Upgrading Samsung HDSKY

Which replacement drives can you use and which do people recommend?

Postby pcbbc » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:56 pm

Good luck.
I look forward to a update when it arrives!
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Postby skituscanycom » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:22 pm

In the meantime, Sky have swapped out the box for another Samsung.

Behaves exactly the same :o

I suggest that you should mark the WD drive as definitely NOT compatible with Samsung HDSKY :(
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Postby pcbbc » Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:26 am

skituscanycom wrote:I suggest that you should mark the WD drive as definitely NOT compatible with Samsung HDSKY :(
I have update the Suggested Drives Page for the Samsung box:
Western Digital WD10EAS marked incompatible
Samsung F1 HD103UJ/Y marked compatible

On what grounds did you have to have your box swapped?
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Postby skituscanycom » Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:11 pm

As it was only 2 weeks old I booked for it to be swapped earlier this week in case it was an "over sensitive" example :?

I also thought maybe I might get a Pace version instead, but they didn't have any :(

As it turned out, at least a second box confirms the suspicion that very careful choices have to be made when wanting to upgrade the Samsung ... :o
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Postby pcbbc » Fri Oct 24, 2008 5:19 pm

skituscanycom wrote:As it turned out, at least a second box confirms the suspicion that very careful choices have to be made when wanting to upgrade the Samsung ... :o
There have been examples of this before with the Sky+ box, where certain boxes like/dislike certain drives.
Also unfortunately examples where drives worked, and then a software upgrade made them unreliable I'm afraid. :?
You pays your money and you takes your choice.

Hopefully you were able to return, sell on or use your WD drive without too much hassle or financial loss.
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Postby skituscanycom » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:38 am

I installed the 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ drive today and so far all is good :D

In case anyone is interested I bought it from aria.co.uk for £64.57 inc VAT, Quickcode: #30998.

Thanks again for all your helpful advice and, of course, for Copy + :)
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Postby pcbbc » Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:50 am

Fantastic. Good luck with your new drive :D
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Sky HD

Postby lemans » Sat Oct 25, 2008 2:28 pm

Hi

Has anyone else experience upgrading these new Samsung boxes?
I have been trying with a WD GreenPower 500GB. Copy+ works seemlessly. But I am getting the same symptoms as above. After 5-10 minutes recording HD or SD the box closes down. I have to disconnect the power for 10 seconds to get it to boot back up.

Also the Service 4 0 1 to get to the planner rebuild does not work on this box - did on my old Sky+

Anyone had any success with the new boxes?

Regards
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Re: Sky HD

Postby pcbbc » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:22 pm

lemans wrote:Has anyone else experience upgrading these new Samsung boxes?
I have been trying with a WD GreenPower 500GB. Copy+ works seemlessly. But I am getting the same symptoms as above. After 5-10 minutes recording HD or SD the box closes down. I have to disconnect the power for 10 seconds to get it to boot back up.
Please see further up this thread. There is this link to a post on the AV forums where someone tried the WD with the same results, and then resorted to the Samsung F1.

Also the Service 4 0 1 to get to the planner rebuild does not work on this box - did on my old Sky+
Services, 4, 0, 1 SELECT.
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Postby lemans » Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:04 pm

Thanks pcbbc

I can now get into the planner rebuild.

My WD was (I think) a different model number to the one in the thread. WD5000AAVS (I bought it for its low power consumption and according to WD specifically designed for PVR's etc) Looks like WD drives don't agree with the Samsung.

:(
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Postby skituscanycom » Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:13 am

I too thought that and drive was advertised as having low power consumption.

However, if you look at the specs. on the top of the drive fitted by Sky:

300GB Seagate DB35.3: +5v 0.72A, +12v 0.52A

Whereas the replacement drives that didn't work are:
1TB Western Digital WD10EACS: +5v 0.70A, +12v 0.55A
400GB Hitachi HDS724040KLSA80: +5v 0.78A, +12v 0.98A

and the one that does work is:
1TB Samsung HD103UJ: +5v 0.70A, +12v 0.50A

So maybe the issue is the 12v power consumption?

My hunch is that any drive which consumes more than 0.52A current at +12v is likely to fail.

What are the specs. on your WD5000AAVS?
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Postby lemans » Sun Oct 26, 2008 3:25 pm

Hi skituscanycom

I recon you could be on to something here. My AAVS quotes 12v @ 0.55A (5V @ 0.68A)

Looks like the Samsung is very sensitive to power requirements. Also when my box was crashing I did get the feeling it was a power issue rather than a software problem.

So I guess the answer is to use a HD with lower power requirements or an external caddy with its own power supply.

I will try to get hold of the Samsung drive. I don't want to run out of space and at the moment films are eating up my 160GB!

Regards
lemans
 

Postby lemans » Sun Oct 26, 2008 3:25 pm

Hi skituscanycom

I recon you could be on to something here. My AAVS quotes 12v @ 0.55A (5V @ 0.68A)

Looks like the Samsung is very sensitive to power requirements. Also when my box was crashing I did get the feeling it was a power issue rather than a software problem.

So I guess the answer is to use a HD with lower power requirements or an external caddy with its own power supply.

I will try to get hold of the Samsung drive. I don't want to run out of space and at the moment films are eating up my 160GB!

Regards
lemans
 

Postby skituscanycom » Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:16 pm

I am tempted to try the WD10EACS in an external caddy as I already have an eSATA caddy, but having finally got the box running well with the Samsung drive, my wife - who is sick and tired of all the upheaval - is reluctant to let me 'play' any more :)

Shame really, as the engineer in me would like to know ... :wink:

In case you or anyone else is interested, I bought the 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1 from aria.co.uk for £64.57 inc VAT, Quickcode: #30998

Or you could try an eSATA caddy with your current drive for £12.87 Quickcode: #32473 ...

... together with a SATA plug - eSATA socket lead for £3.51 Quickcode: #33642

Hope this helps :)
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Postby pcbbc » Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:11 am

This is interesting stuff.
What amounts to about 5% tolerance on a PSU seems very tight to me. Not really a lot of margin for error, especially as components age over time. But not the first time we've seen poorly specified power supplies and components in a Sky box :?
Providing power from an external source really would be the acid test if this really is the issue.
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