Hard Drive History

Hard drives have been around for just over 50 years. In the beginning, in 1956, the first hard drive was used for the RAMAC 305 system. The size of 2 refrigerators, the hard drive system used 50 2-foot platters. IBM got serious in the 1960’s and invented disk drives with air bearings and then came up with the first removable drives. They finished up the 60’s with the invention of a wound-coil ferrite recording head.

In 1973, IBM came up with the Winchester hard drive, the 3340. The assembly was sealed, the spindles were lubricated, and the heads were low-mass, all improvements on the older models. Around this time, the first patent on RAID hard drive technology was filed, due to competitors coming out on the scene.
IBM stayed on top of things, however, and came out with the 3370 in 1979. It used 7 platters just over the size of 1 foot each (14 inches). It also used thin-film heads for the first time. In the same year their 62 PC was developed with six 8-inch platters.

Seagate, a prime competitor, began giving IBM a run for their money with the ST-506 drive and interface. In 1980, IBM came out with the first gigabyte hard drive, but it was as big as a refrigerator. Seagate answered that with the first 5.25” hard disk, in the same year.

More companies were making a name for themselves, at this point, such as Shugart Associates with the SASI interface. Western Digital developed a single-chip hard drive controller, and Rodime came out with a 3.5” hard disk. Western Digital gets a bright idea, in 1984, and makes their own hard drive for the IBM PC/AT.

Working together, instead of against each other, becomes the norm, then. In 1985, Compaq, Western Digital, and Control Data all work together on the 40-pin IDE interface. In 1986, Apple computers use the just-released SCSI spec.

Imiprimis, Quantum, Prairie Tech and Connor all worked hard to develop new technologies throughout the 80’s, and make a name next to the more established companies. Then Seagate became the first to offer a 7200 RPM (rotations per minute) hard drive, in 1992.

Throughout the 90’s and into the 2000’s, there has been a narrowing of the field with Quantum purchased by Maxtor and Maxtor acquired by Seagate. The remaining top competitors continue to drive each other to greater and greater achievements, vying for consumer dollars, as they strive to develop the fastest, smallest, and most efficient hard drive possible.

 

Choosing Your DirecTV DVR

There are two different DirecTV DVR models. One is the standard DVR version, DirecTV DVR. The other is the newer High Definition model, DirecTV HD DVR. If you are unsure which of these two is the right choice for you, you can compare and contrast the two.

The DirecTV DVR has all the basic features that allow you to record your favorite shows and watch them later. One of those features is the Wish List. The Wish List allows you to select your favorite actors, films, or even directors. Then, the DVR will automatically record the applicable movies.

The Season Pass is another basic DVR feature which allows you to program the DVR to record your favorite shows through the entire viewing season. This way, you can set it to record just once, and it will keep recording each episode as it comes out, without you having to remind it again.

If you are watching your budget and you don’t make a lot of recordings, the DirecTV DVR is the right option for you. You can store up to 100 hours of shows and movies before you have to clear some space for more.

On the other hand, if you have an HDTV and you want to make full use of its capabilities, you might consider the DirecTV HD DVR. It costs substantially more, but the benefits may outweigh the costs.

The DirecTV HD DVR can hold 200 hours of standard definition TV in addition to 30 hours of high definition recordings. If you love to see the sharp clear images you’ve come to enjoy with your HDTV set, you may feel let down if all your recordings are in standard definition.

Even the sound is better with the DirecTV HD DVR high definition recordings. Because you are making a greater financial investment, it may also help to know that the DirecTV HD DVR carries a 1-year warranty, whereas the DirecTV DVR only offers a 90-day warranty.

Finally, the DirecTV HD DVR comes with the TiVo 14-day interactive TV guide. This feature makes it a lot easier to find the shows you want to record. It is interactive and user-friendly. All-in-all, it seems to come down to a question of expense. Is the cost worth it to you, for all you get with the DirecTV HD DVR? Only you can answer that.

 

Hooking Up Your TiVo To Cable HDTV

If you’re like many Americans, you love to keep up with new technology, but when it arrives on your doorstep in a box, you don’t know what to do next. If your favorite family tech-whiz isn’t available, no need to panic.

You can set up your TiVo with your Cable HDTV with a few simple steps. If you didn’t get a cable TV card, with your cable service, you might first try asking them if they are available, before you try anything else.

If, however, you are on your own, you can connect your TiVo box to your cable HDTV box in another way. Locate your coaxial cable. This is the cable that is sticking out of the wall where your TV should go.

Connect the coaxial cable to the cable HDTV box. Then make sure, before you connect the cable box to the TiVo box, that you first try connecting the cable box directly to the TV. That way, you know the cable service and cable box are working, before you move on.

A composite cable cord is the best choice for picture quality, to connect your TiVo box to the cable box. Your other option is coaxial cable. If you are using an A/V unit, make sure that you turn off the TV speakers before the next step.

The last step is to set the TiVo box on channel 3. You will have to change channels and access the cable service’s TV guide, with the cable box. TiVo’s TV guide should program itself. If you run into problems anywhere along the way, don’t call the cable company. As long as the cable service and cable box are working, you’ll need to call TiVo customer service to get help troubleshooting. Good luck!

 

DirecTV Tips and Tricks

DVR remotes come with more options and uses than most people are aware of. The demand for an ever-improving DVR experience has companies like DirecTV scrambling to produce the latest and greatest features. It is helpful to look through the instructions to find out about a lot of these features, but here are a couple of great tips to get you started.

DoublePlay is a feature you can access with your DVR remote and your DirecTV service, which allows you to watch two shows being broadcast simultaneously without having to miss anything. Start by turning on the first show you want to watch. Then use the down arrow to select another show.

Once you select the second show, you can now toggle back and forth between the two shows just using the down arrow. Oops! Did you toggle back and find that you missed something important? No need to sweat it. Just rewind either show, or pause it at any time, to make sure you catch all the action.

Do you ever get frustrated scrolling through the pages of channel offerings, trying to get to the channel you’re looking for? If you have a few channels that you watch on a regular basis, you can save yourself some time by creating a Favorite Channels list.

With a DirecTV HD DVR, you’ll need to press the menu button on your DVR remote. Then, select “Parental, Fav’s, and Setup.” For a standard DirecTV DVR, just hit the “Menu” button. With either DVR, the next step is to select “Favorites” and “Set up custom 1.”

After that, you can pick your favorite channels for your own custom favorite channels list. The next time you want to watch HGTV or CNN, you can just go to your favorite channels menu and select the channel you want to watch.

 

Controlling Two DVR’s With One Remote

Wouldn’t it be great to control two DVR’s with the same remote? If you have a TiVo remote control that has a 1-2 switch, then you actually can program it to control two DVR’s. If, however, you have one that does not have a 1-2 switch, like the Premiere, Premiere XL, and the TiVo slide remotes, you can only control one DVR.

With your 1-2 switch remote standing by, get ready to program the first DVR. Make sure the second DVR’s window (the dark shiny area in front) is covered with a thick non-see-through material. This will prevent it from picking up signals as you program your first DVR (DVR A). Point the remote at DVR A and press the TiVo button. On the system information screen, scroll down until you get to “Remote Address.” This will usually show “0” to begin with.

Go back to your remote and make sure the 1-2 switch is set to 1. Cover the front end of the remote completely with your hand and point it away from DVR A. Then hold down the “pause” and “TiVo” buttons until the red light at the end of the remote stays on, even as you let go of the buttons.

Now you can point the TiVo remote back at DVR A. Press the number “1” on the remote and push the right arrow button. This should change the “0” to a “1” on your TV screen. This means that you have assigned this DVR with the #1 slot. Now side 1 of the DVR switch will control this DVR.

Your next step is to program your second DVR, DVR B. Make sure to change the input on your TV to DVR B. Take the cover off of DVR B and secure it to DVR A. Making sure it is well-covered, you can go again to the System Information screen and scroll down to the “Remote Address” option.

Change the 1-2 switch setting, on your TiVo remote, to the number “2.” Once again, point away from the DVR and cover the end of your remote with your hand. Hold down the “pause” and “TiVo” buttons until the red light at the end of the remote stays on. Release your hand, with the light still on.

Point back to DVR B and press the number “2.” Follow with the right arrow button. This should show up on the screen. Press the TiVo button and you are done! Now, when your remote switch is on 1, it will control DVR A. When it is on 2, it will control DVR B. Your DVR use will be more convenient, with the ability to control both DVR’s with the same remote.

 

5400 RPM vs 7200 RPM Hard Drive

Are you confused about the difference between the 5400 RPM ATA/100 hard drive and the older 7200 RPM ATA/66? You may have read in chat rooms and forums that the newer 5400 is faster than the older 7200, in spite of the rotations per minute (RPM) difference.

You may have also heard that the 5400 RPM ATA/100 can almost keep up with the equally new 7200 RPM ATA/100 as well. If you are in the market for a hard drive, it is important that you can tell what is true and what is not true about these rumors.

A test to verify or refute these ideas found some interesting results. When looking at the transfer rate alone, the newer 7200 RPM ATA/100 was obviously the best choice. It started out the fastest and was even able to maintain that speed for longer than both of the other hard drives.

Though the 5400 RPM ATA/100 had a solid start, maintaining speed for a short length of time, it then began to slow during the transfer process. The 7200 RPM ATA/66 demonstrated a similar curve pattern, but started declining almost from the beginning.

While this may, at first, seem to indicate that the 5400 RPM ATA/100 has indeed surpassed the 7200 RPM ATA/66 in performance, it is only one test. Other testing that looked at overall performance found that the 7200 RPM ATA/66 was the clear winner.

Even though the 5400 RPM ATA/100 has superior technology, making better use of the RPM’s it has, the 7200 RPM ATA/66 still has a higher RPM. It seems that the higher RPM’s are enough to allow it to surpass the overall performance of the newer 5400.

In the end, if you want the very best performer, you might just want to skip these two contenders and move on to the new and improved 7200 RPM ATA/100 which has not only the highest RPM’s but also makes use of the latest hard drive technology.

 

TiVo Remote Tips

The TiVo remote is not just for setting your TV show recordings. You can also pause, fast forward, rewind, or slow down live television. It can turn the power on and off for the TV set, in addition to the TiVo box.

The TiVo remote can also be used to control more than one TiVo box and even be programmed to operate other electronic devices in your home. One of these, for example, is the volume and mute controls on your home entertainment stereo system.

When you are watching a live TV show, you can use the Trick Play features to manipulate your experience, rather than be a passive watcher. If you need to make a trip to the kitchen or bathroom, for example, and don’t want to miss anything, just hit “pause” on the remote and the show will be ready for you to resume when you get back.

Even better, if you’re sick of watching the same commercials every commercial break, you can skip past some of them. You can even tell it how many seconds or minutes to skip, when you use this feature.

Probably one of the best features of TiVo is that you can rate the shows you like with your TiVo remote. The TiVo DVR will take note, and will record shows similar to those you rate with “three thumbs up.” This way, you can try out some new shows you might like. If you give a show “three thumbs down,” it’s not going to record shows like that.

While DVR systems may be available for rent from the cable company, many savvy consumers are purchasing their own TiVo for some of the features and benefits only the TiVo can offer. The TiVo remote can give you more control and freedom than you might have settled for.

 

TiVo DVR vs Cable DVR

Cable companies are now offering free DVR with their service packages. They provide their own high-definition DVR’s. So what is happening to TiVo? Some say that TiVo is going to be yesterday’s news.

On the other hand, it seems that some of the cable company offerings just can’t perform as well as the TiVo can. In addition, many have borrowed from TiVo technology, which ended in TiVo winning a patent right, in a case against Dish and Echostar.

The TiVo costs around $300, which may be a bigger investment than most TV consumers are ready to make. But, even though the cable company’s DVR box comes to a consumer’s home for free, it usually brings with it monthly rental and usage fees.

Even with the monthly rental, this may seem like a steal, to a consumer looking to save some money upfront. But, the box also generally comes with slower functions and a greater propensity for errors and malfunctions than the TiVo.

Some consumers become frustrated with the DVR service they get with the cable company. This factor may lead many to bite the bullet and buy a TiVo. Will TiVo make a comeback? It is possible, if they are able to compete financially and maintain their lead in quality standards.

One possible avenue the company seems to be exploring is offering part of their technology to cable companies, thus receiving a portion of the profits. Like any other technology, TiVo will either have to adapt and keep up or make way, in today’s race for the newest and the best.

 

The DirecTV Universal Remote Control

Have you recently purchased a Universal Remote Control through DirecTV? You may be looking at it, wondering what is so special about this new DVR remote. In solid black or blue, it certainly looks more sophisticated than the original DVR remote. And its improved functions are actually equal to its improved looks.

For example, you may have been using a remote for your TV, another for your stereo sound equipment, another for your VCR, and yet another for your DVR. With this new DVR remote, you can program each of these devices to respond to the one remote.

This universal remote can actually be programmed to turn on and off the power of all four devices simultaneously. You will simply need to hold down the power button for three seconds to get all four to turn on or off.

If you’re watching TV in the dark, it may be helpful to know that you can press any of the most commonly used buttons on the remote to activate the backlighting that lights them all up. It also has an ID lock so you can program it to work exclusively with a particular DVR receiver, thereby preventing interference with a second DVR box nearby.

When you are programming your electronic devices with a universal remote, one of the biggest hassles is figuring out the right code you need for each one. Then you may have to type these all in and hope you don’t get one digit wrong and have to start over. Well, the new DirecTV universal remote has got you covered.

For the most common current VCR’s, TV’s, and stereos, you will find a list of codes programmed into the DVR remote. So, you can scroll through the list and find your name brand and item without breaking a sweat. If, on the other hand, you prefer your vintage TV to those newfangled offerings, the DirecTV universal remote has a code search for older electronics.

Now that you know what your new DVR remote is capable of, you can start programming it to your home devices. Just go to the product manual and follow the simple instructions and you’ll be sitting back and enjoying the benefits of universal control, in a matter of minutes.

 

Repairing a Remote

If one or more of the buttons on your remote control is not working, or only works when you push it with extra force, you may have to dispose of the whole remote. But, what if it is an expensive remote or one that is not manufactured anymore? There is a way to repair this problem, but it will take a small investment of time and perhaps some money.

The first thing you’ll need to do is remove the batteries from your remote and take out all the screws. Look carefully, as some may be well-concealed. Use a thin metal object to gently pry the two halves of the remote apart, exposing the inner workings. Because there may be loose pieces, or you might have difficulty reassembling the little parts inside, you may want to take a picture of the inside, for later reference.

Using rubbing alcohol and a Q-Tip, gently clean the circuit board and let it dry. Use alcohol again to clean the small black contacts at the back of all of the buttons. While that is drying, you can use a toothbrush and some 409 to clean the keypad and the plastic case. You may find that built up dirt and oil were the only problem.

If, however, cleaning the insides does not restore you remote to its proper function, you will need to buy a key-pad repair kit. At around $23, it is a gamble, but if you really need this particular remote to work, it may be a price you’re willing to pay.

Once you have your kit, you can use the conductive paint that comes with it to, hopefully, resolve the problem. Use the little paper match, also from the kit, to apply the conductive paint to the back of all the keypad contacts, which you had cleaned with alcohol previously. Don’t apply the conductive paint if the contacts are not completely clean.

Let the conductive paint dry, leaving the parts in a clean, dry, safe place overnight. After 24 hours, you can refer to the picture you took and piece the remote back together again. If you’ve done the job right, you should have a fully restored remote control.