Dstv explora hard drive issue

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Sufyaanmorat

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Hi everyone.my dstv explora started with "hard drive corrupt" issues.after a million times of formatting and rebooting it's still giving me the same trouble.if I change the hardrive myself should it work?*decoder is out of warrantee.
 
Why don't you take it to multichoice if you're in randburg? Did it some few years back.
I believe they exchange, and there could be a fee involved, not so sure how it works now.
 
In the past you had to get the partitioning correct... not sure if this still applies
 
namzsteve said:
Why don't you take it to multichoice if you're in randburg? Did it some few years back.
I believe they exchange, and there could be a fee involved, not so sure how it works now.
Click to expand...

Its free to swop it if you have that some Decoder care package or something or the other. When the first HD PVR came out I was swopping mine every 6 months but then I found an awesome solution - Cancel DSTV and get unlimited internet.
 
There are plenty used HD PVR decoders out there for sale. Probably a lot cheaper than a new hard disk. 100,000 premium subscribers cancelled in the last year. Most would have had Explora decoders. I've actually got 3 gathering dust over the last 2 years. An original HD PVR decoder (watch one, record 2), HD PVR and Explora 1. Guess I should put them up for sale.
 
Hi.

I just had the same issue with my Explora 2 and thought it would be a nice challenge to try and fix it myself.

I removed the hdd from the decoder and plugged it into a pc running Linux. I could see some errors on the drive in Linux so I knew the crappy Toshiba drive was packing up.
I saw that the 1 TB drive had 2 partitions on it, one is 10 GB (I assume for live recording and rewinding) and one is 990 GB (Recordings, DSTV Now, Box Office).
Please note that windows will not recognize the drive as it is a Linux drive with a Ext4 file format

Next I took a new HGST (Way better that Toshiba, though a bit more expensive) 1TB drive and created 2 partitions, one 10 GB and one 990 GB.
I formatted them with Ext4 file format in Linux and installed the drive back into my decoder.

It worked 100%
 
JoeMonster said:
Hi.

I just had the same issue with my Explora 2 and thought it would be a nice challenge to try and fix it myself.

I removed the hdd from the decoder and plugged it into a pc running Linux. I could see some errors on the drive in Linux so I knew the crappy Toshiba drive was packing up.
I saw that the 1 TB drive had 2 partitions on it, one is 10 GB (I assume for live recording and rewinding) and one is 990 GB (Recordings, DSTV Now, Box Office).
Please note that windows will not recognize the drive as it is a Linux drive with a Ext4 file format

Next I took a new HGST (Way better that Toshiba, though a bit more expensive) 1TB drive and created 2 partitions, one 10 GB and one 990 GB.
I formatted them with Ext4 file format in Linux and installed the drive back into my decoder.

It worked 100%
Click to expand...

Just a thought. To swap an explora (without a maintenance contract) costs about R700. a New 1TB HDD probably costs in excess of R1200. A new Explora 2 currently (July 2018) costs R999 from Game Stores.
 
Had the same issue with my drive, saying it was corrupt. I removed it and hooked it up to my computer. After struggling with the file systems and failing to format it in ext4 using Aomei , i ended up deleting the partitions and just slotted it back into the decoder. It started up and asked if it should format. I let it go ahead with the format, it rebooted and is working now.
 
namak said:
Had the same issue with my drive, saying it was corrupt. I removed it and hooked it up to my computer. After struggling with the file systems and failing to format it in ext4 using Aomei , i ended up deleting the partitions and just slotted it back into the decoder. It started up and asked if it should format. I let it go ahead with the format, it rebooted and is working now.
Click to expand...
That’s what you get yes... crap device firmware, even more shocking engineering goes into that DSTV contraption
 
namak said:
Had the same issue with my drive, saying it was corrupt. I removed it and hooked it up to my computer. After struggling with the file systems and failing to format it in ext4 using Aomei , i ended up deleting the partitions and just slotted it back into the decoder. It started up and asked if it should format. I let it go ahead with the format, it rebooted and is working now.
Click to expand...
Dit your catchup and box office work afterwards?
 
Check with multichoice if you have decoder care, it's around 20 rand a month most people have it and don't even know. If you have it then they will swap your decoder free of charge. I know when I had problems this was a real life saver.
 
Hello. So my Explora 2A hard drive got corrupted so I too thought I would see if I could replace the hard drive. I just have some questions.

I don't have a 1TB or bigger Hard Drive at the moment, only a 160GB. Will the 2 partitions process of a 10%/90% split work on smaller hard drives?

I formatted the hard drive as above with the Ext4 File System (16GB/144GB) and put it back into the Explora

When I reboot the decoder it tells me that it needs to format the hard drive so I choose yes then it just comes up with a screen saying "Format in Progress, please wait for the decoder to reboot". I have left it like this for quite some time now but nothing happens. Does it first format before rebooting or should it reboot then format on boot up and how long does this process take on say a 1TB hard drive?

TIA
 
I had the same problem and decided to try it myself. After reading all the posts, I decided to remove the Explora hard drive and replaced it with my 2TB drive that I had at home. I transferred all my info and formatted the drive and inserted into my explora. Boom all my explora functions were back. Simple. Try to buy a new hard drive and replace it yourself. No need to pay anyone.......
 
After reading comments here I also decided to try the suggestions. I went and bought a 1.5 tb WD external drive and tools (TX 10) to open up my decoder. I formatted the drive and created two partitions using EXT4 file format as suggested and replaced the corrupt drive with my new one but only to find that my new 1.5 tb WD external driv2019 version) is not compatible with my DSTV explorer 2.

I then decided to take one of my old 500gb external drive, formatted it with EXT4 file format and then inserted it in my DSTV explorer 2 but I got an error message "DSTV does not read any drive and will work without PVR functions". So this did not work.

I then decided to double check myself if the original hard drive was really corrupt on my PC. My partition tool was able to read it so I formatted the drive using NTFS file format, transferred a few files for testing and it was working so I decided to format it again using EXT4 file format and returned it back to my Explorer 2 but still got the "hard drive corrupt error"

Lastly I googled the explorer 3 decoder price and found that it only costs R900 (equivalent to a 1 TB hard drive). I decided to buy a new decoder and installed it myself, linked the new card with my old account and everything is working.

Instead of buying a new external 1TB drive I suggest you just buy a new decoder which comes with cables, remote control and a 1TB hard drive installed and all you do is just plug and install it.
 
I took my explora 2a hard drive and put it inside a hd pvr and try to format it, no luck. I believe a new decoder will come out , netflix, etc , so will wait for it.
 
JoeMonster said:
Hi.

I just had the same issue with my Explora 2 and thought it would be a nice challenge to try and fix it myself.

I removed the hdd from the decoder and plugged it into a pc running Linux. I could see some errors on the drive in Linux so I knew the crappy Toshiba drive was packing up.
I saw that the 1 TB drive had 2 partitions on it, one is 10 GB (I assume for live recording and rewinding) and one is 990 GB (Recordings, DSTV Now, Box Office).
Please note that windows will not recognize the drive as it is a Linux drive with a Ext4 file format

Next I took a new HGST (Way better that Toshiba, though a bit more expensive) 1TB drive and created 2 partitions, one 10 GB and one 990 GB.
I formatted them with Ext4 file format in Linux and installed the drive back into my decoder.

It worked 100%
Click to expand...

HI sorry for replying on a old post but I wanted to know where both your partitions primary partions or you also had and extended partition
 
mbeylis said:
Hello. So my Explora 2A hard drive got corrupted so I too thought I would see if I could replace the hard drive. I just have some questions.

I don't have a 1TB or bigger Hard Drive at the moment, only a 160GB. Will the 2 partitions process of a 10%/90% split work on smaller hard drives?

I formatted the hard drive as above with the Ext4 File System (16GB/144GB) and put it back into the Explora

When I reboot the decoder it tells me that it needs to format the hard drive so I choose yes then it just comes up with a screen saying "Format in Progress, please wait for the decoder to reboot". I have left it like this for quite some time now but nothing happens. Does it first format before rebooting or should it reboot then format on boot up and how long does this process take on say a 1TB hard drive?

TIA
Click to expand...
mbeylis said:
Hello. So my Explora 2A hard drive got corrupted so I too thought I would see if I could replace the hard drive. I just have some questions.

I don't have a 1TB or bigger Hard Drive at the moment, only a 160GB. Will the 2 partitions process of a 10%/90% split work on smaller hard drives?

I formatted the hard drive as above with the Ext4 File System (16GB/144GB) and put it back into the Explora

When I reboot the decoder it tells me that it needs to format the hard drive so I choose yes then it just comes up with a screen saying "Format in Progress, please wait for the decoder to reboot". I have left it like this for quite some time now but nothing happens. Does it first format before rebooting or should it reboot then format on boot up and how long does this process take on say a 1TB hard drive?

TIA
Click to expand...

I have a 2TB WesternDigital hard drive that i removed from my Explora today (31 Oct 2020), i bought the new model 3A and figured i should sell the drive to anyone that might need it, im prepared ti let it go for R500 but also open to negotiate. Potential buyer is allowed to 1st test the drive on their decoder before making payment. My number is 0794565576 and i reside in the HoneyDew area, thanks.
 
Good day. Can the hard drive from the Explora be used as an external hard drive on a laptop or desktop?
 
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