Sky Plus Upgrade...

I have the version 2 'Amstrad' Sky Plus box, it originally came with a 20GB hard drive, which gives just under 20 hours of recording...

..between Wifey and the anklebiter, I wasn't getting a look in !

For our American cousins SkyPlus is the same as Tivo (but not as good !)

So I decided to open up the box and take the 20 GB drive out and install a 160 GB drive.

That in theory should give me approx 100-160 hrs, recording time. After having a quick Google around, the consensus of opinion was to put in the Samsung SP1604N. there are various different opinions, but this seemed the best bet.

Local PC World had them in stock (store price £75.98 web price £53.99)

For the techies:

7200rpm Spindle Speed | 2Mb Buffer Cache | 8.9 ms Average Seek Time (Read) | Ultra ATA 133 | Brown box version | No cables, manuals or software included

Before starting go to the "Sky+" Setup Menu and turn instant rewind to off, make sure you scroll down and save the settings, then put the box into standby and unplug it.

Best to leave it to cool down for a few minutes. Make sure you have an Anti Stat Wristband then remove the cover, drive out, and put the new one in...10 minutes.

If you can use a screwdriver, then it's easy ! One ribbon cable - One PSU cable.

Plug in the Sky Plus Box, wait for two minutes, then turn on, go to the Services menu, and access the "Installer Menu..."

Press the Services Menu
Then Select Menu '4' (System Setup)
Then press 01 on the Remote
Then press select
You should now be in the "Installer Menu"
Now press 8 "Full System Reset"

Once this has done it should reboot your SkyPlus Box...wait two minutes then turn it on. Turn your instant rewind back on...and off you go !

Mines been running now for 48 hours, have taped loads of random stuff just to check it's working. Currently have 35 hours taped and the Sky Plus box tells me that there is 65 % still free !!!

Sky Plus home page is here...

Their standard box, the same as mine is £89 with a full package subscription...their new box (with a 160 GB Hard Drive) costs £299 (but only gives 80 hours, there drives are doctored only allowing you to use half the space ???)

If any one wants any advice on upgrading theirs let me know !

Didn't take any pictures at the time, but if I get 5 mins I'll wip the lid off and take some pictures !

regards

Ric

Still running very well, no problems what so ever !

If anyone needs help with there own Sky plus upgrades let me know.

Its very easy, as long as you can use a screwdiver...you'll have a nice new Sky plus box !

A friend's SkyPlus box just went dead. The unit has to be replaced, thereby losing him everything on the hard drive. Is there any way he can recover the contents? Or is there somewhere on the net he can get advice? (he doesn't have a Mac)

Hi there Bob and welcome !

I presume the hard drive is okay !

The theory would be to take the hard drive out of the old Sky Plus Box and then you could either plug it in to your PC as a 'Slave' drive and make a 'disk image', or if you have a hard drive enclosure then you could plug the drive into that so that you can mount it on either a Mac or PC...

...then duplicate the drive, you will either need a lot of free space on the main Hard drive or have another drive that you can copy it to.

Then take out that drive and insert the new one and 'clone' your disk image back to the new drive.

In all honesty I have never tried this ! This is just theory. But there is no reason why it shouldn't work.

I'll have a route around to see if I can find out what the disk format is...

Depending on what they have on their Sky Plus box it may be just easier to record them when they come on again, most things are repeated ;-)

regards

Ric

Thanks Ric
I'll pass this on to him, and anything else you can come up with later.
Bob

No problem...

you'll have to let us know how he gets on !

regards

Ric

Posted on behalf of frustrated1:

Hi Ric,

I am new to sky plus... only have 20 hours viewing time which as you know isnt great. I assume its a 20gb drive (or sky have halfed the usualability of the 40gb drive)

Can you send me step by step how to upgrade the hard-drive?
I have medium to advanced pc knowledge and have replaced plenty of harddrives in windows and some for unix systems etc..

Any help you can provide would be great.
Do I have to use a particular hard drive or would any i have already do?

Hi there,

the first thing we need to know...what make model sky plus box have you got ?

Each box requires a different drive...

regards

Ric

Hi -

Maybe a stupid question but I only just received my sky plus box. (And looking to upgrade it already ;-)


How can I check what make / model I have... Should there be a label somewhere on the box itself to indicate this?

Sorry should have said...

First look at the box...which side is the viewing card slot on ?

Go to the Services Menu and select ...(cant remember the menu !) But you'll see it...

or

Pace 3000 (PVR1) - silver with a black plastic panel on the front

Pace 3100 (PVR2) - all white with Sky card slot on the far left hand side.

Amstrad DRX180 (PVR2) - all white with Sky card slot on the far right hand side.

Thomson DSI6210 Sky+ 160 - label on the front says 160.

Pace TDS470N (PVR3) - all white with Sky card slot in lower left of centre.

Amstrad DRX280 (PVR3) - all white with Sky card slot lower right of centre.

regards

Ric