[gregries]

I'm trying to put together an eSATA RAID1 disk system for my new HR21. I've used an AMS DS-312 enclosure, 2 * Seagate DB35.3 750GB SATA 3Gb/s disks, and a 2m SIIG eSATA cable (though I've also tried the cable that came with the enclosure). The DS-312 uses a SIL 5744 chip, which is the same chip that is in the DS3RPRO that some folks have working. (So I thought this solution would have a good chance of working also.) I don't use any jumpers on the disks, so they are in 3Gb/s mode. The DS-312 also runs 3Gb/s on the eSATA port.

So, I restart the HR21, and disconnect power when the lights go out. I connect the eSATA and power up the DS-312. A short delay after the drive lights indicate they are up to speed, I reconnect power to the HR21. Then the "Almost there...a few seconds more" (yeah, right) screen comes up. During this screen, the DS-312's drive-activity LEDs light up 4 times, like this:

...about 5 seconds go by...
both drive activity LED's flash once (about .5 seconds long)
(a second later, I can hear the internal drive start up)
...another 5ish seconds go by...
both drive activity LED's flicker for about 1 second
...another 5ish seconds go by...
both drive activity LED's flash once (about .5 seconds long)
...another 5ish seconds go by...
both drive activity LED's flash once (about .5 seconds long)
(the internal drive starts making lots of seek noise)
(after a short delay, the screen switches to the "step one of two" screen)

I've tried a 2m SIIG cable and the 1m cable that came with the enclosure. Both seem to fit perfectly in the HR21 and DS-312, and both behave as described above. I've also tried reversing both cables, though both ends are identical.

I have connected the enclosure to my PC, though I can only do so with USB. :-( So, I cannot verify the eSATA is working this way. Ignoring that, the rest of the functionality works perfectly. The PC shows a 698GB RAID1 disk. I can partition it, format it, and check for errors (finding none). The PC likes it via USB.

(EDIT: bogus stuff about firmware deleted. The box already has the latest firmware for the DS-312.)

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? At this point, I'm thinking about moving to a DS3RPRO since someone has that one working, and it is almost the same feature-wise. It seems like the eSATA connection is working, due to the LED flashes, but there's no way to be sure. I wish the HR21 gave some feedback on what was going on...

Greg

 

[Riot Nrrrd™]

I've never heard of the DS-312 and can't even find any Web pages on it in Google. References?

I agree with you about the lack of feedback. To me, the fact that after 2 years there is no way to migrate your recordings/settings from the internal drive to a newly-attached eSATA drive is beyond retarded. I was even going to start a separate thread about this very issue this weekend. That the HR21 can't even put up a dialog box - "New external eSATA drive detected", "Initializing..." - and an error message in your case, given your results - is ridiculous. C'mon DirecTV! You put in the port, now fully support it!

 

[RunnerFL]

I agree with you about the lack of feedback. To me, the fact that after 2 years there is no way to migrate your recordings/settings from the internal drive to a newly-attached eSATA drive is beyond retarded. I was even going to start a separate thread about this very issue this weekend. That the HR21 can't even put up a dialog box - "New external eSATA drive detected", "Initializing..." - and an error message in your case, given your results - is ridiculous. C'mon DirecTV! You put in the port, now fully support it!

DirecTV initially had no plans to give us the eSATA capability as soon as they did however due to popular demand they did. When they did turn on eSATA they made it perfectly clear that they enabled it but will not support it or add any features in the near future. So you get what you get until they decide, if they decide, to give us more eSATA features.

 

[hasan]

Things are somewhere between "aw come on" and a fully functioning eSATA port. There are many, many drives that work as long as you use the Antec MX-1 enclosure. Even the notorious FAP 750 will work with the HR21 if and only if you pull the drive and use it with the MX-1. There is obviously a compatibility issue between the HR21 series and some interfaces, particularly the FAP series.

Remember all the compatibility issues with HDMI early on? Same process, just a much lower priority given the number of users the feature affects.

So, at this stage of development, for the HR21 series get an MX-1 enclosure for any compatible drive (and there are many), and have fun.

To say there is no support for eSATA on the HR21 is neither fair nor accurate. There is limited support, it does work within those limits, and works very well, and the support is not all that limited in terms of drive type or even size, as long as one uses the Antec MX-1 enclosure.

If the goal is to get eSATA working on an HR21, it is easily obtainable. If the goal is to get true plug and play with any eSATA drive/enclosure, then yes, we are very far from it.

If one wants and needs eSATA for the HR21, it's there and not expensive. Lots of people have done a ton of experimenting (and paid the price) to find the "solution" to eSATA on the HR21 series. We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water and not take advantage of all the hard work and money people invested in making eSATA practical for HR21 users.

It's far from perfect, but choosing the right drive and especially the MX-1 enclosure is a one-step, and virtually 100% successful solution to those who need eSATA on the HR21.

Consider priorities. How long have we been fighting (with D*'s active and considerably efforts) to get Media Share to function? It is still limping along. The fact that eSATA is attainable, with stability in the face of it being low priority says a lot about the efforts others have gone through to make it so, and those truly in need have a solution at hand.

 

[Riot Nrrrd™]

Consider priorities. How long have we been fighting (with D*'s active and considerably efforts) to get Media Share to function? It is still limping along. The fact that eSATA is attainable, with stability in the face of it being low priority says a lot about the efforts others have gone through to make it so, and those truly in need have a solution at hand.

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with this.

Putting a port on a consumer device and maintaining after 2 years that it's "just there" and not fully supported is ludicrous. Support the hardware you ship, or pull the port off of successive generations of the hardware if you aren't going to support it.

The only way I've seen to migrate the internal drive's recordings to the external eSATA is to have a desktop PC with room for 2 internal SATA disks with SATA data cable & power cable available to the HR's internal drive (either by stretching to reach the HR or taking out the drive entirely from the HR, which voids the warranty and is not advisable).

Well, that doesn't work too well for those of us with a Mac laptop, now does it?

I am sorry to thread hijack but my main issue isn't the original poster's - gregries is a far more basic "Gee I plugged this in and it doesn't work" dilemma - it's the fact that as of now, the eSATA port is nothing more than a giant toggle switch. I know enough about Linux (I am a Systems Programmer and admin over 100 Linux boxes daily) to know that combining the internal with the eSATA into one mondo volume isn't really feasible, but the fact that there are no migration tools at all is absurd. :nono2:

You plug in a new, fresh eSATA drive. What should happen then? What happened to gregries? No on-screen feedback at all?

Why not

"New external drive detected. Initialize? [Yes] [No] [Ignore]"
"Initializing..."
"Initialization complete. Migrate recordings to external drive? [Yes] [No]"
"Migrating recordings. Please wait..."
"Migration complete. Restarting..." (and it either resets or gets to the "Step one of two" screen and continues)

We all know that the internal drive is formatted into 3 partitions, and the 3rd one contains the "raw" recordings.

How hard would it be for D* to initialize the external eSATA as a single partition (XFS volume) and move all the recordings over to it, and use it as the partition instead of the 3rd internal one from that point onwards?

 

[gregries]

Yeah, the DS-312 is hard to find even on AMS's own site. They also call it the "VENUS eS2". You can find info on it with a search on DS-312SUES.

I understand the eSATA isn't a supported feature at this time. I hope D*TV sees fit to dedicate a little bit more time to it, though, and at least provide some feedback messages, as suggested by Riot Nrrrd™. It could go a long way toward helping me diagnose problems myself, since this non-feature is self supported. (Well, plus the help of other users. But even if they don't do anything more, I'm glad they turned the port on. It gives me the chance of making RAID1 recordings even if I have to beat the HR21 with a hammer to get it to work.
(Uh, a hammer of loving caresses that would in no way violate the lease agreement, ahem.)

Yeah, I read all 18 pages of the working configurations thread before putting together my stuff. The MX1 is out for me because I badly want a RAID1 configuration to get some data protection. I've lost too many recordings to disk errors on the HDTivos. Like I said, I'll try the DS3RPRO next, since some folks have that exact model working. It just seemed like the DS-312 I've got would work since it is so similar to the DS3RPRO...

(Rant play) I actually hate all the enclosures out there (that I've been able to find). They are poorly designed for cooling. (Many are "good enough", granted, if you don't mind the noise...) For some reason, they think that the enclosure must have no more than 0.001" inches of clearance around the disks on all sides, and that the fan intake must be at least half blocked to work effectively. I've started thinking that, once I get a working system cobbled together, I may take all the electronics out of the enclosure and transplant them into something with about twice the volume running a quiet 120mm cooling fan instead of the 60mm whiners. There's no reason to hear the fan on any of these enclosures, and no reason the circuit boards, cables, and every other gosh darn thing inside the box should be blocking the fan intake to the maximum degree possible. (Rant pause)

Greg

 

[Riot Nrrrd™]

Yeah, the DS-312 is hard to find even on AMS's own site. They also call it the "VENUS eS2". You can find info on it with a search on DS-312SUES.

How bizarre. It just looks like the DS3RPRO in a different form factor.

No idea why it won't work for you. But I have a 2x1TB DS3RPRO (with 2 WD "Green" drives inside) sitting here raring to go, so I hope the same fate doesn't befall me! :eek2: