Thomson HD Box - Walkthrough on how to change the Hard Drive

[ezdub]

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Please use this tutorial until they are replaced.

Thomson HD Box - Walkthrough on how to change the Hard Drive



Ok here is my walk through.

Excuse the camera work.

All I have used is a normal Philips screw driver for this but you should try and make it a thin one.

One thing I did was I let the box cool down for 10 mins before I did any work. I also insured I grounded myself before opening the box and the metal case.

The Hard Drive used is WD 1TB My Book. The reason I am using this is because I got a few of them cheap, but you can using what ever disk you have. For me this was a good option because the WD Disk makes a good usb caddy for the transfer of your sky image and copying your files over, using copy+.

1) You will only need to remove the one screw from the back.



2) You will need to remove the 6 screws on the bottom and prize up the 3 clips.



3) You will notice the top PCB is screwed down and is soldered to the box, just under the screws and bend the ribbon clear.



4) Undo the 3 screws and then you will be able to lift the top lid off.



5) Now this is the area on which being slow and careful is a must. You will see the hard drive caddy is screwed to main PCB.



6) Undo the 4 screws and gently lift the caddy up slightly, so you can see the fan wire, it is just plugged into the main PCB; gently pull the fan cable away from the board. You will then find it easier to remove the sata power cable and hard drive cable. (Please take care and lift the caddy upwards and away from the PCB)



7) Now remove the green acoustic pad from the hard drive, you will note that the pad has been stuck to the hard drive and as you remove it, it will take the warranty sticker with it. As my Sky box is out of warranty I was not concerned with this.





8) Turn the caddy over and undo the 4 screws holding the hard drive in place. There is also a warranty sticker over one of the screws and you can try and remove if you want but I did not.



9) This is the inside view of the WD 1TB My Book.



10) This is the image of the PCB removed from the drive it contains all the sata connections, power and USB connections; it just slides away from the drive.



11) Swap the hard drives over to reverse the whole process.



12) Don't for get to reattach the fan cable because I forgot and had to take the case off again to do it and we all know how much a pain it is getting the case on.



13) Place the acoustic pad on the new hard drive.



14) Replace the lid and case and away you go.

Any questions feel free to ask.

[richhodg]

Is there a list of recommended drives

[kingbourne]

hi
can you give me some instructions on how i back up my sky hd box before installation of my new wb 1tb sata drive

cheers j

[Banksie]

Go to the copy+ website and use thier software
Copy+, the free Sky & XTV disk copier software

[tonyt3rry]

Looking at your pictures from the guide does this mean I could put my seagate 500gb harddrive into my box without voiding warenty, I had a refurb fitted today to replace my pace box (fail recordings lock up have to unplug etc) im happy with the box tho picture i think looks better than my pace box

[Harp]

Thank you for that valuable info!

I'm looking for a solution for my neighbour's Thomson box which he says is freezing at odd times. Looking at the forums, it seems that a likely solution is the power supply capacitor. Is that easy to find and replace? It sounds like it is a frequent problem, so perhaps someone could write a walk-through on replacing it? Thanks ...

[CodfishCatfish]

There are 2 x 1200uf 16v 105°c (low ESR). These go kaput quicker than other and cause problems, especially automatic HD aspect ratio where the screen flickers and goes black, suspected caps.

C14 100uf 400v DC 105°c
C21 10uf 50v DC 105°c
C33,C70 100uf 50v DC 105°c
C52,C61,C80 470uf 25v DC 105°c
C20,C71,C81 47uf 50v DC 105°c
C41,C51 1200uf 16v DC 105°c
C42,C43,C60 470 uf 50v DC 105°c
Other caps listed hear can be No Satellite signal being received, locking up, flickering, stuck in standby, failed recording and no power at all, But when the 400v 100uf cap goes up the wall it will take out the 4 rectifier diodes and other components. If your not %100 sure of you capabilities please don't undertake this job. Some people sell kits on Ebay which use extra crap components regardless of what lies they spin you. The will sell you a 1500uf 16v 105°c cap rather than the 1200uf which it should be. Spin you a line that its better but if they flog you some other than component that means they can't source the original (without encoring more cost) then you know there in it for profit above safety. I have all the components sourced from RS components for who I have had a 20 year account. Lastely of the boxes I have serviced the 1200uf 16v caps go the most frequent, that's probably why I'm banging on about them so much *Check for a black looking rubber stuff oozing out of the bulge in the top of the cap, it may still function but will fail very soon) Good luck and please be safe do it by the numbers.

[Undecided Adrian]

Satcure do a capacitor replacement kit

Sky Digiboxes and spares

they also have the instructions on the site in pdf form

they also have a list of recommended people who have the skills to do the repair and the kit and installation cost me £50 from the recommended guy.

[glenwelde]

I dont need to back up my old Sky Hd nothing much on it so when i put the new HDD do i need to format it if so how.

[Old_nick]

I dont need to back up my old Sky Hd nothing much on it so when i put the new HDD do i need to format it if so how.

That depends on what size drive you're going to fit. For drives 500GB or less, you just install the drive, then to a System reset, which will do the necessary formatting. If you're going to use a drive over 500GB, then you need to use the Copy+ program, and copy the files from your old drive across (you need to copy at least one file across to format the drive).