# External Hard Drives



## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

What do you guys recommend for an external hard drive? Are they difficult to install? I have a 722.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Any; best ratio size/price is 1.5 TB for $89.99 as today.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

inazsully said:


> What do you guys recommend for an external hard drive?


 Skim through the External Hard Drives That Work thread. I have five Western Digital MyBook Essential drives.


> Are they difficult to install? I have a 722.


No. Plug in the power supply and the USB cable. The system formats the drive. Glitches can occur, but most people find it mostly flawless.


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

Thanks. Anybody else have any particular brands they like? Is TB a brand name? What is a MyBook Essential Drive. Do you shop for external hard drives online or buy locally? There doesn't seem to be a lot of talk her about external hard drives yet I'm sure many out there could use one.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

While not a hard drive, I use the item below in place of a hard drive enclosure to hold my external drives. It's very cheap and very handy.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

ThermalTake BlacX was the first one; today we have so many clones ...


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Azio is $15.99 after $10 rebate.
http://www.meritline.com/azio-2-5-3...&hq_e=el&hq_m=1889828&hq_l=17&hq_v=797fb1bbcb


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

The DISH solution isn't particularly finicky. It has taken just about every major name brand drive I've thrown at it. The one caveat is that you may want to disable the power saving mode on devices that implement it.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

inazsully said:


> Thanks. Anybody else have any particular brands they like? Is TB a brand name? What is a MyBook Essential Drive. Do you shop for external hard drives online or buy locally? There doesn't seem to be a lot of talk her about external hard drives yet I'm sure many out there could use one.


Of my 5 Western Digital MyBook Essential Drives, two are an older version, three are a newer version, and they all work flawlessly including being able to wind down to sleep mode.

The most recent version I'm aware of (which I don't have) has some "clever" new Windows firmware/software virtual CD system on it that practically everyone hated and screwed with its compatibility with the ViPs, so Western Digital had to provide a "fix" on their web site so you could eliminate it on your Windows computer before moving it to your ViP for formatting.

For $109.00 Amazon has the 1 TB version here with this information:


> New Updates for WD SmartWare Software (11/16/09): This update implements customer feedback requests to: hide the Virtual CD (VCD), enhance the ability to opt-out of WD SmartWare completely, and exit WD SmartWare from the Windows system tray. Visit Western Digital Support to download your update by inputting the model number of your hard drive.


Right now you ultimately end up at this web page which has a series of instructions ending in the final "Verify that the VCD no longer appears." This is an example of how to frustrate your customer base for a perfectly usable product.:nono:

Western Digital still sells without the new worthless VCD feature a 500GB Essential renamed as My DVR Expander USB Edition which they specifically state is compatible with DISH Network ViP Series HD DVRs. It's available at Amazon for $112.76. The trade off is half the storage in order to avoid having to spend time to undo the the "clever" virtual cd firmware/software.


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

Seems odd that the new bigger version is less expensive than the older smaller version. Anybody else have any luck with different brands other than Western? How about Seagate? An external hard drive seems like a good product for Dish to sell to it's customers. I think I'll google "external hard drives for Dish Network DVR's and see what's out there.


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

Interesting. I was led to a Dish Network page promoting two different Seagate hard drives. One was 500GB and the other was 1TB. No price was listed for either and they are both listed as out of stock. What is the GB of the 722 anyway?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

500


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

I read all the owner reviews regarding the 500gb Western hard drive. More than 50% had failures within 18 months. Several were adamant about never buying a Western product. I know Seagate is a big hard drive manufacture and they were the only one listed on the Dish site. It seems odd that both Seagate models are out of stock. Anybody out there using one of these?


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## bnborg (Jun 3, 2005)

I will not buy WD.

I had one fail in a month, after being new, in the box for a year. Because it was over a year since I bought it, WD refused to replace it.

I have had relatively good luck with IBM/Hitachi and Samsung. The real difference to look for is warrantee service. HD's from most manufacturers used to be guaranteed for *seven* years. Now you have to pay extra for that.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

On computers I've had drives of all brands I can think of fail including WD and Seagate. I have five WD MyBook Essentials and none have failed yet, but they could. With that said...

Seagates are typically fine drives. Maxtor is a subsidiary of Seagate and I've successfully used Maxtors on computers over the years. Early on, people had problems with Seagate drives with the ViPs because they wouldn't wake out of sleep mode unless power to the drive was shut off and on. But there's a utility that took care of that problem.

Regarding the Dish sales pitch on drives, Dish first sold the WD drive. Now they sell the Seagate drive. You'll pay a premium for either basically for nothing.

Don't drive yourself nuts over this. Skim through the External Hard Drives That Work thread, find a deal on one of the drives in the list in the first post, and have at it.


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

Thanks for the input everybody. Nothing better than owner opinions.


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## dakeeney (Aug 30, 2004)

I use a seagate 1TB. So far it works great


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

dakeeney said:


> I use a seagate 1TB. So far it works great


How long have you had it? Was it hard to install? Which DVR are you using it with? Where did you buy it? Thanks


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## Dish97 (Dec 19, 2009)

Just formatted a WD My Book Essential 1.5TB drive from BBuy (159.00). There is 1.39TB of space available. Or was. Have moved about twenty movies to the drive. Seems to be working o.k. Had up to now used only a 1TB and several 750gb drives.


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

Here is where I am after hours and hours of research. The EHD of choice seems to be the WDBAAF0015HBK NEFR for a 1.5 version. Several have mentioned that this new WD Essential model has something called Smartware and that even though the Dish DVR will reformat the EHD it will stop working properly after a day or so. The EHD must be installed on your computer and have the Smartware disabled. Can anybody else add some insight to this? Does all this information seem correct?


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