I have a Pioneer DVR-520H. Our neighborhood recently experienced a power line transformer explosion that made all the lights in the house go bright white. It also smoked my DVR. I think it fried the power supply. It had that distinct "cooked" odor. When it is plugged into the wall, no lights or any other sign of receiving power are there.

I took the disk drive out, put it in an external USB drive caddy, and attached it to my Windows PC. The PC was able to see the partition table on the drive. I don't know what format that partition is written in. I removed the disk from the PC so as to not risk corrupting any of the data on the disk, but I think the drive is healthy. That makes me feel that the other components inside may also be healthy, except for the power supply.

I want to have the DVR repaired. Does anyone know how much a power supply replacement would cost and where I might be able to get it repaired? I live in Columbia, MD, between Baltimore and Washington, DC.

Does anyone know the format of the DVR partition? Would I be able to read it on a Linux system? If the repair cost is too high, I would at least like to be able to retreive all of the saved programming from the disk.

What would be a comparable replacement unit if the repair costs are too high?

I just received an estimate from a local repair shop. They confirmed the entire power suppy is blown and the replacement estimate was around $500. Given the high cost of repair, it makes more sense to purchase a new unit that has an ATSC tuner.

So now I need to see if I can retrieve the programming from the hard drive. Does anyone know the format of the drives in the Pioneer DVR's? What operating system do they run? Are they Linux based systems? Is the filesytem a Linux readable format?

Any knowledge others can contribute would be most appreciated.

Hi Walter:

Unfortunately, the file system used in Pioneer (and most, if not all other manufacturers') HDD is proprietary, so you can't access files on it using Windows or Linux. I believe you can however just remove the HDD and put it in another 520, or perhaps find a used 520 on e_bay and swap the power board?

If you're adverturous and can find parts, here's a link (http://www.pioneerfaq.info/english/dvr630.php?player=DVR-630H&question=power_board_BLOWN) with instructions for replacing the power board in a similar european model, which should be the same or very similar. I think it would be a lot easier (and cheaper) to just swap the HDD into a working unit if you can find one on e_bay. Here's instructions (http://www.pioneerfaq.info/english/dvr630.php?player=DVR-630H&question=replace_hdd) from the same site.

I haven't tried it myself but I have read here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8812857&&#post8812857) that you can remove the HDD and replace it, you just can't put in another HDD off the shelf that isn't initialized for the Pioneer.

I just received an estimate from a local repair shop. They confirmed the entire power suppy is blown and the replacement estimate was around $500. Given the high cost of repair, it makes more sense to purchase a new unit that has an ATSC tuner.

So now I need to see if I can retrieve the programming from the hard drive. Does anyone know the format of the drives in the Pioneer DVR's? What operating system do they run? Are they Linux based systems? Is the filesytem a Linux readable format?

Any knowledge others can contribute would be most appreciated.
Sorry, but ACPewty is correct. No one has ever reported here that they have successfully done what you are suggesting. The file system is proprietary, and has never been cracked, despite numerous and continuing attempts. Since the 520H is no longer being made, if the content is important to you, I would seriously consider getting it fixed, or buying another unit and either swapping drives or repairing your unit by cannibalizing parts from the other unit.

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Hey guys.... First time posting here... I have a 520H that I put a different hard drive in. What kind of content do you have on your hard drive that you want to recover? I would like to help but I'm not sure if I could read the information that's on your drive if I put it in my recorder... Anybody try swapping drives? I still have my old 80gb that I could put back in but I'm not into a whole lot of experimenting other than upgrading haha...

I just received an estimate from a local repair shop. They confirmed the entire power suppy is blown and the replacement estimate was around $500. Given the high cost of repair, it makes more sense to purchase a new unit that has an ATSC tuner.

So now I need to see if I can retrieve the programming from the hard drive. Does anyone know the format of the drives in the Pioneer DVR's? What operating system do they run? Are they Linux based systems? Is the filesytem a Linux readable format?

Any knowledge others can contribute would be most appreciated.
If your power supply is VWR1392, it's available from Pioneer here, $62.45 (http://parts.pioneerelectronics.com/part.asp?productNum=VWR1392).

If you're a tinkerer, you can go to the pioneerfaq.info website here (http://www.pioneerfaq.info/english/dvr630.php?player=DVR-630H&question=power_board_BLOWN) and muck around. Lots of details on actually rebuilding a power supply with ~$20 in parts. Lots of other good info there on replacing HDDs, etc., etc.

In that site, there is a tutorial/guide on reading the TVG and timer rec settings from several Pio models, and they mention using Linux in the offload process. I'm not a tinkerer, so that's all I know right now.