# direct tv approved dvr external hd not recognized by hr24-200 :(



## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Hi guys me again  .. well, ran into another problem 

For three years, I had a WD 1TB My Book AV DVR Expander External Hard Drive - USB 2.0 - WDBABT0010HBK-NESN

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MVZ60S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

that worked faithfully for me up through and including yesterday .... (ignore what it says about usb 2.0 no idea why it says that - my model has an esata connection, only)

Replaced my HR22-100 DVR with an HR24-200 ... good news is the HR24-200 is up and working after struggling with the darn thing for literally 2 hours with the aid of direct tv's tech support.

The bad news is that the HR-24 will not recognize the WD external hard drive  ... I tried the advice given here in this thread:

(FROM Genie HR54 cannot use external drive? )

with no luck, then tried turning on the hard drive first then turning on the DVR (other threads mention the hard drive needs to be up and spinning first) still no joy 

I noticed the link for the amazon product description above says it works with the Direct TV R15, HR20, HR2, HR23 models... but it doesn't mention the HR 24 .. I'm wondering if that means I'm out of luck and the HR 24 is too "new" for the WD to handle? What really sucks is that I made a point of purchasing an external hard drive officially approved by Direct TV back when I first bought it three years ago 

I do plan on buying a brand new hard drive/esata enclosure combination for my HR-24 as per this thread below

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

but given we have two HR 24's at this point, one for each TV (both HR24-200's), it would be REALLY nice to get that darn WD external hard drive up and running such that I can transfer it to the "other" TV.

It also occurred to me .... and totally making this up as I go along  , not an expert by any means  .. that maybe the W.D. hard drive is "confused" in that it's expecting to see it's old "partner", the HR 22, so it's "refusing to cooperate" with the HR 24?

What do you guys think? Am I totally out of luck here?


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Well this is embarrassing  ... please disregard my post above, after an hour on the phone with direct tv tech support (but thank goodness I got a good tech  ) it works 

Apparently the secret is to unplug both the DVR and the external hard drive AND the sata cable from both the DVR and EHD (I wasn't doing the uplug sata cable thing)... plug the EHD in and the SATA cable, wait 30 seconds, plug the DVR in, attach the sata cable ... do this over and over again until it works on the tenth try or so 

After that hit the "menu" button on the remote, go to "settings", "reset", and select "reset everything" option

Going to be really interesting transferring this to the "other" HR-200 when I get the upgraded hard drive/external enclosure for the "new" HR-200 though


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Well edit and update (in case anyone else is using this particular model and has similar problems).... if you hit the "reset" button on your HR-24 due to it freezing up, which I had to do, it becomes a real pain the butt.. you have to do what I mentioned above (unplug everything mentioned above, wait 30 seconds, then plug back in , in the order mentioned above) or else the HR-24 "forgets" that the external hard drive exists and defaults back to the recordings in it's own internal hard drive.. which was never a problem with my HR 22, even if you hit the reset button it fully "cooperated" with the WD external hard drive... groan....

Come October 5th or so when our credit card rolls over to the next billing cycle I will try the seagate skyhawk hard drive/rosewill enclosure I mentioned in this thread below

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

and post my results

Well, I guess I should be grateful you can "force" the W.D. external H.D. to cooperate with the HR-24 at least...


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Well edit and update (in case anyone else is using this particular model and has similar problems).... if you hit the "reset" button on your HR-24 due to it freezing up, which I had to do, it becomes a real pain the butt.. you have to do what I mentioned above (unplug everything mentioned above, wait 30 seconds, then plug back in , in the order mentioned above) or else the HR-24 "forgets" that the external hard drive exists and defaults back to the recordings in it's own internal hard drive.. which was never a problem with my HR 22, even if you hit the reset button it fully "cooperated" with the WD external hard drive... groan....
> 
> Come October 5th or so when our credit card rolls over to the next billing cycle I will try the seagate skyhawk hard drive/rosewill enclosure I mentioned in this thread below
> 
> ...


I've written this many times: Those MyBook devices are a PITA. They're really not made for DVRs no matter what Amazon says. I tried them years ago and called WD about the problems I had. I was told they weren't compatible with DVRs by WD. What with the problems I saw, I'd say they were right then...don't really know about now. A TT or similar dock and a new WD 3TB drive will cost you around a hundred bucks. I'd go that way and use the MyBook on a computer, what they were made for in the first place...

Here's how you hook up an eSATA device to ANY HR (the models don't matter they will all work with a dock and a WD drive...how did you get the idea the 24s were that different? Just curious.) Anyhow, here's the way to do it: Hook up the eSATA to eSATA cord first. Once you have it hooked up you should never have to remove the cord from the ports, just leave them alone. I've been at this since I got the HRs and I don't remember ever having a bad eSATA cord.

OK you have the cord in place. You should have both the external device and the HR unplugged. Now put the HDD in the dock (or an enclosure, same for both) and plug the dock's power cord in. Wait a minute and you should hear the HDD spin up, a minute is plenty of time. You should see the power light on the dock (for sanity's sake buy a dock, they just work better than an enclosure) flicker blue and pink. If you buy a dock you can put your hand on the HDD and actually feel it spinning up. Once the HDDs done spinning up, plug in the HR...That's it. Just a very few steps, the eSATA to eSATa cord, the HDD and it's device and the HR. So simple. We arrived at this procedure years ago and it always works. One caveat, I do have to go thru the whole procedure a couple two, three times to make the connection from time to time probably because the dock I use is so old. Here's a link to docks on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...=esata+doc,electronics,159&crid=2CT3AS9VBZ1TI

I don't see any reason any of them wouldn't work, but the TTs aren't for sale anymore and I would probably buy a more expensive one. That approach usually works well...maybe.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Man I so wish I'd found out about you guys (this forum I mean  ) before going with Direct TV's so called "recommendations" back three years ago like this piece of crap external hard drive  ... Re: the HR24 being different than the HR 22.. man I honestly don't know why it's happening, for like 3 years with the HR 22 and the W.D. H.D. no problems at all, it faithfully cooperated with the W.D. H.D. without any issues.. I swap out the HR 22 for an HR 24 as of yesterday and suddenly the W.D. H.D. is having issues  ... not that I'm knocking the HR 24 itself I love how much faster it is than the HR 22 

But this is really good to know, that the W.D. H.D's are crap to begin with no matter what direct tv says  ... docks are better than enclosures in your experience got it  ... does anyone on the forum have any experience with this dock working with the HR 24 , genie 1 and/or genie 2?

https://www.amazon.com/Anker®-External-Docking-Station-Support/dp/B005UA3I72/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

" Anker® USB 3.0 & eSATA to SATA External Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD, SSD [4TB Support] model number AK-68UPSHDDS-BU "

You mentioned a more expensive dock, that one's $36 not sure if that would fall into the "expensive enough to work" department or not? 

And Rich thanks so much for all your help in my various "woe is me" threads


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would vote for TT dock, it works with DTV, dish , OTA DVRs and PCs for years


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Man I so wish I'd found out about you guys (this forum I mean  ) before going with Direct TV's so called "recommendations" back three years ago like this piece of crap external hard drive  ... Re: the HR24 being different than the HR 22.. man I honestly don't know why it's happening, for like 3 years with the HR 22 and the W.D. H.D. no problems at all, it faithfully cooperated with the W.D. H.D. without any issues.. I swap out the HR 22 for an HR 24 as of yesterday and suddenly the W.D. H.D. is having issues  ... not that I'm knocking the HR 24 itself I love how much faster it is than the HR 22
> 
> But this is really good to know, that the* W.D. H.D's are crap* to begin with no matter what direct tv says  ... docks are better than enclosures in your experience got it  ... does anyone on the forum have any experience with this dock working with the HR 24 , genie 1 and/or genie 2?
> 
> ...


Who said the WD HDDs are crap? I said the MyBook devices are problematic on DVRs. I use ONLY WD drives, been using them for years. I'd recommend the Blue Caviar drives such as this 2TB drive: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Desktop...&sr=8-2&keywords=wd+blue+hard+drive...They're dependable and quiet, what more can you ask...oh, they last for years, too.

The Blue drives used to be Green drives, WD changed their lineup a year or two ago. I've always used the Green drives and switched to Blue. Best bang for your buck, I think.

I've never used an Anker external dock. But I'd buy it if I needed another dock. What have you got to lose? You can always return it if it doesn't work. I returned a lot of enclosures, all-in-one devices (like a MyBook), and docks when we were writing all the eSATA threads. Somebody has to try these things, might as well be you...

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> I would vote for TT dock, it works with DTV, dish , OTA DVRs and PCs for years


The KISS principle is very evident in the TTs and all docks. I don't see an alternative (I'd be using it if I had found one). Simple is usually better.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Rich said:


> Who said the WD HDDs are crap? I said the MyBook devices are problematic on DVRs. I use ONLY WD drives, been using them for years. I'd recommend the Blue Caviar drives such as this 2TB drive: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Desktop...&sr=8-2&keywords=wd+blue+hard+drive...They're dependable and quiet, what more can you ask...oh, they last for years, too.
> 
> The Blue drives used to be Green drives, WD changed their lineup a year or two ago. I've always used the Green drives and switched to Blue. Best bang for your buck, I think.
> 
> ...


My bad  ... should have been more specific  ... what I meant was "the my DVR expander made by Western Digital was crap".. which is what I thought you were trying to say , that the my DVR expander fell into the "mybook" category stuff as crap .. apologies if I misunderstood  .. of course WD hard drives that you purchase as it's "own independent hard drive" not inside a "prepackaged" enclosure would be an entirely different scenario (or so I would guess , bear in mind I am a newb  ) , I should have mentioned that too 

Ideally I'd like to get a 4 TB drive (with the understanding that the HR24-200 will only "see" 2 TB) with an eye towards transferring the same hard drive to a Genie 2 years from now when/if they finally get all it's problems ironed out  such that I'd have a 4 TB H.D. to attach to the genie at that point  ... do you guys think that's a bad idea in that I might "confuse" the HR24-200 by attaching a H.D. bigger than 2 TB ? I heard rumors on the AT&T forums that HR24's, HR22's, et cetera do not "like" HD's bigger than 2 TB in that they'll cooperate with them for a while then refuse to cooperate with them completely (afraid of posting the link here where I saw it, apparently that gets my posts flagged based on previous experience  .. not that I blame the moderators they don't need the headache of someone posting a link to spam, ads, et cetera  ) ... on the other hand tiktok mentioned he got his HR-34 to see a 3 TB H.D. at this link here 

eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list

but then again the HR-34 and HR-24 are two entirely different models  ...


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

adding - common acronym is HDD, not "H.D."; usually HD is short name of High Definition


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

P Smith said:


> I would vote for TT dock, it works with DTV, dish , OTA DVRs and PCs for years


Do you guys mean thermaltake?  Like this one?

https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-...3110&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=thermaltake+dock

(" Thermaltake BlacX 2.5"/3.5" Sata I/II/III USB 3.0 external Hard Drive Enclosure Docking Station model : ST0005U-C "


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

P Smith said:


> adding - common acronym is HDD, not "H.D."; usually HD is short name of High Definition


Darn ! thank you P Smith I will remember that


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Andrepartthree said:


> Do you guys mean thermaltake?  Like this one?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-...3110&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=thermaltake+dock
> 
> (" Thermaltake BlacX 2.5"/3.5" Sata I/II/III USB 3.0 external Hard Drive Enclosure Docking Station model : ST0005U-C "


sure, ditto


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## longrider (Apr 21, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Do you guys mean thermaltake?  Like this one?
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-...3110&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=thermaltake+dock
> 
> (" Thermaltake BlacX 2.5"/3.5" Sata I/II/III USB 3.0 external Hard Drive Enclosure Docking Station model : ST0005U-C "


Important note, the one you linked is USB only. That is/was one of the best docks out there but they "updated" it to be USB only. You can still find the eSata/USB model but it is either refurbished or if new it is from a reseller, not Amazon


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Yeah, I believe they're shipping the USB only model. (At least that's what they did to me.)

I've still got the _actual_ ST0005U with esata cranking away on an older DVR for the past couple years. Works great.

But took Rich's warning not to use the power button on it (Unplug the wall wart to power down).


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> But took Rich's warning not to use the power button on it (Unplug the wall wart to power down).


there is simplest method not to use power button - disconnect power jack from the dock


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Thanks guys  .... amazon makes their links confusing as all heck I don't know why they do that  ... there's an option if you scroll down where you can click on the "esata" option instead , it automatically "defaults" to the usb option since that's the only one they're selling brand new... yep yep, read the warnings here on the forum about avoiding usb connection at all costs  though I'm sure me listing the wrong model number does not help at all  (the one with a "C" on the end, I'm guessing the esata one does not have a C at the end for the model number?)... thank you longrider appreciate you taking the time to warn me  ...

Well that's actually very reassuring, that docks that are years old still work  ... since I'm paranoid by nature  I tend to favor the ones either sold directly by amazon or fulfilled by amazon to make the return process easier (sure I could file an A to Z claim and screw the seller in the process  but I'd feel bad doing that if it was just my DVR being "weird" and not the fault of the equipment itself in that it would work fine on, say, a PC  ) .... so now I'm torn between a refurbished thermaltake ST0005U sold by a 3rd party seller fulfilled by amazon (so I can do the 30 days no hassle return policy where they pay to ship it back to them  ) with TERRIBLE feedback (super component store, 96 percent positive feedback but the complaints left by unsatisfied customers are REALLY bitter) ... or a brand new anker sold directly by amazon (same hassle free return policy  ) which does not have the great feedback going for it on the forum that the thermaltake has

(anker: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005UA3I72/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I8U7YV951ZDVG&colid=LRYM2128IT1F )

but that fjames reported as working for his direct tv DVR (not sure what model DVR he has though?)....

eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

my vote for referb TT dock


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> there is simplest method not to use power button - disconnect power jack from the dock


You could also kill the circuit breaker, do anything but use the Power button, they fail quickly...or did, I don't use the docks much anymore.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> Yeah, I believe they're shipping the USB only model. (At least that's what they did to me.)
> 
> I've still got the _actual_ ST0005U with esata cranking away on an older DVR for the past couple years. Works great.
> 
> But took Rich's warning not to use the power button on it (Unplug the wall wart to power down).


Can't help but wonder if the Power buttons still fail when used frequently. Anyone have any thoughts?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> there is simplest method not to use power button - disconnect power jack from the dock


Might be easier to pull the wart from the receptacle, I can never find the port for the power cord on the dock. The only dock I have left is on a high shelf in a dark room and it's hard to get to, never thought of using the wall wart...that would simplify the process.

Rich


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Rich said:


> Can't help but wonder if the Power buttons still fail when used frequently. Anyone have any thoughts?
> 
> Rich


my two TT docks still OK and I'm using power Button last 6 years


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Rich said:


> Might be easier to pull the wart from the receptacle, I can never find the port for the power cord on the dock. The only dock I have left is on a high shelf in a dark room and it's hard to get to, never thought of using the wall wart...that would simplify the process.
> 
> Rich


I don't get it - there are only two cables: SATA and power cable, no biggy to reach right one if you saw on which side the power jack


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Rich said:


> You could also kill the circuit breaker, do anything but use the Power button, they fail quickly...or did, I don't use the docks much anymore.
> 
> Rich


nope, pulling the power jack making the same condition as press power button (if you want I could go into electrical details  )


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> my two TT docks still OK and I'm using power Button last 6 years


But you have holes, for hooking up the SATA wires, drilled into your docks just as you have advised folks to do for years, right?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> I don't get it - there are only two cables: SATA and power cable, no biggy to reach right one if you saw on which side the power jack


Next time you stop over I'll show you how hard it is to find that port.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> nope, pulling the power jack making the same condition as press power button (if you want I could go into electrical details  )


Nothing is caused by using the Power button except the failure of the button, it's a mechanical fault, I believe. Feel free to go into "electrical details", I understand electricity to some extent.

Rich


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Rich said:


> But you have holes, for hooking up the SATA wires, drilled into your docks just as you have advised folks to do for years, right?
> 
> Rich


no holes, just did open the box, temporary to test


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Rich said:


> Next time you stop over I'll show you how hard it is to find that port.
> 
> Rich


video would be enough


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Rich said:


> Nothing is caused by using the Power button except the failure of the button, it's a mechanical fault, I believe. Feel free to go into "electrical details", I understand electricity to some extent.
> 
> Rich


well, moving coax jack in and out is not out of ordinary


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> no holes, just did open the box, temporary to test


After you post so many times about the straight hookup do you mean you've not done that?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> well, moving coax jack in and out is not out of ordinary


Gotta make it clearer than that. I don't understand.

Rich


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Rich said:


> Gotta make it clearer than that. I don't understand.
> 
> Rich


well, your dock have DCin "hole" on rear side; your "wall wart" AC/DC power [12V] have a cable with a coax jack ending; the end have plastic housing - hold it by your three finger and pull it to power down the HDD, then inset it back when you want power up the dock/HDD


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Rich said:


> After you post so many times about the straight hookup do you mean you've not done that?
> 
> Rich


OK, I didn't recommend do that for TT dock - not necessary, as it works fine;
but for other enclosures, I did it without hesitation


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> OK, I didn't recommend do that for TT dock - not necessary, as it works fine;
> but for other enclosures, I did it without hesitation


Peeeete? I'm not gonna search but I do seem to remember you suggesting that on threads about the TT docks.

Rich


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Rich said:


> Peeeete? I'm not gonna search but I do seem to remember you suggesting that on threads about the TT docks.
> 
> Rich


Maybe means the USB-only docks. (Heck, I might even try that myself if other methods such as adapters - which I have, but not tested on a DVR yet - won't work.)


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Rich said:


> Can't help but wonder if the Power buttons still fail when used frequently. Anyone have any thoughts?
> 
> Rich


Looks like the same power button on the newer dock, too. Won't know if it's as easy to fail, as I'll most likely not be using that power button, either.

(To me it's just not worth the risk of down-time while trying to find another external HDD solution.)


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

guys I'm so sorry I know I'm changing the topic here very rude on my part I apologize  .. and on top of that I know I'm practically flogging the dead horse to death at this point  ... but...

Regarding the thermaltake dock (esata version) that you guys are recommending 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001A4HAFS/ref=twister_B06XTXQ5V6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I just checked the amazon reviews and questions posted about it... reports are mixed, some people are saying it only supports up to 1 TB, others are saying 2 TB, others are saying up to 4 TB.. I was hoping to hook a 4 TB hard drive up to it (yep , I know my HR-24 will only "see" 2 TB worth, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that it will cooperate up to the 2 Tb limit and I will later be able to transfer the thermaltake dock to a genie in the future, which apparently supports 4 TB hard drives  )

has anyone had any success attaching a 4 TB H.D.D. (think I got the abbreviation right this time  ) to a thermaltake dock model number ST0005U


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Andrepartthree said:


> guys I'm so sorry I know I'm changing the topic here very rude on my part I apologize  .. and on top of that I know I'm practically flogging the dead horse to death at this point  ... but...
> 
> Regarding the thermaltake dock (esata version) that you guys are recommending
> 
> ...


Notice that this particular part does not have a price. It is not available. Click on one of the other options like usb and you will see a price for that.

Here is a link to their website.
Thermaltake - BlacX HDD Docking Station


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Andrepartthree said:


> guys I'm so sorry I know I'm changing the topic here very rude on my part I apologize  .. and on top of that I know I'm practically flogging the dead horse to death at this point  ... but...
> 
> Regarding the thermaltake dock (esata version) that you guys are recommending
> 
> ...


dejavu ? the post appearing second time and I recall you got answers enough to make real decision


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> Maybe means the USB-only docks. (Heck, I might even try that myself if other methods such as adapters - which I have, but not tested on a DVR yet - won't work.)


No, he wanted to do that to the docks I use, the eSATA TTs. Never had a need to do it.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> Looks like the same power button on the newer dock, too. Won't know if it's as easy to fail, as I'll most likely not be using that power button, either.
> 
> (To me it's just not worth the risk of down-time while trying to find another external HDD solution.)


I agree, I had a couple switches fail and I just stopped using the switch. I did take one dock apart (not much to them) and tried to jump out the switch but it has more inputs or outputs than I expected and without a print I couldn't figure out how to do it. Why did I do that? Pete suggested it, years ago.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> guys I'm so sorry I know I'm changing the topic here very rude on my part I apologize  .. and on top of that I know I'm practically flogging the dead horse to death at this point  ... but...
> 
> Regarding the thermaltake dock (esata version) that you guys are recommending
> 
> ...


One more time: The TT folks seem to have no interest in how large a drive you can get to work in a TT dock. Buy the 4TB drive, it will work in the dock you are going to buy...obviously you can't buy the dock in the link but one with the same specs will work. I have yet to put an HDD in a dock and not have it work. Of course you're only gonna see 2TBs of capacity, the 24s (and 20s, 21s, 22s, and 23s) will only use a part of the HDD but will record up to 2TBs of content. Do something, please. These things, docks and HDDs, are returnable, you have little to lose but time if they don't work.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> Notice that this particular part does not have a price. It is not available. Click on one of the other options like usb and you will see a price for that.
> 
> Here is a link to their website.
> Thermaltake - BlacX HDD Docking Station


Thermaltake finally seems to have put the capacity thing to rest, this from your link: - Patented Design - RoHS Compliance
- *Supports all 2.5" & 3.5" SATA I/II/III hard drives in "ALL" Capacities*
- Hot-Swap Capability for Rapid Multi HDDs Access & Exchange
- Supports eSATA Transfer Speed up to 3Gbps
- Supports USB 2.0 Transfer Speed up to 480Mbps
- Windows & Mac OS Compatible
- Compact Docking Station Design maximizes Heat Dissipation & Exhaust
- Windows 7 Ready !

This should be read by anyone with questions about capacity and docks. What next, dust and heat issues...again? Nope, I've never had either dust of heat issues with my docks, I don't see an issue.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Thanks so much guys  .. and sorry about that, guess my head is full of rocks  ... I got scared by the amazon reviewers/questions and answers section stating that it was only built for 1 TB hard drives on the amazon link I posted previously, guess I was looking for reassurance - which I got thank you so much  ... and it's really good to know that the hard drive won't have dust or heat issues, that was my other concern given the drive is exposed to open air but if Rich says it's not an issue I believe him  ... putting in a bid on ebay for a thermaltake dock thanks again everyone


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## doctor j (Jun 14, 2006)

I’ve told you already, the Thermaltake BlacX usb 2.0 & esata model st0005u will support up to 10TB now, probably more if bigger drives exist. I’ve used 2 TB,4TB,6TB and now 10TB successfully. How much clearer do you want

Doctor j


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

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





doctor j said:


> I've told you already, the Thermaltake BlacX usb 2.0 & esata model st0005u will support up to 10TB now, probably more if bigger drives exist. I've used 2 TB,4TB,6TB and now 10TB successfully. How much clearer do you want
> 
> Doctor j


Crap! You're right of course, you did at this link below:

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

I forgot about that ! Sorry guys and thanks for putting up with my paranoia and your patience  ... bid is up and running on a Thermaltake BlacX usb 2.0 & esata model st0005u on ebay fingers crossed


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Thanks so much guys  .. and sorry about that, guess my head is full of rocks  ... I got scared by the amazon reviewers/questions and answers section stating that it was only built for 1 TB hard drives on the amazon link I posted previously, guess I was looking for reassurance - which I got thank you so much  ... and it's really good to know that the hard drive won't have dust or heat issues, that was my other concern given the drive is exposed to open air but if Rich says it's not an issue I believe him  ... putting in a bid on ebay for a thermaltake dock thanks again everyone


How much on eBay?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

doctor j said:


> I've told you already, the Thermaltake BlacX usb 2.0 & esata model st0005u will support up to 10TB now, probably more if bigger drives exist. I've used 2 TB,4TB,6TB and now 10TB successfully. How much clearer do you want
> 
> Doctor j


Right, did you see the excerpt I put in a post on this thread? TT says "all capacities" now, finally.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Thanks for asking  ... Well ebay has it for twenty dollars including shipping  but quite honestly I figure I'll be lucky if I actually get it for that price  (bidding ends in a few days)... otherwise I'll probably wait until Oct 5th or so when my credit card rolls over to the next billing cycle and buy the refurbished TT model from amazon for $30 ($30 for the TT refurbished) and the seagate skyhawk hard drive all at the same time, cross my fingers and hope the TT isn't TOO old  (I remember you stating somewhere to watch out for enclosures that are too old as they can deteriorate

eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list

and I'd only have a 30 day return window with amazon - darn shame they don't sell them brand new anymore! That and I'd be buying it used so who knows what abuse it suffered at the hands of it's previous owner?  ...

Then again I think bossban50 said that they're highly durable to begin with and he's been using his TT for years now with no problems (if I'm understanding his post correctly that is  )

eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list

.. on the other hand it's really good to know worst case scenario if a used/refurbished TT dock fails I can pop the hard drive into a different enclosure and keep all my old recordings  ... if a used/refurbished one were to fail I'd probably go for the anker listed here that fjames reported as successfully cooperating with his DVR that you so kindly pointed him to  

eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list



Rich said:


> How much on eBay?
> 
> Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Thanks for asking  ... Well ebay has it for twenty dollars including shipping  but quite honestly I figure I'll be lucky if I actually get it for that price  (bidding ends in a few days)... otherwise I'll probably wait until Oct 5th or so when my credit card rolls over to the next billing cycle and buy the refurbished TT model from amazon for $30 ($30 for the TT refurbished) and the seagate skyhawk hard drive all at the same time, cross my fingers and hope the TT isn't TOO old  (I remember you stating somewhere to watch out for enclosures that are too old as they can deteriorate
> 
> eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list
> 
> ...


You bid on it already? That's not good.

eBay seems to be pretty good about returns now. I haven't tried to return anything recently but I keep getting emails from them detailing how they've changed so they are more customer friendly. I do buy things there and I've not had problems.

Yeah, the TT docks are simple, sturdy and I really gotta wonder what they do to refurbish them. I can see replacing a bad Power switch, not much more to go wrong, no fans. They're really simple devices. If it's just listed as used, well that sounds like a crapshoot. I've bought used HRs on eBay and ended up with HRs that stunk of cigarettes. I stopped buying them on eBay and used Craigslist for my area. Then I went and checked them out (and sniffed them), that worked out well. Probably hard to find a TT dock on CL, tho.

Bet you end up buying that Anker. I would.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Well darn !  ... I guess I've had better luck with ebay with my previous purchases over the years , but you make an EXCELLENT point, it really is a crap-shot with ebay.. just because they list it as "new" doesn't necessary mean the seller on there is telling the truth  .... I figured for $20 (which is the absolutely most I'm going to bid on it) if it turns out to be a piece of crap ("piece of crap" in that someone abused the heck out of it then just marked it as "new" and sold it as such ) it's "only" $20 down the drain .... ebay does offer some sort of protection type thing for purchases so if it's really catastrophic (I plug it in and it doesn't work or it craps out a few weeks later) I can always file an ebay claim and see what happens  .. 

But that's good to know, that a refurbished TT is taking a chance... if my ebay bid doesn't work (and I'm fairly confident someone will outbid me at the last moment when it's not a "buy it now" type of thing that's normally what happens to me  ) I will definitely go with the anker as you recommended  .. again thank you SO much for all your help and advice Rich !


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Well darn !  ... I guess I've had better luck with ebay with my previous purchases over the years , but you make an EXCELLENT point, it really is a crap-shot with ebay.. just because they list it as "new" doesn't necessary mean the seller on there is telling the truth  .... I figured for $20 (which is the absolutely most I'm going to bid on it) if it turns out to be a piece of crap ("piece of crap" in that someone abused the heck out of it then just marked it as "new" and sold it as such ) it's "only" $20 down the drain .... ebay does offer some sort of protection type thing for purchases so if it's really catastrophic (I plug it in and it doesn't work or it craps out a few weeks later) I can always file an ebay claim and see what happens  ..
> 
> But that's good to know, that a refurbished TT is taking a chance... if my ebay bid doesn't work (and I'm fairly confident someone will outbid me at the last moment when it's not a "buy it now" type of thing that's normally what happens to me  ) I will definitely go with the anker as you recommended  .. again thank you SO much for all your help and advice Rich !


Well, if you bid on it so early you're probably not gonna get it. I always wait for the last minute or so and then bid, that seems to work well. Add that $20 to what the Anker costs and you will have a relatively expensive Anker, you'd be better off losing and buying the Anker.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Well Rich, doctor j, p.smith and everyone else who posted here was right about pretty much everything  ... like I said I have a head full of rocks  .. good news is, the anker enclosure is working great and so is the seagate skyhawk hard drive 

I was pleasantly shocked by how quickly the HR24-200 DVR recognized and cooperated with the anker dock/seagate skyhawk hard drive .... I remember waaay back in the old days (3 years ago) before I discovered this forum when I used the " My DVR expander" (model number WDBABT0010HBK-NESN) "officially" recommended by Direct TV .... it took forever for the DVR (which admittedly was a HR22 model, I notice the HR 24 is faster  ) to format that "my dvr expander" sucker !  

Compared to the anker/seagate skyhawk hard drive, the HR24 recognized it immediately and started letting me record shows right away  ... fingers crossed that it continues to cooperate well but I just recorded a Judge Judy (my wife is a fan of verbally abusive judges, me not so much  ) , let it finish recording then played the recording back - no problems at all  ...

I was also pleasantly surprised that, despite the fact it's a 4 TB hard drive, just like you guys said it works anyways  (though I do realize it will only "recognize" 2 TB worth it's intended as a future transfer towards a Genie 1 or 2... years from now when, fingers crossed, they work through all the problems the genie is having  ) ... I do wish there was some way to determine through the DVR unit itself (HR24) how much hard drive space it "recognizes" but Direct TV says there's no such way to do this.

And Rich was right about ebay too... I was at first pleasantly surprised that I won it for eighteen dollars and thought to myself " a brand new thermaltake for $18? What a steal ! " .. you've all heard the saying that it if's too good to be true it probably is?  .. Well, it arrived in the mail with scratches on the back of it and the UPC code ripped off it's box (perhaps the seller turned it in for a rebate?)... I normally wouldn't care in the slightest about the cosmetic condition of it but then I thought to myself... wait a minute, this seller described it as brand new... since when does a brand new item come out of the box with scratches on it? It's possible granted but.... that's never happened to me once when I've purchased a brand new item.

Emailed pictures to the seller addressing my concerns and the seller accepted a return and paid to have it shipped back to him (per ebay's policy of "item not as described" I imagine the photographic proof helped) but the seller was not gracious about it at all... seller originally offered to knock the price down to $13.50 and let me keep it which was tempting but... this is something intended for years of use, and I had no idea if the seller had been using it himself for years and simply decided to sell it as new anyways... I initially refused his offer, then I felt bad and was like " Wait, the seller is going to lose money on this if I just return it, maybe I should keep it and just soak the thirteen dollar loss if it craps out on me a few months later..." (easy as heck to do on ebay too despite me refusing the initial offer, I just click on " I no longer want to return the item" on ebay, and the seller sends me the money via paypal as the discount he offered earlier)... tried to tell the seller that and seller's response was " send it back for a return, end of story ! I respectfully request that you do not waste your time or mine, I've already made up my mind on this." Which goes to show you, always order directly from amazon or from a seller who does the "fulfilled by amazon" thing for their no hassles return policy (have never had a seller "yell" at me on amazon  ... though I admit this ebay experience was... unusual....). Or if you're going to order it from ebay make sure it says "new in the box still shrink wrapped" or something like that unless you want to take a chance on a used one  ... who knows, maybe I lost out on a great deal and the thermaltake would have been fine scratches and all (shrugs shoulders....tried to make things right with the ebay seller, but....)...

Sorry for the long story  .... I'll wait a few weeks to make sure the anker/seagate hard drive combo has no problems then move my old "my dvr expander" to the kids' DVR and leave it there until it craps out on me given it's 3 years old  (I have it on - don't laugh  - an aluminum laptop cooler but still, 3 years old, who knows how long it will continue to work?)

If there's any future problems I'll post back here but if not... guys thanks a million, seriously you've all been such a huge help !


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## BarkingGhost (Dec 29, 2007)

longrider said:


> Important note, the one you linked is USB only. That is/was one of the best docks out there but they "updated" it to be USB only. You can still find the eSata/USB model but it is either refurbished or if new it is from a reseller, not Amazon


This is a good info, but I would like to say even the eSATA TT version is questionable. I had one that replaced an Antec enclosure two years ago and two months back the TT failed on me. I tried another drive, nada. Then I tried the TT on the PC, nada. I then tried the WDC AV-GP drive in another enclosure (Roswell) I use for work and the WDC AV GP drive was detected. I then placed a known working Green drive in the TT (with content on it) and the drive wasn't detected (Windows/Linux tested). Now I need to go try the WDC AV GP in the Roswell on the HR21, which has been long in the tooth for too many years. Streaming has reduced the need to upgrade DVRs and moving toward not needing the additional capacity. But I wanted to mention the early TT failure.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

BarkingGhost said:


> But I wanted to mention the early TT failure


need to investigate your TT dock to conclude of root cause the failure, perhaps something simple as broken power brick or it's cable...
anyway - you are only one who was unlucky with TT dock , so nothing to worry for others


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> need to investigate your TT dock to conclude of root cause the failure, perhaps something simple as broken power brick or it's cable...
> anyway - *you are only one who was unlucky with TT dock , so nothing to worry for others*


I've had several TT docks fail and I've written just that many times. The power switch was usually bad. For ~ 35 bucks what can we expect? Cheap and easy to replace, I like that. No worries. Buy the Anker dock, folks.

Rich


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

it's your personal fault, not TT dock as only you reported such problem with TT


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> it's your personal fault, not TT dock as only you reported such problem with TT


What? A poorly made power switch is my personal fault (see the redundancy?)? How?

Rich


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Just don't touch it ! why you need to use it while TT dock connected to DVR ?

In my case, when I testing various HDD in it with PC, the power switch is OK for use during a few years. So, yes, it's personal.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

P Smith said:


> J_ust don't touch it ! _why you need to use it while TT dock connected to DVR ?
> 
> In my case, when I testing various HDD in it with PC, the power switch is OK for use during a few years. So, yes, it's personal.


I've been telling folks just that for years, now you make it seem like you came up with that?

Rich


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

probably we start using the TT docks same time ...


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## skip22 (Sep 19, 2007)

Rich said:


> I've written this many times: Those MyBook devices are a PITA. They're really not made for DVRs no matter what Amazon says. I tried them years ago and called WD about the problems I had. I was told they weren't compatible with DVRs by WD. What with the problems I saw, I'd say they were right then...don't really know about now. A TT or similar dock and a new WD 3TB drive will cost you around a hundred bucks. I'd go that way and use the MyBook on a computer, what they were made for in the first place...
> 
> Here's how you hook up an eSATA device to ANY HR (the models don't matter they will all work with a dock and a WD drive...how did you get the idea the 24s were that different? Just curious.) Anyhow, here's the way to do it: Hook up the eSATA to eSATA cord first. Once you have it hooked up you should never have to remove the cord from the ports, just leave them alone. I've been at this since I got the HRs and I don't remember ever having a bad eSATA cord.
> 
> ...


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## skip22 (Sep 19, 2007)

Good evening, I just purchased a ST0014U and a WD20EZRZ and I’m trying to get my hr22-100 to use the esata connection and no matter what reboot process I try it always see the internal drive. I tried dvr unplugged, dock unplugged and esata cable disconnected, then connected the esata, power the dock and then plug in the the dvr. I am I missing something?

Thanks 
In advance


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

looks like not
I would try it first on a desktop (perhaps will do cleaning of MBR)


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

skip22 said:


> Good evening, I just purchased a ST0014U and a WD20EZRZ and I'm trying to get my hr22-100 to use the esata connection and no matter what reboot process I try it always see the internal drive. I tried dvr unplugged, dock unplugged and esata cable disconnected, then connected the esata, power the dock and then plug in the the dvr. I am I missing something?
> 
> Thanks
> In advance


That 22-100 might be the problem. That's one of the worst DVRs out there in D* land. I just looked up ST0014U on Amazon and that's a USB dock. You need a dock that will have a SATA port on the back. I do see SATA this and that on the offering but I don't see the port on the pictures. Here's a link to what I'm looking at: https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-...e=UTF8&qid=1509556082&sr=8-1&keywords=ST0014U

I would suggest this dock: https://www.amazon.com/Anker®-Exter...9556327&sr=1-4&keywords=anker+docking+station
Look at the pictures, you will clearly see the eSATA port on this dock.

Get a replacement for the HR22-100, that should be easy. Return the TT dock and buy the Anker. Get back to us.

Rich


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## skip22 (Sep 19, 2007)

Rich said:


> That 22-100 might be the problem. That's one of the worst DVRs out there in D* land. I just looked up ST0014U on Amazon and that's a USB dock. You need a dock that will have a SATA port on the back. I do see SATA this and that on the offering but I don't see the port on the pictures. Here's a link to what I'm looking at: https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-...e=UTF8&qid=1509556082&sr=8-1&keywords=ST0014U
> 
> I would suggest this dock: https://www.amazon.com/Anker®-External-Docking-Station-Support/dp/B005UA3I72/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1509556327&sr=1-4&keywords=anker+docking+station
> Look at the pictures, you will clearly see the eSATA port on this dock.
> ...


This has unit has esata port and USB 2. I did plug it into the pc I realized it wasn't formatted. So it is now formatted. Is there a specific format to use? 
Thanks.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

skip22 said:


> _*This has unit has esata port and USB 2.*_ I did plug it into the pc I realized it wasn't formatted. So it is now formatted. Is there a specific format to use?
> Thanks.


Okay, you need to change the info in your post, the model number you posted goes to a dock that does not have an eSATA port. We've been told ThermalTake no longer makes/sells eSATA docks, they all seem to be USB only. That's why I put the link to the Anker dock in my previous post.

The HR will format the HDD, you don't have to do anything with a PC.

Rich


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

A little work (DIY) on the "USB only" model - open the dock, connect "L-I" SATA cable to HDD directly (I bought the cable from Fry's), cut a little bit plastic for the cable, close the dock's box and voila ! You have eSATA HDD for your DTV DVR


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## skip22 (Sep 19, 2007)

Rich said:


> Okay, you need to change the info in your post, the model number you posted goes to a dock that does not have an eSATA port. We've been told ThermalTake no longer makes/sells eSATA docks, they all seem to be USB only. That's why I put the link to the Anker dock in my previous post.
> 
> The HR will format the HDD, you don't have to do anything with a PC.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the quick reply
The unit I purchased is st0014u and not st0014u-d. 
The receiver still only shows the internal drive. The hard drive was brand new.


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

I'll start out by saying I am an absolute NEWB at this  ... Rich, P. Smith, these guys know a million times more about this stuff than I do  .... so it goes without saying I absolutely defer to their judgment 

Having said that.. guys, remember with my anker dock how it worked flawlessly the first time, then I had to try like four times or so (think it was four) with the anker dock afterwards (when I tried switching it for the new dock) to get it to "cooperate" with the DVR again? And Rich mentioned this was normal and this happens sometimes? (over here on this thread page 177 

eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list )

I was wondering if skip22 had done the same thing with his dock? That is, tried it multiple times (unplug both DVR and dock, power dock on, wait a minute for hard drive inside dock to spin up, plug in DVR.. if this doesn't work try whole process again... if this doesn't work do it all over again.. if this doesn't work do it again !  .. )... or if he'd only tried once?

Also when my WD my book external hard drive (which I do NOT recommend and which I purchased years before I stumbled across the helpful people on this forum  ) , I found replacing the esata cable helped too.. then again I was using a 3 year old esata cable at first maybe that was just too frayed to work properly (finally got the WD up and running after spending literally ALL DAY with the darn thing, literally about 10 tries ! )

Far as replacing the HR22-100, here was my recent experience with Direct TV.. told them " help my DVR isn't working ! " (you could argue that it's not working if it's giving you grief connecting to your external hard drive maybe?) " Oh, okay, we'll sign you up for our protection plan, it's free for the first month but costs $8.95 per month afterwards "(so not sure if you'll have to "soak" the following month's cost of $8.95  or if you can cancel during your free period?) .. they mail you a "new" (probably refurbished) DVR free of charge, hopefully the HR24 model (love mine  .. but direct TV won't guarantee they'll send you a particular model though  ) ... follow the instructions that come with it but if it gives you grief like it did when I installed it (took me literally TWO HOURS on the line with Direct TV's tech support to get the DVR up and running! ) ask them to send a tech to install it (which is what I did with the 2nd DVR ... have two of them  .. and he got it up and running much more easily than I would have and was covered by the protection plan)... one word of warning though... one of the tech's (not sure who) decided, without my knowledge or approval, to upgrade me to Direct TV's $20 per month protection plan ! (or so direct tv customer support says)... of course once I told direct tv I had no knowledge whatsoever this had been done they reversed the charge but watch out for that too .. Direct TV may want the access card but not the DVR itself mailed back to them (they'll send you a prepaid label for the access card ... put it this way, the HR24 is a newer model than the HR22 and they don't even want that back if there's a problem with it  ... some models of DVR's are just too old for them to bother having you mail back to them or at least that's what their customer service rep's say)... but if Rich says to ask them to replace the HR22 I'd definitely listen to him, he really knows his stuff  (P. smith too  )

Sorry to butt in here, again Rich and P. Smith know a million more things about this DVR and attaching external hard drives stuff than I do


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Oh also ! They will probably try to sell you on their genie 1 or genie 2 (and the 2 year contract that goes with it) if you call them for a replacement DVR.. be careful ! There have been a lot of complaints re: the genies apparently... spoke with a direct tv technician who came over (same one who installed the 2nd DVR for me) and he says customer reactions are mixed... when it works, customers love it , but there have been numerous cases where it hasn't worked and royally ticks the customers off since they can't watch their TV... apparently it's new technology they are still working the bugs out of (or so says the Direct TV CSR's I spoke with anyways, though the CSR will try to convince you that you should get the genie anyways.... I wouldn't personally, I plan on waiting a few years then checking back here on the forum and seeing if people recommend it at that point  ) ...


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

skip22 said:


> Thanks for the quick reply
> The unit I purchased is st0014u and not st0014u-d.
> The receiver still only shows the internal drive. The hard drive was brand new.


Every search I run for that model number, ST0014U comes back without any info on eSATA ports. I'm not doubting you, I'm just kinda confused. Usually I can see the back of the docks on Amazon offerings but not for that model number. I can't find any info on the TT website either. We were told TT would not be selling anymore SATA to eSATA docks, did they have a change of mind?

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Rich said:


> Every search I run for that model number, ST0014U comes back without any info on eSATA ports. I'm not doubting you, I'm just kinda confused. Usually I can see the back of the docks on Amazon offerings but not for that model number. I can't find any info on the TT website either. We were told TT would not be selling anymore SATA to eSATA docks, did they have a change of mind?
> 
> Rich


Well here's where amazon likes to make things confusing  ... if you go to this link on their website

https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Drives-Docking-Station-ST0014U/dp/B002MUYOLW

and click on the "usb 2.0 and esata" option it comes up with that model number... apparently it's for a two hard drive dock (though I'd guess you probably only want the one hard drive in there for DVR purposes ... or am I wrong?)

Then again, much as I love their customer-friendly service, amazon has not been the most reliable source of information at times .. for example grouping every single review under a single listing for the product despite the fact it's in fact different products, each with their own model number... heck, given what I just said I wonder if amazon is even reporting the correct model number for this to begin with !


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Well here's where amazon likes to make things confusing  ... if you go to this link on their website
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Drives-Docking-Station-ST0014U/dp/B002MUYOLW
> 
> ...


Yup, one HDD at a time for the HRs. That link is what I've been looking at. Why no shots of the backside of the dock?

Rich


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## skip22 (Sep 19, 2007)

Rich said:


> Yup, one HDD at a time for the HRs. That link is what I've been looking at. Why no shots of the backside of the dock?
> 
> Rich


So is it possible that it doesn't like the dock with two spots for hard drives? I only have one drive plugged in.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

skip22 said:


> So is it possible that it doesn't like the dock with two spots for hard drives? I only have one drive plugged in.


One HDD will work well. Never have seen a reason to put two drives in when using a DVR, that thing isn't a RAID device.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

skip22 said:


> So is it possible that it doesn't like the dock with two spots for hard drives? I only have one drive plugged in.


On that dock you have, you have a port for the SATA to SATA cable, right? And a USB port and the power port? If you do, the dock should work. What I can't get past is TT telling us they're not making eSATA docks anymore, just USB docks.

Rich


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Rich said:


> On that dock you have, you have a port for the SATA to SATA cable, right? And a USB port and the power port? If you do, the dock should work. What I can't get past is TT telling us they're not making eSATA docks anymore, just USB docks.
> 
> Rich


The docks on Amazon might be from a store that went out of business. The web site for the TT docks does not show one with esata, only usb now.


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Skip22, did you try going through the process multiple times (unplug DVR and dock, plug in dock, wait one minute, plug in DVR, do it say maybe four or five times) ? I found I had to do that even with my anker dock at one point and Rich mentioned this is very common with external devices (having to do it repeatedly until it works  ) 

Also, did you try contacting Direct TV and asking them to replace your DVR? I would say " close my direct TV account" when the robot asks the reason you're calling , say " no " when the robot asks if you are closing your direct tv account because you are moving.. this gets you over to the account retention department which has a bit more power than your average Customer service rep to get things done for you... they'll probably try to sell you on the genie 1 or genie 2 (with the 2 year agreement) I would, personally, politely but firmly decline and tell them you'd really like an HR24-200 model DVR... they may hem and haw about how they can't guarantee a particular model would be sent to you, thoughtfully reflect out loud about how comcast has been dangling some very attractive offers in front of you price wise  , you really don't WANT to leave Direct TV since you're happy with their service but... if they transfer you to tech support I would use the same approach ... if they try to charge you a shipping fee to have the new DVR sent to you, call direct TV back, follow the same steps to get customer retention and explain your concerns about having a shipping fee charged for a replacement DVR after being a loyal direct TV customer for (insert # of years here ) 

I know I know, it's a big hassle but... I myself had a HR22 model and that thing SUCKED for the years that I used it , would be slow, would freeze up... in contrast I'm very happy with the HR24 model they sent me by way of replacement when I complained about my HR22 model  ..


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## skip22 (Sep 19, 2007)

Rich said:


> On that dock you have, you have a port for the SATA to SATA cable, right? And a USB port and the power port? If you do, the dock should work. What I can't get past is TT telling us they're not making eSATA docks anymore, just USB docks.
> 
> Rich


Yes that is correct it has both SATA and USB 2. I still never got it to work. I have now returned both the dock and drive. Thanks I will have to do more researching.

Thanks for your help.


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## skip22 (Sep 19, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Skip22, did you try going through the process multiple times (unplug DVR and dock, plug in dock, wait one minute, plug in DVR, do it say maybe four or five times) ? I found I had to do that even with my anker dock at one point and Rich mentioned this is very common with external devices (having to do it repeatedly until it works  )
> 
> Also, did you try contacting Direct TV and asking them to replace your DVR? I would say " close my direct TV account" when the robot asks the reason you're calling , say " no " when the robot asks if you are closing your direct tv account because you are moving.. this gets you over to the account retention department which has a bit more power than your average Customer service rep to get things done for you... they'll probably try to sell you on the genie 1 or genie 2 (with the 2 year agreement) I would, personally, politely but firmly decline and tell them you'd really like an HR24-200 model DVR... they may hem and haw about how they can't guarantee a particular model would be sent to you, thoughtfully reflect out loud about how comcast has been dangling some very attractive offers in front of you price wise  , you really don't WANT to leave Direct TV since you're happy with their service but... if they transfer you to tech support I would use the same approach ... if they try to charge you a shipping fee to have the new DVR sent to you, call direct TV back, follow the same steps to get customer retention and explain your concerns about having a shipping fee charged for a replacement DVR after being a loyal direct TV customer for (insert # of years here )
> 
> I know I know, it's a big hassle but... I myself had a HR22 model and that thing SUCKED for the years that I used it , would be slow, would freeze up... in contrast I'm very happy with the HR24 model they sent me by way of replacement when I complained about my HR22 model  ..


Upgrade is not an option at this time, I did unplug reboot etc many times. I did how ever return the dock and the drive at this point.

Thanks


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

skip22 said:


> Upgrade is not an option at this time, I did unplug reboot etc many times. I did how ever return the dock and the drive at this point.
> 
> Thanks


By upgrade is not an option you mean replacing the DVR? Well if you change your mind on that I'd say go for it  .. I know I know, huge hassle but .. totally worth it, I used to suffer through the HR-22 same as you for years - then I got my HR24 and I was SO happy 

I had good luck with this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UA3I72/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

"Anker® USB 3.0 & eSATA to SATA External Hard Drive Docking Station for 2.5 or 3.5in HDD, SSD [4TB Support] model number AK-68UPSHDDS-BU"

combined with this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LOOJ8QM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

" Seagate SkyHawk 2TB Surveillance Hard Drive - SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Drive (ST2000VX008) "

With my HR-24 model, maybe it will cooperate with your HR22 model - if not then probably time to go through the hassle of replacing the HR22 

I know you probably already know this  , but with amazon make sure you select "fulfilled by amazon" or sold directly by amazon LLC for their no-hassles return policy (just say the item is defective.. which it technically is if they don't work.. and they'll email you a prepaid us post office shipping label so you can mail it back to them free of charge and give you a full refund  )


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

skip22 said:


> Yes that is correct it has both SATA and USB 2. I still never got it to work. I have now returned both the dock and drive. Thanks I will have to do more researching.
> 
> Thanks for your help.


Again I'd suggest using that Anker dock suggested in post# 83 of this thread. I would not use a Seagate HDD, I'd use a WD Blue drive...I just have a slight bias about Seagate drives.

That 22-100 might be the problem, I've had problems getting the docks and HRs to connect to each other but they always connected eventually. It might be the 22, how will you ever know if you don't replace it?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> By upgrade is not an option you mean replacing the DVR? Well if you change your mind on that I'd say go for it  .. I know I know, huge hassle but .. totally worth it, I used to suffer through the HR-22 same as you for years - then I got my HR24 and I was SO happy
> 
> I had good luck with this
> 
> ...


When the room is very quiet do you hear that Seagate HDD at all? I had problems with Seagate Barracuda drives, ended up throwing a few away. They made a lot of noise in the docks and in the HRs. Enough noise to make me give up on them.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Rich said:


> Again I'd suggest using that Anker dock suggested in post# 83 of this thread. I would not use a Seagate HDD, I'd use a WD Blue drive...I just have a slight bias about Seagate drives.
> 
> That 22-100 might be the problem, I've had problems getting the docks and HRs to connect to each other but they always connected eventually. It might be the 22, how will you ever know if you don't replace it?
> 
> Rich


Like I said before Rich knows a zillion times more about this stuff than I do  ... so if he says WD blue drive I would definitely go with that  ... I went with the seagate only because it is the "cousin" to the hard drives (seagate pipeline) originally installed in DVR's apparently but - when Rich says he has a slight bias against Seagates I'm guessing he means he's found seagates to be unreliable in the past  (sure hope my seagate doesn't fail on me  ... time will tell  ) ..


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> Like I said before Rich knows a zillion times more about this stuff than I do  ... so if he says WD blue drive I would definitely go with that  ... I went with the seagate only because it is the "cousin" to the hard drives (seagate pipeline) originally installed in DVR's apparently but - when Rich says he has a slight bias against Seagates *I'm guessing he means he's found seagates to be unreliable in the past*  (sure hope my seagate doesn't fail on me  ... time will tell  ) ..


IIRC, it had nothing to do with reliability, just noise. The Barracudas were very noisy.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

Rich said:


> IIRC, it had nothing to do with reliability, just noise. The Barracudas were very noisy.
> 
> Rich


Oops, my bad !


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

I got curious and did a search on the forum - check out this thread which I believe references the same model number dock 

eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list

(page 40 of the thread)

Chuck W's posts (granted this is back in year 2010  ) mentioned that his HR20 (not sure if anyone even still has these suckers anymore  ) worked with the ST0014U .... so maybe it will work with the more "modern" DVR's (HR24 for example)?

I think Skip22 has signed off on this particular model completely (no offense Skip! and my apologies if I'm assuming things I shouldn't) but I post this primarily in case anyone else is interested in the ST0014U and wants to give it a shot


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Andrepartthree said:


> I got curious and did a search on the forum - check out this thread which I believe references the same model number dock
> 
> eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list
> 
> ...


If it worked with any HR it will work with all of them. Why his didn't work...beyond me.

Rich


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## Andrepartthree (Sep 17, 2017)

don't want to double post so .. a bit more info on the anker dock / seagate skyhawk hard drive setup and a strange thing that happened listed here in case anyone else runs into a similar situation 

eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list


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## outlineguy (Oct 4, 2008)

Rich said:


> I've written this many times: Those MyBook devices are a PITA. They're really not made for DVRs no matter what Amazon says. I tried them years ago and called WD about the problems I had. I was told they weren't compatible with DVRs by WD. What with the problems I saw, I'd say they were right then...don't really know about now. A TT or similar dock and a new WD 3TB drive will cost you around a hundred bucks. I'd go that way and use the MyBook on a computer, what they were made for in the first place...
> 
> Here's how you hook up an eSATA device to ANY HR (the models don't matter they will all work with a dock and a WD drive...how did you get the idea the 24s were that different? Just curious.) Anyhow, here's the way to do it: Hook up the eSATA to eSATA cord first. Once you have it hooked up you should never have to remove the cord from the ports, just leave them alone. I've been at this since I got the HRs and I don't remember ever having a bad eSATA cord.
> 
> ...


I know this is an old thread but I'm currently having the same issue. I bought a new EHD and am trying to attach it to one of my HR24-200 units. I've done the process before in another room and it works great so I know what I'm doing and I have the same components. After multiple reboots the DVR still will not recognize the EHD. As a test, I hooked up the new EHD to the unit from that other room and it worked as it should showing 100% availability so I know there are no hardware problems.

As another test, I hooked it up to yet another HR24-200 I have and it also didn't work.... just gave me the original playlist. This is very strange. Why does it work on one particular unit but not on others? They all appear to be the same make of DVR. Is it possible they BOTH have bad SATA ports? I can't think of anything else.

Any help? I'm getting frustrated here.

Thanks.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

outlineguy said:


> I bought a new EHD


What you bought exactly ? Enclosure or dock ? Model ? What HDD inside ?


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Try to unplug the HR24 and then turn on the external and give it some extra time to spin up. Then plugin the HR24 and see if it sees it then.


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## codespy (Mar 30, 2006)

I have TT docks on my HR54, HR24-100, -200 and -500’s, and have never had an issue being recognized. Not sure why some of yours are reading and some aren’t.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

outlineguy said:


> I know this is an old thread but I'm currently having the same issue. I bought a new EHD and am trying to attach it to one of my HR24-200 units. I've done the process before in another room and it works great so I know what I'm doing and I have the same components. After multiple reboots the DVR still will not recognize the EHD. As a test, I hooked up the new EHD to the unit from that other room and it worked as it should showing 100% availability so I know there are no hardware problems.
> 
> As another test, I hooked it up to yet another HR24-200 I have and it also didn't work.... just gave me the original playlist. This is very strange. Why does it work on one particular unit but not on others? They all appear to be the same make of DVR. Is it possible they BOTH have bad SATA ports? I can't think of anything else.
> 
> ...


Would be nice to know which external device you have. Did you: Pull the power cords on both the HR and the external device, wait a minute or so and plug in the external device? Then let the HDD in the external device spin up for a minute? Then plug in the power cord of the HR? That's all you have to do. You should have recorded something on the internal HDD that you would never normally record so you can tell the difference between the new drive and the old, internal drive.

If you did all that and the HR still won't recognize the external HDD...well, this has happened to me on several occasions. Happened to me a week or two ago and wrecked a Sunday for me. Need to know what external device you're using and I am hoping you did not get one of those all-in-one externals.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

codespy said:


> I have TT docks on my HR54, HR24-100, -200 and -500's, and have never had an issue being recognized. Not sure why some of yours are reading and some aren't.


I have had those problems many times when using HDDs externally. No idea why, nothing wrong with the drives or the external devices. Happened to me two weeks ago with an SSD! I spent the better part of a day trying to get a couple HRs to work and ended up getting a replacement for a 24-500 and finally got the SSD to work on a 24-100 that has an internal HDD that is shot. Felt like I was back in 2007.

Rich


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## codespy (Mar 30, 2006)

Uggg....that sucks.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

codespy said:


> Uggg....that sucks.


It did suck. Started with a 24-500 that I got as a refurb recently coming up with an odd error message that said the box needed to be refreshed. Couldn't do that on the website and made the call. CSR said he was familiar with the error and I needed a replacement. Put a 24-100 in it's place and that crashed immediately after booting up. Massive pixelation, could not see the screen. Tried to put a dock with an SSD on it and it just would not connect. Put that on a shelf and gave up on the games. Next day I made the connections easily. Have no idea what happened. Everything just went crazy all at once. The 24-100 is running well with an SSD and I bought a new enclosure and new 1TB SSD for the new refurb and all my HRs now have SSDs and are working correctly. I'll put the details in the the proper thread when I get a chance.

Rich


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## outlineguy (Oct 4, 2008)

Rich said:


> Would be nice to know which external device you have. Did you: Pull the power cords on both the HR and the external device, wait a minute or so and plug in the external device? Then let the HDD in the external device spin up for a minute? Then plug in the power cord of the HR? That's all you have to do. You should have recorded something on the internal HDD that you would never normally record so you can tell the difference between the new drive and the old, internal drive.
> 
> If you did all that and the HR still won't recognize the external HDD...well, this has happened to me on several occasions. Happened to me a week or two ago and wrecked a Sunday for me. Need to know what external device you're using and I am hoping you did not get one of those all-in-one externals.
> 
> Rich


Hi Rich and everyone,

Thanks for responding so quickly. Sometimes old threads get lost over time. Let me assure you that I'm not a newbee novice. I've been playing with DVRs since 1999 and currently have SIX up and running in my house. Yes, we watch a lot of TV. Thus, more storage needed! 

I bought a WD 2TB Hard Drive and a Sabrent eSata enclosure, which are exactly what I bought the last time I did this and are currently running perfectly with my bedroom DVR. I completely pulled all the cords and cables and reattached everything multiple times, checking for firm connections. I powered up the EHD and let it run for 15-20 minutes before powering up the HR24. All I get is the original on-board playlist.

Like I said, I hooked up my new EHD to that bedroom DVR and it recognized just as it should (showing 100%) so I know it's working properly. The problem is that the HR24 I want to connect it to isn't recognizing it, even after multiple tries. I think I just might be out of luck because I don't see any sort of fix to try. According to us here, it should simply just work because that's what it's supposed to do. It's a new day so I'm going to go give it one more shot.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

outlineguy said:


> I bought a WD 2TB Hard Drive and a Sabrent eSata enclosure, which are exactly what I bought the last time I did this and are currently running perfectly with my bedroom DVR. I completely pulled all the cords and cables and reattached everything multiple times, checking for firm connections. I powered up the EHD and let it run for 15-20 minutes before powering up the HR24. All I get is the original on-board playlist.
> 
> Like I said, I hooked up my new EHD to that bedroom DVR and it recognized just as it should (showing 100%) so I know it's working properly. The problem is that the HR24 I want to connect it to isn't recognizing it, even after multiple tries. I think I just might be out of luck because I don't see any sort of fix to try. According to us here, it should simply just work because that's what it's supposed to do. It's a new day so I'm going to go give it one more shot.


If you read my last post in this thread you will see I went thru something very similar. No matter what I did the external drive would not be recognized. I gave up and tried the next day, by that time I was convinced the HR was the problem. I use SSDs as external drives and this just does not happen. Happens with HDDs but I never had this happen with an SSD. But I did give it one more try and, for whatever reason, it worked as it should. Only thing I can think of to say is let the HR and the external alone overnight and maybe it will work then. You certainly have done everything you could possibly do, try that.

Rich


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

One last gasp effort would be to disconnect the internal hard drive and see if it will boot from the external.


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## outlineguy (Oct 4, 2008)

Rich said:


> If you read my last post in this thread you will see I went thru something very similar. No matter what I did the external drive would not be recognized. I gave up and tried the next day, by that time I was convinced the HR was the problem. I use SSDs as external drives and this just does not happen. Happens with HDDs but I never had this happen with an SSD. But I did give it one more try and, for whatever reason, it worked as it should. Only thing I can think of to say is let the HR and the external alone overnight and maybe it will work then. You certainly have done everything you could possibly do, try that.
> 
> Rich


I did a refresh on the unit twice just to see if it would help and have been restarting all today and it just won't see the EHD. I'm stumped. I double checked the drive on my computer and it's functioning properly. The esata cable is fine. I'm out of ideas. I was really looking forward to this working.

And no, I'm not about to go messing around inside the unit. It's working fine with the internal drive and I'm not going to chance making things worse. Especially when this should be such a simple plug-and-play procedure.

The frustrating thing is that this new EHD works just fine on the unit that already has an EHD connected to it! But it won't work on the units I would like to connect it to!!!

If anyone else has any ideas I'm open but other than that, thanks to all.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

outlineguy said:


> let it run for 15-20 minutes


Too long !
Try to listen to the HDD, when it will begin spinning, start your DVR.

And a reason could be bad solder of eSATA connector on main PCB of the DVR. Need to check all signals (four SATA lines) at main chip [CPU]


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> One last gasp effort would be to disconnect the internal hard drive and see if it will boot from the external.


That used to be an option. Don't think that works anymore. I did have a couple HRs running without internal drives years ago but an update put an end to that.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

outlineguy said:


> I did a refresh on the unit twice just to see if it would help and have been restarting all today and it just won't see the EHD. I'm stumped. I double checked the drive on my computer and it's functioning properly. The esata cable is fine. I'm out of ideas. I was really looking forward to this working.
> 
> And no, I'm not about to go messing around inside the unit. It's working fine with the internal drive and I'm not going to chance making things worse. Especially when this should be such a simple plug-and-play procedure.
> 
> ...


I have no idea why this is happening. My next best suggestion is try another external device. I know this enclosure will work on any HR: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WC1QQVC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Rich


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## WestDC (Feb 9, 2008)

b4pjoe said:


> One last gasp effort would be to disconnect the internal hard drive and see if it will boot from the external.


If the OP or whomever is having the problem went that far to test -Why NOT just replace the internal drive with the New one and Forget about it?


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

WestDC said:


> If the OP or whomever is having the problem went that far to test -Why NOT just replace the internal drive with the New one and Forget about it?


He doesn't seem to want to do that. After all he's gone thru that's a very good suggestion.

Rich


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

WestDC said:


> If the OP or whomever is having the problem went that far to test -Why NOT just replace the internal drive with the New one and Forget about it?


He would at least know if it was the external esata port or not that way. If the external will boot than the external esata port works.



Rich said:


> That used to be an option. Don't think that works anymore. I did have a couple HRs running without internal drives years ago but an update put an end to that.
> 
> Rich


Interesting. I just tried it on my wife's hr-24 and it boots fine from the external hard drive with the internal hard drive unplugged.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

b4pjoe said:


> He would at least know if it was the external esata port or not that way. If the external will boot than the external esata port works.
> 
> Interesting. I just tried it on my wife's hr-24 and it boots fine from the external hard drive with the internal hard drive unplugged.


Huh. So they took that option away and put it back? Interesting. Had no idea and no reason to try it. In any event I don't see any reason to suspect the internal HDD is causing this. Or the external HDD. I've never had a problem with the eSATA to SATA cables, don't think that's the problem. I'd like to see what happens with a different external device. If the same thing happens I'd be getting a replacement for the 24.

Rich


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## outlineguy (Oct 4, 2008)

I'm not about to go messing around inside the unit when it's working fine otherwise. I'm just looking for more storage. If I were willing to replace the internal drive then I would just avoid trouble and buy myself a brand new DVR. The reason I'm going (or tried to go) this route is when I did it before it was so incredibly easy. I plugged in the EHD, restarted the DVR and there it was, no problem. It's still working to this very day in the very room I'm sitting in at this very minute.

Meanwhile, I'm still restarting the damn thing (in another room) trying to get it to work and no success. Just to reiterate, I've been trying TWO separate EHDs, one with a 1TB drive and one with a 2TB on FOUR different DVRs (including a Genie) and NONE of them are recognizing the EHDs. It really is if some gremlin broke into my house in the middle of the night and disconnected all the SATA ports in my DVRs just to play a prank on me.

That's why I originally asked if for some bizarre reason some software update in the recent past turned off the SATA ports and I didn't hear about it. I can't determine any other reason why nothing is working.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

outlineguy said:


> I'm not about to go messing around inside the unit when it's working fine otherwise. I'm just looking for more storage. If I were willing to replace the internal drive then I would just avoid trouble and buy myself a brand new DVR. The reason I'm going (or tried to go) this route is when I did it before it was so incredibly easy. I plugged in the EHD, restarted the DVR and there it was, no problem. It's still working to this very day in the very room I'm sitting in at this very minute.
> 
> Meanwhile, I'm still restarting the damn thing (in another room) trying to get it to work and no success. Just to reiterate, I've been trying TWO separate EHDs, one with a 1TB drive and one with a 2TB on FOUR different DVRs (including a Genie) and NONE of them are recognizing the EHDs. It really is if some gremlin broke into my house in the middle of the night and disconnected all the SATA ports in my DVRs just to play a prank on me.
> 
> That's why I originally asked if for some bizarre reason some software update in the recent past turned off the SATA ports and I didn't hear about it. I can't determine any other reason why nothing is working.


Are you trying those same 2 drives on the 4 different DVR's in the same dock. If so it sounds like it might be the dock.


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## outlineguy (Oct 4, 2008)

b4pjoe said:


> Are you trying those same 2 drives on the 4 different DVR's in the same dock. If so it sounds like it might be the dock.


That would have been easy. No, no dock. Both drives are in their own enclosure. I've tested both by attaching them (drives + enclosures) to my home computer and both are functioning properly. It's how I've freshly reformatted them. The enclosures are of the same make and model as the one I have that is connected to a DVR and working properly.

Next.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

outlineguy said:


> That would have been easy. No, no dock. Both drives are in their own enclosure. I've tested both by attaching them (drives + enclosures) to my home computer and both are functioning properly. It's how I've freshly reformatted them. The enclosures are of the same make and model as the one I have that is connected to a DVR and working properly.
> 
> Next.


Could you provide links to your external devices so we can see exactly what you have?

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

outlineguy said:


> That would have been easy. No, no dock. Both drives are in their own enclosure. I've tested both by attaching them (drives + enclosures) to my home computer and both are functioning properly. It's how I've freshly reformatted them. The enclosures are of the same make and model as the one I have that is connected to a DVR and working properly.
> 
> Next.


There is something about this post that bothers me. Why did you reformat the drives?

Rich


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## outlineguy (Oct 4, 2008)

Rich said:


> There is something about this post that bothers me. Why did you reformat the drives?
> 
> Rich


Just to make them clean. The 2TB drive was brand new, out of the box. The 1TB drive was out of an old desktop computer. Both were connected to a home computer by USB and verified to be working and empty of data just so the DVRs would have the optimum to work with. Though it is my understanding that the drives do not need to be formatted because the DVR will take care of that at initialization.

Let me reiterate something and I'll try to explain as best I can. Sometimes it's difficult to be clear in writing on bulletin boards because everything tends to be taken literally and/or misinterpreted. So I will over-explain.

I have multiple DVRs in my house. In one room, let's call it the "den", I have an HR24 with an attached external hard drive that I set up a few years ago. That's the one that worked great on the first try and is still working today. As a test, I disconnected its external hard drive and connected the new 2TB drive in it's new enclosure and new esata cable. I restarted the DVR (we're still in the den) and it recognized the new drive, formatted it and showed me an empty playlist with 100% capacity. Just like it's supposed to. The EHDs, the enclosures and the esata cables are exactly the same make and model.

When I take that same new 2TB drive + enclosure and cable and connect it to any of the other DVRs in my house, it will not be recognized. All the others ignore it. I just get the on-board playlist of old recordings. This is BEFORE AND AFTER the den test. I have not tried the 1TB drive on the den DVR but it as well will not be recognized by any of the other DVRs in the house. They are all HR24s and one Genie.

Again, the best way I'm coming up with to describe what's going on is none of the SATA ports on any of the other DVRs seem to be functioning. There does not appear to be any determinable problem with the two external hard drives or enclosures or cables.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

outlineguy said:


> Both were connected to a home computer by USB and verified to be working


Bingo !
Your dock/enclosure's eSATA port is DEAD !

I would try connect the dock/enclosure to your desktop using L-I SATA cable. That would be real test !!!


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Question: Is it possible that the working DVR and the non working DVRs have different Firmware that is turning off the Esata ports ?
Could you check the Firmware versions in each DVR ?


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

outlineguy said:


> Just to make them clean. The 2TB drive was brand new, out of the box. The 1TB drive was out of an old desktop computer. Both were connected to a home computer by USB and verified to be working and empty of data just so the DVRs would have the optimum to work with. Though it is my understanding that the drives do not need to be formatted because the DVR will take care of that at initialization.
> 
> Let me reiterate something and I'll try to explain as best I can. Sometimes it's difficult to be clear in writing on bulletin boards because everything tends to be taken literally and/or misinterpreted. So I will over-explain.
> 
> ...


I keep saying this: Try a new external device.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> Question: Is it possible that the working DVR and the non working DVRs have different Firmware that is turning off the Esata ports ?
> Could you check the Firmware versions in each DVR ?


Doubt that. I've never seen firmware affect hardware in that manner. Gotta keep this simple. First thing I'd like to see is a new external device. If that solves the problem nothing more needs to be done. If it doesn't solve the problem return the external device. Nothing lost but time and effort. This is a problem that has to caused by either the HDD, the enclosure/dock or the HRs. It's not the HRs, it's not the HDD...what's left?

I just reread the pertinent posts about this issue and all I can come up with is the external device being the problem.

Rich


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

outlineguy said:


> Just to make them clean. The 2TB drive was brand new, out of the box. The 1TB drive was out of an old desktop computer. Both were connected to a home computer by USB and verified to be working and empty of data just so the DVRs would have the optimum to work with. Though it is my understanding that the drives do not need to be formatted because the DVR will take care of that at initialization.
> 
> Let me reiterate something and I'll try to explain as best I can. Sometimes it's difficult to be clear in writing on bulletin boards because everything tends to be taken literally and/or misinterpreted. So I will over-explain.
> 
> ...


Agree about "difficult to be clear in writing on bulletin boards". In the bolded part above...are you sure it was seeing the new external hard drive or could it have been booting off of the internal drive with an empty playlist with 100% capacity? If the working external had been working for a few years it could have needed to format the old internal at the time of booting with the new hard drive that does not work on any other DVR's?


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## outlineguy (Oct 4, 2008)

P Smith said:


> Bingo !
> Your dock/enclosure's eSATA port is DEAD !
> 
> I would try connect the dock/enclosure to your desktop using L-I SATA cable. That would be real test !!!


Both of them? That would be an odd coincidence.

Also, again, the enclosure/drive WORKS on the den DVR. It just won't work on any of the others.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Rich said:


> Doubt that. I've never seen firmware affect hardware in that manner. Gotta keep this simple. First thing I'd like to see is a new external device. If that solves the problem nothing more needs to be done. If it doesn't solve the problem return the external device. Nothing lost but time and effort. This is a problem that has to caused by either the HDD, the enclosure/dock or the HRs. It's not the HRs, it's not the HDD...what's left?
> 
> I just reread the pertinent posts about this issue and all I can come up with is the external device being the problem.
> 
> Rich


He has a device that he knows works.
What about putting one of the new drives in that device and try it on one of the non working 24s?


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## outlineguy (Oct 4, 2008)

b4pjoe said:


> Agree about "difficult to be clear in writing on bulletin boards". In the bolded part above...are you sure it was seeing the new external hard drive or could it have been booting off of the internal drive with an empty playlist with 100% capacity? If the working external had been working for a few years it could have needed to format the old internal at the time of booting with the new hard drive that does not work on any other DVR's?


No, the original internal drive on the den DVR has archived recordings still on it. It was seeing the new EHD. I may try it again today to see what happens but truth be told this is taking up way more of my time than I intended. I'm getting ready to throw in the towel.


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## WestDC (Feb 9, 2008)

outlineguy said:


> No, the original internal drive on the den DVR has archived recordings still on it. It was seeing the new EHD. I may try it again today to see what happens but truth be told this is taking up way more of my time than I intended. I'm getting ready to throw in the towel.


No one likes a quitter --LOL!


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> He has a device that he knows works.
> What about putting one of the new drives in that device and try it on one of the non working 24s?


Yup, that would tell us something.

Rich


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## steve053 (May 11, 2007)

> *But&#8230; not anymore.*
> There have been recent reports of problems with the latest AT&T/DIRECTV software and eSATA. And now, there is new hardware that has the port blocked off in some way. It's hard to know without having one on site if that is just a plastic plug or if the port is completely gone. Unofficially, I have been told that fewer than 1,000 people of AT&T's 24-million-plus customer base were using the eSATA feature on national release software. While it's no fun if you're one of those people, when you look at the numbers and the potential cost of testing this long-"unsupported" feature, I do get it.
> 
> *What should you do if you're using eSATA now?*
> ...


IS IT TRUE? DIRECTV no longer offers eSATA support? - The Solid Signal Blog


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

steve053 said:


> IS IT TRUE? DIRECTV no longer offers eSATA support? - The Solid Signal Blog


First, D* has never "supported" the eSATA function. It's there and can be used but try to get info from a CSR. I don't believe the comment about a thousand people using the function. How would they know? I can tell you exactly how many times anybody from D* has asked me about eSATA anything. Not once. How do they know? Sounds like more BS to justify another bad decision.

Rich


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