External hard drives

[comfortably_numb]

I am considering purchasing an EHD for my Hopper w/Sling to archive programs I want to keep indefinitely. My question is, will the EHD be compatible with new receivers in the future as they roll out, or will it only be compatible with this IRD?

Is there a way to transfer data off the EHD to my computer for viewing there? I'm just trying to come up with a way to guarantee I can view my archived programs in the future if/when they ever replace the HWS.

 

[lucky86]

There is not a way to transfer the content to a PC. EHD's have worked since the 622 and are compatible all the way up the line to the HWS so more than likely the protocol would stay the same even with new equipment coming out.

 

[Voyager6]

So far, an EHD that works on the 622, 772 and 922 receivers will work with the Hopper. I don't see why this wouldn't continue with future Dish receivers. You cannot transfer recorded programs from your EHD to your computer for viewing. The recording are encrypted.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I can provide you current requirements for an EHD. As to future changes I can only speculate on that. Content on an EHD cannot be transferred to a computer.

Yes this would be most helpful. Thanks

 

[stephenh@DISH]

It looks like a deleted my post too soon. When using an external hard drive with a ViP 612, 622, 722, 722k, 922, or Hopper(with Sling), the drive should be no smaller than 50 GB and no larger than 2 TB. The external hard drive must have its own power supply, support USB 2.0. Must not use flash memory and should only be a single-hard disk drive.

 

[harshness]

As a side note, don't chase after palm-sized external hard drives. Most of them are USB powered and that flys in the face of Hyde's "must have its own power supply".

 

[stephenh@DISH]

Something I would recommend also is try to avoid EHDs with a sleep mode, if you are going to use it a lot. In most cases the receivers don't wake them up.

 

[KKlare]

The olden day's recommendation was the plain WD drives. I have 5 750GB WDs, 1TB Cavalry, 1TB Buffalo, 2TB WD raw, 2TB Fantom, 1.5TB WD green, 2TB Samsung, and 2TB WD Elements. A total of 4 raw drives that use a stand with prices from $180 (750) to $90 (2TB). The Cavalry and Buffalo went to slow transfers but after removing slowly the contents and starting over, they now see to work well. This spans 6 years. All are full 3.5" internally. They seem to sleep and wake just fine, which was the complaint for Seagate. 7200 RPM may give a little better response time but 5400's will work with a little less heat.

I suspect the Hopper can handle a least one bus-powered drive but why chance it? The VIP series was not happy with them.

The 3 ports on Hopper can each have 4-to-1 hub or bigger, if powered. I only power what I'm using. Only 2 at once have directory and delete access but Hopper will recognize more for blind transfers. As you need to remove and restart them to verify them this doesn't help much. I bet the 2TB limit is related to memory requirements for directories. The 2TB ones are more sluggish for this and may require more refreshing.

-Ken

 

[comfortably_numb]

Thank you everyone. This information is very helpful!

 

[JeffN9]

Something I would recommend also is try to avoid EHDs with a sleep mode, if you are going to use it a lot. In most cases the receivers don't wake them up.

I have two WD drives with sleep mode that cannot be disabled. Both are connected to the Hopper using a powered hub. After about three years of dealing with "lost" EHD problems on two receivers, (922, Hopper) I have to say that it has been much more stable the last few months. My guess is that a fix was sent out with one of the software updates.

 

[KKlare]

I have had WD and other external drives (not Seagate).
That started in 10/2007 when I added a 722 to the 622.
I've never had a problem with Sleep Mode.
I have 14 drives of which 4 are raw and share a stand.
I would not disable sleep on any.
The only problem was very slow operation on 2 1TB EHDs.
Each was "cured" by emptying and reloading.
-Ken

 

[comfortably_numb]

The only thing that stinks about moving programs to EHD's is that you cannot access the archived programs remotely via Sling, from what I understand. Is that still true?

 

[lucky86]

Yes that is still how it functions. EHDs are not accessible via sling.

 

[RT-Cat]

Since this is about EHD's, does anyone use the eSATA connection on the Hopper?
.
RT.

 

[lucky86]

It's not active.

 

[ashutto20]

So if I have my ehd on one hopper...I can go upstairs and plug it into the hopper upstairs and still acess everything that was on both hoppers???

 

[thomasjk]

Yes.

 

[charlesrshell]

The only thing that stinks about moving programs to EHD's is that you cannot access the archived programs remotely via Sling, from what I understand. Is that still true?

Yes, that is true. The real Slingbox that attaches to the Hopper will access your EHD.

 

[ashutto20]

Yes, that is true. The real Slingbox that attaches to the Hopper will access your EHD.

So the sling adaptor I have will access ehd from my hopper if I try to watch from my cell phone???

 

[charlesrshell]

So the sling adaptor I have will access ehd from my hopper if I try to watch from my cell phone???

I do not know for sure but I don't think so.