Switching an external drive from my 622 to a new 722?

You should not have any trouble. It should connect to the new unit after it is activated and receives your household key.

ChuckA said:

You should not have any trouble. It should connect to the new unit after it is activated and receives your household key.

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Thanks.

I would verify that the Household Keys match before you connect the EHD.

TulsaOK said:

I would verify that the Household Keys match before you connect the EHD.

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Can you expand on that a little bit?? I have also have a 722 coming to replace my 622. Should I not hook up the EHD while I'm setting everything else up intially? How do I verify the household keys match?

You do not want to hook up the EHD until after the Household keys have been changed to match. Otherwise you could end up using two moves up. One to the new box before the keys are changed and again when they have changed.

As I understand it the keys are changed at some point by being sent from E*.

How does one know when the household keys have been changed? If it is installed and working, is that enough?

Also, what do you mean by "using two moves up?" Are we only allowed a finite number of moves per external drive?

At one time you were only allowed 3 moves. But that was changed when they implemented the Household key. With that key you are not limited moving your EHD between two VIP DVRs.

You can see your household key through your diagnostic screen and once they set it I don't think it ever changes. Changing it I think would cause the EHD not to work with the receiver since it is married to the Key I believe.

I recently swapped out a receiver and the new receiver did not like the EHD I was using with the old receiver (the new household key was all zero) so I had Dish send a hit to the receiver to correct it. After the hit the HHK was different than the original reciever so I expected a problem. However, when I connected the EHD it worked fine. There must be more to it than a simple key compare for equal.

So, I would not worry about the HHK at all. If the EHD does not work with a new receiver, don't format the EHD. Call Dish and get them to send a hit to repair the EHD and it should work. Let Dish worry about the details.

So that's the rub.

I will be moving my EHD from my 622 to my 722, but also keeping my 622 (in my bedroom).

I guess that means I need them to change my household key from my 622 over to my new 722 before hooking up the external drive? Can I do that by calling tech support?

The HHK is assigned to the account. All receivers on the same account can share the same EHD(s).

Connect it and try and use it. If the receiver does not like it, call Dish and tell them. They can send a "hit" to sync the HHK on your receivers. If asked to format the EHD, DON'T.

As Ron said household keys don't change. They are assigned on the account and will be the same even if a 622 or 722 receiver is changed out.

The exact procedure to see what the household key is as follows: Menu, 6, 3, counters, select and then press page down 6 times. The Household Key will be counter 08 on that page.

ChuckA said:

I recently swapped out a receiver and the new receiver did not like the EHD I was using with the old receiver (the new household key was all zero) so I had Dish send a hit to the receiver to correct it. After the hit the HHK was different than the original reciever so I expected a problem. However, when I connected the EHD it worked fine. There must be more to it than a simple key compare for equal.

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I just had similar results on a new 722. The household key on the new one was 0 the old one was set. After a call to Dish and an update both had a HHK but it was not the same as the old one. I was worried but it turned to be a non-issue. The hard drive is working fine with both receivers.

Like others have stated, feel free to try connecting the drive but if it prompts you for a format because the drive is setup for another receiver don't do it. If things are setup correctly the only thing you should see when you plug it in is a pop-up asking if you'd like to manage the contents of the drive.

I have a 622 I've been using an EHD with for a year; recently added a 722 to the stable, and the HDD works perfectly with it, displaying programs I'd recorded on the 622.

Note, the 722 was updated with the same household key the day it was installed, so I would think that should happen immediately.