Can I use a USB thumb drive as external storage on VIP722?

samalex

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
245
5
Waco, Texas
The hard drive in our VIP722 died last night and a tech is coming out tomorrow morning to replace it. Unfortunately I never backed-up our programs to an external drive which I'm now kicking myself since we had this DVR for like 4-5 years, but with the new one I was curious if a USB Thumb Drive would work instead of a physical hard drive. I have a couple of 16 Gig thumb drives I can use to backup a few of our must keep shows until I can get a larger drive, but would this work? Also can I swap USB drives out as needed, or does Dish have to authorize the drive each time it's connected?

Thanks --
 
Ive always heard..its gotta be a powered external drive...

I guess that makes sense. Another question along these same lines, if I have an External HD and my DVR crashes, will the External HD work with a second DVR? What about if I take the External HD to someone else's house who also has a compatible DVR, will the External HD work there, or is it setup to only work on my account?

Sorry for the questions, but given our DVR crashed I need to add something so we don't lose our stuff in the future. My wife is rather miffed that she had several programs back logged that we've lost.
 
An EHD will work on compatible receivers on the same account (so no it will not work with someone else's). If you have a 211, it will only work with other 211's and 411's. If it's on a 612, 622, 722, 722k, 922 or Hopper, these will work with each other.
 
I was curious if a USB Thumb Drive would work instead of a physical hard drive. I have a couple of 16 Gig thumb drives I can use...

The firmware is configured to assume anything smaller than 50GB is considered a repository for pictures and it won't format such a drive as an EHD. However, it has been reported that 64GB thumb drives work.

Also can I swap USB drives out as needed, or does Dish have to authorize the drive each time it's connected?

Yes, as needed. No re-authorization is required.

...if I have an External HD and my DVR crashes, will the External HD work with a second DVR?

Yes it will.

What about if I take the External HD to someone else's house who also has a compatible DVR, will the External HD work there, or is it setup to only work on my account?

It works only for receivers on the same account.
 

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