Best EHD For the Hopper 3

Hunter Mackenzie

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Jun 23, 2006
81
2
Hi,
I would like to know what make and model of EHD is the best to use with the Hopper 3? Is 2TB still the limit?
 
When I get motivated enough, I'm going to try out an SSD. I have a spare 500g laying around to play with.
My thinking is that how often does one access the EHD? Yet it keeps on spinning (unless you have one of those that spin down until accessed). An SSD for a EHD would sit idle until accessed, so not much in the wear and tear area, and they're certainly cheap enough these days.
 
DO NOT use an SSD. The drive is written to a lot, and SSDs have a limited number of write cycles, especially compared to HDDs. You will not see a speed increase. Really nothing to be gained.

IMHO.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
 
DO NOT use an SSD. The drive is written to a lot, and SSDs have a limited number of write cycles, especially compared to HDDs. You will not see a speed increase. Really nothing to be gained.

IMHO.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
I have heard that before, but I have my main PC with two SSD's in a RAID 1 configuration that has been running for over 6 years without incident. This PC in on most of the day, every day. I don't expect any speed increase because of the USB speed limitation. Call it an experiment.
 
Unless Dish has implemented a way to detect it, an SSD should work fine on initial connection. The skeptics aren't worried about reliability but more the limited number of writes that an SSD will support compared to spinning rust.

Some bring up how the Hopper3 is continually writing to disk as a buffer to allow pause and REW but as an external drive that should not be a concern.

In the Hopper3 application the only benefits of an SSD are potential noise reduction and potential energy savings as the USB3 connection is more of a data throughput issue than the drives.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Frank Jr.
Nice article, but it ignores the number of write cycles and the inherent difference between databank and video recording uses.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
If he is only using the SSD as an external hard drive on a Hopper3 to archive shows, it is only being accessed when transferring a show or watching a transferred show.
But if you are using a SSD with a Dish Wally to make it into a DVR, you will eventually have problems because the drive is constantly being accessed to allow buffering.
I have 3 Western Digital external drives connected to my 2 Hopper3 receivers. One is a Raid. They are not constantly spinning. They start spinning when you access a show located on the external drive.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
 
If he is only using the SSD as an external hard drive on a Hopper3 to archive shows, it is only being accessed when transferring a show or watching a transferred show.
But if you are using a SSD with a Dish Wally to make it into a DVR, you will eventually have problems because the drive is constantly being accessed to allow buffering.
I have 3 Western Digital external drives connected to my 2 Hopper3 receivers. One is a Raid. They are not constantly spinning. They start spinning when you access a show located on the external drive.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
Exactly. Currently I have 3 EHD's connected to my HWS via a USB hub. They're all normally turned off, I only turn on one or more of them when I want to access/archive something. Using these HD's in this manner should allow for a very long lifespan. I suppose I only want to use an SSD just to see it work, and I have an unused port on my hub. And after this, I may look into a RAID configuration. I assume your RAID setup for your H3 uses an external enclosure. Could you tell me which enclosure you're using? Thanks.
 
I have the 4 terabyte Western Digital My Book Duo set up as a Raid 1. Thus it acts as a 2 Terabyte drive with protection. It is filled with a lot of archived programs that I do not want to lose.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
 
DO NOT use an SSD. The drive is written to a lot, and SSDs have a limited number of write cycles, especially compared to HDDs. You will not see a speed increase. Really nothing to be gained.

IMHO.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

Aren’t SSD’s a descendant of CMOS? If they are then yes limited on how many times to make a 1 a zero and a zero a one non power dependent. Hard to say what advances in quality can make. My first spinny drive was 85 mb. Died in like 18 months.
 
Aren’t SSD’s a descendant of CMOS? If they are then yes limited on how many times to make a 1 a zero and a zero a one non power dependent. Hard to say what advances in quality can make. My first spinny drive was 85 mb. Died in like 18 months.

Pre windows 95
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 3)