What EHD is everyone using?

[BigJohn2]

Hi all,

What EHD is everyone using? Does it have external power? can you use a EHD that run's on the usb power?
I can't find a EHD with it's own power.

Thanks,

John

 

[navychop]

Keep looking. There are plenty.

SOME unpowered USB EHDs will work. For a while. Not a good idea to stress the receiver.

Western Digital is popular. Seagate is not.

 

[dishrich]

I've bought this same model WD 3 times & have never had a problem with them. They are simple, powered drives that don't have any unnecessary software added to them.
Unfortunately this same one is no longer made, but can still be found around; they're going now for about + $100

WD Elements 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive
Model # WDBAAU0020HBK-01

 

[VideoWhiz]

i've had a WD MyBook for more than 2 years. It has a 3.0 USB connection. 2 TB...around $110 today on Amazon.It has been very reliable.
There was some discussion as to settings in a sub-menu in the drive which could affect the spin up speed. Some required a FW update.. I don't recall the details, but
I think if you just hook it up and let the Hopper do it's thing it should be fine. Might as well go for the USB 3.0 now you have a Hopper 3.
I would not use any drive with the Hopper without an external supply.

 

[tom231]

I bought a "WD my passport ultra" 1tb hard drive at Wal-Mart for $59.00. It works great. It doesn't have it's own power supply but that doesn't seem to matter. I didn't know that was required when I bought it and I haven't had any issues yet. It worked on my hws and now it works on the hopper 3.

 

[navychop]

The USB 3 port on the H3 will provide more power and would be the safest port to use with an unpowered EHD.

 

[kwindrem]

I bought a "WD my passport ultra" 1tb hard drive at Wal-Mart for $59.00. It works great. It doesn't have it's own power supply but that doesn't seem to matter. I didn't know that was required when I bought it and I haven't had any issues yet. It worked on my hws and now it works on the hopper 3.

USB powered drives aren't supported for Dish receivers. The power supplied by a USB port (0.5 amps @ 5 volts) is marginal for some drives. USB 3 ports do officially support more power (0.9 amps @ 5 volts) so you may be able to power drives that are marginal on a USB 2 port.

It's also possible Hopper does not supply as much power to the USB ports as the USB spec demands. This could explain why Dish limits the devices it supports via USB.

A workaround MIGHT be to insert a powered USB hub between Hopper and the drive BUT that doesn't get around the issue that some drives draw more power than a USB port is designed to support. The hub is allowed to shut down a port if a device draws more power that allowed by the spec.

Best advice is to use a powered external drive as recommended by Dish.

 

[tom231]

USB powered drives aren't supported for Dish receivers. The power supplied by a USB port (0.5 amps @ 5 volts) is marginal for some drives. USB 3 ports do officially support more power (0.9 amps @ 5 volts) so you may be able to power drives that are marginal on a USB 2 port.

It's also possible Hopper does not supply as much power to the USB ports as the USB spec demands. This could explain why Dish limits the devices it supports via USB.

A workaround MIGHT be to insert a powered USB hub between Hopper and the drive BUT that doesn't get around the issue that some drives draw more power than a USB port is designed to support. The hub is allowed to shut down a port if a device draws more power that allowed by the spec.

Best advice is to use a powered external drive as recommended by Dish.

I guess you learn something new every day. Mine is plugged into the 3.0 port so I guess that helps. I don't have much stuff on it and don't use it very often, so I'll just unplug it.

 

[patmurphey]

Dish has not responded to the fact that the USB3 port on the Hopper 3 supports enough amperage to charge the upcoming Hopper Go. It may be that they don't want any confusion about supporting unpowered drive when only one of three ports might work.

 

[bookworm370]

I have 4 WD MyBook drives connected via a USB switch (H3 can support 3 at a time). All are external powered, when the USB is switched off at the switch they spin down conserving power, heat and probable drive failure.

 

[bobvick]

I have a couple of Seagate 2TB drives, I don't remember the model, they are in Inatek USB 3.0 enclosures hooked up to a USB 3.0 hub.

 

[VideoWhiz]

Most modern PCs have USB 3.0 now and usually one jack that is designed for more power primarily for charging devices. I would not assume any 3.0 USB jack has sufficient power for constant ext. hard drive use.

 

[Ilya]

Do any of the new drives have a power switch? I had that on an older drive and really liked that.
I don't like leaving my EHD running all the time since I use it very rarely. But unplugging the power every time is not very convenient.

 

[kwindrem]

Do any of the new drives have a power switch? I had that on an older drive and really liked that.
I don't like leaving my EHD running all the time since I use it very rarely. But unplugging the power every time is not very convenient.

Most drives will "spin down" after a period of inactivity. This is especially true of "green" drives. When the drive itself is not running, power consumption is very low.

 

[bobvick]

Do any of the new drives have a power switch? I had that on an older drive and really liked that.
I don't like leaving my EHD running all the time since I use it very rarely. But unplugging the power every time is not very convenient.

The Inatek enclosures that I use have a power switch.

 

[long_time_DNC]

I have 5 powered drives connected to a powered hub. All the drives have on/off switches on the back of the enclosure. I leave them off unless I'm using one. I used to buy external usb drives, but now I just buy the bare drive (either Western Digital or Seagate 2TB) and a switched/powered enclosure and put it together myself. It's actually very easy...

 

[fredp]

Two WD drives here. A 500GB and a 1TB. The 500 has been in use since the option became available in 2008. Used them on my 622 then and now my HWS for just shy of 3 years. Truth be told though I wonder why I bother. Only once in a blue blue blue moon do I ever go back and watch anything in its entirety. My eyes just roll back when I read someone has the equivalent of a farm's worth of drives... To each their own.

 

[VideoWhiz]

I hear ya.. I think the most use I get out of it is when the DVR is due a replacement. I do have 2 or 3 classics recorded on it.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I have dual Red WD drives loaded into this:

Amazon product ASIN B00H8Z215W

 

[jerryez]

I use WD My Book external powered drive, Still using the same drive that I bought when Dish charged $30 to add a drive.