I can only guess form that what were posted...

I was just agreeing with you, its not logical, and another days of searching still turned up no results yet. Well if I find any awnsers ill post them here.

HI, This in reply to gthvdr question

Don't know if you have solved your problem but I think I may be able to help. First if the hard drive has linux partion on it you won't be able to format the hard drive by simply attaching it to your computer and then trying to format it from windows.

What you have to do is delete the linux partion first and then create a
DOS partion once you have done that you will be able to format it from within windows

To delete the linux partion you must have a windows microsoft startup disk and boot up off of it and then run the FDISK untility. One of the options in FDISK is to delete a non-DOS partion. After have delete the linux partion you will then select the option to create a DOS partion. Once you have created the DOS partion you can remove the startup disk and reboot your computer. Windows will now see the drive because it has a DOS partion and you can format it.

Hard drive wont spin up when I take it out of DVR

Just a suggestion. Try to unplug all of your SATA drives. Plug in the DVR drive and see if it spins up. Sometimes you really have to listen because they can be quiet. If it spins up, download a live CD of Linux. Boot up with the CD. You can get to the disk partitioning utility from there.

I have been trying the same thing. I have the same issue. The hard drive is a seagate, db35.3, it works fine in the DVR, but will not spin when connected to the computer, or in an external enclosure. It will spin up and work fine in XP if you use the power from the DVR and hook the data cable to the PC. You can do whatever you want with it. I even formatted the entire drive. BUT, if you try to use the power from the pc, or use it in an external enclosure, the drive will not spin. When you plug the enclosure into a pc, or a another dish dvr usb, it is recognized, but it wont do anything, becuase the drive isnt spinning.

It has to be some type of voltage difference, but why would Dish change the hard drive before installing it, or does seagate change them before supplying them to Dish?? Seems odd. I want to use this as an external drive, but I dont want to have to lug around a dish reciever to power the thing up. Plus, cant plug the power in to the external case, it directly mounts the drive to the circuit board.

Crazy.

I just traded in my HD dish receiver for the 625. The lady on the phone promised me that all my movies and video that I had on my external hard drive would work on my 625. of coarse that was a lie.
The only way it will work is if you have another HD receiver hooked up to the same system.
So I have a brand new external 500gb hard drive with all my shows on it and my computer will not even recognize that it is there. I can't even reformat it and use the hard drive for anything else.
Has anyone figured out what to do, to get these videos off and return the hard drive to a normal functioning hard drive?

Has anyone figured out how to get an old Dish dvr drive to spin up in a PC?