# Direct TV tech support says newest genie won't support external hard drives



## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Hi guys brand new to the forum so my apologies if this question has been answered elsewhere  ... I did try to search the forum for an answer to this specific question but I will be the first one to admit that my search skills are awful 

I just got off the phone with direct tv's technical support regarding their newest version of the Genie, which has a 2 TB hard drive installed in it. The tech support agent insists that this particular version of genie will NOT support external hard drives via an Esata connection.. if that's true that would be a real bummer  (was hoping to attach at least a 3 TB external sata hard drive to it) .. basically the tech support agent says Direct TV has been getting flak re: people who are somehow transferring the tv shows off the external hard drive so Direct TV is starting to "phase out support" for external hard drives (which would REALLY suck if that's true  ) ...

So I was wondering.. does anyone have the newest 2TB internal hard drive version of genie? (which I have not yet upgraded to myself, considering doing it despite the two year contract genie will stick me with  in order to get it for free). If so, has anyone successfully attached an external hard drive to it? Currently I have the "old school" HR-24 model which I was planning on attaching the following hard drive to

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LOOJ8VC/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=INYH6KIWSJ9G9&colid=LRYM2128IT1F

(" Seagate SkyHawk 3TB Surveillance Hard Drive - SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Drive (model number ST3000VX010) " )

inside the following enclosure

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005KGNXTE/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I17J313VLPWE39&colid=LRYM2128IT1F

( " Rosewill 3.5 Inch Hard Drive Enclosure to USB 3.0 / eSATA. External Hard Drive Case Aluminum Body, Built-in Cooling Fan and Fan Switch. Support 3.5" SATA III / II / I Hard Drive up to 6TB and UASP function, model number RX-358 U3C BLK)

Based on what I saw on previous threads apparently my old HR-24 would only "see" 2 TB of the hard drive but would "cooperate" with it anyways (fingers crossed  ) despite it being over 2 TB... the eventual goal being to transfer this hard drive/enclosure over to the genie when I decide to pull the trigger and agree to the 2 year commitment.

Apologies if I've unwittingly violated any of the forum rules and guidelines here  , like I said new to the forum 

Also want to give a shout-out to the incredibly helpful people here on this forum, I have learned SO much from simply reading the existing threads on here re: attaching external hard drives... greatly appreciated !


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

it's been posted - HS17 does support EHD same way as other DVRs, limit is unclear, some people got it with works with 4 TB HDD some with 10 TB in RAID-0 [Standard RAID levels - Wikipedia]


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Wow that was fast , thank you P Smith  ... and now I know what the model number is (HS17), appreciate it  .. when you say "it's been posted" (and apologies for being such a thick-headed numbskull as to even have to ask this  , but ) I think you're saying that "other people on the forum have posted about how they successfully got it to work with up to a 4 TB external sata hard drive" right?  ... 4 TB is the most I'd need so I guess I wouldn't need a RAID-O setup (though it's good to know it can go up to 10 TB  ) ....

Now that I have the model number I can "google it directly" so to speak  .. I came up with this link

https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/consumer/help/pdf/Genie2-Product-Manual.pdf

and the pic shows an esata port on the back so that's promising 

(scratches head)... I wonder why tech support would tell me that the Genie 2 "2 TB hard drive" model doesn't support an external hard drive though? Maybe due to what I mentioned in my initial post re: people "copying" the direct tv shows onto their PC like direct tv's tech support said? Maybe they're trying to discourage all external hard drive use as a result?


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## doctor j (Jun 14, 2006)

I have an HS17 running a WD purple 10 TB hard drive in a Thermaltake BlacX esata dock at this very moment.
Setup had a few unexplained hiccups on first try but second try and ever since has been perfect
Doctor j


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

Andrepartthree said:


> (scratches head)... I wonder why tech support would tell me that the Genie 2 "2 TB hard drive" model doesn't support an external hard drive though? Maybe due to what I mentioned in my initial post re: people "copying" the direct tv shows onto their PC like direct tv's tech support said? Maybe they're trying to discourage all external hard drive use as a result?


Officially, DirecTV doesn't support the use of any eSATA drives. So,technically, the person that you spoke with is correct. In reality, their equipment does work with many drives/enclosures. The 2TB limitation that existed on HR2x models has gone away. Right now, there are no consumer hard drives that are too large to work with Genies, although people have built RAID arrays that are too large.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Newegg is having a sale today, buy two 6 tb hard drives and they are 119 each. Segates I believe. I think they are ok for DVRs but not positive, I don’t recall for sure, so youd need to double check. But yeah, I’ve been running a 4tb red drive since day one and it’s fine. Technically DIRECTV has NEVER supported esata drives.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Keep in mind though, if you ever need to replace the Genie, none of the recordings on the external drive will be playable with the replacement.

In the past over the air recordings would have worked, but since the HS17 doesn't support the AM21, that's out.


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Doctor J thank you so much, it's super helpful to know someone has successfully attached an external hard drive to their HS 17, this is very reassuring appreciate it 

Inkahauts thank you for the heads up on the sale that's very much appreciated as well  .. the reason I picked out the seagate skyhawk hard drive is it has extremely favorable reviews (built for external surveillance devices that attach to a DVR but one amazon reviewer mentioned it worked for his direct tv dvr so - fingers crossed  ) ... independent reviewers outside of amazon gave it (the seagate skyhawk) high marks too and it's supposed to be the "spiritual successor" to the "seagate pipeline" hard drives that were originally installed in direct TV DVR's (that is when I look up "seagate pipeline" HD's on amazon and click on "there's a newer model of this available" it leads me to the seagate skyhawk  ) .. I mention the seagate pipeline HD's since another person on here said they installed a H.D. inside their DVR (which I don't plan on doing I'm not that brave , much easier to just attach something externally  .. so I admire that person for doing that  ) ...

I knew a dpeters who ran an awesome dungeons and dragons campaign online on Fantasy Grounds (yes , I'm a geek  ) many years ago, I'm wondering if you're the same dpeters?  ... Could be just a coincidence  ... thank you for the heads up on the lost recordings if the genie is replaced I appreciate that  ... found this out the hard way  , once you swap out the DVR you lose all the recorded shows since you essentially have to re-format the hard drive through use of the new DVR ... it's probably because I'm a newb  but I was confused by the AM21 reference at first, then I googled it and saw the solid signal blog article " Can you still use an AM21 module with DIRECTV equipment?" by Stuart Sweet (I woud have posted the link here but when I did earlier I got a "awaiting moderator approval" message - fair enough, last thing the moderators want is links in threads directing people to spam or viruses  ) .. Man that would have been awesome !  Buy your own DVR outright , combine with an AM21 and you're totally in charge of all your TV recordings without having to rely on anyone else!  (or I'm guessing so anyways, remember, I'm a newb and a numbskull to boot  ) ...

Crap.. edit and update, the amazon review I saw mentioned that the seagate skyhawk worked on the reviewers TIVO DVR.. not sure if he was using Direct TV service or not.. still, hopefully that's a good sign


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Bill Broderick said:


> Officially, DirecTV doesn't support the use of any eSATA drives. So,technically, the person that you spoke with is correct. In reality, their equipment does work with many drives/enclosures. The 2TB limitation that existed on HR2x models has gone away. Right now, there are no consumer hard drives that are too large to work with Genies, although people have built RAID arrays that are too large.


Crap shame on me for not thanking Bill above with everyone else!  .. Bill, thank you for this info as well this is good to know 

(original thank you message to other posters waiting moderator approval, I foolishly included a link to a solid signal blog article discussing the AM21 which apparently got it flagged.. reported MYSELF to the moderator on that post hoping to get it approved  )


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Oh ! Here's the link re: the seagate pipeline being the "original" H.D. inside direct TV DVR's  HR24-200: replace INTERNAL hard drive & preserve programming


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> (scratches head)... *I wonder why tech support would tell me* that the Genie 2 "2 TB hard drive" model doesn't support an external hard drive though? Maybe due to what I mentioned in my initial post re: people "copying" the direct tv shows onto their PC like direct tv's tech support said? Maybe they're trying to discourage all external hard drive use as a result?


Reality sets in quickly: CSRs will tell you anything and go on to the next call. There is really no "tech support" over the phone. D* Technical Support is an oxymoron...3 truths, I think.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

doctor j said:


> I have an HS17 running a WD purple 10 TB hard drive in a Thermaltake BlacX esata dock at this very moment.
> Setup had a few unexplained hiccups on first try but second try and ever since has been perfect
> Doctor j


Right, the biggest mistake a person can make is reading what's on the box. IIRC, the box for the TT docks does say 2TB is the most it can use. I've never had a problem with a TT dock and a large HDD.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

inkahauts said:


> Newegg is having a sale today, buy two 6 tb hard drives and they are 119 each. Segates I believe. I think they are ok for DVRs but not positive, I don't recall for sure, so youd need to double check. But yeah, I've been running a 4tb red drive since day one and it's fine. *Technically DIRECTV has NEVER supported esata drives.*


They did try once, nobody paid much attention and they gave up.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Oh ! Here's the link re: the seagate pipeline being the "original" H.D. inside direct TV DVR's  _HR24-200_: replace INTERNAL hard drive & preserve programming


I just reread this thread and I don't see which HR24 you have. Is it an HR24-200? If it is, don't try to replace the internal HDD, the sled that holds the HDD is too small for a standard HDD. The Seagate Pipeline 500GB that the 200s shipped with is much smaller in one dimension than a "normal" 3.5 HDD. Aside from that one glaring issue, the 200s are really good DVRs.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Thank you so much Rich  ... yes, definitely not going to try to replace the internal hard drive that's for braver souls than myself  ... will investigate the model number (which HR 24 it is) and post results here


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Thank you so much Rich  ... yes, definitely not going to try to replace the internal hard drive that's for braver souls than myself  ... will investigate the model number (which HR 24 it is) and post results here


I tried to put a normal 3.5 drive in my 200, spent a lot of time wishing I had access to a machine shop. Failed miserably, that 200 is the only HR I own with an eSATA drive on it, the rest have at least a 2TB drive internally.

Rich


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

Rich said:


> CSRs will tell you anything and go on to the next call. There is really no "tech support" over the phone. D* Technical Support is an oxymoron...3 truths, I think.
> Rich


:thumbsup:
It is either to get to the next call, just get you off the line, or they just don't know. 
Or parts of all three. 
As anyone who has been on this site for any amount of time knows, you'll get better answers here than calling DIRECTV. Oh the horror stories most of us have......


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Rich it is an HR24-200 so good to know I have one of the better models thank you  ... trh thank you, I'm quickly realizing I'm far better off here with you kind people helping me out (and thanks so much for that  ) ... I just spent one hour and forty minutes.. literally.. with a very nice direct tv tech support agent whom (I have a terrible feeling) was reading from a manual ... called back and got a second agent who solved the problem in 20 minutes (basically , installing the HR24-200 on my own that Direct TV sent to me - absolute nightmare ! ... but it's all good now.. I hope that is, everything seems to be working okay  )


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

As I've always maintained, you can call any two CSRs and get at least three answers. And sometimes those other answers are 'better' (credits and freebies).


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

trh said:


> :thumbsup:
> It is either to get to the next call, just get you off the line, or they just don't know.
> Or parts of all three.
> As anyone who has been on this site for any amount of time knows, you'll get better answers here than calling DIRECTV. Oh the horror stories most of us have......


Well said. I don't like to remember the "Bad Days" back in '06-08. But I do...

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

trh said:


> As I've always maintained, you can call any two CSRs and get at least three answers. And sometimes those other answers are 'better' (credits and freebies).


Yup, definitely a game you have to learn how to play. First step, learn to call Retention first. Not saying that works every time but it's a whole lot better than calling D* and talking to the first CSR that you get.

Rich


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