Should we upgrade to a H3?

[maggiep67]

I have to ask, what did you order ? There's really no such thing other than the drive being pre-formatted to HFS+ format (which you can undo easily enough). I hope this "Mac" version didn't cost more 'cause it absolutely should not.

I didn't know they was a difference either. I noticed it packaged this way at Target as well. This is what I got:

WD 1TB Black My Passport for Mac Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBFKF0010BBK-WESN from Amazon.

42.53 (+ tax). Not a bad price.

And... worked great. I was able to set it last night and it backed up everything beautifully.

 

[maggiep67]

A better solution would be 2 EHDs, his and hers. you can connect both to the new H3 so can see all of his old shows on one EHD and not be confused by your content. That way you won't fill up the new H3 hard drive on day 1 like I did.

Im planning to do just that.

 

[maggiep67]

That's a smart way to go provided you don't care to see those programs on DishAnywhere...

Hmmm... good point. I like watching stuff on DishAnywhere.

 

[Hall]

WD 1TB Black My Passport for Mac Portable External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 - WDBFKF0010BBK-WESN from Amazon.

42.53 (+ tax). Not a bad price.

Good job ! I looked quickly and you saved $14 over the same "non-Mac" model too (Amazon.com: WD 1TB Black USB 3.0 My Passport Portable External Hard Drive (WDBYNN0010BBK-WESN): Computers & Accessories) !

By the way, the only difference was as I suspected - it's pre-formatted in HFS+ format. The Dish receiver didn't care either.

 

[maggiep67]

Good job ! I looked quickly and you saved $14 over the same "non-Mac" model too (Amazon.com: WD 1TB Black USB 3.0 My Passport Portable External Hard Drive (WDBYNN0010BBK-WESN): Computers & Accessories) !

By the way, the only difference was as I suspected - it's pre-formatted in HFS+ format. The Dish receiver didn't care either.

Thanks! A happy accident truth be told. I saw the price and jumped on it.

I've let my tech savviness fall by the wayside so I do have a possibly dumb question. So can this one be reformatted for a PC?

 

[Bobby]

Thanks! A happy accident truth be told. I saw the price and jumped on it.

I've let my tech savviness fall by the wayside so I do have a possibly dumb question. So can this one be reformatted for a PC?

No, simply plug the EHD into your Hopper and it will reformat it from there...

 

[Hall]

So can this one be reformatted for a PC?

Yes. It won't be as simple as finding the drive in "My Computer" and right-clicking it to select "Format..." though. You'll have to use the "Disk Management" utility but don't worry, it's not difficult. If you're using Win10, just right-click the "start" flag, then pick "Disk Management" from the list. I'm not 100% certain of what you'll see, but in the bottom half of the window, it should list all "attached" drives. This EHD should show up but will likely have a bunch of "unknown" things listed (format, partition types, etc). Just select the "Unknown" partition on this drive (right-hand, lower half) and delete it, erase it, or whatever option it gives you. When that's done, you will be able to create a "Primary" partition and choose "NTFS" as the filesystem.

 

[maggiep67]

Yes. It won't be as simple as finding the drive in "My Computer" and right-clicking it to select "Format..." though. You'll have to use the "Disk Management" utility but don't worry, it's not difficult. If you're using Win10, just right-click the "start" flag, then pick "Disk Management" from the list. I'm not 100% certain of what you'll see, but in the bottom half of the window, it should list all "attached" drives. This EHD should show up but will likely have a bunch of "unknown" things listed (format, partition types, etc). Just select the "Unknown" partition on this drive (right-hand, lower half) and delete it, erase it, or whatever option it gives you. When that's done, you will be able to create a "Primary" partition and choose "NTFS" as the filesystem.

Wow! Great info. Thanks for that!!