DVR Harddrives in PC

alturic

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Nov 19, 2011
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18,510
Hey guys, I have a few questions that have really been irking me lately. I have a few harddrives that were used in old Dish Network DVRs and I know how DVRs "work" as well as been using computers for almost 15 years now so I know how computers work, but I'm at a complete loss for words with this "problem". Also, when I mention "power up" I mean "spin up".

Obviously harddrives used in DVRs are harddrives that you could simply buy off Newegg, etc. I'm almost positive companies don't work with HD manufacters to include some sort of "feature" that only allows the HD's to work (see: power up) in their DVRs but I have tried 3 different HD's from 3 different DVRs and they simply won't power up in my PC. When I tried the first one and it didn't power up, I just thought "Ok maybe I was a bit rough with it", so I tried a second one still wouldn't power up. Those were both WD drives. I just pulled my old Dish Network DVR out of the closet and tried that drive (very nice drive I might add), Seagate Pipeline HD, very thin. Guess what? Won't power up. I thought, ok hey maybe 6 drives (raid array) is "too much" for 1000w PSU, so I unplugged 4 of the drives. STILL wouldn't power up.

So, unless I'm just really overlooking something simple here, does anyone have any thoughts on at as to why they wont power up? Also, that Seagate Pipeline drive, was literally just working in the DVR when I pulled it out of the closet (was watching a old episode of Mythbusters) to make sure after the 2nd drive it wasnt my bad luck
 

alturic

Distinguished
Nov 19, 2011
2
0
18,510
I won't lie, I have no clue as to what the manual would have told me. My point is that, I can't fathom 3 harddrives (1 which was working 5 minutes before I plugged it in) not spinning up. I mean I don't know how "fluent" you are with harddrives and how they operate but someone mentioned they might have a "security" feature (firmware) that allows the "device" (dvr) to "unlock" the drive. I'm not trying to recover data off the drive, I don't see how/why the drive wouldn't spin-up nor have the BIOS see it. I know once I'm in windows I gotta goto disk managment and format it but I gotta get the drive(s) to spin-up first. :p