HR2x / HR34 External Hard Drive FYI/Support (eSATA)

[bfrankb]

Additional Learning for HR20 External Hard Drive and Moving Hard Drive

Hi Guys,

First thanks for all the good intell. After reading and experimenting I finally figured it out.

1. The cable is key. I bought a cable from Fry's, Link Depot esata. This cable would not work on 2 different hard drives. Both were from Costco WD 1TB, $279, which I returned and bought a SG FreeAgent 750 for $199. After the SG didn't work I figured it might be something else.

2. Went to Best Buy and bought a DYNEX cable $19.99 and it worked great. I couldn't wait for the online cable.

Also, I when I tried to move the HD from one dvr to play something recorded on the other DVR it would not work. Tried it on both receivers. Received a message stating the that my card had expired. If anyone knows a way around this please post it.

Thanks for everything. Heading over to Costco to buy a 2nd HD.
Frank

 

[jcrandall]

I always thought if you move the drive to another dvr it would format it, and prep it for that dvr.

if you just got anerror, that's cool, you didn't lose your recordings.

Either way, you can only use a drive on one box.

Hopefully eventually it will change to one account, not box. no word on that, just hopefully.

 

[Ramy]

Hopefully eventually it will change to one account, not box. no word on that, just hopefully.

This would be nice.

 

[scottie_h]

I'm thinking of ordering this 1 TB drive that was in a Buy.com email I got yesterday:

Buy.com - Cavalry 1TB Hard Drive - Dual Interface (USB 2.0 & eSATA) External Hard Drive - CAXM3701T0

I believe I have read of this drive being used with both HR20 and HR21's successfully either on this forum or on DBS.

There's also a 5% off coupon:

Buy.com - Coupons

 

[jcrandall]

That drive should be fine. You could share the love and let us know the deal you got

 

[jcrandall]

I'm going to move this to the DVR section, as it really hasn't been part of any testing since last October. This feature works on ALL HR20/21 receivers to add bigger hard drives - using eSATA only.

 

[Jimbo]

I always thought if you move the drive to another dvr it would format it, and prep it for that dvr.

if you just got anerror, that's cool, you didn't lose your recordings.

Either way, you can only use a drive on one box.

Hopefully eventually it will change to one account, not box. no word on that, just hopefully.

I think it would if when he reboots next time.

 

[jcrandall]

Anyone looking for a 1tb drive this week - Best buy has the WD on sale for $269.

Western Digital - My Book Studio 1TB External Hard Drive - WDH1Q10000N

 

[GB4FAN92]

2 questions (Can't seem to find the answer)

1. When you hook up a new external drive will it erase all the recordings on the HR21 or transfer them?

2. Down the road if I upgrade the HR21 will it erase all the recordings from the HR21 or transfer them? Meaning is an external hard drive transferable?


If there are any FAQ's about this please point me in the right direction!

Thanks!

 

[teamster02]

If D* officially adds external support, will this work?

If D* adds this as an official feature, via a software update, will this still work? E* charges a one time fee of $39 (I believe), then you have access to both the internal AND external drives. Just wondering if D* does something similar, if you would have to pay them to use this feature, or possibly if they could, say, only enable a particular drive that they sell and leave all others useless?

 

[Jimbo]

2 questions (Can't seem to find the answer)

1. When you hook up a new external drive will it erase all the recordings on the HR21 or transfer them?

2. Down the road if I upgrade the HR21 will it erase all the recordings from the HR21 or transfer them? Meaning is an external hard drive transferable?


If there are any FAQ's about this please point me in the right direction!

Thanks!

1. Neither, You can still access them by disconnecting the EHD and reboot, the older recording will still be there.

2. Unfortunatly, it will erase them when it does it's initial format, that software must be on the existing REC.
Eventually when the decide to support them, they could THEN write a different code to not erase them.

I would bet that D* would add a small monthly fee for the feature that E* charges $ 39 for, because they would have another stream of income.

Jimbo

 

[Slick]

I'm thinking of ordering this 1 TB drive that was in a Buy.com email I got yesterday:

Buy.com - Cavalry 1TB Hard Drive - Dual Interface (USB 2.0 & eSATA) External Hard Drive - CAXM3701T0

I believe I have read of this drive being used with both HR20 and HR21's successfully either on this forum or on DBS.

There's also a 5% off coupon:

Buy.com - Coupons

If you do get this one would you post if it worked for you or not and which esate cable you used because I think I just may go with this one as well..Cya Slick

 

[trckn4life]

I didn't see this thread till now but I got a Western Digital My Book Home today, but it does not seem to work with my HD DVR HR21-700. I unplugged the power after turning it off (and leaving it unplugged for about 5 mins). I tried a number of things but it doesn't seem to recognize the 750GB My Book and it sits and sits at the screen saying it's booting up, etc. As soon as I do the same and unplug and turn off the external HD it boots up fine. Any ideas? Will this drive not work with my dvr?

 

[samvonac]

Has anyone had problems with missed recordings when using an external drive? I have an HR21-700 with a Seagate Barracuda 750GB in an Anyware ME-740JBK enclosure. See my post here http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-dvr-forum/125481-hr21-700-sucks.html

 

[bkushner]

I see lots of talk about 1TB drives but in the initial post it says up to 750. So will my external 1TB WD drive work?

Brian

 

[zedzed]

Adding an eSATA 1TB to HR21 HD DVR

Here's the deal... I purchased a Seagate 1TB SATA drive from Tiger, also purchased their eSATA enclosure which is featured by them (Ultra Brand). The kit comes with everything in it you need. I installed the Seagate 1TB drive into the Ultra enclosure, being sure to remove the small jumper from the drive that limits the speed to 1.5GB per second allowing performance up to 3GB per second.

I tested the Ultra enclosure and 1TB drive using the USB cable provided in the Ultra kit; on my laptop. Initialized, formatted, dragged about a GB of data onto it. Then deleted the partition, and removed the drive from the system.

I then powered down and unplugged, my HR21 which had several PayPer views and several CSI shows that my wife records via the ToDo list (taking a big risk here). I plugged in the power for the Ultra eSATA enclosure, plugged in the included eSATA cable that came in the Ultra kit - one end into the Ultra eSATA and the other end into the eSATA port on the back of the HR21.

I switched the power switch on the Ultra eSATA enclosure on, the pretty blue light came on. I plugged in the HR21, it started coming up. I watched it strobe the eSATA unitl a few time, the HR21 started downloading Satellite stuff, strobbed the eSATA several more times. Strobed it some more (red light flashing each time). The the HR21 came to life and voila HD was on my flat panel.

I noted that my Todo list was nuked, nada, zip. and nothing was in my play list. I watched as the red LED on the eSATA strobed as the HR21 was writing cached media onto it. Everything seemed to work fine.

Now the test - did I actually blow away everything on the HR21 internal drive? Was my wife going to be mad at me for wiping out her CSIs that she haden't watched. hmmmm

I powered off the HR21. Then pulled the plug. I then powered off the Ultra eSATA enclosure using the switch on the rear. (leaving all the cables hooked up)

I plugged in the HR21, it said it was coming up, blah blah blah. Downloaded satellite info - wait wait wait - then finally voila! HD TV back on my AQUOS once again!

I quickly hit the PlayList - wow! everything was there like nothing had ever happened! I check the ToDo list - just like I left it. I am feeling pretty smug at this point.

Now I just gotta get the wife to watch all her stuff so I can power it back down and make the switch back to the Ultra eSATA and them put all our stuff back in the ToDo list.

I hope this answers everyones questions about the 1TB drives and what happens to the stuff you already had on your internal drive.

If and when I fill up my 1TB eSATA unit, I will simply turn it all off, disconnect the full eSATA and add a new empty one. Knowing that I can watch the movies on the full drive anytime I want by placing it back online.

Good Luck All!

ZedZed

 

[bkushner]

It would be really nice if you could utilize both drives ala Dish.

 

[Ramy]

zedzed,

I think most of us already knew that, but just in case someone didn't want to search for it or needed a reminder that was a very good overview of the whole process.

Thanks.

 

[JNEUBY]

Zedzed,
Give us the part numbers of what you used with what you paid if you don't mind. Thanks for the update, I've been waiting for the prices to drop on the bigger drives before I started this project.

 

[drb124]

is there any way to combine the original hard drive and a new hard drive in an enclosure and keep the recordings on the original drive?