Bus-powered EHDs that work

[TheKrell]

I bought a Western Digital My Passport 500GB bus-powered disk (Walmart closout $26.83 ) model number WDBKXH5000ABK-01 that has been working for nearly a week on my 612. I moved about 20 hrs of programs onto it, played some of them back from it, and moved them back to the receiver. Zero issues.

Earlier I had cobbled together a Crucial 250GB SSD with an external case and that also worked.

 

[dfergie]

Dang, got a 2 TB today and had tunnel vision and didn't even look to see if they had any on sale here...

 

[dare2be]

Don't even see that model WDBKXH5000ABK on their site anymore. Why did you have to tease us like that??

 

[navychop]

Sure it'll work.

For how long?

The power supply seems to be spec'd very tight. Overloading it, when Dish specifically says powered EHDs only, is risky.

 

[DishSubLA]

Yes, and should the HDD go poop or can't get sufficient power at some point, such a user might complain. Hey, I can have my HDTV plugged into my outlet NOT grounded, and I can go along for quite a while--until it really matters, then it is COOKED. Hey, run your tires UNDER minimum PSI with a good brand made today, you can chug along for quite a while before it blows.

I suppose if the box is not powering too much (but that could change), one can get away with a bus powered HDD, but why spend the time and energy saving all that content with the risk of failure when Dish has been explicit about using an external powered HDD, hey, all the MSO's (cable, TiVo, DirecTV) require it as well because they can't guarantee their STB's will always be able to sufficiently power bus powered HDD's. . Using an HDD with its own power supply will provide the necessary power no matter the system configuration. I think the idea is to eliminate as much risk to allow the greatest likelihood of preserving your saved programming. To do otherwise is asking for trouble.

 

[3HaloODST]

I have a bus-powered EHD (1TB WD 2.5") that I was tempted to use but I have a few spare self-powered 3.5" drives and I like that the 2.5" is more portable so I ended up using it elsewhere. I have charged various gadgets before though such as PS3 controllers, GPS and my iPhone using the Hopper/722k USB ports, so far nothing's blown up yet . That's with Sling Adapters also attached as well...

Sent from my iPhone 4S using SatelliteGuys

 

[TheKrell]

When did you guys become so timid? Just use it on stuff that won't cause your hair to curl if you do in fact lose it. (There is no TV that's that important to me.)

I waited 6 days before posting precisely to make sure something bad wouldn't happen promptly. By contrast, my older WD3200ML crashes my 612 quite reliably right away. Frankly I would expect it to work at least until the drive ages and starts drawing more power (if that ever happens; I don't know). Will test on my 722 w/Sling Adapter and see if that receiver has problems.

It's the portability (along with yet another dang power supply) that makes this thing attractive to me for moving programs around. If Dish had ever released the HP NAS they had working with our receivers, I wouldn't need portable disks at all.

 

[TheKrell]

Will test on my 722 w/Sling Adapter and see if that receiver has problems.

27GB transferred in 1.5 hrs including initial encryption using my 722. No issues.

 

[dfergie]

I was just thinking of the drive to try with my Sony 3D camcorder for storage...

 

[TheKrell]

Still no issues using my WDBKXH5000ABK on a 722.

 

[3HaloODST]

Good to hear but I'm not sure if I would trust it as a long term solution. That being said, as I previously stated I've successfully charged a lot of things with the USB port so it might hold out.

Sent from my iPhone 4S using SatelliteGuys

 

[TheKrell]

Still working great on my 722. On sale at Newegg for $69 after promo code EMCNAJJ39: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...112-Index-_-ExternalHardDrives-_-22236191-L0E

 

[dare2be]

Meh. I remember buying 2TB EHDs for $70.

 

[TheKrell]

I imagine those were 3.5" drives with external power supply.

 

[dare2be]

Yep. WD Elements.

 

[harshness]

I imagine those were 3.5" drives with external power supply.

What a surprise -- exactly what is specified.

It is truly fascinating how many try to work the margins even though they risk losing recordings and/or the DVR itself.

 

[3HaloODST]

If this holds out for TheKrell I might buy a bus-powered drive just for transferring recordings to/from one of the Hoppers (not constant use.) Currently can't use an adapter-powered drive at one of the Hopper locations because there's so many other plugs, don't have room for one more + I'm lazy and I'd rather not have to deal with it.

Even better would be if Dish were to make it possible to transfer recordings via MoCA.

 

[TheKrell]

Probably harshness watches only those channels which never ever repeat programs at all.

 

[TheKrell]

I bought a Western Digital My Passport 500GB bus-powered disk (Walmart closout $26.83 ) model number WDBKXH5000ABK-01 that has been working for nearly a week on my 612.

Here's another model, a 1.5TB WD My Passport ($70 on Staples clearance), that works w/o issues: WDBY8L0015BBK-01.

 

[dare2be]

^ Grrrr, out of stock.

?And it shows as $80, not $70.