Can a DM800 power a 3.5" HD

[Oily]

After having major issues trying to get my 500gb USB(external powered) hd to work with the DM i took the direct route!
I opened up the enclosure of the hd,took the hd off it mounts and unplugged it from the pcb.
I plugged in the sata/power cable you get with the DM into the hd,put the hd back in its enclosure,plugged it onto the DM like this(see photo)and it doesn't work?
I'm guessing it doesn't have the guts to power a 3.5" unless i've done something wrong ?

 

[PaulR]

Firstly, what is the hard disc formatted in?

If it's NTFS then it won't be understood either internally or externally. I would suggest firstly you format it in FAT32 and try again externally (easier said than done if you've only got Windows to use as a formatting program). For internal use I would guess that the dreambox can format it to whatever it wants from an option somewhere in a menu. If it really doesn't have the power to spin the disc up you may have to go back to option 1 though.

Someone who actually owns a Dreambox will have to help you further.

 

[Oily]

It's already formatted to FAT32,i used FAT32Formatter!

Thanks for the reply

 

[PaulR]

That's it then - I'm out of ideas!

 

[Oily]

That's it then - I'm out of ideas!

Me too!

 

[Oily]

Just checked the voltages across the pins and it's giving out 5v,this hd needs 12v!

Back to the drawing board!

 

[hashman99]

why not just use a 2.5 sata?

 

[Oily]

why not just use a 2.5 sata?

At the moment my finances are a little stretched(lost my job just before xmas)so i was just trying to use what i had available.

 

[cauliflower]

It does not have enough power to run the HDD. I would strongly urge you not to use a USB HDD as it causes alot of issues especially after a hard reset. Use an esata external enclosure for the 500gb you have now and it will work flawlessly.

Please be careful when buying the cheaper ones as the fan noise in some is ridiculous.

 

[Oily]

It does not have enough power to run the HDD. I would strongly urge you not to use a USB HDD as it causes alot of issues especially after a hard reset. Use an esata external enclosure for the 500gb you have now and it will work flawlessly.

Please be careful when buying the cheaper ones as the fan noise in some is ridiculous.

Will i not have the same problems with me keep switching the esata enclosure on and off?

 

[cauliflower]

In a simple answer no as its the same principal as having one internally.

 

[paul156]

Hello oily, I recieved a dm800 clone from china just before christmas and also found no 12volts
on the motherboard to power a hard disk. i wanted to fit a 3.5 inch hd outside. If i gave the hd
a power supply from a pc then the dm800 would find it, format it and record to it.

The 4 pins to power the hd should have 12v , neutral , 5v , neutral . Mine had no 12v present.
I looked for bad soldering etc but could not see any tracks this pin was supposed to be connected
to !!!!. In the end i just soldered a wire from the 12v where it comes into the dreambox , to the 12v pin
on the hd power supply . All recording fine now !!!!!!!!!!

 

[Oily]

Hello oily, I recieved a dm800 clone from china just before christmas and also found no 12volts
on the motherboard to power a hard disk. i wanted to fit a 3.5 inch hd outside. If i gave the hd
a power supply from a pc then the dm800 would find it, format it and record to it.

The 4 pins to power the hd should have 12v , neutral , 5v , neutral . Mine had no 12v present.
I looked for bad soldering etc but could not see any tracks this pin was supposed to be connected
to !!!!. In the end i just soldered a wire from the 12v where it comes into the dreambox , to the 12v pin
on the hd power supply . All recording fine now !!!!!!!!!!

Any chance of a photo/how to please Paul ? Also is the hdd on constantly or does it power up as soon as you turn the Dm on?

 

[paul156]

Will try to take a pic tomorrow, the hd only spins up when you record something or start timeshift,
or watching something from hd. Have set it to standby after 1 min of not being used and it does.

 

[Oily]

Will try to take a pic tomorrow, the hd only spins up when you record something or start timeshift,
or watching something from hd. Have set it to standby after 1 min of not being used and it does.

Cheers Paul

 

[Oily]

Here's what i've done Paul,there's a 12v supply going to the fan so i just stuck the yellow wire down there and it's all working fine!

 

[paul156]

Hi oily , glad you got it going have attached some pics so it may help other people.

Just waiting for a longer sata cable to put my hd into my htpc case...

Have also done the C1 capacitor mod to my revision k tuner

as before could only watch hd channels when box got warm.

Still a little glitchy on some hd channels , so still some work to do.

I love a project !!!!!!!!!

 

[Oily]

Thanks for the photos Paul,they've helped a lot.