[webdeck]

I have an HR21-700 hooked up to an eSATA drive. The DVR started acting up, losing satellite signal every 3 days or so on one of the tuners. I swapped the cables, and the same tuner still had problems, so DirecTV sent someone out to replace it today.

They replaced it with an HR21-200. They hooked up the eSATA drive. All of the recordings show up on the recording list; however, none of them will play. When I try to play them, I get a gray screen and the message "Searching for authorized content".

Is there any way to preserve my recordings?

Thanks,
-Mike

 

[trh]

From what I've read here, no.

From another eSATA thread

"Recordings are TIED to the unit that it was connected to. So you can't record on an eSATA drive on one HR20 and take it to another"

(click here for thread)

 

[spartanstew]

trh is correct.

If you still have the other DVR, you can hook it up and try to watch some of the shows, but you won't be able to watch them on the new one.

 

[jdspencer]

In this case, I would think that DirecTV should have a method by which the eSata drive can be married to the new unit.

 

[webdeck]

In this case, I would think that DirecTV should have a method by which the eSata drive can be married to the new unit.

That's what I would hope for, given that they're the ones that replaced the DVR.

Thanks for all the quick responses.

 

[spartanstew]

In this case, I would think that DirecTV should have a method by which the eSata drive can be married to the new unit.

Adding a drive is an unsupported, undocumented and unadvertised feature of the D* DVR's.

If it was an official advertised feature, I'd agree with you, but it's not. Anyone attempting to add a drive should be well aware of the risks and limitations before doing it.