[northerndude]

I started to read these forums months ago and everyone has their own opinion. A lot of information to take in to make a simple choice. I am looking to add extra space to my HD DVR HR20-100. So, I'm on a $100 budget or so. Ok, well I will just go buy a FreeAgent Pro, but 2 problems. 1) I cant add more space later or I will loose all my data. 2) Some of you guys say that its not made for 24/7 use (please don't hijack this thread arguing this out). Ok, So I thought about getting a raid system. Multiple hard drives right? Problem is I can't buy all those hard drives right now. Is there a cheap raid controller that I can just add one drive to now and later add more, kinda like a single drive controller temporarily. Or will I need a minimum of two drives. If so can I just add more drives later or will I loose that data also. If thats true can I image the raid from the drives, install the new drives, format, then copy the data back over.

Basically I'm looking for the best way to go from small to big without having to throw away extra drives or controllers or cables. I know what I'm wanting is magical but I figured if I put all those conversations from all those threads together, we might come up with a solution for the typical person to always add more and more and more space.

 

[spartanstew]

The best solution is to save your money until you have enough to buy 1TB.

 

[CCarncross]

Your $100 budget kinda come close to killing the whole deal. Especially if want to go raid. So lets leave raid out of it. A decent 500GB drive is about $70-$80, a good single drive eSATA enclosure(ANTEC MX-1) is about $35 when they are on sale. I highly recommend staying away from plug and play drives like the FAP's, since they have no cooling...

 

[finaldiet]

The least you should go is 750. I think they can be had for $199 or least. 1TB is better. The receiver itself uses some of the drive and not much to gain from 500 hard drive being added. I'm waiting to get a 1TB and replace my 750 and connect it to wifes receiver.

 

[hdtvfan0001]

There are plenty of posts on this site which indicate that there are "issues" with the FreeAgent Pro device being used for eSata and the HD DVR's.

If you do a search under FreeAgent, you'll find them.

In any case, with a $100 budget, you're pretty much out of luck. The best deals I've seen anyplace on 500GB drives (without a housing) is $99, and those are rare. Otherwise, it'll take about $150 or more to get something that works well, reliably, and adds storage of value.

In terms of "putting heads together on this topic - if you do a search under "eSata", you'll find a very lengthy thread with tons of information on success stories with specific devices for this purpose. Another new thread now would seem counter-productive.

 

[Dolfid]

The best solution is to save your money until you have enough to buy 1TB.

An even a better solution is for Directv to reconfigure the eSata hookup for additional storage to be added to the internal, not to replace it and make it useless! :sure:

 

[hdtvfan0001]

An even a better solution is for Directv to reconfigure the eSata hookup for additional storage to be added to the internal, not to replace it and make it useless! :sure:

That one's been in the suggestion box for a year already. As storage prices keep coming down, the incentive to spend alot of effort along those lines diminishes each month.

I could have recently picked up a 1TB drive recently that is compatible for under $180. Adding the base 320MB in the HRx series DVR's would be nominal compared to the effort to re-write the buffer code.

 

[Ken S]

That one's been in the suggestion box for a year already. As storage prices keep coming down, the incentive to spend alot of effort along those lines diminishes each month.

I could have recently picked up a 1TB drive recently that is compatible for under $180. Adding the base 320MB in the HRx series DVR's would be nominal compared to the effort to re-write the buffer code.

buffer code?

On another note DirecTV has hinted at new models coming with larger HDs in the future. I think they'll wait until the competition starts doing the same. Most are still using smaller drives than the HR2x series.

 

[Dolfid]

That one's been in the suggestion box for a year already. As storage prices keep coming down, the incentive to spend alot of effort along those lines diminishes each month.

I could have recently picked up a 1TB drive recently that is compatible for under $180. Adding the base 320MB in the HRx series DVR's would be nominal compared to the effort to re-write the buffer code.

I have to agree with you if it means Directv programmers have to rewrite buffer code - don't think they'd be capable based on what we see with the firmware updates and the trial and error process they use...

 

[CCarncross]

An even a better solution is for Directv to reconfigure the eSata hookup for additional storage to be added to the internal, not to replace it and make it useless! :sure:

:beatdeadhorse:

 

[hdtvfan0001]

buffer code?

Uh...yes...buffer code...how the DVR's real-time 90-minute buffer would handle content between multiple drives in combination....

On another note DirecTV has hinted at new models coming with larger HDs in the future. I think they'll wait until the competition starts doing the same.

I suspect it also has to do with cost - now that 500GB drives can be publically bought for $99, perhaps manufacturing costs can be absorbed with a bigger drive in the DVR at the current overall production price.

 

[Ken S]

Uh...yes...buffer code...how the DVR's real-time 90-minute buffer would handle content between multiple drives in combination....

I suspect it also has to do with cost - now that 500GB drives can be publically bought for $99, perhaps manufacturing costs can be absorbed with a bigger drive in the DVR at the current overall production price.

If they wanted to span multiple disks I doubt very much they would mess with the "buffer code" They would most likely implement some variant of JBOD in the diskhandling routines. The other logical choice is to designate one drive as archival and the other as the live system. I think that's how Dish is doing it with their extra drives.

With all of the bugs in the HR2x series it would probably be better for everyone if they didn't attempt either and just increased the size of the drive or offered the Pro version with larger drives to those that want/need them.

 

[Sixto]

Was gonna post yesterday but there was the $100 limit and the requirement for RAID on the fly so didn't ...

Otherwise, my one recommendation always is Antec MX-1 and Seagate DB35. Have three of them running non-stop for over a year.

Can now pick up the 750GB DB35 (ST3750840SCE) for about $150.

 

[GregLee]

Is there a cheap raid controller that I can just add one drive to now and later add more, kinda like a single drive controller temporarily.

I don't know, but there could be. The software raid on Linux can be set up like this, so you can add more raid drives later. And of course when a drive breaks, you can replace it, and over the course of a day or so, the new drive will be integrated into the raid array automatically. Maybe someone who knows about hardware raid will answer your question.

 

[Rob-NovA]

Originally Posted by hdtvfan0001
Uh...yes...buffer code...how the DVR's real-time 90-minute buffer would handle content between multiple drives in combination....

I suspect it also has to do with cost - now that 500GB drives can be publically bought for $99, perhaps manufacturing costs can be absorbed with a bigger drive in the DVR at the current overall production price.

If they wanted to span multiple disks I doubt very much they would mess with the "buffer code" They would most likely implement some variant of JBOD in the diskhandling routines. The other logical choice is to designate one drive as archival and the other as the live system. I think that's how Dish is doing it with their extra drives.

With all of the bugs in the HR2x series it would probably be better for everyone if they didn't attempt either and just increased the size of the drive or offered the Pro version with larger drives to those that want/need them.

I don't think that striping across multiple disks would be a good option for a "consumer" grade piece of electronics, especially when one of the volumes is connected by an external connector and power. Too many areas for corruption of the volume, error-handling, etc. Ken is probably on the right track in treating the legacy internal drive as a archive drive. Perhaps D* could use it for system code, Movies Now! or DoD space, etc. Expecting to be able to address all the usable space (outside of the D* partitions) on both drives would be problematic, to say the least.

 

[DarinC]

Uh...yes...buffer code...how the DVR's real-time 90-minute buffer would handle content between multiple drives in combination....

The buffer shouldn't care WHERE it is being stored any more than any other recording. But the best answer, in my eyes, would be for them to put the buffers and "reserved" space in a separate partition on the internal drive (if it's not a separate partition already), with the user space in another partition. If you add an external drive, either span it to the internal user partition, or just replace the internal user space partition. That way, people won't b*tch about things like Movies Now taking up "their" space... whatever extra storage they bought would be 100% used for their recordings.

All that being said, to the OP, if you don't mind busting your budget a bit, there is a pretty decent deal right now on an external 1TB drive... $175 for a 1TB external drive from Buy.com, less a 5% off coupon brings it to $166, free shipping, and not tax in most cases. You may also be able to get 1-2% cashback by initiating the purchase through places like the LiveSearch Cashback site, ebates, fatwallet, etc. If you've already bought something at buy.com, you may have to set up a new account to use the coupon.

That drive doesn't have a fan, but all recent reports show it to be using a WD GP drive, and say that it runs very cool. It's an aluminum enclosure, so it shouldn't be too hard to tell by touch if it's running hot. Worse case, that's STILL a great price for a 1TB Greenpower drive, so you can replace the enclosure with an actively cooled one when you find a good deal on one. The GP drives are frequently specifically recommended for use with the HR2x, and there are several reports of people using this exact external drive with the HR2x and other DVRs successfully.

I just ordered one of these, should be here Monday. My intent was to get a 750GB drive, as those are typically the best $$/GB right now. But the best deals on them are $100-110, and even then, generally not that cheap for a GP drive. By the time you add an enclosure and tax/shipping, the 1TB was about the same price. I'll report back once I've added it.

 

[DarinC]

Maybe someone who knows about hardware raid will answer your question.

There are nice external RAID enclosures that can handle everything in their own hardware, but the encosures themselves are typicaly over the OPs budget before even adding drives. There are cheap RAID controllers, but they generally aren't true HW RAID... they require drivers to be loaded that allows some of the work to be handled by the host... not an option for something like a DVR.

 

[spartanstew]

An even a better solution is for Directv to reconfigure the eSata hookup for additional storage to be added to the internal, not to replace it and make it useless! :sure:

Obviously you're confusing solution with suggestion.

 

[Thaedron]

An even a better solution is for Directv to reconfigure the eSata hookup for additional storage to be added to the internal, not to replace it and make it useless! :sure:

IMO an even better solution than that is for DirecTV to allow the eSATA drive to work on any HD DVR that is registered on my account. If that were possible, I'd jump on a TB+ RAID setup and start loading that up with recordings to be the "base" of my MRV setup (once we get MRV). Until then, content spread across multiple drive spindles for me.

 

[harsh]

I cant add more space later or I will loose all my data.

You won't lose your data, you just won't have immediate access to it without changing active drives.

At this time, there is no solution to adding storage; only new storage.