How to Fix a Hard Drive in My DVR

1. Move the DVR to an open air location. You don't want it enclosed in a tight entertainment center where there is no air circulation. This can cause the DVR to overheat and possibly damage the interior of the system.
2. Wipe off the air vent at the rear of the DVR. This ensures air is able to flow into the DVR and cool the moving parts, including the hard drive.
3. Spray compressed air into the vent. This blows off any dust built up on the hard drive, which may prevent the drive from reading all the stored data accurately.
4. Power down the DVR, disconnect the power cable from the electrical outlet, leave it off for a few minutes, then turn it back on (reconnect it to an electrical outlet). This performs a hard reset and corrects any issue that occurred when turning on the DVR the previous time.
5. Perform a factory reset. This should only be used if the hard reset didn't correct anything. A factory reset is going to remove all programming from the DVR, but it also corrects any issues with the hard drive. The exact factory reset method is going to vary from DVR to DVR, so check your user manual in the 'Troubleshooting' section to determine what exactly is causing the problem.