Buying a dead HR10-250

[eric_n_dfw]

DirecTV activation concerns aside, if I were to buy an HR10-250 unit that had a bad drive, is it possible to get it working without access to another one for the disk image?

(FWIW, I currently have an HDVR2 that I've hacked up a bit so I'm pretty familiar with those.)

[mr.unnatural]

Yes. You can purchase an Instantcake image from DVRUpgrade.com. Check and make sure that the account on the HDTivo is free and clear before you buy and also that the unuit was owned and not leased. DirecTV will not reactivate leased HDTivos.