Vip 211 - Adding External Hard Drive

[levibluewa]

You guys have any brand preference? Western Digital, Toshiba, etc.

1tb, 2tb ? 1tb limit ends in March ???

I gather there is a $40 activation fee, then NO monthly fee, correct?

Any assistance appreciated.

 

[Frank7004]

Anything that works and correct

 

[KAB]

I have seen nothing about when the 211 1T limit will be changed. WD's are the most prevalent around here.

 

[Anony55]

You guys have any brand preference? Western Digital, Toshiba, etc.

1tb, 2tb ? 1tb limit ends in March ???

I just used a self assembled drive. I prefer this route because I think any EHD that's gonna be on 24/7 should be fan cooled. But that's just my personal preference.

I don't know what you mean "1tb limit ends in March ???". But how you use it, will help determine the size needed. If you want to store a library, then bigger is better. If you just want to record things to store until you have a chance to watch them (and then delete them), then you may not need a huge EHD.

I fit the latter category. I'm using a 500gb drive and haven't used more than about 25-30% of the drive at any one given time. But I think that most of the HD I record is Mpeg4. I can't really tell that it takes any more space than SD Mpeg2. YMMV.

...I gather there is a $40 activation fee, then NO monthly fee, correct?...

Correct. This is the main reason I bought this unit. :up

Cheers

 

[navychop]

If you put together your own EHD, using an enclosure of your own choice, and a separately bought drive of your choice, I suggest you go with WD Black and avoid WD Green. Same for any prepackaged unit that identifies which HDDs are used.

 

[bhelms]

I've had a 1TB WD "My Book Essentials" drive active since almost the same day they raised the limit from 750GB. (In fact I had to encourage the tech who activited it to continue with the process; he was unaware of the limit increase. Always fun when vital information is exchanged in the opposite direction!) That unit has been running 24/7 ever since. I realize any drive can fail at any time. Very little on it is irretrievable however so I don't lose sleep over it.

My drive is nearly full at this point, getting down to the single digits of indicated remaining HD recording hours which began at ~100. (Of course due to excessive bit-starving/compression, those timers are very much underestimating that time for programming received from Dish, always have been. They're closer to real time for OTA stuff, but I rarely record any of that.) My stored content is a mixed bag of "keep it" and "use once - throw away". I get to the daily 1-time watch shows fairly regularly with only a few aged ones left. It's inevitable that most of us will save stuff for whatever reasons, so you too will reach the end of your capacity sooner or later!

Now if they'll just allow activation of 2TB EHDs I'll be good for another several years...!