Does anyone know if you can just replaced (plug -in ) a hard drive on a Sony RDR-HX900 , like you can on a Panny E85H? or do you need special tools to setup like a Pioneer (Set-up) Remote...software, etc????

It's been tried on other Sony devices, such as the DHG-HDDxxx series. (See posts here:
Official DHG-HDD250 Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=537711&page=1&pp=30)

Apparently, Sony has put some kind of encryption or other proprietary signature on those devices. That means the only way you could likely achieve this would be to pay a serviceperson, or find out from the service manual how to do it. Note that some sites on the web have the service manual in downloadable PDF format.
Anyone checked the service manual yet?

From my experiences with Sony's secretive attitude, it will likely be the same with the RDR-HX900. Too bad, as I just bought one, and would love to be able to do so.

Of course, please let us know if you can prove me wrong. I would love for that to happen in this case.



Shplad



Does anyone know if you can just replaced (plug -in ) a hard drive on a Sony RDR-HX900 , like you can on a Panny E85H? or do you need special tools to setup like a Pioneer (Set-up) Remote...software, etc????

I have successfully replaced my harddrive!! I used a Maxtor 160 gb hd. I am not sure how to paste a link but do a search and on this forum there are instuctions on how to enter the service mode on this model! You have to rewrite the ID for the HD after you initialize it,[no tools were needed except for the screwdriver] If I can find a bigger hd at the right price I am going to put that in as there is a rdr-hx1000 with a 250gb hd. JW

j wherley:

Really! I searched and read many other threads here on these forums about the subject, but didn't see any threads in which the posters were succesful. Any chance you could refer us to that thread? It'd be a huge victory for me for when my HX900 goes out of warranty if I could replace the hard drive.

Can one install a larger drive, or does it have to be the same size? Same brand?

Thanks


Shplad

[Hard Drive bad on Sony RDR-HX900] This is the name of the link that you need. I still do not know how to post a link! JW

[Hard Drive bad on Sony RDR-HX900] This is the name of the link that you need. I still do not know how to post a link! JW


I think you need 6 posts before you can post a link. So post twice more. ;)

I search the forum and I think I found the thread but, not exactly conclusive. It suggests (by reading through the lines that it was accomplished). I hope it works and will try it. I wonder if it will work with another brand 160GB H-D???

Ok If I need six posts I will tell how things went. I purchased a RDR-HX900 on EBAY and the hard drive did not work[HD ERROR] but the burner worked fine so I did searches till I found this group and this other thread! I removed the hard drive and bought the closest replacement I could find[ Maxtor DiamandMax 10 160GB 7200rpm ATA133] and installed it. After pluging in the power and letting it reboot [recovery] I unpluged the 900 again and then I pluged it back in and when WELCOME came on the display I entered the service mode and with the remote initialized the drive, then clicked on rewrite HD ID. After this you then unplug the 900 again and when powered up it works like new!! Here is the info on how to enter the service mode. JW



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------[QUOTE]jcinsc
New Member


Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2 Rdr-hx900 Hdd

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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?

I Thank you so much for the information, it is certainly great for me to find out this is possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Again~!!!!

I have successfully replaced a failed hard drive in one of my RDR-HX900's, thanks to the information on this forum. Thanks, I appreciate it!

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.

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.
Pure speculation, but here's a thread on one possible explanation (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=800912): last year, TIVO won a "landmark" lawsuit over infringement of its "Time Warping System" patent, which clearly describes a CPU/HDD-based recording system?

We won't know until May-June when companies typically release their HDD-based units. So far, Panasonic has only announced non-HDD units for North America.

That thought had occured to me, but I was so hoping that it was not a factor, that I didn't mention it. :) I won't mind so much if Tivo ends up getting royalties or something, but I hate it when a patent holder uses it to prevent competition.

It is just a personal thing, I don't want to be stuck with Tivo only, with the monthly payments, having to have a phone or internet connection, and them tracking what I'm doing.

So as long as Tivo just gets some reasonable revenue and doesn't stifle the market, I'll be okay with it. I'll bet there are a lot of ways around this patent however, since time-shifting and recording of video have been around for a long, long time
. The patent does seem to specifically cover certain technical techniques, which can probably be avoided if it came to that.

Anyway, I'm stocking up on a few HDR-900X's, so I'll be fine for a while (until I go to HDTV, but I'm not in a big hurry), especially now that I know I can replace the drives. Just wish I knew how to make them use the bigger drives.

My RDR-HX900 looses the guide about once a month and once in a while 2 times a month. I turn it on and I am presented with a screen asking me to pick the guide for my area from a choice of 2 or 3.

Anyone else have this problem or know what causes it and how to fix this problem?

Thanks

My RDR-HX900 looses the guide about once a month and once in a while 2 times a month. I turn it on and I am presented with a screen asking me to pick the guide for my area from a choice of 2 or 3.

Anyone else have this problem or know what causes it and how to fix this problem?

Thanks

Sundance, I'm not sure. But it's happened to me once in a blue moon. I suspect two things, one - power loss (even brief). And, second, a change at the cable company on the data stream they use to transmit the guide information. But this only happens rarely for me.

I know for sure that losing power has caused this to happen. But once my cable company changed the channel they transmit the guide info on and I think that caused it to happen, also.

I'm planning on putting my unit on a UPS sometime in the near future as a precaution, since we get a lot of power blips during summer thunderstorms.

Good luck!

Bron