dvmre16ezt slave drive replacement

The slave harddrive on my kalatel dvr has decided to go on strike and stop spinning. The originals drives are Maxtor Diamondmax 16, 160gb, 5400 rpm, 2 mg cache. Because of their age, these are difficult to find.

Will any 160gb, 5400 rpm ide drive suffice as a replacement ?

The master is still working, so I haven't loss functionality, only capacity...

Its a power requirement, which is why you cant use 7200rpm drives (without a power upgrade kit). Once the other brands draw the same power it should be okay.

I did manage to find those drives before, cant remember where though, but it was online.

I assume from your post that it was/is a twin-drive unit. If the slave drive has failed, I would be pretty surprised if the master wasn't far behind it. The DVMRE's tended to use both drives fairly evenly.

You are correct that finding a Maxtor 5400rpm Diamond Max is not likely to be easy.

Rory has already mentioned the power upgrade kit that was fitted to later model DVMRE's when they cut across to 7200rpm drives.

NOTE: The following is only applicable if the unit is out of warranty or you are not worried about retaining the factory warranty. If the unit is still under warranty I recommend you contact the manufacturer.

You may be able to get away with a single 7200 rpm drive instead of the twin drives. This could be a single Maxtor 300GB 7200 rpm or a Western Digital drive. In fact the later model DVMRE CTII's were (I believe) fitted with Western Digital drives...

I have seen someone try installing twin Hitachi drives in a DVMRE and the unit did not like it. Not sure about Seagate.

So I suggest you stick to either Maxtor or Western Digital.

Don't forget to archive any video footage off the master drive before you pull it out.

The unit is not under warranty as it is about four or five years old and purchased on eBay.

A single 300 or 320 gig hard drive does sound appealing and I might be able to copy the data from the master before it too gives up the ghost.

I tried contacting GE Kalatel for technical support to see if they might suggest some compatible drives, but because I am not a dealer or distributor, only a lowly "end user", they were unwilling to offer help.

Thanks for your helpful suggestions !!

regarding the search for 5400 rpm hardrives. they can be found on the internet as i purchased 8 of them for my dvse storage unit. i believe any pair of drives must match to work in your ge dvr. also maxtor is the best bet. the drives i found were refurbished but work fine. be sure and properly configure the master slave issue. they were 160gb hdd's