what is the difference between a hard disk in a dvd recorder (to record TV programs) and a hard disk in a pc. What is needed to make them interchangeable ( in the event of a defect ) ?

Corey Houghton
By Corey Houghton
Questions and Answers

the intention is to repair a defective hard disk of a DVD recorder (Panasonic DMR-EH60) by installing a hard disk (with the same capacity and connection) purchased in a computer parts store.

Sincere thanks , greetings . EddyV

Asker: Eddie, 57 years old

Answer

Best,

It is indeed difficult to find concrete information about hard disks in DVD recorders.
Here’s an attempt at an answer:

It is usually an ordinary hard disk of the type SATA (serial communication – so a small connector).

However, it is a different file system than with a classic PC or laptop, usually it is a Linux Operating System. The DVD system will not be able to detect a different type of hard disk, so you must use an identical hard disk as a replacement.
That means that formatting has to be done differently, and that is not so obvious.
You could make a copy of a good DVD harddisk with a PC ‘ghost’ program, but most of the time your DVD harddisk will be faulty and you won’t be able to run a ‘ghost’ …

The DVD may come with a BIOS used with a specific kind of Operating System and the HardDisk is only for storage intended.

Maybe there is one tools to prepare the HD, but this must be a factory secret …

Summarized again:

– operating system of such devices is often, but not always, embedded linux
– as far as I know, the discs are always identical to the PC discs. This because of cost. Commercially available discs are very inexpensive. Having a special version made for a consumer product would cost too much. (Nowadays a PC copy is often installed as a DVD drive)
– the disk usually only contains the data. The O/S is usually on flash memory.
– what exactly is on the disk (file system) is very dependent on the brand and type and is often not a known file system like FAT, NTFS, etc. In the best case it is some special Linux file system. Or even a completely dedicated, unknown file system. As a result, the disc can usually not be read on a PC. This makes it impossible to put DVD movies on the internal hard drive and then insert the disc into a PC to rip the files. (But there are plenty of other solutions for that)
I suspect that in most devices it should be possible to replace a defective disk with a PC disk. A check may be carried out whether it is one of the same capacity to prevent you from even upgrading the device to large storage. You may have to look in the manual for how to initialize the disk.

A nice article about that problem can be found here, albeit without a real solution:

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/quot-hdd-ng-quot-displayed-after-hdd-replacement-on-panasonic-dmr-eh60-t337149.html

I wish you the best of luck to recover your DVD recorder…
or will you have no choice but to join our throwaway society … and buy a new DVD recorder …

what is the difference between a hard disk in a dvd recorder (to record TV programs) and a hard disk in a pc. What is needed to make them interchangeable ( in the event of a defect ) ?

Answered by

ing. Rick Hostyn

Electronics ICT

Vives Catholic University
Doorniksesteenweg 145 8500 Kortrijk
http://www.vives.be

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