# Western Digital announces 2TB drive



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

From the Western Digital Website:

*WD® LAUNCHES INDUSTRY'S FIRST 2 TB HARD DRIVES
WD's Eco-friendly, Cool and Quiet, WD Caviar® Green™ Drive Marks the Largest Capacity Hard Drive in the Industry*


> WD today announced the first 2 terabyte (TB) hard drive - the world's highest capacity drive and the latest addition to WD's popular, environmentally friendly, cool and quiet, WD® Caviar® Green™ hard drive family. This new 3.5-inch platform is based on WD's industry-leading 500 GB/platter technology (with 400 Gb/in2 areal density) with 32 MB cache, producing drives with capacities of up to 2 TB.


FULL RELEASE HERE

The suggested price is $299. Not yet listed on NewEgg.


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## Fontano (Feb 7, 2008)

Wow... Even at $300, that is only $0.15 a GIG !?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!

Let's hope their firmware is in better shape then Segates.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

$299 is way too much, i bet they settle in around $179-$199 after the first month. the seagate 1.5 can be found for $115-$125 on sale


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## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

If only I could afford it.....

oh, wait. I can.

If only I wasn't so cheap....


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

It would record about 77 days of SD programming, or 20 days of HD MPEG4 programs. However, the file system of the DVRs may not be able to handle the database.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

FYI: The DIRECTV HR2x family can "handle" that size, tho as the database gets larger it might slow down a bit. 

Just think of the collection of movies one could keep on your DVR! Woohoo!


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## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

Tom Robertson said:


> Just think of the collection of movies one could keep on your DVR! Woohoo!


And then it all gets lost after it starts resetting itself and you need to exchange it.


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## Sirshagg (Dec 30, 2006)

xIsamuTM said:


> If only I could afford it.....
> 
> oh, wait. I can.
> 
> If only I wasn't so cheap....


my thoughts exactly


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I bet I know who has the first one installed with their HD DVR....right RichieRich? :lol:


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

dave29 said:


> $299 is way too much, i bet they settle in around $179-$199 after the first month. the seagate 1.5 can be found for $115-$125 on sale


Though I was using computers before my 10th birthday, I was 21 before I had my own, which I bought myself. That computer had a then-huge Maxtor 213 MB IDE hard drive. At the time, most people I knew who had computers had drives in the 20-80 MB range, and no one had anything as big as my 213. At least two people who should have known better told me that such a huge drive was a waste of money, because what would anyone do with so much space?

That drive cost me $399 in 1991, and that was considered CHEAP!

Today, I have a pair of 1.5 TB drives in my HTPC, which together cost a good deal less than that first Maxtor.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Tom Robertson said:


> FYI: The DIRECTV HR2x family can "handle" that size, tho as the database gets larger it might slow down a bit.
> 
> Just think of the collection of movies one could keep on your DVR! Woohoo!


Tom, have I told you, I like the way you think? Now if they can speed these puppies up, we're in business!


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Tom Robertson said:


> Just think of the collection of movies one could keep on your DVR! Woohoo!


Despite having 3 HD DVRs here and what is plenty of storage capacity based on our needs...

It continues to amaze me as to just how much "stuff" people store on the hard drives in these HD DVRs - my scale paling in comparison to some others.

That said, it seems to reinforce that if so many people are storing so much HD content....the need to "offload" or "archive" content would seem to grow over time, and yet there appears to be no motivation for a solution along those lines (which, of course, would keep the copyright pundits happy).

With 2TB dirves now out there...likely mainstream in the next year or two...this seems like a big black hole to me in terms of assuring a ton of content doesn't just get wiped out one day because of a drive failure.

As not to divert the topic....a 2TB drive holds alot of stuff, which is a good thing.


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## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

how is it that virtual space continues to grow but physical space stays the same? If you told me back in the 90's that I'd be able to fit a few hundred movies in the space of a small novel I'd have thought you were on the wacky tobaccy. you think we'll reach a point in our lifetime where you just cant fit any more memory in the physical space your average pc hard drive takes up?


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

xIsamuTM said:


> how is it that virtual space continues to grow but physical space stays the same? If you told me back in the 90's that I'd be able to fit a few hundred movies in the space of a small novel I'd have thought you were on the wacky tobaccy. you think we'll reach a point in our lifetime where you just cant fit any more memory in the physical space your average pc hard drive takes up?


New technology.

The day will come that the ROI on bigger and smaller is no longer there...we haven't reached that point quite yet.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

xIsamuTM said:


> how is it that virtual space continues to grow but physical space stays the same? If you told me back in the 90's that I'd be able to fit a few hundred movies in the space of a small novel I'd have thought you were on the wacky tobaccy. you think we'll reach a point in our lifetime where you just cant fit any more memory in the physical space your average pc hard drive takes up?


Dr. Who fans will tell you of Tardis memory...


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I have a pulled and DoD-wiped hard drive from 1995 on my desk. It held a whopping.... 340MB and cost $340. Nowadays, you can't even install WINDOWS on that drive, and a 1 GB USB stick costs $5 if you know where to look.

I'm calling the drive "grandpa", and using it for a model speech.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> I have a pulled and DoD-wiped hard drive from 1995 on my desk. It held a whopping.... 340MB and cost $340. Nowadays, you can't even install WINDOWS on that drive, and a 1 GB USB stick costs $5 if you know where to look.
> 
> I'm calling the drive "grandpa", and using it for a model speech.


:lol::lol::lol:

Don't be surprised is the Smithsonian people give you a call...


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Mark Holtz said:


> I have a pulled and DoD-wiped hard drive from 1995 on my desk. It held a whopping.... 340MB and cost $340. Nowadays, you can't even install WINDOWS on that drive, and a 1 GB USB stick costs $5 if you know where to look.


And back then, you had to have a pretty decent computer to handle 320x240 15 fps 256-color MPEG1 movie files, which looked pretty good and were state of the art, especially if you could get SOUND working at the same time! MP2s and MP3s existed (but weren't well-known), but they were HUGE, being whole songs, and your computer strained to play them, much less store them.

When Microsoft released those HD-WMV movies a few years ago, my computer at the time, which hadn't been significantly upgraded in several years, could barely play them at 720p. Today, I play Blu-Rays on my laptop.

The point is: we barely realize how much more we ask of our computers (and cellphones and other electronics) compared to only a few years ago. The first PCs I used in the mid-late 80's could barely play tinny MIDI music with an expensive Ad-Lib MIDI synth card. Waveform audio was a fantasy. Today we complain that our Blu-Rays don't support 24-bit Lossless... :lol:


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I bet I know who has the first one installed with their HD DVR....right RichieRich? :lol:


You Got It HDTVFAN!!!

Thanks for the Heads Up, I have already notified BUY.COM and a couple of others to let me know when they get it in so I can put it in MY OWNED HR23-700!!!

I will also replace my two 1 TB Hard Drives in my DS3RPRO and hopefully have enough space for a while. :lol:


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## turey22 (Jul 30, 2007)

What am i going to do with 2TB? I cant even fill up a 1TB...have 658G's left.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

I record alot of Golf, Football, etc. on my HR23 and then News, Weather, Entertainment Tonight, Jay Leno, and alot of Concerts that I keep and watch over and over such as Phil Collins with Genesis in Rome on Palladia.

Can't Delete Great Concerts or The Super Bowl (if it is not a BLOWOUT), etc.

I am ADDICTED to DRIVE CAPACITY!!!


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

In all fairness...I can confess that I once said "what the heck is anyone going to do with a 20 Megabite hard disk drive...all that storage?". 

I now carry a 16 Gigabyte Flash Drive with me...times change...


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

I got a 10 Meg Hard Drive installed on my PC and I thought that I would NEVER EVER NEED ANY MORE SPACE as that was the ULTIMATE!!!

Amazing how LIFE and TIME changes things so I have learned NEVER SAY NEVER!!! (Unless it means switching to Dish or Comcast and in my neck of the woods that MEANS NEVER!!!) :lol:


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

Tom Robertson said:


> FYI: The DIRECTV HR2x family can "handle" that size, tho as the database gets larger it might slow down a bit.


There is a difference between handling it and handling it _well_ (or at the very least handing it acceptably). Considering that my HR21 with a 1TB disk is struggling to perform acceptably in some cases, I'd say that DirecTV probably still has a bit of work to do to get their current hardware to handle a a 2TB disk "well". Unfortunately, they still don't even officially support anything larger than the 500GB disks that come in their latest DVRs, so it's unknown how high a priority support for these large drives is or will be in the near future.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

cartrivision said:


> There is a difference between handling it and handling it _well_ (or at the very least handing it acceptably). Considering that my HR21 with a 1TB disk is struggling to perform acceptably in some cases, I'd say that DirecTV probably still has a bit of work to do to get their current hardware to handle a a 2TB disk "well". Unfortunately, they still don't even officially support anything larger than the 500GB disks that come in their latest DVRs, so it's unknown how high a priority support for these large drives is or will be in the near future.


It will indeed be interesting to see how the Linux infrastructure handles that big old drive....my guess is we'll learn from a couple of "select" folks soon enough.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Linux doesn't have a problem with 2TB unless you format and arrange it poorly. If you put 1 billion tiny files in one directory you gonna have problems.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

richierich said:


> I record alot of Golf, Football, etc. on my HR23 and then News, Weather, Entertainment Tonight, Jay Leno, and alot of Concerts that I keep and watch over and over such as Phil Collins with Genesis in Rome on Palladia.
> 
> Can't Delete Great Concerts or The Super Bowl (if it is not a BLOWOUT), etc.
> 
> I am ADDICTED to DRIVE CAPACITY!!!


I'm not quite as addicted... the twitches have calmed quite a bit lately... well at least until these drives start shipping...


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Tom Robertson said:


> Linux doesn't have a problem with 2TB unless you format and arrange it poorly. If you put 1 billion tiny files in one directory you gonna have problems.


Thats interesting and useful information....as the files created on the HD DVRs certainly don't fit that description. 

So, it would appear that based on this, it should behave and perform just fine.


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

Tom Robertson said:


> Linux doesn't have a problem with 2TB unless you format and arrange it poorly. If you put 1 billion tiny files in one directory you gonna have problems.


Yeah, I think that the DirecTV DVRs performance issues with large disks are more application/programming related than OS related.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Everything depends upon how well the database that DIRECTV uses can scale up to as many files as 2TB will be.

Watching DIRECTV's team, I'm sure they will fine tune the database performance to be at least comfortable at 2TB. Just takes time and testing to find that right balance.

Cheers,
Tom


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

Tom Robertson said:


> Everything depends upon how well the database that DIRECTV uses can scale up to as many files as 2TB will be.
> 
> Watching DIRECTV's team, I'm sure they will fine tune the database performance to be at least comfortable at 2TB. Just takes time and testing to find that right balance.
> 
> ...


They at least seem to be working on it. With the latest SW update, my 1TB HR21 went from taking 7-8 seconds to bring up the playlist to 3-4 seconds... still too slow, but moving in the right direction.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

cartrivision said:


> They at least seem to be working on it. With the latest SW update, my 1TB HR21 went from taking 7-8 seconds to bring up the playlist to 3-4 seconds... still too slow, but moving in the right direction.


We know DIRECTV signed a contract with an advanced in-memory database maker and I hope this will be the cornerstone of a huge performance boost fairly soon.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Tom Robertson said:


> We know DIRECTV signed a contract with an advanced in-memory database maker and I hope this will be the cornerstone of a huge performance boost fairly soon.


That's what I read about some time ago, and have been looking forward to...I suspect we'll really notice when that "kicks in"...


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

I have "FILLED UP" my 1 TB Drive and had no problems until the last NR Download and then I had the Reported Sluggish Remote which derives from the CPU being overloaded so the incoming IR Tasks get Queued Up in the Task Command Area awaiting the CPU quitting the Current Task and then assigning the next Task it's command or request.

I then downloaded the "CE" Software and I was now getting FAST Results and I believe it was not just because of the different software version but because of the fact that I had "CORRUPTED" Software and with the download I now had a "GOOD" Download and everything worked fine.

I then downloaded the latest NR Software and I was still running FAST so I believe that alot of the problems result in a corruptible software versus the version of the software you are running.

Just My Humble Opinion!!! :lol:


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## Hansen (Jan 1, 2006)

These 2TB drives are going to be awesome in my Windows Home Server.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

All that storage space is great to have. Until something goes wrong and the box gets reformated and *poof* all those recordings are gone.

Just sayin...


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

I have it all recorded on one of my other 5 Directv DVRs!!! 

Can't wait for MRV so I can record it on one box and send it to wherever I want to watch it so SAVE even more SPACE!!!


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

turey22 said:


> What am i going to do with 2TB? I cant even fill up a 1TB...have 658G's left.


The 1TB drive on my main DVR currently shows 89% available. Over the last 18 months, the least available I've ever seen is 72%, so I think I'm good for now.


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## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Hansen said:


> These 2TB drives are going to be awesome in my Windows Home Server.


Yeah, RAID them with 15 drives, now that's some drive space!


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## racermd (Dec 18, 2006)

smiddy said:


> Yeah, RAID them with 15 drives, now that's some drive space!


Pfft. Amatuer. 

Seriously, though. Multi-rack SAN is where it's at! If only the HR boxes could utilize network shares like a large NFS share, for instance.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

I only have 3% Available on my 1 TB HR21-700 so I am ready for the 2 TB Drive.


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## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

richierich said:


> I only have 3% Available on my 1 TB HR21-700 so I am ready for the 2 TB Drive.


Man, ever consider making a few VHS/SDDVD back-ups of your stuff? filling a 1TB, that's a lot of family guy and mythbusters to lose if it ever crashes.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

racermd said:


> Pfft. Amatuer.
> 
> Seriously, though. Multi-rack SAN is where it's at! If only the HR boxes could utilize network shares like a large NFS share, for instance.


NAS doesn't allow sufficient bandwidth for full DVR activities.

Now, perhaps someday (and this is my dreaming not a hint), DIRECTV will add some ability to read NAS for media share or for other features. I'm fairly sure that DIRECTV's plate is very full before this is likely tho.

Cheers,
Tom


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## Sirshagg (Dec 30, 2006)

Tom Robertson said:


> Everything depends upon how well the database that DIRECTV uses can scale up to as many files as 2TB will be.
> 
> Watching DIRECTV's team, I'm sure they will fine tune the database performance to be at least comfortable at 2TB. Just takes time and testing to find that right balance.
> 
> ...


Considering the 50 series link limit I'm not feeling too optimistic.


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## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

I could never understand that 50 series limit on the DVR's. I can't think of 50 shows I watch to cap it. I must not be as good at watching tv as some other people.


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## Sirshagg (Dec 30, 2006)

xIsamuTM said:


> I could never understand that 50 series limit on the DVR's. I can't think of 50 shows I watch to cap it. I must not be as good at watching tv as some other people.


You don't have to be good at watching it - just recording it. I use many SL's to record programs I might want to watch. This is also where a 1tb, or 2tb, drive comes in handy.


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## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

I guess I'm just not as cool as some of you cats. :icon_hroc:alterhase


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Many ways to watch and enjoy TV


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

xIsamuTM said:


> I could never understand that 50 series limit on the DVR's. I can't think of 50 shows I watch to cap it. I must not be as good at watching tv as some other people.


Are you single, by any chance? 

It's easy to go over 50 in multi-viewer households, unless you delete links in the prioritizer for shows who's seasons may be over. If I'm planning to watch them again next year, I generally like to keep them around. /steve


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

xIsamuTM said:


> Man, ever consider making a few VHS/SDDVD back-ups of your stuff? filling a 1TB, that's a lot of family guy and mythbusters to lose if it ever crashes.


I am running RAID 1 with my DS3RPRO so that if one of my drives fails I simply replace it and then let it Mirror itself to the other drive. I can not stand to watch SD material so I will NEVER offload anything to SD DVD and certainly not VHS as I do not have a VHS Player.

This is 2009 and HD is here and that is why I have spent over $60,000 in my two Home Entertainment Systems so I can have the Best Audio & Video that I can afford.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Despite having 3 HD DVRs here and what is plenty of storage capacity based on our needs...
> 
> It continues to amaze me as to just how much "stuff" people store on the hard drives in these HD DVRs - my scale paling in comparison to some others.
> 
> ...


I've filled up a 2TB drive on a 20-700 and had no problems. You do have to restart the HR from time to time to "refresh" the thing. And you're correct, 2TB is way out there in terms of storage. The one 2TB I have left is usually at 45-48% Available. I use four HRs to back up programs and movies and those four have a total of 6TBs of storage. More than enough for us.

You might want to check out this thread:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=146461

I used a RAID box with two 1TB hard drive and had the factory set it up so that I got the full 2TB of capacity. It will work on a 20-700. Will one work on a 21,22 or 23? I dunno. Couldn't get the RAID box to work at all on a 21-700.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

turey22 said:


> What am i going to do with 2TB? I cant even fill up a 1TB...have 658G's left.


Try harder. There is a lot of good stuff out there. :lol:

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

richierich said:


> I record alot of Golf, Football, etc. on my HR23 and then News, Weather, Entertainment Tonight, Jay Leno, and alot of Concerts that I keep and watch over and over such as Phil Collins with Genesis in Rome on Palladia.
> 
> Can't Delete Great Concerts or The Super Bowl (if it is not a BLOWOUT), etc.
> 
> I am ADDICTED to DRIVE CAPACITY!!!


And you're starting to slip over the edge again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

RobertE said:


> All that storage space is great to have. Until something goes wrong and the box gets reformated and *poof* all those recordings are gone.
> 
> Just sayin...


The Cavalry 2TB that I just got thru filling up died suddenly day before yesterday. Sounded like it was grinding glass and it killed the power supply. But, how much can you expect from a Cavalry? But it did fill up all the way and before it died was still working perfectly. In fact, I was considering trying a RAID box with two 1.5TB drives to see if I could get it to 3TBs. I truly think the 20-700 can handle that much.

Rich


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## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

I'm just hoping my seagate doesn't fail on me before I can get a replacment dvdrw/bdrw. come one w2... get here already.


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

richierich said:


> I have "FILLED UP" my 1 TB Drive and had no problems until the last NR Download and then I had the Reported Sluggish Remote which derives from the CPU being overloaded so the incoming IR Tasks get Queued Up in the Task Command Area awaiting the CPU quitting the Current Task and then assigning the next Task it's command or request.
> 
> I then downloaded the "CE" Software and I was now getting FAST Results and I believe it was not just because of the different software version but because of the fact that I had "CORRUPTED" Software and with the download I now had a "GOOD" Download and everything worked fine.
> 
> ...


Some of the "sluggish" problems in the recent past have been cured (at least temporarily) with a reboot, which might make you think that a new DL got rid of a "corrupt" one.

As you also pointed out, before the latest NR there were none of the current problems with the big 1TB disks, which makes me worry that this "new database software" that Tom and others have mentioned DirecTV recently licensed is already in our DVRs and not performing too well. I sure hope I'm wrong on that suspicion.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

They will probably have to TWEAK the NEW DATABASE in order to get everything OPTIMIZED!!!

Hopefully the code is in the next NR Software waiting to be released. I wonder when the next NR will occur??? 

Only THE SHADOW KNOWS along with DOUG BROTT and the others who BREATHE that THIN AIR way up there in those HALLOWED INNER SANCTUMS!!! :lol:


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

richierich said:


> They will probably have to TWEAK the NEW DATABASE in order to get everything OPTIMIZED!!!
> 
> Hopefully the code is in the next NR Software waiting to be released. I wonder when the next NR will occur???
> 
> Only THE SHADOW KNOWS along with DOUG BROTT and the others who BREATHE that THIN AIR way up there in those HALLOWED INNER SANCTUMS!!! :lol:


Actually, you only need to read the CE forum to get a good indication of when a NR is close to happening, but I was speculating that the new DB code has been in the code base since that last NR.

If the next NR happens as soon as I think it will, don't expect more than slight performance improvements for the sluggishness, with performance still being worse than it was before it went south in the previous NR.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

WELL, THAT SUCKS!!!

I thought when you went to a NEW database structure you did it to IMPROVE PERFORMANCE!!!

But then again what do I know since I was just a lowly computer programmer for 30 years until I hit the LOTTERY and QUIT!!! :lol:


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## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

richierich said:


> WELL, THAT SUCKS!!!
> 
> I thought when you went to a NEW database structure you did it to IMPROVE PERFORMANCE!!!
> 
> But then again what do I know since I was just a lowly computer programmer for 30 years until I hit the LOTTERY and QUIT!!! :lol:


As I recall, the press release touting the licensing of the new DB code didn't so much say that the product was chosen because it would offer increased performance but because of it's ability to translate well between disk based (DVRs) and disk-less (non-DVR) systems. Talk of performance improvements was from forum members speculating on what the new DB code might offer.

Hopefully they haven't gone to the new DB code yet and things will vastly improve when they do. I just have a bad feeling (based on absolutely nothing but a hunch) that the recent slowdown in performance was caused by the new DB code. I hope I'm wrong.


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## davel (May 1, 2007)

$299 for 2 TB
$129 for 1.5TB
$89-99 for 1TB

I'll wait until they sell for around $179


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

I also have a WHS box loaded with a bunch of 1TB drives but I'm out of 'rack space' in the tower (actually out of internal SATA ports and hooking up to the external USB ports, for some reasons, causes the maching to hang whenever a reboot happens - like after a Windows Update). I need to install a SATA card that will allow me to make an eSata connection to a 'port multiplier' so I can make an external rack of these 2TB SATA drives.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I've always wondered what folks actually would *need *to story actually on those mega-Terrabyte-Raid devices in their homes....

My 3 1TB drives are no where near getting full, and I consider myself a data packrat.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

While NewEgg does not have the new drives listed (maybe next week), I'm seeing prices of between $244 and $271 for this new drive. Thats just a little more than the cost of two 1 TB drives.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

davel said:


> $299 for 2 TB
> $129 for 1.5TB
> $89-99 for 1TB
> 
> I'll wait until they sell for around $179


thats exactly my thinking


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

For those with smaller budgets.,..there's this 1 TB drive ($95)...

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> For those with smaller budgets.,..there's this 1 TB drive ($95)...
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145233


i have had good luck with hitachi drives (knock on wood:lol


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I've always wondered what folks actually would *need *to story actually on those mega-Terrabyte-Raid devices in their homes....
> 
> My 3 1TB drives are no where near getting full, and I consider myself a data packrat.


 I'm a packrat too but I only have a couple 250s.. got every picture taken in last 10 years and still have disk iso for dos,win3.1...... :lol:


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## xIsamuTM (Jul 8, 2008)

wow, prices have droped since december. I paid 150 for my 1tb...


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

xIsamuTM said:


> wow, prices have droped since december. I paid 150 for my 1tb...


yeah, they were $200 in july


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Figured some folks might want to seize the lower pricing on a good drive...


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

...well, if you, hoypothetically speaking, had every Doctor Who episode from 1963 onward digitized and that was just a *sample* of what you had... That might explain where terabytes of storage go.

....hypothetically speaking, of course.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I paid $109 for my Seagate 1TB drive... and found it it had a firmware bug. Spent yet another $119 for a WD Black 1 TB drive as a secondary backup. (Yes, NewEgg made it available)

Speaking of NewEgg... the 2 TB drive is now listed for $299, with no listing for the 1.5 TB drive.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

dave29 said:


> yeah, they were $200 in july


Yes and I won't tell you how much I am paying for the WD20EADS that I just ordered!!!

However, I can't wait to get it and have it installed!!!


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

Here's the first review I've seen. /steve

*Pros:* Massive storage capacity; efficient power usage; low noise levels; excellent pricing.
*Cons:* Not as fast as 7,200RPM drives.
*Summary:* Western Digital's latest GreenPower drive takes hard drive capacities to unparalleled levels, but still offers good performance and affordability.


----------



## Sirshagg (Dec 30, 2006)

richierich said:


> Yes and I won't tell you how much I am paying for the WD20EADS that I just ordered!!!
> 
> However, I can't wait to get it and have it installed!!!


just one!


----------



## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

Actually three!!! 

Can't have enough space!!!


----------



## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

richierich said:


> Yes and I won't tell you how much I am paying for the WD20EADS that I just ordered!!!
> 
> However, I can't wait to get it and have it installed!!!


lemme guess...... $299


----------



## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

dave29 said:


> lemme guess...... $299


No, that is MSRP and anyone is a FOOL or RICH beyond their means to pay that PRICE so I got it for a lot less from someone I know in the business.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

richierich said:


> No, that is MSRP and anyone is a FOOL or RICH beyond their means to pay that PRICE so I got it for a lot less from someone I know in the business.


i agree as well:lol:

glad you got a good deal, im going to wait until the $179 price range


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

I can't wait as I don't want to accumulate alot of HD Stuff on my 1 TB Drive and then have to lose it as I Replace that drive with the 2 TB Drive. Gotta do it NOW!!!


----------



## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

richierich said:


> I can't wait as I don't want to accumulate alot of HD Stuff on my 1 TB Drive and then have to lose it as I Replace that drive with the 2 TB Drive. Gotta do it NOW!!!


Ha ha, i here ya. im going to buy 4 of them when the prices come down a little for a 4 bay raid 5 solution, for my HTPC media. i have 2 1tb drives now spanned, and they are full. that can be transfered though. Directv content cannot(like yousaid)


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

As I get older...I may need to rethink my "data storage" needs...


----------



## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> As I get older...I may need to rethink my "data storage" needs...


You're already older than dirt so you better do it soon.

Remember April it not that far away!!! They have a little Tournament over in Augusta that we need to go see!!!


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

richierich said:


> You're already older than dirt so you better do it soon.
> 
> Remember April it not that far away!!! They have a little Tournament over in Augusta that we need to go see!!!


...and record while we're gone.

Thank goodness for DVRs. 

But back to the OP....

In the big picture....I honestly find it amazing that we can now order a device for under $300 that holds that quantity of storage....and a 1TB drive for under $100...WOW indeed.


----------



## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

I think the First Time I bought a PC with 1 TB of storage I thought that there was NO WAY I would ever use that much storage.

However, HD takes up alot of storage space and I Love Golf and Football, etc. so why not take the PLUNGE!!!


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Steve said:


> Here's the first review I've seen. /steve
> 
> *Pros:* Massive storage capacity; efficient power usage; low noise levels; excellent pricing.
> *Cons:* Not as fast as 7,200RPM drives.
> *Summary:* Western Digital's latest GreenPower drive takes hard drive capacities to unparalleled levels, but still offers good performance and affordability.


Not 7200RPM? That would cause me to take a step back and consider the problems some guys have posted. For instance, I just got a PM from someone who has a great background in hard drives and he just upgraded a slower WD (does 5400RPM sound right?) to a 7200 drive and he told me the difference in speed was quite noticeable.

Don't mean to dampen _*RR's*_ enthusiasm, which hardly seems possible, but that slower speed would make me think twice.

Rich


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

rich584 said:


> Not 7200RPM? That would cause me to take a step back and consider the problems some guys have posted. For instance, I just got a PM from someone who has a great background in hard drives and he just upgraded a slower WD (does 5400RPM sound right?) to a 7200 drive and he told me the difference in speed was quite noticeable.
> 
> Don't mean to dampen _*RR's*_ enthusiasm, which hardly seems possible, but that slower speed would make me think twice.
> 
> Rich


I'd agree that today, 7200RPM drives are pretty much the standard expectation in terms of performance. Lesser speed, such as 5400RPM really don't cut it anymore, *especially as the drive size grow*.

In addition...3MBps transfer rates (as opposed to 1.5) are also the norm - even the latest generation of HRx DVRS all support 3Mbps).

For that reason...my recent 1TB purchase of a Seagate mandated 7200RPM and 3Mbps specs.


----------



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

The impression I got was the following:
The drive speed is 5,400 RPM, but can ramp up to 7,200 when in use
The drive is designed with storage in mind. What I mean by that is that you can store and playback movies, files, and such without issues. However, if you are among the minority that have disk-intensive application (video editing, serious gaming), you would use these "green" drives for project storage, and transfer the project to a faster drive for actual editing.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> The impression I got was the following:
> The drive speed is 5,400 RPM, but can ramp up to 7,200 when in use
> The drive is designed with storage in mind. What I mean by that is that you can store and playback movies, files, and such without issues. However, if you are among the minority that have disk-intensive application (video editing, serious gaming), you would use these "green" drives for project storage, and transfer the project to a faster drive for actual editing.


Here's the official poop on that...and you are correct:

*"The hard disk model WD20EADS has the volume 2048 GB and 32 Mb buffer, it uses the SATA-300 interface, and the technology intelliPower which change the rotation speed from 5400 to 7200 rp/Min in order to reach a considerable electric power saving and worthy speed."*


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I'd agree that today, 7200RPM drives are pretty much the standard expectation in terms of performance. Lesser speed, such as 5400RPM really don't cut it anymore, *especially as the drive size grow*.
> 
> In addition...3MBps transfer rates (as opposed to 1.5) are also the norm - even the latest generation of HRx DVRS all support 3Mbps).
> 
> For that reason...my recent 1TB purchase of a Seagate mandated 7200RPM and 3Mbps specs.


I checked the specs on the WD that _*RR*_ is lusting after and it is a 7200RPM model. Am I missing something (as usual)?

By the way, I saw your picture the other day and was shocked to see that you look nothing like the lemur I have come to associate you with. Deeply disappointed, I am. :lol:

Rich


----------



## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

How did you see his picture? Was it the one in Las Vegas? How did you know who was who?

The Drive is a variable speed drive that ramps up from 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM when needed but can slow down to save electricity. They developed this drive with the environment of a DVR in mind so I imagine they know what they are doing.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

richierich said:


> How did you see his picture? Was it the one in Las Vegas? How did you know who was who?
> 
> The Drive is a variable speed drive that ramps up from 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM when needed but can slow down to save electricity. They developed this drive with the environment of a DVR in mind so I imagine they know what they are doing.


I put the specs on the WD20EADS in my previous post.

As for the photo...sorry to disappoint...but I'm the best looking gone....


----------



## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> As for the photo...sorry to disappoint...but I'm the best looking gone....


Yeah, maybe after your 4th or 5th drink!!! :lol:

And don't be trying to badmouth my WD20EADS as that puppy will be on it's way to my doorstep tomorrow and I'll be putting it in my HR23 on Wednesday. Can't wait.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

richierich said:


> And don't be trying to badmouth my WD20EADS as that puppy will be on it's way to my doorstep tomorrow and I'll be putting it in my HR23 on Wednesday. Can't wait.


I guess its time again for these reminders...


----------



## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

Holy Crap, I better be praying alot over the next 3 days and send some of my angels to watch out over the UPS Truck on it's way to my house. :lol:


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

richierich said:


> Holy Crap, I better be praying alot over the next 3 days and send some of my angels to watch out over the UPS Truck on it's way to my house. :lol:


I'm sure you ordered those _insured_.....

I just stuck my new 1TB Seagate in this PC yesterday...

I'm waiting for the 2TB drives to break below the $250 barrier and then will likely get several for the DVRs...


----------



## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Alrightdeals will special order at $244: http://alrightdeals.com/Item.htm?Id=S1_Hard.Drives_Serial.ATA.Hard.Drive___79646


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Tom Robertson said:


> Alrightdeals will special order at $244: http://alrightdeals.com/Item.htm?Id=S1_Hard.Drives_Serial.ATA.Hard.Drive___79646


Thanks Tom....indeed a great price....which may explain why they are out of stock...

Then there's that "minimum order of 3" thingy...

But I do appreciate the help.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

richierich said:


> How did you see his picture? Was it the one in Las Vegas? How did you know who was who?


Las Vegas picture with caption showing everyone. Saw you too. Knew what Sweet and Brott looked like and didn't know anyone else. I really thought HDFan looked like a lemur. Terrible disappointment. Oddly, you looked just like I thought you would. Stuart's beard looked good, last picture I saw of him he was clean shaven.



> The Drive is a variable speed drive that ramps up from 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM when needed but can slow down to save electricity. They developed this drive with the environment of a DVR in mind so I imagine they know what they are doing.


Yeah, I found that out. You better hope it works better than Cadillac's 2-4-6-8 cylinder motors did back in the 80's. Understand they are gonna try that again. What a fiasco that was.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I put the specs on the WD20EADS in my previous post.
> 
> As for the photo...sorry to disappoint...but I'm the best looking gone....


Ahh, you'll always be a lemur to me.

Rich


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Tom Robertson said:


> Alrightdeals will special order at $244: http://alrightdeals.com/Item.htm?Id=S1_Hard.Drives_Serial.ATA.Hard.Drive___79646


From Alrightdeals web site:

No refund or partial refund policy (for buyer's error, product opened by buyer)
*. If there are neither seller's nor mfr/product errors, and products have been opened by buyers.
*. If the customer is not sure about the product and wants to "buy-try-return", we say sorry, our business model is unsuitable for you. We suggest buyers check product specification/compatibility with mfr/internet before ordering. Or purchase from other sellers which have loose return policy.
*. Theoritically and seriously, we don't accept open-by-buyer-find-ordered-wrong-item, open-by-buyer-but-unwanted, open-by-buyer-test-incompatible returns. However, when this kind of situations happen, we will contact our vendors and try to negociate if return is allowed.
*. If the answer is No, we will not issue RMA number.
*. If the answer is Yes, we will issue buyer a RMA number, the restocking fee varies from 15% to 30% depends on the actual returned condition and can't be decided before returning. We dont' make money on charging restocking fee, it's our supplier charges us. If our supplier refuses the return, the returned product will be sent back to you.

Yet another company that will never see a cent from me. Buy.com, NewEgg, etc.

When Best Buy came to NJ, I went to their first store in our area and after reading their return policy, I asked to see the manager. Told him if they didn't change their return policy and continued to sell at a set price rather than at least match other retailers prices they would be out of business in this part of the world quickly. He told me that would never happen. Stopped in and saw him a year later and he said that they had found out how competitive it is around here and had changed both policies. And they dropped the restocking fees. Small victories.

Rich


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Looks lke Seagate is launching there's too....and its 7200RPM..

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=151519


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Looks lke Seagate is launching there's too....and its 7200RPM..
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=151519


And third quarter this year...


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

I saw a Post a couple of months ago by a guy who knew more about drives than anybody I have ever encountered and he stated that for DVRs that 5400 RPM was better than 7200 RPM and he explained it but it was over my head.

He also said that 16 Meg cache was all that it needed and that 32 Meg cache actually degraded performance but I didn't know enough about hard drives to beg the question or even debate the issue. He really knew about the db architecture for a linear based DB, etc. and I wish I would have saved that dissertation.


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I'm always learning things here......including that storage is one of those "Neverending Story" questions when it comes to how much we need...


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

richierich said:


> I saw a Post a couple of months ago by a guy who knew more about drives than anybody I have ever encountered and he stated that for DVRs that 5400 RPM was better than 7200 RPM and he explained it but it was over my head. [...]


I think it depends on the front side bus speed. If the FSB creates a processing bottleneck, it will most likely mask the difference in drive access times. /steve


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## dreadlk (Sep 18, 2007)

Sounds wrong to me. I know that a Large Cache is almost always better than a smaller one, maybe with these large files the Cache may not make much of a difference but it certainly should not make anything worst. Faster Drive speed are always better for any size file but is really shows a huge difference when playing Video. So IMHO a 7200RPM 32MB drive should be a lot better than a 5400RPM 16MB Drive provided that the controller can feed or remove data fast enough.



richierich said:


> I saw a Post a couple of months ago by a guy who knew more about drives than anybody I have ever encountered and he stated that for DVRs that 5400 RPM was better than 7200 RPM and he explained it but it was over my head.
> 
> He also said that 16 Meg cache was all that it needed and that 32 Meg cache actually degraded performance but I didn't know enough about hard drives to beg the question or even debate the issue. He really knew about the db architecture for a linear based DB, etc. and I wish I would have saved that dissertation.


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## DigitalExtremeMediaGroup (Mar 24, 2009)

I remeber when the first 10 meg hard drive came out. This is great


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## Steve Rhodes (Oct 4, 2006)

cartrivision said:


> There is a difference between handling it and handling it _well_ (or at the very least handing it acceptably). Considering that my HR21 with a 1TB disk is struggling to perform acceptably in some cases, I'd say that DirecTV probably still has a bit of work to do to get their current hardware to handle a a 2TB disk "well". Unfortunately, they still don't even officially support anything larger than the 500GB disks that come in their latest DVRs, so it's unknown how high a priority support for these large drives is or will be in the near future.


We've got 2 HR20s, one with a 1TB internal and one with a 750MB external, both of which are 95% full. We have noticed no struggling whatsoever.

I wonder if we go to 1.5TB or 2TB if we will see any significant slow down. Any ideas?


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Steve Rhodes said:


> We've got 2 HR20s, one with a 1TB internal and one with a 750MB external, both of which are 95% full. We have noticed no struggling whatsoever.
> 
> I wonder if we go to 1.5TB or 2TB if we will see any significant slow down. Any ideas?


I tested all the sizes available and got slowdowns and bogged down receivers. Doesn't seem to make a difference what the size of the eSATA is, the HRs tend to bog down at around 30% Available. The internals I have never tried, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out they have less problems than an eSATA.

As to your 750 eSATA, I think you'll find out you are one of the lucky ones, altho, I've never tried a filled up 750 on a 20. All my testing was done (on the 750s) on 21-700s and they all bogged down at the above stated percentage.

The 1TB was tested on a 21-700 and the 1.5 and 2TB were tested on 20-700s, all bogged down at 30%.

Every one I filled up bogged down at about 30%. In this case, size doesn't seem to matter. :lol:


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Steve Rhodes said:


> We've got 2 HR20s, one with a 1TB internal and one with a 750MB external, both of which are 95% full. We have noticed no struggling whatsoever.
> 
> I wonder if we go to 1.5TB or 2TB if we will see any significant slow down. Any ideas?


By the way, the bogging down I am talking about doesn't seem to affect the recording or the playback, just the guide, playlist and things like that. Playback was fine on all the eSATAs I tested.

Rich


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## xmguy (Mar 27, 2008)

:eek2::eek2: . Wow. I'd love to add that to my EXT HDD slew. If only I could afford it.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

xmguy said:


> :eek2::eek2: . Wow. I'd love to add that to my EXT HDD slew. If only I could afford it.


I'm sure it will be in the $200 price point in a few months. Thats where I am holding out for. Especially considering you can buy a 1.5 tb seagate drive for $119. (although the reviews are horrible)


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

xmguy said:


> :eek2::eek2: . Wow. I'd love to add that to my EXT HDD slew. If only I could afford it.


Gotta keep up with the wife's spending somehow. They'll get cheaper. I have a tendency to buy things when they first become available. The prices are dropping on he externals, have patience.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> I'm sure it will be in the $200 price point in a few months. Thats where I am holding out for. Especially considering you can buy a 1.5 tb seagate drive for $119. (although the reviews are horrible)


Horrible, indeed. But the Xtreme 1.5s seem to be perfectly reliable on a 20-700. Don't know about the rest of the HRs, but I've seen posts that said that the Xtremes work on the 21s too. The one I tried it on is a bit cranky and perhaps that is why I experienced problems. Seem to work perfectly on the 20s tho. And as far as I know, the Xtremes have the same hard drive in them as the Seagate drive you mentioned. Kinda hard to figure out what to do, no?

Rich


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> I'm sure it will be in the $200 price point in a few months. Thats where I am holding out for. Especially considering you can buy a 1.5 tb seagate drive for $119. (although the reviews are horrible)


I've seen the Xtreme 1.5 for less than $200, $189, I believe.

Rich


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> I've seen the Xtreme 1.5 for less than $200, $189, I believe.
> 
> Rich


My bad Rich, I was talking about the internal drive.


----------



## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Horrible, indeed. But the Xtreme 1.5s seem to be perfectly reliable on a 20-700. Don't know about the rest of the HRs, but I've seen posts that said that the Xtremes work on the 21s too. The one I tried it on is a bit cranky and perhaps that is why I experienced problems. Seem to work perfectly on the 20s tho. And as far as I know, the Xtremes have the same hard drive in them as the Seagate drive you mentioned. Kinda hard to figure out what to do, no?
> 
> Rich


I have a couple of the 1.5 internals and they have been fine, I must have got lucky.(and they don't run 24/7) But, I have never seen reviews so bad for an internal drive. I will not buy anymore because of that.


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> I have a couple of the 1.5 internals and they have been fine, I must have got lucky.(and they don't run 24/7) But, I have never seen reviews so bad for an internal drive. I will not buy anymore because of that.


Seagate is aware of this problem. They will introduce a 2TB drive in the near future. Let's just hope they get it right this time.

Rich


----------



## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Seagate is aware of this problem. They will introduce a 2TB drive in the near future. Let's just hope they get it right this time.
> 
> Rich


Yeah i know, thats probably why you can find them for $119(cheaper than some 1TB drives)


----------



## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

I have a pair of Seagate 1.5's and they've been flawless. I got them in December, but they were after the "bad" firmware. I haven't done anything to them, and have no issues.

Likely, most of the problem reviews were from the drives made during the period that had the bad firmware. You'll never hear about the millions of drives that work fine, just the thousands that had problems. And while those problems are real and those owners are justifyably upset, it doesn't mean that every drive is bad.


----------



## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

IIP said:


> You'll never hear about the millions of drives that work fine, just the thousands that had problems. And while those problems are real and those owners are justifyably upset, it doesn't mean that every drive is bad.


You have a really good point there. Like I stated earlier, mine work fine as well.


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> Yeah i know, thats probably why you can find them for $119(cheaper than some 1TB drives)


Sounds as if they are dumping them, doesn't it? Wonder how well they work on computers?

Rich


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

IIP said:


> I have a pair of Seagate 1.5's and they've been flawless. I got them in December, but they were after the "bad" firmware. I haven't done anything to them, and have no issues.


Those are just the drives, not eSATAs? My two Xtreme 1.5s word perfectly and they are on the list of "bad hard drives". Never had a problem, never bothered with new firmware. If it works...



> Likely, most of the problem reviews were from the drives made during the period that had the bad firmware. You'll never hear about the millions of drives that work fine, just the thousands that had problems. And while those problems are real and those owners are justifyably upset, it doesn't mean that every drive is bad.


That's the case with most electronic devices. The "squeaky wheel" gets the most notice and nobody who is having problems with a device wants to hear that everybody else is having no problems with that device. Just adds to the frustration.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> You have a really good point there. Like I stated earlier, mine work fine as well.


That point applies to the HRs too. And the eSATAs. But if we have the same device that someone has troubles with, I think it's important for them to know that not all the devices are bad.

Rich


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Sounds as if they are dumping them, doesn't it? Wonder how well they work on computers?
> 
> Rich


Yep, that's exactly what I think(dumping them). I'm sure they would be fine on a computer.


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> Yep, that's exactly what I think(dumping them). I'm sure they would be fine on a computer.


I talk to techs at Seagate occasionally and they are gearing up to start providing proper eSATAs for all the various providers. Be a while, I think they will have a 2TB drive out in a couple of months, if not sooner. One tech told me it was kinda rough complying with all the providers. But, at least, they are finally getting on the bandwagon and starting to notice eSATA usage. Same seems to be true of WD, too.

Rich


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> Yep, that's exactly what I think(dumping them). I'm sure they would be fine on a computer.


I thought D* was dumping the 22-100s too and if they are, they have an awful lot of them. Every time Costco runs out of them, they get more.

Just out of curiosity, what would the average person do with a 1.5TB on a computer? That's an awful lot of storage.

Rich


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

rich584 said:


> Just out of curiosity, what would the average person do with a 1.5TB on a computer? That's an awful lot of storage.
> Rich


Video. HD video.

I have 4TB on my server and it's not really enough.


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

djlong said:


> Video. HD video.
> 
> I have 4TB on my server and it's not really enough.


Besides video. I wasn't considering video when I posted that question. Let me rephrase it. Besides video, what would the average person (that's not you) do with a 1.5TB drive on a computer? At home. Me for instance. All I use my computers for are portals to the Internet. I posed that question out of curiosity, not being argumentative.

Rich


----------



## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> I thought D* was dumping the 22-100s too and if they are, they have an awful lot of them. Every time Costco runs out of them, they get more.
> 
> Just out of curiosity, what would the average person do with a 1.5TB on a computer? That's an awful lot of storage.
> 
> Rich


The average person would never use 1.5TB on a computer(unless storing video). 500 gb is more than enough for the average user. Most of my desktops have 1TB drives, but that is because they are so cheap. My server stores all of my music, pics, and video/movies now.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

dave29 said:


> The average person would never use 1.5TB on a computer(unless storing video). 500 gb is more than enough for the average user. Most of my desktops have 1TB drives, but that is because they are so cheap. My server stores all of my music, pics, and video/movies now.


At $99...that's why I upgraded to a 1TB....even with all the stuff I store...plenty of room left...


----------



## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> At $99...that's why I upgraded to a 1TB....even with all the stuff I store...plenty of room left...


Yeah, I even saw a hitachi 1tb the other day for $79:eek2:


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> The average person would never use 1.5TB on a computer(unless storing video). 500 gb is more than enough for the average user. Most of my desktops have 1TB drives, but that is because they are so cheap. My server stores all of my music, pics, and video/movies now.


So the whole point of making the 1.5s and 2TBs must be for recording video? Wonder when they began considering DVRs a viable business choice?

Rich


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> So the whole point of making the 1.5s and 2TBs must be for recording video? Wonder when they began considering DVRs a viable business choice?
> 
> Rich


DVR, Video(media) or Server/Backup applications for multiple computers.


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> DVR, Video(media) or Server/Backup applications for multiple computers.


I can see a purpose for them in a business setting. But aside from storing video, what other purpose does a 1.5 or 2TB serve for the average home computer? That's an awful lot of storage.

Rich


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

rich584 said:


> I can see a purpose for them in a business setting. But aside from storing video, what other purpose does a 1.5 or 2TB serve for the average home computer? That's an awful lot of storage.
> 
> Rich


For some anyway....

I'm sitting with 78% left on my 1GB....and I have ALOT of digital photos and other significant files....

Interesting enough...my "work laptop" only has 160 GB drive....adequate.


----------



## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> For some anyway....
> 
> I'm sitting with 78% left on my 1GB....and I have ALOT of digital photos and other significant files....
> 
> Interesting enough...my "work laptop" only has 160 GB drive....adequate.


I never use my computers for anything but a portal to the Internet. My wife keeps all the stuff on her computer and, so far, she hasn't complained about the capacity. My computers still have very little on the hard drive.

Rich


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> But aside from storing video, what other purpose does a 1.5 or 2TB serve for the average home computer?
> 
> Rich


An average person would never fill that. Most of "us" aren't average.:lol:

I have approximately 10tb of storage(server,NAS,Ext HDD's) at my house and probably around 50% of that is media, 20% is docs and files, and the rest is still available(for now). That doesn't include any of my dvr's either. Most of my dvr's are stock, but I have 2 of them with antec mx-1 enclosures and WD GP 1tb drives.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> An average person would never fill that. Most of "us" aren't average.:lol:
> 
> I have approximately 10tb of storage(server,NAS,Ext HDD's) at my house and probably around 50% of that is media, 20% is docs and files, and the rest is still available(for now). That doesn't include any of my dvr's either. Most of my dvr's are stock, but I have 2 of them with antec mx-1 enclosures and WD GP 1tb drives.


Even with a 2TB, two 1.5TBs and two 1TBs and a 750G, mine all stay about 50% full. 2TBs is a monstrous amount of storage, for now. For that matter, so are the two 1.5s. I was just curious about how ''normal" folks would use a really large HDD without storing HD content.

Rich


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> I was just curious about how ''normal" folks would use a really large HDD without storing HD content.
> 
> Rich


Yeah, I am curious too. My guess is that they would never use it. Most of my friends have hard drives no bigger than 320gb in their computers and they are nowhere near full.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

dave29 said:


> Yeah, I am curious too. My guess is that they would never use it. Most of my friends have hard drives no bigger than 320gb in their computers and they are nowhere near full.


Until I started working with home video for family, I didn't come close. I think I hit 150GB with my CDs, documents, pix, bloatware, etc. 

Cheers,
Tom


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

with all my pictures and mp3s I haven't used over 100gb ever..


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> Yeah, I am curious too. My guess is that they would never use it. Most of my friends have hard drives no bigger than 320gb in their computers and they are nowhere near full.


I've had this computer for a year now and have 70% left on the hard drive (a 320). I know there was a time when Windows would use empty portions of the hard drive, but I think they've gotten past that. Must be a selling point.

So what I was getting at originally was that the manufacturers of hard drives must be looking at DVRs as a source of income and making their huge hard drives for them.

I talked to a tech at Seagate a few weeks ago he really was interested in what I knew about how the HRs work with their products. He did say that the new 2TB drive they are coming out with soon would be made for DVRs.

Rich


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

rich584 said:


> I've had this computer for a year now and have 70% left on the hard drive (a 320). I know there was a time when Windows would use empty portions of the hard drive, but I think they've gotten past that. Must be a selling point.
> 
> So what I was getting at originally was that the manufacturers of hard drives must be looking at DVRs as a source of income and making their huge hard drives for them.
> 
> ...


That's very interesting to know.

Yes, the HDD's have almost become a simple commodity on PC's these days, so it is not surprising that they are looking for new markets/opportunties.

The DVR market is certainly a solid place for them to look. I just had a friend over this weekend complaining about the small HDD in their Comcast HD DVR. I let him know I had 1TB here...he almost lost his meal. :eek2:

I told him friends don't let friends do cable, and he said "now I know why you keep saying that". :lol:


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> So what I was getting at originally was that the manufacturers of hard drives must be looking at DVRs as a source of income and making their huge hard drives for them.
> 
> Rich


Exactly. These companies are making huge drives for DVR's, and BD/DVD storage. I have seen BD's up to 48gb, that's only one disc!


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> That's very interesting to know.
> 
> Yes, the HDD's have almost become a simple commodity on PC's these days, so it is not surprising that they are looking for new markets/opportunties.
> 
> ...


When I said that Seagate tech was really interested, I wasn't kidding. I spent over an hour talking to him about what works and doesn't work on the HRs. Lots of stuff they aren't aware of. Sounds like they are still feeling their way. Be interesting to see how their new 2TB works when it comes out.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> Exactly. These companies are making huge drives for DVR's, and BD/DVD storage. I have seen BD's up to 48gb, that's only one disc!


Could you explain "BD/DVD storage"? I have absolutely no idea what that means.

Rich


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

rich584 said:


> When I said that Seagate tech was really interested, I wasn't kidding. I spent over an hour talking to him about what works and doesn't work on the HRs. Lots of stuff they aren't aware of. Sounds like they are still feeling their way. Be interesting to see how their new 2TB works when it comes out.
> 
> Rich


Hopefully....he gets something for his contributions there to the "suggestion box" based on your "education" to him.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Could you explain "BD/DVD storage"? I have absolutely no idea what that means.
> 
> Rich


BD=Blu ray

Alot of people rip their Blu Rays to a server and some of them are up to 50gb each. It doesn't take long for drives to fill up.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> BD=Blu ray
> 
> Alot of people rip their Blu Rays to a server and some of them are up to 50gb each. It doesn't take long for drives to fill up.


The BD I knew, but I guess they are ripping rented Blu-Rays to a server? And that server is a hard drive in or external to an HR?.

Gotta admit the whole BD thing passed me by. Until I got a great deal on a 1080p Panny plasma. I can understand storing rented movies on an HR. But I have no intention of buying any more discs, tapes, balls, etc. that are going to be an anachronism a year later. Just gave away a fortune in VHS movies and blank tapes (bins of them), have a couple thousand dollars worth of standard DVDs and just refuse to buy more pre-recorded media.

Altho, I gotta admit, my heart is filled with lust for a BD player. But the BD recorders are on the market in some countries already and...oh hell, I don't know what to do.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Hopefully....he gets something for his contributions there to the "suggestion box" based on your "education" to him.


Hopefully, they will make a hard drive that works perfectly with an HR.

Rich


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> The BD I knew, but I guess they are ripping rented Blu-Rays to a server? And that server is a hard drive in or external to an HR?.
> 
> Gotta admit the whole BD thing passed me by. Until I got a great deal on a 1080p Panny plasma. I can understand storing rented movies on an HR. But I have no intention of buying any more discs, tapes, balls, etc. that are going to be an anachronism a year later. Just gave away a fortune in VHS movies and blank tapes (bins of them), have a couple thousand dollars worth of standard DVDs and just refuse to buy more pre-recorded media.
> 
> ...


The guys that I know that are ripping BD's, are ones they own. You rip them to a server or a computer and then straight to the tv. You cannot pass a BD thru a HR, that I know of.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

rich584 said:


> Hopefully, they will make a hard drive that works perfectly with an HR.
> 
> Rich


My Seagate 500GB drive has worked perfectly with my HR20-700 now for some time.


dave29 said:


> The guys that I know that are ripping BD's, are ones they own.


Hopefully so...


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> The guys that I know that are ripping BD's, are ones they own. You rip them to a server or a computer and then straight to the tv. You cannot pass a BD thru a HR, that I know of.


So they must be swapping them? Makes little sense to me to purchase one and then put it on a computer. Makes a lot of sense for, say, five people to each buy one and then swap the five around. That it?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> My Seagate 500GB drive has worked perfectly with my HR20-700 now for some time.


Lots of problems with Seagate 1TBs and 1.5TBs. Altho my four Seagate drives are all on the "endangered" list and all work perfectly.

Rich


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> So they must be swapping them? Makes little sense to me to purchase one and then put it on a computer. Makes a lot of sense for, say, five people to each buy one and then swap the five around. That it?
> 
> Rich


That would be illegal, as is ripping your own copy. Some people just like to rip their own media to a hard drive instead of fumbling around with the actual hard media. It's not for everyone, Home Theater PC's are more of a hobby than just a plug and play device. Lots of time and headaches to set one up right and mantain it.


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Lots of problems with Seagate 1TBs and 1.5TBs. Altho my four Seagate drives are all on the "endangered" list and all work perfectly.
> 
> Rich


I have a couple working fine too.(knock on wood)


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## dettxw (Nov 21, 2007)

dave29 said:


> That would be illegal, as is ripping your own copy. Some people just like to rip their own media to a hard drive instead of fumbling around with the actual hard media. It's not for everyone, Home Theater PC's are more of a hobby than just a plug and play device. Lots of time and headaches to set one up right and *mantain *it.


Don't let any ladies near it, eh? :lol:


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

dettxw said:


> Don't let any ladies near it, eh? :lol:


You said it, not me:lol:


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

dave29 said:


> That would be illegal, as is ripping your own copy. Some people just like to rip their own media to a hard drive instead of fumbling around with the actual hard media. It's not for everyone, Home Theater PC's are more of a hobby than just a plug and play device. Lots of time and headaches to set one up right and mantain it.


Sounds like a lot of work and I am almost terminally lazy. My idea of a hobby is hitting a couple hundred baseballs a day. As for it being illegal, I didn't realize that when I posted, was just curious. Since I'm a born and bred Jersey Boy I wouldn't think of doing something illegal. :lol:

Rich


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## dave29 (Feb 18, 2007)

rich584 said:


> Sounds like a lot of work and I am almost terminally lazy. My idea of a hobby is hitting a couple hundred baseballs a day. As for it being illegal, I didn't realize that when I posted, was just curious. Since I'm a born and bred Jersey Boy I wouldn't think of doing something illegal. :lol:
> 
> Rich


I know, I just wanted to clarify befoore the mods did.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

WD® LAUNCHES HIGH-PERFORMANCE, 7200 RPM 2 TB HARD DRIVES FOR DESKTOP AND ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS
WD Caviar® Black™ and WD RE4 Four-platter Hard Drives Set New Benchmarks in High-Feature, High Performance Storage

These are the "Black" drives, not the "Green" drives. Still not showing up on NewEgg.


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## sean10780 (Oct 16, 2007)

It's showing up on amazon

Linky


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Time for a new, 2TB EHD thread?


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