Samsung HD Box - How to change the HDD

[NewsreadeR]

Following on from the original post here: Samsung HD Box - Walkthrough on how to change the Hard Drive I am going to document on my adventure of changing the HDD in a Sky Samsung HD box. At the time of doing this procedure, the ST31000340AS Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s 1-TB Hard Drive | Seagate did not allow the box to physically come out of standby.

However using an Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 1TB Drive, I can confirm that this does in fact work.

If anyone has tried this procedure, and then found out which HDD does not work with the Samsung HD box, please post in this thread, so as others can benefit.

Step 1

Things required: Towel, Philips Screwdriver, New choice of HDD



Step 2

Find a decent workspace and put your towel on to protect the HD box. Turn the box to the back facing you and remove the screw at A



Step 3

Turn the box upside down

Undo the 6 screws marked A

Using two knives, gently lift the 3 tabs to release the catches marked B

Gently pull the HD box away from its plastic housing



Step 4

Once we have removed the Plastic Fascia from the HD box, we need to remove the inner metal lid

Remove the screw marked A and gently slide the the circuit board towards the front of the box and then lift it off

Remove the screws marked B either end of the HD box holding the metal lid in

Gently (I used a knife) lift the metal catch like retainers marked C - this then enables the metal lid to completely be removed revealing the insides of the HD box



Step 5

Undo the four screws marked A

Disconnect the SATA cable marked B (carefully)

Disconnect the HDD power cable marked C

Lift the HDD caddy out of the HD box and undo the 4 screws marked D



This next picture shows the HDD caddy lifter out to access the screws.

To remove the HDD you just need to unscrew the screws marked A and B



To put the box back together, just reverse the above steps.

[Old_nick]

Maybe it's a little too power hungry ? The specs say "Maximum Start Current: 3A" which sounds rather a lot, if it's true.


P.S. I successfully used a Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ in my Thomson box - this has a max start current of 2.4A - would someone like to try that ?

The Samsung is also 3 seconds faster "from startup to ready".

It's available from Ebuyer for £69.99 inc. VAT.

[NewsreadeR]

I have managed to get work to buy me a 1TB Hitachi Drive, which should hopefully be here tomorrow. Looking at various posts across the internet, these do appear to work in the Samsung HD box. (I hope so as I have 638gb of saved programmes)

Hard Drives known not to work with the Samsung HD Box

Seagate ST31000340AS Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s 1-TB Hard Drive



Hard Drives known to work with the Samsung HD Box

Hitachi DeskStar 7K1000.B - hard drive - 1 TB
Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 1TB Drive (not sure if the same drive as above) (HD Box - Apr09 Build)
Seagate HD Int PIPELINE 7200 3.5" 1000GB/SATA/32MB - ST31000533CS (HD Box - Oct08 Build)

[NewsreadeR]

Maybe it's a little too power hungry ? The specs say "Maximum Start Current: 3A" which sounds rather a lot, if it's true.

Possibly, although this drive works perfect in the Pace HD box. Maybe the Samsung is a little fussy on what drives it does and doesn't like.

P.S. I successfully used a Samsung SpinPoint F1 HD103UJ in my Thomson box - this has a max start current of 2.4A - would someone like to try that ?

The Samsung is also 3 seconds faster "from startup to ready".

It's available from Ebuyer for £69.99 inc. VAT.

Samsung was next on the list to try.

[timmo65]

Hi, (as suggested earlier and posted by me in another thread).....
I upgraded my Samsung HD box to a 1 TB HDD bought here for £65.....
1Tb Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B SATA-2 Hard Drive 16MB Cache - Aria Technology

The upgrade was pretty easy following guides here and else where. I also used the Hitachi Feature tool to turn down the acoustic settings to the lowest value. This made a real difference as the new drive was making some creeking noises after the upgrade but this fixed it. Some details here...Conclusion - Review Tom's Hardware : Acoustically Manage Your Hard Drive

Hope this helps.

[canada16]

Will this work?

I dont need 1tb and cant afford it.

Deskstar 7k1000.b 250gb Sata-ii

[Old_nick]

Will this work?

I dont need 1tb and cant afford it.

Deskstar 7k1000.b 250gb Sata-ii

Not a lot of point - it's smaller than the drive already in the box !

[canada16]

Oh

I thought it was 80gb


I swear virgin was 80gb and sky was the same

[Old_nick]

HD boxes are either 300GB or 320GB, with 140GB reserved for Anytime.

[canada16]

Oh.

So would need 500gb then. oops.

Anyway of getting rid of sky anytime, I find it garbage anyway, nothing on.

They need to catch up to virgin in that dept.