1000 show limit on 722 external hard drive

[Big Bob]

Don't know if this has been talked about before, but there is a 1000 show limit on a 722 external hard drive.

I copied over a bunch of shows to my rather full external hard drive, and they all disappeared!
They were erased from the main 722 hard drive, but they were no where to be found on 'my media'

I was sad, as was my daughter, as they were all shows she liked.

I started poking around on 'my media' and expanded all of the folders. The count in the bottom of the screen showed 'Events (6 of 1037)'. As I scrolled through the list, I noticed that the folders were counted as 'Events'. When I counted all of the folders, I had 37 folders. That meant that I had exactly 1000 shows listed in my media.

There were a number of duplicates and shows that I really didn't want to keep around, so I started deleting. After deleting 75 or so shows, all of the shows that I had recently copied over were displayed. They had not been lost, they were just not displayed! So now I am cleaning the external hard drive carefully to see what all is on there that I couldn't see before.

On the one hand, I am happy that I did not lose the shows that I thought I did. but on the other hand, it is a bummer that there is a limit of 1000 shows that can be displayed on an external drive. Probably made sense when a large hard drive was 250 gigs, but these days with 2 and 3 terabyte drive being normal, it is really easy to copy more than 1000 shows.

I wonder if Dish will ever address this limitation.

 

[the mack]

1000 shows is a lot of eggs in one basket, that is the issue with large drives is when they crash you will loose more shows the you would with multiple smaller drives...

 

[MattG@DISH]

From what I was told, this is not expected to change. The workaround is to have more than one EHD

 

[nwflyboy]

Just curious, Big Bob - how large is that external hard drive? And how full was it with 1000 shows? Were those mostly 30 minute SD TV shows, or 2-hour HD movies?

I'm getting close to buying an external HD, and am just trying to get a sense of how many "eggs" I should plan on putting in (how large a) basket.

FWIW, I'm guessing that this issue (max 1000 shows) is some sort of a limit on the number of files the operating system can access, so probably could not be tweaked without there being a significant revision to the OS (which is probably not likely).

Thanks.

 

[3HaloODST]

Yeah this limit really sucks, makes buying a drive larger than 1TB pretty useless unless all you record in is in HD. FWIW, to get your recordings back, restore programs until it finally says 999 or less recordings. Then you'll have the shows that "disappeared" back.

 

[TheKrell]

How does one delete invisible shows?

By the way, I lost the 2nd 500GB partition on my WD15EARS and learned a bit about the partitioning and fs on the EHD while working around this hardware failure. There is a dinky ext3 partition at the beginning, and then some number of 500GB ext3 partitions filling out the drive. On all but the fist, there is a DishArc folder and subfolders with inscrutable names containing the programs themselves and ancillary data such as program name. You can use Linux (I used a Scientific Linux 5.x LiveCD) to exlore and copy these folders. There is no such 1000 program limit with Linux or ext3!

Note that the ts files containing the video data are encrypted and cannot be viewed on Linux. But you can copy digital data to a new/good already-formatted EHD disk with no issues, and they will play back on your DVR receiver. You could also delete folders, if you figure out which ones you don't want any more.

 

[Dishman1978]

Don't know if this has been talked about before, but there is a 1000 show limit on a 722 external hard drive.

I copied over a bunch of shows to my rather full external hard drive, and they all disappeared!
They were erased from the main 722 hard drive, but they were no where to be found on 'my media'

I was sad, as was my daughter, as they were all shows she liked.

I started poking around on 'my media' and expanded all of the folders. The count in the bottom of the screen showed 'Events (6 of 1037)'. As I scrolled through the list, I noticed that the folders were counted as 'Events'. When I counted all of the folders, I had 37 folders. That meant that I had exactly 1000 shows listed in my media.

There were a number of duplicates and shows that I really didn't want to keep around, so I started deleting. After deleting 75 or so shows, all of the shows that I had recently copied over were displayed. They had not been lost, they were just not displayed! So now I am cleaning the external hard drive carefully to see what all is on there that I couldn't see before.

On the one hand, I am happy that I did not lose the shows that I thought I did. but on the other hand, it is a bummer that there is a limit of 1000 shows that can be displayed on an external drive. Probably made sense when a large hard drive was 250 gigs, but these days with 2 and 3 terabyte drive being normal, it is really easy to copy more than 1000 shows.

I wonder if Dish will ever address this limitation.

And then when will you have time to watch 1000 shows? Lol. Just wondering.

 

[Tampa8]

Thanks Big Bob good information. It's interesting it will record the programs just not display them till the magic number is met.
At the very beginning I decided to have two or three drives. I use one for movies, one for shows. The third is for sports. They are all hooked up via a hub, then plugged into a powered outlet strip. Each plug has an on/off so I just turn off the one presently on, and turn on the one I want to record to. Because I sometimes bring one upstairs they are all easily disconnected, and I have a duplicate set-up upstairs including the connections.

 

[llokey]

The same limit holds for the 211k. I posted a while back about hitting the 1000 shows ceiling. There is no work around for a 211 - just keep the number down. For those who may ask, I record a lot of music and OTA SD shows.

 

[Big Bob]

From what I was told, this is not expected to change. The workaround is to have more than one EHD

Problem is that it is difficult to change discs. If you could change discs with a usb switch or even better, just have them all online at once with a usb hub, then this would be a fine alternative. As it is now, it really doesn't work well. I can not let my children swap hard drives, for example

 

[Big Bob]

Just curious, Big Bob - how large is that external hard drive? And how full was it with 1000 shows? Were those mostly 30 minute SD TV shows, or 2-hour HD movies?

I'm getting close to buying an external HD, and am just trying to get a sense of how many "eggs" I should plan on putting in (how large a) basket.

FWIW, I'm guessing that this issue (max 1000 shows) is some sort of a limit on the number of files the operating system can access, so probably could not be tweaked without there being a significant revision to the OS (which is probably not likely).

Thanks.

This one is a 2 terabyte drive. And yes, it is mostly filled with 30 minute sd shows. Mainly Disney Channel shows. We have a complete collection of Hanna Montana, Jonas Brothers etc. We also have all of the Phineas and Ferb, but they are pretty good.

There are a few 2 hour HD movies as well.


Right now, with about 998 shows, there are 1051.8 GB available.

The price difference between a 1 terabyte and 2 terabyte drives are usually pretty low. I wouldn't scrimp. You can always reuse the drive later for something else. You will be happy you got the larger.

 

[Big Bob]

How does one delete invisible shows?

I deleted shows that I could see, then the invisible ones were visible

 

[navychop]

Thank you. A good tidbit to know, 1,000.

 

[gdarwin]

And then when will you have time to watch 1000 shows? Lol. Just wondering.

I have over 500 HD programs archived to over 7 EHD's. Everyone has already been watched.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I have over 500 HD programs archived to over 7 EHD's. Everyone has already been watched.

MAN! You really are a committed tv bug aren't you?

 

[dare2be]

MAN! You really are a committed tv bug aren't you?

I have over 650 self-recorded DVDs (SD obviously) from network and cable broadcasts over the years (and prior to DVD recordable technology, over 260 VHS tapes). He's not that committed.

 

[odbrv]

I too have a large collection of EHDs, DVDs,VHS, and Beta. We love having a theme night. I have everything I have on a Access database. We decide the theme( war, scifi, action , romance) . Do a Database search. Pull 3 or 4 and have a fun night. I also have almost ever music concert on RAVE, PALADIA, VHclassic, and mtv videos. When an act comes to town and wants $100-$150 for a ticket, I get 5-6 friends together and have a party while watchng that act's concerts and videos. Saves us a lot of bucks and hassle.

 

[wase4711]

I can't even fathom having 1000 things recorded..let alone ever watching all of them multiple times...

 

[papalittle]

I can not imagine have 1000 shows recorded, One my system you would not find over 10 at anytime mainly because I watch them skipping over commercials and then delete them. I do record several shows or movies just for Sundays when there is nothing good on then delete them after finished watching them.

 

[wase4711]

especially since everything gets repeated endlessly by all the networks/premium channel providers....I mean everyone has a bunch of favorite old movies and such, but 1000 of them???