External Hard Drive Archive Bug Thread

keenan

SatelliteGuys Pro
Feb 3, 2004
355
34
Santa Rosa CA
What if one did not change the settings before formatting on the 622?

You mean left the default firmware settings? That's causing the problems now from what I'm reading.

Maybe you're misunderstanding, the firmware settings, things like controlling noise, spin-down, cache managment, etc are set in the HDD firmware chip. It's part of the electronics you see on the HDD itself. Those settings are independent of whatever file system you eventualy put on the drive.

Since the firmware adjustment software, Seatools, etc. seem to be universally run in a Windows or Linux environment you'll need to attach the drive to one of those types of systems.

Also, IIRC, these FW tools need to be run at drive boot-time and I'm not sure you can get some of these external USB models to be recognized at boot for the software tool to access them.
 

redman042

SatelliteGuys Guru
Dec 1, 2005
138
7
Folsom, California (95630)
Personally I'd like to keep the Spin Down feature enabled on my FreeAgent drive if possible. I see no need for the drive to run 24/7 when I will only be accessing it periodically. I think I'll hold off on tweaking the firmware until we see what Dish's reaction to this issue is. Hopefully they will just tweak their software to recognize spin-down and give the drive time to spool back up when it is called.
 

keenan

SatelliteGuys Pro
Feb 3, 2004
355
34
Santa Rosa CA
Personally I'd like to keep the Spin Down feature enabled on my FreeAgent drive if possible. I see no need for the drive to run 24/7 when I will only be accessing it periodically. I think I'll hold off on tweaking the firmware until we see what Dish's reaction to this issue is. Hopefully they will just tweak their software to recognize spin-down and give the drive time to spool back up when it is called.

You have a point about periodic access, but in a AV-DVR environment these drives are expected to run 24/7, that's why many models feature reduced noise, reduced power use, etc.

It makes sense that an external drive may already have the acoustic management set to low noise, but the spin down also would be logical as they are normally used for back-up, not as a 24/7 connected/running device.
 

8bitbytes

SatelliteGuys Pro
Sep 8, 2003
3,239
0
NoVA
Well the Western Digital MyBooks don't even give you the option to disable the spindown so something will have to happen eventually. Either Dish will add some code or they will tell you to turn off your ESD when not using it.

Also remember, the spin down issue is just my hypothesis at this time. As Dr. Smith (Smith, P.) is want to remind me, facts are more reliable friends to have. Let's see what happens when some Seagate users tweak their sleep settings.
 
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8bitbytes

SatelliteGuys Pro
Sep 8, 2003
3,239
0
NoVA
You have a point about periodic access, but in a AV-DVR environment these drives are expected to run 24/7, that's why many models feature reduced noise, reduced power use, etc.

It makes sense that an external drive may already have the acoustic management set to low noise, but the spin down also would be logical as they are normally used for back-up, not as a 24/7 connected/running device.


MyBook and FreeAgent drives are NOT AV/DVR drives. The manufacturers put the idle settings in to give the drives a rest and keep the heat down.

I specifically bought an AV/DVR drive so I could leave it on 24/7.
 

KAB

SatelliteGuys Master
Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Sep 20, 2005
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Fishers, IN
I specifically bought an AV/DVR drive so I could leave it on 24/7.
Just as FYI, my WD/Eagle unit works perfect. Heat is barely noticible when idle, just a little more when working and not a sound. Tried yours yet?
 

8bitbytes

SatelliteGuys Pro
Sep 8, 2003
3,239
0
NoVA
Just as FYI, my WD/Eagle unit works perfect. Heat is barely noticible when idle, just a little more when working and not a sound. Tried yours yet?

The one I ordered got hijacked by my son and when I went to order another one, they were backordered for the model I wanted so I didn't order it. Depending on what you think after you have beat on yours for awhile I may still go get one as the Seagate 35.3 drive I did get is filling up!
 

keenan

SatelliteGuys Pro
Feb 3, 2004
355
34
Santa Rosa CA
MyBook and FreeAgent drives are NOT AV/DVR drives. The manufacturers put the idle settings in to give the drives a rest and keep the heat down.

I specifically bought an AV/DVR drive so I could leave it on 24/7.

That's what I was saying, maybe not very clearly. :D

The drives in these external USB housings are typical not set for DVR-24/7 use.
 

keenan

SatelliteGuys Pro
Feb 3, 2004
355
34
Santa Rosa CA
Well the Western Digital MyBooks don's even give you the option to disable the spindown so something will have to happen eventually. Either Dish will add some code or they will tell you to turn off your ESD when not using it.

Also remember, the spin down issue is just my hypothesis at this time. As Dr. Smith (Smith, P.) is want to remind me, facts are more reliable friends to have. Let's see what happens when some Seagate users tweak their sleep settings.

True :)
 

rthomp03

Pub Member / Supporter
Lifetime Supporter
Jul 9, 2004
408
2
St. Peters, MO
I wouldn't think there would be a need to protect it if u can't record live TV. If there is not enough space on your archive it seems it would just not let you move it rather than writing over it. Just my humble opinion.

I want to be able to lock a recording to prevent the kids from deleting it by accident.
 

primetimeguy

SatelliteGuys Pro
Oct 4, 2006
1,003
39
St. Paul, MN
I came home today and tired the USB drive and the 622 just froze. After a bit the drive came up showing no programs. Needed to cycle power on the drive and then all was well. I didn't have any problems using it yesterday but I never let it sit dormant for more than a few minutes so I think this points to the spin down/wake-up issue. This is 500gb SG FreaaAgent
 
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adidadi

SatelliteGuys Family
Jan 3, 2005
62
0
New problems:
1) when playing from external hard drive, if I press stop once or even twice; it will not back out into the menu where it says start over, resume, etc...It just pauses as if frozen. The only thing I can do is fast forward 300 times until the end, then it pops back out into the previous menu.
2) when I delete something, it says "Are you sure you want to delete" I choose yes and it proceeds as if deleting, but when it goes back to the menu, the item is still there and can be played again.
 

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