# 922 external hard drive issue



## crabtrp

I recently switched from DTV, I have a 922 in my living room now. I want to repurpose my EHD so I switched the lead from an eSata to a USB and plugged it into the back of the 922. Nothing. No message to inform me it needs reformatting, no flashing light showing disk usage, nothing. I plugged it out and in etc. Nothing.

The drive worked fine on my DTV HR20 unit, but nothing on 922.

Any thoughts?


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## garygaryj

You might want to say what the make/model# is for your drive, so people who have that drive could advise. Also, you could say whether you have left it on and connected during an overnight 'Daily Update', and whether you have tried to go to Menu > My Media Transfer, and whether anything shows up there besides the VIP922 Set Top Box.

I come from the same situation, but just got a different new EHD, rather than try to re-use the D* eSATA drive, so I can't advise, but can sympathize.


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## P Smith

Connect to your PC first using USB, run Victoria (under Windows) - post SMART snapshot here. Then we will continue.


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## [email protected] Network

crabtrp said:


> I recently switched from DTV, I have a 922 in my living room now. I want to repurpose my EHD so I switched the lead from an eSata to a USB and plugged it into the back of the 922. Nothing. No message to inform me it needs reformatting, no flashing light showing disk usage, nothing. I plugged it out and in etc. Nothing.
> 
> The drive worked fine on my DTV HR20 unit, but nothing on 922.
> 
> Any thoughts?


If the USB port on the back of your 922 isn't recognizing your EHD you can try the USB port on the front of the receiver to see if it reads it there. If the EHD is still not showing up please PM me your account information and the specs of the EHD that you are using. Thanks.


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## crabtrp

P Smith said:


> Connect to your PC first using USB, run Victoria (under Windows) - post SMART snapshot here. Then we will continue.


I plugged the drive into my PC to get this info and it told me it couldn't read the drive. I re-formatted it so that it could. Just to try I then plugged it back into the 922, and it recognized it!

I am now happily transferring shows to it. So I guess when I press the DVR button I have to choose whether I am looking at shows on the 922 or ones on the EHD. It is awesome it allows it in addition to the internal one. 2.5tb's should be enough.

Thanks all! All I need now is an whole home DVR equivalent and I will be all set.


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## crabtrp

Is there any way of setting up a timer to put it on the EHD by default?


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## P Smith

EHD is an ARCHIVE, not a second drive. Also you mentioned 2.5 TB, we get no info about support a size bigger then 2 TB. Are you sure ? What number of free space you see if you select Transfer to EHD ?


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## crabtrp

P Smith said:


> EHD is an ARCHIVE, not a second drive. Also you mentioned 2.5 TB, we get no info about support a size bigger then 2 TB. Are you sure ? What number of free space you see if you select Transfer to EHD ?


I am showing .5TB internal and 2TB external available.


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## P Smith

Anyway, the analogy is DVR has one or two bottle, a main tube going to internal bottle and second bottle could be filled by taking from/to first bottle only.


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## garygaryj

I have a 1TB WD My Book Essential as my EHD for my 922, and it operates fine as both archive and also as a Play drive. The Play is quite normal from the EHD, although the forwarding and reversing are a little less smooth than the IHD.


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## P Smith

Adding to that analogy - you could smell, look at content of both bottles  - mean can play from both.


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## crabtrp

Another week another issue. I copied a lot of shows to my EHD. I was happy as Larry until I went to watch one of the shows last night, and most of the shows are gone! 

One possible reason I can think of is this - I initially copied about 10 Dr. Who's onto the EHD, then mid week I copied two more. The only ones there now are the two I copied second. Does it overwrite existing shows of the same name when you do a second copy?


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## P Smith

No. That was a glitch.


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## crabtrp

Is this glitch a one off or on going? Is there a link?


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## P Smith

No one could tell - the SW is so buggy, so each unique config create different conditions for raise some of the bugs.


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## puckwithahalo

crabtrp said:


> Is there any way of setting up a timer to put it on the EHD by default?


menu -> settings -> record plus -> select enable under External Device Recordings


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## P Smith

puckwithahalo said:


> menu -> settings -> record plus -> select enable under External Device Recordings


When it's changed ?

External Device Recordings are not EHD.
It's always been writing to PVP [personal video player] aka Archos device.


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## puckwithahalo

P Smith said:


> When it's changed ? External Device Recordings is not EHD.
> It's always was writing to PVP [personal video player] aka Archos device.


I'll double-check, but I was told that was for external hard drives too now.


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## crabtrp

P Smith said:


> No one could tell - the SW is so buggy, so each unique config create different conditions for raise some of the bugs.


So if the recordings can be wiped of the EHD at any time without warning, it pretty much means that the EHD is useless. I am not going to send any more shows out to it if I cannot be sure they will be just erased.

I tend not to record shows I have no interest in watching.


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## l8er

P Smith said:


> No one could tell - the SW is so buggy ...


That's a bit harsh, and not quite true.

My VIP922 works as advertised. Have I lost a few shows during transfers to the EHD? Yes. Many? No.

I have found if you transfer shows when the DVR is not busy doing other things, and don't try to send too many things at once, it's actually very reliable.


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## P Smith

That's the point - each setup is unique and the bugs would pop up unpredicted. Your case just part of the picture and is not typical.


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## crabtrp

And now the recordings are back!


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## JeffN9

crabtrp said:


> And now the recordings are back!


Sounds very similar to the next thread in this forum entitled "All recordings gone". I have to say that I have never lost any recordings, even temporarily. I now have over 400 movies/shows on two EHD's that I leave plugged into the 922 all the time. The only problem that I have had is that occasionally the 922 does not seem to recognize that the EHD's are connected. Usually a soft re-boot fixes the problem but it's been somewhat of a pain. I've tried different plug in arrangements with one or both drives and all have failed eventually with the exception of the current configuration. Right now I have one drive plugged in the back USB and one plugged into the front. So far that has remained stable for close to a month. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


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## l8er

P Smith said:


> . Your case just part of the picture and is not typical.


And how do you* know *that?


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## AZ.

l8er said:


> And how do you* know *that?


I would say because there are probably close to 100 people who have lost recordings more than once? Have had more than one 922 in less than a years time?

I think all it would take is reading all the problems the 922 has had since day one (what 19 months?) and you would have a little compassion for the many who are more than just frustrated paying $200 and the extra $4 a month fee....and please dont forget the whole BBMP joke...wernt we going to have that by mid November????? lol


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## P Smith

l8er said:


> And how do you* know *that?


perhaps you are not reading posts here or pretend they are not exist ...


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## l8er

AZ. said:


> I think all it would take is reading all the problems the 922 has had since day one (what 19 months?) ....


I have been here reading about the problems from day one. But this statement:

"That's the point - each setup is unique and the bugs would pop up unpredicted. Your case just part of the picture and is not typical."

Is trying to sound more authoritative than somebody just reading the posts about the problems. It's trying to sound like someone who knows all about the software and the bugs in the software, not just someone familiar with the 922 and its problems. And I seriously doubt that person has any inside knowledge about the software or what bugs may or may not be in the software, nor whether my case is typical or not.

The people that have problems with the 922 are the ones posting in this forum. The people that have working 922s are unlikely to be in this forum posting. To say my case is not typical, based on the postings in this forum is a bit preposterous.


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## quizzer

crabtrp said:


> I plugged the drive into my PC to get this info and it told me it couldn't read the drive. I re-formatted it so that it could. Just to try I then plugged it back into the 922, and it recognized it!
> 
> I am now happily transferring shows to it. So I guess when I press the DVR button I have to choose whether I am looking at shows on the 922 or ones on the EHD. It is awesome it allows it in addition to the internal one. 2.5tb's should be enough.
> 
> Thanks all! All I need now is an whole home DVR equivalent and I will be all set.


Are you using the EHD only for VIP 722 or for both DVR AND laptop backup?


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## Ray [email protected] Network

That setting is not for EHDs. It was for VCRs and other supported external recording devices.



puckwithahalo said:


> I'll double-check, but I was told that was for external hard drives too now.


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