External Hard Drive?

[varaonaid]

Hi,

In the next couple of months I'll be switching back to satellite from cable when I move and I'm looking at the differences in the two major providers. One feature I really like is the external hard drive feature. Is this something that D* offers? If so, are there any activation charges for this feature or ongoing fees?

I'd really appreciate any info about this. Thanks in advance!

 

[Jimbo]

Hi,

In the next couple of months I'll be switching back to satellite from cable when I move and I'm looking at the differences in the two major providers. One feature I really like is the external hard drive feature. Is this something that D* offers? If so, are there any activation charges for this feature or ongoing fees?

I'd really appreciate any info about this. Thanks in advance!

D* does NOT support External Hard Drives as of YET, but they will.
Many of us are using our own with great results.
I personally got a Seagate 750 (Has to be ESATA) love it, plugged it in and has worked like a champ, so much so, I forgot I had it.
I got it for $ 199 at the time, there may be larger ones out there by now.

There is alot of info on this in the Directv DVR forum, just below this one.

Jimbo

 

[varaonaid]

Oh, OK. So it currently works but isn't officially supported? I'm assuming that means then, no fees to use the service, correct?

I'll search around in the DVR forum as you suggested. Thanks for the help!

 

[joed32]

Don't give them any ideas about charging for it'

 

[varaonaid]

Sorry, good point...

 

[MLBurks]

I would love to use my Seagate Freeagent 320 gig EHD but it uses USB. I wish D* would just enable the USB port and allow those of us who have USB EHD's to use them in addition to the IHD rather than replace it.

 

[varaonaid]

I would love to use my Seagate Freeagent 320 gig EHD but it uses USB. I wish D* would just enable the USB port and allow those of us who have USB EHD's to use them in addition to the IHD rather than replace it.

I was wondering about this lately. Are there any known plans for D* to allow the use of both an internal and external HD simultaneously? If so, any idea of a rough timeframe?

 

[raoul5788]

I would love to use my Seagate Freeagent 320 gig EHD but it uses USB. I wish D* would just enable the USB port and allow those of us who have USB EHD's to use them in addition to the IHD rather than replace it.

I wonder if they could write the software to allow this, using an internal and external hd at the same time, like Dish does.

 

[harshness]

I wonder if they could write the software to allow this, using an internal and external hd at the same time, like Dish does.

Note that the E* version of external drives doesn't allow you to automatically record to the external drive. It is meant only as an archival tool as opposed to a way to add recording space.

The expectation with the D* version is that both drives would become fully functional and seamless. At the same time, the D* version would not be able to be shared with other receivers.

I'm a little surprised that this question doesn't come up more often.

 

[varaonaid]

Note that the E* version of external drives doesn't allow you to automatically record to the external drive. It is meant only as an archival tool as opposed to a way to add recording space.

The expectation with the D* version is that both drives would become fully functional and seamless. At the same time, the D* version would not be able to be shared with other receivers.

I'm a little surprised that this question doesn't come up more often.

OK, so it sounds like there are plans in the works to add this functionality. That's cool. Even though you can't move then from one DVR to another, would there be any reason that you couldn't have multiple drives for additional space? If there was ever a problem with a receiver that had to be swapped out, could it be re-synced (or whatever term would be appropriate here) to work with the new one or would we be screwed in terms of losing all our recordings?

 

[harshness]

OK, so it sounds like there are plans in the works to add this functionality.

The rumor mill hasn't confirmed this one way or the other. Obviously, the big interest is in being able to add storage without having to re-program everything and waiting for the guide to re-populate.

I think that integration of the internal and external storage should be a much higher priority than it appears to be.

 

[raoul5788]

The rumor mill hasn't confirmed this one way or the other. Obviously, the big interest is in being able to add storage without having to re-program everything and waiting for the guide to re-populate.

I think that integration of the internal and external storage should be a much higher priority than it appears to be.

With the dropping costs of external hard drives, I don't think it's such a big deal. I just ordered a 1 tb hd for my HR20. Total cost was $189!

 

[harshness]

With the dropping costs of external hard drives, I don't think it's such a big deal. I just ordered a 1 tb hd for my HR20. Total cost was $189!

My point relates to ease of use, not pricing. Regardless of how much you spend on your storage, you still have to re-program your recording desires when you hook up and/or change/combine drives. It would be much preferable to simply add the drive and have everything work, wouldn't it?

 

[raoul5788]

My point relates to ease of use, not pricing. Regardless of how much you spend on your storage, you still have to re-program your recording desires when you hook up and/or change/combine drives. It would be much preferable to simply add the drive and have everything work, wouldn't it?

Yes, it would. That's not how it works for now, so I think I can deal with it!

 

[bkushner]

I have a 1TB drive working flawlessly on my HR21.
Brian

 

[jcrandall]

The lower drive prices get, the more I think D* is likely to just leave it as-is. The internal drives are only 300gb or so. Adding a 1TB drive and turn the 300gb on too, minus the reserved space, we're talking a 25% gain.

There has be no work done on the storage system in a long time, and no mention of it coming. I think they are content with the external storage solution. Ultimately, it is much easier than what Dish is doing, where you move content.

 

[jcrandall]

The one thing I would like them to address is keeping your external drive working on a new box if your box needs to be replaced.

Right now, if you hook your drive up to a different receiver it formats it, correct?

 

[bkushner]

The one thing I would like them to address is keeping your external drive working on a new box if your box needs to be replaced.

Right now, if you hook your drive up to a different receiver it formats it, correct?

I've seen mixed messages about this. Some say yes some say no, don't know if there is a definitive answer.

I also have Dish and have had three 622 units in the past 2 weeks fail. Luckily all my data is on the external drive that hooks right up to the new receiver. I would hope Direct would be the same.

 

[Jimbo]

The one thing I would like them to address is keeping your external drive working on a new box if your box needs to be replaced.

Right now, if you hook your drive up to a different receiver it formats it, correct?

That is correct ...

It would be a huge improvement if you could move EHD's from one rec to another without it reformatting each time.

Thus not losing all your recordings when you need to move to a newer or replacement box.


Just curious, awhile back people were talking about PPV movies having a shelf life, being deleted after a certain time frame, whatever happened to that ?
Hopefully they decided it was a bad idea.

Jimbo

 

[raoul5788]

I've seen mixed messages about this. Some say yes some say no, don't know if there is a definitive answer.

I also have Dish and have had three 622 units in the past 2 weeks fail. Luckily all my data is on the external drive that hooks right up to the new receiver. I would hope Direct would be the same.

I read that you lose your recordings, but keep your settings.