON" is the Sony part number; The disk is actually an off-the-shelf Western Digital Caviar SE family drive, P/N WD1600JB[I]. It's a garden variety home/office PC IDE drive with only an average projected lifespan. The drive sells direct from Western Digital's online store for about $50. This is an exact replacement for the Sony-supplied drive. But don't choose this drive for your replacement part.

The reason so many of us are experiencing hard disk failures is the RDR-HX900 keeps the drive spinning as long as it's powered on. After a few years, the drive is literally worn out. The Sony-supplied Western Digital Caviar SE family drives are not designed for long-term service.

I replace failing Sony-supplied hard drives with a server-grade hard drive. Instead, I use a Western Digital Caviar RE family drive, Western Digital P/N WD1600SB[I], which sell for about $75 on the Western Digital online store. This is the same drive with more robust bearings and components. It's intended for use in servers that operate 24/7. The WD1600SB has a mean-time-between-failures (MTBF) of 1 million hours, and comes from Western Digital with a 5 year warranty.

Both the P/N WD1600SB and P/N WD1600JB can be purchased cheaper from any number of Internet sellers than buying direct from Western Digital, but the product warranty isn't as long.

Follow the instructions offered in earlier posts:
1) Purchase the downloadable Sony RDR-HX900 Service Manual. There are always several for sale on eBay. It explains Service Mode.
2) Open the RDR-HX900 case and swap the old drive with the new drive. Be carefull peeling back the black tape holding the signal cable to the top of the drive, this ribbon cable is very thin and fragile.
3) Reassemble the RDR-HX900 and power it up.
4) Get into Service Mode, then Initialize the new hard disk drive. While in Service Mode, do the Write ID function.
5) Get out of Service Mode and power off/power on your machine and you're done.

Thank you all for the instructioons. My RDR-HX900 had a MAXTOR Diamond Plus 9 in it and it started the dreaded clicking and the DVR just kept rebooting. I was able to replace the hard drive, format, and write a new ID to a WD Caviar SE 160gb. I know it is not a server class drive but I was in a hurry and it was all the local computer store had. Worked like a charm. :)

I don't suppose anyone knows what make and model the DVD drive is, and if it can be replaced? Mine seems to be refusing to write to DVD-RW and DVD+RW media any more. DVD-R is OK. I figured that DVD writers are so cheap, it should be easy to replace.
Anyone got any ideas?

With my harddrive failure, I actually used Sony's repair service on the internet. It was $119, plus shipping for me to send them my unit (i think about $16). So it was worth it to me to pay that money to have them fix it. They replaced the drive and updated the firmware. It runs much faster now with the new firmware, and am very pleased at the turn-around time, etc. with dealing with the Sony repair service department. So, you might want to give that a whirl to save the headaches of trying to do it yourself. Good luck!

That's really not a bad price at all to keep a great model like this functionable.

Units such as these are goldmines right now. I wouldn't give mine up for nuthin'.

That's really not a bad price at all to keep a great model like this functionable.

Units such as these are goldmines right now. I wouldn't give mine up for nuthin'.


I agree. $119 sounds very reasonable and well worth it. And the firmware upgrade is a nice plus.

Timmo, can you provide a link or more info on this so someone coming along later can find the Sony service more easily? That would be nice. ;)

TIMMO,

Yes. Please post a link where for more info. That would be great to all of us who have this unit.

Love mine.

I came across this thread about 2-3 months ago, and printed out the posts above that gave the most info on changing the HDD if it should go bad.

Do Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, or any other local Brick and Mortor store carry the above mentioned HDD's?

I would buy one, just to keep it on hand.

Also, a step by step instruction in this thread(for an idiot like myself) for replacing the HDD would be greatly appreciated.

The above info is great, but there appear to be gaps not mentioned in the process(at least it appears that way). Like the info not mentioned is inferred, and for a novice/rookie, that does not do any good.

Also, if anyone attempts to replace the DVD drive with something else, a step by step instruction would be great.

But $119 sounds like a very good, reasonable price to get this unit's HDD fixed if it fails.

Plus, the firmware updates.

Do they post those for download on Sony's website?

Like to keep mine running strong.

Man I wish I had found this thread back in the spring. Great info that would have saved me a tonne of coin. I had my hdd replaced in the spring(same HDDERROR) and it cost me over $400CAD!!! Then to read here and find out the drive is a $50 dollar of the shelf drive!! :mad: Thats what you get from a "Sony Gold" repair shop! The only gold there is the gold they are buying from overcharging me for cheap parts! Oh well.
I love the unit though(hx900) The TVGuide doesn't reset that often in my area (every 3 months or so on average) though the person who enters the data was on holidays for the month of August. No Guide for the whole month, (I wish they would post that, I thought the TVguide had fried too.) but on the 1st of September it fired right back up. I'm going on Ebay right now to fine a service manual. I don't know why I didn't do that before? I do it for everything else I own.

Cheers and thanks for all the info folks! Tom.

hey everyone...sorry for not keeping up with this post! Here is the link to submit a repair to Sony:

http://eservice.sony.com/webrma/web/index.do

Use this model number: Model: RDRHX900

As far as I know, you can not download a firmware upgrade to do it yourself. I wish that was possible, but I guess Sony isn't as helpful with that like some other manufacturers (Philips is great about it). It seems much faster now that they upgraded the firmware, and was well worth the cost to let them do everything for me.

-T

You can also get the service manual at manualuniverse.com besides ebay.

Timmo, what is faster about it?

If you intend to buy the service manaul be advised that there are several version out there for this player. The US is very basic and does not contain ay schematics where the euro one is a complete manual.

Timmo what is the version of the firmware they installed. i have what i think is the latest, howver one side effect of installing on mine ws that it is will no longer play region 4 disc which is the region i live in.

Hi guys, I´m brand new to the forum, so please be kind. I´ve just had a hdd crash on my RDR HX900. With the help of a good friend (who works with computers) I was able to replace the hard drive and got the recorder up and running again. According to him, the Western family of hard drives do not have the same durability (as was previously mentioned in this thread) as other manufactures do. We replaced the faulty Western with a new Seagate Barracuda 250gb, and, using info on this thread (thanks to all who gave usable tips), we were able to get the 900 back up and running. What happened with the Western drive was at the end of a recording session the "info writing" sign came on blinking and would not stop blinking. A message came up that the "disk is dirty" and the only way to turn off the recorder was to pull the plug. We checked the drive after replacing it and found that it had been completely erased-140gb of saved films and tv programs shot to hell! If anybody has any ideas as to what happened or if there is anything else I should think about, please reply.

I just got the service manual for the RDR-HX900.

Anyone is welcome to PM me if they need any information from it.
(Hope this sort of thing isn't frowned upon at avsforum.) :)


Shplad

I would like to see what it all says. Mine is also saying hdd error.

I am also an RDR HX900 owner and appreciate the info that you all have provided. My unit is three years old now and I'm expecting the hard drive to go any time now! It sounds like the easiest route is back to Sony for $114.

I've got one too, and $114. is well worth it.

Definitely one of the best. You certainly ain't gonna ever see one built like that anymore.

I've got one too, and $114. is well worth it.

Definitely one of the best. You certainly ain't gonna ever see one built like that anymore.

Definitely! One of the best built units ever and the PQ is unbeatable for SD. Well, worth the investment. If it makes you feel better, I saw an HX900 sell for $900 once on eBay. I've seen many sell for over $600 in last few years (as I desperately tried to get a second unit - alas, no luck ever).

I've also found it to be one of the best burners - I can't remember the last time a burn failed on this unit. Sadly not the case with many. ;)

Good luck!

Bron

I own two Sony RDR-HX900 recorders & I just replaced the HD on my oldest one...here is the steps:
Once you have bought a compatable hard drive...don't buy one over 160GB as the recorder will not reconize the additional space over the 160gb....connect the recoreder to a monitor, then plug it in...you will first see a welcome menu, then it will go into recovery mode for a few mins..then you will get a HDD ERROR again..don't panic...unplug the unit then plug back in..you will then get the WELCOME message...while that is displaying that is when you have to do the three button thing to get into the service menu...REC Pause, SYSTEM Menu, and TOOLS all a the same time...you will then get a S on the dispaly...then you are in the service menu...using the remote go to the HDD section on the menu...then select format...you will see some numbers increment in the dispaly...then the recoreder will shut down all the way...you should see format ok on the screen....then unplug the unit again and replug it in...you will then get the WELCOME display...again access the service menu and go to the HDD section and select: Write ID...agin the unit will do its thing and then it will shut down completely. Again you have to unplug it and then replug it back in...this time the WELCOME screen will come on and then it will go into the LOAD display...once loaded the unit is fully operational..you can use the disk tools to check the new hard drive. Then ENJOY !!!

Last night we successfully installed a new hardrive in our Sony Burner Model HX 900.We used a Seagate 160GB Ultra ATA/100. It was actually quite easy.
Here are the exact steps we used, based on threads we found in the forum.
(THANK YOU!!)

We purchased a pdf version of the service manual. It was slightly useful in that it gave us a picture of what the service menu was going to look like. However, you can definitely do this without the manual.

1) Install the new hardrive

2) Hookup the hardrive to a monitor. We tried to use the suggestion in the service manual as well as on the forum to use the video 2 line out on the front of the burner, and connect that up with our TV. It didn’t work so we hooked our burner back up using the same system setup we were using up until the burner hardrive had fried. That worked.

3) Get out your Sony Burner remote. Set the mode switch (Under the Slide Cover at the bottom of the remote) to position 3. In the next steps you will be using the number buttons on your remote to navigate once you get into the service mode.
You will use the ENTER button on your remote to execute commands where necessary. The RETURN button on the front of the burner can be used to return to the previous menu.

4) Plug in your burner. You will see WELCOME come up on the screen of your burner (not on your TV screen). As soon as you see the WELCOME message, hold down the
REC Pause, SYSTEM Menu, and TOOLS button all at the same time...
- you will then get an S showing on the burner display, you will hear the fan kick in, and you will see the Service Menu come up on your monitor/TV screen.

5) Press 9 on your remote to take you to the HDD mode section.

6) Press 4 to select FORMAT. You may be asked to verify that you want to FORMAT. If you are, press ENTER on your remote. You will then see minutes/seconds increasing in value on the screen of your burner (not on the TV screen) as the drive is formatting. It took about 2-3 minutes on our unit to complete formatting.
A message will appear on your monitor/TV screen when this is completed.

7) Now - unplug the burner - then plug the burner back in.
Once again, when the WELCOME message comes back up, hold down the REC Pause, SYSTEM Menu, and TOOLS button all at the same until the S shows on the burner display and you see the Service Menu come up on your monitor/TV screen.

8) Press 9 on your remote to take you once again to the HDD Menu.
This time Enter 3 on your remote to select WRITE ID. When this step is completed, you will see the display of your burner go blank. (This step was fast on our unit).

9) Unplug the burner and plug it back in. Simply watch the WELCOME message up, the LOAD message do its thing, and finally the date and time will appear.
Congratulations! Now you can turn on the burner using the power button on the front and you should be ready to roll.

Note: I suspect that you do not have to unplug and plug back in the burner between steps 6 & 7. We did it because we were following someone’s instructions on this forum. Perhaps it will also work if you use the RETURN button on the front of the burner to get back to the MENU page where you can now select WRITE ID.

I need help with my RDR-HX900. The hard disk was very noisy and making a racket when the recorder was powered on and no other function seem to be working so I presumed that the hard drive had packed up.

So I bought an identical hard drive and service manual and consulted the comments here by other members on replacing hard drives.

The problem I am facing is once I go into menu 9 (the hard disk menu) it goes into ATA initialization mode and after a couple of minutes shows this message (INIT ERROR).

When I return to menu 9, it again goes into ATA initialization mode.

I cant figure out how to format the new hard dirve. Even pressing 4 on the remote does nothing.

Can someone please help and advise me.

Thanks in advance.

If you want to swap an existing HX-900 disk with recordings on it into a replacement recorder unit press 9 to get into the disk menu.

Selecting 'Write ID' writes the new disk parameters into the recorder and preserves the data on the disk.

Factory Check will format the disk, do a surface check and then a 'Write ID' leaving you with an empty disk.

ya, i think you better call for repair!

at least hear for advice and try to get the replacement!

my hard drive on my RDR-HX900 died. what hard drive is best to replace it with now? Some of these post are a couple of years old and hard drives mentioned are no longer around. I need to pelace mine asap thanks for any help. Has any one replaced a hard drive recently and is the process still the same as what is outlined in this forum

I just replaced my hard drive and i followed the directions found in this forum. Everything works perfect. Here's the new hard drive i used: Seagate DB35 Series 7200.3 ST3160215ACE -160 GB - ATA-100 $59.99@ CDW.COM
If anyone still reads this forum thanks to all who posted info and helped save my Sony RDR-HX900

I just replaced my hard drive and i followed the directions found in this forum. Everything works perfect. Here's the new hard drive i used: Seagate DB35 Series 7200.3 ST3160215ACE -160 GB - ATA-100 $59.99@ CDW.COM
If anyone still reads this forum thanks to all who posted info and helped save my Sony RDR-HX900

And thank you for taking the time to come back and share your info -- it may well help the next guy.

And, yes, anything that keeps these 900's going is a godsend. Can't get anything near as good these days.

Glad you could save yours!

My hard drive failed as well, is this the one that works?
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=024331&cid=HDD.443.399

Well, I used the drive in the previous post and followed the instructions for formatting - worked perfectly, thanks for all the posts.:)

This forum is an excellent source of info! My RDR-HX900 hard drive started making odd sounds a few days ago and then the "HDD Error" message appeared, same as descibed by others. I didn't bother with the service manual (as other poster pointed out it isn't really needed). I followed the steps outlined using a 250 GB Seagate IDE drive I had laying around and the drive formatted and ID'd just fine(only 160GB recognized). Not sure why but pressing REC Pause, SYSTEM Menu & TOOLS buttons ON THE REMOTE at the same time did not get me to the SERVICE menu. I had to press these buttons on the front panel of the DVR to get to the Service menu. I thought I would mention that I ordered a couple of the Western Digital Caviar RE 160 GB drives (PN WD1600SB) recommended by an earlier poster on eBay (a few are still available new for sale), so when they arrive I'll replace the Seagate drive and hopefully have many more years of trouble free viewing on this great DVR. I'm so used to FF through the commercials when watching TV, I don't think I could stand to watch live TV any more! Thankyou to everyone who posted this great information. It's always a treat when you can get something done yourself and not waste time and $ with factory service.

I am having trouble accessing service mode. I have followed steps listed here with no luck. I pug it in/attach out of video2 to monitor/hit the 3 buttons simultaneously(rec pause,system tools,system menu). After welcome it powers off. I then power on with the button on unit. It loads then shows HDD error. All this time holding the 3 buttons down. Am I doing the steps wrong? Please help. thanks gnb

Thanx for all the good advice in this thread!

I have a SONY RDR-HX1020 with a defect 250 GB HDD.
Here in Denmark the repair shop wants more than 300 US$ for replacing that 40$-drive :mad:. So I better try to do it myself.

Does any of you good people out there know anything about any changes to the above instructions that I should keep in mind when working on the HX1020?

Thanxalot!
Knud