Is my DCX3510-m box dying? Recordings are gone but player says disk is full and can't record

[mahram]

I have an old dcx3510-m box i'm still using cause i've heard bad experiences people had with the new bluecurve boxes and now with rogers ignite so i kept holding off on upgrading.

but now it seems my box is finally on its way out..i couldn't view my recordings and previously it was almost full each time but i always deleted shows and movies to save space but now something happened where all the saved recordings are gone and it says i have 0 recordings. i tried unplugging it for 30 seconds but that didn't fix and i still get a message that says the disk is full and recording has stopped but the recordings still say i have 0 and i can't even record anything, only watch the live channels.

is this a sign the box is dying and there's no fix to it?

[mdk]

@mahram wrote is this a sign the box is dying and there's no fix to it?

Your HDPVR has an internal 3.5-inch disk-drive that has failed, making all your recordings inaccessible. If you cannot "pause" or "rewind" the channel you are watching, that is more evidence that the disk-drive has failed. Ouch.

The disk-drive was a high-performance disk-drive, spinning at 5900 RPM, with multiple data paths, to handle multiple simultaneous input/output recording.  Example of such a disk-drive:

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/seagate-st1000vx005-skyhawk-1tb-3-5-5900rpm-sata-desktop-intern...

According to a Shaw web-page, your HDPVR supports connecting a specific external disk-drive. So, you might try purchasing and connecting such a device, so that all future recordings will use this device, rather than the "dead" internal disk-drive.  If you buy the above "internal" disk-drive, you will have two options.

1. Buy an external case for it. The case must support "eSATA", to connect to the eSATA socket on your HDPVR. Example (expensive!): 

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/startech-esata-enclosure-hard-drive-enclosure-for-3-5in-sata-hd...

You could put a 2.5-inch 1 TB SSD into this case, if you cannot find a 5900 RPM "surveillance-ready" disk-drive.

2. If you have considerable technical skill, and appropriate tools, you can partially disassemble your HDPVR, disconnect & remove the "dead" disk-drive, and connect the replacement disk-drive.  Hopefully, when you reconnect your HDPVR to the coaxial cable (and thus to Shaw's network), Shaw will electronically "format" the disk-drive, so that you can start recording from "scratch".  Note that "Shaw On Demand" may have copies of what you previously recorded. 

Both of the above options are more complicated than contacting Rogers/Shaw, to see if they can replace the HDPVR, or will force you to switch (upgrade is too strong a word) to their current technology.

I do not see your HDPVR listed on Shaw's "devices to be retired" web-page.  Not yet, but probably "soon".  😞

[withheld]

I would suspect the hard drive is dead/dying.  If you try to get support from Rogers/Shaw they will likely just move you to the new Ignite box (would happen soon in any case).  I went through that recently, and it isn't actually as bad as I had heard, similar to what I went through going from the DCX3510 to the Gateway box.  You need to learn a few new ways to do the same things, and there are some annoyances, but overall it seems a net gain.  Over the years I have had to switch to new technology boxes 4-5 times averaging about every 5-6 years.  Each time I went through the feeling that the new box was worse, then learned how it all worked and realized the advantages, ending up mostly happier even though there were a few things I missed or wondered "why would they change that?"  It seems to mostly be a case of not liking change, when what you have seems to be working just fine for you - this from someone who is typing this on a 30 year old keyboard because I like it better than any new one I have seen.

The new Ignite boxes may not have the same problem when upgrading to whatever comes next after them of losing your recordings, as these are stored somewhere in the cloud - so hopefully no more worries about hardware failures.  In fact, I could probably throw my Ignite boxes in a drawer and just use the web app without noticing much difference, as the app can mostly do the same things and the interface looks similar (even easier to use in some ways, since I rarely use the voice control thing, and a mouse/keyboard is easier than the remote control for navigation) - I use the same monitor/TV for both the box and my computer, so the display quality is the same.  Or you can even use the app on a portable tablet/phone if that is your thing.

So if your hard drive is dead and you have lost all your recordings anyway, it may be time to move on.  Many of the recordings (and more) may be available in the "on demand", so you might not have lost all.