# End of March DISH Will Remove Limit On EHD Size



## mikepd (Dec 21, 2004)

It was announced during the last Technical Chat on Feb. 8th that at the end of March, Dish will remove size limitations on EHD size. 

That means that at the current time, the largest drive allowed would be a single unit 2TB drive. An EHD drive must still be a single-unit drive, i.e. 2-1TB drives configured as a 2TB drive in a single enclosure will not work. It must be one size drive in a single enclosure for the system to work with it.

This is great new for those who want to maintain HD move, TV series, sports, or any other type of video library.

The next step is to find a suitable multi-port usb switch that can handle multiple number of drives at least up to 7.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Yeah. I have four 750GB drives and one 1TB drive. When one of the 750GB drives crashes ...someday, inevitably... I'll lose 110± HD movies. With a 2TB drive, I will be able to lose 300± movies at once. That's progress.:sure:


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Seems I recall something about putting all your eggs in one basket. 

Mmmmm. I'm heading for Denny's!


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

phrelin said:


> Yeah. I have four 750GB drives and one 1TB drive. When one of the 750GB drives crashes ...someday, inevitably... I'll lose 110± HD movies. With a 2TB drive, I will be able to lose 300± movies at once. That's progress.:sure:


There comes a point that you'll have so many shows/movies/etc. that you'll never have enough time to re-watch them all.


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## Tulsa1 (Oct 15, 2003)

mikepd said:


> The next step is to find a suitable multi-port usb switch that can handle multiple number of drives at least up to 7.


This is what I'm using. Great thing about this one is you don't need to use
the supplied power adapter. Both the 722 and 622 are happy with it.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203126873


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

lujan said:


> There comes a point that you'll have so many shows/movies/etc. that you'll never have enough time to re-watch them all.


Oh I know. Because I used to buy movies on VHS then DVD and store them in a cabinet like they were some rare crystal, I guess I think I have to keep adding to my collection. I'm beginning to realize just how dumb that is. I'm the guy who still has 1980's accounting records for my long defunct business on 8-inch floppy disks which were for our Tandy TRS-80 Model II computers.:lol:


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## olds403 (Nov 20, 2007)

Tulsa1, how does that hub work, does it have a switch to change which drive is seen by the DVR? I was under the impression it had to be a non-usb-powered SWITCH so that the dvr sees only one drive at a time. I am using a Kensington 4 port switch that has buttons to select which drive is live.


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## pghDave3017 (Mar 20, 2009)

I know I should search for this but have we had a good discussion on how/IF an EHD can be cloned via PC. I know we can't view EHD content from the disk but is it possible using Linux or some other tooling to occasionally clone the drive to a second identical drive for backup purposes.

I doubt that I have any content worth the time it might take but, since my 722 started deleting EHD programs I might be so inclined now and then.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

pghDave3017 said:


> I know I should search for this but have we had a good discussion on how/IF an EHD can be cloned via PC. I know we can't view EHD content from the disk but is it possible using Linux or some other tooling to occasionally clone the drive to a second identical drive for backup purposes.
> 
> I doubt that I have any content worth the time it might take but, since my 722 started deleting EHD programs I might be so inclined now and then.


See this thread.


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

phrelin said:


> Oh I know. Because I used to buy movies on VHS then DVD and store them in a cabinet like they were some rare crystal, I guess I think I have to keep adding to my collection. I'm beginning to realize just how dumb that is. I'm the guy who still has 1980's accounting records for my long defunct business on 8-inch floppy disks which were for our Tandy TRS-80 Model II computers.:lol:


I just cleaned out a lot of paper records, like pay stubs from jobs I had 20 years ago and tax returns from the 1990s. I have a lot more room in my file cabinets now. Trying to decide what to do with the 5.25" floppies with my Dad's files I inherited when he died. I don't even have a drive that will read them any more.

I'm starting to wonder about the wisdom of keeping movies on EHDs also. It won't be long before every movie ever made is available, in whatever the latest high resolution format is, at the press of a button, for a couple of bucks (in constant dollars) or less. The days of the physical medium are numbered.


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## Chevy1965 (Apr 26, 2008)

Does anyone know if the Western Digital WDH2U20000N Mybook which is a mirrored 2TB drive will work. It should be recognized as a single 2TB drive even though it is 2TB mirrored. It would solve everyone's worries about losing their movies and keeping all their eggs in one basket. On sale on the internet for $160.

I ordered one of these and will report how it works. It is actually only 1TB usable - (2) 1TB drives mirrored, but in theory should be recognized as a single 1TB drive. The benefit is no fear of losing my recordings. The drives are hot removable / replaceable from the top of the case. A little pricey for 1TB, but some piece of mind.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Chevy1965 said:


> Does anyone know if the Western Digital WDH2U20000N Mybook which is a mirrored 2TB drive will work. It should be recognized as a single 2TB drive even though it is 2TB mirrored. It would solve everyone's worries about losing their movies and keeping all their eggs in one basket. On sale on the internet for $160.


I could be wrong, but I don't think a mirrored drive would help with the bug that has been reported.

I know if one of the mirrors fails, then the other mirror kicks in and supplies the data... but I believe if you actually delete a file from a mirrored drive, the mirror reflects that same deletion...

In other words, mirroring only protects against drive failures... not user or computer deletion errors.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

You'll need to implement shadow copies, snapshots, etc beween two drives at least - but who will do coding ?


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## Jim148 (Jun 22, 2004)

I still haven't sprung for an EHD yet, but perhaps the end of March will be the right time!


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

Does the Essential offer any advantage over the Elemental? How does the DVR Expander, WDHIS100N, differ from the Essentials WDBAAF0010HBK? Perhaps the former does not have the Smartware?


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## Jim148 (Jun 22, 2004)

Do we know of a specific date that this will be allowed yet?


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## newsman (Nov 21, 2006)

About one week left in March. Still waiting...


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

Maybe they'll fix the "ooops erase recording feature" on the 622/722 when they remove the limit on the EHD size. Or maybe they'll add it to the 612 and 722k. One thing for certain, a software update is a crap shoot.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

We should get the new FW first.


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## Daddy Freddy (Feb 24, 2010)

I'm waiting on the "fix" before I buy, regardless of what size. Not the end of the world, it is only TV but...I would be rather upset if I were loosing content.


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## Galaxie6411 (Aug 26, 2007)

Good timing if it all goes like it COULD, I will get a 922 put everything from my EHD and 622 on the 922 then buy a 2tb to hook up to it. I have a full 750gb EHD w/ mainly HD movies, definitely can't watch them all in a timely manner but it is better then dozens more $15-$20 DVD's or blu rays. Almost every new premiere on Saturdays gets recorded and saved.


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## langlin (Apr 8, 2005)

phrelin said:


> Maybe they'll fix the "ooops erase recording feature" on the 622/722 when they remove the limit on the EHD size. Or maybe they'll add it to the 612 and 722k. One thing for certain, a software update is a crap shoot.


I just got rid of 40 years of paper too, actually my wife burned it saying she had waited long enough for me to do it.....

and I just had my first "ooops erase recording " on my 722k so it's spreading like most good viruses....


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## justdavid99 (Mar 28, 2010)

I am new here and I am so glad to find a place to get answers about my dish receiver. I have a model 722 which I have had for just over a year now and I have two WD 750 GB My Book hard drives which are almost full. I realized this week that I should start looking for another hard drive but was surprised to find that the 750 GB units were not that easy to find. For that reason I started to look for answers about going to a larger unit and that is how I found this forum. I am sure that the answer is here somewhere but the more I read the more confused I am. I have some vision problems so it is difficult for me to read all the information here.

I hope someone will be kind enough to answer my questions. Has the size limit been lifted yet ? I know it has been said that it will be the end of March. Has it been done yet or is that a definite date. Will I have to contact dish to get my receiver to use the larger capacity drives or will it happen automatically ? Does anyone know if there will be any additional charges involved.

With the size limit change it makes sense to consider the 2 TB drive. I have red about the problems with the drives that have two 1 TB drives in the same enclosure. Do the 2 TB WD my books have one drive or two and do they all have the smartware or is there a model I can purchase that is ready to go without any modifications.

One of my 750's has a large number of 30 minute programs which pushes the program count to over the 1000 limit on the program count. So far I have not noticed any lost programs but I have noticed that when I go to manage the drive and delete some duplicate or no longer programs, the program count starts at 1000 and when deleting about 25 items I am still at 1000. Should I be concerned about this limit and does anyone know if the count limit will change with the new software.

And my final question is if there is any way to view stored programing through any other device. From what I have found here the answer is no but I hope someone can give me a definite answer. 

I read somewhere that they might change the storage to mpg4. Is that true and will that likely change the ability to view stored programs somewhere in the future?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

> Has the size limit been lifted yet ?


No.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

As long as they are single-drive configurations, people here have been using 1TB drives for a while now even though they are not "officially" supported. I know I have a Western Digital Essential TB drive that I've been using for a while.

I personally wouldn't want to use bigger than a single 1TB drive because it's just that much more to lose if/when the drive fails at some point in the future. I'd rather buy another 1TB drive and organize my movies on two separate drives than have a single point of failure 2TB drive even if Dish starts supporting those.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

For some time ppl using 1.5 TB as EHD. 622/722 accept it.


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## newsman (Nov 21, 2006)

P Smith said:


> For some time ppl using 1.5 TB as EHD. 622/722 accept it.


But, it will only let them use 1TB of the drive, correct?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Nope. All space used. We discussed partitioning of 1.5 TB drive EHD here recently.


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## olds403 (Nov 20, 2007)

I am using a WD 1.5T drive and all space available is used, approx. 1.4T space available after formatting.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Posted here http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=160660


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## Grandude (Oct 21, 2004)

It would seem to me that if at the end of March the limit on size will be eliminated then there will need to be a new download of software to all machines to affect this change.

Or can they slip in a change to the current software without an upgrade?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Grandude said:


> It would seem to me that if at the end of March the limit on size will be eliminated then there will need to be a new download of software to all machines to affect this change.
> 
> Or can they slip in a change to the current software without an upgrade?


Absolutely.

[No way to slip it without upgrading FW.]

As weird idea: the feature already implemented in previous FW version and waiting for a moment of invoke it by payable authorization, like EHD itself.


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## Grandude (Oct 21, 2004)

P Smith said:


> Absolutely.
> [No way to slip it without upgrading FW.]
> 
> As weird idea: the feature already implemented in previous FW version and waiting for a moment of invoke it by payable authorization, like EHD itself.


Now that would be cruel. Wouldn't affect me though as I would rather have a few smaller drives than one humongous drive. (They do fail occasionally)

BTW, I'm not holding my breath waiting to see if they download new FW to all the VIP DVRs tomorrow.:grin:


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

phrelin said:


> Oh I know. Because I used to buy movies on VHS then DVD and store them in a cabinet like they were some rare crystal, I guess I think I have to keep adding to my collection. I'm beginning to realize just how dumb that is. I'm the guy who still has 1980's accounting records for my long defunct business on 8-inch floppy disks which were for our Tandy TRS-80 Model II computers.:lol:


Went to a house last week for a service call. Customer has HDTVs in 2 rooms and 2 HD receivers. Both are hooked up to VCRs that are probably over 10 years old. The customer literally had walls of shelves filled with VCR tapes, and was still taping stuff for later. By the dust accumulation, it's obvious that those episodes of Who's The Boss haven't been watched since the 80s, but this customer insisted on doing things the way he was used to.

I tried to explain the whole DVR concept, but he wasn't interested.

Those VCR tapes look AWFUL on a 46" LCD... :eek2:


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## Galaxie6411 (Aug 26, 2007)

That takes me back to the late 90's when I got my super duper Sharp VCR that you could enter the program code into and it would record the shows at the proper time and even change the channel IIRC. Also remember trolling Walmart and other stores for blank VHS sales. ugg


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

No s/w update today. First missed target for the EHD enhancement and second for the SWS volume leveling. Must have all their people busy on the 922.


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## newsman (Nov 21, 2006)

BobaBird said:


> No s/w update today. First missed target for the EHD enhancement and second for the SWS volume leveling. Must have all their people busy on the 922.


The day isn't over yet.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

That's right - BobaBird, last spool window coming after 11pm PDT. Will check tomorrow morning.


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## Jim148 (Jun 22, 2004)

I was sort of anxious for this, but then I read that the new 922 won't be compatible with this yet anyway, so that sort of "took the wind out of my sails". I had hoped to get a 2 TB external hard drive, transfer some content, and then get a 922, but I guess I will just wait for now.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

Jim148 said:


> I was sort of anxious for this, but then I read that the new 922 won't be compatible with this yet anyway, so that sort of "took the wind out of my sails". I had hoped to get a 2 TB external hard drive, transfer some content, and then get a 922, but I guess I will just wait for now.


922 works with EHD's so no problems on that front.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

GrumpyBear said:


> 922 works with EHD's so no problems on that front.


How do we know what a receiver that has yet to be released will or will not support?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Stewart Vernon said:


> How do we know what a receiver that has yet to be released will or will not support?


One of newly happy owner of 922 post snapshots here.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

P Smith said:


> One of newly happy owner of 922 post snapshots here.


Thanks P Smith, I was going to point out those same photo's.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I was just curious... since I didn't hear (see?) him say anything specific.

I see lots of people post that something works, only to find out later that they never really tried to use it so they were making assumptions.


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