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eSATA - DIRECTV recommended list

576K views 4K replies 404 participants last post by  mjfoxtrot 
#1 ·
Can I increase the recording capacity of my DVR?

For folks that are adding HDD capacity to their receiverss, DIRECTV has added the following FAQ to their web page:

DIRECTV.com
Yes, you can increase the recording capacity of your DVR or HD DVR simply by connecting an external hard drive with greater storage than the receiver's internal hard drive.

First, make sure you have a compatible receiver. Check the model number inside the small door located on bottom right corner of the front of the receiver. The model number should read either R22 (DIRECTV Plus® DVR) or HR20 or above (DIRECTV Plus® HD DVR).

You'll need an external hard drive that uses an eSATA connection. The following hard drive models are recommended:

  • Western Digital 500GB (model WDG1S5000)
  • Seagate 500GB (model ST30500SCA109-RK)
  • Western Digital 1TB (model WDG1S10000)
  • [STRIKE]Seagate 1TB (model ST31000SCA109-RK)[/STRIKE]

Follow these steps to connect the external hard drive:

  1. Turn off your receiver by unplugging the power cord. (Do not rely on the power button.)
  2. Look for the port on the back of your receiver labeled SATA.
  3. Connect the eSATA hard drive with an eSATA cable. Make sure the cable is firmly connected on both ends.
  4. Turn on the eSATA hard drive and give it several seconds to spin up to speed.
  5. Plug in the power chord of your receiver.

When your receiver reboots, it will automatically see the newly-connected hard drive. The hard drive inside your receiver will be disabled.

You now have expanded recording capacity. With a 1TB hard drive, you can record up to 200 hours of HD programming.

Please note: We offer this tip because we want to help you get the most out of your DIRECTV experience. It is recommended for advanced users who are comfortable working with electronic hardware. This modification of your DIRECTV system is not officially supported by DIRECTV.
 
#2,952 ·
RunnerFL said:
Faith... Seriously though, the unit formatted it to use the entire space. It killed your disk label, partition, etc.
OK, cool. I was worried since the PC initialization created two partitions that it would only see and use one of them.

Amazing how fast the initialization occurred on the Genie - I expected at least 1 minute of "preparing external drive" or whatever it says, but if I hadn't been watching. I would have missed the formatting message.
 
#2,953 ·
fudpucker said:
OK, cool. I was worried since the PC initialization created two partitions that it would only see and use one of them.

Amazing how fast the initialization occurred on the Genie - I expected at least 1 minute of "preparing external drive" or whatever it says, but if I hadn't been watching. I would have missed the formatting message.
Linux partitions and formats faster than Winslows... :)
 
#2,962 ·
fudpucker said:
Does anyone have a rough estimate of how much a 1 hour HD show (such as a network show, not a 1080i movie) takes up in terms of space on the HDD? Want to do a rough estimate to see if the HR44 is seeing all 3 T of my external drive,

Thanks,
In this thread somewhere (you will need to search for something like recording time or capacity), some numbers were published (I know, cuz I submitted them). It's been so long, I'm not sure I can recall correctly, but here's the best guess from my memory:

A 2 TB drive recording mpeg-4 high def from DirecTV will yield between 400 and 450 hours of recording time...that's what is banging around in the mush that used to be my memory.
 
#2,968 ·
fudpucker said:
Does anyone have a rough estimate of how much a 1 hour HD show (such as a network show, not a 1080i movie) takes up in terms of space on the HDD? Want to do a rough estimate to see if the HR44 is seeing all 3 T of my external drive,

Thanks,
Very quick/rough count thru "list", I've got just over 150hrs on a 3TB PURX and seeing 83% free space right now. Pretty sure it's all HD recordings as well.
 
#2,971 ·
P Smith said:
hehehe ... have you formatted any EXT3 or EXT4 multipartitons 2 or 4 TB drive by much powerful PC with Linux ? and it took 10 seconds ? BS, Mr. .... nothing else.
As a matter of fact I have. I've formatted more EXT4 drives than you've formatted drives in your lifetime. It takes nearly no time at all. Formatting XFS is even faster.
 
#2,973 ·
Turns out my memory was pretty good. I just went through and calculated my 2 TB drive, with all mpeg-4 HD recordings:

73 hours recorded, 18% used

73/(0.18) = 405 hours total capacity for 2 TB

2048 gB / 405 hours = 5 gB per hour

All of this will vary by program material, of course, but should get us in the ballpark. I've done this calculation on multiple drives and multiple D* boxes and pretty much consistently gotten between 400 and 450 hours per 2 TB drive.
 
#2,974 ·
hasan said:
Turns out my memory was pretty good. I just went through and calculated my 2 TB drive, with all mpeg-4 HD recordings:

73 hours recorded, 18% used

73/(0.18) = 405 hours total capacity for 2 TB

2048 gB / 405 hours = 5 gB per hour

All of this will vary by program material, of course, but should get us in the ballpark. I've done this calculation on multiple drives and multiple D* boxes and pretty much consistently gotten between 400 and 450 hours per 2 TB drive.
Keep in mind that DIRECTV auto-pads 2 minutes and 30 second per recording, where the user did not manually add padding, so that may change the calculations above if that auto-padding wasn't included in the "73 hours". (Ex: Looking at a playlist of 24 one-hour recordings, the DVR is actually storing 25 hours of recordings, due to the auto-padding.)
 
#2,975 ·
Folin said:
Very quick/rough count thru "list", I've got just over 150hrs on a 3TB PURX and seeing 83% free space right now. Pretty sure it's all HD recordings as well.
As Inkahauts said it varies with the content. When the 20-700s came out I was getting about 50 hours of recordings on some of them. They weren't rated for anywhere near that. I don't remember what the rating was. In any event, it's all about the content. I don't keep any of my 2TB units anywhere near full, so I haven't given much thought to these questions in years.

Rich
 
#2,976 ·
inkahauts said:
Genes only are unlimited. (Others are still 2tb and will likely never change) Well at least someone got it to take 12 TB at least an wasn't an issue. So seems unlimited.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
"Someone" reached that point and quickly backed off. One of our saner members. He was just testing.

Rich
 
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