Best EHD for HWS?

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seenett

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Feb 17, 2012
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Eugene, Oregon, United States
I've searched the forums but can't find what I'm looking for; any advice is appreciated!

So, what IS the best/easiest/most reliable external hard drive to use with a Hopper with Sling?
DISH is sending me a shiny new HWS to replace one of my original Hoppers, and I want to transfer recorded programs from old to new. I've never used an EHD before; the DISH site suggests a Western Digital My Book AV DVR (which is suppossedly optimized for video and higher heat environments). Unfortunately these seem to be in short supply now. I need something I can pick up in the next few days at a Best Buy or Amazon Prime. DISH has broad requirements: non-USB powered (must be powered separately), have USB 2.0, and be at least 500GB. Suggestions?

CJN
 
My personal preference is for Western Digital. Get at least 1TB, 2TB is maximum supported by Dish. Make sure it has an external power supply.
 
Thanks! So any WD 2TB drive with USB will work? I'm concerned with some reviews complaining about the WD proprietary software for encryption, backup, etc. Don't need it and don't want to interfere with the Hopper. Can assume these will basically be plug and play? The Hopper will format it as needed?
 
Usually the WD Element model in the basic HDD. I have that or earlier 7 times.
I also have 3 or so cased others and 4 raw drives with a stand.
Any software will be lost on initialization. The price should be $80-$90.
Also consider Samsung, Toshiba, and Hitachi. Definitely 2TB.
I wish I had not bought Fantom (noisy), 1TB Cavalry & Buffalo (each failed but work again).
Today a stand and raw 3.5" drives saves little over a cased drive.
2.5" SATA run nearly 2x as much as 3.5". Generally not as many GB.
Ordering from Amazon or such saves taxes in many states. Watch shipping costs.
I always regret using Tiger (afterwards) with its mail-in rebates, or any such.
Newegg is reliable but may not save over Amazon. Shop using DealNews, if time.
-Ken
 
I've been through many different manufacturers drives for various purposes. Seagate used to be my go-to drive but started to have many failures. Western Digital is now my choice. I use their Black drives for more reliability and their Green drives for computer backup and for external drive for satellite.

Keep in mind that ANY drive WILL eventually fail. While not supported, hardware RAID 1 (mirroring) seems to work fine for Dish receivers. I currently using a Western Digital My Book 2-drive RAID set to Mode 1 (I forget the exact model) as an EHD for my Hopper. All data is written to both drives in Mode 1 and if one drive fails, the enclosure will reconstruct the data on a replacement drive to regain redundancy. RAID enclosures will cost roughly 2x a single drive EHD since it has two physical drives. The current model appears to be called "My Book Studio II".
 
seenett said:
Thanks! So any WD 2TB drive with USB will work? I'm concerned with some reviews complaining about the WD proprietary software for encryption, backup, etc. Don't need it and don't want to interfere with the Hopper. Can assume these will basically be plug and play? The Hopper will format it as needed?
Click to expand...

As stated, Dish receivers will reformat the drives as Linux partitions and that software will disappear.

Ditto on Black versus Green drives.

I have a hardware RAID 1 array and it works great. But the enclosure, which manages the RAID functions, wasn't cheap. And some will tell you Dish doesn't support RAID. They don't. Software based RAID, that is. A hardware based RAID solution is invisible to Dish boxes. Looks exactly like any other EHD to Dish.
 
One other issue is EHD going to sleep and not recovering. WD external drives seem to work better than others. Mine will occasionally need to be unplugged then back in to be recognized but it's no the once a day issue others have reported.
 
What makes WD Black more reliable than WD Green? I would think that the lower heat and power consumption of Green would help in their longevity.
 
Recently picked up WD My Book 2TB for Mac at BestBuy for $94.99 (sku # 7252205) It's a USB 3.0/2.0 interface.

Hooked it up to the H and it just sat there. Kind of expected it might, even though others have used it on the H.

Moved to the desktop and it saw it ok.

Download WD diag. to test before doing anything. Ran ok.

Ran Disk Management, initialized, selected new simple volume, and quick format.

Moved back to H and was recognized ok and said it need to format for Hopper. Finished the format in about 4 mins.
After about 3 wks. of use, it occasionally did not wake up from sleep mode. It has a Pwr on/off switch, but it seems to be disabled as long as the USB cable is in the H.
 
thomasjk said:
My personal preference is for Western Digital. Get at least 1TB, 2TB is maximum supported by Dish. Make sure it has an external power supply.
Click to expand...

I use WD My Books that are powered by USB and haven't had an issue with them with my Hoppers. One is USB 2.0 1TB drive and the other is a USB 3.0 2TB drive.
 

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