Motorola DCX3400-M (Cox Comm.) not using entire hard drive?

It apppears that you local COX service does not yet have a tested/supported release of the software/firmware that can support a 500GB drive for installation on your DCX. I am surprised that they have not at least instaalled the software/firmaware on you DCX that have available for their 6416(160GB) PVRs.
Have you contacted them and asked when they plan to start supporting the 500GB drives?

What I am saying is that even though they are installing 3400s with 500GB drives the supplier of the softrware and firmware that they are using have not yet released the code to support these higher capacity drives.
If is sort of a chicken and egg problem. They probably can no longer get units from Motorola with smaller capacity drives for a lower cost so the new units they are installing all have the 500GB drives. And when software from their supplier to support them has been installed and tested at the head end and the population in the field of 500GB is large enough unitsthey will release it and download it into your unit. I suspect that you will find that within six months they will support the higher capacity on your unit.

Update: Actually, upon thinking about it, this wouldn't appear to address your problem. I've actually never heard of this problem with any of the Motorola boxes. If what you say is accurate, the larger hard drive would likely behave the same as your current drive and "fill up" at 120 GB...bummer.

The price that your cable company has to pay Motorola depends on which features they buy. The less features they enable, the lower their cost. I guess it is possible that your cable company only paid for units with 120 GB of space and Motorola could no longer source such small drives and instead limited the usable space to 120 GB through software. I think that is a bit of a long-shot, but it certainly is feasible. If that is the case, then the issue will not be resolved until your cable company ponies up the money to Motorola for enabling the additional space. But good luck finding anybody at your cable company who has a clue about the matter.


You might be able to buy a pre-formatted drive for it. I'm thinking of getting one that is guaranteed to work for the DCH3416 (it's a 1 TB drive, which is a huge improvement over the 160 GB that the DCH3416 comes with).

***UPDATE*** A few of us figured out how to upgrade the hard drive on Motorola DVR's to 1 TB, thus I never bought the pre-formatted drive. Information can be found in this thread. Step-by-Step directions can be found in this post. Note: Doing this will not overcome the limitation seen in this thread; your cable company has to update to a version of the guide software and firmware that supports drives larger than 120 GB or 160 GB.

You're out of luck until your cable company updates the firmware and software on the box.

How to get at the secret settings/info to determine the internal hard disk size? Just got the dcx3400 today, and technician dove into internal info including hard disk info, signal to noise ratio, AGC, etc., but I didn't catch how he did it. Anyone know how that is done?

Turn off the DVR and then push the OK/Select button.

I also have DCX3400-M with Cox. Can't get the Power > Ok/Select menu to come on. When DVR is off, hitting Menu button brings up "Menu Version 3.1" with screen, subtitle, brightness choices but no info about DVR hard drive available.

Cox utilizing less than 30% of the 500gb?!?!
We're definitely getting the shaft!!!

Are you confirming that your DVR is only using 120 GB of space instead of the full 500 GB?




You need to hit the Select button as soon as the DVR powers off. It should show a white screen with some info. If you press the left arrow, it should give you a big list things that you can look at including Hard Drive status.

Note: I have a DCH3416 unit, not the DCX...it is possible that Motorola has changed how this works, but I would be surprised.

No, you were correct about the Menu.. finally got it open.



Yes, my Cox Comm DCX3400-M (500gb) is not using the entire drive. I currently have 10.5 hrs of HD saved and the DVR Guide indicates box is 60% full. Rough estimate would mean that total will be less than 20 hrs HD, which was the same as my old DCH3416 (160gb)!!!



I'm calling Cox tomorrow, though doubt any of the local guys will have a clue..

Cox Tech Support advised they are aware of the DVR only utilizing 160 gb. Indicated they are awaiting firmware update which will open up all 500 gb for recording. Tech said update in about a month.... not holding my breath.

UPDATE- Cox said March 20th, new firmware will be in 'April' but nothing yet. Though they did change the channel line up this week, moving HD from 700's to 1000's.

(FYI- i am in the south Louisiana Cox service area)

I'd be curious to know what firmware version you are running. That is in the Code Modules diagnostic.

Not sure.. you tell me..?

ASTV VALD Lst-245, Version-3, Boot Code-09.55
Platform Version-22.92
01D_IR_C Version-22.92
echo_dct Version-31.23

Ok. I know that the 22.92 version supports the full drive, so it must be something in the guide you are running that doesn't support it.

Post some screenshots of the Diagnostics screen for the hard drive. Or at least write down the numbers that appear for total disk space, remaining disk space, and used disk space.

To access the Diagnostics screen, do the following:
1. Put the cable box into standby (either by hitting the Power button on your remote or the one on the front of the cable box).
2. Within one second of putting the cable box into Standby, press the "OK/Select" button (either on your remote or on the front of the cable box).
3. A white "Diagnostics" screen will appear within a few seconds. Use the arrow keys to go to the Hard Drive page (I think it is named d13). and then press the "OK/Select" button.
4. You'll see stats about your hard drive showing you the remaining space, total space, and used space.

If you really want more hard drive space, you can swap out the hard drive with a 1 TB drive by following the directions in this post from this thread.
(Of course your cable company doesn't want you opening the box, so you need to take care and buy a replacement security tab and get the special screwdriver bit to remove the three special screws from the back of it, but the whole upgrade is really quite easy).

Has anyone actually done this? I'm curious if it will work for Cox users? I dont know how this all works, but would the box stil work with Cox Cable after replacing the harddrive, and will the full amount of space available? Doesn't Cox have their own software installed on it, thus rendering the box useless with Cox after you insert your own drive even if it has been installed as instructed on that guide (with Motorola image)?

On a note: I called Cox "Tech Support" today and the person I spoke with had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. After some haggling, and the tech supporter asking someone else, I basically got a No, they cannot push a firmware update or in any other way upgrade my available storage. So Im stuck with the 120 or 160 gigs of the 500 available.
Cox Communications should really consider changing their name to Dix Communications.

No, your results would be no better; you'd be stuck with only 160 usable GB out of the 1 TB. You have to wait until the guide software that Cox uses supports greater than 160 GB (I'm fairly certain this is not a firmware issue, but rather a "guide" AKA software version issue).

I just had another thought on this issue of only having 120 GB or 160 GB of usable disk space. I've read that the price that Motorola charges cable companies depends upon the features that the cable company wants activated.

It could be that the usable drive space limitation is actually due to the firmware and Cox was only willing to pay for 120/160 GB of space. So, regardless that the version number of the firmware is new enough to support the entire hard drive, it may be that the feature required to enable full use of the hard drive is disabled.

I guess the bottom line is that checking the version number of either the firmware or guide software may not be enough to tell us if it will support drives larger than 120/160 GB.

just got my box today from Cox, checked the secret menu and here is what mine says:

Platform Build: version 22.37
01d_IR_C 22.37
Echo_dct version 31.23


safe to say mine won't be using all 500 gb?
last box (was replaced today) was filling up very quickly compared to the dcx3400 I have upstairs. I'll check that version momentarily to see if maybe that has the updated firmware.


is it possible to push the firmware update manually?

No, the firmware is controlled by your cable company. You won't be able to update it yourself. Technically, you might be able to locate an update that could be applied from a USB thumbdrive (technicians in the field sometimes do this), but it would only work on an extremely temporary basis and would quickly be overwritten by the version pushed by your cable company. BTW, I find it highly unlikely that you would be able to find a download link for a firmware update.

The version number of the firmware and software is likely not a reliable way of knowing if your cable company supports hard drives larger than 160 GB. Cable companies have quite a few options that they can have Motorola customize for them. The price they pay is determined by the features that are enabled. If your cable company hasn't paid for the ability to use larger hard drives, then you're stuck at 160 GB despite the fact that you may have a new enough firmware to support larger drives.

Sorry but bring up an old thread but a number of us in the New Orleans area are having the same problem with the same device.......only a small amount of the hard drive space of the 500gb can be used.
Locally, they say someone is looking into this but if one Cox market has the firmware for this device, why can't another market use it?

Cox is now rolling out the fix to give you 280 hours in SD and 80 hours in HD space.