External Hard Drive Question

[BorDizzy]

Alright folks. I have only posted on here a few times, but I have seen you all be super helpful whenever anyone has a question.

I just got a new job and I'm making a bit more scratch than I used to and I thought about finally paying the fee and hooking up an external hard drive to my ViP 622. I remember reading awhile back that different types of drives weren't working or being recognized by the receivers, is that still a problem with the recent software update? I know they have to be formatted FAT32 first, but is that it?

Is there a specific brand of hard drives I should avoid when I shop for one, or are they all going to be good? Should I save myself some time down the road and get a 1TB drive?

I know that Western Digital makes a 500GB drive that they say is certified to work with DISH receivers, but I didn't see a 1TB drive of the same model. Perhaps I'm not looking good enough, but I think that a TB drive is the way to go, that way I'm less limited on the storage options.

Alright, any help you can give me would be great.

Thanks guys

 

[8bitbytes]

Officially Dish only supports up to 750gb but search will show that some people have 1TB drives that work also. I stuck to 320gb drives and have several. Cheaper and no rash of failures like the 500's were showing early on in the Hard Disk world. Seems like the 500gb MyBooks are working pretty well.

 

[KAB]

Any 3.5 self-powered drive should work. The Seagate Free Agent dive needs to have it's sleep mode disabled. That's the problem you recall. That WD Dish certified or whatever drive is no different than any other...just a bit pricier. A lot of people have used seperate HDs and a variety of external enslosures. There are many threads on this subject you can find using Search. I would suggest one enclosure and two 500 gb HDs you can swap. If one would go bad, you won't lose everything. There is a new, handy dandy "cradle" that you just slide a HD into without taking apart an enclosure. I can not think of the name or brand. Someone here will know.

 

[guiri]

I have three different free agent 500 gig drives that I store stuff on and although it does NOT have the sleep mode disabled, all you have to do is reconnect it to get it going again. I dont' use it often so for me it's not a problem and I prefer to have it go to so sleep to save the drive from unnecessary usage/spinning.

I WAS going to get a 1TB drive to try but how certain are you guys that the drive from Seagate will work in the 722?

THanks

george

 

[Tyralak]

Does anyone know if the fee is once per account no matter how many drives, or per drive? I've been asked that by several customers and can't get a straight answer.

 

[KAB]

Does anyone know if the fee is once per account no matter how many drives, or per drive? I've been asked that by several customers and can't get a straight answer.

Once per account.

 

[Sean Mota]

Try the lacie 500GB they also will work with 622 and are cheaper.

 

[mstregamer]

Have a 750gb western digital mybook tried 2 brand new ones and both are crap! I have the vip622dvr and broke down and bought a seagate 500gb turned the sleep mode off and it works great! No flaws at all like the western digital......got my seagate hooked up to my home theatre reciever switch and so it turns off when I don't use it. But so far so good!

 

[SportsMan14]

Given my experience with Dish I cannot recommend that anyone attach an external HD to a 722 DVR. Dish makes software updates to the DVR that causes the DVR not to recognize the HD. You receive a message telling you to reformat the HD. If you plan on storing movies of programs that you want to keep having the system fail every several months is not a good option. I have never found anyone at Dish that understood how to support an external HD. I was told by a local tech that the 722 to Linux based so the HD would not be FAT32 formated.

 

[vicw]

Given my experience with Dish I cannot recommend that anyone attach an external HD to a 722 DVR. Dish makes software updates to the DVR that causes the DVR not to recognize the HD. You receive a message telling you to reformat the HD. If you plan on storing movies of programs that you want to keep having the system fail every several months is not a good option. I have never found anyone at Dish that understood how to support an external HD. I was told by a local tech that the 722 to Linux based so the HD would not be FAT32 formated.

I connected my 500gb external drive to my 722 last October, and (knock on wood) have never experienced any problem whatsoever, through a series up firmware updates on the 722. I know there's never any guarantees on data recovery on this setup, but I have a nice, large, and highly convenient HD movie library. I would recommend it to anyone who could make good use of one. It's a really inexpensive way to do it.

I do have the disk drive, the 722 and the Switch connected to an inexpensive UPS, which has provided me uninterrupted power through any number of AC losses, so that might help to explain the stable operation I have enjoyed.

 

[guiri]

Given my experience with Dish I cannot recommend that anyone attach an external HD to a 722 DVR.

So, other than going to Tivo (and I tired but did NOT like their interface) is there any other option IF I want to record and store information/shows?

Thanks

George

 

[KAB]

So, other than going to Tivo (and I tired but did NOT like their interface) is there any other option IF I want to record and store information/shows?

Thanks

George

Forget they guy you quoted. 90% of us with EHD have no problems. I've had none for a year, which is about the birthday of the service. Most of the problems are pilot error.

 

[guiri]

Thanks

George