# Best hard drive for 722?



## saberfly (Apr 5, 2010)

Just wondering opinions on the best external hard drive for a VIP722? Thanks!


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

2TB, WD


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

Essential.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

TT BlacX with practically any drive.


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## FarmerBob (Nov 28, 2002)

_"TT BlacX with practically any drive."_

Only with SATA and not IDE/PATA drives.

Western Digital all the way. Seagates are no longer a reliable drive. It cost me a small fortune to swap all my Seagates for WD's when they started failing. If you do get a Seagate external, make sure there is no cute "light bar" or visual. These are known to interfere with Read/Write.


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

I've been using the same Seagate Free-Agent 500gb with my receivers for 3 years with no issue. When it's recording, yes, the trim lite slowly flashes to show you it is. I don't see how that's an issue. Very handy indicator.
The only thing I had to do when new was download the software from Seagate in order to set the 'sleep' mode to 'never'. The newer Flex series has the software resident (for PCs) so no download is needed. If you only have a MAC not a PC, you can download the appropriate software from the Seagate website.


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## gokartergo (Jul 8, 2011)

I have 2=1tb WD.. No problems with either one of them.. And I take them back and forth between my 922 and 722..


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## FarmerBob (Nov 28, 2002)

Nothing but problems with Seagates anywhere I use them. And I use to love them. I use only WD's now and never in many many years and the hundreds of drives I spec or install have ever had a problem with WD. Seagate on the other hand (more so recently when I have encountered them) . . . And since they are one of the two factories that is able to produce at the moment. They'll be pounding them out as quick as they can and I bet the quality will drop even further.


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## hdaddikt (Jul 2, 2005)

Well, that's not good to hear. I used Maxtor mostly in the 'ol days, maybe a WD or 2. Even Quantum (to give you an idea of how long ago). 

Things have probably changed since the old days when there were many more drive companies, and engineers, techs and execs were constantly jumping from one to another, so the differences were probably not that great, but the competition was stiffer.

Today is a different world with a different economy. I would not take too much for granted. Things can go downhill very fast.


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## bnborg (Jun 3, 2005)

P Smith said:


> TT BlacX with practically any drive.


+1

I use 1TB, 5900 rpm drives from Seagate and Hitachi,


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## FarmerBob (Nov 28, 2002)

Seagate bought Maxtor years ago as an entry level device OEM. Just like Cisco did with Linksys.

I'm sitting here with a SG FreeAgent Desktop that will no longer work with my 722. Although, the 722 sees when I unplug it. It was always hit and miss. Almost a full season of many series inaccessible. The way the 722 handles the EHD is not easy on them. So I am not surprised that a drive, especially a Seagate will hammer.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

FarmerBob said:


> Seagate bought Maxtor years ago as an entry level device OEM. Just like Cisco did with Linksys.
> 
> I'm sitting here with a SG FreeAgent Desktop that will no longer work with my 722. Although, the 722 sees when I unplug it. It was always hit and miss. Almost a full season of many series inaccessible. The way the 722 handles the EHD is not easy on them. So I am not surprised that a drive, especially a Seagate will hammer.


You'll be pleasantly surprised after you'll remove the Seagate HDD from FAD enclosure and start using it with TT BlacX dock.


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## FarmerBob (Nov 28, 2002)

P Smith said:


> You'll be pleasantly surprised after you'll remove the Seagate HDD from FAD enclosure and start using it with TT BlacX dock.


I've been looking at these for a while. But is the FA IDE or SATA. I have a drawer full of IDEs that I have four in cases that I use daily. But there are these that I just love: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Could be PATA [IDE] ... have a picture of your ?


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## FarmerBob (Nov 28, 2002)

P Smith said:


> Could be PATA [IDE] ... have a picture of your ?


As old as it is (not really old, but . . .) and from when I took it apart to disable the status light (a Seagate malady), I think I remember it being PATA/IDE. The TT BlacX is for SATA drives. Have always loved the concept. As I said I have a drawer full of drives that still work. Just need an interface and this is it. Just haven't committed yet. I have seen a couple that will do both and I have seen ones for PATA/IDE only. But am more attracted to the "universal" cable option I referenced earlier.

It's too much trouble to make these work with DISH gear. DISH should be making their gear to work with any drive. There are universal standards. Therefore, not having to disable this and that just to appease the DISH gods. The best would to allow recording to NADs or DLNA to any drive. But that will still not circumvent inherent problems with particular OEMs (Seagate). I have had several OEM drive product reps tell me that the best way to trash a drive is to hook it up to a DISH STB. They've had calls. The main problem is "sleep" there is no reason that these drives should be spinning all the time. Even when the box is in standby. But they do. Once DISH figures this out, we'll be cool. And so will the drives. /sarcasm


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## bnborg (Jun 3, 2005)

FarmerBob said:


> I've been looking at these for a while. But is the FA IDE or SATA. I have a drawer full of IDEs that I have four in cases that I use daily. But there are these that I just love: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/NewerTech/U3NVSPATA/


That type should work if it has an external power supply, such as http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0373131.


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## FarmerBob (Nov 28, 2002)

bnborg said:


> That type should work if it has an external power supply, such as http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0373131.


Scroll down a bit and it shows what all is included and there is a power supply and various connection cables. That's what attracted me, USB 3 & 2.


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## bnborg (Jun 3, 2005)

That is a good price for USB 3--Not needed for Dish DVR, of course.


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## FarmerBob (Nov 28, 2002)

bnborg said:


> That is a good price for USB 3--Not needed for Dish DVR, of course.


Especially as universal as it is. It covers all the bases - USB 2 & 3, PATA & SATA with on board power. May have to finally buy one.


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## Grandude (Oct 21, 2004)

FarmerBob said:


> Especially as universal as it is. It covers all the bases - USB 2 & 3, PATA & SATA with on board power. May have to finally buy one.


It certainly looks like it would be a nice addition to my box of goodies. I hope you buy one soon and give us a report. I too have a bunch of old IDE drives of various sizes.


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## kregster (Mar 16, 2012)

Never had any problems with 2 usb western digital drives with lots of recordings on them


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

Swimming against the tide, I recommend using multiple smaller hard drives, BECAUSE they *will* fail and if everything is on one humongous drive - everything is gone bye-bye.

If one small drive fails, you still have all the others and it allows for putting categories or specific shows on a dedicated drive.


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