# Seagate USB Drive users Please Chime in



## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

I know there have been a number of posts with seagate users having issues with USB support. I wanted to create a thread to capture the details so it is easy to find and possible look for commonality points. So if you have a Seagate USB drive, please post your experience here both good and bad. Be detailed and try and stick to factual information. INformation to include.

1) Model of your USB drive. Please include the model name and Model number. 
2) How old is your USB drive? 
3) Has the drive been used for anything other than your 622/722?
4) Are you experiencing any issues? if so? Describe in detail what you are seeing in as much detail as possilbe. Feel free to cut and past from your posts in other threads. How full is your drive? Does it happen all the time? Random? etc.... Does it happen when you do one event at a time or does it happen with multiple?
5) How many events do you have on your drive? 

all this info I think would help in try and classify what people are seeing and given the number of posts I have read accross varies threads I thought i made sense to capture this info in one. Please participate if you have one of these drives so that it will make it easier for the E* team to see the issues.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would split first question - HDD info and an enclosure ( better provide USB-xATA chip model ).


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

Ron Barry said:


> I know there have been a number of posts with seagate users having issues with USB support. I wanted to create a thread to capture the details so it is easy to find and possible look for commonality points. So if you have a Seagate USB drive, please post your experience here both good and bad. Be detailed and try and stick to factual information. INformation to include.
> 
> 1) Model of your USB drive. Please include the model name and Model number.
> 2) How old is your USB drive?
> ...


1. Seagate 500GB FreeAgent Go Drive

2. New drive.

3. Never used for anything else.

4. Only issue, unable to delete events from FreeAgent drive. Message says it is deleting it, but it does not. Tried transferring event to main drive, and delete, and then go back to external drive, does not matter, still shows intact on the ext. drive. These are all unprotected events.
Drive presently has about 27GB used.

5. 31 events are archived.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

P Smith said:


> I would split first question - HDD info and an enclosure ( better provide USB-xATA chip model ).


Well I think it would be sufficient to provide the model number. Drive Size would be helpful, but getting internal information might be difficult for some. Right not trying to look for commonalities.

hdaddikt..... Have you used any of the diagnostic tools/configuration tools that come with this drive? If so, there might be something there that might explain why the drive is not deleting the show. This non-deletion thing that seems to happen on some with only protected shows and others with both protected and non-protected got me stumped.


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## pjm877 (Apr 27, 2003)

FreeAgent Pro 750 USB 2 / eSATA.

Formated, and seen.. but I have not called in yet to get active.

622 not working correctly. Did not fire off Scheduled Sat 2000 Fox program, press power... unit did not come on but 15 sec (or so) later the record lights...

just to power on ... switch to 622.. no screen saver... pressing select button does nothing... But if you press power about 5 times over 30 sec the unit comes to life.

very funny... I wonder if the way I have my USB unit was ever tested????


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## BobMinn (Jul 1, 2005)

1. Seagate 500GB FreeAgent Desktop St305004fda1e1-rk
2. New
3. Only used on 622
4. I now have about 40 GB in eight programs on the drive. These problems have been present from the first day when I had about 12 GB in two programs.

I have had problems deleting similar to above where it says it is deleting but quickly ends and hasn't deleted. The trick functions don't work properly, for example; slow motion becomes fast forward. Stop does not bring up the stop options but just freezes the picture. Once stopped, only jump forward or FF followed by play will restart play. To go back to using the 622 in normal mode, from the USB drive, I must use "go to live tv" or shut down completely, which seems to lose the resume point in USB drive playback.

I have found that if I do a power cycle on the USB drive all of these problems go away until the drive has had a chance to go into the sleep mode (over 15 minutes). I have watched various programs, over an hour in length, from the USB drive with frequent use of functions after doing a power cycle, with no problems.

Others have pointed out that Seagate drives have a firmware setting which disables the sleep mode but I would rather have the drive rest between uses to hopefully extend its life. Also, I'm not sure about resetting firmware after Dish formats the drive.

I have been using the power cycle "trick" for about a day and a half with no problems. This is not acceptable since it is a nuisance and the drive may not like this type of cyling over a long period.

BobMinn


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## yovinman (Feb 8, 2004)

1. Seagate FreeAgent Pro - 750GB
2. New (bought at Costco)
3. Used only with the 622.
4. My big problem is I can no longer transfer recordings from the 622 to the Seagate after the drive sits for awhile. I am assuming the drive goes to sleep and the 622 reports and "Error 855" - "There was a problem with the USB device" (or something to that effect). Power cycling the drive fixes the problem, but that is going to have a very low WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). We need to figure out a way for the 622 to "wake up" the drive. What's weird is I can play programs off the drive even after it goes to sleep, but even doing that does not allow me to transfer recordings to the drive. More than likely, the drive is going back to Costco if there is not a fix soon (besides I hate the glowing yellow that envelopes the enclosure - whoever thought that was a good idea should be fired).


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## SamSony (Mar 19, 2007)

1) FreeAgent model - ST305004FDA1E-RK

2) New

3) Not used for anything but the ViP 622

4) At times the trick play functions was screwed up.
Could not delete movies most of the time.
Restore function would copy the movies back to the internal hard drive, 
but did not delete the copy from the external drive.
Would get the message to active the USB port.
Movies would not show up on the drive at times, then reappear later.

5) 25 movies or about 150 Gig used.

All of these problems are now fixed. I got the FreeAgent Tools and reset the sleep mode to never sleep. I then use a X10 remote switch to turn off the drive when not in use to prevent over heating. I have not had any problems at all for over two days now. Everything works great now


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## ggulch (Jul 25, 2007)

SamSony said:


> 1) FreeAgent model - ST305004FDA1E-RK
> 
> 2) New
> 
> ...


Interesting. Sounds like there may be drive firmware settings that the Dish formatting doesn't address, and they might be interfering with the way the drive interacts interacts with the DVRs.

Has anyone talked to Seagate T/S about these issues? I'd think since they were involved in the Tech Chat last week they'd be aware of the problems, if on top of them. Then again, you'd think Dish and probably Seagate, would have done considerable pre-release testing, too.

FWIW,
Ron


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

I can delete the event in the ext. drive by powering the Seagate off and on.
This tells me it is likely the sleep setting. The same goes for erratic playback, or frozen images if attempting playback from the ext. drive.
This latter problem is easily solved by 'restoring' the archived event to the DVR to play it back.
And it will be a long time before I fill up a 500GB drive with archived programs.
So rather than bother with doing the utility manipulation, I think I will wait a while and see what DN comes up with. After all, 'any' USB external drive is supposed to work with the DVR.
They could mod their software for a spin up command and solve everyone's issue.
Considering they were working with Seagate on demoing this system during Tech Chat they should be able to resolve it quickly.


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## garywiley (Jun 16, 2007)

BobMinn said:


> 1. Seagate 500GB FreeAgent Desktop St305004fda1e1-rk
> 2. New
> 3. Only used on 622
> 4. I now have about 40 GB in eight programs on the drive. These problems have been present from the first day when I had about 12 GB in two programs.
> ...


I have the same drive with the same problems. I installed the FreeAgent Pro software and reset the powerdown to 5 hours.

To install the software I had to repartition and format the drive. What a 
pain.

I'm copying files now and will report.

Gary


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

garywiley said:


> I have the same drive with the same problems. I installed the FreeAgent Pro software and reset the powerdown to 5 hours.
> 
> To install the software I had to repartition and format the drive. What a
> pain.
> ...


It is a pain, and you should not have to do it. Fortunately I can still archive and restore if I need to. No problem.
Just deleting the archived events is my primary problem. As well as playback from the ext. drive. So I can still restore and play it back in the DVR. Not enough pain to cause me to do the utility thing but I wish I had waited a couple of weeks to do the external drive thing. I should have suspected there would be glitches at the getgo.


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## Sal (Feb 22, 2006)

I got the 500 GB Seagate FreeAgent (on sale at Office Max for 119) which gave me similar problems that are being reported by other users here. I could transfer programs to it once, then I could not read or write to the drive anymore until I rebooted the 622. Unplugging or powering down the drive had no effect. Also after the reboot I tried playing a program off the drive and it played for a few minutes and then froze.

I returned the drive and got the WD 500 GB drive (on sale at Best Buy for 119) and everything is working perfectly. I can read or write as much as i want and I have not had to reboot it since i got the new drive last friday. I can watch programs right off the drive and all the playback functions including pause and stop work fine.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Doesn't looks as disk itself problem ( you can run copy/move on your PC for tests connecting the bare disk to your MB ), IMO the USB-xATA chip most likely a source of the problem.


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## Sal (Feb 22, 2006)

Oops, forgot about the questions...

1) Seagate 500GB 
2) New
3) Never used for anything except the 622
4) I could transfer programs to it once, then I could not read or write to the drive anymore until I rebooted the 622. Unplugging or powering down the drive had no effect. Also after the reboot I tried playing a program off the drive and it played for a few minutes and then froze.
5) 2 events

Just to also add that the WD 500GB drive that I got has been perfect (knock on wood) with the same 622.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Sal said:


> Oops, forgot about the questions...
> 
> 1) Seagate 500GB
> 2) New
> ...


I would propose for you a test: swap Seagate disk and WD in last working enclosure.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Hmmmm Though it might be a interesting experiment it is one that I would not recommend given that I would expect these units are new I would treat them as black boxes for this implementation in my opinion. 

It seems there is an issues with the Seagate USB drives packages and it seems to be centered around sleep mode. Question is..... is there a work around that anyone has found that solves both the sleep issue and the cannot delete issue people are mentioning?


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

Ron Barry said:


> Hmmmm Though it might be a interesting experiment it is one that I would not recommend given that I would expect these units are new I would treat them as black boxes for this implementation in my opinion.
> 
> It seems there is an issues with the Seagate USB drives packages and it seems to be centered around sleep mode. Question is..... is there a work around that anyone has found that solves both the sleep issue and the cannot delete issue people are mentioning?


As far as not being able to delete events at the ext. HD, just pull power from the HD and reapply. It should work then. Of course, unless you've already filled up your 500GB drive I don't see any reason to panic because you can't immediately delete archived events.

I agree, I think it's premature to do anything drastic. I would be very surprised if DN or Seagate do not respond to this problem soon.

Downloading the Seagate utility where you can adjust the sleep time all the way to Never is the more appropriate fix. 
But you have to decide if it is worth restoring all the events so you don't lose them, and then reformatting the HD to work with windows while you execute the utility fix. I did read one thread where it was mentioned you don't have to reformat to just implement the utility on the ext. drive. I don't know that will work for a fact.
And do you really want to keep the drive on constantly? Probably will not hurt anything short term and you can always power down when you don't need it.
So there are some options. 
Mine works well enough presently I don't plan to do anything but wait a bit to see if the powers to be resolve it the right way (whatever that may be). You have to decide for yourself based on your needs.


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## jbjsm (May 15, 2005)

Seagate Free Agent Pro 500
Used on Vista Ultimate PC as backup drive in e-sata mode
Originally formatted and configured as USB 2 drive. Sleep mode disabled.
Set up on 622 on 8/16, no problems formatting or activating. Transferred 26 events, about 25 G's with no problem. Transport (Trick Play) controls do not function. Stop freezes screen, as does Pause. Play does not resume. Skip forward and back resume play. Have to go to live TV to escape. When trying to choose Manage USB Drive from DVR menu, I'm always asked to activate. Haven't tried deleting any events. Haven't got room to restore all events to 622. Power cycling USB drive only works for one control function button press, and then it freezes. Rebooting 622 makes no difference. Programs will play to end if not paused or stopped.


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## mpeckman (May 6, 2004)

new seagate 500
error message 855
drive is going back tomorrow.
got a seagate because of the "chat"
bad pr.


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## Gary Noonan (Oct 14, 2005)

1) Seagate 7500GB FreeAgent Pro
2) New
3) Never used for anything except the 622
4) Intermittent error 855 when I moved programs onto it. Managed to get about 50 gigs on it. Then error 855 occurred every time I tried to move programs onto Seagate despite 622 saying Seagate had more than 600 gigs of free space. Could look at events on drive, could play them could delete them but could not add more. Doubt it was because drive was asleep because error also came up after I played programs from drive or deleted them, etc. Replaced with a 750 gig WD that has no problems.
5) More than 15.


Spoke to advanced tech support who told me Dish recommends Seagate as the best drive for the 622. :nono2: :nono2: Tech was astonished when I told him people were having problems. Seagate was reformated in Windows XP and is done fine connected to my computer.


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

Gary Noonan said:


> 1) Seagate 7500GB FreeAgent Pro
> 2) New
> 3) Never used for anything except the 622
> 4) Intermittent error 855 when I moved programs onto it. Managed to get about 50 gigs on it. Then error 855 occurred every time I tried to move programs onto Seagate despite 622 saying Seagate had more than 600 gigs of free space. Could look at events on drive, could play them could delete them but could not add more. Doubt it was because drive was asleep because error also came up after I played programs from drive or deleted them, etc. Replaced with a 750 gig WD that has no problems.
> ...


Well, it's a generalization to say one brand name HD is good or bad all the time. What we have here (IMO) is a compatibility issue you would not likely see with a Seagate or any other popular replacement drive you would use for a PC.
The FreeAgent has a configuration best suited as a PC backup where it would likely not encounter these problems as it does being used with a DVR that is programmed to unique Dish requirements. (as you have noticed, Gary).
I think it might be safe to say DN and Seagate may have also generalized the best use for this series would extend to DVR archiving.
Let them sort it out.. they have no choice if they want to stem an impending tide of consumer complaints.


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## pmreed (Jan 28, 2005)

Gotta echo mpeckman. I bought the Seagate 500 gig Freeagent because it was demoed on the Technical Chat. Unhappy camper. 

1. Archived one event ~ 7.5 gig
2. Restored that event.
3. Unable to archive any more events, 855 error.
4. Attempted to delete archived event. Unsuccessful.
5. Archived event has disappeared, but memory reduded by ~7.5 gig
I'll try and return it to OfficeMax tomorrow.
Phil


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## kpoarse (Dec 9, 2004)

How is it that E* and/or Seagate have not addressed these glaring problems at all? I'd guess a lot of people are buying external drives for the first time just for this purpose, and a lot of those first time buyers will end up returning Seagates for WD or other brands that will perform without the headaches and constant power cycles just to work correctly. I'd also guess that the next time those people go looking for an external HD (either for additional receiver storage or PC backup/storage), they're not even going to consider buying a Seagate.

Would appear that there's a decent base of prime target customers that Seagate can essentially throw out the window by its ridiculous failure to test before release and further failure to work with E* to find a quick solution.

My two brand new Seagate 500GB drives go back to Office Max first thing tomorrow morning. I've got better things to do with my time than play with power plugs and/or worry about early burnout.


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## Devin79 (May 11, 2005)

1. Seagate 500GB FreeAgent Go Drive

2. New drive.

3. Never used for anything else.

_My big problem is I can no longer transfer recordings from the 622 to the Seagate after the drive sits for awhile. I am assuming the drive goes to sleep and the 622 reports and "Error 855" - "There was a problem with the USB device" (or something to that effect). Power cycling the drive fixes the problem, but that is going to have a very low WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). We need to figure out a way for the 622 to "wake up" the drive. What's weird is I can play programs off the drive even after it goes to sleep, but even doing that does not allow me to transfer recordings to the drive. More than likely, the drive is going back to Costco if there is not a fix soon (besides I hate the glowing yellow that envelopes the enclosure - whoever thought that was a good idea should be fired)._

This is the exact same problem I am having.


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## allargon (May 3, 2007)

Ron Barry said:


> I know there have been a number of posts with seagate users having issues with USB support. I wanted to create a thread to capture the details so it is easy to find and possible look for commonality points. So if you have a Seagate USB drive, please post your experience here both good and bad. Be detailed and try and stick to factual information. INformation to include.
> 
> 1) Model of your USB drive. Please include the model name and Model number.
> 2) How old is your USB drive?
> ...


1) Seagate FreeAgent 500GB
2) Opened it August 15 2007
3) Nope
4) No, sometimes the 622 has to wait for the drive to spin up--otherwise it's fine for playback and transferring (transferring is slow but that's a common issue I read) -- can't view stored programs on TV2 (Grr!)
5) 34 - mixture of OTA, Voom, Cinemax, Discovery, PPV and some SD


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## mpeckman (May 6, 2004)

It's nice to have thread about this problem but it would be better if someone gave us some help...

I called Dish and they knew nothing about it but if i reboot ,that might fix it (it.didn't)
i called seagate and they said they do not support their drives used with DVRs????

Does anyone know what to do???????????????


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## Hutch123 (Aug 21, 2007)

I knew I should have waited to purchase my hardrive but just couldn't. Too excited. Well the excitement has worn off. Not really because when it works as it should it is great. I really do not want to have to return and get another drive. I want this to work as it should. I will give the folks at E* time to work some magic.

1. Seagate FreeAgent Desktop USB

2. Purchased 8/15/07

3. Drive only used for VIP622

4. Issues: The only way for the drive to operate as it should is to remove the power and usb from the drive and reconnect after it has not been used for a time.
Without doing that I am able to play an event but cannot stop or pause as I would in the DVR. I can only play or ffw to the end of the event. There is no resume option because of this. I can transfer an event from the HDD to the DVR but can't transfer from the DVR to the HDD. Cannot delete an event from the HDD when in this mode. I guess my workaround would be to keep the drive unplugged until I need to use it. 

5. I have 17 events with 350.4 GB remaining on the drive.


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

mpeckman said:


> i called seagate and they said they do not support their drives used with DVRs????
> 
> Does anyone know what to do???????????????


Tell them they better fire their marketing rep. who appeared on a Dishnetwork broadcast telling everyone how great their drives are for just that purpose!!!
They say they don't support it for that use, but nothing in their warranty prohibits it.

I plan to wait another week, and see if Dish owes up to this and comes up with a solution. If not, do an exchange with newegg.com for a different drive.

Maybe it's time for us FreeAgent users to write [email protected]
I would bet Dish is skirting the issue until they have it solved. I can't believe they don't know about it, but of course a lot of the CSRs would not have a clue.


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

1) 500GB FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA - ST305004FPA1E2-RK

2) new bought it on 08/18/07

3) I connected it to my laptop to download the utilities, then connected to 622, it formatted and started to work

4) As mentioned here I had a problem loosing connection to the drive, which seam to cause several other side effects 1) Not able to access the drive until recycling the 622 and drive. 2) Not able to play shows directly of the drive. The show will start and the freeze, after a few minutes it releases but the drive is not accessible. A few other I can remember.

After archiving about 15 hours of HD shows, Not been able to consistently working. I moved the drive to my other 622 and I was able to see all the shows on the drive as well as I was able to copy them into the second 622. Then I decided to copy a show back into the drive and view it. everything worked fine on that 622. 

Receiver 1 with most of the problems has:
Software L441RBDD-N
Boot strap 1710RBDD

Receiver 2 appears to be working fine has:
Software L441RBDD-N
Boot strap 1711RBDD

The only difference is the bootstap....i will test it again on the 2nd receiver to see if works better


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## twindaddy (Feb 5, 2007)

Ron Barry said:


> 1) Model of your USB drive. Please include the model name and Model number.
> 2) How old is your USB drive?
> 3) Has the drive been used for anything other than your 622/722?
> 4) Are you experiencing any issues? if so? Describe in detail what you are seeing in as much detail as possilbe. Feel free to cut and past from your posts in other threads. How full is your drive? Does it happen all the time? Random? etc.... Does it happen when you do one event at a time or does it happen with multiple?
> 5) How many events do you have on your drive?


622 software: 441

1. Seagate FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA 500 GB ST305004FPA1E2-RK
2. purchased new 8/16/07
3. drive only used for 622
4a. No issues when the drive has been freshly power cycled.
4b. Many issues after the drive falls asleep (15 min idle) and resumes:
* 855 - error occurred transferring to usb device. Happens when I try to archive any show to external drive.
* During playback of an archived event, I press pause and usability deteriorates rapidly:
- fast forward goes 4x instead of slow motion
- skip forward jumps forward and resumes play instead of one frame forward followed by pause
- pressing pause or play to resume play does nothing. workaround is to skip forward since this (incorrectly) resumes play
- stop button does nothing. Need to press "view live TV" to get out of usb playback if I want to play back something else from usb.
* can't delete event
5. 12 events (11*1=11 hours of HD content, 1x30=30 min SD)

In summary, my Seagate external drive is very reliable when it's just been power cycled. However, when it falls asleep and resumes, that's when it reliably behaves erratically, as stated above.


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## dmspen (Dec 1, 2006)

Has anyone had issues with Maxtor drives? Seagate purchased Maxtor some time ago. I just purchased a couple of Maxtor drives, one to use with my 622.


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## ChuckA (Feb 7, 2006)

No problems with Maxtor for me. Works just fine.


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## fredberry (Mar 26, 2007)

I have the 320GB Seagate FreeAgent (not the Pro) and can confirm what twindaddy has experienced. When I select 'manage the external storage' after the drive has cycled down I do get the error message, however, if I make the same request again allowing it time to spin up it will display the directory. But that's where it operationally stops working. For example, it will not let me archive a new file to the drive without power cycling the drive. 

Clearly, these drives work correctly when attached to PCs, therefore, I believe this can be fixed with a change to the 622/722 firmware. Has DISH recognized this and commented on it yet?


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## HalfFull (Jul 18, 2007)

hdaddikt said:


> Downloading the Seagate utility where you can adjust the sleep time all the way to Never is the more appropriate fix.
> But you have to decide if it is worth restoring all the events so you don't lose them, and then reformatting the HD to work with windows while you execute the utility fix. I did read one thread where it was mentioned you don't have to reformat to just implement the utility on the ext. drive. I don't know that will work for a fact.


I have the FreeAgent drive and used the utility to set sleep mode to "never". You don't have to reformat the drive, as I already had recordings when I set the sleep mode.

Just install the utility on your PC (with the USB drive plugged into the PC) While installing the program, abort the install when it gets to the "backup software" part. You will then have a desktop ICON. Run the tool, select utilities, and reset sleep mode to "never".

My drive now works with no problems.


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

HalfFull said:


> I have the FreeAgent drive and used the utility to set sleep mode to "never". You don't have to reformat the drive, as I already had recordings when I set the sleep mode.
> 
> Just install the utility on your PC (with the USB drive plugged into the PC) While installing the program, abort the install when it gets to the "backup software" part. You will then have a desktop ICON. Run the tool, select utilities, and reset sleep mode to "never".
> 
> My drive now works with no problems.


Thanks! I was curious about setting it for something other than NEVER. But I suspect the warning that the drive is not formatted will keep popping up periodically if the drive is not fully spun up when entering the USB Storage menu.


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## twindaddy (Feb 5, 2007)

So it looks like the choices (for us Seagate owners) are:

1. wait for a fix from Dish
2. turn off sleep on the drive
3. buy a different brand

Is it time for a new thread/survey to see what people are going to do? What will YOU do? I'm seeking advice!


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## fredberry (Mar 26, 2007)

As for me, I'm going to wait for DISH to update the firmware. 

Because of the complexity of what they have implemented, they will be making an update in the not too distant future. I believe they were pressed to make the release on 8/15 so I'm sure they did so with known bugs. I would find it hard to believe that they weren't aware of this one at release time. 

In the meantime, I would be hesitant to buy another vendor's drive until I had reports that the update to 4.41 did not break anything else. Then and only then will I make a decision whether to keep my Seagate attached to the 622 or put it on my PC. However, I expect they will fix this compatibility problem with the next update. 

Seagate is the number 1 drive vendor in the world and with the 5 year warranty for FreeAgent drives, the demand for their product on DISH DVR's will only grow.


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

Being a tweaker, I went ahead and used Seagate tools to cancel the spin down.
Works perfectly now. 
I may back out the change if Dish comes out with a fix, and it is recommended to keep the original settings.


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

socceteer said:


> 1) 500GB FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA - ST305004FPA1E2-RK
> 
> 2) new bought it on 08/18/07
> 
> ...


UPDATE

I moved the drive to my 622 with the higher Boot Strap level and so far so good I have not had any off the isses I reported with my 1st receiver. I changed the sleep time and tried it on the 1st receiver, it did not seam to work for me


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## countyroad265 (Aug 19, 2007)

mpeckman said:


> new seagate 500
> error message 855
> drive is going back tomorrow.
> got a seagate because of the "chat"
> bad pr.


Oh, the irony. I actually rewound the Tech Chat and carefully noted the exact drive they seemed to be recommending, and ordered it for next-day delivery from Amazon.

But I can use it elsewhere, fortunately. So now I'm getting a Maxtor. Just looking to avoid problems. None of this sounds especially fun.


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## mpeckman (May 6, 2004)

I wrote to [email protected] about my problem with my hard drive. The answer I got back doesn't sound too good:

Michael,

Thanks for the email and bringing this to my attention. I would like to apologize for the trouble you have been having with the external hard drive feature on your 622 HD DVR. Unfortunately, there are currently no troubleshooting steps that I can perform to help resolve the issue. I have forwarded this to our Technical Operations group for review. They have better experience to help resolve this issue for you. They will contact you with any information they have regarding a fix they may have for the issue.

If we are not able to resolve the technical problem for you, please let me know and I will reverse the $39.99 charge to your account. Thanks for your patience. Have a great rest of the day.

Sincerely,

Eric V.

Executive Communications

EchoStar Satellite L.L.C.

Dba DISH Network


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## mpeckman (May 6, 2004)

Just got a phone call from:

James E.

Technical Operations Specialist II

EchoStar Satellite, L.L.C.

Extension 42685, ***-***-****

He told me to take the Seagate back and get a Western.
Dish has NO fix for the Seagate.
That should answer any questions about what to do and what not to buy....


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

mpeckman said:


> Just got a phone call from:
> 
> James E.
> 
> ...


He should have added, "And thank you for checking that out for us! By the way, we took the Seagate rep out to the desert...."

I think it's still early.. wait until more complaints build up. It's only an incompatibility problem they (or Seagate) did not check for. And it can be fixed.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

mpeckman said:


> Just got a phone call from:
> 
> James E.
> 
> ...


First off.. at the beginning of this thread I asked to provide facts. We are starting to rock throw a bit and since this is the 622/722 support form it is a "No Bash" zone so lets try and keep to the facts.

Since this is second hand from mpeckman, it is hard to say what James was attempting to do. My take would be he was trying to provide a immediate solution to the problem given the circumstances. Based on what I have read in this thread, there are two options:

1) Use the PC tool and disable the sleep timeout.
2) Exchange the Drive with something known not to have this issue.

As for a fix from Dish... Well these issues take time to root cause, fix, and test. It has been about 2 wks since the release so I would not consider it a long time. I am sure for the people feeling the pain it seems like ages and i know where you are coming from. Been there myself more times than I would like to admit. So at this point James answer of NO I am sure is accurate and what I would expect it to be.

As another Data point, I have a WD Mybook 250GB drive. It sleeps and when I pull up the menu it comes alive and works. I am not trying to throw salt on Seagate users with this issue's wounds, I am just providing the same use case that appears to work so there is something different between the Seagate and the WD that makes one work and one that doesn't. Makes me wonder if something non-standard is going on. As for the Tech show, I was on vacation and it does seem ironic but like I said in other threads.. it is definitely ironic though there is a number of explanations I can see to explain the events.

One last note..... I have passed this link on to E* just in case they missed it. Lets keep this thread focused on experiences and try to keep away from the venting. If you need to vent on how this could have happend. Open a thread in the general forums where the "No Bash" rule is not in effect.

So now back on topic..... If you would like further clarification, drop me a PM and I would be happy to provide. I really don't want to further muddy the water here...

Thanks and hopefully we will see relief soon.


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

The good thing Ron, is that there is a 'fix' for folks who want full use of their Free Agent drives without of the hassle of returning them to the retailer.

I am sure Dish would rather address all problems with a proposed solution than turning around every day to put out small fires.
And they need to duplicate the problems before they can resolve them.

I am a little more upset over Seagate's indifference over this problem. They should at least be willing to look into why this popular line of drives is not compatible with the 622 rather than promote the idea it is not intended to work with DVRs.

Thanks for keeping us on track. The best we can do as users, is report our experiences and offer recommendations.


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## odbrv (May 12, 2006)

twindaddy said:


> So it looks like the choices (for us Seagate owners) are:
> 
> 1. wait for a fix from Dish
> 2. turn off sleep on the drive
> ...


I have tried everything. My older computer is not USB 2.0 so I cannot reset the spin down. Seagate will not support DVR's and E* is not saying anything. My 2 Seagate FReeAgent 500 Gb units go back today. Has anyone had any luck with SimpleTech® 500GB 3.5" External USB 2.0 Hard Drive .


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

Ron Barry said:


> As for a fix from Dish... Well these issues take time to root cause, fix, and test. It has been about 2 wks since the release so I would not consider it a long time. I am sure for the people feeling the pain it seems like ages and i know where you are coming from. Been there myself more times than I would like to admit. So at this point James answer of NO I am sure is accurate and what I would expect it to be.


Ron...thanks for keeping us updated.

Earlier on this thread I reported that I have 2 622 DVRs and I have tried the Seagate on both. I do not have any problems with the one on the latest bootstrap level. and I do have problems with the one on the lower bootstrap. Working with software for many years, this sounds to me like a great clue to go back and see what is different between the 2 bootstrap levels. Even though Seagate should have an interest in supporting the 622/722, It seam like we have a problem with the software on the 622/722.

I hope support is reading these appends and take this lead and do a compare between the bootstrap levels.


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## countyroad265 (Aug 19, 2007)

I'm sure I've missed some nuances on this issue, but one thing jumps out at me: the problem Seagate drives are eSATA drives, which I believe is a hybrid approach that probably works perfectly well in a PC environment. It seems to work less well, if at all, in this unique application. 

I don't recall seeing persistent problems with any "normal" USB drives.

It's certainly unfortunate for those of us who purchased these drives, but I couldn't reasonably expect a near-term fix from Dish for a problem seemingly confined to one small family of drives, when there are hundreds of others easily available that have no reported problems.

If you're logged into this forum, odds are high that you're "bleeding-edge" consumers, and we will occasionally get cuts and scrapes from jumping on the latest and greatest. I've definitely seen worse.

As I look at the unopened box containing my 750gb Seagate Free Agent Pro eSATA USB drive, I'm just grateful for the info in this forum that kept me from hooking it up to the 622 and entering the gates of troubleshooting hell.


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## garywiley (Jun 16, 2007)

I still had problems with powerdown 5 hours, so I set it to never powerdown.This did not correct the stability issues, so I returned the drive.

Yesterday I spoke with Echostar engineering, they are well aware of the Seagate problem and are trying to figure out a solution.

I asked about the WD Mybook and was told they are having problems with them.

I was told that the Maxtor drives seem the most stable.

Gary



garywiley said:


> I have the same drive with the same problems. I installed the FreeAgent Pro software and reset the powerdown to 5 hours.
> 
> To install the software I had to repartition and format the drive. What a
> pain.
> ...


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

My solution involved setting Tools to NEVER for spin down time.
Since I always have my a/v receiver powered up when using my Dish receiver, I plugged the FreeAgent into the switched outlet of my power conditioner.
I have a 12v trigger from my receiver to the conditioner to switch those outlets accordingly.
This way at least, the drive does not run 24/7.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

socceteer said:


> Ron...thanks for keeping us updated.
> 
> Earlier on this thread I reported that I have 2 622 DVRs and I have tried the Seagate on both. I do not have any problems with the one on the latest bootstrap level. and I do have problems with the one on the lower bootstrap. Working with software for many years, this sounds to me like a great clue to go back and see what is different between the 2 bootstrap levels. Even though Seagate should have an interest in supporting the 622/722, It seam like we have a problem with the software on the 622/722.
> 
> I hope support is reading these appends and take this lead and do a compare between the bootstrap levels.


I read your post as I am sure people interested have also. What baffles me with our post compared to the other posts is that people are having successes hooked up to the same 622 after they disable the sleep timeout. This would make me think part of the root cause is the timeout.

Are you saying you are having success without no timeout on one of your 622s and not the other? If you are saying that, then perhaps another factor is the bootstrap though this would really suprise me.


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

Ron Barry said:


> I read your post as I am sure people interested have also. What baffles me with our post compared to the other posts is that people are having successes hooked up to the same 622 after they disable the sleep timeout. This would make me think part of the root cause is the timeout.
> 
> Are you saying you are having success without no timeout on one of your 622s and not the other? If you are saying that, then perhaps another factor is the bootstrap though this would really suprise me.


I can't remember the exact sequence of events....however if I recall correctly I changed the time out after I read the appends on this thread. and that was a day after I tested both DVRs.

Even today after I changed the timeout, I still have problems with my 1st DVR and none with the second..! I was hoping that the timeout change would have fix it but it did not.

When I first used the drive, It ran fine the entire time while I was archiving 8 hours of HD data. It started to act after that. I am assuming that it did not have a chance to sleep while it was archiving. therefore it seam to be fine. Only after it sat for a while that I started to have problems. However on my second DRV, I have not had a single incident, even when It turn it off and start it again.


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## twindaddy (Feb 5, 2007)

twindaddy said:


> 622 software: 441
> 
> 1. Seagate FreeAgent Pro USB/eSATA 500 GB ST305004FPA1E2-RK
> 2. purchased new 8/16/07
> ...


More info in response to a few other replies I've read here:

My bootstrap is 1711RBDD. I haven't changed the sleep from the default -- still at 15 min. As said before, I haven't seen any issues after a fresh power cycle. After the drive falls asleep and wakes up, I have on several occasions actually had no issues. But, more often than not after a wake-up, it suffers the problems mentioned above.

I think I'm going to try getting a WD book before I try turning off the sleep on the Seagate. It seems the WD's aren't problematic (I don't see a similar WD thread).


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## fpajerski (Dec 19, 2002)

1) Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500GB ST305004FDA1E1-RK
2) purchased new 22Aug2007
3) only attached to 622
4) no issues right after 622 hard-rebooted (via pressing the power switch for seconds). But, some hours after I have remote-off'ed the 622. I remote-on it and immediately receive a 855 transfer-error when trying to archive a recording to the EHD, and am not able to delete/restore recordings on the EHD altho I can play them (with some funny skip-forward/backwards actions when those keys are pressed). Another 622 hard-boot corrects all this ... for a while.


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## MQuinn (Apr 18, 2005)

1) Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 400 GB drive ST3400620AS
2) older drive, but all sectors were tested good with SpinRite

622 saw drive - did format routine - transferred 1 video. Played back a little of the video - worked fine.

Started transfer of 2nd video - watched it start - walked away. Came back 1/2 hour later - went into USB, pressed manage device - it told me I needed to authorize the USB service.....

Rebooted 622.

Went into menu, pressed manage device, box hung.

Rebooted 622
Went into menu, pressed "list photos" (I had put none on) - device put up box saying something about "getting photo list". 15 minutes later - still there - 
Rebooted 622.

Called support - they said about all they could do was "resend" the authorization.


Now, sometimes the 622 tells me the device needs formatting, sometimes it tells me that the feature needs authorization, and sometimes it just hangs (using the Manage device menu).

I guess I'll try a different brand drive and see if that makes a difference. I don't think this particular type of drive sleeps, and it certainly wouldn't have "slept" in the middle of a transfer.


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## fpajerski (Dec 19, 2002)

followup to yesterday's post ...

Powering off/on the EHD corrects the 855 transfer-error and no-deletion problem, until some period of inactivity occurs. This is certainly a better circumvention than a 622 hard-reboot. Since the EHD is for me an archival device and thus is infrequently used, I can fairly easily live with this. Have emailed DishTV tech support about this, no reply yet.


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## pmreed (Jan 28, 2005)

I returned my Seagate Freeagent 500 gig yesterday to Officemax. Felt like I had to after this response from Dish to my (our) problem.


> The agents you spoke with previously have submitted your information for our engineering department. They will try to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we do not have a status report for this situation at this time and these issues are usually fixed in a software update. Please remember to turn off your receiver when you are not watching TV, so that it can receive the update when it becomes available.


Guess I'll look for a deal on a Maxtor, or WD this weekend.

Phil


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## ViP9999 (Aug 24, 2007)

1) Model of your USB drive. Please include the model name and Model number.
2) How old is your USB drive?
3) Has the drive been used for anything other than your 622/722?
4) Are you experiencing any issues? if so? Describe in detail what you are seeing in as much detail as possilbe. Feel free to cut and past from your posts in other threads. How full is your drive? Does it happen all the time? Random? etc.... Does it happen when you do one event at a time or does it happen with multiple?
5) How many events do you have on your drive?


1) Seagate Barracuda ATA V 120Gbytes

2) HDD drive has had a LONG life. Previously this drive was in my XBOX and has been used for hundreds of hours of gaming and video viewing pushing the drive to the max.

3)This drives been used for gaming and mass storage for years.

4) Ok, heres my setup. I have a ViP622 connected to Seagate 120 gig with no jumpers (slave mode) stored in a Koutech EEU323 USB 2.0 Clear Hi-Speed External Enclosure. Got drive enclosure for 33.32 out the door from NEWEGG. I love this enclosure because it's clear and has blue and red LED status lights, looks nice when lights are off. Drive fan is not super loud. With golden screwdriver in hand assembled drive in 10 minutes. Used Windows driver CD as drink coaster and formatted drive using OSX disk utility. Plugged into back USB port of 622 receiver and was recognized immediately and reformatted to DISH DVR format. Although drive is 120 only 110.2 is able to be used for storage. Makes sense but it would be nice to get that extra 10 gigs. No major issues so far but haven't put the drive through its paces. Have only had HDD feature activated for less than 24 hours. I have read through the posts and see that some are having problems with reboots and events not deleting properly but have not experienced personally. Only a few issue so far. This morning i went to USB Storage and said I had to activate feature before it could be used. I pressed "OK" on the remote and was managing my drive again I've transferred High Def movies races TV shows. When I start transferring and click on "VIEW TV" if i go back to USB storage and see how much remaining time is left on my transfer the status is blank, but still copies over even though can't view status after clicking on "VIEW TV" and returning to the MENU. Other than that everythings great. NO PLAYBACK PROBLEMS._WISHLIST_ Wish i could record while watching USB event but that'll probably be later on. I have a 30 gig iPod i'd like to use for storage or to be able to plug into usb port and use as an .MP3 player. With an upgrade this feature could be a reality. That is something i would LOVE to see Dish do. In fact, if Dish added iPod support of any kind they would probably GAIN CUSTOMERS. In the mean time I've got my USB fan plugged into the front to keep my rig cooler.

5) 5 events


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## ViP9999 (Aug 24, 2007)

Oops, figured out how to record while watching USB playback. Like i said, only had this feature for less than 24 hours.


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## ViP9999 (Aug 24, 2007)

Also This Is Very Very Important. If You Do Buy The Koutech Case Do Not Use The Installation Cd...doing So Will Install A Web Server On Your Machine And Attempt To Connect Via Http Port 8080 To A South Korean Ip Address. I Am Not Making This Up...the Case Comes With A Install Cd. Do Not Use It!


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

socceteer said:


> I can't remember the exact sequence of events....however if I recall correctly I changed the time out after I read the appends on this thread. and that was a day after I tested both DVRs.
> 
> Even today after I changed the timeout, I still have problems with my 1st DVR and none with the second..! I was hoping that the timeout change would have fix it but it did not.
> 
> When I first used the drive, It ran fine the entire time while I was archiving 8 hours of HD data. It started to act after that. I am assuming that it did not have a chance to sleep while it was archiving. therefore it seam to be fine. Only after it sat for a while that I started to have problems. However on my second DRV, I have not had a single incident, even when It turn it off and start it again.


UPDATE:

I checked the Drive and I had it setup to sleep after 5 hours, however Receive #2 always worked even with the lower sleep time. After I changed the timeout never. I tried it again on both DVRs #1 has all the problems reported, DVR#2 has no problems at all.


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## mpeckman (May 6, 2004)

I also returned my Seagate Freeagent 500 gig yesterday to Officemax.
I never got a response from Seagate other then" We don"t support DVRs"


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## MQuinn (Apr 18, 2005)

MQuinn said:


> 1) Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 400 GB drive ST3400620AS
> 2) older drive, but all sectors were tested good with SpinRite


Followup to previous post: Put this drive in a different enclosure, let dish reformat it, and things now work - apparently something bad with the interface on the enclosure (although Windows was ok with it).

There's still a bug in the Dish software though - about 30% of the time that I try to go into the "manage disk" menu, it tells me the feature needs to be authorized. I press "OK", and then it follows on to the "manage disk" section - so no real harm, just annoying....


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

I suspect the only bug is the wording of the error message. I get whenever the drive has gone to sleep. What happens is the 622 checks for the drive, the drive starts to spin up. However not fast enough for the 622 so it produces that incorrectly worded error.

It should be easy enough for Dish to introduce a wait for spinup and a properly worded error.


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

If you plan to use a Seagate FreeAgent series and have fixed the spin down problem, I'd like to suggest these ways to power down the Seagate so it does not run 24/7.

1. Connect it to a switched AC socket on the back of your a/v receiver if it has one. I take it the receiver is usually on when you would use your ext. drive.

2. If you have a power conditioner some have a 12v trigger input from a/v receivers or amps you can use to switch other components plugged into the conditioner off and on when the rec. or amp is switched.

3. Amazon sells this: It will sense your TV or other devices powering up or down and turn off your HD if it's plugged into it.

http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Smart-...88-0880866?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1188352243&sr=8-1


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

hdaddikt said:


> If you plan to use a Seagate FreeAgent series and have fixed the spin down problem, I'd like to suggest these ways to power down the Seagate so it does not run 24/7.
> 
> 1. Connect it to a switched AC socket on the back of your a/v receiver if it has one. I take it the receiver is usually on when you would use your ext. drive.
> 
> ...


That is a very cool device... however....lets not go crazy and buy anymore things to fix the spin problem. As I reported one of my 622 works fine and the other does not, I think the problem is on the software, since one has a higher boot strap level, that is a big clue to me.


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

socceteer said:


> That is a very cool device... however....lets not go crazy and buy anymore things to fix the spin problem. As I reported one of my 622 works fine and the other does not, I think the problem is on the software, since one has a higher boot strap level, that is a big clue to me.


This has nothing to do with fixing the 'spin-DOWN' problem, per se.

Just the opposite, it is turn off the drive so it does not run 24/7 when you don't need it for those of us who have successfully managed the original problem using Seagate FreeAgent Pro tools.


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## voripteth (Oct 25, 2005)

My FreeAgent Pro 750 is still at the factory defaults and I don't have a problem with spin-down when playing from the external drive. After the drive has spun down I do get an extra "Authorize" message when trying to manage the disk but when I retry it works correctly. Movies from the external drive play fine in this situation. 

Unfortunately I cannot copy anything new to the drive when it is in this mode. A quick power cycle with the external drive fixes the problem. While annoying it isn't a deal breaker since I play movies far more often than I copy them.

It would be nice to know if Dish plans to fix this problem.


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## twindaddy (Feb 5, 2007)

voripteth said:


> Movies from the external drive play fine in this situation.


- What about when you press pause then frame forward? Does it skip forward 30 seconds or one frame?
- Or pause and then fast forward? Does it enter slow motion or 4x fast forward?
- Or press stop? Does it stop and go back to a menu, or does it just act like pause?


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## voripteth (Oct 25, 2005)

twindaddy said:


> - What about when you press pause then frame forward? Does it skip forward 30 seconds or one frame?
> - Or pause and then fast forward? Does it enter slow motion or 4x fast forward?
> - Or press stop? Does it stop and go back to a menu, or does it just act like pause?


I haven't tried all these trick play features yet. They aren't all that reliable when using the on the main disk either.

As for what I have tried, Rew, FF, skip 30 seconds all seem to work normally while playing on the external drive.

I have had some problems with Stop where it behaves more like a pause than a stop.

I'll have to check on the other functionality when I get home.


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## fredberry (Mar 26, 2007)

Like socceteer, I have two 622's, one w/bootstrap revision 1710 and the other at 1711, and have confirmed his experience with the Seagate FreeAgent drive. My drive is a 320GB (non-Pro version) and when connected to the 1710 bootstrap DVR requires power cycling to access the contents (the directory displays OK w/o power cycling but gets the infamous error message when trying to read or write a movie to the drive). 

When I connect the drive to my 'bootstrap 1711' 622 I have no problems at all. I am able to access the drive, fast forward, etc., w/o having to touch the drive in any way. I have not performed a rigorous test to verify there are no problems but initial indications are quite positive. 

So what does this mean? Unfortunately, according to Dish Tech Support, there is no way to update bootstrap software in the field. While the empirical evidence implies that there is an apparent 'fix' for the Seagate FreeAgent problem, only Dish will be able to determine if they can resolve it on bootstrap 1710 units. This could be difficult or maybe even impossible if the offending code in the bootstrap software can't be circumvented. 

If not, then our only options will be 1) a fix from Seagate for FreeAgent drives (don't hold your breath), 2) power cycling the unit when you first need to access it (assuming you want it to power down when not in use), 3) send our bootstrap 1710 622's back to Dish for a bootstrap update (gosh, now that would be a universally popular approach! NOT!!) or, 4) get a different drive subsystem. 

Remember, this is not a disk drive issue but a disk subsystem one. The FreeAgent product provides enhanced capabilities that go beyond a generic USB interface. Any Seagate drive in a low cost, no-name enclosure would probably work just fine. But the same drive front-ended by the FreeAgent interface does not appear to be compatible w/1710 bootstrap 622's. 

Given alternatives #1 and 3 we can now understand why both companies have made #4 their immediate response to the problem. While I can't disagree with their position in the interim, I do hope they come up with a permanent work-around for the long-term.


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## twindaddy (Feb 5, 2007)

I have bootstrap 1711 (see my post in this thread, #54, from 08-23-07, 06:20 PM) with a FreeAgent Pro (unclear if Pro is really any different than non-pro, besides from bundled software) and experience the problems. Bear in mind, the problems don't always crop up. It works fine after a power cycle. Sometimes after waking up from a deep sleep it also works fine. But, more often than not, I can reproduce it after waking the drive up.


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## yovinman (Feb 8, 2004)

Returned my Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB to Costco - no questions asked. Got a WD Essentials 750GB at Best Buy for $159 ($179 less $20 Rewards certificate). The Seagate not being able to transfer correctly after spin down was a deal breaker for me (and the wife). The oozing yellow glow did not help either. The only thing the Seagate had going for it was that it was virtually silent. The WD seems to be working a lot better. While not dead silent like the Seagate, it is still very quiet. I cannot hear it from my couch. Next time, perhaps Seagate and Dish should test their products before they start touting them on the next Tech Talk. Oh, and Seagate - you should probably inform your CSRs that telling customers that you don't support your drives on DVRs isn't a smart move either. Thanks for the 2 week adventure, but I'm glad it's over.


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## Marriner (Jan 23, 2006)

fredberry said:


> Like socceteer, I have two 622's, one w/bootstrap revision 1710 and the other at 1711, and have confirmed his experience with the Seagate FreeAgent drive. My drive is a 320GB (non-Pro version) and when connected to the 1710 bootstrap DVR requires power cycling to access the contents (the directory displays OK w/o power cycling but gets the infamous error message when trying to read or write a movie to the drive).
> 
> When I connect the drive to my 'bootstrap 1711' 622 I have no problems at all.


Which dvr did you connect the drive to first? This may not be a Bootstrap issue, it may be a authentication issue.


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## patmurphey (Dec 21, 2006)

If all you have to do is turn off the sleep mode (instructions available on many forums), and you have a 5 year warranty, *what's the beef?*


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## kzuiderveld (Sep 2, 2007)

I have the FreeAgent 750GB Seagate. I did turn off the sleep mode. I then archived all the content of my 622 only to discover I could not play it or restore it because of error 855. 
So "what's the beef"? I lost all my recordings and have a non-working setup! I'm hoping that Dish will fix this issue with a new software upload soon - if not, would be very bad PR.


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## BrianG (Jul 9, 2006)

1) Model of your USB drive - FreeAgent Pro 750GB ST307504FPA1E3-RK (from Costco)
2) How old is your USB drive - A few weeks old
3) Has the drive been used for anything other than your 622/722 - No
4) Are you experiencing any issues - See below
5) How many events do you have on your drive - Several (at the time of my problems)

ViP-622 w/software version L4.41

__________ PROBLEMS __________ 

My first problem was when the E* added my $40 HD service and asked me to copy a program from the 622 to the external HD. After hanging up the phone, I copied several more programs to the external HD and then watched one of them. I then tried to delete the program I had just watched. It looked like the program was going to delete (got the "are you sure message", and no errors), but it just stayed there in my list of recordings. I tried to transfer the program back to the 622, but it just made a copy and still could not delete from the external HD. I found that protected programs that were copied to the external HD could not be deleted, while non-protected could. 

My second problem was the loss of function in the stop, play, and pause keys while watching an event from the external HD. Someone suggested it was related to sleep time, but I was watching an event at the time and the external HD was hardly in sleep mode. Upon further inspection, I did notice that these keys worked after a reboot of either the 622 or the external HD. 

My third problem was an error message pop-up that prevented me from using the external HD. Don't recall the error number (maybe 855?). Unplugging the USB connector and plugging it back in would resolve this issue. 

My fourth problem was a sudden loss of satellites. This only happened one time. I don't recall what prompted this, but my other 622 with no external HD was fine. The failing 622 kept searching for transponders and could find no signal on any of them. I reset the 622 and everything came back up fine. 

__________ RESOLUTION __________ 

I finally got around to installing my second FreeAgent Pro on my second 622, but first I set sleep time to "never". All functions have worked flawlessly for about a week now. Then I downloaded the software (as discussed in another forum), installed it on a PC, connected my first FreeAgent Pro drive and set the sleep time to "never". All of the issues I had with the first 622 are now gone. I can even delete the protected events that I could not delete before. My drives are connected to switched outlets on my receivers because there's not much use for the drive being powered up when I'm not watching TV. I didn't want to give up on the FreeAgent drive because it's very nice looking, has a 5-year warranty, and has no fan. A fan is just another mechanical part to fail.


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## ViP9999 (Aug 24, 2007)

Hopefully this thread will save another person from going through the same grief.


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

patmurphey said:


> If all you have to do is turn off the sleep mode (instructions available on many forums), and you have a 5 year warranty, *what's the beef?*


The big deal is that it is not true that changing the sleep mode fixes the problem. I have done so and th problem is still there, I even tried another Drive from Western Digital and same problem. I am pretty convinced that DVRs with lower boot strap level that have problem.

As I mentioned on one of my prior appends, one of my 622, the one with a higher bootstrap level runs perfectly even before I changed the sleep mode to never.. It is still working perfectly. While my other 622 never worked right


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

Interesting. Even though my experience with my particular DVR has been flawless, I can't help but feel it is definitely a work-around and not a solution. Maybe with the same results, but obviously not in all cases.


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## fredberry (Mar 26, 2007)

I have to agree w/socceteer that the bootstrap revision does have something to do w/622's supporting FreeAgent drives. 

I first installed my FreeAgent 320GB on my 622 w/bootstrap 1710 and had all the problems as documented on this thread. When I went to my other 622 w/bootstrap 1711 I did not have any problems (just as socceteer has reported). While I don't consider my 'testing' to be rigorous there is a clear difference in how the 1711 (and, I assume, later revision 622's) handles these drives. Please refer to my previous post. 

Also, does anyone know whether revision 4.43 software has any effect on 1710 bootstrap 622's?


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## JmC (Jun 10, 2005)

The bootstrap could be a factor. My 622 has bootstrap 1711. When I first installed the 750GB Freeagent Pro, I first set sleep time to never. After archiving items of interest, I reset the sleep time to 15 minutes. I have not experienced any issues. I do wish I could turn the light off.

I did not want to let the drive spin all the time. At work we had issues with drives failing in the marquee boards. It seems that if the drives do not spin down, the bearing lubricant spins out. We had to provide a script to park the drives periodically. This shouldn’t be a problem with the 622. The nightly reboot allows the drive to spin down.


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## twindaddy (Feb 5, 2007)

JmC said:


> This shouldn't be a problem with the 622. The nightly reboot allows the drive to spin down.


Actually, my experience has been that the nightly reboot spins UP the drive. The reboot effectively disconnects/reconnects the USB which triggers the FreeAgent to spin up for however long the cycle is set to. I noticed this this morning -- I have a 5 hour spin down time. At 7:30 AM, the drive was on. At 8:30 AM, the drive was asleep. Makes sense with a 3 AM reboot + 5 hour sleep setting.


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

fredberry said:


> I have to agree w/socceteer that the bootstrap revision does have something to do w/622's supporting FreeAgent drives.
> 
> I first installed my FreeAgent 320GB on my 622 w/bootstrap 1710 and had all the problems as documented on this thread. When I went to my other 622 w/bootstrap 1711 I did not have any problems (just as socceteer has reported). While I don't consider my 'testing' to be rigorous there is a clear difference in how the 1711 (and, I assume, later revision 622's) handles these drives. Please refer to my previous post.
> 
> Also, does anyone know whether revision 4.43 software has any effect on 1710 bootstrap 622's?


Thanks...I have tested this with to different hard drives and I get the same results with both....the later bootstrap works great regardless which drive I use. with or without changing the sleep mode.

Maybe we should do a pole to see which boot strap level people who are having problems have and at the same time to see if anyone on the higher bootstrap level is having any problems.

May I willl just do that


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Good idea socceteer. Trying to find a commonality is always good. What I would suggest is something like below and have the people post just the Drive model, boot strap, and if they are having issues. That way we can correlate the drive model and bootstrap to having issues. We have collected a lot of experiences here.. I personally don't see a common thread though it does appear most of the issues are with WD premium and the Seagate FreeAgent drives.

I have 1709 and I am not having any issues
I have 1710 and I am not having any issues
I have 1711 and I am not having any issues
I have 1712 and I am not having any issues

I have 1719 and I am having any issues
I have 1710 and I am having any issues
I have 1711 and I am having any issues
I have 1712 and I am having any issues

Also should include the 722 bootstrap versions in the poll.


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## kzuiderveld (Sep 2, 2007)

Seagate 750GB, VIP 622, sleep mode never, bootstrap 1711, L4.43.

After approx 5 minutes, I now get an 853 event: "You have disconnected a multimedia decive from the USB port". This is different behavior from what I had with 4.41. And obviously, I did not disconnect the drive...

I disabled the sleep mode using the Seagate software before attaching it to the 622.


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## JmC (Jun 10, 2005)

twindaddy said:


> Actually, my experience has been that the nightly reboot spins UP the drive. The reboot effectively disconnects/reconnects the USB which triggers the FreeAgent to spin up for however long the cycle is set to. I noticed this this morning -- I have a 5 hour spin down time. At 7:30 AM, the drive was on. At 8:30 AM, the drive was asleep. Makes sense with a 3 AM reboot + 5 hour sleep setting.


The point was that the reboot allows the drive to spin down even if for short while.

I have seen the problem of the receiver not waiting for the drive to spin up. I am now in version 443


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## RASCAL01 (Aug 2, 2006)

I have 4.43 with bootstrap 1710 and still have this problem. I can view what is on the HDD but can not transfer programs unless I do a soft or hard reset.


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## RASCAL01 (Aug 2, 2006)

After todays update, I no longer need to reboot to transfer shows to the Seagate EHDD.

Looks like E* fixed this problem


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## jbjsm (May 15, 2005)

RASCAL01 said:


> After todays update, I no longer need to reboot to transfer shows to the Seagate EHDD.
> 
> Looks like E* fixed this problem


Again! What update today?


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## RASCAL01 (Aug 2, 2006)

Disregaurd prior post. The Seagate issue is not fixed. What happened is that the receiver did the daily update and after that I tried to transfer a program and it work. The reason that it worked is because the receiver did a soft reboot. So the Seagate is still not working correctly. Me bad........


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## SanDiegoinHD (Oct 19, 2006)

ViP9999 said:


> Hopefully this thread will save another person from going through the same grief.


It has.

Glad I remembered to check this forum to see if anyone was having problems with certain hard drives.

The Seagate "whatever the cute name for it is" 750GB is one sale @ BB right now for 199.00. I was about to pick it up. I will not now.

I think I will get the WD Mybook 750GB even though its 269.00 right now. Worth the extra money right now IMO to get one that works properly with the VIP622's new external USB DVR storage/service. Or perhaps the Maxtor one touch.

Still have some last minute homework to do, plus research various prices on both units.


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Be careful with some of the fancy WDs. I seem to recall people having problems with them too. I have the cheapo USB2 only 500Gig WDs that work fine. They were $119 on sale. I suspect that it could be the interfaceon the EHD. USB + Firewire+ eSata or it could be the drive type used SATA vs IDE.


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## Webkikr (Oct 14, 2007)

HalfFull said:


> I have the FreeAgent drive and used the utility to set sleep mode to "never". You don't have to reformat the drive, as I already had recordings when I set the sleep mode.
> 
> Just install the utility on your PC (with the USB drive plugged into the PC) While installing the program, abort the install when it gets to the "backup software" part. You will then have a desktop ICON. Run the tool, select utilities, and reset sleep mode to "never".
> 
> My drive now works with no problems.


Can you just download the Pro version software?

I would like to change the sleep timer as well.


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## patmurphey (Dec 21, 2006)

The only software is the "pro" version - it works fine with the USB only Freeagent.


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## homeron (Oct 17, 2007)

I have an external hard drive Seagate 500 gig The problem: Every time I use it the system does not recognize it. I have to get up and unplug the external drive then replug it in then it will work. Dish answered me back with the following: "Our engineering department is aware of the issue with some external drives. It has been determined the issue is software related and we are actively working to resolve it as soon as possible. The issue will be resolved with a software update in the near future." I bought a Seagate external Drive because it was recommended on Charlie Chat. 
• Model ID VIP722 DVR-HD 
• Software Version L444

• Receiver CA ID R00 8436 3661-80 

• Smart Card CA ID S00 or S19 S19 0777 7445-55

External Hard Drive 

• Brand Seagate

• Model FreeAgent Desktop USB 2.0 External Hard Drive

• Size 500 GB 

It has not worked correctly sense I got it a month ago


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## guyverdh (Oct 16, 2007)

To all Seagate FreeAgent drive users - As reported earlier, this is how to fix most problems related with the Seagate FreeAgent drives related to spin-down.

Go to Seagate's website and download the FreeAgent software.
Install it onto a windows computer. Disconnect the freeagent drive from the dish, connect it to the windows PC.
Do NOT write anything to the drive itself. Do not repartition, do not reformat.

Run the FreeAgent software, select utilities, set spin-down to never.

This is the simplest method of getting the FreeAgent to work all the time if spin-down is the root of your problem.

Any time it spins-down (even at 5 hours) it will need to be unplugged from the 622/722 receiver, unplug the power and the USB. Wait about 10 seconds, plug the USB cable back in, plug in the power, and the receiver will redetect it.

The problem is that the linux usb driver implementation, while working, does not support restart of the usb devices in all cases.

There's a work-around for the linux OS used in the dish units, however, it would require some work on Dish's part to integrate the changes.

I've sent the information to Dish Network, but here's a basic recap.

Once the dish receiver's linux system has detected the USB hard drive, let's say as /dev/sdb, it would use the following commands to set the spin-down to disabled.

Query the drive...

# sdparm -al /dev/sdb

Returns....
/dev/sdb: Seagate FreeAgentDesktop 100D 
Direct access device specific parameters: WP=0 DPOFUA=0 
Power condition [po]
mode page: IDLE 0 [cha: n, def: 0, sav: 0] 
Idle timer active STANDBY 1 [cha: y, def: 1, sav: 1]

# sdparm --clear STANDBY -6 /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb: Seagate FreeAgentDesktop 100D

# sdparm -al /dev/sdb

/dev/sdb: Seagate FreeAgentDesktop 100D 
Direct access device specific parameters: WP=0 DPOFUA=0 
Power condition [po] 
mode page: IDLE 0 [cha: n, def: 0, sav: 0] 
Idle timer active STANDBY 0 [cha: n, def: 1, sav:1]

This option disables the spin-down on the drive automatically if needed.
Reading the output to see if it's a FreeAgent drive before doing the sdparm --clear STANDBY -6 /dev/sdb would of course be prudent.

The other option is, unfortunately, appears to be tied to the 2.6.17/2.6.18 or later line of kernels.
It uses a simple command like...

echo 1 > /sys/block/sda/device/scsi_disk*/allow_restart
or
echo 1 >/sys/class/scsi_disk/0:0:0:0/allow_restart
or
echo 1 >/sys/block/sda/device/allow_restart

All depending on what structures they have configured in their linux filesystem.

This tells the kernel to send a restart (or spinup) command to the drive instead of giving an I/O error.

The later option would be the preferable method of course, allowing the drive to spin-down, saving power and disk life.


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## Techno1 (Nov 4, 2007)

I took back the Seagate Pro 750 and Bought the Maxtor One Touch 750 and it's working without issues.

Vip622 BS 710


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## MLBurks (Dec 16, 2005)

My Seagate FreeAgent 320 Gigs is brand new and have only used in on my 722. If I leave it plugged in and not write to it or read from it for at least a couple of hours, it becomes as if it is not plugged in at all. I end up having to unplug it for 10 seconds and then plug it back in and then it works fine. What I do is just plug it in only when I want to write to it or read from it and then unplug it. But my question is, is that harmful to the drive? Should it be plugged in all of the time or as much as possible?


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Well there are two schools of thought as to leaving it running all the time. 

Leaving it running does wear the bearings on the drive and any fan. Plugged in all the time means it is vulnerable to power surges. Leaving it plugged in uses power if that matters to you.

Unplugging it until needed saves power and wear and tear on moving parts. Unplugging it will cause wear on the socket the plug goes into. 

Some feel that it is the surge of power when something is powered up that can shorten life of electronic devices.

What I do is I have two 500Gb WDs and once in a while I plug in the power and do any moves and watching and then remove the power again. And if I have several I want to watch is I move other stuff to them while I watch something off of the internal drive and then move the others back to the internal drive and pull the power. I usually do these moves in the background whil I'm watching something else.

Cheers


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## tgoyette11 (Dec 16, 2007)

yovinman said:


> 1. Seagate FreeAgent Pro - 750GB
> 2. New (bought at Costco)
> 3. Used only with the 622.
> 4. My big problem is I can no longer transfer recordings from the 622 to the Seagate after the drive sits for awhile. I am assuming the drive goes to sleep and the 622 reports and "Error 855" - "There was a problem with the USB device" (or something to that effect). Power cycling the drive fixes the problem, but that is going to have a very low WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). We need to figure out a way for the 622 to "wake up" the drive. What's weird is I can play programs off the drive even after it goes to sleep, but even doing that does not allow me to transfer recordings to the drive. More than likely, the drive is going back to Costco if there is not a fix soon (besides I hate the glowing yellow that envelopes the enclosure - whoever thought that was a good idea should be fired).


go to seagate website and download software for hard drive. once u due that u can manually ajust the sleep mode. put it on never i would sugest taking the hard drive out the plastic shell if u dont see it because the hard drive gets warm.


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## SJ HART (Feb 12, 2003)

Any fix from DISH coming for this?


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## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

I'm such an idiot.
I got a 200.00 BB gift card for Christmas.
I go to BB and buy the Free Agent Pro 750 without reading this thread.   :nono: 

Had some quirky issues until I did a Hard Reboot of the 622.

Now transfers seem to work fine. I didn't modify spin down times as I'm just now reading this.

Only real issue is if your watching a program from Archive the only way to get out is FF to the end. STOP just freezes the screen and >> makes it resume. >> is the only button that will take it out of the frozen screen.

Prior to this purchase I had a Seagate Barracuda IDE drive in a generic USB 2.0 enclosure and it worked flawless.

I will probably hunt down the biggest IDE drive on Newegg and just use this Seagate Free Agent Pro for PC backup


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## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

This guy should do the trick.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148133

And this is the enclosure I'm using.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817146603


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## SJ HART (Feb 12, 2003)

ssmith10pn said:


> I'm such an idiot.
> I got a 200.00 BB gift card for Christmas.
> I go to BB and buy the Free Agent Pro 750 without reading this thread.   :nono:
> 
> ...


I'm an idiot also! I have an e-mail note into DISH to see what they say. Guess I might just purchased another drive and use this one for my PC if this issue is only specific to these drives. However, I saw one post that indicated that it might have to do with the version of your 622? SJ


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## SJ HART (Feb 12, 2003)

I got an e-mail note from DISH indicating that they were going to fix the problem with these drives in the next update (a couple of weeks). I'm getting mine to work by powering it off with my equipment. Hopefully they will fix the problem soon.... SJ


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