how to make copy of hard drive from HD recorder?

Hi folks. :D

A mate of mine took the drive out of his HD recorder(sits on top of his TV) and plugged it into this computer, but he can't copy the movies from the drive to his computer.

I am going out to his place tomorrow to have a look. Before I do that, I'd thought I'd ask here to see if it is even possible?

He's not very computer literate, so he can't tell me if Windows can even see that a new drive is connected to the computer. I don't think the HD recorder uses Windows XP, so therefore his computer wouldn't be able to recognise the drive, right?

Thanks in advance! :D

EDIT: I think the HD recorder may also known as a digital setop box recorder.

We tend to call them Digital Video Recorders(DVR). Usually the file format is .MPEG, but more and more often, companies (such as Dish Network and DirectTV) are encrypting their hard drives so you can't just pull them out and get the files.

You should be able to get the computer to recognize the HD pretty easily(especially if you have an external enclosure you could stick it in). If the files are in some wonky format, or are encrypted, just hop on google and search for your DVR type.