What to Do When a DVR Is Full

When a DVR's hard disk space becomes full, old recordings saved to the DVR must be erased to make room for new recordings. Many DVRs come equipped with a setting feature that allows you to program the DVR to automatically delete the oldest program saved to the DVR when recording space maxes out during an active recording. With the Comcast DVR user interface, for example, this feature is called "Auto-Erase." If the auto erase feature is not turned on and the DVR reaches its maximum storage capacity during a recording, only part of the program is recorded.

To ensure that you always have enough space to record a new video, you can either activate the DVR's auto-erase feature, or you can manually check how much recording space is used from time to time. Then selectively delete a recording saved to the DVR when the need arises to free up storage space.

Once a recording has been erased from the DVR's hard disk, it cannot be recovered. This is a problem if there is a recording stored in the DVR that you would like to permanently save. The solution to this problem is to offload the favored DVR recordings to another medium, such as a VHS tape, DVD or computer. To offload a DVR recording to a VHS tape or DVD, connect the DVR and TV set to a VCR or DVD recorder. Use the VCR or DVD recorder to dub video from the DVR. Be advised, however, that if the DVR recording you are attempting to transfer to DVD is copy-protected to prevent any transfer to another digital medium, the DVD recorder will flash an error message indicating that the program cannot be recorded. To offload a DVR to your computer, you can use a device known as a "video capture card" to send the audio and video signal from the DVR to the computer. A video capture program, such as Windows Live Movie Maker, can then be used to dub the video playing from the DVR into the computer. Once the video you would like to preserve has been offloaded to another medium, you can delete it from the DVR to free up storage space.

To expand your DVR's capacity, many DVRs come with a feature that allows you to connect an external hard drive to the DVR. With an external hard drive connected to the DVR, recordings saved to a DVR's internal hard disc can be transferred to the external drive to free up space on the internal hard disk. Bear in mind, however, that external hard drives have a limited storage space as well. Videos transferred to the external drive can always be transferred back to the DVR's internal hard disk, or they can simply be erased.