HR2x / HR34 External Hard Drive FYI/Support (eSATA)

[SundayTicketRocks]

CFB,

Thanks.....ran out to the local Fry's and they did not have SIIG's eSATA cable but they did have Link Depot's. So I got it, reinstalled, recorded a couple of shows and dowloaded the SW per your explicit instructions..... AND IT WORKED!!! The recorded shows are still there.

I can't believe that the cable that came with the Seagate 1TB Showcase was causing my issues.

I'm indebted to you, CFB, thanks a million for your advice!

BTW, I did search the web on SIIG eSATA cables and Buy.com has the 3.28 foot version for $10.95 including shipping. Seems like a great price and I hope that it helps anyone who's looking for one.

Cheers :up

 

[cfb]

Glad that helped. The esata port on the HR2x's is recessed a bit because they butted the motherboard up against the external metal case, so its tucked in the thickness of the case. They should have either extended that bit of the board so the esata plug protruded a bit or milled the metal away around the opening in the case so the whole plug would fit.

If you look at 6 different esata cables, you'll see that they're similar but the length of the 'head' is a little longer on some than others. You can also scrape some of the plastic back from the head to make it a little longer.

Siig's are among the longer headed esata cables so those are sure to give you a good connection, otherwise its a little iffy with some cables.

Can you compare the cable that came with the showcase with the one you bought to see if the ends are a little longer on the one you bought, or any other obvious physical differences?

Bummer if the Showcase comes with a cable thats too short to make a good connection with the HR2x, since the Showcase is one of their two approved drives. Might also just be a defective cable.

I've had a lot of trouble with some esata cables in some configs. The cable that came with the Cavalry external looked very different on the end from other esata cables but worked with the HR20 for months, then decided it would only play SD content, HD was just a black screen. Changed the cable to an Siig and it worked fine after that, but I use the same Cavalry supplied cable on my desktop PC's esata drive and it works fine. Seems more of an art than a science.

 

[nicemann]

I am really debating about getting the Seagate Barracuda 1.5tb and using the Antec MX-1. Seems to be the most stable for the value.

Will probably get two setups. I have two HR-21s.

Guess it's time to start looking for deals.

 

[Ramy]

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[pro96]

Frys had a 1.5TB Samsung for $79.99 with 3yr warranty. I installed it into an external box with esata to test it. So far its been great.

 

[Ramy]

Frys had a 1.5TB Samsung for $79.99 with 3yr warranty. I installed it into an external box with esata to test it. So far its been great.

Thanks.

P.S. I really wish In-n-Out Burger's were in my area.

 

[cfb]

I'd strongly suggest not using Samsung drives for 24x7 dvr usage. They've got the historical worst failure rate according to some rolled up stats that I've seen. They tend to fail early (weeks to a year) and fail hard.

Of course, the disks they're making today bear little resemblance to the ones they made a few years ago so they may be more reliable, still I think it makes some sense to use a drive thats certified for 24x7 use and ideally use one of the drives that directv officially supports, since there are a lot of good reasons why they picked the ones they did.

I did buy one of those Samsungs, but i'm using it in an external case for periodic backups. If it croaks on me, all I need is a new drive and re-do the backups. If it croaks on you in DVR use, you're out 1.5GB of shows.

 

[topcats69]

I like my 1 TB WD DVR expander

 

[cfb]

I did do some performance testing on the Samsung 1.5TB vs the old three platter 1TB WD "green" drive. I believe the newer 1TB WD drives are two platter like the samsung. All other things being equal, a two platter drive can be faster than a three platter due to higher recording densities.

And man, is it. The Samsung runs about 20-25% faster on most tests.

What it, and other non AV/DVR drives lack is the multi-stream cache, faster return error control, load leveling, etc. I think the non AV drives have worked mostly well up until now, but as we move to three recordings and four playbacks along with all the other new features like DLB, MRV, etc...there might be a need for the AV firmware.

 

[SundayTicketRocks]

Well unfortunately my 1TB Seagate Showcase got overwritten again over the weekend. Not much else than to try to return it and get a replacement.

 

[MikeBuzzsaw]

Been using the Calvary 1tb for a year with my hr21. No problems. 20% capacity left.

 

[pro96]

On my (3) HR20's the following.

2TB Internal ... kicks some serious rear.
$69.99 (from frys) 1.5TB external working nice
500GB Internal up nicely too.

 

[Higlac]

Hello, all.

I'm having some problems getting my new eSATA to hook up correctly. Hoping someone here can straighten me out...

STB: DirecTV HR20-100S
Software: 0x368, Thurs, 10/29/09, 3:25 am.
eSATA Drive: Western Digital WD15000H1CS-00 (hooked up straight from box, never connected to PC)
eSATA cable: Dynex 6' eSATA cable (new from package)

First attempt resulted in STB not recognizing the existence of the external HD at all. Still referenced all of the internal HD programming, existing capacity, the whole deal.

Powered down and checked all connections and forced a software update to STB before re-attempting.

Results of second (45 minutes) (and third) (going out for the night with my wife, will check on it when I get back in several hours) attempt.

Seem to be in a rebooting deathloop on the STB.

"Hello, your DirecTV Receiver is starting up"
"Almost there. A few more seconds , please..."
Black screen

Lather, rinse, repeat.

eSATA drive light is turning on when connected to the STB.

 

[cfb]

Western Digital MyBooks dont work with the HR series.

 

[Higlac]

Ok, so I guess I'll be returning that HD to Best Buy.

Does anyone know of any other makes/models that are specifically not supported by the HR20/100 before I seek a replacement? Will be looking for something in the 1TB to 1.5 TB neighborhood.

I apologize in advance for my ignorance.

 

[cfb]

Ignorance is relative. These are some murky waters.

If you read around this thread, there are people with several models of drive and setups that they report having good luck with.

Directv suggests the Seagate Showcase and Western Digital DVR Expander as packaged solutions, but those top out at 1tb. The DVR Expander is pretty similar to what you bought, except for the size being 1tb and the esata interface being a bit different so it works with the HR's.

You can 'roll your own' with an antec mx-1 case and a suitable disk drive. Everything directv (and tivo) puts in their boxes are "AV" type drives that use different error control, caching and a number of other features better suited for DVR usage than a regular computer drive. Up until now it seems many people have done well using plain old computer drives but in the last handful of CE releases a lot of people are complaining about drive noise, drive thrashing, and performance issues. So maybe thats why directv and tivo pay extra for the AV type disks.

Thats whats in the Showcase and DVR Expander too.

I'd probably recommend a 1tb WD DVR Expander, and if you want more space an MX-1 with one of these in it:

WD AV-GP ( WD20EVDS )

Now heres the fun part. Directv receivers on boot time look at and can see what kind of disk drives you have attached. While many drives have the "AV" capabilities, they do have to be enabled and specifically used to get the performance benefit when used in a DVR.

Its unknown whether directv will look for ANY AV model drive and enable the features, or only look for the specific ones they've installed or recommend (like the Showcase/DVR Expander) and otherwise treat the drive like a normal computer drive.

Since they dont use or recommend drives > 1tb at this time, it might be that the 1.5/2tb AV drives wont give you a performance advantage in the directv dvr's.

 

[armchair]

Concerning the thrashing of drive, compatibility and replacing hard drive and losing recordings, I wonder if there's a way around those drawbacks?

Would the 2TB AV HDD be compatible or considered a normal PC drive if mounted internally?

Is there a way to copy recorded to files to new drive for use on new drive..that's a major drawback when considering an upgrade to larger drive.

And lastly, is there a way to shock mount a drive to make it less noisy? I've got my standard system mounted on ESD shipping foam and it helps but it seems most noise escaping the enclosure are the thrashing ones that follow a lull in activity. If they're not already shock mounted, maybe that would help also.

Just some things to consider before investing. I'd have to have the answers before considering it.

 

[cfb]

Hard to say what they're going to recognize and use as an AV drive. I initially presumed that any AV drive would get used because directv has used a lot of drives...non AV WD in the early receivers, WD AV's of various sizes, Seagate DB35's and announcing compatibility with the WD AV-GP and Seagate Pipeline drives in the external products.

But perhaps they're doing what tivo does and examining the drive idents and only supporting a list of the ones they've put in the box.

All I can say is that I have a 1tb pipeline in one box (which should be supported since its whats in the Showcase) and a 750gb seagate db35 in the other. They put smaller db35's in the HR20's, so maybe thats supported, maybe not.

But neither box makes any noise whatsoever. All I can hear is a little fan noise at 3-4 feet and nothing from 10' away.

Shock mounting can help reduce seek noise a little bit, but what you're really needing is to enclose the drive in a 'quiet case' and there isnt much of a chance of doing that inside of the HR.

Maybe the best course of action is to use a WD AV-GP or Pipeline (perhaps in their unofficially supported external guise) and leave it at that. Neither drive makes much seek noise in an mx-1 or inside the box, even running full tilt. At 1' both sound like a ticking watch held to your ear.

Of course that limits you to 1tb unless you think directv will support any AV drive, in which case you can go to a 1.5 or 2tb WD AV-GP.

You can indeed copy recorded shows from one drive to another, but both will have to be in external cases or removed from the inside of the HR. You technically can leave the drive installed in the HR but you'd need to remove the cover and have a long enough sata cable to reach from a desktop computer to the HR.

The short version is you put the new drive in/attached to the HR and boot the HR and let it format the drive. Then you put your old drive and the new drive on two sata ports in a desktop and boot a specific linux distribution. Mount both drives and use a copy command to copy the contents of the directv XFS partition from the old to the new. Which can take 2-8 hours depending on the size/speed of the drives.

After that the new drive can be reinstalled in the HR or connected via esata and you're off and running. I've done this once and it worked great.

 

[armchair]

Thanks for the info cfb; very helpful!

 

[cfb]

Here's a post that covers removal, copying and so forth. Done by Clambert, who also posts here.

Removing / Replacing / Copying Hard Drive of HR2* Receiver [Photo Tutorial] - DBSTalk.Com

Looks like his was an HR20-700. My HR20-100 is different inside, and its much more effort to remove and reinstall the hard drive.