211k and EHD

[fmj77]

I just activated a 211k and noticed that everytime I connect or disconnect my external hard drive it requires a reboot of the receiver and a re-download of the program guide. Is this normal? Is the best course of action just to leave the EHD plugged in to the receiver 24/7?

 

[TheKrell]

I just activated a 211k and noticed that everytime I connect or disconnect my external hard drive it requires a reboot of the receiver and a re-download of the program guide. Is this normal?

I never had a 211 to try this. But to my knowledge that is normal. For one thing, it downloads a much larger 9-day guide which is stored on disk.

Is the best course of action just to leave the EHD plugged in to the receiver 24/7?

That is what I would recommend.

 

[NYDutch]

I left our EHD connected 24/7 back when we had a 211K in our motorhome. Never had a problem with it even after it bounced around for several thousand miles.

 

[Jim5506]

Waaay back when I got my first 211 I tried unplugging the hard drive while it was still turned on and it corrupted the OS on the hard drive. I had to reconnect it to a PC, wipe the partitions, rebuild the Windows partitions, then it would accept the drive to reformat to its liking. So, I never just unplugged the drive after that. Always turned the 211 off before disconnecting. Dish may have a more sophisticated OS on there now that can tolerate live disconnects.

IIRC, the reason it must reboot after disconnecting the hard drive is because the OS that knows how to record is actually on the hard drive and without the hard drive it reverts to an on-chip OS that is much simpler. This is also part of the reason for the incompatibility between the EHD's from the Hopper/722/622 and the 211/411.

 

[fmj77]

Waaay back when I got my first 211 I tried unplugging the hard drive while it was still turned on and it corrupted the OS on the hard drive. I had to reconnect it to a PC, wipe the partitions, rebuild the Windows partitions, then it would accept the drive to reformat to its liking. So, I never just unplugged the drive after that. Always turned the 211 off before disconnecting. Dish may have a more sophisticated OS on there now that can tolerate live disconnects.

IIRC, the reason it must reboot after disconnecting the hard drive is because the OS that knows how to record is actually on the hard drive and without the hard drive it reverts to an on-chip OS that is much simpler. This is also part of the reason for the incompatibility between the EHD's from the Hopper/722/622 and the 211/411.

The menu for the 211k has an option under 'My DVR" to safely remove the DVR.