[Adama]

Just upgraded with one of these http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...source=froogle and two of these http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/108...FR5dMAodvhMIKg after using Skycopy+ beta to clone my original drive I am now up to 1000gb - minus 140gb for Sky's own use.... and it works! Planet Earth-2%, I Robot-2% Star Wars-3%... God I'm so smug... and all for about £350

[Spit]

lm interested, how does it work then?

[Giblets2]

Nice avatar by the way Adama - ni!

I'm guessing this is a dual drive SATA box with an external power supply and some sort of RAID hardware built in (set in JBOD mode for this application). That's certainly a good price for what it is if that's the case and it's exactly what I was looking for when I erroneously bought a Nexus Drive-A-Way, which I got refunded from Novatech.

Can you let us all know if that's the case, particularly the external PSU aspect? Thanks.

[Spit]

But how do you install it, where?

[Giblets2]

Externally, with a SATA cable going into the box to plug into the mobo connection in place of the internal drive.

i will only be impressed when you get me... a shrubbery!

[Giblets2]

Shouldn't that be a 'shwubberwy!' Eckie-eckie-eckie-fdang... ni *shut up!*

[Bernie Steak]

A post like this with no instructions or advice seem pure "smugness". Perhaps some instructions or advice on how it was done could promote you from "smug git" to "forum legend" for those who might be considering something similar!

[Tarbat]

Some details of the Thecus 2050 here - http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=1&pid=3

Product info

Looks like it uses external power

[Adama]

Giblets got it! Although I had to use a SATA-to-eSATA lead to connect it to the mother board... Took the original drive out(without removing it from its caddy or touching its sticker), connected it to a SATA Pci card in my PC. Then copied the image over to the Thecus N2050(This contains two new Western Digital WD5000KS 500gb's - buy these seperately - and is set to RAID 0 by a switch at the back so they appear as one big volume) which is also connected to the Pci card. Then replaced the original drive back in the Sky box(safest place for it) but only reconnecting the fan, I found the main fan wouldn't power down if I didn't. Then run the SATA-to-eSATA lead from the motherboard thru the hole in the left side (leave the grill off). The only downside to the setup is the N2050 - having it's own external power supply - doesn't power down(although the drives themselves must spindown). The Sky box will crash if you try to access the drive when its powered down. The N2050 does have a fan (the drives do get warm, though no hotter than the ones in your PC) but I don't know how long it would last if you left it on for ever. I turn every thing off at night, unless there's a planner recording due... Sky have made a stick-for-their-own-backs showing all six Star Wars movies in HD on New Years Day - Theres gonna be a lot of full Hard drives!

[Adama]

Sorry I took so long to post - Drunk - Hangover - Couldn't upload the picture - in that order... If anyone's really interested I'll post a shoping list of Links and answer any queries

[mitchec1]

yes please

[T800]

Originally Posted by Adama

Sky have made a stick-for-their-own-backs showing all six Star Wars movies in HD on New Years Day - Theres gonna be a lot of full Hard drives!

Don't talk too soon we might end up with 8% low bit rate showings.

[Adama]

Here's what I used for my upgrade:
2x Western Digital WD5000KS
1x Thecus N2050
1x External SATA (L type) to eSATA (I type) data cable
1x Serial ATA 150/300 data cable
1x Serial ATA Power Interface Cable
1x Serial ATA 2 Port PCI Card

and here's the cheapest links as of 26 Dec 06
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/48670
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/108...FR5dMAodvhMIKg
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...source=froogle
http://www.cablecity.co.uk/product_i...roducts_id=925
http://www.cablecity.co.uk/product_i...roducts_id=385
http://www.cablecity.co.uk/product_i...roducts_id=388

Even with p&p the whole lot came under £350... right I'm off to the pub

[Comer]

Do you loose 140Gb from each 500GB HD or does the sky box see the two drives as one?

[Wronghole]

Originally Posted by Comer

Do you loose 140Gb from each 500GB HD or does the sky box see the two drives as one?

It will see them as 1 hdd

[Giblets2]

I'd say just 140Gb lost between the two drives, seeing the way he's done it.

I've got a 750Gb Seagate drive ready to do this - wife has threatened physical harm if I screw the box up (again!) so I will probably go this route but with the one drive for the moment. How much noise dampening is there inside this case please Adama?

[Adama]

No dampening to speak of, the case resembles a plastic butty box - feels like tupperware!
I doubt it'll recognise the Seagate - The manual says up to 500gb only - and it's fussy too - there's a list of no-no drives on its web site

[BrianPK]

If you want the SKY box to see 1000 gb's I presume that means that the Copy+ procedure is essential unlike a 500gb drive where it's not ?

[Adama]

Yes - You have to use Copy+.1.1.0.9.beta

Here's a link to the N2050 manual:
http://www.thecus.com/download/manua...050_QIG_EN.pdf

and here's the latest HDD compatability report:
http://www.thecus.com/download/other...ort-951003.pdf

[robfitzp]

Getting greedy, are there any similar boxes that will take 4 hard drives?

I assume I just need to be looking for a box with a raid controller built in and an e-sata connection?

Cheers
Rob

[andykn]

This might do:

http://www.norcotek.com/item_detail....modelno=ds-500

Summary:

Model No. DS-500

Features

Self-healing storage (Auto-Rebuild/Hot Spare)
Support RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1, JBOD
Supports up to five 3.5" SATA-I or SATA-II disk drives;
Excellent cooling system with noise-killer design.
Hot-swappable disk drive tray with special designed power-off and lock mechanism;
Monitor and alarm notification for temperature and fans
PCI-X/PCI or PCI-E card, eSATA cables, power supply, HDD mobile rack, backplane, all mounting screws for HDDs included
Support real-time HD Video Streams (RAID0 mode)
Operating system independent, supports Windows, Linux, MAC

500 dollars from their online shop. I can't find any UK suppliers.

I got the link from:

http://www.storagesearch.com/encl.html

[adrianwi]

Would be a nice start to the New Year for Sky to let us use some of the unused 140GB (ideally in time for me to record EP IV-VI)

Not gonna happen though is it

[Giblets2]

Nope!

[Adama]

Think I'll go for one of these next http://www.norcotek.com/DS-1220.php

12 x hot-swappable SATA slim drive bays!

Maximum Storage Capacity 9+ Terabytes!

...Yum-Yum ...might come under £1500

[robfitzp]

That looks more like it.......have you seen all the fans on the back though, probably sounds like it is about to take off

How noisy is the fan on the two disk box you have used thus far?

Cheers
Rob

[Adama]

I can't hear it... Then again I couldn't hear the SkyHD box either... don't know what all the fuss was about on the forums

I could be wrong, but I'm not sure that anything configured as RAID5 will work. I imagine there would be an unacceptable overhead in splitting out and randomly striping data with distributed parity, no matter how good the RAID controller is. So I don't think hot-swapping or keeping an online spare (in the case of failure) will be possible. The specs of that Norcotec DS-500 actually specifically state that HD video streaming is only compatible with RAID0 mode.

A concatenated RAID0 array of 500GB drives is a very interesting proposition, especially considering the price of 750GB drives at the moment. I quite like the idea of also being able to do cold-swapping of drives easily (although I wonder if you would lose upcoming scheduled programmes? They would have to be stored on whatever solid state memory there is on board for you not to lose them when changing drives).

Have you tried recording two HD programmes and watching another, Adama? Any problems?

[Adama]

No problems so far... It works just like the original drive. I've recorded two films at once and watched a recorded movie at the same time. The only problem is (and it's a biggie!) if one of the two 500gb drives fails - 'I'll lose the farm'... So I do back up an edited drive image to my PC every now and again - Star Wars Trilogy's for example

[charker]

Just done the same upgrade using Copy+ (latest beta) and my kit list was

1 x http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=524759
2 x http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=494552
1 x http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=504134

I went for Samsung drives as they are cool running and very quiet. And they are!

Had all 6 Star Wars, Wind in the Willows and King Kong and had 4% free. After 2 hours copying, connecting it all up I have 84% free

I dismantled the HD box, and connected (without removing it and voiding the warranty) the Hard drive to a Sata cable/power cable in my PC. I connected the Thecus box using USB.

I ran Copy+ set source to the HD Disk and destination to the new 1000GB unparitioned disk that sprung up!

The copy took 2 hours. I ignored the 750GB warning from Copy+ and pressed on...

I then connected the Thecus to the Sky box using the Sata/eSata cable through a hole in the side of the case (power supply side). I left the original disk disconnected (power and sata)

I booted the disks, then the SKY and nothing for 10 seconds, then it tried and failed to boot. A bit of playing around and eventually it occured to me that the eSATA end of the cable did not seem to be seated all the way in.

The end of the cable was being blocked by the cut-out in the Thecus box not being exactly aligned with the eSata socket. I had to loosen the screw in the box to let the socket rise up a little. After that it was fine.

When I re-assembled the Sky box I pulled the side panel out a little (unseated 2 of the clips) to provide space for the cable. Sat on the shelf I can't tell the back (of the side panel) is sticking out.

Happy now but I keep thinking I could find a better use for the 300GB drive still stuck inside

Lots of space to fill up now!

CHarker