HR2x / HR34 External Hard Drive FYI/Support (eSATA)
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OH,NO! HR-21 erased drive?
I've been sucessfully swapping externat drives with my HR-21 (using a StarTech dock), but today something happened. After a drive swap, the DVR booted up, but said there were no programs recorded. This happened with a 1 TB drive that was almost full. I switched back to the other eSATA drive, and it said the same thing.
Have I lost all the programs on those drives, or is there a way to get them back? (Needless to say, I'm quite upset at this point: the 1 TB drive was nearly full of programs.)
Also, anyone have any idea how it happened? I've swapped those drives many times with no mishap.
Thanks for any help!
I've been sucessfully swapping externat drives with my HR-21 (using a StarTech dock), but today something happened. After a drive swap, the DVR booted up, but said there were no programs recorded. This happened with a 1 TB drive that was almost full. I switched back to the other eSATA drive, and it said the same thing.
Have I lost all the programs on those drives, or is there a way to get them back? (Needless to say, I'm quite upset at this point: the 1 TB drive was nearly full of programs.)
Also, anyone have any idea how it happened? I've swapped those drives many times with no mishap.
Thanks for any help!
The drive hasn't actually been written over.
There's no way to recover what's on the drive under Linux?
Actually, it is regular Linux FS EXT3 with real-time extension partition.
Would you provide details for defend your incorrect statement ?
Would you provide details for defend your incorrect statement ?
I'm thinking of upgrading my hr-21 to a 1TB drive for the upcoming free preview, and just wanted to know approximately how many hours of HD does 1TB hold?
I'm going to be installing a WD "green" 1TB drive internally... anyone know if this drive is compatible in the hr-21-100?
Thanks.
I'm going to be installing a WD "green" 1TB drive internally... anyone know if this drive is compatible in the hr-21-100?
Thanks.
I was under the impression that the shows were contained in a proprietary encrypted format in an XFS partition on the drive. I believe that just the databases and system files/data are kept in the two EXT3 partitions?
Either way, I dont think you'll be recovering the files by hooking it up to a PC.
I've had a couple of cases where a goofy esata cable would show an external drive as empty, and replacing the cable with a different one made the shows visible. Once I moved the tv a couple of inches and the HR lost its recordings...as far as I can tell I might have made the esata cable jiggle a little bit. After that the cable refused to work but once I replaced it with a different one everything was fine and my shows magically reappeared.
I also had one cable that worked fine on my pc's esata, but on the HR20 it'd work fine on SD channels and recordings, but skip and stutter HD shows and channels. Weird stuff...but the cable type and quality seems to be pretty crucial.
It depends on what the recordings are. Figure 140-150 hours for heavy duty content like action movies, and perhaps as much as 225-250 hours for lower resolution animated HD content.
An interesting and perhaps contentious solution. These drives are very popular with HR upgraders but I had some issues with them. If you're using the GP-AV model of this drive I think you'll have better luck. The non AV version may not work for your usage profile or with future software releases.
The difference between the AV models and the non AV models is mostly that the AV model partitions the disks hardware cache for multiple read/write streams and the drive will give up on a bad read operation a lot quicker than a non AV drive.
For many uses in many usage models, the benefits of the AV model wont be readily apparent. Or funny little problems that never get connected back to the disk drive model will show up from time to time.
I've noted with interest that Directv and Tivo only put AV model disk drives in their boxes, that Tivo's only approved external storage solution has an AV drive in it, and that Directv's upcoming supported external drives contain AV model disks.
You know they arent paying an extra $5 a receiver for a fancier disk drive unless its necessary...or will be.
My suggestions for an internal drive are the Western Digital AV-GP line, or the Seagate Pipeline. For an external, the 1GB WD DVR Expander or the Seagate Showcase. Alternatively an Antec MX-1 with one of the mentioned internal drives.
Might cost you an extra $20-40, but that might be worth it vs having a bunch of weird problems over a 2 year period or losing a TB of recordings.
"My suggestions for an internal drive are the Western Digital AV-GP line, or the Seagate Pipeline. For an external, the 1GB WD DVR Expander or the Seagate Showcase. Alternatively an Antec MX-1 with one of the mentioned internal drives."
Thanks for the suggestion. I just swapped my dying HR21-700 HD for the Western Digital AV-GP 1TB for $97 shipped from buy.com. Easy install & works great, so far...
Thanks for the suggestion. I just swapped my dying HR21-700 HD for the Western Digital AV-GP 1TB for $97 shipped from buy.com. Easy install & works great, so far...
Good drive. Thats whats in the WD DVR Expander 1TB and the internal drive in the Tivo HD XL.
One thing I should point out with regards to the anticipated "supported" directv drives and where you put them. The operating system in the HR series 'idents' the drives, which picks up identity information from the disk drives firmware, and that and whether the drive is internal or external is logged. I imagine that logging information is sent to directv periodically or they can look at it if they wish, and I'm sure its included in 'report's sent by the user through the Misc Options menu.
Sooo...two implications are immediately evident. One is that if the log shows an internal drive that isnt one of the models that directv has put in your model receiver, they might decline to support you if you have a problem with that receiver. As far as I know, the HR series has had WD AV 300/320/500GB drives, some have had Seagate DB35's and a few early HR20's had regular non-AV WD 300/320GB drives. The second thing that might become an issue down the road is that when directv announces official esata support, if you're not using one of the drives they support and you call in with a problem, they might ask you to reproduce the problem with the internal drive or with a supported external before helping you.
The WD DVR Expander and the Seagate Showcase are expected to be the officially supported models. The drive in those is the WD AV 500GB and GP-AV 1TB and the Seagate Pipeline. While directv can see the drive ident and whether its internal or external, I dont think they can tell if the drive is in the official DVR Expander or Showcase enclosure or something like an Antec MX-1. However its possible that WD or Seagate alters the drive ident of their drives when used in their proprietary enclosures, so its not a sure thing.
I'm using a Seagate DB35 750GB and a Seagate Pipeline 1TB, both in MX-1 enclosures. So far I havent had any problems that other people havent had using the box stock internal drive.
I like the Pipeline. Its easily the quietest disk drive I've ever owned, and I've owned a hell of a lot of them. I have a WD DVR Expander (500GB) on a Tivo HD and that runs pretty quietly as well, but its a warm runner. I've heard the Showcase is a very quiet and cool running external. Next time I need an esata drive for one of my HR's, I think I'll pay the little premium and buy one of those. Hopefully they'll come up with a 1.5 or 2TB model before that happens.
One thing I should point out with regards to the anticipated "supported" directv drives and where you put them. The operating system in the HR series 'idents' the drives, which picks up identity information from the disk drives firmware, and that and whether the drive is internal or external is logged. I imagine that logging information is sent to directv periodically or they can look at it if they wish, and I'm sure its included in 'report's sent by the user through the Misc Options menu.
Sooo...two implications are immediately evident. One is that if the log shows an internal drive that isnt one of the models that directv has put in your model receiver, they might decline to support you if you have a problem with that receiver. As far as I know, the HR series has had WD AV 300/320/500GB drives, some have had Seagate DB35's and a few early HR20's had regular non-AV WD 300/320GB drives. The second thing that might become an issue down the road is that when directv announces official esata support, if you're not using one of the drives they support and you call in with a problem, they might ask you to reproduce the problem with the internal drive or with a supported external before helping you.
The WD DVR Expander and the Seagate Showcase are expected to be the officially supported models. The drive in those is the WD AV 500GB and GP-AV 1TB and the Seagate Pipeline. While directv can see the drive ident and whether its internal or external, I dont think they can tell if the drive is in the official DVR Expander or Showcase enclosure or something like an Antec MX-1. However its possible that WD or Seagate alters the drive ident of their drives when used in their proprietary enclosures, so its not a sure thing.
I'm using a Seagate DB35 750GB and a Seagate Pipeline 1TB, both in MX-1 enclosures. So far I havent had any problems that other people havent had using the box stock internal drive.
I like the Pipeline. Its easily the quietest disk drive I've ever owned, and I've owned a hell of a lot of them. I have a WD DVR Expander (500GB) on a Tivo HD and that runs pretty quietly as well, but its a warm runner. I've heard the Showcase is a very quiet and cool running external. Next time I need an esata drive for one of my HR's, I think I'll pay the little premium and buy one of those. Hopefully they'll come up with a 1.5 or 2TB model before that happens.
Ok. I've read through this entire thread and believe I have a solution that I'd like a little feedback on before I pull the trigger... I'd like to add an external 1.5tb (or 2tb?) to one of my HR20-700s.
Antec MX-1
Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB
or any other / better suggestions
Would consider a 2TB drive if there was one that I could be relatively certain would work.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
p.s. Does the MX-1 come with an esata cable or do I need to buy one separately?
Antec MX-1
Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB
or any other / better suggestions
Would consider a 2TB drive if there was one that I could be relatively certain would work.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
p.s. Does the MX-1 come with an esata cable or do I need to buy one separately?
The mx-1 does come with a cable, and its a decent one.
Only problems with the 1.5-2TB drives are that there arent any AV model versions yet. And the 2TB drives carry one hell of a price premium.
While many people are using them with HR's without problems, it may be that in the future the lack of AV firmware may restrict the use of a feature or create a problem.
The only issue I've heard people report with the 1.5-2TB drives is performance related. When the drive gets fairly full, the HR's speed may drop. From what I hear rebooting brings the performance back up to snuff for another few hours or days.
Its tea leaf reading, but the two things I've noticed is that Directv (and tivo) use only AV model drives and directv seems hesitant to put anything larger than a 500GB drive in their receivers, even though they could quite likely charge a premium for a 1TB unit.
May be happenstance. May mean something.
Only problems with the 1.5-2TB drives are that there arent any AV model versions yet. And the 2TB drives carry one hell of a price premium.
While many people are using them with HR's without problems, it may be that in the future the lack of AV firmware may restrict the use of a feature or create a problem.
The only issue I've heard people report with the 1.5-2TB drives is performance related. When the drive gets fairly full, the HR's speed may drop. From what I hear rebooting brings the performance back up to snuff for another few hours or days.
Its tea leaf reading, but the two things I've noticed is that Directv (and tivo) use only AV model drives and directv seems hesitant to put anything larger than a 500GB drive in their receivers, even though they could quite likely charge a premium for a 1TB unit.
May be happenstance. May mean something.
Been using two of the Seagate 1.5GB since January, and once they got the firmware right they work great.
The firmware problems are long fixed, no worry on a new drive today.
The firmware problems are long fixed, no worry on a new drive today.
Get eSATA enclosure w/out chips inside, or at least try eSATA cable connected directly to the WDC disk - bypass the circuit totally.
Its probably a bad esata cable. If you cant find the siig esata cable, order one. Might be a bad disk drive or enclosure, but if the drive is working okay in a PC then its probably the cable. The hr2x's recess the esata port a little more than spec, so a cable with a longer nose will work better.
You cant hook an esata cable directly to the disk enclosed in an mx-1. The power and sata connections are on the same header and they attach/remove as an inseparable pair. You'd need a separate sata power cable from another source.
You cant hook an esata cable directly to the disk enclosed in an mx-1. The power and sata connections are on the same header and they attach/remove as an inseparable pair. You'd need a separate sata power cable from another source.
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