Hooking up External Hard Drive to VIP211

[Mark A Sparks]

So I just picked up the Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive - Energy Star Compliant that was recommended under the Hard Drive Bargain Watch thread.

Here is the drive:

Walmart.com: Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential USB 2.0 Hard Drive - Energy Star Compliant: Computers


I want to make sure I hook this drive up correctly so I need to know if this is the correct way to do it?

1. Plug the power cord in and into the drive.
2. Plug the usb cable from the drive to the VIP211 receiver.
3. Let the receiver format the drive.
4. Contact DISH online chat to activate DVR service for a one-time fee of $39.99.

Please let me know it these are the correct steps to take.

Thank You,

 

[KAB]

So I just picked up the Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive - Energy Star Compliant that was recommended under the Hard Drive Bargain Watch thread.

Here is the drive:

Walmart.com: Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential USB 2.0 Hard Drive - Energy Star Compliant: Computers


I want to make sure I hook this drive up correctly so I need to know if this is the correct way to do it?

1. Plug the power cord in and into the drive.
2. Plug the usb cable from the drive to the VIP211 receiver.
3. Let the receiver format the drive.
4. Contact DISH online chat to activate DVR service for a one-time fee of $39.99.

Please let me know it these are the correct steps to take.

Thank You,

Make #4 #1.

 

[chikagobnd]

Make #4 #1.

I wouldn't make #4, #1. Definitely hook up the EHD like the steps you lined out. The only thing different is you want to call Dish when the message comes up on your TV to call them. It will not format the drive until they activate it.

 

[chikagobnd]

Also, keep in mind, it may take a few phone calls and "hits" sent to your receiver to get this activated. For whatever reason, sometimes it takes a couple tries for the receiver to finally recognize and format the EHD. I just activated an EHD a few weeks ago and had no problems...but, it has been known to happen.

 

[gjh3260]

Also check your DISH bill in a few days. You may get charged for each "hit" if it takes more than one. When I hooked up my EHD it took 4 hits and I was charged 4 times of 39.99 each. I called Dish and they credited me back 3 times.

 

[curlysir]

I would connect the drive 1st and make sure it is recognized by the receiver. I had no problems getting activated. I had my EHD connected when I made the call and before I got off the phone I got the message about the service being activated and it reformatted and reset the receiver.

I used a enclosure I had and a spare hard drive just to see if it would work and no problems. I plan to change over to a less noisy hard drive and a little better enclosure since I have found that you really need to leave it own 24/7.

 

[chikagobnd]

Also check your DISH bill in a few days. You may get charged for each "hit" if it takes more than one. When I hooked up my EHD it took 4 hits and I was charged 4 times of 39.99 each. I called Dish and they credited me back 3 times.

Very good point! Had that happen to me when they first started this service...got charged twice. As the poster said though, call Dish and they'll get you squared away.

 

[Mark A Sparks]

Thanks To All Of You

I want to thank everyone that responded to this thread and helped me through this installatioin.

Could not have been easier,

I did this:

1. Plugged the External Hard Drive Up.
2. Plugged the USB cable from the drive to the VIP211 receiver.
3. Got the message on the screen that the receiver had detected an external USB device and a number to call.
4. Contacted DISH online chat to activate the DVR service, the CSR via chat stated:

Once we add the code to your account, it will begin to work within 30 minutes. All content on the hard drive will be erased.
You will be billed the one time fee on the next statement.
Let me get the code added for you.
We have turned on that feature.
You will see a message that the hard drive will be reformatted within 30 minutes, possible sooner.

While I was still in the chat session the hard drive formatted and the receiver downloaded a new program guide.

It is working as far as I can tell, how simple was that?

I am sure I will have some questions as to how all the DVR features work, another thread for that.

I plan to change over to a less noisy hard drive and a little better enclosure since I have found that you really need to leave it own 24/7.

A question about what curlysir said? Isn't it normal to leave the hard drive on 24/7?


Thanks,

 

[chikagobnd]

I want to thank everyone that responded to this thread and helped me through this installatioin.

Could not have been easier,

I did this:

1. Plugged the External Hard Drive Up.
2. Plugged the USB cable from the drive to the VIP211 receiver.
3. Got the message on the screen that the receiver had detected an external USB device and a number to call.
4. Contacted DISH online chat to activate the DVR service, the CSR via chat stated:

Once we add the code to your account, it will begin to work within 30 minutes. All content on the hard drive will be erased.
You will be billed the one time fee on the next statement.
Let me get the code added for you.
We have turned on that feature.
You will see a message that the hard drive will be reformatted within 30 minutes, possible sooner.

While I was still in the chat session the hard drive formatted and the receiver downloaded a new program guide.

It is working as far as I can tell, how simple was that?

I am sure I will have some questions as to how all the DVR features work, another thread for that.



A question about what curlysir said? Isn't it normal to leave the hard drive on 24/7?


Thanks,

Yes, you'll need to leave the hard drive on 24/7...some EHD's(dont know about yours in particular) have a sleep function that will rest the EHD when it isn't being used. Glad you got hooked up!

 

[Jim5506]

No problem with sleep on 211/211k because the OS is constantly buffering data to the drive, no time to sleep if you're always busy.

 

[FloridaRick]

Also check your DISH bill in a few days. You may get charged for each "hit" if it takes more than one. When I hooked up my EHD it took 4 hits and I was charged 4 times of 39.99 each. I called Dish and they credited me back 3 times.

???
That lead to a question: Does Dish charge the "one-time activation fee" just to activate the USB port for an external HD, or, as implied here, does Dish charge the "one-time activation fee" for the drive? In other words, if you have two drives you are using, did you have to pay $39.99 twice?

 

[Tony S]

???
In other words, if you have two drives you are using, did you have to pay $39.99 twice?

No. It is $39.99 per account, so you only have to pay one fee no matter how many drives you have.

 

[nospam]

So I just picked up the Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive - Energy Star Compliant that was recommended under the Hard Drive Bargain Watch thread.

Here is the drive:

Walmart.com: Western Digital 1TB My Book Essential USB 2.0 Hard Drive - Energy Star Compliant: Computers

1TB - could be a problem, Dish says 750GB max.

 

[old corps]

1TB - could be a problem, Dish says 750GB max.

NO problem. I have the same 1TB WD drive that the link shows from Wally World and it's fine. I was concerned as well until I found ANOTHER posting on Dish's site saying up to 1TB.

Ed

 

[Mark A Sparks]

1TB - could be a problem, Dish says 750GB max.

The DISH CSR told me during the chat session that it had to be between 50 GB and a maximum 750 GB drive so I was a little concerned when he told me that, but I went ahead and let the receiver format the drive and it is working just fine.

 

[MikeInAlaska]

Dish CSR told me that 1TB was maximum. On the flip side, he also told me a person would need to physically visit my location to activate this feature.

 

[Mark A Sparks]

Now to keep a look out for some more good deals on 1TB drives, I am curious; have seen mentioned in other threads about heat being an issue.
Does anyone have a 1TB EHD that has a fan built in?

 

[KAB]

Now to keep a look out for some more good deals on 1TB drives, I am curious; have seen mentioned in other threads about heat being an issue.
Does anyone have a 1TB EHD that has a fan built in?

Have not seen many heat problem reports in a while. About the only way to have a fan is to buy an internal HD and enclosure with fan.