# Can anyone give me a little insight about the external hard drive?



## moonpie23 (Mar 1, 2008)

I am interested in using the esata option for more storage. I like to learn everything I can before I purchase the equipment to do it. I really have just a few simple questions and hope soemone can help me before I go this route.

1. I am pretty technical so I think I can search this forum and get it working but how does it coexist with the DVR?

2. Will the DVR hard drive and the new external hard drive both show up as a playlist?

3. Do I have to choose which one to record to?

4. If I currently have some HD movies on my playlist can I move them to the external one?

Just really curious how it works...I'd love to use it mainly to store movies I tape in HD and use the internal for my weekly recorded shows I watch and delete....

Any input is appreciated..you all are great and I have learned alot in the past two months from this forum since I went HD


----------



## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

moonpie23 said:


> I am interested in using the esata option for more storage. I like to learn everything I can before I purchase the equipment to do it. I really have just a few simple questions and hope soemone can help me before I go this route.
> 
> 1. I am pretty technical so I think I can search this forum and get it working but how does it coexist with the DVR?
> 
> ...


My comments are interspersed in your text.


----------



## moonpie23 (Mar 1, 2008)

thank you...that pretty much answers everything


----------



## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

I didn't realize it was that easy. So you can just plug it in and that's where your recordings get saved and then unplug it at any time without any ill effect? Only your playlist is affected?

Do the same rules apply to swapping out internal drive or is that a much more complicated procedure?


----------



## glennb (Sep 21, 2006)

You can just rip the cover off, remove the internal drive, and slap in a new SATA drive in there.

I'm sure someone will post - This voids the warranty !!, This voids the lease agreement !!, If DIRECTV finds out you will go to prison for a minimum of a 2 year agreement !!


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

glennb said:


> You can just rip the cover off, remove the internal drive, and slap in a new SATA drive in there.
> 
> I'm sure someone will post - This voids the warranty !!, This voids the lease agreement !!, If DIRECTV finds out you will go to prison for a minimum of a 2 year agreement !!


You mean like you just did?


----------



## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

glennb said:


> You can just rip the cover off, remove the internal drive, and slap in a new SATA drive in there.


i'm pretty sure that voids the warranty... :lol:


----------



## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

I'm in a MDU so I have a 90-day warranty and am not eligible for any replacement plan offered by D*. So I got nuthin' to lose!

And for an internal drive swap, you can just pop in an unformatted drive and DVR takes care of the rest? Or should I do a little research on this via the Search function here....?


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Stephen M. Smith said:


> I'm in a MDU so I have a 90-day warranty and am not eligible for any replacement plan offered by D*. So I got nuthin' to lose!
> 
> And for an internal drive swap, you can just pop in an unformatted drive and DVR takes care of the rest? Or should I do a little research on this via the Search function here....?


You can... it is a little more then just "poping" it in...
But yes, you don't have to do anything on a software level with it.


----------



## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

I assume you'd have to recreate all your season passes, etc. w/an internal swap. But are you saying w/an external add, your configuration remains on internal drive and, literally, the only thing that changes is where your recordings are saved? And you can hot-swap it too?

If so, as someone just coming off an HR10-250 and still having an HDVR2 w/upgraded drive, this is _totally blowing my mind_!


----------



## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

Stephen M. Smith said:


> I assume you'd have to recreate all your season passes, etc. w/an internal swap. But are you saying w/an external add, your configuration remains on internal drive and, literally, the only thing that changes is where your recordings are saved? And you can hot-swap it too?
> 
> If so, as someone just coming off an HR10-250 and still having an HDVR2 w/upgraded drive, this is _totally blowing my mind_!


no... either way... whether you replace the internal or add an external... you would still have to redo your settings, favorites, series links, etc...

if you just add an external... you can go back to the internal by unplugging the external and rebooting...


----------



## dsm (Jul 11, 2004)

I've seen all the comments about how much easier/better swapping the internal drive is, but in practice this didn't work for me.

The whole point of getting a larger drive is that my main drive is always teetering on being full of stuff I don't want to delete. So why would I disconnect a drive with stuff on it that I care about? With the external drive I can gradually over time watch the stuff on the internal drive by rebooting back and forth until I'm done with it. 

If you say "I don't care about that stuff on that internal drive", then you don't need a bigger drive, just delete what you've got and you've got space again  .

I know, I know, it's a one time hit, but I couldn't help pointing this out since I just experienced it.

steve


----------



## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

dsm said:
 

> I've seen all the comments about how much easier/better swapping the internal drive is, but in practice this didn't work for me.
> 
> The whole point of getting a larger drive is that my main drive is always teetering on being full of stuff I don't want to delete. So why would I disconnect a drive with stuff on it that I care about? With the external drive I can gradually over time watch the stuff on the internal drive by rebooting back and forth until I'm done with it.
> 
> ...


I just put my old internal drive into an external eSATA enclosure and occasionally boot it as an external drive to watch anything on the old smaller disk. My everyday and most often used larger disk that I upgraded to is inside my HR20 as God intended it to be, while my little used original drive sits in its eSATA enclosure in a drawer most of the time.


----------



## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

glennb said:


> You can just rip the cover off, remove the internal drive, and slap in a new SATA drive in there.
> 
> I'm sure someone will post - This voids the warranty !!, This voids the lease agreement !!, If DIRECTV finds out you will go to prison for a minimum of a 2 year agreement !!


Is this not a concern for all of you? ie. that D* may make a few changes to how it works on the way to making eSata officially supported, and then you lose everything on it via a new software download?


----------



## supernoob (Apr 8, 2008)

I am total noob to satelite tv, but I am somewhat techie! I have some computer knowledge, but I don't know a whole lot about satellite tv. My capacity on this 
HR21-700 is just not big enough. I have been reading over the forums and it sounds pretty simple to hook up an exteranl SATA drive. Can someone just link me to everything I need to make this happen? Like a 1 tb drive/ enclosure and all the cables I will need. Thanks!


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

supernoob said:


> I am total noob to satelite tv, but I am somewhat techie! I have some computer knowledge, but I don't know a whole lot about satellite tv. My capacity on this
> HR21-700 is just not big enough. I have been reading over the forums and it sounds pretty simple to hook up an exteranl SATA drive. Can someone just link me to everything I need to make this happen? Like a 1 tb drive/ enclosure and all the cables I will need. Thanks!


http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=66201
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=92029


----------



## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

Stephen M. Smith said:


> Is this not a concern for all of you? ie. that D* may make a few changes to how it works on the way to making eSata officially supported, and then you lose everything on it via a new software download?


I can't imagine DirecTV ever intentionally deploying any software change that would cause you to lose recordings on any internal disk.


----------



## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

cartrivision said:


> I can't imagine DirecTV ever intentionally deploying any software change that would cause you to lose recordings on any internal disk.


I'm talking about external disk...


----------



## glennb (Sep 21, 2006)

Stephen M. Smith said:


> I'm talking about external disk...


I can't imagine DirecTV ever intentionally deploying any software change that would cause you to lose recordings on any external disk.


----------



## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

But the external eSata is *not* officially supported, so D* reserves the right to update the code, perhaps so that you can keep your config on internal drive and just use external for more recording space -- I think this how TiVo does it?


----------



## ToolMan100 (Mar 20, 2008)

Stephen my friend, you will be fine with the external. Just pony up for a 1TB with the Antec enclosure and life will be good. They are very resonably priced.


----------



## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

lol, yeah, I know. I'd already written down the WD 1TB drive & Antec enclosure a week ago. I'm just trying to save myself 10 hours reading 50 threads w/100 pages each to find out what, if any, the risks are. OK, done deal!


----------



## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

Stephen M. Smith said:


> But the external eSata is *not* officially supported, so D* reserves the right to update the code, perhaps so that you can keep your config on internal drive and just use external for more recording space -- I think this how TiVo does it?


That may be an issue if they ever get off their buts and update the eSATA functionality so that the internal disk isn't disabled when an external disk is plugged in. Then there will be two different playlists, two prioritzer lists, etc on the two active disks. Hopefully they will provide a way to at least merge the two playlists and preserve the programs on the external disk, however the risk of them possibly not doing that is another reason in favor of upgrading the internal disk instead of using an external disk.


----------



## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

Yeah, I like the idea of internal swap. Is it as easy as eSata? Does the HR21 recognize an unformatted drive and then copy the base os onto it via firmware somehow?


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

Stephen M. Smith said:


> Yeah, I like the idea of internal swap. Is it as easy as eSata? Does the HR21 recognize an unformatted drive and then copy the base os onto it via firmware somehow?


1st the obligatory warning: you don't own the recievers and are violating the lease..
Now the info:
No harder than changing a PC drive.. 
It will automaticaly format and use the new drive..
The software it in flash memory, not on the drive...
You will have to resetup any favorites and series links..


----------



## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

Stephen M. Smith said:


> Yeah, I like the idea of internal swap. Is it as easy as eSata? Does the HR21 recognize an unformatted drive and then copy the base os onto it via firmware somehow?


Other than the physical steps of opening up the DVR case and getting the drive in and out of the mounting bracket, it's the same as connecting an external drive&#8230;. no special drive prep is required&#8230;. just plug an unformatted drive into the internal power and data connectors, and put everything back together.


----------



## jchumbley (Jun 27, 2007)

Guys, pretty new to the talk forum, and I know I'm asking something that probably has already been asked. So, I appolgize in advance. I just received a replacement HR 20-700 for my HR 10-250 on Sunday, but I don't have another TV in the house to hook it up to yet. That being said, I've been reading a few posts about the use of an external hard drive, and I would like to remove all the shows that I have on it and either transfer them to my PC and then burn them to a dvd; or transfer them to an external hard drive, and then transfer them to my PC, which I would utlimately like to burn to a dvd.

When I asked the installer who brought over the new HD DVR receiver how to transfer the shows, he told me that I could just use a USB cable and plug that directly into my PC and I would then be able to transfer the shows over to my PC. Sounds too easy to me.

Any suggestions on what or how to do this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jeff


----------



## west5648 (Oct 13, 2007)

jchumbley said:


> Guys, pretty new to the talk forum, and I know I'm asking something that probably has already been asked. So, I appolgize in advance. I just received a replacement HR 20-700 for my HR 10-250 on Sunday, but I don't have another TV in the house to hook it up to yet. That being said, I've been reading a few posts about the use of an external hard drive, and I would like to remove all the shows that I have on it and either transfer them to my PC and then burn them to a dvd; or transfer them to an external hard drive, and then transfer them to my PC, which I would utlimately like to burn to a dvd.
> 
> When I asked the installer who brought over the new HD DVR receiver how to transfer the shows, he told me that I could just use a USB cable and plug that directly into my PC and I would then be able to transfer the shows over to my PC. Sounds too easy to me.
> 
> Any suggestions on what or how to do this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jeff


As far as I know, you can not do that(but havent looked for any hacks the take off the encryption on the hard drive). But no, hooking up the usb will do nothing other than power on a usb light or fan. But otherwise you would need some kinda hack to transfer the shows from hard drive to your computer.


----------



## Stephen M. Smith (Feb 25, 2004)

houskamp said:


> 1st the obligatory warning: you don't own the recievers and are violating the lease..
> Now the info:
> No harder than changing a PC drive..
> It will automaticaly format and use the new drive..
> ...


Actually, I do own my new HR21 b/c it was provided by my MDU sysop. Which is unfortunate b/c I do have any replacement plan from D* other than the initial 90 day warranty.


----------



## RVD26 (Oct 12, 2007)

So if I understand correctly, you must have an eSata external HD in order to use it with the receiver?

I have a Seagate external drive and tried plugging it into the receiver, but it did not show up. I do not believe it is an eSate drive though.


----------



## 66stang351 (Aug 10, 2006)

RVD26 said:


> So if I understand correctly, you must have an eSata external HD in order to use it with the receiver?


Yes, it must be an eSATA external drive.


RVD26 said:


> I have a Seagate external drive and tried plugging it into the receiver, but it did not show up. I do not believe it is an eSate drive though.


Not sure what you have, but if you didn't connect it with an eSATA cable to the SATA port on the back of the DVR it won't work.


----------



## tider (Mar 2, 2008)

I have the Calvary 1 TB external drive which is essentially a Western Digtal hard drive just sold under the calvary name. Some external hard drives do not work with the dvr.

Connecting the external hard drive is as simple as plugging a esata cable which came with my drive into the back of the DVR receiver and then the receiver will format the external hard drive.

If you want to watch a recording on the original hard drive, it's as simple as unplugging the esata (after you have turned off the external hard drive) and rebooting the receiver. You will have to do a reboot when going from one to the other. I actually remove the power from the receiver.

One thing to note when connecting the external hard drive. You will need to connect the esata cable to the DVR, power up the external hard drive, then lastly power up DVR.


----------



## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

tider said:


> ...If you want to watch a recording on the original hard drive, it's as simple as unplugging the esata (after you have turned off the external hard drive) and rebooting the receiver. You will have to do a reboot when going from one to the other. I actually remove the power from the receiver...


At least three of you have posted this, but it is actually much simpler than even that. I NEVER unplug anything. All you have to do is push two buttons and wait 6 minutes. If you are on the external, press the RBR and the ex drive power button. Then go make a sandwich. If you are on the internal, press the ex drive power button and then the RBR (and make another sandwich). This ensures that those fragile eSATA connectors are protected, too, since you plug it in once and leave it that way.

So it's easier than you have been led to believe. The only problem is the extra weight I've gained from all of those danged sandwiches. :new_Eyecr


----------



## tider (Mar 2, 2008)

TomCat said:


> At least three of you have posted this, but it is actually much simpler than even that. I NEVER unplug anything. All you have to do is push two buttons and wait 6 minutes. If you are on the external, press the RBR and the ex drive power button. Then go make a sandwich. If you are on the internal, press the ex drive power button and then the RBR (and make another sandwich). This ensures that those fragile eSATA connectors are protected, too, since you plug it in once and leave it that way.
> 
> So it's easier than you have been led to believe. The only problem is the extra weight I've gained from all of those danged sandwiches. :new_Eyecr


A million thanks for this info. I have alot of movies stored on my internal drive, (Recorded from all the free previews of the movie channels)  ,but it has been such a hassle to go back and forth with all the unplugging, replugging etc...
My wife does not even try because of the extra hassle. This will at least make one aspect of my life alot easier.:lol: Hey, every little bit helps.

That sandwich idea sounds good to me.


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

Be sure to get a good eSATA cable... I bought my cables at Fry's, and I can't say that I am happy with them, as they fit loosely, and does not result in a solid "seating"...

I was lucky with my HR20/FAP750... No issues at all... But I did have to position my drive so that there was not too much downward tension on the connector...

On my HR21, I was not so lucky... Same cable make, but for some reason I could not get the FAP or the Adatacom drives to work... Eventually, careful positioning of my Adatacom drive to ensure that connector was seated fixed my problem, but I am worried about intermittent connection issues... I am thinking about swapping both cables with a SIIG cable from Egghead... I have read other threads where people hold this cable up in high regards... I was not able to get the FAP drive to work at all, but I heard that the FAPs don't work with the HR21...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...c=OTC-Froogle-_-Cables-_-SIIG++Inc-_-12191016


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> You can... it is a little more then just "poping" it in...
> But yes, you don't have to do anything on a software level with it.


I know Earl is no longer posting, so this is to anyone else out there...

So what "little more" is there? My understanding is you pop the cover, disconnect the power and SATA cables, remove the drive from the bracket... Replace the drive with a new bare drive, connect the power and SATA cables, replace the cover... Power on...

That's it, right?

Keep the other drive on hand in case you need to swap it back in for any warranty repairs... (how strict are the DTV guys on the warranty seal being broken or removed?)...

These are more curiousity questions more than anything, as I already have both my HR20 and HR21 on external eSATAs anyway...


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

MikeekiM said:


> IKeep the other drive on hand in case you need to swap it back in for any warranty repairs... (how strict are the DTV guys on the warranty seal being broken or removed?)...


Technically...DirecTV can charge any customer who opens up their DVR unit up to the full replacement price of the device.

Have they enforced this....yes....do they always enforce it.... ????


----------



## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

remove the drive from the bracket can be a chore, due to special screwheads, etc....no need to read into what Earl wrote, he just wanted everyone to be aware its not a 2 minute job like a PC for instance...


----------



## marksman (Dec 23, 2006)

glennb said:


> You can just rip the cover off, remove the internal drive, and slap in a new SATA drive in there.
> 
> I'm sure someone will post - This voids the warranty !!, This voids the lease agreement !!, If DIRECTV finds out you will go to prison for a minimum of a 2 year agreement !!


Don't know why you would want to do that though, because it is 1 million times easier and more practical to just plug in a nice external drive and be done with it.

I think for almost anyone who wants a size upgrade, upgrading the internal drive is a bad idea.


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

Does it matter whether the eSATA drive you use has a transfer rate of 1.5GB/sec versus 3.0GB/sec?

I am using an AcomData pureDrive running at 1.5, and I don't see any performance issues...so far...


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

I run all mine at 3.0


----------



## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

MikeekiM said:


> Does it matter whether the eSATA drive you use has a transfer rate of 1.5GB/sec versus 3.0GB/sec?...


I can't imagine why it would. PVR drives don't need fast burst throughput, they need sustained throughput at a fairly-low rate. Many PVR drives are 4400 RPM drives.

Figure it this way: an HD program streams in at a top rate of about 18.5 mb/s, usually much less. If you ask your HDD to record two programs simultaneously while playing back another, thats what, 55.5 mb/s? That's first gear when you're talking about the capability of modern HDDs. Add on top of that all of the OS housekeeping that might be going on, and any drive capable of a sustained thoughput of about 70 mb/s would probably be just fine. Until you have a PVR that can record every channel at once, you are probably still safe at 1.5 GB.


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

1.5 and 3.0 are "burst rates"... just allows the hardware to dump data in quick bursts and go do something else..
I always run the drives at full speed..


----------



## chuck5395 (Nov 7, 2007)

So if I were to use an external drive and then needed to replace the HR21-700, would the new HR21-700 recognize the files stored on the external drive or would it reformat it?


----------



## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

chuck5395 said:


> So if I were to use an external drive and then needed to replace the HR21-700, would the new HR21-700 recognize the files stored on the external drive or would it reformat it?


Your recordings will show but you will not be able to play them so you will need to delete them.

Your series links will still work so you will not have to set them up again.


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

I want to replace my 750GB with a 1TB... I know that these drives are not meant to be swapped between receivers...and I have no intent of watching the content on my 750GB drive on any other receiver...

However, is there any way for me to transfer the contents of the 750GB over to the 1TB for use on that same receiver?


----------



## machlis (Aug 15, 2007)

Stephen M. Smith said:


> But the external eSata is *not* officially supported, so D* reserves the right to update the code, perhaps so that you can keep your config on internal drive and just use external for more recording space -- I think this how TiVo does it?


Yes, I definitely gave that some thought before buying the external drive we've been using. But I decided the benefit of having more storage space, without having to void the warranty, was worth the risk that someday we'll lose all of our recorded shows due to a software update impacting how the external drives are accessed.

(On a side note, that's exactly what happened a few weeks ago with the latest software update, we lost ~100 hours of recorded shows on our external drive -- but in this case it was clearly a random glitch rather than an intentional software change by DTV, since only one other person reported the same thing happening on these boards.)


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

machlis said:


> Yes, I definitely gave that some thought before buying the external drive we've been using. But I decided the benefit of having more storage space, without having to void the warranty, was worth the risk that someday we'll lose all of our recorded shows due to a software update impacting how the external drives are accessed.
> 
> (On a side note, that's exactly what happened a few weeks ago with the latest software update, we lost ~100 hours of recorded shows on our external drive -- but in this case it was clearly a random glitch rather than an intentional software change by DTV, since only one other person reported the same thing happening on these boards.)


Huh? I don't get it... I have had my receiver updated and never lost anything in the process... Maybe there is a certain scenario that has this happening, but I never "accepted" (formally or not) any risk of losing any content triggered by a software update...

What the heck happened with your situation? And how do I avoid it?


----------



## machlis (Aug 15, 2007)

Boy I would love to know that. I posted in the HR20-100 x22D (or whatever the latest software version was) thread, but...

I have an HR20-100 and Seagate Freeagent Pro 750 GB eSATA drive. Both are on a UPS. HR20 is connected to the net through our router. Phone line is disconnected. That's about all of the relevant configuration details I can think of. When we left on vacation in late April, had ~25% free space left on the 750 GB drive. When we came back 3 weeks later, software had updated to x22D (the latest, I think that's the version), recorded shows list was empty, all Series Links are gone and all settings had reverted to defaults. I tried a few resets/reboots, recorded shows list still empty. I recorded a couple of shows and looked at the free space percentage to confirm it really is using the external drive. It's particularly odd since, like I said, only one other person on these boards reported the same thing happening with the same update.

I emailed ranting to DirecTV. I know there's nothing they can do to get my shows back, but I was hoping they would give me a little bit of credit or something for this huge pain in the rear. The reply (which was very quick at least) said we need to troubleshoot to make sure your unit is set up correctly but we can't do it over email, please call this phone number. I haven't bothered calling yet because I don't see that they can do anything.

I've had the HR20 with the 750 GB drive for about 9 months. Lost all recorded shows one time previously, about 1-2 weeks after getting them. But between then and recently I've had no problems at all, other than occasional minor glitches. No missed shows, no repeated reboots, no hanging, none of the problems I've seen other people reporting.

That's the story... I can't imagine why my box lost everything with this software update and almost no one else's did.


----------



## machlis (Aug 15, 2007)

One more thing... everyone with a DVR has to admit to themselves that there's -some- chance of losing everything you have recorded at any time, because hard drives can always fail.

But of course you would hope not to lose anything due to sloppy programming and/or pre-release testing on the part of DirecTV. But then since eSATA isn't officially supported, I'm not sure I'm in a position to complain.


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

machlis said:


> One more thing... everyone with a DVR has to admit to themselves that there's -some- chance of losing everything you have recorded at any time, because hard drives can always fail.
> 
> But of course you would hope not to lose anything due to sloppy programming and/or pre-release testing on the part of DirecTV. But then since eSATA isn't officially supported, I'm not sure I'm in a position to complain.


I agree... While I do love my television programs, I don't consider them critical data at all... If I lose my content due to a hard drive crash, it would not mean much to me to be honest... Yes, I would be concerned and disappointed... And I would also like to know why it occurred...

Was it a hardware failure? Software? Or like in your case, related to a simple upgrade? If it was due to an upgrade, I would be upset that something routine like that could have such a detrimental impact...

I would love to understand the root cause of your content loss... It has to be more than just the update (though it does look related)...cuz I was updated several times with zero data loss...


----------



## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

9 times out of 10, show loss during a software update is because the eSATA drive fumbled when the box rebooted. If the external drive doesnt respond correctly in a timely fashion after the reboot, its quite possible to lose everything on it. SOme of those prefab solutions I dont think are as reliable or trustworthy as the build your own solutions.

I'm referring to the Calvary, FAP's, MyBooks, etc...take your pick. 

The build your own solution would be more like a solid av use rated drive in an Antec enclosure, or maybe a twin drive setup in a hardware raid solution, similar to the SANS DIGITAL MS2Ut or whatever the model number is.


----------



## AVS (May 30, 2008)

I had a Seagate 750g external drive working for 6 months on my HR-20 without any problems. I have since added a HR-21 and cannot get it to except the external drive has anyone gotten the external drive to work on a HR-21 yet?


----------



## Michael D'Angelo (Oct 21, 2006)

AVS said:


> I had a Seagate 750g external drive working for 6 months on my HR-20 without any problems. I have since added a HR-21 and cannot get it to except the external drive has anyone gotten the external drive to work on a HR-21 yet?


Welcome to DBSTalk

Is it the Seagate Free Agent Pro? If so I don't believe it works with the HR21's for some reason.

If you do search you should be able to find some discussion on it.


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

By the way, my SIIG eSATA cables arrived today, and I must say that the connection is MUCH better than the cable I bought at Fry's... They are a little on the pricey side, but a good solid cable will ensure you have a good solid connection between reboots, etc...


----------



## amahdi (Sep 30, 2002)

TomCat said:


> At least three of you have posted this, but it is actually much simpler than even that. I NEVER unplug anything. All you have to do is push two buttons and wait 6 minutes. If you are on the external, press the RBR and the ex drive power button. Then go make a sandwich. If you are on the internal, press the ex drive power button and then the RBR (and make another sandwich). This ensures that those fragile eSATA connectors are protected, too, since you plug it in once and leave it that way.
> 
> So it's easier than you have been led to believe. The only problem is the extra weight I've gained from all of those danged sandwiches. :new_Eyecr


what is "RBR"?

Thanks......


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

Red Button Reset


----------



## edbroun (Dec 18, 2006)

I am writing this to put many minds at ease on choosing and installing an external hard drive on the HR20-700.

My absolutely easy solution for HR20-700 and external hard drive:
1) Purchased Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1TB external drive, model ST310005FPA1E3-RK. Cost $254.99 at Newegg. Free tax (for TX) and free shipping.
2) Purchased Siig eSATA to eSATA (SATA II) Cable - 3.28ft. Make SURE to get eSATA to eSATA. Cost $5.66 at Buy.com. Free tax (for TX), shipping $6.60. Best deal I could find for that cable.
3) Both arrived in less than 5 business days.
4) Make sure to write down a list of what you have in your ToDo list. You are going to lose everything scheduled -- you'll reschedule after new HD is installed.
5) Make sure you are happy with losing all your recordings -- for now. See last item below.
6) You are going to lose your Custom Guide settings -- make a list if you must.
7) Probably unnecessary, but I connected new external HD with USB cable to computer, then copied the utilities that Seagate stores on it to my local HD for possible future use. Then went into Disk Management (Control Panel, Admin Tools, Computer Management) and deleted the partition on the new external HD. Like I said, probably unnecessary.
8) Unplugged HR20-700.
9) Connected eSATA cable HR20-700 <> external HD.
10) Plugged in external HD and allowed to spin up for about a minute.
11) Plugged in HR20-700 and allowed it to do its thing (hard reset). Took about 5 minutes. Be patient: at first you won't see video or blue lights for about ½ minute.
12) Checked all HR20-700 settings -- had to change back very few, mainly in Display.
13) Rebuilt Custom Guides.
14) Rescheduled recordings that I could -- you might have to wait 24 hours until full Guide comes down to schedule all your shows.
15) If you want to get back to the recordings that are still on the HR20-700 internal HD, just power down HR20-700, unplug eSATA, red button reset. Watch what you have previously recorded, then revert to external HD when you want. Be aware that if you have any recordings scheduled on the external HD, they won't happen until you revert to the external HD. Also, if you are on the internal HD, anything that you left still scheduled will record -- on the internal HD.

If you can't follow the above instructions, you probably should not try! It is really that simple, but like anything technical, should be understood and followed as stated. If the above instructions don't work, then either you have a bad HR20-700, or you didn't follow them.


----------



## machlis (Aug 15, 2007)

I have an HR20-100. Did the same as you, eSata Freeagent Pro (750 GB though) and Siig cable. Also, I have HR20 and Freeagent Pro on a UPS. Worked great for 9 months then I lost all recordings and settings at the last software update. (Sorry, I'm briefly repeating what I wrote in a previous post.)

I guess the question I have, for anyone who has an opinion, is... are those of us who have added external drives more likely to lose all recordings/settings due to glitches than people using the internal drive? After we lost everything recently I'd really like to go ahead and replace the internal drive with a bigger one, even if it's kind of a hassle, but I'm worried about the big penalty people have speculated that DTV might charge when I eventually return the box to upgrade to the next generation receiver.


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

edbroun said:


> I am writing this to put many minds at ease on choosing and installing an external hard drive on the HR20-700.
> 
> My absolutely easy solution for HR20-700 and external hard drive:
> 1) Purchased Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1TB external drive, model ST310005FPA1E3-RK. Cost $254.99 at Newegg. Free tax (for TX) and free shipping.
> ...


Nice outline to guide for the novice user who has a lot of questions on how to take advantage of the eSATA upgrade... I must admit, I would not have been able to identify 15 steps, but I really like that you kept all the details in...

I can't emphasize enough the need for a good cable that provides a solid seating into the drive and receiver... I had a cable that fit loosely, and it was extremely aggravating... After picking up the SIIG cable, I have had zero problems...


----------



## dcowboy7 (May 23, 2008)

edbroun said:


> 5) Make sure you are happy with losing all your recordings -- for now. See last item below.
> 
> 15) If you want to get back to the recordings that are still on the HR20-700 internal HD, just power down HR20-700, unplug eSATA, red button reset. Watch what you have previously recorded, then revert to external HD when you want. Be aware that if you have any recordings scheduled on the external HD, they won't happen until you revert to the external HD. Also, if you are on the internal HD, anything that you left still scheduled will record -- on the internal HD.


i dont get what #15 has to do with "lost recordings" ?


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

dcowboy7 said:


> i dont get what #15 has to do with "lost recordings" ?


Well, they aren't really "lost" is what he is trying to say... You can still access them if you reboot the receiver without the external drive connected (or turned on)...


----------



## amahdi (Sep 30, 2002)

edbroun said:


> I am writing this to put many minds at ease on choosing and installing an external hard drive on the HR20-700.
> 
> My absolutely easy solution for HR20-700 and external hard drive:
> 1) Purchased Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1TB external drive, model ST310005FPA1E3-RK. Cost $254.99 at Newegg. Free tax (for TX) and free shipping.
> ...


Thanks. That helps alot. I have an HR-21. Which is the best external drive for that?


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

amahdi said:


> Thanks. That helps alot. I have an HR-21. Which is the best external drive for that?


I don't know which works "best", but I can tell you that I could not get the Seagate FreeAgentPro to work... and others have reported the same (even though I have this on my HR20 and have zero problems)...

Also, I have heard that people are having the same problems with the Western Digital "My Book" external drives...

I am successfully using the AcomData 1TB pureDrive. I have also heard people claim to have no problems with the Cavalry (sp?) drives...


----------



## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

houskamp said:


> 1.5 and 3.0 are "burst rates"... just allows the hardware to dump data in quick bursts and go do something else..
> I always run the drives at full speed..


You missed the point, which is that PVR drives are never busy enough to ever even get close to the low burst rate of 1.5, meaning it doesn't matter. My speedometer goes to 120, but adjusting it so it reads up to 240 wouldn't really help me much on the 101, especially in rush hour.


----------



## tider (Mar 2, 2008)

MikeekiM said:


> I am successfully using the AcomData 1TB pureDrive. I have also heard people claim to have no problems with the Cavalry (sp?) drives...


I have the Cavalry 1TB external drive connected and have had no problems for going on 4 months.

http://www.buy.com/retail/usersearchresults.asp?querytype=home&qu=Cavalry+1TB+Hard+Drive+%2D+Dual+Interface+%28USB+2%2E0+%26+eSATA%29+External+Hard+Drive&qxt=home&display=col


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

TomCat said:


> You missed the point, which is that PVR drives are never busy enough to ever even get close to the low burst rate of 1.5, meaning it doesn't matter. My speedometer goes to 120, but adjusting it so it reads up to 240 wouldn't really help me much on the 101, especially in rush hour.


nope, your "missing the point" 
the whole idea of "burst rates" is to free up the proccessor/hardware to do other things while the drive writes the data to the platters..
And yes the "sustained transfer rate" is what limits it's use for DVRs (Big continuous read/writes)


----------



## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Just so all are clear, HR21's work fine with the external drive set to 3GB mode, the HR20's dont like that setting, they prefer 1.5GB mode....at least that has been my personal experience..


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

CCarncross said:


> Just so all are clear, HR21's work fine with the external drive set to 3GB mode, the HR20's dont like that setting, they prefer 1.5GB mode....at least that has been my personal experience..


I have 2 HR20-700s running at 3.0... 
What model HR20 do you have?


----------



## TimelessTV (Oct 3, 2006)

tider said:


> I have the Cavalry 1TB external drive connected and have had no problems for going on 4 months.


I also have the Cavalry hooked up to my HR-21. Installation steps:
1. Turn off HR-21
2. Take Cavalry out of box
3. Plug in power cord of Cavalry to electric outlet
4. Connect Cavalry to HR-21 via included eSATA cable that comes with this drive
5. Turn on HR-21
6. Set up recordings and enjoy your new 1TB drive which will soon have a lot of HD content!

I was surprised how easy and fast this was to set up.


----------



## edbroun (Dec 18, 2006)

amahdi said:


> Thanks. That helps alot. I have an HR-21. Which is the best external drive for that?


Can't guarantee you on the HR21. I only have HR20-700. Others have posted having problems with HR21.


----------



## edbroun (Dec 18, 2006)

machlis said:


> I have an HR20-100. Did the same as you, eSata Freeagent Pro (750 GB though) and Siig cable. Also, I have HR20 and Freeagent Pro on a UPS. Worked great for 9 months then I lost all recordings and settings at the last software update. (Sorry, I'm briefly repeating what I wrote in a previous post.)
> 
> I guess the question I have, for anyone who has an opinion, is... are those of us who have added external drives more likely to lose all recordings/settings due to glitches than people using the internal drive? After we lost everything recently I'd really like to go ahead and replace the internal drive with a bigger one, even if it's kind of a hassle, but I'm worried about the big penalty people have speculated that DTV might charge when I eventually return the box to upgrade to the next generation receiver.


----
The answer is simple. Hardware does fail. You can either buy a duplicate of everything (car might be a tad expensive) and be prepared for a man made item to fail, or just deal with it when it happens. I *love* my TV time, and hate to miss anything -- but when you lose sleep over missing a few episodes of whatever, and a few movies, you need to set your life's priorities a litte better. Don't take this as a flame -- just don't let the little things in life put you on tilt.

As far as swapping out the internal drive, why bother? Next year they will have 3TB drives and you'll want one. Using the external is easy, brain dead simple, and accomplishes what you want for now. If you own the receiver, then do what you want. If it is leased, do the right thing and you won't have another thing to lose sleep over.


----------



## machlis (Aug 15, 2007)

Thanks for the reply. I completely agree with you that losing 100 hours of recorded TV shows is annoying, but far from the end of the world, and that some people put way too much priority on watching TV. Our reaction to this was -- huh, that's a bummer. And I admit that hardware can fail at any point. But I'm a little more annoyed when it *seems* that I lost all of my shows because of the software update, and not because of a hardware problem, since the drive is still working fine now that we started recording to it again.

Anyway, I was just curious whether using the external drive increases the chances (probably small, but obviously not zero) of losing everything due to a glitch during software updates. If that's true, what's the point of using a larger external drive when the contents could all disappear? Then it might actually make more sense to live with the smaller internal drive, since (if this is true -- I don't know if it is) the contents would be less likely to spontaneously vaporize. On the other hand, I haven't seen too many other people report losing the contents of their drives recently, so maybe it is some kind of intermittent problem with my drive, or maybe we were just really unlucky.

For the foreseeable future I don't plan to do anything differently -- we'll keep using the external drive which has mostly been reliable, since the internal doesn't store enough for us... and I'll keep my fingers crossed we don't lose everything again.


----------



## edbroun (Dec 18, 2006)

machlis said:


> Thanks for the reply... ...or maybe we were just really unlucky.
> ---
> One last point. The internal hard drive could fail as easily as an external drive. You aren't unlucky, you are the victim of poor quality control by today's manufacturers. We all live with that, and it ain't gonna get better!


----------



## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

houskamp said:


> nope, your "missing the point"
> the whole idea of "burst rates" is to free up the proccessor/hardware to do other things while the drive writes the data to the platters..
> And yes the "sustained transfer rate" is what limits it's use for DVRs (Big continuous read/writes)


First, I hardly think that is the "whole idea" of burst rates. The idea of faster burst rates is to contribute to a faster overall system, and "freeing up the processor/hardware" is just one small aspect of that. But there _STILL _would not be any additional "freeing up" going on in a lowly PVR (if any) should you be able to move your HDD's burst rate from 1.5 to 3 G. It just doesn't work that way.

It might make sense to be concerned about needing a burst rate 500 times higher than the throughput rate if the device were doing lots of heavy lifting, or if it were a conventional PC using virtual memory and paging like crazy, but this is a PVR, not a PC. It is NOT doing ANY heavy lifting, and it is NOT paging VM like Windows Server 2003 at Industrial Light and Magic, or spitting out data like a RAID cluster at Pixar. Its a $169 mass-consumer item at COSTCO. It doesn't need Raptors in it to do its job better any more than your Camry needs a INDY racer engine welded into it for those casual trips to Safeway.

_MY _point was that 70mb/s of throughput is about all that a PVR needs, and that burst rates don't buy you anything in this application if the low is 1.5 Gb and the high is 3. Which means that IT DOESN'T REALLY MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE WHICH SETTING YOU USE.

I would have thought THAT point would be pretty hard to miss.


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

TomCat said:


> First, I hardly think that is the "whole idea" of burst rates. The idea of faster burst rates is to contribute to a faster overall system, and "freeing up the processor/hardware" is just one small aspect of that. But there _STILL _would not be any additional "freeing up" going on in a lowly PVR (if any) should you be able to move your HDD's burst rate from 1.5 to 3 G. It just doesn't work that way.
> 
> It might make sense to be concerned about needing a burst rate 500 times higher than the throughput rate if the device were doing lots of heavy lifting, or if it were a conventional PC using virtual memory and paging like crazy, but this is a PVR, not a PC. It is NOT doing ANY heavy lifting, and it is NOT paging VM like Windows Server 2003 at Industrial Light and Magic, or spitting out data like a RAID cluster at Pixar. Its a $169 mass-consumer item at COSTCO. It doesn't need Raptors in it to do its job better any more than your Camry needs a INDY racer engine welded into it for those casual trips to Safeway.
> 
> ...


All Im saying is every little bit helps..


----------



## dcowboy7 (May 23, 2008)

i just cant get past the fact that if my dvr goes all my shows on the external go with it.


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

dcowboy7 said:


> i just cant get past the fact that if my dvr goes all my shows on the external go with it.


Yea... As someone else mentioned... Think of it as an easy way of replacing the drive inside the DVR... If you lose the machine in that instance, you'd lose the content... Same thing...

I know, I know... It's NOT installed inside... And it's NOT the same thing... But you really can't change the way it works... So you might as well change your perspective... :grin:


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

MikeekiM said:


> Yea... As someone else mentioned... Think of it as an easy way of replacing the drive inside the DVR... If you lose the machine in that instance, you'd lose the content... Same thing...
> 
> I know, I know... It's NOT installed inside... And it's NOT the same thing... But you really can't change the way it works... So you might as well change your perspective... :grin:


All the more reason to use a UPS.. protect it like your pc.. and backup what you realy care about..


----------



## schneid (Aug 14, 2007)

MikeekiM said:


> I have also heard people claim to have no problems with the Cavalry (sp?) drives...


I am on my third Cavalry in two months. First one was flaky - stalls, stutters, IKDs - and then it crashed for good. After slow, you pay to send it back, RMA process, I received number two. It ran two hours and rebooted and the disk activity - the BRIGHT blue LED went out. Started slow RMA process to get disk three but they did pay for shipping. It came yesterday, poorly packed, scratched case, cables rubber-banded together, serial number taped over, and the "warranty is void if removed" seal missing. So now I no longer have a warranty as it was void straight out of the box. I was hoping to at least get a drive that could be sold as "new" on eBay. It works so far but is very noisy. I have requested my fourth RMA.

I would avoid these drives. I guess most are good but if you get a lemon you are stuck.


----------



## MikeekiM (Oct 1, 2006)

schneid said:


> I am on my third Cavalry in two months. First one was flaky - stalls, stutters, IKDs - and then it crashed for good. After slow, you pay to send it back, RMA process, I received number two. It ran two hours and rebooted and the disk activity - the BRIGHT blue LED went out. Started slow RMA process to get disk three but they did pay for shipping. It came yesterday, poorly packed, scratched case, cables rubber-banded together, serial number taped over, and the "warranty is void if removed" seal missing. So now I no longer have a warranty as it was void straight out of the box. I was hoping to at least get a drive that could be sold as "new" on eBay. It works so far but is very noisy. I have requested my fourth RMA.
> 
> I would avoid these drives. I guess most are good but if you get a lemon you are stuck.


Sorry to hear that... That sounds like a bit of a nightmare!!!

So far (cross my fingers), the two AcomData drives are performing well...and are nearly silent... But I would fall short of an all our recommendation since I cannot say that they have been running 24/7 for the last year  I am hopeful though!


----------



## schneid (Aug 14, 2007)

After I recover from this near $300 debacle for the drive, the after-market esata cable, the RMA shipping, the gas to UPS, I'm going for an Antec MX-1 case and a WD drive. Thought I'd save a few bucks with the Cavalry but now throwing good money after bad.


----------



## Sirshagg (Dec 30, 2006)

atigod said:


> the MX 1 worked but its a very cheap plastic and the fan is very loud


Hmmm, Our experiences are most definitely different. I've got eight Antec MX-1's all with 1tb wd drives and they are whisper quiet. I can hear the drives in the HR20's but not a peep from the drives in these cases, not even up close.


----------



## MountainMan10 (Jan 31, 2008)

My Antec MX-1 is also whisper quiet. If it is noisy it is defective. I have had mine for 4 months now.


----------



## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

+1, two running and they are both super quiet


----------



## schneid (Aug 14, 2007)

schneid said:


> After I recover from this near $300 debacle for the drive, the after-market esata cable, the RMA shipping, the gas to UPS, I'm going for an Antec MX-1 case and a WD drive. Thought I'd save a few bucks with the Cavalry but now throwing good money after bad.


I got curious as to what was hidden under the taped over serial number. I peeled it off and the case was labeled for a 750gb drive. No doubt they shipped me a used case as a brand new drive on my last RMA. I have isolated the problem as being the sloppy fitting eSATA socket on the Cavalry.

I am running rock solid with the bare drive without the Cavalry case and board. My Antec MX-1 will arrive this week.


----------



## t_h (Mar 7, 2008)

From what I've heard, there are two different versions of the mx-1 with different circuit boards and perhaps different fan setups. One is noisier than the other. I must have the "good" ones because mine cant be heard unless you put your ear to them and they run cool to the touch.

I did get the cavalry 1tb single drive unit which operates without a fan and contains a WD green drive. I havent tried it on the HR20 and I probably wont because when I hooked it up to my PC and did a format/backup to it, the drive was quite warm to the touch.

While I appreciate the idea of silent, fanless operation my experiences with that through several decades of various products is that it cuts lifespan.

Seems to me I hear a lot of people complaining about cavalry failures, but not many with mx-1 failures.


----------



## azarby (Dec 15, 2006)

I posted this in another thread , but thought it would be appropriate to re-post it here.

When selecting an ESATA drive it is really important to get the best one you can afford. These inexpensive drives made for PCs just won't cut it in the DVR environment. The biggest problem is that most ESATA drives are made for a pc use model where thery are written to and read back with a very low duty cycle. Of that duty cycle, you probably would see 10%writes, 30% reads and 60% just spinning idle. In a DVR environment with buffering, the drive is being written to continuously. This use model is about 70% writes, 30% reads and no idle time. This continuous use really puts a strain on the circuitry and head movement mechanism, and generates a lot more heat than in a PC. Have you every wondered why Gamers put disk chillers on their systems? It's to accomodate a higher duty cycle.

If I were to put an ESATA on my system, I would make sure it is designed for heavy duty server use, and even then I would make sure I have some sort of external cooling ( thermo electric chiller) to go along with it. 

For those that have the low cost drives in generic external cases, it's not "an if you will have a failure: it's a "When you will have a failure". 

Bob
__________________


----------



## mgroups (Apr 28, 2007)

atigod said:


> I For the hard drive I used a Seagate 1 TB drive, this drive has a 5 year warranty and 7200 rpm 32mb cache. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8490625&st=seagate&lp=4&type=product&cp=1&id=1186003683968


Does that drive run very hot? You could fry eggs on the drive in the Seagate Freeagent Pro 750.


----------



## Sirshagg (Dec 30, 2006)

azarby said:


> For those that have the low cost drives in generic external cases, it's not "an if you will have a failure: it's a "When you will have a failure".


This can be said for ALL hard drives.


----------



## madmadworld (Dec 4, 2007)

MikeekiM said:


> Red Button Reset


thanks


----------



## rook (Jun 24, 2008)

I just had my unit H21 installed on Sunday, I had my UPS and eSata drive at the ready so that I wouldn't have to mess with it after I had shos recorded.

But for the life of me, I can't figure this thing out.

How do I check how much time I have left to record on my drive?

In fact - How do I know that it is even using the drive?

(I booted the external drive, waited 2 minutes and then booted the DVR) but I had to do many things (just moved) so I have no idea if the reciever recognized and formatted the drive.

I know this isn't the right forum - but, when I hit the pause button, the screen doesn't pause live tv. I'm used to tivo, am I doing it wrong or is something screwed up.

Rook


----------



## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

On the stock drive a 30 minute show is about 1% of HD space. On my 750 gig eSATA, a one hour show being deleted moves the guage 1%. Of course, this is not exact, but should be a good rough check.

So, you can always delete a couple of 30 minute shows to see how the percentage changes after each delete.

If you hit pause and the video does not freeze accompanied by teh progress bar popping up, you probably need to reboot. Do it from the menu if at all possible, not the red button.


----------



## fornold (Sep 4, 2006)

So I could easily tell the difference, I recorded one short program on the internal drive before connecting the eSATA. That way it was easy to tell that the new drive was picked up. As it turned out the first time I tried it didn't see the eSATA and I had to restart the HR21 again.


----------



## Sirshagg (Dec 30, 2006)

fornold said:


> So I could easily tell the difference, I recorded one short program on the internal drive before connecting the eSATA. That way it was easy to tell that the new drive was picked up. As it turned out the first time I tried it didn't see the eSATA and I had to restart the HR21 again.


+1 Definitely seems like the easiest way to me too. If the show is there after connecing the esata you are still using the internal drive. If it's gone - using esata. All you need is something in the playlist even a partial (a few seconds) recording will do.


----------



## rook (Jun 24, 2008)

Where in the menu does it show drive space?


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

rook said:


> Where in the menu does it show drive space?


bottom of "list" screen


----------



## laciii (Feb 6, 2008)

TomCat said:


> At least three of you have posted this, but it is actually much simpler than even that. I NEVER unplug anything. All you have to do is push two buttons and wait 6 minutes. If you are on the external, press the RBR and the ex drive power button. Then go make a sandwich. If you are on the internal, press the ex drive power button and then the RBR (and make another sandwich). This ensures that those fragile eSATA connectors are protected, too, since you plug it in once and leave it that way.
> 
> So it's easier than you have been led to believe. The only problem is the extra weight I've gained from all of those danged sandwiches. :new_Eyecr


This sounds really easy. I know this probably sounds dumb, but when you say RBR (I assume that's a reboot) what button are you talking about?


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

laciii said:


> This sounds really easy. I know this probably sounds dumb, but when you say RBR (I assume that's a reboot) what button are you talking about?


RBR = Red Button Reboot. Open the door on the lower right hand corner of the faceplate (where the access card is inserted) and you'll see s small, slightly recessed red button. Pressing it will reboot the receiver. If possible, it's better to do a reboot from the menu because that safely stops certain CPU processes where the RBR does not. In other words, doing a menu reset is like doing "Start" - "Shutdown" - "Restart" in Windows whereas the RBR is like pressing the reset button on the front of the PC, or just switching it off manually.


----------



## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

FYI, Some of the buttons (at least my 2 do) look more purple than red.


----------



## laciii (Feb 6, 2008)

rudeney said:


> RBR = Red Button Reboot. Open the door on the lower right hand corner of the faceplate (where the access card is inserted) and you'll see s small, slightly recessed red button. Pressing it will reboot the receiver. If possible, it's better to do a reboot from the menu because that safely stops certain CPU processes where the RBR does not. In other words, doing a menu reset is like doing "Start" - "Shutdown" - "Restart" in Windows whereas the RBR is like pressing the reset button on the front of the PC, or just switching it off manually.


Thanx, I sort of figured that's what it meant, but I thought I'd ask just to make sure.

Concerning the eSATA drive, has anyone had any experience with an new external drive improving the slow performance on the guide, etc and hangups. I was just wondering if some of the slow performance might be related to a drive going bad. I know it's all been tied to the new software version but there've been lots of restarts on that HDD.


----------



## TexasEx (Sep 30, 2008)

the HD PVR from Hauppauge to record from the DirecTV STB and then transfer the recording from the HD PVR hard drive to your cpu?

I don't have enough posts to link something. Sorry, but you will have to go to the Hauppauge site to find what I am referencing.


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

You mean this:

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html
Yes, that will record from the component outputs of the HR2x in "real time" (i.e. a 1-hour show would take one hour to record). It's using an analog signal so there will be "some" degradation in quality, but it's really the only way for now to get HD video transferred from the HR2x and the quality should still be very good.


----------



## dnash (Nov 9, 2008)

Just bought the Seagate 1.5 TB FreeAgent Xtreme ($229.99 at Best Buy). Before I hook it up to anything, I would like to know if I can use it with both my DirecTV HD DVR (an HR20-700) and my PC? I read that hooking the drive to a Vista PC will cause the DVR to lose everything on the drive the next time it is attached to it. My idea was to format it with two partitions and use one for the DVR and the other with the PC. Is this possible?


----------



## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

dnash said:


> Just bought the Seagate 1.5 TB FreeAgent Xtreme ($229.99 at Best Buy). Before I hook it up to anything, I would like to know if I can use it with both my DirecTV HD DVR (an HR20-700) and my PC? I read that hooking the drive to a Vista PC will cause the DVR to lose everything on the drive the next time it is attached to it. My idea was to format it with two partitions and use one for the DVR and the other with the PC. Is this possible?


nope


----------



## Crypter (Jun 21, 2007)

MikeekiM said:


> I want to replace my 750GB with a 1TB... I know that these drives are not meant to be swapped between receivers...and I have no intent of watching the content on my 750GB drive on any other receiver...
> 
> However, is there any way for me to transfer the contents of the 750GB over to the 1TB for use on that same receiver?


I did not see a response to this question. Can this be done? Can you clone the existing drive onto a Bigger drive to create more space without deleting ANY recordings?


----------



## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Crypter said:


> I did not see a response to this question. Can this be done? Can you clone the existing drive onto a Bigger drive to create more space without deleting ANY recordings?


Probably, but you need to use some special software, such as unix dd to do the copying. Don't mount the drive in a windoze pc or you will most likely lose any recordings on it. I once did a dd copy of a 160GB hard drive from an R15, and it took over 24 hours to complete. I can't imagine how long it would take you to dd a 750GB drive.


----------



## Crypter (Jun 21, 2007)

hmm....there has got to be a better way to do this.....


----------

