# EHD questions



## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

I am going on Vacation next week and have only 9 hours left on my HD 722 (of HD) and I looked at my Schedule and see that I have 11 hours of shows set to record.
I will go pick up a new ext HD today, but 
Do I need to call Dish Network to get it to work?
Does it cost more?
Should I go with a 750GB, 1TB or a 2TB?


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## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

found this one, the price is good


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## JackDobiash (Jul 20, 2005)

When you plug a USB drive in it gives you a phone number to call to activate it. I think it's $49 to do it, but it's one time and works on all capable receivers in your home (612/622/722). Keep in mind that a 1TB drive isn't 'officially' supported by Dish yet, they only go up to 750GB, but people have posted that they do technically work.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

See http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=138535 for discussion on over 750GB drives discussion.


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## dbrakob (Apr 26, 2006)

Personally I would go with 750GB or 500GB. Western Digital Essentials models seems to work well.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

EHD activation is $40.

Costco has a Maxtor 750GB for $110. [strike]A much better deal all the way around than the 1GB drive[/strike].

I wonder why they have two prices listed for NewEgg.


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## JackDobiash (Jul 20, 2005)

I also would like to state that the WD Essentials models work well. Both of the ones I have are the 500GB models. 

Still $40? That's cool, I thought the price had gone up to $49 (50) already, but maybe that was a 'planned' increase I had heard about down the road.


Hey harsh, small world eh?


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## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

how much HD time do you get from a 750Gb?
Is there a speed difference in going with a EIDE or SATA drive? They would both be in USB 2 boxes


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

forya said:


> how much HD time do you get from a 750Gb?
> Is there a speed difference in going with a EIDE or SATA drive? They would both be in USB 2 boxes


You would probably do well to stick with the suggestions given here. The WD Essential drives seem to have the best track record when it comes to being compatible with the ViPxxx DVR's. The more you stick to the basics, the better off you're going to be.


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## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

I am probably just going to get a case and a separate Hard Drive 
I can get a EIDE, or a SATA

Do the Western digitals my books or whatever have a sleep feature that works with the 722?
It would be nice to not have that drive spinning 24-7


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## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

or Western digital Essentials


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

forya said:


> I am probably just going to get a case and a separate Hard Drive
> I can get a EIDE, or a SATA
> 
> Do the Western digitals my books or whatever have a sleep feature that works with the 722?
> It would be nice to not have that drive spinning 24-7


They do not spin 24/7. They spin up when you access the drive. Remember, the less "features", the more likely you're not going to experience problems.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Yep.. I would concur with TulsaOK on that. You want to go with stripped down USB drive not the ones that have a lot of value added because based on some of the posts here it seems people that have those tend to run into more issues. Also, I recall people going with SATA internally also ran into more issues. I myself have a WD essential and have not ran into any issues. There is a thread here of drives that people report working. I suggest doing a search and reading that thread.


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## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

I just ordered a WD passport 750Gb for $120 It should be in by 9-11. About how many hours of HD recording will I get from a 750GB?


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## JackDobiash (Jul 20, 2005)

forya said:


> I just ordered a WD passport 750Gb for $120 It should be in by 9-11. About how many hours of HD recording will I get from a 750GB?


You should be able to do put 100+ hours of HD on it easily, especially now that most of it is MPEG4 encoded.

BTW, the passport drives are the ones for Laptops right? If so, make sure you use an external power source for it. I've read that the receiver has issues when trying to provide power to those types of drives. (it might not even do it)

EDIT - Where did you find a 750GB Passport drive? As far as I can tell, WD doesn't make them larger than 320GB.


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## dbrakob (Apr 26, 2006)

With a 750 gb you should get around 180 hours.

I am pretty sure the WD passports do NOT work. Never tried one myself but did research before buying the WD myBook. The passport uses USB for power and it is not enough for this application. Saw there were issues even with external power.

myBook Essential is nice because after the drive has been inactive for about 30 minutes it shuts down. It only takes about 7-8 seconds to spin back up when you want to access recordings on it.


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## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

It was the my book that i ordered here it is
whew! i thought i got the wrong one for a min!


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## fredp (Jun 2, 2007)

forya said:


> It was the my book that i ordered here it is
> whew! i thought i got the wrong one for a min!


:righton: One thing else that has been discussed a lot about on the topic of EHD's, is not to put all your eggs in one basket... Rather then stuff one large drive ie; 1TB with all your recordings, get two 500GB'rs so if one dies you don't lose it all.


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

forya said:


> It was the my book that i ordered here it is
> whew! i thought i got the wrong one for a min!


That should work fine. But, as FredP said, that's a lot of eggs for one basket. I personally go with the 320's. It may be a slight bit more per gigabyte but I've bought them for under $70. You just have to wait for a good sale and I'm really cheap.


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## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

I got the 750 in, activated, and formatted. Now It doesn't show up as more time in my dvr menu. do I have to go to the multimedia section, and manually move all of the movies/shows over? and will I be able to access them from the dvr menu once I do?
Will the dvr record automatically to the hard drive if the dvr HD gets full?

sorry for the million questions, the book doesn't explain any of this


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

It is not an extension of the space on the internal drive, but instead is a 2nd repository for video.

You can move programs from the internal drive over to it, but it will not record directly to it, or use it automatically when the internal one fills up.

Once you have shows on it you can play them directly from the EHD, or move them back to the internal drive if you want. Yes, once you have programs on it they will show up in the USB menu, or also as a folder in your list of programs.

All are completely manual operations.


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## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

I think a nice software update from dish could smooth this out, and everything would just show up in the DVR menu just as it does from the internal recordings.


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

forya said:


> I think a nice software update from dish could smooth this out, and everything would just show up in the DVR menu just as it does from the internal recordings.


Just be thankful that your EHD works.


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## Keane (Aug 1, 2007)

Does anyone know if I am getting Dish via AT&T, can I add an external hard drive? I have spoken with two of AT&T's reps about it and they have no clue what I'm talking about. Both have asked if I'm looking to add another DVR and one of them said I can't install my own INTERNAL hard drive.


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## forya (Aug 17, 2008)

ask what receiver they are giving you the 722 will allow you to add a hard drive


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

forya said:


> ask what receiver they are giving you the 722 will allow you to add a hard drive


I believe all ViPxxx receivers support an external hard drive.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

Eventually. Today it's just the ViP DVRs (622, 722, 612).


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

BobaBird said:


> Eventually. Today it's just the ViP DVRs (622, 722, 612).


Oops, I ass-u-me-d that the poster was referring to a DVR since he posted in a 622/722/612 forum.


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