I replaced the hard disk drive in my old SKY+ box a few years ago with a new Maxtor 160gb (Diamond Max 10) drive which has worked faultlessly until last week.
I have now been experiencing a problem were the SKY planner is not accessible – just says please wait, and it can no longer record. A power off/on fixes the problem but within an hour it goes again. Initially I thought it was a hard disk failure so of I went a replaced the hard disk. To my horror while waiting for the disk to format I read these articles:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/24/sky_plus_bug/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/25/sky_plus_software/
In summary a new software update from SKY has caused this problem on older SKY+ boxes that have had the hard drives replaced – naughty, naughty.
My SKY+ box is a PACE 6.2.03, O/S 1.31B07, EPG 5.04.e.
I will monitor the situation over the next few days with the new hard disk and post any updates here.
UPDATE (1)
The new disk also had the same problem.
It appears the problem occurs when the hard disk goes to sleep (power save). This can be prevented by disabling the Auto Standby Option and making sure the Rewind option in SKY+ settings is enabled.
I have made these changes and all seems ok for now.
SKY need to fix this problem ASAP – a simple rollback of the software update would be great!
UPDATE (2)
SKY have rolled the software update back – SKY+ box is now reading EPG 5.04.d.
This has fixed the problem, I have put the original hard disk back in and all is ok again.
Now just have to see if PC World will refund the new hard drive 
TIPS
Special menu to rebuild planner etc:
(Remote press – Services 4 0 1 Select)
To force software update:
(hold backup button while powering on mains supply to SKY+ box)
To force reset and planner reset (i.e. format of disk):
(hold left and right buttons while powering on mains supply to SKY+ box)
