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Cable DVR box (Cisco) - HDD replacement


Emile

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Hoping you "experts" :D can give me some guidance.

 

Five days and probably 10 hours on the phone with my Cable provider - Spectrum, Tampa, FL - and OF COURSE no info. All they want to do is sell (OK; lease) additional equipment. Have a Cisco 8742HDC cable box which has a 500GB, 5900rpm Western Digital Green Power hard drive, model WD5000AVDS. Would like to replace it with a 1 or 2TB disk (not sure if there is a MAX size also not sure if I can switch to a 7200rpm one). It seems (haha :) ) that you can just replace it and the hardware in the box will automatically format the drive and write some other software to it.  Some form of Linux OS, so I don't even know how to clone a disk. Since I have several of these boxes I would prefer to just replace the internal drive versus adding an external one - yes; and another box :( 

Appreciate any input.

 

As a reward for reading this, here are some tips ...

1. Multiple DVR's (at least this model) can be connected over your home network. DVR-1 can access DVR-2 and vice-versa (and I assume more units) and play ALL recordings! Nice whole house setup. Haha; Spectrum Cable said it "could not be done." :)  

2. I bought some of these DVR's from "offerup" and all you need is a "CableCard" from your provider. In my case $2/mo versus $15+ for the box. Just tell them it is for a "Tivo."

 

Thanks all,

Emile

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Edgar,

 

Thanks!  had done some searching on this and found Acronis and AOMEI do not support Linux cloning.  Guess I will try replacing it first and if that doesn't work I will try the Eassos cloning :D 

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1 hour ago, Emile said:

Hoping you "experts" :D can give me some guidance.

 

Five days and probably 10 hours on the phone with my Cable provider - Spectrum, Tampa, FL - and OF COURSE no info. All they want to do is sell (OK; lease) additional equipment. Have a Cisco 8742HDC cable box which has a 500GB, 5900rpm Western Digital Green Power hard drive, model WD5000AVDS. Would like to replace it with a 1 or 2TB disk (not sure if there is a MAX size also not sure if I can switch to a 7200rpm one). It seems (haha :) ) that you can just replace it and the hardware in the box will automatically format the drive and write some other software to it.  Some form of Linux OS, so I don't even know how to clone a disk. Since I have several of these boxes I would prefer to just replace the internal drive versus adding an external one - yes; and another box :( 

Appreciate any input.

 

As a reward for reading this, here are some tips ...

1. Multiple DVR's (at least this model) can be connected over your home network. DVR-1 can access DVR-2 and vice-versa (and I assume more units) and play ALL recordings! Nice whole house setup. Haha; Spectrum Cable said it "could not be done." :)  

2. I bought some of these DVR's from "offerup" and all you need is a "CableCard" from your provider. In my case $2/mo versus $15+ for the box. Just tell them it is for a "Tivo."

 

Thanks all,

Emile

 shop for hard drives ,  if you think 1TB is sufficient ok , but if 2 TB is best don't hesitate ------ plus each box can be used for 2 simultaneous DVR recordings   and the Cisco  8742HDC- is also compatible with external hard drives , so the current hard drive can be added to an external hard  drive or vice versa -------PS ---try to  blow out the units as long as you are at it ----

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Randy, thanks! :D 

Yes; been "shopping" for DVR/CCTV drives. Just no clue if there is a max size for this cable box :( 

Haha, ordered a 2TB external Fantom eSata drive ... just prefer to go the "internal" route to avoid extra boxes.

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2 hours ago, Emile said:

Randy, thanks! :D 

Yes; been "shopping" for DVR/CCTV drives. Just no clue if there is a max size for this cable box :( 

Haha, ordered a 2TB external Fantom eSata drive ... just prefer to go the "internal" route to avoid extra boxes.

the 2 TB eSATA will only work externally  ,  you're saying you want to avoid extra boxes , it is another box -

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just an add-on for anyone having similar problems.

OK, now have TWO Cisco 8742HDC and TWO Cisco 9865HDC boxes.  The 8742's come with a 500GB drive (and 2 channel recording); the 9865's have 1TB drives (with 6 channel recording).  8742 can be upgraded to 1TB, 9865 to 2TB (and the drive formats automatically). ALL units talk together (whole house DVR) and HAHA, I can record SIXTEEN channels simultaneously and now have 4TB of storage.  Yes, overkill but isn't that what we do with our Klipsch speakers :D 

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