[TomServo]

Hey everybody!


Got a Panasonic 30-hour model a few weeks ago, and I love it. So.. I decided to add a 45-Gig drive I had lying around, a Maxtor, as a 2-drive system. The problem is, it seems to work, but as soon as the recorded passes the 30 hour point, it locks up- well, nearly locks up, becomes ridiculously slow to use, takes 30-60 seconds to make a selection, etc. Any suggestions what I did wrong? This is the procedure I followed:


1. Used MAXDIAG to LLF my 45G 5400rpm drive.

2. Removed 30G from Showstopper.

3. Attached 30G as Sec-0 and 45G as Sec-1 (Slave)

4. Loaded Win2k RTVHack

5. Backed up 30G

6. Selected Dual Drive, 30G as #1, 45G as #2

7. When procedure complete, both listed properly as Replay #1 and Replay #2

8. Unhooked both, plugged 'em into ReplayTV- with a fan added to keep 'em cool

9. Replay on, works a-okay- UNTIL you reach 30+ hours, then crash!


**Edited: I've since read that Write Verification should be set to OFF- I believe I stupidly confused this with Acoustic Management, which I had read could be OFF or ON, wouldn't matter. Would Write Verification ON cause this sort of reaction? Thanks!**


So anyhow, that's it. Is there any point I'm missing? I previously used the 45G as a Fat32 drive, and simply did the LLF, figuring it would wipe everything off, which it did. I assumed it would work (This is my first attempt), since the RTVHack programmed reported the correct size, listed them correctly as drive 1 and 2... am I missing something? Did I need to copy the backed-up 30G data to the secondary drive? Any suggestions at all? I don't really have the cash (or desire) to go buy an 80G drive, but the 20 hours @ Medium isn't enough, really. Thanks in advance!

 

[NJChris]

It looks like you did everything ok with the exception of the write verification. I'd take it out and turn off the write verification.


How much time does the replay say it has? 75 hours high quality? Did you try doing the procedure again?


And I'll assume you UNPLUGGED the replay before doing this.

 

[TomServo]

Yeah, it told me the correct est. time left- so it seems to have accepted the new 45G with loving arms. The only obvious mistake I made (in my mind) was leaving Write Verification and Acoustic Management to their defaults... unless there's some phantom setting I'm boned about. Since the sucker works perfectly until it fills up the first 30G (Then works fine again after deleting the new recording)- I'll have to assume that second drive is the evil part.


Regardless, I'll be trying this first thing when I get home from work! Wish me luck, and any other suggestions are appreciated. I love my Replay!

 

[TomServo]

Well, I went home, yanked out the second drive, made certain BOTH AM and WV were off- WV already was- and the Replay still crashes (or lags absurdly) when it tries to write to the second drive. I'm considering yanking it and doing ANOTHER Low-Level Format to be certain, and then running the Linux RTVPatch rather than the W2k, anyone else have a clue for me? I'm dyin' over here!

 

[Mikeyboy]

Quote:

Originally posted by TomServo Well, I went home, yanked out the second drive, made certain BOTH AM and WV were off- WV already was- and the Replay still crashes (or lags absurdly) when it tries to write to the second drive. I'm considering yanking it and doing ANOTHER Low-Level Format to be certain, and then running the Linux RTVPatch rather than the W2k, anyone else have a clue for me? I'm dyin' over here!

No solution for you. I've noticed the unit slows down to remote response when adding another drive. I know thats not what your asking. For the heck of it I'd try reversing the drives. Put image on 45 gig and marry the 30 gig to it. Win 2000 RTVPatch always worked perfectly for me. If you do this you need to have first disk jumpered as master, second as slave.

 

[BaysideBas]

There have been posts (do a search) of some defective drives not recognizing the master/slaver jumper configuration. Although I can't reconcile that circumstance with your Replay correctly reporting the drive capacity.


You also have to be careful with the cables you use. There are at least 3 distinct "flavors" of IDE ribbon cables. The standard with 2 or 3 connectors you can connect as you will, drive select which have at least 1 of the wires cut between the connectors (don't use these in the Replay), and the 80 wire cables recognizable by the different connector colors where the blue connector must go to the mb, the other end connector (I think it's black) to the master hd and the middle (I think grey) to the slave.

 

[TomServo]

I've been using standard IDE cables- straight outta my PC. I've tried two, but not the newer color-coord UltraDMA? cables... yet. I'll try that tonight, but I think I'm gonna go thru the whole process again, as well. *yawn*


Otherwise, I might try and trade drives with another 40G or something, and see if it helps.

 

[TomServo]

Thanks, guys... now it's up and running.


Unfortunately, it was the hard drive, they just didn't get along. I bought a new Maxtor 80G 5400 RPM, and it's working great.




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