U108 installed, EHD drives need to be reformatted (What?)

[jpmarto]

I have two original Hoppers and one original Joey. I got home Christmas day from a 9 day vacation and see I'm now upgraded from U106 to U108. Great, maybe they’ve fixed my previous issues I’ve posted on here. But before I can check, I notice both of my EHDs were not appearing, so after rebooting the receiver and plugging the EHDs back in I get the message that they need to be reformatted to be used. I rebooted the receiver, and put the drives in one at a time and always the same.

A third EHD (with the least amount of content, of course) which was not plugged in works fine. The other two drives plugged into that interface still give the message that they need to be reformatted, so it does not appear to be that the new upgrade doesn't support the EHD's USB to SATA interface.

Both EHDs plugged into the other Hopper (which had none attached during the upgrade) are recognized as having been plugged in and needing reformatting.

Why have EHDs if you periodically lose everything on them? Why can't we be given an offline backup option to protect them? I do not want to lose my recordings. It is not my fault, dammit.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[bookworm370]

Nope, don't reformat. There is nothing wrong with the drives. Call in and have them send a Hit to your receiver. Then power down, wait 10 secs (or just press the red button, does the same thing) and then check if it will see the EHD.

 

[jpmarto]

Thanks Bookwork370: On hold 30 minutes for Dish CSR. After 10 minutes with her she instructs me to reboot, and she finally sends a hit to my receiver. Another reboot, plug EHDs into Hopper and it still wants to reformat them. I'm asking to be escalated but she's doggedly trying to research my problem.

If anyone is following this thread, learn from my experience: There's no upside, and lots of downside to leaving EHDs plugged into receiver when you're not using them.

 

[jpmarto]

Two+ hours on the phone, 4 CSRs. All four gave it their all and were competent and pleasant. This is a known problem, especially on Hopper 3s. "Dish engineers working on it". I'm told that because the two drives were upgraded by U108, they won't work in my existing system but "should" work if I upgrade to a Hopper 3 - they think. Because I've been such a good customer "for almost 20 years" they made me an upgrade offer I couldn't refuse. So, off to Costco to buy a 2T EHD and begin migrating my 144 concerts and other such stuff before bidding a fond farewell to my existing Hopper 1s and Joey.

I usually unplug my home network storage device for security reasons, and Dish EHDs when I'm away from home but forgot the Dish units this trip. They have moving parts and do wear out from common use. I repeat: There's no upside, and lots of downside to leaving EHDs plugged into receiver when you're not using them.

 

[Hall]

Haha ! Their solution is to replace your receiver(s) ?

It appears that Dish simply hasn't updated their broken software (the external HDD part) for the Hopper 1. Not sure about the Hopper 2 but they had this same issue on the Hopper 3 and the most recent s/w does resolve it. Whatever you do, do not format the drives. All you can do is wait. Having Dish "hit" your receiver will do nothing if it's the core s/w that's at fault.

 

[jpmarto]

Thanks Hall, I have the two EHDs in a box in a different room so I don't mess with them. After my last 2T EHD failure (WD) I took the KISS approach coupled with "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" and have 3 EHDs going, soon to be 4. That way, whatever happens, I haven't lost everything. The CSRs seem to believe that U108 wrote to the EHDs in Hopper3 format, so that when I get a Hopper3 it will recognize them. We'll see, and I'll post on January 2nd how it all played out. And they call this "Home Entertainment" - HA!

 

[Hall]

The CSRs seem to believe that U108 wrote to the EHDs in Hopper3 format, so that when I get a Hopper3 it will recognize them.

The funny part is, when you connect them, they'll probably work so it will almost seem as though their advice/solution was right !!

Just to get you up to speed on the H3 s/w, you will have either U334 or U336 once it's up and running fully. You will likely have the same problem with U334. Sounds like U334 and U108 share the same, broken code related to external HDDs. You will need U336 (or higher by then) to have them working properly.

 

[jpmarto]

Hall - Thanks for the heads-up. I'm thinking if I have U334 maybe I'll just wait until I get U336 before I even try to use the EHDs. I'm going to need a scorecard/playbook just to keep track of all the transfers since as far as I know you can't copy between EHDs, you need to copy everything through the receiver. That's gonna take some time...

 

[jpmarto]

Nothing goes smoothly. After purchasing a Seagate 2T Ultra-Slim drive, the Hopper doesn't recognize EHD. CSR tells me Dish doesn't support USB powered devices - this is the first WD/Seagate that doesn't work for me. Do they know how hard it is to buy 2T 3.5" powered drives off-the-shelf these days? I took the 3.5" powered WD MyBook I previously used on the Hopper (now backing up my home network) and transferred its contents to the Seagate. I plug the WD into the Hopper and it doesn't recognize it. Call Dish again, CSR was great, but we came up with zip. Having a notion, I reconnected the WD to my PC, ran DiskMgmt, and removed the entire volume (ie, blew away the partition - it was NTFS). Plug it back into the Hopper and it is recognized. Too late to find out if that maneuver would have worked with the Seagate, but maybe this strategy will work for others having EHD issues. (Search String: EHD not recognized )

 

[jpmarto]

Dish upgraded me to Hopper3 and 2 Joeys. My original two EHDs that U108 rendered inoperable STILL DO NOT WORK. They are recognized as having been plugged in, but in need of formatting. This is not good and I am not happy! I'll call tech support, but I have a feeling it will be a case of adding insult to injury. As a note to previous post, several other EHDs that the Hopper1 did not recognize were recognized once I removed the NTFS partition.

 

[Bobby]

Dish upgraded me to Hopper3 and 2 Joeys. My original two EHDs that U108 rendered inoperable STILL DO NOT WORK. They are recognized as having been plugged in, but in need of formatting. This is not good and I am not happy! I'll call tech support, but I have a feeling it will be a case of adding insult to injury. As a note to previous post, several other EHDs that the Hopper1 did not recognize were recognized once I removed the NTFS partition.

What version software, U334 or U336? If it is U334, you will probably still have EHD issues. If you have U336, contact DIRT and ask for a hit.

 

[jpmarto]

Thanks Bobby. Hall mentioned U336 earlier and I just checked and I have 334. Dish CSR supervisor said I can't force an upgrade to U336 but the EHD problem is well-known and a fix is scheduled for January 20th. I had the option under Diagnostics\Tools to upgrade, I tried, but it still inidcates U334. I'll try DIRT and see if they can force an upgrade.

 

[Hall]

DIRT can't force it. Just try again.... Unplug the Joeys (from the electric outlet), make sure no timers are set to fire on the Hopper, and go through the steps in the menu to upgrade. After you pick the option, I don't remember if it asks for confirmation or what, but turn the Hopper "off" using the "power" button on the remote. That puts it in standby and you'll get the screensaver. Then just wait patiently for it to start on it's own.

 

[jpmarto]

Hall: Wow! Thanks so much. After tech left I did the Setting/Diagnostics/Tools option and upgraded. At that point I was still at U334 and both Joey's stopped working (all menu indications were they were connected, but an error message stating they couldn't find a Hopper and to reboot it). I missed the "standby" option you suggested. Once I did it within a minute the receiver started a download and woke up in U336. Joey's started working, but EHDs still don't work. Hopefully the Dish fix will arrive "Soon" and be successful.

 

[Hall]

If the drives don't work with U336, I've no idea. I think everyone else had it solved when they got this version.

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