Powered vs non-powered hub for powered Ext Hard Drives on Hopper 3

[dukiebluedoc]

I have a Hopper 3 and several Western Digital hard drives, all powered, all < 6 tB.
I would like to attach them via a USB hub to my Hopper 3.
I have a powered hub now but some of my drives are not recognized when plugged into that hub, even as the only HDs with power on (the hub has separate power on/off switches for each USB drive plugged into it.)
Is a non powered hub a better option, or does the hub power +/- not have any influence on drive recognition?

The whole issue of Hoppers and external drives seems shrouded in mystery.

thanks
Caroline

 

[Bobby]

What happens if you plug one of those drives that you don't see directly into one of your Hopper 3's USB ports. Do you see it then?

 

[TheKrell]

I have a powered hub now but some of my drives are not recognized when plugged into that hub, even as the only HDs with power on (the hub has separate power on/off switches for each USB drive plugged into it.)

I am not sure what's going on here. If you are using a powered hub with powered disks, then the power switches on the hub won't turn the drive off. I have experienced chaos/confusion by unplugging and plugging back in my EHDs which are directly connected to my H3, but this confusion is further complicated by the existence of my 6TB Seagate. I can plug in a 1.5TB drive which makes the total over 7TB. This disk does not show up! If I reboot the Hopper, then it shows up and the 6TB disk does not.

 

[dukiebluedoc]

What happens if you plug one of those drives that you don't see directly into one of your Hopper 3's USB ports. Do you see it then?

I am going to try that later today--right now I am in the middle of a long transfer to one of the HDs the H3 does recognize, and getting at the USB ports on the back of the drive involves moving the Hopper receiver out of a cabinet, not easy to do in my setup.

 

[dukiebluedoc]

I am not sure what's going on here. If you are using a powered hub with powered disks, then the power switches on the hub won't turn the drive off. I have experienced chaos/confusion by unplugging and plugging back in my EHDs which are directly connected to my H3, but this confusion is further complicated by the existence of my 6TB Seagate. I can plug in a 1.5TB drive which makes the total over 7TB. This disk does not show up! If I reboot the Hopper, then it shows up and the 6TB disk does not.

As I understand it, the switches on the USB hub turn off the USB connection to the Hopper, not the power on the ext drives.

 

[sktrus]

I thought Dish does not recommend those usb hubs, powered or not.

 

[Bobby]

I thought Dish does not recommend those usb hubs, powered or not.

I have been using a powered hub, on and off, for years on several different kinds of DISH receivers. I have never had an issue. I have also never heard of DISH not recommending it.

 

[sktrus]

Glad it worked for you Bobby. When I had Hopper 2 few years ago, I connected a powered ehd to transfer some recordings. A tech was coming in couple days to replace Hopper 2 with 3. I did a little search. I managed to move files from Hop 2 to ehd. I remember reading at Dish's support site they were not recommending using hubs. There were a lot of complaints in the old Dish forum. Perhaps, Dish made improvements with Hopper 3.

 

[Bobby]

Glad it worked for you Bobby. When I had Hopper 2 few years ago, I connected a powered ehd to transfer some recordings. A tech was coming in couple days to replace Hopper 2 with 3. I did a little search. I managed to move files from Hop 2 to ehd. I remember reading at Dish's support site they were not recommending using hubs. There were a lot of complaints in the old Dish forum. Perhaps, Dish made improvements with Hopper 3.

I have used the same powered hub with a 722, Hopper 2000, and a Hopper 3. Probably 10 years worth. Not a hitch on any of them.

 

[sktrus]

I connected my ehd to hopper 3 after all that transfer from older hopper. 3 would not recognize it. Tried all 3 usb ports. Nope. EHD had its own power cord. I simply couldn't find a solution. I was lucky the wifey didn't kick me out. I blamed Dish.

 

[Jim5506]

I connected my ehd to hopper 3 after all that transfer from older hopper. 3 would not recognize it. Tried all 3 usb ports. Nope. EHD had its own power cord. I simply couldn't find a solution. I was lucky the wifey didn't kick me out. I blamed Dish.

Did you call Dish and have them send an initialization re-hit to your new Hopper?

 

[sktrus]

Thanks Jim, I have never thought about that. Dummy question. The difference between hard reset at home or Dish doing reset from their headquarters?

 

[TheKrell]

The difference between hard reset at home or Dish doing reset from their headquarters?

Big difference. The "hit" from Dish comes down via satellite and it re-authorizes the receiver. A hard reset merely reboots the receiver and does not insure it is authorized. Some have had to do this more than once with disappearing EHDs.

 

[sktrus]

Thanks a bunch TheKrell.

 

[dukiebluedoc]

Well, after some troubleshooting I discovered that the problem was a switch on the surge power strip I used for the unrecognized two EHDs. Flipped the switch and they came right up.
Thanks to all--I learned a lot from this thread, even though it was prompted by a doofus move on my part!