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Strange behaviour from HDR-FOX T2

I've had a good sniff around on the cpc.farnell listing, and I think the cock-up is theirs:

47661E22-6FF2-482E-AFF3-F6B251607348.jpeg

IIRC, "3 Gb/s" implies SATA2.

The datasheet attached time the listing dates back to 2013, and is not explicit about SATA rev (although that should be taken to imply SATA1). However:

EBCBAB65-6367-4356-B2C8-DA8DC7C53F0A.jpeg

300 MB/s is almost 3 Gb/s.

We know later revisions of the ST3500312CS are SATA2, so it looks like you might have got unlucky. Tell Farnell.
 
Thank you. I do intend to try to return the drive to Farnell.

The information that "SATA 3GB/s" is the same as SATA II is really useful, thanks. I've been really struggling to work out which flavour of SATA (ie SATA I, SATA II or SATA III) many of the listed drives are. Can I infer that drives listed as "SATA 6GB/s" are SATA III?
 
Thank you, that's really useful information.

Among Seagates (incl. Pipelines and Skyhawks), the only HDD I can find on Amazon that's being sold by Amazon themselves and not a third party is:
Seagate Skyhawk ST2000VX008 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-3-5-Inch-SkyHawk-Internal-Surveillance/dp/B01LOOJ8QM) for £60.08 (described in the main title as "SATA III")

If I want a Pipeline, it looks like it will have to be a third party seller and this looks the most likely:
Seagate Pipeline ST2000VM003 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-ST2000VM003-Pipeline-3-5-Inch-Internal/dp/B008B0RQ1C) for £42.99 (described in "Host Interface" as "Serial ATA III")

These would appear to be my best options now.
If Pipeline really is best then I'll have to risk a third party seller. I suspect this is what @MattAnorak bought in this thread: https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/replacing-hard-disk.9691/ (post 16) and his seems to have been OK (so far!).
If Skyhawks are OK then I'm more tempted to buy direct from Amazon.
 
bingbonglong said:
If Pipeline really is best then I'll have to risk a third party seller. I suspect this is what @MattAnorak bought in this thread: https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/replacing-hard-disk.9691/ (post 16) and his seems to have been OK (so far!).
If Skyhawks are OK then I'm more tempted to buy direct from Amazon.
Click to expand...
I think you have two valid options. There appears to be some experience of using Skyhawks in Humax PVRs but none documented here that I can recollect. People have successfully used drives that didn't seem ideal such as Western Digital Red (intended for server and NAS usage) and taken the time to report back here that they are still working fine some years on. I think it is a close call. My very personal opinion would be to try the Skyhawk because I have just had too many bad experiences of drives that are not necessarily brand new; however maybe I have just been unlucky and the majority of them are fine.
 
bottletop said:
That pic shows you've got a sata1 drive. Look at post 37 of this thread. You need a sata2 drive or above for the HDR to use it. The P/N code on the drive label looks a little low.
Click to expand...
You got me worried for a minute until I checked the drive in my HDR. SMART data reports it as ST3500312CS, Firmware SC13, SATA version 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)

The one in the picture is the same one with the same firmware.
 
It's the "9GW132" that's the determining factor.

/df said:
In the previous cases, apparently an incompatible Seagate Pipeline disk (part # 9GW132-012) did not support SATA II (3Gbit/s) but only SATA I (1.5Gbit/s).
Click to expand...
 
Had a look at two ex-SKY box CS3500312CS drives and SMART reposts they're both are limited to SATA1 1.5Gb/s. No jumpers.

Found the drive manual online* and it says "High instantaneous (burst) data-transfer rates 3Gb/s default. Limit settings to 1.5Gb/s available via SMARTCommand Transport command" and "...the transfer rate can be limited to 1.5GB/s via the SMART Command Transport command".

So how do you do that? Well that's what I've been trying to find out for the last hour and I've drawn a blank.

* https://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/disc/manuals/ce/Pipeline HD Series/100529372f.pdf
 
As it happens I yanked another 500GB Pipeline out of another Sky box the other day (yes, another one), and that is also 9GW132-012 (same as first one).
 
Black Hole said:
It's the "9GW132" that's the determining factor.
Click to expand...
Looks like it's not as simple as that.

I've pulled my older V1 HDR apart and the Part number is 9GW132-191. A DTR1000 has 9GW132-191 also.

The two 1.5Gb/s ex-Sky box drives both have a -012 suffix.

[Edit] And the one in the picture is -018.
 
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Black Hole said:
Agreed, but what I meant was the "SC13" bit you quoted hasn't been referenced previously. IIRC the lowest number that has been reported to work is 9GW132-075.
Click to expand...
With the firmware the same it suggests the p/n suffix is a customer reference.

[Edit} Looking at the two -012 drives I have to hand here, one has Date Code: 12526 and DOM: 06/2012 on the label plus a date code of D 12 cast into the chassis. The other has Date Code: 10075, no DOM and D 09. So the two drives were made two or three years apart, meaning the P/N suffix does not indicate the age of the drive.
 
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Black Hole said:
...generally stands for Part Number, a manufacturers internal identification separate from the published catalogue code. It seems likely that "9GW132" is a product specification and "-012" is a revision number.
Click to expand...
Yes, I know and this should have been clear from my use of it. I used the abbreviation P/N as it's used on the drive label.

My point was that the suffix to the Part Number seems to have been taken as is some kind of indicator of the drive's age when it's not. As I said in my post it looks like it's a code given to a particular customer's spec, in this case Sky's contractor, and in this case they may have asked for the drive to be supplied set to 1.5Gb/s to suit their hardware.

What appears to be needed is some means of sending the correct SMART Command Transport (SCT) code to the drive that sets it back to 3Gb/s, assume that it's not a one-way process. FWIW I wondered if the undocumented jumper position that on other drives limits the transfer speed to 1.5Gb/s in this case has its operation reversed but no.
 
everthewatcher said:
What appears to be needed is some means of sending the correct SMART Command Transport (SCT) code to the drive that sets it back to 3Gb/s, assume that it's not a one-way process. FWIW I wondered if the undocumented jumper position that on other drives limits the transfer speed to 1.5Gb/s in this case has its operation reversed but no.
Click to expand...
Recap. So - the drives used by Humax HDR and old Sky boxes are very similar even down to the model number and the firmware. The only difference being the part number 9GW132-191 (for the HDR), 9GW132-xxx etc found in other places. I wonder if the other drives have DCO set?
Code: 
hdparm --dco-identify
If so, maybe try the potentially dangerous option in hdparm to remove/restore factory DCO
 
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