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External HD questions

I have a 7232 2 DVR that is 80% full. I want to add a sata drive, but I noticed there were only 3 acceptable ones on their site. Is anyone using a 2TB drive?

What will happen to the recordings already on my dvr. It says that the new recordings will go to the HD first. Will it move the recordings off my dvr and onto the new drive?

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AtomicRooster

@forya1 wrote:
I have a 7232 2 DVR that is 80% full. I want to add a sata drive, but I noticed there were only 3 acceptable ones on their site. Is anyone using a 2TB drive?
What will happen to the recordings already on my dvr. It says that the new recordings will go to the HD first. Will it move the recordings off my dvr and onto the new drive?

I am using a 1 TB drive and it has much, much more room than the on-board drive. I purchased one of the recommended drives. Once the expander drive is enabled, the new recordings will automatically be recorded onto the Expander drive, the old recordings will remain on the old DVR drive. You will be able to select programs to view from either the expander or the on-board drive (expander recordings have a little hard drive icon nexto to them so you can tell what drive the program was recorded to). There is no way to move programs or copy programs between drives. Your expander drive will be forever linked to the Box you enable it with, meaning if there is ever a problem with the STB DVR and you need to replace it, all your recordings on the expander will be lost, you will need to reformat the expander with the new STB and then begin to build a library with new recordings. My expander drive did not come with the required E-SATA cable, and I had to find one with a 6 foot reach, so that is something you need to think about if your purchase does not state a cable is included. I learned the hard way not to locate the expander drive where it cannot be power cycled and unhooked easily!

nascar

I'm using a 2 TB eSATA on one of my DVR's. Make sure you use a drive that is for AV and 24/7 use. So far the Seagate and Western Digital are the choices.

Nothing gets moved when you connect the eSATA drive. The poster above explains what happens.

@forya1 wrote:
I have a 7232 2 DVR that is 80% full. I want to add a sata drive, but I noticed there were only 3 acceptable ones on their site. Is anyone using a 2TB drive?
What will happen to the recordings already on my dvr. It says that the new recordings will go to the HD first. Will it move the recordings off my dvr and onto the new drive?

forya1

Anyone have a model # for a working 2 tb drive?

and do you need to powercycle these drives a lot?

also do the drives always spin , or do they go into a sleep state when not accessed?

Hellenww

Where did you find the esata cable? I bought the WDBABT0010HBK-NESN hard drive but it only has a plug for a usb micro B in the back. I bought an esata cable it plugs into the dvr but not the hd and I just get confused trying to find the correct cable. I called WD and got someone who kept reading from their website but couldn't understand my question. Verizon sent me 45 min to their fios store where they said I had to call tech support who sent me there in the first place.

I'm more confused daily.

InFoman1

As far as Western Digital goes you can choose from theri WD AV-GP family. I went with a WD20EURS and installed it in an external enclosure. They are desiged for 24/7 AV applications.

EddieN120

Hi Hellen,

Where did you find the esata cable?

I just took the serial number of the recommended drive (WDBABT0010HBK-NESN), went onto Amazon.com and typed it into the search box. It took me to this page:

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Expander-eSATA-External/dp/B003MVZ60S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347932158&sr=8-1&keywords=WDBABT0010HBK-NESN

and in the "Frequently Bought Together" section are compatible eSATA cables.

I haven't bought my Western Digital HDD yet but I probably will soon since I am sick and tired of having to guard against people in the house erasing irreplaceable programs from my DVR.

Hope this helps.

lenrichardson

I have a Western Digital External Hard Drive connected to my STB/DVR. It works perfectly... in fact too well because I've filled more than 60% of a 2TB drive.

I'd like to know if it is possible to add an additional eSATA drive to this configuration. For example, is there a way I can daisy-chain a 2nd drive and have access to the DVR storage, 1st WD storage, plus 2nd (new) WD storage?

lenrichardson

Great. At least being able to substitute a new drive is a viable work-around

wraujr1

When I looked at adding an external hard drive (HD) to a QIP-7216 (160G internal) about 8 months ago, the docs from Verizon indicated that I would no longer have access to the internal HD once an external HD is connected. From posts above it seems that at a minimum, if there are shows already recorded on the internal HD, you can access them for re-play.

So the question that needs clarifying:

With an external AV HD, can I still RECORD to the internal HD?? and how do I select which one to use??

In my case, adding 1TB external HD and giving up the 160G internal HD is a bargain....

But if I had a 7232 with a 500G internal and I added a 1TB external... not so much a bargain...

Any help/clarification appreciated.

nascar

A 7232 would be a much better experience anyway.

The external hard drive is recorded to first then as it fills up any future recordings will go between the internal and external depending on space needed and used. You have no control on where the recording resides. And, as of now, the external is married to the DVR you have. I would strongly recommend getting a 7232 over your 6 series and I believe there is no charge to do that if you had it a period of time. CSR's should know.

@wraujr wrote:
When I looked at adding an external hard drive (HD) to a QIP-7216 (160G internal) about 8 months ago, the docs from Verizon indicated that I would no longer have access to the internal HD once an external HD is connected. From posts above it seems that at a minimum, if there are shows already recorded on the internal HD, you can access them for re-play.
So the question that needs clarifying:
With an external AV HD, can I still RECORD to the internal HD?? and how do I select which one to use??
In my case, adding 1TB external HD and giving up the 160G internal HD is a bargain....
But if I had a 7232 with a 500G internal and I added a 1TB external... not so much a bargain...
Any help/clarification appreciated.

Keyboards

@wraujr wrote:
So the question that needs clarifying:
With an external AV HD, can I still RECORD to the internal HD?? and how do I select which one to use??
Any help/clarification appreciated.

The only way to record to the internal drive once you hook up an external drive is to eject (disconnect) the external drive. No recordings on the external are lost and it can be reconnected to the same DVR at any time.

As was said, system will record to the external until full and then revert back to the internal and then start deleting recordings if space is needed (in that order).

Also with the external attached you can still access any recordings that were previously made on the internal drive.

Hope that clears up the mud Smiley Wink

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