[Starchy77]

I am a newbie to the HR21 receivers, I just got 2 of them installed on Saturday (1 with network connection 1 without for now). On Sunday, I hooked up a 1TB WD drive in the MX-100 enclosure. I used the esata cable that came with the enclosure and it seemed to seat well into the HR21. I waited to set up any recordings or season passes until I had the new drive hooked up. The drive is whisper quiet (though I listened closely next to it to hear the drive spin up). My question is how do I know that it is working? I looked in the system info and some other places but I couldn't see any references to the size of the drive. I recorded a few things overnight, so I guess I could disconnect it when I get home and see if the recordings are still there, but that is a PITA and I am hoping there is somewhere that I can see this in the software.

BTW - I am very impressed with the new unit so far. I turned the blue ring lights off right away (they are way too bright), and navigating through the guide seems to be 10X faster then my HR10-250 ever was. Not sure why people are complaining about the speed of the unit, maybe when the drive is filled up with some recordings it will slow down? My only issue so far is the amount of time it takes to fill up the guide data, hopefully I can see more of what is on for the next week or so tonight so I can set up more recordings!

 

[Michael D'Angelo]

The only way to really tell if it is connected and working is to disconnect it and reboot to the internal drive. Then record a few minutes of something and leave it on the internal drive. Then add the eSATA drive back in and boot up. If that short recording is not showing than it is working.

 

[hasan]

I am a newbie to the HR21 receivers, I just got 2 of them installed on Saturday (1 with network connection 1 without for now). On Sunday, I hooked up a 1TB WD drive in the MX-100 enclosure. I used the esata cable that came with the enclosure and it seemed to seat well into the HR21. I waited to set up any recordings or season passes until I had the new drive hooked up. The drive is whisper quiet (though I listened closely next to it to hear the drive spin up). My question is how do I know that it is working? I looked in the system info and some other places but I couldn't see any references to the size of the drive. I recorded a few things overnight, so I guess I could disconnect it when I get home and see if the recordings are still there, but that is a PITA and I am hoping there is somewhere that I can see this in the software.

BTW - I am very impressed with the new unit so far. I turned the blue ring lights off right away (they are way too bright), and navigating through the guide seems to be 10X faster then my HR10-250 ever was. Not sure why people are complaining about the speed of the unit, maybe when the drive is filled up with some recordings it will slow down? My only issue so far is the amount of time it takes to fill up the guide data, hopefully I can see more of what is on for the next week or so tonight so I can set up more recordings!

Record something longish and write down the pre and post percentage use of the drive...that will give an approximation of drive size. I've done it many times and it always comes out pretty close to actual drive size. You could also look at drive activity light if it is available (on the external)...on my FAP750 on my HR20-700, I can see HD activity on the diffused LED front panel.

 

[Starchy77]

Thanks for the replies, I guess I will just have to disconnect it when I get home and see if the stuff I recorded last night still exists on the internal drive.... I forgot to mention that I disconnected the LED on my external enclosure right away as well. I hate having bright lights when I am trying to watch my TV, so I thought ahead on that one as I don't want to pull the drive apart again! I was just hoping to have a screen somewhere to show me the drive size, or an estimate on the amount of recording time left!

 

[Indiana627]

Starchy77 -

Which WD drive did you use if you don't mind me asking? I've already got the same enclosure and am now getting ready to buy a 1 TB drive for it and am curious to know which drive you chose and why? Thanks.

 

[Starchy77]

Starchy77 -

Which WD drive did you use if you don't mind me asking? I've already got the same enclosure and am now getting ready to buy a 1 TB drive for it and am curious to know which drive you chose and why? Thanks.

Here is a link to the drive that I purchased:

http://www.memorylabs.net/wedihdwd31tb.html

They had free shipping and got the drive out pretty quickly. I bought this drive on the recommendations of people here..... Typically I like to buy Seagate drives, and with larger cache on them, for my computers as I have had really good luck with them. I only bought this on because of the recommendations of people here. So far it is very quiet, and when I get home tonight I will verify that it is working (then I will be very happy!).

 

[Indiana627]

That's one I was looking at too. Or their WD10EVCS model.

http://westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=388

 

[Starchy77]

That's one I was looking at too. Or their WD10EVCS model.

http://westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=388

Yeah, I think the drive you picked looks like a better option. I just went with the one I got because it was cheaper and it seems like lots of people on here have had good luck with it. Personally, I'm not much of a fan of the WD drives at all.... I almost went with a Hitachi drive instead. I've only had a couple of them, but when I used to work at IBM Hitachi was just starting to make the drives for their servers, so I am guessing they are pretty reliable as well.

Good luck in whatever you choose!

 

[Starchy77]

OK, so I didn't have a chance to pull the drive and restart yesterday, but I did figure that I have about 18-20 hours of MPEG-4 HD recordings and about 10 hours of SD recordings on the drive. The system is telling me that my drive is about 90% free. Does this sound like about 1 TB of storage to you guys?

 

[Indiana627]

Yes, the internal HR2* drive only holds about 50 hours of MPEG4 HD, so if your 18-20 hours were on it, you'd be at about 60% free.

 

[Starchy77]

Yes, the internal HR2* drive only holds about 50 hours of MPEG4 HD, so if your 18-20 hours were on it, you'd be at about 60% free.

Thanks IndY! I thought it seemed like too much for the internal drive, and I am now very happy with me ESATA drive!

 

[pikespeakhiker]

I went with the antec case and the WD 1TB black (not green). The drive and enclosure are whisper quiet. I also bought an esata cable because the included was not long enough.

I also have a second HR21 that is not networked and not using esata. It is MUCH faster than the other and doesn't exhibit many of the HR21 complaints here. I disabled networking on the first and it was still slow, pause-y, laggy, takes forever to delete shows, etc. I wonder if anybody has gathered data on whether or not there is a predominance of *-y issues when esata is involved or not. I have looked through many threads, but don't see a summary.