Top EHD choices

[navychop]

Let's say for a new EHD today, placed in a hardware [ame]RAID 1 enclosure[/ame] - what HDDs would be good? Let's ignore price, and eliminate Seagate from the equation (spin down). I'd like 1TB or could go with 750 if I must. I'm looking for two HDDs meant for DVR use, not the average PC HDD.

After the loss of one EHD and now a ViP722 DVR, I'm becoming a real belt and suspenders kinda guy. I've searched for this data as I know it was posted a while back, but I can't find it. And for the DVR intended HDDs, I'm not sure which if any 1TB drives will work as EHD.

I considered the Newegg option above, but decided against.

This RAID enclosure is purely hw driven, so I'm counting on the fact it's a RAID being invisible to the ViP.

Recommendations?

 

[Lord_Vader]

I think drives used to have a multimedia spec. I'll see if I can find any. If not, I would look for transfer rates and onboard cache as indications of performance.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Some do have durability specs, if you look on WD.com enough.

I'd go for a more durable WD HDD, at least 16mb cache and 7200rpm. I've just had such good luck lately with WD, I'm very happy with them.

My WD My Book 2TB mirror will be here tomorrow. Will let you know how setup goes.

 

[navychop]

And while I'm drooling, SATA II. Not that the utilization could actually make use of the speed.

Eager to hear about how well your new toy plays with your ViP toys.

 

[gadgtfreek]

These are the drives I looked at before I decided to just use the WD Ext setups.

WD Caviar Black 2 TB SATA Hard Drives ( WD2001FASS )

Caviar Black

 

[Lord_Vader]

I think the WD Caviar Black is good as well. This is the 1 TB model.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Black-WD1001FALS/dp/B001C271MA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252613785&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 32?@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71uXNvF7CBS.@@AMEPARAM@@71uXNvF7CBS[/ame]

If you add it all up though, the RAID 1 My book (2tb model) might be the better choice. It gives you raid 1, with 1 TB storage, and its all in a nice looking package. You could do 2 TB with Raid 0, but I know you mentioned you were looking at the raid 1.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Book-Mirror-WDH2U20000N/dp/B001B8RSAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1252611269&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Western Digital My Book Mirror Edition 2TB USB 2.0?@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31HCGSmBCEL.@@AMEPARAM@@31HCGSmBCEL[/ame]

It also has the WD green drives.

 

[navychop]

How are you so sure the 2TB will work with the ViP?

And is "green" just a marketing term, or does it mean something with the power supply?

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yeah, the My Book mirror, and all the others are Green (I think).

Other good thing about the My Book Mirror that I just noticed, you can open the back cover and swap/upgrade drives without any tools. Very cool!

 

[gadgtfreek]

How are you so sure the 2TB will work with the ViP?

In RAID mode 1, the box will only see 1TB, so it should work fine.

It has another setting of 0, where the whole 2tb's will be used, but I plan on using 1TB for storage and 1TB as the mirror.

Im not sure that the ViP will work with a 2TB drive.

 

[Lord_Vader]

WD says this about the green...

WD Caviar® Green™
Cool, quiet, eco-friendly.
Select green for doing more with less energy consumption.

Reduced power consumption - WD has reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to standard desktop drives with the combination of WD's IntelliSeek, NoTouch, and IntelliPower technologies.

Helps enable eco-friendly PCs - WD Caviar Green drives yield an average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over standard desktop drives making it possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation.

Cool and quiet - WD GreenPower Technology™ yields lower operating temperatures for increased reliability and low acoustics for ultra-quiet PCs and external drives.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Also, I agree with elwaylite. It is hardware based raid which just means the OS doesn't know the difference. It thinks that its a 1 TB drive.

 

[gadgtfreek]

WD says this about the green...

WD Caviar® Green™
Cool, quiet, eco-friendly.
Select green for doing more with less energy consumption.

Reduced power consumption - WD has reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to standard desktop drives with the combination of WD's IntelliSeek, NoTouch, and IntelliPower technologies.

Helps enable eco-friendly PCs - WD Caviar Green drives yield an average drive power savings of 4-5 watts over standard desktop drives making it possible for our energy-conscious customers to build systems with higher capacities and the right balance of system performance, ensured reliability, and energy conservation.

Cool and quiet - WD GreenPower Technology™ yields lower operating temperatures for increased reliability and low acoustics for ultra-quiet PCs and external drives.

Lower temps is a good thing. My two ext drives now do not put off much heat.

 

[navychop]

Well, I went with the WD blacks you recommended, only in 1TB size. Next week, I should have my replacement ViP722 and 1TB RAID 1 EHD all hooked up and running.

Of course, now I'll be more eager for Dish to improve the EHD s/w. I hate that when I watch from the EHD, and it's over, I have to scroll thru the list to find the program again to delete it, instead of just having the option to delete at completion, like on the DVR itself. I guess I'll just move programs to the DVR before watching.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Still better than not having them