I'm experiencing an increasingly high failure rate when using 'Fast Dubbing' option (although dubbing is almost invariably successful when re-attempting with same disk at slow speed). The problem then is that dubbing ties recorder up completely for entire duration of title being dubbed. I'm using top brand name DVD-R's and have found that using 8x (instead of 16x which is now standard) or DVD-RW's results in a very low failure rate for fast dubbing but unit cost per disk is much higher given that almost all special offers are confined to 16x disks.

As well as the above the DVD drive has recently started making clonking sounds when seeking sections of a track or when finalising disks. In view of these problems I suspect I'll need to replace the drive shortly. Nearest Sony repair agent is 70 miles away (none in Aberdeen with 250k population!) and I suspect I'd have to make 2 round trips and job would be expensive given that PVR is 2 years old.

Has anyone replaced the drive themselves or know if it's possible to source and fit a suitable drive reasonably easily? I've replaced DVD drives on PC's many times but am unsure what's involved on 710's, for example would a 3rd party (OEM) drive suffice or does it need to be a Sony brand?

Someone who posts here has replaced the drive. I don't have time to search for the messages at the moment, but I expect that they will be somewhere in the main 710 locking up thread.

If I recall correctly, the replacement drive he used was not identical, but it was 160Gb. He did think that it would be possible to use a larger replacement unit.

That is all very well but the OP wanted to replace the DVD burner drive in his 710, not the hard disk. For the record the thread where someone replaced his hard disk is here.

Oops. Too much of a rush and didn't read the post properly!