PVR1 (version 9F2006) HDD upgrade question

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

Postby zork42 » Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:07 am

Sorry to pester you with even more questions...
My order arrived from dabs yesterday afternoon and I'm concerned about how little packaging there was protecting the HDD.
But I don't know if my concern is valid or if I'm just worrying over nothing. :oops:

I've just emailed the following to dabs.
Any answers/comments you have would be very welcome!

Hi

My order arrived yesterday afternoon, but I am concerned about how little packaging there was protecting the HDD (disk drive).

This is how the order was packed:

(A) The HDD was packed in a brown corrugated cardboard box measuring
8 x 6.75 x 2.25 high inch (20 x 17 x 5.5 high cm)
with just 0.5 to 0.75 inches (1.3 to 1.9 cm) of foam around the HDD.

(B) There were 2 Akasa external HDD enclosures, each measuring:
12.25 x 8.5 x 3 high inch (31 x 21.5 x 7.5 high cm)
weight: 1.5 kg each

(C) The order was shipped in a big brown corrugated cardboard box measuring:
23.25 x 15.75 x 12 high inch (59 x 40 x 30 high cm)

The HDD box (A) was at the bottom of the big box (C), with one of the Akasa boxes (B) on top of it, and the other next to it.
These 3 boxes (1xA, 2xB) were secured in place to the bottom of the big box (C) by a plastic wrapping sheet (like a thick version of clingfilm).

Please can you answer these questions:
(1) Is that sufficient protection for the HDD?
(2) Is that how you normally ship HDDs?
(3) is the lack of packaging likely to cause the HDD to fail early?

I've bought HDDs from dabs before, and these were all much better protected than this HDD.
Part of the reason I bought my HDD from dabs is because of how well the previous HDDs had been protected.
I'm concerned the lack of packaging could cause the HDD to fail quickly causing my data to be lost.
(The HDD is for my Sky+, and it will be very hard to do backups of the data.)

Thanks.
Stuart
zork42
 

Postby pcbbc » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:28 am

zork42 wrote:Nope, that's too scary!
That's what I thought!
Initially I'll put the HDD inside the Sky+ and see how that goes.
Good idea - Before copying ensure that the HDD works okay by installing and doing a few dual records etc.
By "they" do you mean HDDs in general, or the Seagate HDD specifically?
Sorry, I meant HDD in general.
If you are just using a caddy for occasionally use (i.e. a one off copy), I wouldn't worry about it too much.
For day-in day-out I think I'd want to invest in one with a fan.

Sorry to pester you with even more questions...
NP
My order arrived from dabs yesterday afternoon and I'm concerned about how little packaging there was protecting the HDD.
But I don't know if my concern is valid or if I'm just worrying over nothing. :oops:
I've add stuff from dabs before, but never had any problems with the packaging. At the moment they don't seem to be able to validate my credit card, and so won't let me order anything - but that's another story.....!
Although I'm not sure I've ordered anything (certainly nothing moderately heavy like a caddy) that would have bumped around in the box.

The A box is obviously the standard HDD packaging from the manufacturer. I'm going to assume HDD manufacturers know what they are doing, and that this packaging is reasonably okay for shipping drives?

C sounds like the usual oversized box Dabs seem to insist shipping everything in!
Usually though there are some "plastic air filled pillows" as padding to hold everything in place, from what I remember.
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Postby zork42 » Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:01 pm

pcbbc wrote:Just FYI When I placed my order I mistyped my security digits (the 3-digit number on the back of a credit card). As a result, my order status quickly became "security check - awaiting your reply to our email". Their email did not arrive (it eventually arrived about 3-4 days later!) so I used their chat service. After about 90 mins of waiting to speak to someone they resent the email and it arrived immediately.
I just had to confirm a few details (my address and phone number) and they then accepted my order a day or so later.
Or you can contact them via an online form.

I've bought lots of stuff from dabs, but I think I'll avoid the christmas rush next time! ;)
Thanks, and yes checked all that - deleted all card details, then cancelled and resubmitted order. Same problem.

Also responded to their e-mail (twice!) with confirmation of address (although I had a similar problem back in August and never got a mail, or any response to my questions about why my order was stuck at "Awaiting Processing" for a week and then got cancelled without explaination). 2 days later I got fed up with waiting and ordered what I wanted as a Christmas present elsewhere. Good job too, bacause as far as I know it's still not sorted.

Eventually they replied a few days after that and said "we can confirm your order is cancelled". Yeah, right. So I asked them to get sorted for next time. All the interactive help people (when you eventually get through) can say is "It's an account verification issue. Have you responded to the e-mail? Oh, they are currently behind answering e-mails and someone will get back to you tomorrow. Sorry we can't help further."

So far they've missed out on near £500 worth of orders. Okay, perhaps not a lot for them. However I don't think I'll bother with Dabs again. Shame because their service and delivery were always first rate. Usually price was reasonable too. :(

Anyway, rant over. :D
zork42
 

Postby zork42 » Sun Dec 23, 2007 1:57 am

I think the forum database has screwed up!
1. The previous post sounds like it was actually written by pcbbc, but the forum says its author is zork42
2. the "pcbbc wrote:" quote (in the previous post) was written by zork42 (so it should say "zork42 wrote:")
3. the post being quoted in (2) has gone missing.

==========

I also sometimes get this error when I visit the forums (in this case URL was index.php )

phpBB : Critical Error

Could not connect to the database


A browser refresh fixes the problem.
Last edited by zork42 on Sun Dec 23, 2007 2:32 am, edited 2 times in total.
zork42
 

Postby zork42 » Sun Dec 23, 2007 2:24 am

pcbbc wrote:However I don't think I'll bother with Dabs again.


dabs don't seem to handle CC validation problems very well, especially with long delays in their email servers, but they seem good once that is sorted. When things have quietened down after christmas, it might be worth trying webaccounts@dabs.com once more to get your CC validated. Or just carry on shopping elsewhere ;)
zork42
 

Postby pcbbc » Sun Dec 23, 2007 12:48 pm

Thanks for all your advice.
Yep - the DB seems to have screwed up (or I did something silly like hit edit instead of quote?) :oops:
I'll ask Dave to look into it!
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