EHD Spinning Up Question

[Sparky29]

I may have found at least a partial work around for this problem. After you have selected the program do not select "watch". Instead select info on the remote and let it sit for a few seconds before you play the program. I am not sure this always works but I seem to have had some success with it. I would be interested to know if anyone else finds this possible.

 

[brodrick]

I purchased an actual "Optimized for dish network" EHD from WD, assuming that would fix the black screen issue. That didn't help either.

 

[pattykay]

I purchased an actual "Optimized for dish network" EHD from WD, assuming that would fix the black screen issue. That didn't help either.

Which model was that? Just curious.

 

[dweber]

Western Digital sells "My Book AV DVR Expander" drives in 1 TB and 2 TB sizes. They are similar to the WD My Book drives but they include an ESATA port. Western Digital claims that these drives offer better support for video uses. Since Dish does not support the ESATA port, they are overkill. The actual drive appears to be the same as the cheaper My Book series. The hard drive is not the problem. All of the Western Digital drives worked well until Dish changed to the new carbon interface.

 

[DefDude]

I have been using the same 4 EHD's since the feature was first offered many years ago "Seagate Free agent with external power" . I never had a problem until the last month or so when I started to notice them not responding as quickly. well a couple weeks ago I noticed that 1 of them would not show up at all and the others would still work but still slow. I went ahead and wiped the problem one but now all of them do not show up. I did a hard reset with the button and unplugging, then a partial reset with the tools option but still nothing working right. I can get them to show up but they will not play or transfer, sometimes I can get most of the way thru the process but then it hangs up about 2/3 of the way. nothing I can do will affect it. I thought it was the H3 and got a replacement and it did the same exact thing. after talking with a couple techs I finally found one that told me about this issue.
I also still have an owned Hopper with sling that all my drives still work with fine so it's not the drives. I just wish I didn't wipe the first one . I can't go back and reset the sleep option on the 3 that are full but I could do it on the wiped one but it's been so long I forgot how to do that ..does anybody have a link to the tool kit that would work for a Mac to reformat the drive with that option?
After reading this thread it seems like that might not do any good any way and I'll just have to wait and hope they fix this with a software upgrade..if it makes anybody feel any better the tech last night said it's a know issue and entered both my receive ID"s into the notes to pass on to the software writers.
I might want to buy a EHD that is not powered and without a sleep mode that I could use as a transfer unit...can anybody suggest which is the best model that will still work as of today?
thanks for any help

 

[DefDude]

Okay..after screwing around and trying some different things I somehow got my drives.
I wiped the drive and then re formatted it with my older Hopper w sling, then as soon as I plugged it in to the H3, it came up and then went to a software update from 503 to 507... even after I tried to do that a couple times already in tools ???
So It seems to be acting normal, I transferred a show back and forth then I hooked up all 3 of drives and they all worked and played shows from each. The only snag was when I tried to transfer about 90 Myth Busters at one time and it did a few before it gave me the error code, then tried again and now says "the transfer completed with errors"..no go.
So not fixed completely yet but better, also it doesn't go to the spin up box like others are seeing but the drive hasn't gone to sleep yet...so the fight continues....

 

[charlesrshell]

Okay..after screwing around and trying some different things I somehow got my drives.
I wiped the drive and then re formatted it with my older Hopper w sling, then as soon as I plugged it in to the H3, it came up and then went to a software update from 503 to 507... even after I tried to do that a couple times already in tools ???
So It seems to be acting normal, I transferred a show back and forth then I hooked up all 3 of drives and they all worked and played shows from each. The only snag was when I tried to transfer about 90 Myth Busters at one time and it did a few before it gave me the error code, then tried again and now says "the transfer completed with errors"..no go.
So not fixed completely yet but better, also it doesn't go to the spin up box like others are seeing but the drive hasn't gone to sleep yet...so the fight continues....

Try just transferring about five at a time.

 

[DefDude]

I did 1 then 2 then 3 etc...now I'm trying about 80 and they seem to be transferring even though the time counter is not counting down but the shows are counting down..at 68 left right now with the same time remaining when they were at about 75..so we'll see

 

[charlesrshell]

I did 1 then 2 then 3 etc...now I'm trying about 80 and they seem to be transferring even though the time counter is not counting down but the shows are counting down..at 68 left right now with the same time remaining when they were at about 75..so we'll see

Good luck to you. Hope she pulls thru for you.

 

[DefDude]

It looks like it had something to do with not having the latest update..I think that should have been the first question the phone tech should of asked.
Even after the update I reset the H3 a few times before it saw the EHD's and starting working right..
It's transferred more than 1/2, down to about 35 shows left and timer is counting down too. so it looks good..until the next update

 

[docdaddy]

No matter what EHD I use (MyBook powered, Seagate USB with powered HUB, etc.) I have the same issues:
1. Each morning the EHD is missing from the DVR list, and it takes about 3 or 4 resets of the Hopper to get it back.
2. Trying to transfer more than 1 or 2 programs from the Hopper to the DVR at once results in an error.
3. Trying to play a program on the EHD the first time always gives me the fleeting "spinning up" message, then a black screen. Waiting doesn't work (i.e. it doesn't eventually come on.) I have to exit, go back into the EHD, find the program again and hit play. It always works the second time. This is for drives with sleep mode specifically turned off as well as a drive with no sleep mode.

Hopper 3 with latest update, but the problems have existed for the last couple of years.