View Full Version : DVD Recorder Hard Drive Failure


debwalsh
08-03-2006, 08:54 AM
Last night, I was doing some editing to start burning discs of shows I've been collecting for months - just down to that last episode that hasn't aired yet in rotation or whatever. And my DVD recorder started acting funny. I tried to get stuff moved off to DVD-RAM, but the whole thing crashed, and the drive rebooted as unformatted. Tried turning it off overnight to see if it would reboot properly, but all is gone. I've reformatted the drive, and so far it apears to be working okay.

So, I need some help recreating some of the stuff I had saved on the drive:

Krypto the Superdog - Storybook Holiday (Christmas episode) - I'm trying to catch the second season episodes in rotation now
Disney Channel Games night 6 (quiz relay)
House season 2, episodes 14 and 15 (I have #13 on DVD-RAM disc, or I could trade for all 3 episodes - and the bummer is I waited months for the repeat on episode 14 ...)
CSI NY season 2 episode 21 - All Access - yes, the episode that repeated last night, before the drive failed
That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana - I had the whole night recorded, along with numerous promos and stuff and was just about ready to burn the disc when poof!
Thief episodes 1 through 3

I can chase the episodes I had of Suite Life of Zack and Cody, American Dragon: Jake Long, Flight 29 Down, Just for Kicks, Psych and Monk (both repeat their seasons in a week or two), Lost, and the Stargates, but that list above is my top priority.

I have my trade site down right now, so if you can help me with any of these shows, let me know and I'll forward you my trade list. E-mail at debwalsh@aol.com is much preferred over PMs, please.

Thanks!

dancingmasters
08-03-2006, 10:14 AM
Hello, What brand Of Dvd Recorder Do You Have? Also I Would Consider Taping Onto A Vhs Tape Or another Dvd recorder the extact same programs! This way incase there Is another Hard Drive failure You would Still have a back-up source with another recorder.
Again Sorry to read about your problem the other night! This sort of full-moon type of stuff happen to me three months ago. Something went wrong with my dvd disk and the program Alias never was recorded! Boy was that a disappointment!

Idiotjed
08-03-2006, 11:32 AM
Hey Deb.

I can help out with the Thief eps.

IJ.

debwalsh
08-03-2006, 12:08 PM
The recorder is a Panasonic E80. It's been working perfectly for 3 solid years. So, I was due for a crash, I guess. The biggest bummer is most of what was on the drive was just about ready to be burned to disc. I've reformatted the drive and it's working fine now - I'm sure it was a series of bad sectors since the drive hadn't been defragged since I got it. I record to a DVR first, and then transfer to the recorder. I don't do any VHS any more - all of my decks are used for transferring to disc rather than the other way around.

IJ, I'll forward you my list. I know there were some things you were interested in, so we can definitely do a swap, thank you.

ajm1972
08-03-2006, 07:25 PM
Relevant question here I assume, is it a good thing to reformat the hard drive every now and then, curious? I only have like 33 hours in SP allowed, so I dont like to have it overloaded alot with stuff. I've had my DVD recorder for about 18 months now but only started using it about 10 months ago.

Aj

debwalsh
08-03-2006, 08:09 PM
Apparently there's a benefit, just like periodically, there can be a benefit to reformatting a PC hard drive. I think reformatting is the only way to defrag the hard drive on a DVD recorder (unless you're going to take it out and slave it to your PC). I had been trying to clear the deck so I could reformat and apply a driver update. Oh well.

dancingmasters
08-04-2006, 10:29 AM
Hello, It sounds like you just ran into some bad luck! The Panasonic brand Is a Great name brand. The only thing I would like to mention or point out about certain vhs machines Is that they will continue to timer record even If the power goes out for a few seconds. This can be valuable If one Needs an Important program that one cannot miss! Does your Panasonic dvd hard drive recorder have this feature? Just curious.
Again Sorry to hear about your lost of programs.

debwalsh
08-04-2006, 03:45 PM
Yes, the DVD recorder has a battery backup. I can disconnect power for quite a whiile and not lose close and timer settings. I think one of my Sony VCRs has a 3-hour battery backup, not sure how long the DVD recorder's is.

vashti1999
08-04-2006, 03:55 PM
The recorder is a Panasonic E80. It's been working perfectly for 3 solid years. So, I was due for a crash, I guess. The biggest bummer is most of what was on the drive was just about ready to be burned to disc. I've reformatted the drive and it's working fine now - I'm sure it was a series of bad sectors since the drive hadn't been defragged since I got it.


The same exact thing happpened to me last week. The same brand, same model number, same amount of years I've had it. But it's not working me for me anymore, even after trying to reformat it's still giving me error messages, so I'm assuming it's just dead. I'm without a dvd recorder until I replace or repair it.

masterblooregard
08-04-2006, 04:49 PM
Sorry to hear about that. If you still need it I have "That's So Suite Life of Hannah Montana"
As for the promos, I taped a ton of stuff off Disney in the past 2 weeks and I always leave in commercials. The promos for that aired everywhere it seems, so I'm sure I have them all recorded and could hunt them down for you.

I also have those House Season 2 episodes.

debwalsh
08-04-2006, 05:29 PM
MasterBloo - Thank you much, I'll be in touch via e-mail. Got your package but haven't had a chance to even open it. How'd you like the Phil of the Future discs?