OFFICIAL External Storage Information

...At the same time.

Let's make sure we don't confuse people. As far as I know the drive can go back to a pc. But, it'll need to be reformatted (you'll lose the transferred programs).


Yes, you just delete the Dish partitions and recreate a PC partition. All this can be done in the Drive Management Tool in Windows. Other OSes should be able to do the same thing.
 
Yes, you just delete the Dish partitions and recreate a PC partition. All this can be done in the Drive Management Tool in Windows. Other OSes should be able to do the same thing.
Just for the sake of helping people out. I've already done this. I only wanted to use my HDD to transfer files from a dying 622 to a new 622 so I didn't lose anything. Hooked up my 500GB Mybook, reformatted to Dish and transfered files. Swapped the 622s (which took over an hour becasue the new one had L0.62 software and had to be updated several times before it would actually work...). Once it was all done, I plugged the MyBook into the new 622 and it told me "you have plugged in a EHD that is set to operate with a different receiver, do you want to update it to work with this receiver?" Yes. No reformat, just worked fine. Transfered all my vids back to the new 622 (took less time back than writting to it (which btw makes sense becasue apparently these drives read faster than they write for some reason, but that's another topic).

Anyway, when it was done I plugged back into my PC and it recognized it, but did not mount it as a new drive. I had to go to Drive manager to see it and reformat it. Side note, Dish system creates 2 partitions on the drive. The Primary partition is a 1MB partition, the secondary is the remainder of the drive. I'm no expert, but I would bet that the receiver pairing info is held in that 1MB partition.... Anyway, reformatted the entire drive, moved my files back to it and it's as if I had never hooked it up to the Dish. Exactly what I wanted!!! Later I may get a second EHD to use with the Dish, but I don't need it for anything.

Another side note, I had speculated that the 3 receiver swap could be overcome by reformatting the drive, that seems to be the case. While I was on the phone with the Service Tech, she told me that I could do the swap I wanted but (direct quote) "You can only swap the EHD 3 times before it will need to be reformatted." There you go... Anyway, hope this helps someone.
 
Ok what about this.... I run linux.... the file system on the drive after the 622 does its thing is linux native. Can the linux machine simply see the drive if I remove it from the 622 and reconnect it to my PC? I mean.... it's just a file system and the content is just a file. I realize you couldn't "view" the file from the 622, but could you ... say.... copy a file from your word processor in linux onto the drive and later reconnect it to the 622? Or would the 622 freak out if it saw a file it didn't put there?

The point of this exercise would be that if you are a linux user, then the drive need not be dedicated to the 622. You could use it as mobius_hky did simply by unplugging it from your PC, moving your 622 recordings to it. Swap out your 622, move recordings BACK onto new 622, erase from usb hard drive (if necessary) and then just hook it back up to your PC and continue on ....
 
Ok what about this.... I run linux.... the file system on the drive after the 622 does its thing is linux native. Can the linux machine simply see the drive if I remove it from the 622 and reconnect it to my PC? I mean.... it's just a file system and the content is just a file. I realize you couldn't "view" the file from the 622, but could you ... say.... copy a file from your word processor in linux onto the drive and later reconnect it to the 622? Or would the 622 freak out if it saw a file it didn't put there?

The point of this exercise would be that if you are a linux user, then the drive need not be dedicated to the 622. You could use it as mobius_hky did simply by unplugging it from your PC, moving your 622 recordings to it. Swap out your 622, move recordings BACK onto new 622, erase from usb hard drive (if necessary) and then just hook it back up to your PC and continue on ....

Instead of playing with fire and screwing up your 622 with unknown files, get another HD.
 
...At the same time.

Let's make sure we don't confuse people. As far as I know the drive can go back to a pc. But, it'll need to be reformatted (you'll lose the transferred programs).

Correct, I was debating whether to add that or not as it may have confused the questioner given the context of the question. :)
 
Just for the sake of helping people out. I've already done this. I only wanted to use my HDD to transfer files from a dying 622 to a new 622 so I didn't lose anything. Hooked up my 500GB Mybook, reformatted to Dish and transfered files. Swapped the 622s (which took over an hour becasue the new one had L0.62 software and had to be updated several times before it would actually work...). Once it was all done, I plugged the MyBook into the new 622 and it told me "you have plugged in a EHD that is set to operate with a different receiver, do you want to update it to work with this receiver?" Yes. No reformat, just worked fine. Transfered all my vids back to the new 622 (took less time back than writting to it (which btw makes sense becasue apparently these drives read faster than they write for some reason, but that's another topic).

Anyway, when it was done I plugged back into my PC and it recognized it, but did not mount it as a new drive. I had to go to Drive manager to see it and reformat it. Side note, Dish system creates 2 partitions on the drive. The Primary partition is a 1MB partition, the secondary is the remainder of the drive. I'm no expert, but I would bet that the receiver pairing info is held in that 1MB partition.... Anyway, reformatted the entire drive, moved my files back to it and it's as if I had never hooked it up to the Dish. Exactly what I wanted!!! Later I may get a second EHD to use with the Dish, but I don't need it for anything.

Another side note, I had speculated that the 3 receiver swap could be overcome by reformatting the drive, that seems to be the case. While I was on the phone with the Service Tech, she told me that I could do the swap I wanted but (direct quote) "You can only swap the EHD 3 times before it will need to be reformatted." There you go... Anyway, hope this helps someone.

Actually 1 GB.
 
I bought the Maxtor 500GB OneTough III and it formatted properly, then transferred a bunch of stuff to it. Not sure how long, but it eventually goes into a standby state where the bottom light is just on. When transferring or viewing from it, both the top and bottom light toggle and both lights are just on when not in standby.
When it is in standby and I want to use it again, I go to the proper menus and when I select the USB drive the bottom light starts blinking and after the platters spin up both lights come on and it is ready for playing something or transferring.
Seems like this is a very desirable way to operate and am quite happy that I haven't had any of the problems the Seagate folks have.:)
 
I have a Falcon 500GB drive and things seem to be working fine. However, I was wondering what the best way to power off the hard drive is. This drive has an on/off switch on the back, but it says not to turn it off until the drive has been unmounted. When I turn off the 622, is the drive unmounted? (I'm guessing not because it can still transfer files to the drive with the receiver in standby/off mode.) Should I unplug the USB cable and then turn it off?

Thanks!
 
Successfully installed and tested a 500GB Buffalo Drive Station with my 622. So far, beautiful results. As an AT&T Dish subscriber, I was transfered to AT&T customer support when I called Dish. I was a little concerned that they wouldn't be able to provide proper enabling of the new upgrade, but after a little research the CS guy figured it out. Said I was the first AT&T customer to make the request. Life with HD Dish is lookin good!
 
Put a 750GB FreeAgent pro on one of my receivers last night. Seems to be fine. Customer service at the activations number was a treat!

LER
 
Sorry if this question was asked and answered before but this thread is so long! I am excited about the extra storage but how long does it take to place the stored material on the dvr from the external? For example, if I am in the mood to watch an HD movie that is around 2 hours long, how long does it take to transfer that movie from the ext to the DVR. I am guessing it is not instantaneous and that isn't so good for us guys that are spontaneous TV viewers. Flippers etc....
 
I haven't tried copying the receiver 1 show to receiver 2. If that works, I could probably off-load all of the shows, format the drive fat32/ntfs, then let one of the receivers reformat the drive to get my 3 connection count back. This would at least be a good trick for moving shows between receivers, as long as the format back to fat32/ntfs is done periodically to clear the managing receiver count on the drive.

You are assuming that the HDD to DVR connection count is stored on the external hard drive. It could very well be that the DVR, in NVRAM or perhaps the internal HDD, the external drive serial number. Thus, if this is indeed the case, reformatting the external drive is moot.
 
So, practically the transfer speed it 3..5 Mb/s. Hmm, it's close to USB 1.1 then to USB 2.0

Now tell me about advantage using USB v2.0 with theoretical speed 480 Mbps :(.


480 Mbps is the peak transfer rate of USB 2.0, not the sustained transfer rate. This is precisely why FireWire 400 (400 Mbps) blows USB 2.0 out of the water: you get very close to 400 Mbps sustained transfer rates.
 
You are assuming that the HDD to DVR connection count is stored on the external hard drive. It could very well be that the DVR, in NVRAM or perhaps the internal HDD, the external drive serial number. Thus, if this is indeed the case, reformatting the external drive is moot.
We need a guinea pig to try this for us. I think it will probably work, as someone reported that there are two partitions on the drive when formatted on a 622, the first being just 1gig and is probably the area storing the information.

Seems that the tech forum guys said that this 3 moves option was included for those who have a receiver failure and need to replace it. I guess they don't anticipate any one person having four 622 failures.:rolleyes:
 
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480 Mbps is the peak transfer rate of USB 2.0, not the sustained transfer rate. This is precisely why FireWire 400 (400 Mbps) blows USB 2.0 out of the water: you get very close to 400 Mbps sustained transfer rates.

You'll need better understanding this interface - NEVER USB 2.0 had PEAK transfer rate as 480 mbps ! Forget it. You have no clue of method of building USB commands, nor its structure.
Take a learning lesson by using USB sniffer for start, look for overhead level when transferring data, check what bandwidth you can allocate for one device, etc.
 

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