eSATA - Has been enabled, but....

[vegout]

The DB35 serie well known at least this year ;).

Sorry, your right. They just announced the 750GB model. Now, where can I buy one?

[bgedney]

I just (I mean JUST) installed a 750 GB eSATA Drive. It was a do it your self kit. I got the drive, the encloseure and bulit the drive. I had to wait a bit to get an SATA I to eSATA cable. I am about $500 in. I didnt read the first part of your post that said the device will only reconize one drive, so there was a moment of "OH ****, DID I JUST LOOSE ALL MY INTERNAL DRIVE DATA?!," nope. You are able to reset the device and disconnect the drive and the internal drive shows back up. I am not 100% sure how much of the drive the device sees because my dad is being a looser aned bogaurding the tv right now. I want to put the device on the external drive before monday night football and see how much of the drive 3 hours takes in HD. He just left the room so I will do that now and repost an update. It is in the process of rebooting to the other drive.

Billy


A request.... if you connect an eSATA device... please post your results here...

List the make/model/size of your eSATA device.
Especially if you built it your self (purchased an enclosure, and add a drive).

[mikeny]

Suggestion:

It would be helpful for some eSata expansion/substitution Q&A thread(s).

[vegout]

Yes, please post a list of hardware used, that will be helpful. Here's a relatively inexpensive 1TB solution. Any opinions?

http://www.shop.com/op/~LACIE_(Mfr_:_301081U)_lacie_1tb_two_big_sata_ii_h ot_swap_raid_array-prod-30972919-40349264?sourceid=298

[blucas95]

Yes, please post a list of hardware used, that will be helpful. Here's a relatively inexpensive 1TB solution. Any opinions?

http://www.shop.com/op/~LACIE_(Mfr_:_301081U)_lacie_1tb_two_big_sata_ii_h ot_swap_raid_array-prod-30972919-40349264?sourceid=298

Look reasonable, but you do it cheaper if you build it yourself.

Here is the enclusure I bought: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822102002 and the two drives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136014

Total cost with 3 day shipping was $510. And it literally took 5 minutes to put it together. It was too easy and I've now got 225 hours of glorious MPEG-4! :D

[mtnagel]

Total cost with 3 day shipping was $510. Ouch! Hopefully the cost will come down some.

[grendal_fly]

Look reasonable, but you do it cheaper if you build it yourself.

Here is the enclusure I bought: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822102002 and the two drives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136014

Total cost with 3 day shipping was $510. And it literally took 5 minutes to put it together. It was too easy and I've now got 225 hours of glorious MPEG-4! :D

That is my exact setup that I put in a and have been running since they first enable the eSATA port about a month ago and . Also, the lights on the enclosure are the same color as the HR20 if that kind of thing matter to you.
:D

[coolhdtv]

Any reason this wouldn't work with the HR20? $444 Seems the least expensive for 1TB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144071

Thanks

[Earl Bonovich]

Any reason this wouldn't work with the HR20? $444 Seems the least expensive for 1TB.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144071

Thanks

It doesn't appear to have an eSATA option on it.
The HR20 will only work with external storage via the eSATA interface

[blucas95]

That is my exact setup that I put in a and have been running since they first enable the eSATA port about a month ago and . Also, the lights on the enclosure are the same color as the HR20 if that kind of thing matter to you.
:D

LOL! I thought the same thing about the color of the lights. Until I realized that they are even brighter and stay on 24 hours a day. I came down in the morning and the entire living room was glowing blue. I actually covered up the disk activity lights and power light with black electrical tape. Blends in well and you can't tell from a distance. The unit has a much higher "wife rating" now! :D

[grendal_fly]

LOL! I thought the same thing about the color of the lights. Until I realized that they are even brighter and stay on 24 hours a day. I came down in the morning and the entire living room was glowing blue. I actually covered up the disk activity lights and power light with black electrical tape. Blends in well and you can't tell from a distance. The unit has a much higher "wife rating" now! :D

Once my wife got used to my Slim Players running RRS feeds in the living room and family room on their bright displays nothing seem to phase her any more. :D

[gtink]

Guys, I need a little help. I bought a 750GB SATA Seagate drive this weekend @ Fry's for $309 (cool price) and a SATA Drive Zdisk External Storage enclosure with a Serial ATA and USB 2.0 interface.

But the plug will not go into the HR20? So I though SATA is SATA... What am I missing, is there a ESATA cable I need? does anyone know?

My enclosure is model # CI-355SU2

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[gtink]

I just read up a few post and found one from bgedney about getting a SATA to esata cable :) I'm going to Fry's Be back later...

[bgedney]

It doesn't appear to have an eSATA option on it.
The HR20 will only work with external storage via the eSATA interface

I got an Sata I to eSata cable for $20 bucks.
satasite .com
Its off the hizzie. Works great. Only complaint was I has a 750gb drive sitting there waiting for the freaking cable to show.

[grendal_fly]

FYI the cable that comes with this enclosure http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822102002
works right out of the box.

[gtink]

Guys, Exteranl SATA working GREAT. Frys had SATA to ESATA cable for $9.99. SATA enclosure for CI-355SU2 for $59 and SeaGate 750 for $309. Works like a Champ.

Right now I am on 0xF6, but 0xFA is just around the corner so my sig is one step ahead. :)

[vegout]

FYI the cable that comes with this enclosure http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822102002
works right out of the box.

What I am doing, and I think is the best bang for the buck right now is getting a Seagate 750GB off of EBAY for ~$300 and an enclosure from Newegg.

I am confused though. If the enclosure is ESATA and includes an ESATA to ESATA cable, why would I need a SATA to ESATA cable?

[DaHound]

Having been in the computer business for over 25 years and put together many external HardDrive options, PLEASE don't but a cheap enclosure without a fan. Your HardDrive will overheat and you'll lose the drive in a very short amount of time.

Ever notice that HardDrives in computers are mounted right behind fans in the front of the box? :)

[gtink]

Having been in the computer business for over 25 years and put together many external HardDrive options, PLEASE don't but a cheap enclosure without a fan. Your HardDrive will overheat and you'll lose the drive in a very short amount of time.

Ever notice that HardDrives in computers are mounted right behind fans in the front of the box? :)

totally agree. my enclosure has a built in fan.

With regards to the previous post, most SATA enclosures just come with SATA cables. No ESATA connectors. Not sure why. but several post up you will see several links to SATA enclosures with ESATA cables.

[vegout]

totally agree. my enclosure has a built in fan.

With regards to the previous post, most SATA enclosures just come with SATA cables. No ESATA connectors. Not sure why. but several post up you will see several links to SATA enclosures with ESATA cables.

Thanks for the advice. I went with this one as it has a fan and a ESATA cable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817173041

[HDNut]

I like to buy my Maxtor hard drives at Fry's because they are retail products with 3-year warranty. Many online suppliers charge as much as $60 for a 3-year warranty. Fry's has had a Maxtor 500-GB SATA drive on sale several times for only $170, and that is a retail version of the product with installation instructions, CD of utilities, and mounting screws and cable. Make sure you check the warranty terms when you order hard drives online.

[vegout]

The Seagates come with a 5 year warranty. Technically, an OEM drive is supposed to be returned to the reseller or integrator. My experience with hard drive manufacturers is that they will go by the date code on the drive and still do a warranty replacement. Otherwise, what would happen if your computer dealer went out of business?

The savings over buying a retail version is quite substantial. Heck, Newegg is offering a bundle of this enclosure with a WD 500GB that allows anyone to double their HR20 capacity for around $200. Not too shabby.

[HDNut]

The Seagates come with a 5 year warranty. Technically, an OEM drive is supposed to be returned to the reseller or integrator. My experience with hard drive manufacturers is that they will go by the date code on the drive and still do a warranty replacement. Otherwise, what would happen if your computer dealer went out of business?

The savings over buying a retail version is quite substantial. Heck, Newegg is offering a bundle of this enclosure with a WD 500GB that allows anyone to double their HR20 capacity for around $200. Not too shabby.

That is true! I went to their site and almost bought; then I checked the "additional warranty" link and found that they charge an additional $59.95 to extend the warranty to 3 years. Now, if the $200 plice includes a 5 or even a 3 =year warranty, then I'll buy it.

[mikeny]

Thanks for the advice. I went with this one as it has a fan and a ESATA cable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817173041

Well I'm going with the recommendation for the Rosewill at newegg. However, I was able to get a 500 GB Maxtor Ultra 16 Series SATA for $136.49 delivered (free s/h, no tax) from Staples!.

[eagles1899]

Has anyone successfully used 300GB or larger Seagate HDs in the Thecus N2050 (NewEgg /Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822102002)? If yes, please reply with the model number. Thanks!

[HDNut]

Well I'm going with the recommendation for the Rosewill at newegg. However, I was able to get a 500 GB Maxtor Ultra 16 Series SATA for $136.49 delivered (free s/h, no tax) from Staples!.

Sounds good, but I went to the staples site and found the price to be $239.98. How did you get it for only $136.49? Was it a special sale? Any references? Thanks!

[hdtvfan0001]

One more question. Is the E-SATA controller limited to 1.5GB/s or can it handle a 3GB/s?
I never saw this one answered.....????

[mikeny]

Sounds good, but I went to the staples site and found the price to be $239.98. How did you get it for only $136.49? Was it a special sale? Any references? Thanks!

1. 110% price match on the phone to microcenter which had it for $169.99
2. $30 off coupon of $150 (you could get it at ebay for a couple bucks)

[wlgott]

I bought a controller on ebay from 3gendata. if you search on ebay for "3Gen RAID 0 & 1 HDD Storage Enclosure - eSATA & USB2.0" you will find it. the LCD display is blue and has 2 bays for HD's. I had a 500GB drive and bought another off ebay. It works great and looks great in my cabinet.

[wlgott]

Oh, I forgot to add, they have a website also, 3gendata.com

[weez]

I'm curious how noisy people are finding the fans in their eSATA enclosures (compared to the hr20's typical noise, for example). I've done a little research and it seems fan noise varies quite a bit. I'm planning for a 2 bay enclosure and would like to put in a pair of 500G or 750G drives in Raid 0 configuration.

I definitely want a fan in the enclosure and since it will be hidden, low noise is vastly more important to me than looks. Thanks for any pointers.

[SubSolar]

Has anyone filled up their 1 terabyte or 1.5 terabyte system yet? I was thinking of either going with two 500's and the Thecus N2050UD or two 750's with the SANS DIGITAL MS2UT. I wanted to see if the HR20 will use all of the space before I made the plunge. Also, is anyone receiving any more problems such as lockups when using their esata enclosure? I know one post said something about using 1.5 speed instead of 3.0. Is this still an issue? I wanted to wait until the HR20 had more bugs fixed, but I don't think I can last much longer with such little space. I'm used to 160 hours on my old SD DirecTivo.

[eagles1899]

I'm curious how noisy people are finding the fans in their eSATA enclosures (compared to the hr20's typical noise, for example). I've done a little research and it seems fan noise varies quite a bit. I'm planning for a 2 bay enclosure and would like to put in a pair of 500G or 750G drives in Raid 0 configuration.

I definitely want a fan in the enclosure and since it will be hidden, low noise is vastly more important to me than looks. Thanks for any pointers.


Take a look at post 322 in this thread. bbroach did a measurement of a RAID enclosure that looks to be the same as the SANS DIGITAL MS2UT.

I have an MS2UT with a pair of Seagate 750GB HDs, and the fans in the enclosure are fairly noisy, definitely louder than the HR20 by itself, very noticeable when the TV is not on.

I am now considering getting the Thecus N2050 with a pair of WD 500GB HDs from NewEgg, which a couple of people here reported working fine; I will just use the MS2UT on my computer.

Does anyone know how long is the warranty period for OEM/bulk WD drives bought from NewEgg? According to WD's website, I think it is 3 years; but NewEgg only offers return replacement within 1 year. Thanks for any info.

[hdtvfan0001]

My 500GB Seagate in its enclosure went in last night and recorded 2 scheduled HD programs perfectly - playback was perfect as well (audio and video). One was the Patriots/Bears game (I wanted to make sure not to miss the Bears lose again....:D

The "hard disk used" guide appears to have adjusted to the new size, as it still shows 92% remaining after the 5 hours of recordings.

[fpbear]

I'm adding a 500GB external drive, WD5000KS, not for the extra recording capacity, but rather because the internal HR20 drive is louder than a vacuum cleaner (or at least, noisy enough to bother us while sleeping). Some have posted that they would like to be able to use both hard drives. However I hope that in the future DirecTV does not re-enable the screamy internal drive when an external drive is connected. The HR20 should never have been designed with such a noisy drive to begin with. The designers might get some good tips from the Silent PC Review website. ;)

[Tom Robertson]

fpbear,

My drives are all very quiet. Occasional ticks as the drive heads move, but otherwise silent. Whenever I hear a drive go from silent to loud I order the replacement immediately.

Cheers,
Tom

[fpbear]

...just to clarify, it's not quite as bad as a vacuum cleaner, it is those "normal" tick sounds. The home theater cabinet wood amplifies any noise coming from the DVR unit, which is in the bedroom. We live in a very quiet neighborhood where you can hear the footsteps of the coyotes and the spiders rustle as they weave their webs. When I used to hear beautiful nature sounds before, now all I hear in the middle of the night is the feverish clickety-click of the HR20 as if it were doing the annual defrag. For those with ambient noise like neighborhood street traffic and squeaky pipes, it's probably not very noticeable. The HR20 internal drive is much louder than the quiet drives available on the market. I wouldn't be able to sleep in a server room either, but some people might not be bothered as much.

[lucky13]

Well I'm going with the recommendation for the Rosewill at newegg. However, I was able to get a 500 GB Maxtor Ultra 16 Series SATA for $136.49 delivered (free s/h, no tax) from Staples!.

Did this work successfully?

How difficult is it to assemble the drive and case, for those of us who don't usually fiddle with the insides of computers?

[mikeny]

Did this work successfully?

How difficult is it to assemble the drive and case, for those of us who don't usually fiddle with the insides of computers?

I'll post the results later tonight or tomorrow, as I got the enclosure yesterday, but the drive is currently "out for delivery."

Other people here seemed to have an easy go of it, I believe.

As others have mentioned, I'm also anxious to have a quieter, less chirpy hard drive.

One thing I'm curious about is whether I need to apply a particular jumper setting to set the drive to what I recall as the recommended 1.5 mb/sec SATA 1 specs?

How is that done? Anyone work with a 500 gb Maxtor SATA Model # LO1F500 I would appreciate any tips. I supposed it's in the printed or online manual.

[ragbirch]

I am leaning toward a 750gb single drive solution. I am looking for an enclosure with fan, 750gig capable, esata connection and a 1.5g transfer rate. Cannot find this anywhere. The sticking point seems to be the 1.5g transfer rate. Are all 750 gb drives sata2 only? Or will the hr20 connect to a sata2, 3gb, transfer rate. I had read in one post a problem with the sata2 transfer rate. I.E. freezingup. Thanks for any help.

[P Smith]

All SATA-II disks downgrade compatible with SATA-I controllers; that freezing problem located somewhere else.
If one person reported it once, then it is not a problem yet - just a suggestion; do you have a link to that post ?

By Maxtor: "SATA II Interface (Backwards-compatible with SATA-I interface)"

By Seagate ( for both 750 GB models) : "This product is configurable from SATA 1.5Gb/s to SATA 3Gb/s for easy interoperability."

[flipper2006]

This is most likely a Earl question unless someone else has the answer.

This hasnt happened but I was just wondering if I had to replace my HR20 with another one from D*, will the new one be able to READ/PLAY the programs I recorded on eSATA drive? Is there any type of checking that goes on in this case? Because If my HR20 had to be replaced, i dont want to lose all material. Not so much for programs but one time events, such as when Dolphins beat the Bears a few weeks ago.. (just a crazy example).

[grendal_fly]

This is most likely a Earl question unless someone else has the answer.

This hasnt happened but I was just wondering if I had to replace my HR20 with another one from D*, will the new one be able to READ/PLAY the programs I recorded on eSATA drive? Is there any type of checking that goes on in this case? Because If my HR20 had to be replaced, i dont want to lose all material. Not so much for programs but one time events, such as when Dolphins beat the Bears a few weeks ago.. (just a crazy example).

IIRC Earl said you will lose everything. The data is tied to the reciever, but then that might work for you as you can they fill up the HR20 with Bears playoff games while your fish play golf.:D

[Earl Bonovich]

This is most likely a Earl question unless someone else has the answer.

This hasnt happened but I was just wondering if I had to replace my HR20 with another one from D*, will the new one be able to READ/PLAY the programs I recorded on eSATA drive? Is there any type of checking that goes on in this case? Because If my HR20 had to be replaced, i dont want to lose all material. Not so much for programs but one time events, such as when Dolphins beat the Bears a few weeks ago.. (just a crazy example).

IIRC Earl said you will lose everything. The data is tied to the reciever, but then that might work for you as you can they fill up the HR20 with Bears playoff games while your fish play golf.:D

Yes, you would lose all the material. The External is keyed to the unit it was working with.

[mikeny]

Did this work successfully?

How difficult is it to assemble the drive and case, for those of us who don't usually fiddle with the insides of computers?


I wish I realized how easy it was! I was staring at the case, the drive and all the cables, trying to figure out how to connect everything. For goodness sake, the drive plugs into the enclosure- period...! I've connected internal drives before but I never did this. That was really dumb. Honestly the picture in the Rosewill manual is not that good and they don't explain anywhere what the PCB is that your supposed to connect to the (printed circuit board, I guess, BUILT INTO the enclosure)

It actually reads "Fit the HDD SATA connector into PCB's SATA connector". I did not realize that was a CABLELESS connection. You don't need the drive's included power supply or included sata cable. You also don't need this other sata bracket with cable included with the enclosure.

After connecting drive to the enclosure (PCB's SATA connector) just secure the drive with 4 included screws, and this "aluminum prop" which you needed to take off initially to get at the guts of the enclosure. Plug in the esata cable and connect it to the HR20. Power up the HR20.

Some other notes:

1. I decided to take this opportunity to plug the HR20 and new into a UPS, so perhaps my order of repowering was screwed up. I powered on the unit but the drive wasn't powered so the HR20 didn't boot right. Then I powered the drive, unplugged and replugged it. The lights spun around for several minutes before I was wondering if everything was alright.

I pressed the power button on the HR20, and there was TV with 500GB!!. Had it gone into standby again since I had it in standby prior to the unplugging?

Of course, the PlayList is empty, all SLs are gone and the Customized Channel Lists were gone.

Other settings were as left, e.g. DD, CC settings.

And yes, it is quieter than the stock drive.

Lastly, the Maxtor manual and drive, show the jumper setting to force SATA 1 specs. I switched to that.

[P Smith]

If you could this time ( while your new disk is empty) to revert the jumper to SATA-II postion and write something unimportant, then we will know if it was the reason for freezing.

[eagles1899]

I am leaning toward a 750gb single drive solution. I am looking for an enclosure with fan, 750gig capable, esata connection and a 1.5g transfer rate. Cannot find this anywhere. The sticking point seems to be the 1.5g transfer rate. Are all 750 gb drives sata2 only? Or will the hr20 connect to a sata2, 3gb, transfer rate. I had read in one post a problem with the sata2 transfer rate. I.E. freezingup. Thanks for any help.

Have you taken a look at the AMS (http://www.american-media.com/) Venus DS3? Newegg carries it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145660.

[grate88]

Have you taken a look at the AMS (http://www.american-media.com/) Venus DS3? Newegg carries it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145660.

That's the one I'm using - works great.
You will however need to buy an additional typr L to type I cable as this comes with L to L.

[lucky13]

That's the one I'm using - works great.
You will however need to buy an additional typr L to type I cable as this comes with L to L.


What internal drive have you put in the enclosure?

[grate88]

What internal drive have you put in the enclosure?

maxtor lo1f500

[lucky13]

maxtor lo1f500

Is this it:
http://www.directron.com/6h500f0.html

Does anyone know if this will work just as well?
http://www.directron.com/wd5000ys.html

How about ths for a self-contained esata, for a little bit more $:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=A0788724

Thanks to anyone who can help!

[P Smith]

Anything with eSATA will works.

[Neil Derryberry]

I just picked up a esata single-drive enclosure w/cable included at micro center for $24!

I don't know if this is online.. it was in one of their bins.

[mikeny]

I just picked up a esata single-drive enclosure w/cable included at micro center for $24!

I don't know if this is online.. it was in one of their bins.
Does it come with a fan? The one I got from newegg (rosewill brand) did and it's still seems fairly hot. Hopefully it's within the normal expected temperature range. I would recommend a fan.

[vegout]

Is this it:
http://www.directron.com/6h500f0.html

Does anyone know if this will work just as well?
http://www.directron.com/wd5000ys.html

How about ths for a self-contained esata, for a little bit more $:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&sku=A0788724

Thanks to anyone who can help!

For a few bucks more, (EBAY) you can go to 750GB. Warranty may be an issue, however.

[Neil Derryberry]

Does it come with a fan? The one I got from newegg (rosewill brand) did and it's still seems fairly hot. Hopefully it's within the normal expected temperature range. I would recommend a fan.

No fan, but the power supply is external so no added heat from that.

[hdtvfan0001]

I just picked up a esata single-drive enclosure w/cable included at micro center for $24!

I don't know if this is online.. it was in one of their bins.
That's the exact same one I use for my 500GB drive - it works perfectly - yes, and external power supply.

I was actually impressed that after running it for 2 days, it seemed less hot than the HR20 itself. I also have a quiet fan unit for all my rack-mounted equipment as a whole, which should address any potential concerns I'd have on heat. The menu says temps range still between 118-124, so that's not a problem.

[SubSolar]

Now that people have been using the esata drives for awhile, I was wondering how it was in terms of reliability/problems, etc? I've heard of some people waking up to find their Playlist empty and such. I'm itching to pull the trigger and build a 1.5 terabyte array but I'm wondering if I should wait for a few more software updates.

[Tom Robertson]

SubSolar,

Go ahead. The software is stable enough to build the array and get it working. Now, I do not recommend that anyone load movies and shows onto their HR20 that they want to keep forever. To many people have had to reformat their world and that just hurts when you've got that favorite movie sitting there.


Cheers,
Tom

[hdtvfan0001]

SubSolar,

Go ahead. The software is stable enough to build the array and get it working. Now, I do not recommend that anyone load movies and shows onto their HR20 that they want to keep forever. To many people have had to reformat their world and that just hurts when you've got that favorite movie sitting there.

That may be true in general, but as a better yardstick....

If the HR20 works fine for you now, then eSata should too, without any problems (mine has for about 20 recordings and playbacks so far). Not one problem with or without the eSata drive setup.

If you are still having hiccups with the HR20 as is, then you may want to wait until perhaps 1-2 more firmware updates to resolve your issues, and then do the eSata upgrade.

[SubSolar]

That may be true in general, but as a better yardstick....

If the HR20 works fine for you now, then eSata should too, without any problems (mine has for about 20 recordings and playbacks so far). Not one problem with or without the eSata drive setup.

If you are still having hiccups with the HR20 as is, then you may want to wait until perhaps 1-2 more firmware updates to resolve your issues, and then do the eSata upgrade.

Okay, so an esata drive doesn't introduce any NEW problems so far right? I know the HR20 is buggy I was just wondering if the esata makes it worse. I actually haven't had that many problems with my HR20 so far compared to others on this forum.

[P Smith]

He is just spreading rumors "I've heard of some people ...". The part of his post must be ignored as totally non-informative info.

[ragbirch]

He is just spreading rumors "I've heard of some people ...". The part of his post must be ignored as totally non-informative info.

Somebody get up on the wrong side of the raid array?

[hdtvfan0001]

Okay, so an esata drive doesn't introduce any NEW problems so far right? .
Back to my point -

My HR20 works fine, with the internal drive or 500GD eSata - I have used it with both setups to record and play, and switched back and ofrth just ot make sure there are no issues. All is well.

That said, if you have problems with your HR20, the eSata wont make matters worse, but the jury is out if it will make anything better. Since you are starting out with an eSata new drive, there is a chance this newly formatted drive will not have some of the problems of the internal drive, but that's speculation based on other folks' results.

[SubSolar]

He is just spreading rumors "I've heard of some people ...". The part of his post must be ignored as totally non-informative info.

Sorry, I private messaged someone on this board about a week ago and they said they had an external array and woke up one day and his playlist was empty.

[Earl Bonovich]

Sorry, I private messaged someone on this board about a week ago and they said they had an external array and woke up one day and his playlist was empty.

If that is true...

Then I would like to hear from that person, as that is the EXACT thing we need posted here in the public forums, so DirecTV can investigate it, and figure out what is going on... as that is not supposed to be the case.

[mikeny]

Sorry, I private messaged someone on this board about a week ago and they said they had an external array and woke up one day and his playlist was empty.
Maybe he was surprised that it was empty initially when he connected it.?

[vegout]

I now have my ESATA drive up and running. I went with the Rosewill enclosure from Newegg and a Seagate 750GB drive from EBAY. This was so easy, just plug and play. The hardest thing about the whole process was re-entering my custom favorite list.

I have my HR20 and this drive in a closet and yes, it does run hot. The Rosewill fan is fairly quiet but the Seagate makes noticeable clicking sounds when seeking. For me, the sounds turned into "clunking" as the noise was being transmitted onto the wire shelf where I placed the drive. I solved this issue by placing a washcloth under the drive. Pretty hi-tech, huh?

I've recorded 4 hours of HD MPEG4 and 5 hours of HD MPEG2. My Playlist is showing 91% still available! I have not had any lockups or other issues since the upgrade (except a pink pause), but time will tell.

Thanks to Earl and everyone else for the advice on doing this. Now I'm on to the brand new HD media player from http://mvixusa.com

[SubSolar]

Maybe he was surprised that it was empty initially when he connected it.?

This is what he said:

"I bought the enclosure on Ebay, although NewEgg sells it as well. The Seagate HDs I bought from a local Fry's store when they were on sale.

I am nowhere near filling the HDs...I reset the HR20 this morning and it did an reformat of the HD for some reason and all my recordings were erased. :("

[lpctv]

May have been covered before...so, apologies if I'm rehashing - haven't really kept up with this thread since about page 10 or 11.
Now that the Holiday season is here, I'm starting to get a bit more interested in this option :D

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had tried to Ghost or otherwise copy the internal drive contents out to the eSATA drive or array in order to keep settings and previously recorded shows. Most drive copy software allows for partition expansion so, I would think that should work here...just not sure about any DRM type issues.

[Cyrus]

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had tried to Ghost or otherwise copy the internal drive contents out to the eSATA drive or array in order to keep settings and previously recorded shows. Most drive copy software allows for partition expansion so, I would think that should work here...just not sure about any DRM type issues.

I doubt if that would work (though obviously I don't know for sure). We don't know what kind of partitioning or formatting scheme D* is using for the hard disk. Most likely it will end up getting reformatted.

[Tom Robertson]

May have been covered before...so, apologies if I'm rehashing - haven't really kept up with this thread since about page 10 or 11.
Now that the Holiday season is here, I'm starting to get a bit more interested in this option :D

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had tried to Ghost or otherwise copy the internal drive contents out to the eSATA drive or array in order to keep settings and previously recorded shows. Most drive copy software allows for partition expansion so, I would think that should work here...just not sure about any DRM type issues.

Since the firmware in the HR20 doesn't "support" such copying at this point, the only way would be to remove the internal drive (after breaking the warranty seal) and doing the copy on a PC. Now, who knows if there is an Easter Egg that could do a copy such as the one you suggest.

Cheers,
Tom

[lguvenoz]

May have been covered before...so, apologies if I'm rehashing - haven't really kept up with this thread since about page 10 or 11.
Now that the Holiday season is here, I'm starting to get a bit more interested in this option :D

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had tried to Ghost or otherwise copy the internal drive contents out to the eSATA drive or array in order to keep settings and previously recorded shows. Most drive copy software allows for partition expansion so, I would think that should work here...just not sure about any DRM type issues.

The biggest gotcha that I could see is if D* is using the drive serial number to help seed their encryption algorithm. I've seen it done before to guarantee that the data resides on only a given device. So Ghost could probably duplicate the bytes from one drive to the other, but there is still the chance that it would all be considered garbage.

The only other concern that I see is with regards to the partitioning of the disk. I've seen several people allude to the fact that the HR20 formats the drive on the fly as it needs space. This would explain how a raw 750GB drive is usable in just a couple of minutes, but would pose a major headache for any utility like Ghost that only thinks in terms of standard PC terms (NTFS, FAT32, etc.). Any such dynamic formatting scheme would be difficult to work around.

[lpctv]

I doubt if that would work (though obviously I don't know for sure). We don't know what kind of partitioning or formatting scheme D* is using for the hard disk. Most likely it will end up getting reformatted.

I seem to recall a poster early on stating that he had preformatted the external drive with Linux and that once he attached it and had it recognized by the system, it had worked without any additional "preparation" by the HR20. Since it's been a while, I could be mistaken about that.

Since the firmware in the HR20 doesn't "support" such copying at this point, the only way would be to remove the internal drive (after breaking the warranty seal) and doing the copy on a PC. Now, who knows if there is an Easter Egg that could do a copy such as the one you suggest.

Cheers,
Tom

Not too worried about breaking the seal. I think that given that they have released this as an unsupported option at this time, it's pretty much fair game provided that one doesn't try to take too many liberties with the data. Right after the HR20 was released, I think there was another poster that had dome some testing with replacing the internal drive with a bigger one...I didn't hear of D* breaking his door down for that ;)

The biggest gotcha that I could see is if D* is using the drive serial number to help seed their encryption algorithm. I've seen it done before to guarantee that the data resides on only a given device. So Ghost could probably duplicate the bytes from one drive to the other, but there is still the chance that it would all be considered garbage.

The only other concern that I see is with regards to the partitioning of the disk. I've seen several people allude to the fact that the HR20 formats the drive on the fly as it needs space. This would explain how a raw 750GB drive is usable in just a couple of minutes, but would pose a major headache for any utility like Ghost that only thinks in terms of standard PC terms (NTFS, FAT32, etc.). Any such dynamic formatting scheme would be difficult to work around.

Since the data is stored in raw encrypted format, I'm not too sure about the drive serial as a protection scheme. Although, you bring up a good point as to a possibility.
As far as the dynamic format goes, what would happen if I deleted all my current saved shows from a full drive? Given that logic, it would have to unformat the drive. Somehow, I don't see that as a likely scenario.

The better drive copy utilities can recognize most of the commercially available formats and, when dealing with some of the peskier ones, there is always sector by sector copying. Although, it's much slower and it may not auto expand the image onto a bigger drive.

[eagles1899]

If that is true...

Then I would like to hear from that person, as that is the EXACT thing we need posted here in the public forums, so DirecTV can investigate it, and figure out what is going on... as that is not supposed to be the case.

I was using a SANS Digital MS2UT enclosure with a pair of Seagate 750GB HDs, I think I connected it to the HR20 after the last update came out. This last update finally fixed the audio/video freeze during playback issue for me, as shows I recorded after the last update all played back without any problem. One night channel changes became slow for now reason. I did not reset (through the menu) until the next morning after I had finished watching my recorded shows. The REC button lit up in red early in the restart process, and when the restart was done all the recorded shows were gone.

I reported this issue on the update thread. I know the unit is not supposed to do a reformat on its own during a restart, but it did happen in my case.

I have since switched to a Thecus N2050 enclosure with a pair of WD 500GB HDs, as the SANS Digital enclosure's fan noise was just too loud. The Thecus enclosure, with only one cooling fan, is quite a bit more quiet. I have not had a chance to record shows and do a reset with the Thecus enclosure.

[eagles1899]

BTW, before everyone gets all over me, I am not suggesting that the auto-reformat was caused by the use of eSATA. I don't have enough data to say if it was or not.

I don't know whether the HR20 always does a reset immediately after an update, but so far none of my recorded shows has survived a post-update reset that I manually did. With the internal HD in use, whenever I did a post-update reset the box would hang on restart, and I had to force a reformat to recover. And as reported earlier, with the SANS Digital eSATA in use, the last time I did a reset the HR20 did a reformat on its own. I have not tried recording shows and doing a manual reset since I switched to the Thecus eSATA enclosure - I will do that and report back.

I have not come across anyone here reporting problems not being able to keep recorded shows, so I have been quite frustrated with this particular problem that I have had, I just tried to be patient hoping that eventually the issue would go away with a software update, as calling DirecTV will go nowhere.

[PLamarine]

Found this on the bay:

[PLamarine]

Could someone do a How To Guide?

[PLamarine]

Or how about a list of drive combos that people are using that are known to work?

[PLamarine]

Maybe a FAQ?

[PLamarine]

Here is the link to the bay auction
:

Will this work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=003&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=130052359859&rd=1&rd=1

[vegout]

Here is the link to the bay auction
:

Will this work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=003&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=130052359859&rd=1&rd=1

Should work fine but for $15 more and a 5 minute build on your own, you can go to 500GB.

[iacas]

The only other concern that I see is with regards to the partitioning of the disk. I've seen several people allude to the fact that the HR20 formats the drive on the fly as it needs space. This would explain how a raw 750GB drive is usable in just a couple of minutes, but would pose a major headache for any utility like Ghost that only thinks in terms of standard PC terms (NTFS, FAT32, etc.).

My Mac can format a 750 GB drive in a few seconds (I imagine a PC running Windows or Linux can, too...). Formatting is just writing a volume header and an empty directory (basically). It takes very little time. You can zero out all data, too, but that's not "formatting" - that's "erasing." All you do to delete a file, typically, is to change a bit in the file's header that says "don't write over these spots on the drive - they're a file."

[HDNut]

My eSATA drive is a Maxtor SATA-2 300-GB drive, and I have only one 2-hour movie recorded on it. I installed it in my PC running MSDOS and checked it with Partition Magic 8. I found that it has three partitions:

Partition Type Size in MB Used Unused
1 - SWAPSPACE2 Linux Swap 517.7 0 517.7
2 - * Linux Ext 2 15,366.9 15,366.9 0
3 - * Linux Ext 2 270,296.8 270,296.8 0

Partition Magic indicates errors for partitions 1 and 2 and the option to copy these partitons is grayed out.

I also checked out the drive using True Image 9.0 and found the same information as above, but True image does offer the option of backing up the partitions to an image file as well as the option to clone the entire drive. I have another 300-GB SATA-2 drive and will try to clone as soon as I get the means to connect both drives to my PC at the same time.

[lguvenoz]

My eSATA drive is a Maxtor SATA-2 300-GB drive, and I have only one 2-hour movie recorded on it. I installed it in my PC running MSDOS and checked it with Partition Magic 8. I found that it has three partitions:

Partition Type Size in MB Used Unused
1 - SWAPSPACE2 Linux Swap 517.7 0 517.7
2 - * Linux Ext 2 15,366.9 15,366.9 0
3 - * Linux Ext 2 270,296.8 270,296.8 0

Partition Magic indicates errors for partitions 1 and 2 and the option to copy these partitons is grayed out.

I also checked out the drive using True Image 9.0 and found the same information as above, but True image does offer the option of backing up the partitions to an image file as well as the option to clone the entire drive. I have another 300-GB SATA-2 drive and will try to clone as soon as I get the means to connect both drives to my PC at the same time.

Now this is the cool stuff.... I'll be very curious to here how the cloning attempt goes.

[P Smith]

HDNut, could you using EXT2fs mount those two partitions and tell us about folders and files on each ?

[Neil Derryberry]

Tread carefully, gentlemen...

[Tom Robertson]

HDNut, could you using EXT2fs mount those two partitions and tell us about folders and files on each ?

At some point, he/we might stray into areas not to be discussed on these forums. I assume talking about making a backup copy of the drive is (barely) ok, but delving to far into the contents might be a no-no.

Cheers,
Tom

[Earl Bonovich]

At some point, he/we might stray into areas not to be discussed on these forums. I assume talking about making a backup copy of the drive is (barely) ok, but delving to far into the contents might be a no-no.

Cheers,
Tom

I agree.

[lguvenoz]

At some point, he/we might stray into areas not to be discussed on these forums. I assume talking about making a backup copy of the drive is (barely) ok, but delving to far into the contents might be a no-no.

Cheers,
Tom

Definitely agree here. Cloning is probably safe assuming it's to either backup or put back in the same unit, but the minute we talk about duplicating the actual media contents is a very sticky subject. I personally would steer clear of anything other than cloning or volume expansion.

[P Smith]

Not that far Mr. BigBrother :). I'm more interesting to know GB/Hr for different compression for better calculation of space on the disk. So, just white area question. You are guys too paranoid ! :D DTV already did play all scenarios and I'm sure secured everything before you piss in your pants seen such request.

[lpctv]

You are guys too paranoid ! :D DTV already did play all scenarios and I'm sure secured everything...

Ummm...yeah.
I think that was the general thinking about 2 or 3 card revisions ago... :goodandba

It should just be interesting to see if the drive copy routine and the ensuing expansion will be liked by whatever logic the HR20 uses to assign "protected" drive space for D* stuff.

Earl: I'd be also cusious to know if any of the folks you deal with have any official or unofficial thoughts on this.

[eagles1899]

I was using a SANS Digital MS2UT enclosure with a pair of Seagate 750GB HDs, I think I connected it to the HR20 after the last update came out. This last update finally fixed the audio/video freeze during playback issue for me, as shows I recorded after the last update all played back without any problem. One night channel changes became slow for now reason. I did not reset (through the menu) until the next morning after I had finished watching my recorded shows. The REC button lit up in red early in the restart process, and when the restart was done all the recorded shows were gone.

I reported this issue on the update thread. I know the unit is not supposed to do a reformat on its own during a restart, but it did happen in my case.

I have since switched to a Thecus N2050 enclosure with a pair of WD 500GB HDs, as the SANS Digital enclosure's fan noise was just too loud. The Thecus enclosure, with only one cooling fan, is quite a bit more quiet. I have not had a chance to record shows and do a reset with the Thecus enclosure.

Last night I manually picked a couple of random shows on Discovery HD to record. I checked this morning and both showed up on the playlist as expected. Without playing either show, I did a reset through the setup menu; the box went through the restart process and came back up fine, no auto-reformat. I then played one of the recorded shows for a few minutes, stopped it, did another reset through the menu; once again the box came back up without doing an auto-reformat. I was quite encouraged to see this positive outcome. Now it will be interesting to see how the box will behave when I do a reset after the next update.

[Earl Bonovich]

Last night I manually picked a couple of random shows on Discovery HD to record. I checked this morning and both showed up on the playlist as expected. Without playing either show, I did a reset through the setup menu; the box went through the restart process and came back up fine, no auto-reformat. I then played one of the recorded shows for a few minutes, stopped it, did another reset through the menu; once again the box came back up without doing an auto-reformat. I was quite encouraged to see this positive outcome. Now it will be interesting to see how the box will behave when I do a reset after the next update.

Was this with the Internal or the External drive connected ?

[eagles1899]

Was this with the Internal or the External drive connected ?

This was with the Thecus eSATA enclosure (RAID-0 with 2 WD 500GB HDs) connected.

[HDNut]

Now this is the cool stuff.... I'll be very curious to here how the cloning attempt goes.


True Image 9 gave me an error message stating that the target drive did not have enough space to clone the source, even though they were identical 300-GB drives. I did not try the backup process because that would require another drive to hold the image files.

Partition Magic 8 had the options to copy the partitions grayed out, so that was of no help.

I then tried to copy each partition using Drive Image. When I tried to copy the first partition, the swap one, I got an error message saying that the target drive did not have enough space to copy a 517.7-MB partition, even though the target had just under 300 GB os available space. I exited Drive Image and started runing Partition Magic 8 again. I used the CREATE PARTITION option to create a Linux Swap partition on the target drive using the exact same size as the Linus Swap partition on the original drive. That worked without any problem at all. My next step was to exit Partition Magic and start Drive image again. I used the partition-copy option and managed to copy the second partition of 15,366.9 MB. That only took a few minutes to copy. Next I used the same option to copy the third partition of 270,296.8 MB. A few minutes into the copying process, the indication on the screen informed me that the time remaining was over 3 hours and 47 minutes. I decided to wait it out and moved over to my other computer to do other taks. Many hours later, I came back to the first PC and saw that the copying was done. The targed drive now had three primary partitions with the exact same sizes as the original drive.

I then removed the clone drive from my PC and connected it to the HR20. I first turned the power on on the eSATA drive and after a minute or so I did the same on the HR20. I waited until the booting process finished and checked to see whether the movie Rudy was on the list. IT WAS!!! I started palying it and, for about 10 minutes, saw no error messages at all. I stoped playing it because I wanted to record several shows in the evening. But today, I will play the entire movie to make sure there are no problems.

It seems that it is possible to copy the partitions from one eSATA drive to another drive and retain the recorded programs. Today, Tuesday, I will try to play back the entire movie I had recorded on the original eSATA drive.

[HDNut]

HDNut, could you using EXT2fs mount those two partitions and tell us about folders and files on each ?

I don't quite understand what you meant, P Smith. The applications I used only whow drive partitions. It is not possible to look for folders nor files within those partitions. And I don't think Windows XP shows the contents of Linux partitons. What I did was to satisfy my curiosity about cloning an HR20 eSATA drive and retain the recordings on the original. We all know that the clone can only be played on the original HR20 where the recordings were made.

[Tom Robertson]

True Image 9 gave me an error message stating that the target drive did not have enough space to clone the source, even though they were identical 300-GB drives. I did not try the backup process because that would require another drive to hold the image files.

Partition Magic 8 had the options to copy the partitions grayed out, so that was of no help.

I then tried to copy each partition using Drive Image. When I tried to copy the first partition, the swap one, I got an error message saying that the target drive did not have enough space to copy a 517.7-MB partition, even though the target had just under 300 GB os available space. I exited Drive Image and started runing Partition Magic 8 again. I used the CREATE PARTITION option to create a Linux Swap partition on the target drive using the exact same size as the Linus Swap partition on the original drive. That worked without any problem at all. My next step was to exit Partition Magic and start Drive image again. I used the partition-copy option and managed to copy the second partition of 15,366.9 MB. That only took a few minutes to copy. Next I used the same option to copy the third partition of 270,296.8 MB. A few minutes into the copying process, the indication on the screen informed me that the time remaining was over 3 hours and 47 minutes. I decided to wait it out and moved over to my other computer to do other taks. Many hours later, I came back to the first PC and saw that the copying was done. The targed drive now had three primary partitions with the exact same sizes as the original drive.

I then removed the clone drive from my PC and connected it to the HR20. I first turned the power on on the eSATA drive and after a minute or so I did the same on the HR20. I waited until the booting process finished and checked to see whether the movie Rudy was on the list. IT WAS!!! I started palying it and, for about 10 minutes, saw no error messages at all. I stoped playing it because I wanted to record several shows in the evening. But today, I will play the entire movie to make sure there are no problems.

It seems that it is possible to copy the partitions from one eSATA drive to another drive and retain the recorded programs. Today, Tuesday, I will try to play back the entire movie I had recorded on the original eSATA drive.

Awesome. Backups! :)

[mganga]

the newbie question, and i'm sure someone has answered this already on this extensive thread, but will it be possible (in the near future) to plug a esata drive in and have the hr20 recognize it as extra storage space alone (i.e. not having to unplug every time i want to switch from internal drive to external)?

[Tom Robertson]

the newbie question, and i'm sure someone has answered this already on this extensive thread, but will it be possible (in the near future) to plug a esata drive in and have the hr20 recognize it as extra storage space alone (i.e. not having to unplug every time i want to switch from internal drive to external)?

Welcome to the forums! :welcome_s

That is the purpose, to supplement the internal storage rather than to replace it.

Cheers,
Tom

My bad, upon further review its one or the other. Please disregard the stuff above.

[mganga]

so all i need to do is unplug hr20, plug in esata, reboot, and it will recognize both internal and external drives?

[Earl Bonovich]

so all i need to do is unplug hr20, plug in esata, reboot, and it will recognize both internal and external drives?

The HR20 only recognizes one or the other.

Either the Internal or the External.

Not both.

[gr8reb8]

In other words (again)...

If the esata is connected during reboot, the HR20 will recognize the esata only. If the esata is disconnected during reboot, the HR20 will recognize the internal only.

[mganga]

but maybe someday...in the not so distant future...both?

[Bay CIty]

but maybe someday...in the not so distant future...both?

"very Soon"?

[ragbirch]

True Image 9 gave me an error message stating that the target drive did not have enough space to clone the source, even though they were identical 300-GB drives. I did not try the backup process because that would require another drive to hold the image files.

Partition Magic 8 had the options to copy the partitions grayed out, so that was of no help.

I then tried to copy each partition using Drive Image. When I tried to copy the first partition, the swap one, I got an error message saying that the target drive did not have enough space to copy a 517.7-MB partition, even though the target had just under 300 GB os available space. I exited Drive Image and started runing Partition Magic 8 again. I used the CREATE PARTITION option to create a Linux Swap partition on the target drive using the exact same size as the Linus Swap partition on the original drive. That worked without any problem at all. My next step was to exit Partition Magic and start Drive image again. I used the partition-copy option and managed to copy the second partition of 15,366.9 MB. That only took a few minutes to copy. Next I used the same option to copy the third partition of 270,296.8 MB. A few minutes into the copying process, the indication on the screen informed me that the time remaining was over 3 hours and 47 minutes. I decided to wait it out and moved over to my other computer to do other taks. Many hours later, I came back to the first PC and saw that the copying was done. The targed drive now had three primary partitions with the exact same sizes as the original drive.

I then removed the clone drive from my PC and connected it to the HR20. I first turned the power on on the eSATA drive and after a minute or so I did the same on the HR20. I waited until the booting process finished and checked to see whether the movie Rudy was on the list. IT WAS!!! I started palying it and, for about 10 minutes, saw no error messages at all. I stoped playing it because I wanted to record several shows in the evening. But today, I will play the entire movie to make sure there are no problems.

It seems that it is possible to copy the partitions from one eSATA drive to another drive and retain the recorded programs. Today, Tuesday, I will try to play back the entire movie I had recorded on the original eSATA drive.

But the key question here is there anything on broadcast television worth watching that would justify the time and effort this required.<G>

[Earl Bonovich]

"very Soon"?

Not any time soon... that is VERY low on the list.

[Milominderbinder2]

Hello!

I am working on release 2.9 of the Unofficial HR20 Tips and Tricks that I want to have ready very soon...

I can't say how soon, but let's say soon.

For when we might need to have a little more documentation on a new feature or two...

As an aside, I want to include at least a mention of some really quick and easy solution that an average person could use to add an eSATA drive. I cannot tell the average person to buy enclosures and install hard drives. They will want soemthing that they can just plug in.

So what about suggesting something like this from Amazon:

IOMEGA 500 GB eSATA and USB 2.0 Hard Drive (http://www.amazon.com/IOMEGA-500-eSATA-Hard-Drive/dp/B000K603TC/sr=1-5/qid=1165353691/ref=sr_1_5/104-9103902-5943112?ie=UTF8&s=electronics)

$274.99

So that's twice the usable storage space: 400GB vs. 200GB.

Would this work?

It says it comes with an eSATA cable. Is there just one universal type?

If not this one, what other product would be relatively cheap, 500 GB+, and incredibly simple to connect up for an average user?

- Craig

[P Smith]

I don't quite understand what you meant, P Smith. The applications I used only whow drive partitions. It is not possible to look for folders nor files within those partitions. And I don't think Windows XP shows the contents of Linux partitons. What I did was to satisfy my curiosity about cloning an HR20 eSATA drive and retain the recordings on the original. We all know that the clone can only be played on the original HR20 where the recordings were made.Try this one:

==================================
What's Ext2Fsd
==================================

The Ext2Fsd project is an ext2 file system driver for WinNT/2000/XP.
It's a free software and everyone can distribute and modify it under
the terms of GNU GPL.

==================================
Author & Homepage
==================================

Matt<mattwu@163.com>
http://ext2.yeah.net

[Canis Lupus]

20 bucks cheaper and it's a Seagate. Iomega does not have a very good rep in my book. Remember the Zip Drive? :(

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=341441&pfp=external&tabtype=rb

Could just be a holiday special at CompUSA though.


Hello!

I am working on release 2.9 of the Unofficial HR20 Tips and Tricks that I want to have ready very soon...

I can't say how soon, but let's say soon.

For when we might need to have a little more documentation on a new feature or two...

As an aside, I want to include at least a mention of some really quick and easy solution that an average person could use to add an eSATA drive. I cannot tell the average person to buy enclosures and install hard drives. They will want soemthing that they can just plug in.

So what about suggesting something like this from Amazon:

IOMEGA 500 GB eSATA and USB 2.0 Hard Drive (http://www.amazon.com/IOMEGA-500-eSATA-Hard-Drive/dp/B000K603TC/sr=1-5/qid=1165353691/ref=sr_1_5/104-9103902-5943112?ie=UTF8&s=electronics)

$274.99

So that's twice the usable storage space: 400GB vs. 200GB.

Would this work?

It says it comes with an eSATA cable. Is there just one universal type?

If not this one, what other product would be relatively cheap, 500 GB+, and incredibly simple to connect up for an average user?

- Craig

[vegout]

But the key question here is there anything on broadcast television worth watching that would justify the time and effort this required.<G>

I filled up my HR20 in 3 weeks with HDNet concerts and a few Discovery shows that I want to keep around for a while.

[redfiver]

20 bucks cheaper and it's a Seagate. Iomega does not have a very good rep in my book. Remember the Zip Drive? :(

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=341441&pfp=external&tabtype=rb

Could just be a holiday special at CompUSA though.

That's a pretty good deal for that unit at a retail outlet. There are plenty out on eBay as well from reputable sellers for the same price as that deal, if the deal doesn't last that long.

[Canis Lupus]

That's a pretty good deal for that unit at a retail outlet. There are plenty out on eBay as well from reputable sellers for the same price as that deal, if the deal doesn't last that long.

Yeah I figured I'd put it up since I stumbled on it. It has a 120 instant rebate and CompUSAs are in a lot of places for those planning "Christmas presents to themselves" :)

I've used Seagate for many years in SCSI RAID arrays and use them for my main firewire drives for video editing. They have a good rep (much better than Iomega anyway).

[lpctv]

It seems that it is possible to copy the partitions from one eSATA drive to another drive and retain the recorded programs. Today, Tuesday, I will try to play back the entire movie I had recorded on the original eSATA drive.

Thanks for putting this to the test, HDNut :up:

I haven't used PM for a while...did it give you the option to expand or resize the non swap partitions?

Once I get my eSATA drive, this is what I'm going to try to use:
Acronis Drive Cloning (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/)
It allows for complete drive cloning - including the Linux Swap space.

[lbweber]

On the question of which drive to include in the Tips 2.9:

Both look like good solutions for a quick and easy extra storage for the those who want no hassle. The Iomega comes with a PCI card that allows you to use the drive on a PC (when you upgrade to the 1TB+ for the HR20). It looks like the Seagate is a special until 12/7.

I would include both options in the article, and good job on the creating the Tips article.

[ragbirch]

I filled up my HR20 in 3 weeks with HDNet concerts and a few Discovery shows that I want to keep around for a while.

I know what you mean. If it was'nt for my wife I can usualy get through what I've recorded and still keep about 30% free. But since a TB is cheaper than a new wife I guess that's the way I'll go!! <G>

[Canis Lupus]

Now if we could just get a BluRay player for 259!

On the question of which drive to include in the Tips 2.9:

Both look like good solutions for a quick and easy extra storage for the those who want no hassle. The Iomega comes with a PCI card that allows you to use the drive on a PC (when you upgrade to the 1TB+ for the HR20). It looks like the Seagate is a special until 12/7.

I would include both options in the article, and good job on the creating the Tips article.

[PlanetBill]

Can the internal drive be removed and add to a raid configuration?

[HDNut]

Thanks for putting this to the test, HDNut :up:

I haven't used PM for a while...did it give you the option to expand or resize the non swap partitions?

Once I get my eSATA drive, this is what I'm going to try to use:
Acronis Drive Cloning (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/)
It allows for complete drive cloning - including the Linux Swap space.

No, PM 8 did not give me the option to resize the partitions nor any other options. They were all grayed out. Acronis True Image 9 gave me an error message saying the target drive did not have enough space. I don't have version 10 because, somehow, the triel download refused to install in my PC. And I don't purchase software without trying it first.

[HDNut]

Can the internal drive be removed and add to a raid configuration?

I guess so, but your probably would loose your warranty on the HR20. I realy don't see the advantage of using multiple-drive arrays. I purchased two 300-GB drives from Fry's Electronics for $70 each and will be using one of them to record shows that I may want to keep. Then, when the first drive is full, I'll use the second drive and continue recording on it the shows that I might want to keep.

[vegout]

I guess so, but your probably would loose your warranty on the HR20. I realy don't see the advantage of using multiple-drive arrays. I purchased two 300-GB drives from Fry's Electronics for $70 each and will be using one of them to record shows that I may want to keep. Then, when the first drive is full, I'll use the second drive and continue recording on it the shows that I might want to keep.

I forsee a huge market develping for remote controlled esata switches.

[esb]

Has anybody experienced a situation like a power failure where the HR20 and external eSATA drive were powered on at the same time? I worry about a possible situation where the HR20 could look for an external drive before the external drive has a chance to fully power on / spin up. If that were to happen, it would default to the internal drive and not use the external one which would result in no shows being recorded.

Is this a possible issue, or not a problem?

[HDNut]

I for one always make sure the eSATA drive has been powered on before I plug the HR20 back on. I never turn on both the HR20 and the eSATA drive at the same time.

[HDNut]

I forsee a huge market develping for remote controlled esata switches.

I am not sure I understand your post. What exactly is a remote-controlled eSATA switch?

[vegout]

Has anybody experienced a situation like a power failure where the HR20 and external eSATA drive were powered on at the same time? I worry about a possible situation where the HR20 could look for an external drive before the external drive has a chance to fully power on / spin up. If that were to happen, it would default to the internal drive and not use the external one which would result in no shows being recorded.

Is this a possible issue, or not a problem?

You should have both on an UPS. I would think that this would be a good strategy in the event of a prolonged power failure: You would want probably want to power down the HR20 and unplug it and then the power down the drive and unplug it. When power is restored, you would want to plug in the drive and power it up. Then, plug in the HR20 and power it up. Does this make sense?

[vegout]

I am not sure I understand your post. What exactly is a remote-controlled eSATA switch?

I was kidding. I don't think most people will want to bother with switching between drives.

[dustyzz]

Not any time soon... that is VERY low on the list.

Earl,

From time to time you refer to "the list"... is there any way that us lowly HR20 users can see the actual "list" that's being worked on... or at least some sub-set there of???


Inquiring minds REALLY wanna know!

Thx,
/dusty

[Earl Bonovich]

Earl,

From time to time you refer to "the list"... is there any way that us lowly HR20 users can see the actual "list" that's being worked on... or at least some sub-set there of???


Inquiring minds REALLY wanna know!

Thx,
/dusty

I am sure they do... as so would I....

I just know certain items, and where they fit in the "overal" picture.
I don't have access to or have seen, "the list"

[Spanky_Partain]

I will assume the OS on the HR-20 is a linux base, with that in mind, why not also include iSCSI when the ethernet port is enabled.

Could have some fine sharable access in a LAN.

[Coffey77]

I will assume the OS on the HR-20 is a linux base, with that in mind, why not also include iSCSI when the ethernet port is enabled.

Could have some fine sharable access in a LAN.

Wonder if a X-over cable would work... I know the HR20 will grab an IP address.

[PoitNarf]

Anyone know if taking say a 300GB hard drive with recordings already on it and using Norton Ghost to clone it to another larger hard drive would allow the recordings from the original drive to be accessible as well as the HR20 detecting a larger size drive?

I only ask because when/if I decide to go the eSATA route, I'd like it if I could go with a bigger drive without losing any of my current recordings.

[Earl Bonovich]

Anyone know if taking say a 300GB hard drive with recordings already on it and using Norton Ghost to clone it to another larger hard drive would allow the recordings from the original drive to be accessible as well as the HR20 detecting a larger size drive?

I only ask because when/if I decide to go the eSATA route, I'd like it if I could go with a bigger drive without losing any of my current recordings.


I don't know if the Ghost idea is going to work or not...

But the later part of your post... wanting to take the recordings with you..
Even if the Ghost worked... unless it specfically new how to extend the partion types... and that is in fact what DirecTV is looking at (partition size).....

I just don't see the later half working.

[mikeny]

Anyone know if taking say a 300GB hard drive with recordings already on it and using Norton Ghost to clone it to another larger hard drive would allow the recordings from the original drive to be accessible as well as the HR20 detecting a larger size drive?

I only ask because when/if I decide to go the eSATA route, I'd like it if I could go with a bigger drive without losing any of my current recordings.
I haven't done it yet but I thought if you power off the e-sata drive and HR20, disconnect the esata connection then reboot to your internal drive , then the original recordings on the stock drive would be in tact.

Is that not the case? Even still, you would want the convenience of not having to do that, right? So would I.

[PoitNarf]

I haven't done it yet but I thought if you power off the e-sata drive and HR20, disconnect the esata connection then reboot to your internal drive , then the original recordings on the stock drive would be in tact.

Is that not the case? Even still, you would want the convenience of not having to do that, right? So would I.

Exactly

[P Smith]

Anyone know if taking say a 300GB hard drive with recordings already on it and using Norton Ghost to clone it to another larger hard drive would allow the recordings from the original drive to be accessible as well as the HR20 detecting a larger size drive?

I only ask because when/if I decide to go the eSATA route, I'd like it if I could go with a bigger drive without losing any of my current recordings.
Did you read HDme's posts ?

[PoitNarf]

Did you read HDme's posts ?

Not that I am aware of. Perhaps you could provide links to said posts instead of just asking if I had read them? ;)

[P Smith]

Sorry, HDnut. A couple pages back here.

[lpctv]

Not that I am aware of. Perhaps you could provide links to said posts instead of just asking if I had read them? ;)

Here you go:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=741408&postcount=596
Probably, the biggest hassle is the swap space along with the ability to actually expand the partitions

Earl: I had asked before about this...maybe got lost in the shuffle. Can you offer any insight as to whether this is kosher as per D*? Not necessarily from a data copy perspective. Rather, from a system stability, usability angle.

[ragbirch]

Has anyone tried this unit?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822101036

For $399 looks like a deal

[vegout]

My slip function stopped working so I did a reset, using the setup menu. When the boot was finished, I was back using the internal drive. I unplugged the HR20 and plugged it back in and now it's back to the ESATA drive.

I could not find any other reports of this and want to know if anyone else has experienced it.

[Starrbuck]

Has anyone tried this unit?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822101036

For $399 looks like a deal
Looks pretty expensive. You can get an eSATA enclosure for $20 and a 500GB hard drive to put in it for $169 and make your own for a lot less!

[Earl Bonovich]

Here you go:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=741408&postcount=596
Probably, the biggest hassle is the swap space along with the ability to actually expand the partitions

Earl: I had asked before about this...maybe got lost in the shuffle. Can you offer any insight as to whether this is kosher as per D*? Not necessarily from a data copy perspective. Rather, from a system stability, usability angle.

I have not heard either way.

[lucky13]

Please forgive me if this is an ignorant question:
When I switch back and forth between ESATA and internal drive, I notice the DVR returns to the last channel viewed, not the preview channel, as it would for a new startup. For example, after unplugging ESATA and powering back up, I get back to the channel viewed when the ESATA was plugged in. Where is this memory stored? In some RAM space? Does this bode well for the ability of the HR20 in the future to work with both internal and external drives (without, for example, all ESATA recordings beign wiped clean when the spftware allows them to work in tandem)?

[Earl Bonovich]

Please forgive me if this is an ignorant question:
When I switch back and forth between ESATA and internal drive, I notice the DVR returns to the last channel viewed, not the preview channel, as it would for a new startup. For example, after unplugging ESATA and powering back up, I get back to the channel viewed when the ESATA was plugged in. Where is this memory stored? In some RAM space? Does this bode well for the ability of the HR20 in the future to work with both internal and external drives (without, for example, all ESATA recordings beign wiped clean when the spftware allows them to work in tandem)?


Two VERY different things...

Remembering what channel it was on vs using both drives in tandem.

Remembering the channel, is most likely with the tuners... just remembering they where last... not sure though.

Using both drives in tandem, you need to signficantly change the software. So it knows which drive to write to, make sure the entire program is there... and then build a MyVod based of two "indexes" of programs...

ect.

[lucky13]

Two VERY different things...

Remembering what channel it was on vs using both drives in tandem.

Remembering the channel, is most likely with the tuners... just remembering they where last... not sure though.

Using both drives in tandem, you need to signficantly change the software. So it knows which drive to write to, make sure the entire program is there... and then build a MyVod based of two "indexes" of programs...

ect.

Thanks. Thought there might be some hidden trick here.

[Coffey77]

I had thought that SATA drives could be combined and used like one drive - is that with a RAID controller? I started to set a pair of SATA's on my computer one day and I had the feeling I could make two drives appear and work as one. I didn't dive into it as I really wanted to keep it two drives to replace my IDE for some speed boost. I'm sure someone knows about this but I would guess that involves software to be installed somehow, somewhere...

[HDNut]

I had thought that SATA drives could be combined and used like one drive - is that with a RAID controller? I started to set a pair of SATA's on my computer one day and I had the feeling I could make two drives appear and work as one. I didn't dive into it as I really wanted to keep it two drives to replace my IDE for some speed boost. I'm sure someone knows about this but I would guess that involves software to be installed somehow, somewhere...

Most motherboards include a raid controller as a hardware item. A PCI or a PCI-express add-on raid-controller card can also be installed in most PC's. And I know for certain that Windows 2000 supported setting up 2 drives in a raid confirguration. I am not sure about Windows XP, but I think it also supports it. As for the HR20-700, these thread is full of posts describind eSATA enclosures which support 2 SATA drives in a raid configuration.

[mikeny]

Sorry if this has has been asked but now that Santa has brought new software to my new HR20, if I were to connect a new eSATA drive, will it get the software from the internal drive (e.g. 0x10B) or will it download the current National software? (0xfa)

[grate88]

Sorry if this has has been asked but now that Santa has brought new software to my new HR20, if I were to connect a new eSATA drive, will it get the software from the internal drive (e.g. 0x10B) or will it download the current National software? (0xfa)

It won't change the software at all - you'll still have 0B

[mikeny]

It won't change the software at all - you'll still have 0B
Thank you very much.

[Tom Robertson]

Thank you very much.

The software is stored in the HR20 on a memory chip (likely flash), changing drives has no effect on the OS.

As you know, changing drives will remove all the series links, todo list, etc.

Cheers,
Tom

[hdtvfan0001]

Once we get the eSata to really be an extention of the internal drive....I'll have 800 MB for storage and will be hard pressed to find much else of a wish list.

I really don't have the lust for the dual buffers that a few others have, but everyone can gain from the expanded storage.

[SubSolar]

Question, I just purchased the Thecus N2050UD and two WD 500 gig WD5000KS hard drives. Is this everything I need, or do I need some sort of sata or sata to esata cables or adapters? If so, where's the place to get them?

[hdtvfan0001]

Question, I just purchased the Thecus N2050UD and two WD 500 gig WD5000KS hard drives. Is this everything I need, or do I need some sort of sata or sata to esata cables or adapters? If so, where's the place to get them?
eSata to Sata cables are available at most computer parts stores like CompUSA, MicroCenter, and Fry's electronics, and others.

[SubSolar]

eSata to Sata cables are available at most computer parts stores like CompUSA, MicroCenter, and Fry's electronics, and others.

Okay, so I just need one eSata to Sata cable right, because the HR20 has a SATA port instead of an eSata? It looks like the Thecus only comes with an eSata to eSata cable.

[P Smith]

"because the HR20 has a SATA port instead of an eSata?"

OMG !

[PoitNarf]

Okay, so I just need one eSata to Sata cable right, because the HR20 has a SATA port instead of an eSata? It looks like the Thecus only comes with an eSata to eSata cable.

The port on the back of the HR20 is an eSATA port.

[hdtvfan0001]

The port on the back of the HR20 is an eSATA port.

So that's why you need an eSata to Sata cable. I've seen them at most electronics/computer parts stores.

[opelap]

Okay, so I just need one eSata to Sata cable right, because the HR20 has a SATA port instead of an eSata? It looks like the Thecus only comes with an eSata to eSata cable.


Come on people read his entire post.:D Subsolar, you do not need to buy anything if the Thecus came with a eSATA to eSATA cable. The HR20 has an eSATA port on the back.

[SubSolar]

Alright thanks guys. I also found on post #515 of this thread that the Thecus has the cable I need in the box. I was confused because I guess other enclosures need a SATA to eSata cable, but I guess not all.

[DFDureiko]

I can get this at ClubMac for 585.00, it has two 500gig drives. I can just plug this into the eSata port, reboot, and that's it? plenty of room for HD recording?
It almost seems to easy :)
at this point only the eSATA drive will be usable
and then at some point in the future, if I'm reading this write, I'll once again be able to utilize the 300gig HD in the HR20 along with the 1TB?
Dan

[DblD_Indy]

Yikes those are some heavy duty prices...

Price = (Purchase v Lease) + (Mobility of signal provider)

I can not wait till Microsoft offers to lease us our next OS and throws in the hardware for free...Can you hear the train rounding the bend.

As for upgrades I would suggest that they be kept on the outside of the box. I would guess that should the unit die in months from the upgrade they will bill you for the full cost of the unit.

I am sure when that data port is fully active they will enable a way of talking back to D*TV on internal case mods. Like an email saying "Congrats, you have voided your warranty. Please return all equipment and pay your early disconnect fee"

Just MO...

[flipper2006]

"because the HR20 has a SATA port instead of an eSata?"

OMG !

be nice:hurah:

[DblD_Indy]

It Works!!!!!!

Bottom left of the picture you see the Raid system (Sans Digital $249)
I have 2-320GB hard drives (Western Digital $99 each) running for a total of 640GB.
I estimate this will give me about 105 hrs of MPEG-4
Raid is a bit noisey, I'm going to move it to the rear of entertainment system, Should help :)


Was the Explorer 8300HD on DTV or were you just using it for OTA?

[eagles1899]

Question, I just purchased the Thecus N2050UD and two WD 500 gig WD5000KS hard drives. Is this everything I need, or do I need some sort of sata or sata to esata cables or adapters? If so, where's the place to get them?

You should have everything you need. The eSATA cable that comes with the Thecus enclosure is the correct one for connecting it to the HR20.

When I initially connected the Thecus enclosure to the HR20, I followed the instructions in the Thecus manual: I powered on the enclosure first without the eSATA cable connected to it; the two HD power lights came on, but they went off as soon as I plugged in the eSATA cable to the enclosure, and did not turn back on even when I powered on the HR20 (eSATA cable already connected to the HR20); as a result the HR20 did not see the Thecus enclosure.

I also tried powering on the enclosure with the eSATA cable already connected to it as well as to the HR20 (powered off), and the two HD power lights stayed off on the enclosure, and the HR20 did not recognize the enclosure when the HR20 was then powered on.

At the end, I unplugged the eSATA cable from the enclosure while it was already powered on (HD lights on the enclosure were off when the cable was connected, and they turned on as soon as the cable was disconnected), with the other end of the cable connected to the HR20 which also was powered on, when I plugged the cable back into the enclosure, the HD lights stayed on this time, and then when I did a reset on the HR20, it recognized the enclosure this time and automatically formatted it. All has been working well since.

Just want to share my experience in case you run into something similar. Others using the Thecus enclosure might not have had the same kind of trouble initially. YMMV.

[SubSolar]

Hmm, I just had unplugged the HR20, then connected the Thecus and turned it on. Then I plugged in the HR20 and turned it on and everything worked the first time. Now I just have to re-enter all my Scheduled Season Passes. Also, it looks like all of the Guide data is missing. Is there a way to force it to download the next 14 days of Guide data rather than just waiting for a few days to populate?

[Tom Robertson]

Hmm, I just had unplugged the HR20, then connected the Thecus and turned it on. Then I plugged in the HR20 and turned it on and everything worked the first time. Now I just have to re-enter all my Scheduled Season Passes. Also, it looks like all of the Guide data is missing. Is there a way to force it to download the next 14 days of Guide data rather than just waiting for a few days to populate?

Congratulations!

Alas, the guide comes when it comes. about the only thing that might help is to put the unit in standby so it can process the data a bit quicker.

Merry Christmas,
Tom

[SubSolar]

Yeah, it's great, I have 4 hours of HD recorded (half mpeg2 and half mpeg4) and it shows I still have 98% space available!

[ItsMeJTO]

I've read till my eyeballs are glowing, but cannot find an answer.
Does anyone know the max capacity drive size the HR20 can access ?
Thinking of an esata raid 0 ?

[P Smith]

1 Tb works now; if you can get 2x750 GB, then it will be current record.
Only D* engineers knows real limit; I wouldn't guess - too many factors play here (indexes, tables, RAM, etc ), but at least LBA-48 support in the DVR Linux OS will give you 2^28 bytes theoretical limit.

[ItsMeJTO]

1 Tb works now; if you can get 2x750 GB, then it will be current record.
Only D* engineers knows real limit; I wouldn't guess - too many factors play here (indexes, tables, RAM, etc ), but at least LBA-48 support in the DVR Linux OS will give you 2^28 bytes theoretical limit.

When my raid-0 arrives I intend to install 2x750 seagates to start with, I'll let you know how it goes. Not knowing much about Unix drive partitions I'm wondering if the hr20 will partition it to Unix max specs or to D*'s. Either way, I will try to get hold of a total of 4 seagate 750's and try it, see what happens. Filling it to test if it actually works may be fun.

[harsh]

Not knowing much about Unix drive partitions I'm wondering if the hr20 will partition it to Unix max specs or to D*'s.What does Unix have to do with anything? I thought that the current speculation was that the filesystem involved was a kludged version of the ancient FAT filesystem.

[weez]

When my raid-0 arrives I intend to install 2x750 seagates to start with, I'll let you know how it goes. Not knowing much about Unix drive partitions I'm wondering if the hr20 will partition it to Unix max specs or to D*'s. Either way, I will try to get hold of a total of 4 seagate 750's and try it, see what happens. Filling it to test if it actually works may be fun.

What enclosure have you decided to use?

[eagles1899]

1 Tb works now; if you can get 2x750 GB, then it will be current record.
Only D* engineers knows real limit; I wouldn't guess - too many factors play here (indexes, tables, RAM, etc ), but at least LBA-48 support in the DVR Linux OS will give you 2^28 bytes theoretical limit.

The release notes for update 0x10B lists "eSATA corrections for setup greater than 1TB" as one of the fixes, so one would need to be on 0x10B or later to use more than 1TB without problem.

At one time I actually had 1.5TB on my HR20 running update 0xFA; the set-up was a SANS Digital MS2UT eSATA enclosure with 2x750GB Seagate, RAID-0. The issue I had was, upon a reset through the setup menu, the receiver automatically did a HD reformat, and wiped out recordings I had. I have since switched to a Thecus enclosure with 2x500GB Western Digital, and have not had any issue running either 0xFA or 0x10B.

Unfortunately I have not had a chance to try running 0x10B with the 1.5TB SANS Digital enclosure, although I suspect it would work fine now.

[Mel Brennan]

So does ...w w w dot macmall dot com slash macmall slash shop slash detail.asp?dpno=7181100&Redir=1... - DriveZilla - fit the bill AS IS? Is it a comprehensive solution? Can I buy it, plug it into the eSATA port in the back, hit the red reset button and go?

The reason I ask is that it look Mac/Apple orientated, and I'm wondering if, for this sort of peripheral, given the re-formatting anyway, whether it will make any difference at all.

[rharouni]

This is probably a stupid question and I apologize if it has already been answered but here goes...

Let's say I want to hook up a four bay esata enclosure and I hook up two drives now, say 2x750gb, and I want to add more drives in the future. Will the HR20 have to reformat the whole system prior to allowing me to increase my capacity? I assume that it will, but I figured that I should get a definitive answer before I make any plans. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[P Smith]

1st, you'll need pretty expensive eSATA enclosure with internal RAID controller what will support more then two disks ( so far no one found such thing compatible with HR20 )
2nd - you'll forced to reformat when more disks will be installed.

[ItsMeJTO]

This is probably a stupid question and I apologize if it has already been answered but here goes...

Let's say I want to hook up a four bay esata enclosure and I hook up two drives now, say 2x750gb, and I want to add more drives in the future. Will the HR20 have to reformat the whole system prior to allowing me to increase my capacity? I assume that it will, but I figured that I should get a definitive answer before I make any plans. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


THIS ONE'S FOR YOU.
http://www.cooldrives.com/harasaiipomu.html

[ItsMeJTO]

1st, you'll need pretty expensive eSATA enclosure with internal RAID controller what will support more then two disks ( so far no one found such thing compatible with HR20 )
2nd - you'll forced to reformat when more disks will be installed.

Things changed a little to the above.

for all you guys with deep pockets and large brass B*lls.

http://www.cooldrives.com/harasaiipomu.html

[P Smith]

I see; well, it's around $500 - little costly but affordable for some of us ;). Hope it will support 1 TB disks what should be out next year.
The key feature is here - working with a host (HR20) which do not have PM support.

[ItsMeJTO]

I see; well, it's around $500 - little costly but affordable for some of us ;). Hope it will support 1 TB disks what should be out next year.
The key feature is here - working with a host (HR20) which do not have PM support.

Do we know what chipset is used for the sata in the hr20-700 ?
Maybe the PM could be supported (should be)
But as most external sata hardware raid boxes can self configure to raid-0 or raid-1 it would only apply to addressing multiple drives individually. Any input on this is appreciated.
I'm not sure about the 1TB drives, but it hooked into the 750's in sata-II mode ok.
Oh, I'm playing with a Sans Digital MS2UT ($210 with usb2 and esata II ) today, self configuring raid 0/1 with two quick release drives. So far I can't get the hr20 to see em yet in either raid0 or 1. Just sits on the screen collecting sat info, no errors ... hmmmm !!

UPDATE !! The Sans Digital Raid now works with 1.5TB. a new firmware revision was required from Sans Digital.
Was 36.B0B, now 36.ILY which fixed the D* recognition and many other minor bugs for PC's etc.
Their tech support guys said it should support the 1TB drives (up to 2 in this case, but up to 5 in their larger enclosures)
But could not verify hands on yet as they don't have any drives to test with.
a follow up e-mail will be coming shortly.
It's smaller than it appears in the photos. 5"wide x4" tall x8"long
http://www.sansdigital.com/MS2UT.htm

[ragbirch]

Got the Thecus n2050 and 2 Seagate 500GB hard drives today. Up and running in less than an hour. Works great. Highly recommended.

[DFDureiko]

I ordered the LaCie Two Big 1TB drive for 538.00 from NewEgg.com I should have it by tuesday or wed and will report how it works. has anyone plugged in this drive yet?
Dan

[uvjunk]

Hi,

Sorry about the newbie question, I would like to add a dual 500G disk array to my HR20.

I searched the thread and did not find any specific recommendations for disks or drive cages.

I would appreciate any pointers on which disks or enclosures to use, and if there is any recommendation or do/do not do before I do the upgrade.

Thanks,

Yuval.

[P Smith]

"I searched the thread and did not find any specific recommendations for disks or drive cages."
Grrrr ! Just READ it, mister UVjunk !

[uvjunk]

"I searched the thread and did not find any specific recommendations for disks or drive cages."
Grrrr ! Just READ it, mister UVjunk !


Sorry I do not understnad the reply, can you calrify ?

UV.

[uvjunk]

Sorry , no worries after reading more posts just one by one it seems like I got an idea for what works and what does not.

UV.

P.S.

Sorry about the user name I really did not mean to offend anyone in the thread.

[Baron Ken]

"I searched the thread and did not find any specific recommendations for disks or drive cages."
Grrrr ! Just READ it, mister UVjunk !

uvjunk, did you forget to read the 683 posts ahead of yours before asking a question?!? What are you, a new member or something? ;)

Anyway, glad you found your answer. Usually, most people will just answer your questions on a thread this size. At least you searched the thread first. Of course, you could have started a new thread with your specific question, but as that's not good to do you would probably have gotten yelled at about that too and told to do a search to find this thread (and read it all of course).

I just got interested in the eSata too, but I haven't put in the hours yet to read this thread. :p

[rblancojr]

This was with the Thecus eSATA enclosure (RAID-0 with 2 WD 500GB HDs) connected.
eagles, where were you able to purchase the Thecus enclosure? How much did you pay for it? You have been using for some time now, I imagine. How would you rate it so far? Are you happy with it and can recommend to others?

[DFDureiko]

I recieved the LaCie Two BIG 1tB drive yesterday from Macconnection, their last one. NewEgg cancelled my order as they found they were out of stock. They seem to be hard to get.
left it as it was set FAST RAID 0, rather than BIG (Concatentaton) assuming that faster I/O would be better? but if one drive goes, data is lost on both.
Seems ok, but I'm notice ocassional artifacts, and occasional audio dropouts. I have 30 days in which to return the drive if I'm not happy with it......deciding on whether I can live with ocassional artifacts.
Do we have any clue when if ever D*TV will allow the internal drived to be used WITH the external drive?

[rcoleman111]

Look reasonable, but you do it cheaper if you build it yourself.

Here is the enclusure I bought: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822102002 and the two drives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136014

Total cost with 3 day shipping was $510. And it literally took 5 minutes to put it together. It was too easy and I've now got 225 hours of glorious MPEG-4! :D

This looks like a good solution. How is it working? Have you had any problems with it? I checked NewEgg's website and it looks like it's a little cheaper now, unless there is something I'm overlooking:

Thesus N2050UD $126.99
2 WD 500GB SATA drives $299.98
shipping $ 11.34
Total $438.31

I don't see anything about cables. Did the N2050UD come with a cable to connect it to the eSATA port on the HR20?

[FirkinBucky]

I have the same setup, but can't get past the "Step 1 of 2" screen on reboot. For the life of me, I've tried just about everything but no luck. I know others here had success with this enclosure and those drives, so can I assume that the problem is with my HR20?

Any suggestions?

[kocuba]

Hey, Newegg has a Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3500641AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive for only $139.99 right now.

Not sure how long it is going to last but thought I'd pass it on.
Not sure if the link will work for me yet but here it is
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?CMP=AFC-TechBargains&Item=N82E16822148108

[P Smith]

kocuba,

Don't worry - this type of things will decline in a price $10 per month. All the disks/CPU/MB/etc cheaper and cheaper ...

[rsblaski]

Don't worry - this type of things will lost $10 per month.

HUH???????????

[kocuba]

P Smith, thought I was just passing on a good price. Not trying to define the market.

Was I wrong in my thinking?

[P Smith]

Nothing.
I mean next month the price will be $10 less.

[kocuba]

Yes, But some places right now the prices are closer to $200 so I thought some might want to save some money if they were in the market for one.

[eagles1899]

eagles, where were you able to purchase the Thecus enclosure? How much did you pay for it? You have been using for some time now, I imagine. How would you rate it so far? Are you happy with it and can recommend to others?

I bought the Thecus N2050UD from Newegg, for $150 plus tax (I am in CA) and shipping. It came with the right cable for hooking up the enclosure to the HR20. So far I have no problem with it at all. Also not as noisy as the Sans Digital enclosure, the main reason I stopped using the Sans Digital enclosure with my HR20 even though I I could get 1.5TB out of it (1TB with the Thecus enclosure).

[rblancojr]

I bought the Thecus N2050UD from Newegg, for $150 plus tax (I am in CA) and shipping. It came with the right cable for hooking up the enclosure to the HR20. So far I have no problem with it at all. Also not as noisy as the Sans Digital enclosure, the main reason I stopped using the Sans Digital enclosure with my HR20 even though I I could get 1.5TB out of it (1TB with the Thecus enclosure).

Are you using Western Digital drives or Seagates? Which specific models? :)
thanks

[eagles1899]

Are you using Western Digital drives or Seagates? Which specific models? :)
thanks

I am using a pair of WD5000KS; someone here reported getting Seagate working as well (see http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=769990&postcount=682).

The Thecus N2050 enclosure uses a Silicon Image SiI4723 chipset, you can take a look at the HD compatibility list on Silicon Image's website (http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/DOC-002000-451_SteelVineCompatibility_REV_5.pdf) as well as the one on Thecus' website (more limited on larger-capacity drives).

[Schmedley]

With over 700 posts on this subject, I am unable to find the following combination:
HR-20 700 Thecus N2050 2 Samsung HD501LJ.

Please, what are my chances of success with this combination? :eek2:

[bllreed]

So just to clarify, if I hook-up an eSATA (blank) it will format the drive and use it but I'm losing whatever is on the internal drive? Then if I remove the external it
will basically become "blank" again when I reconnect it? And anything I've recorded on the internal drive in the meantime will be lost when I hook-up the
eSATA again?

[lucky13]

No. I've had great success with my ESATA. When you disconnect your ESATA (power down the DVR, unplug DVR from power, remove ESATA cord from HR20), and then power back up, the recordings you made on your internal drive will still be there. When you reverse the process, the recordings you had on your ESATA will still be there. Just remember that any recordings you scheduled on one drive will only occur when that drive is active.

[lucky13]

No. I've had great success with my ESATA. When you disconnect your ESATA (power down the DVR, unplug DVR from power, remove ESATA cord from HR20), and then power back up, the recordings you made on your internal drive will still be there. When you reverse the process, the recordings you had on your ESATA will still be there. Just remember that any recordings you scheduled on one drive will only occur when that drive is active.

[lucky13]

No. I've had great success with my ESATA. When you disconnect your ESATA (power down the DVR, unplug DVR from power, remove ESATA cord from HR20), and then power back up, the recordings you made on your internal drive will still be there. When you reverse the process, the recordings you had on your ESATA will still be there. Just remember that any recordings you scheduled on one drive will only occur when that drive is active.

[grate88]

No. I've had great success with my ESATA. When you disconnect your ESATA (power down the DVR, unplug DVR from power, remove ESATA cord from HR20), and then power back up, the recordings you made on your internal drive will still be there. When you reverse the process, the recordings you had on your ESATA will still be there. Just remember that any recordings you scheduled on one drive will only occur when that drive is active.

You don't say :D

[rblancojr]

No. I've had great success with my ESATA. When you disconnect your ESATA (power down the DVR, unplug DVR from power, remove ESATA cord from HR20), and then power back up, the recordings you made on your internal drive will still be there. When you reverse the process, the recordings you had on your ESATA will still be there. Just remember that any recordings you scheduled on one drive will only occur when that drive is active.

ECHO.......ECHO......
I am sorry, can you repeat that? :hurah:

[houskamp]

Hey oneone with esata hooked up> please post if you have had problems with reboots etc. also type of drive and raid setup
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=76054

[yeungp]

$129.99 + tax (in about 8 states) with free shipping for 500GB Maxtor drive from frys.com if anyone is interested. 1 per household - so you may not be able to have the same shipping address and/or billing address when you try to order your second one.

[ZaphodJoe]

I had 2 HR20's installed yesterday. I had TheCus with 2 400gb drive's set up for one of them. The tech did something to make them download the newest software. I connected the external hard drive in once the tech left.

I am having problems getting guide data. The one with the external drive only has 1 day of guide data and the one without has over a week. Has anyone else had any trouble with the guide data when using the eSata storage?

I reset it just in case it was some other problem. Now it seems to have even less guide data lol. I did have some other problems, last night I called direcTV to cancel my old SD DirecTiVo and they said it was the main box on the account so they would have to shut everything off then turn it back on.

This morning when I went to the living room (the one using eSata) none of the HD channels where working. Some error like you have to order the channel or something came up. So I called and the automated system asked me some questions and I said no hd and it sent me to technical support then it asked if there was an extension and I put in 721 then it said to go to a channel that had that error and they would send data and that fixed the problem with that.

-Joe

[Cyrus]

I am having problems getting guide data. The one with the external drive only has 1 day of guide data and the one without has over a week. Has anyone else had any trouble with the guide data when using the eSata storage?

I reset it just in case it was some other problem. Now it seems to have even less guide data lol. I did have some other problems, last night I called direcTV to cancel my old SD DirecTiVo and they said it was the main box on the account so they would have to shut everything off then turn it back on.

Guide data has nothing to do with what kind of disk (internal/external) you are using. And reseting the box will reset the guide data, so having less guide data after the reset is expected. Guide data gets gradually populated over time, so give it some time.

[Schmedley]

With over 700 posts on this subject, I am unable to find the following combination:
HR-20 700 Thecus N2050 2 Samsung HD501LJ.

Please, what are my chances of success with this combination? :eek2:

I guess I will answer my own post:


RE Thecus N2050 and 2 Samsung HD501LJ

The combination was installed, RAID-0, blue lights came on, connected SATA cable to Direct tv HR-20 700.

One very quiet Terabyte!

Four hours, all worked perfectly- I will edit this post if anything changes.

Ty P. Smith for the correction, I guess I was just "Raving" about the outcome.

[P Smith]

Good. Don't forget to edit your post: "RAVE 0" to RAID-0 ;).

[SubSolar]

Just thought I'd share my experience. Today there was a power outtage (just a few seconds). I thought I had my HR20 and my Thecus on a battery backup but apparently I messed up and just had the Thecus on it. After the power outtage I noticed that all my Recordings were gone (100% free disk space). My Scheduled Recordings and To Do List were still intact though. I power cycled everything a few times (turning the Thecus on for a few seconds before the HR20) with no luck. I also tried a red button reset which didn't do anything. I noticed another problem was that after everything would boot up, the only channel that would work was the one it started up on. Everything else was black. Also, if I booted up without the Thecus it would use the internal drive just fine (had its recordings, could go to any channel). Anyway, I ended up doing a full reset with the Thecus connected and everything seems to work now. I guess the moral of the story is to make sure everything is on the battery backup and to realize that eSata support is not 100% stable yet. I'm still not sure why the power outtage messed things up though, considering the Thecus was on the UPS so the HR20 should have seen it at bootup when the power came back on, right?

[P Smith]

No, it is a PC with Linux on it, so all latest updates was in RAM and been lost, but the external disk left in inconsistent status, so on next reboot fsck() cleared the decrepancies starting from top level - corrupted catalog.
You shouldn't turn on HR20 with the external storage; before that use some other tool for recover everything on the disk. Usually mounting it on PC in read-only mode and do some checks.

[Cyrus]

After the power outtage I noticed that all my Recordings were gone (100% free disk space). My Scheduled Recordings and To Do List were still intact though. I power cycled everything a few times (turning the Thecus on for a few seconds before the HR20) with no luck. I also tried a red button reset which didn't do anything. I noticed another problem was that after everything would boot up, the only channel that would work was the one it started up on. Everything else was black.

A friend of mine who is using eSata (1TB) had a similar problem when he rebooted his hr20, the playlist was empty and he could only tune to the initial channel. He tried rebooting hr20 several times and after 4 or 5 tries it worked, the playlist was back and he could tune to different channels. So something probably wasn't getting initialized correctly in hr20 but multiple reboots somehow fixed it.

In case of my friend his eSata drive was mostly full, he only had about 10% remaining and he didn't want to lose all those HD recordings that he had, so that's why he kept rebooting. Maybe the fact that he had a lot of recordings had something to do with the problem though no way to tell for sure.

So if this problem happens to anyone they should try multiple reboots before resorting to reformatting of the disk. It appears that the recordings are still there but something goes wrong during the boot process.

[Schmedley]

No, it is a PC with Linux on it, so all latest updates was in RAM and been lost, but the external disk left in inconsistent status, so on next reboot fsck() cleared the decrepancies starting from top level - corrupted catalog.
You shouldn't turn on HR20 with the external storage; before that use some other tool for recover everything on the disk. Usually mounting it on PC in read-only mode and do some checks.

So far so good with my 1T Thecus, but, the day will come when I have to change my UPS. What is the best procedure to power down and power up the HR-20 system?

[SubSolar]

A friend of mine who is using eSata (1TB) had a similar problem when he rebooted his hr20, the playlist was empty and he could only tune to the initial channel. He tried rebooting hr20 several times and after 4 or 5 tries it worked, the playlist was back and he could tune to different channels. So something probably wasn't getting initialized correctly in hr20 but multiple reboots somehow fixed it.

In case of my friend his eSata drive was mostly full, he only had about 10% remaining and he didn't want to lose all those HD recordings that he had, so that's why he kept rebooting. Maybe the fact that he had a lot of recordings had something to do with the problem though no way to tell for sure.

So if this problem happens to anyone they should try multiple reboots before resorting to reformatting of the disk. It appears that the recordings are still there but something goes wrong during the boot process.

Hmm, I probably had about 15-20% free space left. Did he reboot just using the red button, or actually disconnecting the power and reconnecting? I will try this if it happens again. Fortunately nothing was terribly important on it.

[rcoleman111]

I set my eSATA storage system yesterday - the Thecus N2050 and 2 500GB Western Digital disks. Everything is working fine.

Regarding the comments above about not seeing the external storage after losing power - be sure to power up the external system before the HR20. Wait a few seconds and then power on the HR20. Otherwise, the drives may not spin up quickly enough to be seen be the HR20.

[P Smith]

Usually in system drivers coded delay and certain numbers of retries, I wouldn't worried about 2 sec delay for spinup; same powerstrip or UPS will be OK.

[Cyrus]

Did he reboot just using the red button, or actually disconnecting the power and reconnecting?

He rebooted via "Restart Recorder" option in the menu which is similar to red button.

[rcoleman111]

Usually in system drivers coded delay and certain numbers of retries, I wouldn't worried about 2 sec delay for spinup; same powerstrip or UPS will be OK.

It has nothing to do with drivers. If the drives haven't spun up completely, the BIOS in the HR20 may not see the external storage. That is the most likely cause of the problem some of these people are experiencing, where the storage isn't seen after a power outage.

[JHL]

It has nothing to do with drivers. If the drives haven't spun up completely, the BIOS in the HR20 may not see the external storage. That is the most likely cause of the problem some of these people are experiencing, where the storage isn't seen after a power outage.

Does this mean that the HR20 is unable to save power by spinning down the hard drive (internal or external) when it is not being used? That sounds pretty lame to me. I knew that satellite receivers were power hogs but they should be able to do some simple things to reduce power requirements.

I would love to add a 1TB eSATA drive but I certainly don't want to have to pay for it to be spinning when it is idle.

John

[raven56706]

so the current way for the setup to work is for:
when turning off the hd receiver the esata hard drive needs to be turned off first or the same time or the other way around?

and for when turning on the receiver, does the esata hard drive need to be turned on first or second or the same time?

[rcoleman111]

Does this mean that the HR20 is unable to save power by spinning down the hard drive (internal or external) when it is not being used? That sounds pretty lame to me. I knew that satellite receivers were power hogs but they should be able to do some simple things to reduce power requirements.

I would love to add a 1TB eSATA drive but I certainly don't want to have to pay for it to be spinning when it is idle.

John

A DVR is recording at all times, which means the drives are always being used.

[rcoleman111]

I have the same setup, but can't get past the "Step 1 of 2" screen on reboot. For the life of me, I've tried just about everything but no luck. I know others here had success with this enclosure and those drives, so can I assume that the problem is with my HR20?

Any suggestions?

Were you able to resolve the problem? If not, I would troubleshoot the storage system first. The Thecus storage system comes with a controller card, which you could use to test it with a PC.

[raven56706]

now lets say you fill up the externel hard drive..... can you remove it and then at a later time, attach it again to see the movies stored in the hard drive....


also, do you leave the hard drive turned on all the time?

[dallascontractor]

Is the E-SATA controller limited to 1.5GB/s? I have searched here and google and no listing.

[rcoleman111]

now lets say you fill up the externel hard drive..... can you remove it and then at a later time, attach it again to see the movies stored in the hard drive....


also, do you leave the hard drive turned on all the time?

If you remove the external storage and then reattach it, the data should still be there. Yes, you do need to have it powered on at all times. If it loses power, you will have to reboot the DVR.

[P Smith]

Is the E-SATA controller limited to 1.5GB/s? I have searched here and google and no listing.
the speed is irrelevant; try to read the thread from beginning

[dallascontractor]

I read all post in tread at one time I quess I missed it!

[Cyrus]

now lets say you fill up the externel hard drive..... can you remove it and then at a later time, attach it again to see the movies stored in the hard drive....

Yes, you can. Theoretically you can have multiple external drives and keep changing them and each should retain it's content. There does seem to be an intermittent problem that after a reboot the playlist might show as empty, but more reboots seem to fix it.

[P Smith]

I would say it was one time problem, not "intermitten".

[Schmedley]

A DVR is recording at all times, which means the drives are always being used.

The HR-20 does not record the XM Satellite channels. I leave my unit on one music channel, 820, every night. The drives still have to run since they maintain the the data of the requested recordings.

[FirkinBucky]

Were you able to resolve the problem? If not, I would troubleshoot the storage system first. The Thecus storage system comes with a controller card, which you could use to test it with a PC.
I actually got it to work for awhile by switching from Raid-0 to Raid-1 and back again, but the next morning the enclosure was non-responsive and I could not record. I'd then only occasionally be able to get it to work and would then have massive problems with trickplay functions. I ended up returning the enclosure and will try again with a new one.

[rcoleman111]

The HR-20 does not record the XM Satellite channels. I leave my unit on one music channel, 820, every night. The drives still have to run since they maintain the the data of the requested recordings.

Correct. As I stated, the drives are never going to be idle. It's a DVR, not a desktop PC.

[P Smith]

Sure, not a desktop PC, but multimedia PC with sat tuners ;)

[JHL]

Even if it will never be completely idle there are still opportunities to save power.
If they slow the drive down from 7200RPM to 4200RPM, power consumption for the drive should drop by at least 50%. If you are using an external drive, they should definitely spin down the internal one.

I think anything that reduces heat and noise from the DVR is a good thing.

John

[rcoleman111]

Shutting down the internal drive would certainly be possible, but with all the other issues, it probably isn't very high on the list of priorities. Right now I'm just glad they enabled the use of external drives. And I would rather see them make progress on stabilizing these machines than make modest improvements in power consumption.

[texboy]

Has anyone tried putting the esata unit into a computer to see whats on the drive after they had record a few shows to it?
You know to look at files structures and folder arrangements.

[P Smith]

If don't aware - there is bad karma spelled on those disks by developers; if you'll know it in details your mojo will have same problems as HR2O today, like corrupted/lost records, etc !
:D

[Schmedley]

Even if it will never be completely idle there are still opportunities to save power.
If they slow the drive down from 7200RPM to 4200RPM, power consumption for the drive should drop by at least 50%. If you are using an external drive, they should definitely spin down the internal one.

I think anything that reduces heat and noise from the DVR is a good thing.

John

I will have to give credit to "jedster" who touted me to purchase the Samsung drives. (refer to his early post). When asked, Thecus did NOT recommend the drives since they had not tested this model, Samsung did not respond but I noted one of the other Samsung drives were tested OK. I gambled and won. The Samsung drives do not spin all of the 166 platters therefore they are really quiet. The HR-20 drive does not spin. I have an overhead projector and the drives are just behind me and I still never hear any noise from them. Yes, they are on 24/7, a small price to pay for tons of storage. :hurah:

Regarding reliability, I did have to do one reset (the button) with out any problems.

[yeungp]

Two Maxtor 500 GB (Maxline Pro 500 to be exact) SATA drives in a Thecus N2050 enclosure works.

unplugged the HR20
connected the eSATA cable btwn the Thecus and the HR20
powered up the Thecus
Plugged in the HR20
HR20 blue lights started swirling
HR20 recognized the Thecus and started formatting it(I am unsure how long this took, because I left to eat lunch and came back 40 minutes later - with the lights still spinning). I pressed the power on button for the HR20 and found my playlist empty(and my favorites missing) so I was ready to go.

FWIW, I initially failed to get the Thecus formatted/recognized when I powered on the HR20(pressing the power button within a minute of plugging the HR20 into the power strip) without waiting for the blue lights to start swirling.

The Thecus enclosure is as advertised by other posters. Decent plastic construction, and pretty quiet. Very easy to install.(10 minutes? My wife could probably do it) The fan adds a bit of noise, but the hard drive clicking is barely noticeable - much quieter than the internal hard drive clicking noise - perhaps 90% quieter - and that's pretty important to me because the HR20 is in my bedroom. The fan is pretty small - so I'm unsure how hot the maxtors are going to get. I may have to either add a larger fan and/or create better airflow by creating more vents. I hope I don't end up regretting not getting an aluminum enclosure, but I got the Thecus because others have reported that it was very quiet. Oh, I really didn't like the power connector to the Thecus. It is very loose and will slip out very easily.

From trustedreviews.com:
One problem we found with the N2100 that also applies to the N2050, is cooling. The appliance has a small fan at the rear but with no vents in the casing there is no way to create an air flow and without any monitoring utilities you can’t tell just how hot the drives are getting are getting. We did find with the N2100 that a pair of Maxtor DiamondMax drives were holding at around 50ºC whilst the two WD2500JS drives we also used here settled at a more comfortable 42ºC.

[swandersen]

Installed two 750GB Seagate SATA drives into enclosure. Plugged into HR20. Took a risk and did this 15 minutes before the start of the Bears game. Took less then 5 minutes for HR20 to configure drives and start using. I quickly put programming back in to do list and watched both NFC and AFC games while recording them as well as other programs. Running 11B.

No problems whatsoever, Had 2 programs recording from 2PM CT until midnight - both OTA and MPEG4.

The Thecus 2050 is very nice looking and its blue lights compliment the HR20. After 10hrs of dual program recording it was not noticeably "hot" although I have a cabinet fan coincidently right behind the unit.

You must use 2 drives with the Thecus 2050 as it will only run Raid I or stripping. I am running Raid 1.

Another observation is that with the speed of the 750GB drives and their 16MB buffers and the engineering of the Thecus unit the "green" activity lights that light when unit is writing are NOT constantly on even when recording two programs. It should also be noted that while the product discription on www.thecus.com says it only supports 500GB drives the "specification" page says 500GB "and higher". The 750's are working fine.

Did notice some audio drops for a second or two during playback while recording another show. I think this is a general known problem even with 11B.

Regards,

[swandersen]

so the current way for the setup to work is for:
when turning off the hd receiver the esata hard drive needs to be turned off first or the same time or the other way around?

and for when turning on the receiver, does the esata hard drive need to be turned on first or second or the same time?

I assume you mean for maintenance or initial setup:

ON: Drives ON first then HR20
OFF: HR20 off first then drives.

However, under normal use do not turn off the drives even if you turn off the HR20 otherwise you won't have disks for recording!

[hdtvfan0001]

Since I have not yet had the chance to test this one last thing myself....I'm wondering if anyone else has had the chance to test their eSata setup with the latest 11B firmware Release Candidate?

[swandersen]

I guess I will answer my own post:


RE Thecus N2050 and 2 Samsung HD501LJ

The combination was installed, RAID-0, blue lights came on, connected SATA cable to Direct tv HR-20 700.

One very quiet Terabyte!

Four hours, all worked perfectly- I will edit this post if anything changes.

Ty P. Smith for the correction, I guess I was just "Raving" about the outcome.

Raid 1 cuts disk space by one half.

RAID 1 is mirroring (all data is written to each drive simultaneosly) and therefore the 1 terabyte you think you have is 500 GB. The you have less the 50Gb-100GB the HR20 needs so your terebyte has only netted you 100GB compared to the 300GB in the HR20.

RAID 0 is where data is written across the 2 drives and give you full capacity but no redundancy.

In data centers, RAID 1 (mirror) is used for safety for if you lose one drive the unit keeps working without intervention and all the data is there. Raid 0is used typically for performance as the data is being written to two drives at the same time.

I went with 750GB drives mirrored (Raid 1) so I netted 350GB more than the Hr20 (750GB less 100GB for HR2=650GB). I have the Bears NFC game to save for sometime - and the Super Bowl!!!


Regards,

[swandersen]

Since I have not yet had the chance to test this one last thing myself....I'm wondering if anyone else has had the chance to test their eSata setup with the latest 11B firmware Release Candidate?

See my posts on this page. The Thecus with the 750GB Seagates I am running are with 11B.

Regards,

[hdtvfan0001]

See my posts on this page. The Thecus with the 750GB Seagates I am running are with 11B.

Regards,
Thank you. Your information is encouraging that the eSata continues to work well with the new update. I'm hoping to get to test it as well soon.