Hard drive install on Storesafe pro II

[ray306 0]

I have a storesafe pro II unit from GE. I want to add 2 320 GB hard drives in the place of the 80 GB standard hard drive. When I put in one of the 320 GB harddrives the unit continues to restart. Is there a configuration that must take place? The unit recognizes the 320 GB harddrive but does not function properly. When the 80 GB hard drive is attached the unit works just fine. Any ideas?

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

What is your firmware version? I have Storesafe Pro II with 1TB and 1.5TB capacity by using two 500GB and 750GB PATA drives...

 

Just check with GE to determine which is the latest version... Download the firmware and upload to Storesafe.. and you are ready to go...

 

They use to have a link where we were able to download latest firmware version.. Either they moved it or I think now they want you to log in by creating an account... and hopefully it is there... Otherwise, call GE Security technical support and request the firmware to be sent to you with instructions how to upload to your machine...

 

The rest should be fairly easy... because you can can turn that machine to carry up to 1.5TB internal storage... and it works!

 

Good luck...

[ray306 0]

Thanks for the input

 

I have already called GE and they tell me that they do not support adding larger harddrives (I'm sure they want to get you to pay them). The two drives came from GE since I sent a unit in for repair and they stripped my 2 320GB harddives out and replaced them with a single 80GB harddrive. My question would be, is there there some formatting or setup that needs to be done prior to install? If not what could possibly be causing the system to constantly reboot?

 

P.S. Unit works just fine withthe 80GBinstalled

 

Thanks for your help

 

Ray

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

Thanks for the input

 

I have already called GE and they tell me that they do not support adding larger harddrives (I'm sure they want to get you to pay them). The two drives came from GE since I sent a unit in for repair and they stripped my 2 320GB harddives out and replaced them with a single 80GB harddrive. My question would be, is there there some formatting or setup that needs to be done prior to install? If not what could possibly be causing the system to constantly reboot?

 

P.S. Unit works just fine withthe 80GBinstalled

 

Thanks for your help

 

Ray

 

GE has to tell you that they do not support adding larger drives... Otherwise, everyone will buy their lowest drive configuration systems and do their own upgrades...

 

One of the reasons could be that you hard drive master and slave setting are not set correctly (in the back of the hard drives, you can set it as a master or slave)... This could cause non-recognition of drives, thus could cause the system to reboot and act abnormal...

 

Chances also are that your system's firmware is not up to date.. When did you purchase this unit? Which version firmware did it come back with? You have to know that the older version firmware did not support higher capacity drives... thus, it forced constant reboots if you changed the drives more than 160GB...

 

Off hand, I do not remember the process how to upgrade the firmware, but it was very easy (we followed GE instructions on how to perform firmware upgrades)... What is also happening is that when you do upgrade the hard drives, you also have to install another piece of software on the primary hard drive that has everything to do with CD burn process... You see, the format of the hard drive it needs is FAT format and if you do not install this software, then you will not be able to burn CD..

 

Here is something you can try... Keep the original 80GB drive that came back from GE (which should have the software that allows burning CD) and add the second higher capacity drive in the second bay (make sure that you assign master/slave setting correctly on both drives).. and see what happens.. If your firmware has been upgraded, then it should recognize it just fine and give you higher storage..

 

Find out what version is your firmware and what is the latest version available from GE.. Upgrade if necessary... Otherwise, look for hard drives master and slave setting to be correct..

 

Last important item to watch for... Higher storage capable drives draw more power... and if you are using older power supply that originally came with the system, I will strongly recommend to replace with higher wattage power supply... The power supplies in these systems are not types, however they are available and you can find ones that push around 300W and they should be more than adequate for these newer drives... Most likely your existing power supply is around 200W.. and you should consider to change it also and provide higher capacity power supply...

 

I can tell you that we upgraded quite of few of these type of units up to 1.5TB internal storage... The sweet spot for our customers is 1TB.. and they still are going strong without any problems...

 

Hope this helps...

[rory 0]

Dont know how relative to the StoreSafe2 this is, but with the older StoreSafe units, you could only use 5400rpm drives due to the smaller power supplies.

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

Dont know how relative to the StoreSafe2 this is, but with the older StoreSafe units, you could only use 5400rpm drives due to the smaller power supplies.

 

Rory, that is why I recommend to change the power supply with higher wattage, so it not only will comply with higher RPM, but also higher capacity drives...

 

We have quite of few of them with two 750GB PATA drives in each DVR... At the begining it was difficult to get 250W... and that was the main reason was to stay with single drives.. Later, we did find few sources that were manufacturing 300W of power supplies.. and they worked great.

[rory 0]

Dont know how relative to the StoreSafe2 this is, but with the older StoreSafe units, you could only use 5400rpm drives due to the smaller power supplies.

 

Rory, that is why I recommend to change the power supply with higher wattage, so it not only will comply with higher RPM, but also higher capacity drives...

 

We have quite of few of them with two 750GB PATA drives in each DVR... At the begining it was difficult to get 250W... and that was the main reason was to stay with single drives.. Later, we did find few sources that were manufacturing 300W of power supplies.. and they worked great.

 

I checked on this before and a power upgrade kit is required, which will require a training session at GE headquarters, for x amount of $$. The PSUs in the StoreSafes and DVMRes are not regularly available, they are proprietary.

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

Yes and No

 

If someone is handy with this DVR and knows his/her way around it, then IT IS NOT... Otherwise, YES...

 

For GE, everything is training before they sell you anything... and for a good reason... Most of the dealers or even users do not have their sufficient knowledge on "fixing" or "modifying" computer based hardware...

 

These type of power supplies are not popular, thus it will cost more than usual pricing of regular power supplies... Manufacturers of such power supplies know this very well and they can dictate higher pricing based on what they produce - from 150W to maximum 300W... Pricing varies of course on the wattage and who the manufacturer is... and then the availability... I guess they fully understand the basics of economical trends - Supply vs. Demand...

 

GE knowingly can charge whatever they please for such power supply kits... and they do all the time..

 

My suggestion is that if someone does not want to get their hands "dirty" on working with machines like these, they should keep away..

[rory 0]

hands dirty is not the problem, finding the PSU is. We have many threads on here now, going back years, where people have asked the same thing, how to upgrade the PSU on the GE DVRs. The answer from GE is, yah need the Power Upgrade Kit. Ive never personally seen a PSU like that anywhere on the web, at least not in the DVMRe, if you know where to get one though, I'd be interested.

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

hands dirty is not the problem, finding the PSU is. We have many threads on here now, going back years, where people have asked the same thing, how to upgrade the PSU on the GE DVRs. The answer from GE is, yah need the Power Upgrade Kit. Ive never personally seen a PSU like that anywhere on the web, at least not in the DVMRe, if you know where to get one though, I'd be interested.

 

Let me get some names... and I will get back to you...

[ray306 0]

It would appear that the problem with adding the larger harddrives to my unit may be PSU related. If anyone knows a source for these please let me know. Getting hands dirty is not a problem.

 

Thanks

Ray

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

It would appear that the problem with adding the larger harddrives to my unit may be PSU related. If anyone knows a source for these please let me know. Getting hands dirty is not a problem.

 

Thanks

Ray

 

Ray, I will get you the info... no problems... but I am not convinced yet that your power supply is the problem...

 

Can you please reply on some of the questions that were posted earlier? Like the version number of this machine's firmware, etc??

 

If the machine works well with 80GB drive, did you try to add the second drive with the same or higher capacity to see how this machine behaves?

 

All the questions that were posted and the questions here need some sort of an answer... By saying that your power supply may be the cause has not been fully established yet, at least in my mind... We have systems with two 500GB drives that still use the same existing power supply without any problems.. Only reason we change the power supply is when we take it to two 750GB drives... or when we troubleshoot it being defective.

 

Please give us some more answers and we can nail this once and for all...

[blowrabbit 0]

I know from experiance that with the dvrme units you need to get the newer 7 amp external power supply to run the 4 drive units and also with 2 drive units if they are the higher 7200 rpm and if they are above 200gb each. As opposed to the older 5 amp ones. Your supposed to download something off the ge wavereader site to get them to work after install but.. i've had them work without that too. I have only used maxtor drives and that may be part of the success. funny the other day i installed 2/ 160 gb drives in a older phillips dvr which is a kalatel dsr2000 in essense, ran fine but it only reconized something like 137 gb per drive for a total of around 280 gb but was better than the 2/80 gb drives as before.

[ray306 0]

as to Recon's question the firmware version is 6.28 which is fairly new. It would appear the most current version is 6.29 so it is fairly up to date.

 

Thanks again

Ray

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

as to Recon's question the firmware version is 6.28 which is fairly new. It would appear the most current version is 6.29 so it is fairly up to date.

 

Thanks again

Ray

 

I have not had a chance to confirm if 6.29 is the latest, but your version is fairly new... Can you please try what blowrabbit is recommending please?

 

Instead of spending more money to get a power supply, I suggest taking step by step tests to add various size hard drives and see the results..

[ray306 0]

At this point I have double checked the jumper settings and if I put the factory installed 80GB hard drive in as master along with 1 of the 320GB drives as slave it appears that the system recognizes all 400GB and works ok. I would still like to put 2 320GB harddrives into this unit, when I do that, again with the proper jumper settings, the unit will recognize all 640GB at statup but it then goes through a continuous restart cycle. It would appear to me that there may be some files, configuration or other, on the original drive that need to be place on the 320GB drive. Anyone know anything about this and/or what files need to be moved

 

Thanks

Ray

[Metal Shaper Man 0]

I doubt that this will be relevant to your situation at all. I also must say that I don’t know anything about Storesafe. Anyway, I just found it interesting that both HD’s must be set as Master when I added the second HD to my Panasonic WJ-HD316. I don’t know for sure but, I don’t think it would hurt anything to try it.

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

At this point I have double checked the jumper settings and if I put the factory installed 80GB hard drive in as master along with 1 of the 320GB drives as slave it appears that the system recognizes all 400GB and works ok. I would still like to put 2 320GB harddrives into this unit, when I do that, again with the proper jumper settings, the unit will recognize all 640GB at statup but it then goes through a continuous restart cycle. It would appear to me that there may be some files, configuration or other, on the original drive that need to be place on the 320GB drive. Anyone know anything about this and/or what files need to be moved

 

Thanks

Ray

 

Ray, please read all the posts and the ideas that everyone is contributing carefully... You missed the fact that the master hard drive also contains special files that must be there before the system can function propertly.

 

Since adding 320GB worked, now please add 500GB PATA drive or better yet, 750GB PATA drive... Again, I do not think the problem is with your power supply, yet...

[ray306 0]

The saga continues.......

 

Now that I have the unit working with 1 120GB & 1 80GB harddrives

it continues to regularly freeze up...any ideas what this is a symptom of?

 

Ray

[CCTV_Suppliers 0]

The saga continues.......

 

Now that I have the unit working with 1 120GB & 1 80GB harddrives

it continues to regularly freeze up...any ideas what this is a symptom of?

 

Ray

 

Ray, with this new info, the problem IS NOT the power supply.. The previous post you had was that you used one 80GB (original) and one 320GB and it worked fine...

 

Please change the PATA ribbon cable and try it again.. Do you have a 500GB drive that you can use or better yet, 750GB? If you could read one 80GB and one 320GB, you should be able to read higher capacity without changing the power supply.

 

Remember, if you change the 80GB drive, besides a video that it will store, it also have very important files that your system needs for burning CDs...