# External Hard Drive Size



## mikepd (Dec 21, 2004)

I don't know if tis has been mentioned before regarding drives larger than 750GB but I have a 4 port switch hooked up to my 722 and 3 Western Digital 750GB either Home or Premium MyBook drives and was going to add the fourth.

Then I remembered I had a 1TB WD MyBook drive and though rather than buying another 750GB drive, I'd hook up that drive and see what would happen.

The 722 at the time was running 5.12 and it saw the drive, offered to format it and after format there was 930GB of free space which was 1GB less than I had with the same drive under Vista Ultimate 64 with NTFS.

So far the drive has been fine with transfer and playback and I wonder if a 2TB drive will work as well.

My next step is to see if I can replace my 4 port switch with an 8 port model as there are plenty of HD movies and shows that I'd like to have around for awhile.


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

That the alrger size is working is good to know.

Curious, though. I have 106 pre-MPEG4 movies on one of my three 750GB drives. How many movies is enough, do you think?


----------



## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

phrelin said:


> That the alrger size is working is good to know.
> 
> Curious, though. I have 106 pre-MPEG4 movies on one of my three 750GB drives. How many movies is enough, do you think?


Well, lessee, I have over 400 DVDs so....:grin:


----------



## mikepd (Dec 21, 2004)

I'm not sure where the limitation is in the file system that Dish uses but if it is anything like a modern file system should be then number of movies should not be a problem before you exceed disk capacity.

The problem is one of tracking what is located on what particular external drive if, like me, you are using a multi-port switch. One solution would be to keep a manual list of what is on each drive and update it as you revise the contents of any particular drive.


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I could be mistaken, but I believe the only thing we "know" about the size limitation is that at the time the firmware was released to the public, Dish had only tested up to 750GB drives with it... so they naturally said that was the limit.

If there is no coded limitation, then 1TB and higher might be fine... however, since Dish had not extensively tested such drives they had no way of knowing what might come up... and wanted to be very clear that they would only support what they had verified themselves to work.


----------



## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

IMO, Dish doesn't "support" any EHD. When one calls in with a problem, they usually tell the user to reformat the drive or contact the manufacturer of the drive. It never seems to be their problem. Not what I consider "support".


----------



## Don M (Jul 1, 2006)

mikepd said:


> I don't know if tis has been mentioned before regarding drives larger than 750GB but I have a 4 port switch hooked up to my 722 and 3 Western Digital 750GB either Home or Premium MyBook drives and was going to add the fourth....
> 
> My next step is to see if I can replace my 4 port switch with an 8 port model as there are plenty of HD movies and shows that I'd like to have around for awhile.


Is a switch the same as a hub? If so, is it self powered. I would like to use a similar steup on my 622, using a three or four port hub.


----------



## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

olguy said:


> Well, lessee, I have over 400 DVDs so....:grin:


My wife has over 40,000 music tracks. If we just played them all once, I figure in three months we would have heard them all. If we paused to sleep and go buy groceries etc., I figure it would take six months. Then I guess we could borrow your DVD's to kill the rest of the year.:sure:


----------



## puckwithahalo (Sep 3, 2007)

> IMO, Dish doesn't "support" any EHD. When one calls in with a problem, they usually tell the user to reformat the drive or contact the manufacturer of the drive. It never seems to be their problem. Not what I consider "support".


With any external hard drive issues, the resets or format should at least temporarily fix any issue that is software-based (in which case, the agent should be submitting a report to engineering. note, i said SHOULD). If one of the usb ports is bad (easily determined by simply trying the other one, the chances that both went bad are...well, not high), then the receiver can be replaced. Pretty much all other issues are going to be the drive itself. So, with that in mind, what else would you suggest they do?


----------



## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Here is advice I give when asked... The official support statement was 750GB at this time. We also know based on reports here that the 750GB limit is not enforced through software and people have had luck with 1TB drives.

However, there is nothing stopping Dish from in a future releases enforcing the limit and therefore with a software update turning your drive into a door stop. At this point my opinion would be that if you go out of recommendation and get burned then nobody to blame but yourself even if at one time it did work. 

The other plus with smaller drives is that you could do multiple drives and minimize the all in one basket risk. 

In then end it is each persons choice, but I figured I would bring up the two negatives I see with going with drives above 750GB.


----------



## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

And just to add to Ron's post (which I agree with 100 percent) the cost per GB is less for a 750 (or 500) GB drive than it is for a 1 TB drive. And IF there is a failure with an external hard drive you have less to lose with a smaller drive.


----------



## mcutler (Jan 27, 2008)

Everything I have read adds up to the following: 

When DISH initially said there was a 750 GB limit, that was at a time when larger hard drives had 2 disks in 1 enclosure. Since then, 1 terabyte drives with a single disk have become common. Dish does not support EHDs with multiple disks in one enclosure, but everyone who has tried terabyte EHDs that have only a single disk has reported success. Since multiple hard drives can be used, there is no apparent reason for Dish to intentionally limit the size of a single EHD.


----------



## mikepd (Dec 21, 2004)

Don M said:


> Is a switch the same as a hub? If so, is it self powered. I would like to use a similar steup on my 622, using a three or four port hub.


The difference between a switch and a hub is that a hub will split the rated bandwidth among the ports while a switch provides the rated bandwidth to each port among other differences. Here is an explanation that goes into a bit more detail on the difference between the two. Either one usually comes with an ac-dc power supply.

http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/hubsw.htm


----------



## RickDee (May 23, 2006)

mikepd said:


> The difference between a switch and a hub is that a hub will split the rated bandwidth among the ports while a switch provides the rated bandwidth to each port among other differences. Here is an explanation that goes into a bit more detail on the difference between the two. Either one usually comes with an ac-dc power supply.
> 
> http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/hubsw.htm


I think you're confusing apples and oranges. The above link is for ethernet and is somewhat different for USB. Try http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-usb-switch.htm and http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-usb-hub.htm for information directly applicable to USB.


----------



## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

mikepd said:


> The difference between a switch and a hub is that a hub will split the rated bandwidth among the ports while a switch provides the rated bandwidth to each port among other differences. Here is an explanation that goes into a bit more detail on the difference between the two. Either one usually comes with an ac-dc power supply.
> 
> http://www.duxcw.com/faq/network/hubsw.htm


Powered USB switches do not work on 622/722 receivers (I've tried several). I am using "dumb" (manual) 4 port switches on both of my ViP receivers and they work very well.


----------



## JosephF (Apr 23, 2002)

Bill R said:


> Powered USB switches do not work on 622/722 receivers (I've tried several). I am using "dumb" (manual) 4 port switches on both of my ViP receivers and they work very well.


I've got two powered 4 port USB hubs connected to my 722 and they work fine.

I'll have to try and remember to check the brand when I get home. But they were just some generic brand I bought through New Egg.


----------



## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

mcutler said:


> Everything I have read adds up to the following:
> 
> When DISH initially said there was a 750 GB limit, that was at a time when larger hard drives had 2 disks in 1 enclosure. Since then, 1 terabyte drives with a single disk have become common. Dish does not support EHDs with multiple disks in one enclosure, but everyone who has tried terabyte EHDs that have only a single disk has reported success. Since multiple hard drives can be used, there is no apparent reason for Dish to intentionally limit the size of a single EHD.


Not sure if I would make those conclusions. I believe the 750GB limit was mentioned during the time when 1TB single drive enclosures were available so I don't think that was the reason for indicating larger drive support. My initial comment was that there is the risk (Though low) that with a future update a 1TB drive can go from working to not working because of size limitations.

As for people using 1TB drives, I have seen few mention that they are using 1TB drives with success. I have seen nobody indicate no success. It does appear that they have been successful though I would not draw the conclusion that everyone has been successful with 1TB drives. I have not seen anyone report using a larger than 1TB drive with or without success.

Like I said in my previous post, going with a drive larger than 1TB has some risks involved. If you are willing to except those risks then go for it. If not, a better solution in my opinion in terms of risk of content due to failure and staying within the recommend specs would be two smaller drives.


----------



## mikepd (Dec 21, 2004)

Whether it is Ethernet or USB, the principle behind the device is still the same. Networking basics still apply regardless of how they are implemented.

A hub shares among all ports while a switch does not.

As for drives larger than 750GB not being supported, I never said or implied that they were just that in at least my case it worked and that if people wanted to see if it worked for them then it was their call to give it a try or not.

I am still using the 1TB drive without difficulty and may get a larger hub to try a 2TB drive. My risk, my choice.


----------



## alinford (Aug 6, 2002)

So, if you have a 4 port USB hub with multiple HD's hooked up to to a 622/722, what does the 622/722 see? Can it see multiple HD's?

By the way, I have a 1 TB WD HD from Costco hooked up to a 622 and it works fine.


----------



## bluewolverine (Jan 22, 2006)

JosephF said:


> I've got two powered 4 port USB hubs connected to my 722 and they work fine.
> 
> I'll have to try and remember to check the brand when I get home. But they were just some generic brand I bought through New Egg.





Bill R said:


> Powered USB switches do not work on 622/722 receivers (I've tried several). I am using "dumb" (manual) 4 port switches on both of my ViP receivers and they work very well.


This is addressed to both Joesph and Bill... Can you please provide manufacturer, model number and maybe a link for BOTH the manual and powered switches? I currently have 2 WD drives that I switch back and forth with the USB connection. I'd love to STOP doing that operation to view the drives and I'd prefer to use a tested commodity.

Thanks,
Blue


----------



## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

I just posted the information about the USB switch that I use in this thread: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=140906


----------



## bluewolverine (Jan 22, 2006)

Thank you sir.


----------



## aumandg (Jan 1, 2009)

Can the externial hard drive be connected to a computer and have DVDs added to it?


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

No. The Dish receiver formats the drive and deposits content there in a specific way unique to the Dish receiver. If you want to use it on a computer you'd have to format it again.


----------

