Does the USB on the 622 provide power for an external drive, or do I need one that plugs in?

[judyintexas]

Thanks to advice from Mark L and kwindrem, I am motivated to buy an external drive to back up the recordings I have not gotten to watch yet on the 622.

Some of the recommended drives work from power supplied by the USB and do not have a connector to an electrical outlet. Should I get one that does connect to an electrical outlet? The instructions on the Dish instructions supplied by Mark L describe a drive that does plug in to both, but is that necessary or just the example they used?

 

[Bobby]

The only 'supported' drives are those that are self powered, either with a power block or powered hub. There are those folks that will tell you that it isn't necessary but if one of those usb powered ones fail Dish will not support it.

 

[DWS44]

Also remember that you need one that is 2TB or smaller in capacity. Similar to what Bobby said about the power requirements, some have gotten larger capacity drives to work, but they are hit or miss, and also unsupported.