EHD First time Setup Questions

[Briant73]

I just got a WD My Book HOME 1TB Home edition and am going to set it up on my Dish 722 receiver. I have some questions before I begin and yes I did try the search feature and read some threads but still want to double check things -

Should I connect the drive to my computer and run any tests to make sure the unit is good to go?

Is the Dish format thorough or should I run a low level one beforehand?

Also should I change any default settings?

I have a dish 222 downstairs, are these supporting EHD yet or still in the works?

Thanks, finally be able to free up my DVR hard drive from some shows and movies that I want to keep around.

 

[KAB]

First, have you called Dish and paid the $40.00 to have the function activated. If yes, then all you have to do is plug it into the 722 and let it do it's own formatting.

No, the 222 does not support EHD. Even if so, it would not be compatible with EHD for 622/722/612 and would require a separate activation fee as with the 211.

 

[navychop]

I would not bother running any checks on a PC first. If it were a Seagate, then you'd want to run a program to deactivate sleep mode. But it isn't.

The PC low level format will be a waste of time. When you plug in to the ViP receiver, it will format it anyway, Unix style.

No settings to change. If the feature is properly activated by Dish, it will immediately work. If it doesn't, call Dish back and ask them to "hit" your receiver again.

ViP222 - as above. And don't count on it.

 

[Briant73]

Ok called dish and activated ehd but have an issue

When I leave the dish off for awhile after installing drive to it I can not send any programs get a usb error. The drive is awoken beforehand by me doing a manage device but get the usb transfer error. Now if I add the drive on it works fine for awhile then quits.

If I try to play a program I already recorded to the drive when it was working, if I hit stop it just freezes the program and I either have to turn off the receiver or try changing the channel to get the pic working again.

I am using a 1tb WD my book home drive through the usb interface using the supplied usb cable.

 

[Gentleman]

Are you also using the power supply,?

Bob

 

[Briant73]

Yes the power supply is plugged in. I have down power plug resets of the 722 and also power button ones and it will start working again but stops working when I turn power off to the 722 after awhile it stops working.

The My Book is the home edition 1tb. I have another one I may try to see what happens.

 

[Briant73]

I swapped the drive, power supply and usb cable with a wd My Book 1tb I bought at the same time for my computers. Same results works fine after it's first plugged in but after awhile I get error 855 soon as I try sending to it. This is even if I don't turn off the receiver. I can see the hard drive go to some kind of standby mode since the light on the front goes from lit constantly to blinking on/off every 5 seconds or more, but it becomes solid within a short time if I try to send or manage but still won't send.

I will call Dish and hope I get with someone who is knowledgeable about this issue.

 

[whatchel1]

Sounds like these unit go to sleep after a while and then the DVR doesn't see them.

 

[Gentleman]

On my WD drives the light stays solid when in standby and blinks when being accessed, yours seems to be working the opposite way

Bob

 

[Briant73]

Sounds like these unit go to sleep after a while and then the DVR doesn't see them.

The DVR definetely sees it, I can go see what I have moved already to the drive and even start playback but can not send.

 

[Briant73]

On my WD drives the light stays solid when in standby and blinks when being accessed, yours seems to be working the opposite way

Bob

I'm using the Home edition model, is yours the same or a different?

 

[Gentleman]

I'm using the essential models

Bob

 

[Briant73]

Ok here's my current status - I give up but am going to send an email to Dish to see if I get lucky and get a Tech who knows about these things.

Dish network 722 and WD My Book Home 1tb

Issue: After a period of time with the receiver either on or off during that time I can no longer send programs to the ehd. I can start to view programs that are already on the ehd, and even restore programs back to my receiver but sending gives Error 855. The drive is fully awake and on but the receiver doesn't want to send to it anymore unless i do some kind of reset (power, drive power, usb cable).

I have tried all these things
Power plug reset of the receiver
Power button resets of the receiver
Swapping out the drive, usb cable and power with another unit of the same model and no luck.
Trying the front USB port of my
Reformatting the drives on my computer and have the receiver format them again.

My theory is either
A) A bad receiver (can't be sure unless I test with a known EHD to be certified with Dish)
B) The drive units I tested with had the latest WD firmware 1.034, this firmware corrects some kind of sleep/standby bug they had in earlier versions when using the WD media expander (I think). It could be this firmware does the reverse with Dish equipment and causes the drive and receiver to get confused after the drive goes to standy/sleep mode and even though the drive wakes up the send routine fails.

 

[Briant73]

Latest update on my quest to get a working EHD with my 722 receiver. I already have given up on the WD My Book Home EHD unit working with it so got a different drive.

Last night I picked up 1tb WD My Book Essential EHD unit which is different from the Home versuion I tried previously. The essential features just a usb interface, no power button and a blue front light whereas the home has a power button, firewire, usb, esata interfaces and a front capacity gauge. The unit I got is being phased out for a newer Essential model which has a front capacity gauge, I decided against going with the newer version since I have read many users having good luck with the blue light version and wanted this to work.

I plugged the unit in, the receiver asked to format it and I let it go about it's job. A short while later it was done and I attempted to transfer some programs to it, took awhile but it worked. Tried a few more programs and it worked fine. The real test was waiting awhile and trying again, two hours later which the receiver was on the whole time, I attempted another program transfer from DVR to EHD and it went fine. I shut everything down for the night and this morning tried again and it worked just like it should.

I do feel the Home version when it worked transferred quicker than the Essential but I will take consistency of transfers over speed any day considering my previous issues.

Summary -
1TB WD My Book Essential hooked to my 722 no issues so far.
1TB WD My Book Home hooked to my 722 fast but after awhile could not sent programming to it without a reset of some type.

I still wonder if the My Book Home with older firmware (mine had 1.034 version) might work fine.

 

[Gentleman]

Good, sounds like you got it working,

Bob

 

[Briant73]

Yes last night it still was working though again I feel the Home edition was faster but reliability over speed is ok with me.

I want to say thanks for everyone on here who took the time to read and respond to my posts. Hopefully this will help other users with choosing a drive for EHD use.