How can I get recorded programmes from dead Sky+ box?

Chewbumpkin

Our Sky+ hd box died yesterday:(. We are getting a replacement from Sky, who told me that we should be able to source the programmes we recorded onto the dead box by hooking it up to our dvd recorder. We have tried this without any luck :mad:. It seems to be impossible to access any of the menus - even on "planner" - all it comes up with is "No satellite signal received".:wall:
Any ideas as to how we can access them? Some of them are episodes of serials that are no longer available on catch up.
I wondered if it would be possible to open the box, take out the hard drive and hook it up to the pc? Or would it be possible to connect it to the new box when it arrives?
Please help - I am being driven spare by my husband's choice of videos!;)

googler

Get a working used box of the same make and model as the current one off eBay. Swap the HDD from the current one into the one just bought. Connect output to DVD recorder and salvage programmes.

If the HDD doesn't work in this replacement, you've lost your programmes, I'd suggest.

Quite why the Sky cust serv rep thinks that connecting a dead box to a DVD recorder will magically resurrect it .....

googler

Or ...

http://www.skycopyplus.co.uk/

almillar

Get your new box. Don't record anything onto it. Get the old hard drive out of the old box, and the new one from the new box. You might be surprised at how well built Sky boxes are!
I have used, and prefer ExPVR over skycopyplus. If you've got enough SATA connections on desktop computer, this is definitely the fastest way to to it, otherwise you can do one drive at a time, USB enclosures etc. Depends how much is on your drive I suppose. Instructions are included on the website, make sure you read it carefully!
http://www.ph-mb.com/products/ExPVR/about

Chewbumpkin

Thanks Almillar, I have looked at both sites you mentioned and will take time to carry out the changeover very carefully!

Do I really have to take the hard drives out of both boxes - I don't want to invalidate the warranty on the new one? There are 2 USB sockets on the old box - could I use one of them?

googler

Chewbumpkin wrote: »

Thanks Almillar, I have looked at both sites you mentioned and will take time to carry out the changeover very carefully!

Do I really have to take the hard drives out of both boxes - I don't want to invalidate the warranty on the new one? There are 2 USB sockets on the old box - could I use one of them?

Use the new one for new recordings, and follow #2 above

almillar

Yes you do Chewbumpkin, otherwise I wouldn't have said so ;-)
If your cables are long enough I guess you could plug the drive in whilst still inside, but by the time you've gone that far, you might as well remove it.
There's a very small chance, that if everything you want to watch was BBC and other unencrypted channels, that you could watch it all on computer, meaning just taking the drive out of the old box, but that seems unlikely.
The USB and eSATA(?) ports at the back of the Sky box aren't for our use and don't work.