one more question, i see that best buy carries a external hard drive specifically for DVRs. here's the link
Western Digital - My DVR Expander 500GB External Hard Drive - WDG1S5000VN
does anyone reading this thread know anything about this ? would this be better than what i have? this is the one i got:
Western Digital - My Book Essential Edition 750GB External Hard Drive - WDH1U7500N
The DVR Expander to which you're referring has an
eSATA interface (
not USB). The model that's
allegedly specifically for DISH Network DVR's is WD
H1S5000N, which is apparently missing from Best Buy's website inventory. Here's the comparison on WD's site:
My DVR Expander Overview
That said, I doubt there's much difference between the EHD you have and the one that's "certified" for DISH Network DVR's. I would imagine the "DVR Expander" moniker is just a marketing ploy. However, should you actually have a problem with the EHD, DISH may feel more inclined to just tell you that it's unsupported whereas if you had the DISH certified one, you may have more grounds for appeal. Given the history of CSR's, though, this would likely be a laborious, prolonged process, that you'd probably give-up up on anyway.
Bottom line, if I'd already purchased a WD 500 GB EHD that wasn't labeled a DVR Expander, I certainly wouldn't return it just to pick up the DISH certified DVR Expander. But if I hadn't made the purchase yet, and I had the option of picking up either one, then I'd obviously get the DVR Expander (price being equal).
I have a WD MyBook Essential 750 GB. After a few months of use, programs started to become corrupt on the drive and I was unable to access them. I moved off the few that were still accessible and then, using Windows, reformatted the drive, then reconnected to my ViP receiver and reformatted it and have since had no problems, although I don't really trust it. As I said earlier, I don't put anything on the EHD that would be somewhat disruptive if I lost it. (So don't put story arc's that I want to see later). I just use it to put HD movies on it that I haven't seen before and have an interest in seeing in the future. Or I put HD movies on it that I like to re-watch but could probably find easily again should the drive fail.
My problem with corrupt files on the EHD was several DISH software versions ago. It may have been fixed by now. Of course the problem could have been with the EHD itself, but I'll never know. Prior to my initial problem, I used to put things on the drive, delete from the drive, and move things back and forth. Concerned that moving files around on the drive with abandon could have caused the corruption, I now use more discretion and try not to do a lot of that.