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VMS1100 + WDBABT0010HBK-00

I just purchased a "Western Digital My Book AV 1 TB,External (WDBABT0010HBK-00) HDD-DVR Expander" for my VMS1100 DVR. Reading the various forums I was led to understand that this would work. However I cannot get the DVR to recognize it, using either the e-sata or usb connection. Should this work? Do I have to do something special to get the DVR to recognize it? If not can you please provide a list of external drives that are supported; as others have mentioned elsewhere the ones listed on your web site are no longer available.

Thanks..

Comments

CRobGauth

VMS currently does not support external drives.

Only on the legacy stbs.

kenkahn1

*sigh* That figures. Is there a different FIOS DVR with 6 record heads I can ask for that will support external drives?

kenkahn1

Sadly I just called fios technical support and they said there are currently no FIOS DVRs available that support external drives. This is strange since the web pages still insist they do. That might explain why the 'official' list of supported external drives are no longer offered and the page has not been updated to include any that are.

Very frustrating..

tns2

The tech you spoke to is wrong. But use the VMS1100 does not offer support of external drives, and is being rolled out in some areas (with software limiting capabilities) for non-Quantum service. The older HD DVR boxes all support external drives.

CRobGauth

As stated, the older DVRs support external drives. But they have smaller internal drives and only 2 tuners.

Plus the external drive is paired to the DVR. So if the DVR were to fail, you would lose everything recorded on external drive.

Verizon's contention is that quantum DVR matches what is available from other providers.

And DVR is not expected to be used for long term storage.

Crabbysam101

I realize this is a very late reply, but as of 2019 these Quantum boxes still do not have the ability to slave a external HDD, this is one reason I won't replace my legacy DVR boxes, as I appreciate the 4 terrabyte external (eSATA) storage. This has allowed me to record and store hundreds of high definition movies. It's a lot easier manipulating the controls of the DVR recordings vs the hd movies I've purchased.

Downside to legacy DVR boxes are that I can only record two shows simutaneously vs Quantum being able to record at 4 to 6 at the same time. And if I talk to my legacy remote control, it just sits there and plays deaf deaf and stupid. Quantum systems have voice control like Comcast uses.

juxta

I was going to mention this earlier (2 years ago!) - the VMS1110 did recognize the external HDD but I didn't know whether or not the capacity increased. The problem was I plugged in my HDD and a seemingly new DVR show listing file was created because all my shows on the DVR went unlisted. This scared me so I turned off the VMS and unplugged the HDD. Fortunately, the DVR shows were listed again when the VMS restarted. I have been meaning to watch and delete all my programs but the DVR has stayed 90%+ full for the past two years.

If you have a new VMS1100 or don't care about the shows on your DVR, turn off the VMS and plug in the HDD. If you did have shows recored previously, see if they are gone after the VMS restarts. If so then at least you can tell the HDD is recognized by the VMS. Either way, record a few HD shows and see if the percent recorded indicates the DVR capacity is ~160 hrs (1TB) or ~320 hrs (2 TB) of HD video.

Right now my DVR (1TB) has 155h 45m of HD programming at 92% full as shown on the DVR menu (configure & upgrade -> check capacity). That's about (155.75 hrs / .92 😃 169 hrs total capacity on my VMS. If you get double than that then the HDD works! Let us know!

As was the case two years ago, my DVR stays near full. The other DVR that my wife uses constantly stays full and autodeletes the oldest shows as necessary. It would be nice to have double the capacity especially because my HDD has just been sitting in a drawer for the past two years except when I tried plugging it in that one time.

[Deleted User]

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