HR24 and External Drives

[darrencp22]

I'm looking to get the opinion of anyone who has an HR24 with an external drive.

My question is, does the additon of the drive slow performance in any way? I already have a 1TB drive for my HR21 and want to make the judgement if I should use it on the HR24. If it slows down performance of this box (which I understand is good) then I wont use it.

Thanks everyone for the input.

 

[Jimbo]

I'm looking to get the opinion of anyone who has an HR24 with an external drive.

My question is, does the additon of the drive slow performance in any way? I already have a 1TB drive for my HR21 and want to make the judgement if I should use it on the HR24. If it slows down performance of this box (which I understand is good) then I wont use it.

Thanks everyone for the input.

I haven't seen a lag on my HR24 using an EHD.
Working just as fast as without it. :up

 

[pro96]

Been using a 2TB since day one on my 24, flawless.
Accesses recording files FAST, deletes FAST, forwards/rewinds FAST

nuff said

 

[cfb]

My experience has been that it depends on how full the drive is, not how large it is.

When my 1tb drive drops below 50% free, I see a definite slowdown in remote control and menu response time. When it drops below 25%, it gets observably slower.

It may also have something to do with the number of recordings. Much of the stuff we record is 30 minutes and almost all of the rest is 1 hour. We have hundreds of shows per dvr.

Both HR20-100's perform about the same in this regard. The HR24 might be less susceptible to this because its got a faster cpu and a more modern disk drive controller.

So it'd be interesting to see the response time on a 24 with a drive full of small recordings, see if its better than the 20's.

 

[Jimbo]

My experience has been that it depends on how full the drive is, not how large it is.

When my 1tb drive drops below 50% free, I see a definite slowdown in remote control and menu response time. When it drops below 25%, it gets observably slower.

It may also have something to do with the number of recordings. Much of the stuff we record is 30 minutes and almost all of the rest is 1 hour. We have hundreds of shows per dvr.

Both HR20-100's perform about the same in this regard. The HR24 might be less susceptible to this because its got a faster cpu and a more modern disk drive controller.

So it'd be interesting to see the response time on a 24 with a drive full of small recordings, see if its better than the 20's.

I think this goes for the regular HD in the recvrs as well, not just the EHD's, only difference is mine pretty much doesn't slow down alot till around 15-20 % is left, on the HR20-700's

 

[cfb]

Do you record lots of short programs or mostly sports and movies that run 2-3+ hours? Maybe thats it.

You're right also, it makes no difference whether its internal or external, and it shouldnt. I have my 1tb and 1.5tb drives inside of the hr20's.

 

[Jimbo]

Do you record lots of short programs or mostly sports and movies that run 2-3+ hours? Maybe thats it.

You're right also, it makes no difference whether its internal or external, and it shouldnt. I have my 1tb and 1.5tb drives inside of the hr20's.

If your talking to me....
I record mostly hour long shows from CBS as well as wherever House is (Fox)

 

[cfb]

Hmm, that tells me its volume of recordings and not the number of recordings.

I figure theres a reason why directv doesnt sell a model of their receiver with a 1tb drive built in. I know tivo sells a lot of their 1tb dvr's.

 

[Jimbo]

When I am recording the OTA stuff it's being recorded OTA so it's still MPEG2.

 

[darrencp22]

Where i'm going with this is that it's been documented that hooking up an EHD to an older HR DVR impacted performance (regardless of # of recordings). I wanted to know if this was the case for the HR24.

On a second question... Anyone use an AM21 with the HR24? I'm curious what impact that has had.

 

[Jimbo]

Where i'm going with this is that it's been documented that hooking up an EHD to an older HR DVR impacted performance (regardless of # of recordings). I wanted to know if this was the case for the HR24.

On a second question... Anyone use an AM21 with the HR24? I'm curious what impact that has had.

I have had NO problems with running my EHD with the HR24, runs smoothly, no problems.
I am also using a AM21 with no known problems.

Only time I know of performance being effected is when the drive is getting over 80 % full.

Has anyone here had a HR24 long enough to fill up your EHD ?
I know I haven't, particularly seeing all my shows are done for the season now.

 

[darrencp22]

Highest I ever get is about 60%.. sounds great so far.

 

[jcrandall]

I may be in the market for a new external drive, what drives are you guys using? (or drive & enclosure)

Always better to know it works for someone before you buy it.

 

[Jimbo]

I may be in the market for a new external drive, what drives are you guys using? (or drive & enclosure)

Always better to know it works for someone before you buy it.

Seagate 1.5 TB Free Agent Extreme
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent/freeagent_xtreme/

Pro96 is using a 2 TB, but I don't remember what kind or model.

 

[darrencp22]

One last question.. Can I use the BBCs that I use with my HR21? Or do I need to order new ones?

 

[cfb]

I may be in the market for a new external drive, what drives are you guys using? (or drive & enclosure)

Always better to know it works for someone before you buy it.

Directv had a page up for a while (not sure if it still is) recommending the seagate showcase and the western digital dvr expander. I have the seagate pipeline drive thats in the showcase planted in one of my HR20's for about a year with no trouble. My dad has the WD dvr expander on his tivo for around 1.5 years with no problems.

Whatever you get, make sure its an AV/DVR style drive. Since directv and tivo use these exclusively, and directv is recommending them as an external, its likely that they make use of the DVR specific features like multiple caches and shortened read error recovery.

I know a lot of people are using non AV/DVR drives and its "just fine!", but then a lot of people complain about sluggish system performance and slow disk issues and dont seem to connect the two.

Between the seagate and the WD product, I'd sort of prefer the seagate since its actively cooled and the WD isnt. But seagate has been screwing up their disk products a lot lately and WD hasnt. That having been said, I just looked at both products and it doesnt look like seagate is even trying to sell the product and the only availability was at a ridiculous price.

So I'd recommend this:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Expander-External-WDG1S10000VN/dp/B001UHOR88"]Amazon.com: Western Digital My DVR Expander 1 TB eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive WDG1S10000VN (Black): Electronics@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31QBxcPqOML.@@AMEPARAM@@31QBxcPqOML[/ame]

 

[Jimbo]

One last question.. Can I use the BBCs that I use with my HR21? Or do I need to order new ones?

You can use the ones you have.

 

[darrencp22]

Awesome. Thanks for all the help Jimbo.

 

[Jimbo]

Awesome. Thanks for all the help Jimbo.

NP