QIP 7216 doesn't recognize external hard drive
jnnt29
Newbie

I purchased one of the recommended hard drives for my DVR once I received the software upgrade to 1.9. I set it up and went into the menu and selected enable more storage and ran through the steps and after the reboot the system doesn't recognize the new drive. Any ideas? Thanks

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nascar
Master - Level 1

Don't use the menus. Just power on the DVR and the eSATA drive and then connect it to the DVR.  The DVR should then see you have connected an external drive and reboot and format it for use.

See if that works.


@jnnt29 wrote:

I purchased one of the recommended hard drives for my DVR once I received the software upgrade to 1.9. I set it up and went into the menu and selected enable more storage and ran through the steps and after the reboot the system doesn't recognize the new drive. Any ideas? Thanks


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BriLam
Newbie

I'm actually having this same issue, and no method of powering on and connecting in any order is getting this thing working. I have tried using the menu and the drive is recognized, but once the box restarts, nothing happens.

Any other ideas? I'm dreading having to get on the phone with Verizon.

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nascar
Master - Level 1
Are you getting any error or acknowledgment you have the drive connected?

BriLam wrote:

I'm actually having this same issue, and no method of powering on and connecting in any order is getting this thing working. I have tried using the menu and the drive is recognized, but once the box restarts, nothing happens.

Any other ideas? I'm dreading having to get on the phone with Verizon.


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BriLam
Newbie

No error whatsoever.

When I go through the menu, it tells me it is activating eSATA, acknowledges it is now activated, I believe, and then says it must restart to finish. I'm not in front of the TV now so I can't give you the exact details. So no error, but no acknowledgement that the drive is connected at any time, either.

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BriLam
Newbie

An update: I called Verizon and they provided me no further support as hard drive accessibility is so new. Why did I even buy this kind of hard drive if Verizon can't fully support it?

Gotta love it...

I was told to try calling Western Digital next. This should be an adventure.

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seanwasta
Enthusiast - Level 1

The EXACT thing happened to me. I was just upgraded to version 1.9 this week. I plugged in my Verizon approved Western Digital 1TB hard drive and it didn't do anything. After clicking on "Enable more storage" it told me that my eSATA port was now active and needed a reboot. After the reboot it didn't detect anything. Of course the unit was powered on and plugged in.

ANSWER: Buy a new shielded eSATA cable! I read many posts about the fact that the cables included with the drives were cheap. I didn't think it would work, however that was the fix. I purchased this cable off Amazon for $5 bucks. (See link below) It arrived the next day and I was pleasantly surprised when the DVR immediately recognized the drive and added it to the menu. You don't have to do anything, it auto detected it!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ENYXZ6/ref=oh_o05_s00_i00_details

 I am now quite happy as I can record over 200 hours of HD content. The new 1.9  menu is slick as well. One awesome thing that was added is a deleted items section or trash can so you can restore deleted shows. Version 1.8 and prior you were out of luck if you deleted the program.

I hope a new cable works for you!

-Sean

KWOO1
Enthusiast - Level 1

I have two 7216s and two WD 1TB external hard drives.  One of the DVRs will randomly flash a message that the external hard drive was improperly disconnected (even though I did not disconnect or do anything), and the hard drive needs to reboot.  It has been doing this about two times a day lately.  I'm assuming that when it does this in the middle of the night, and I hear the DVR rebooting, that I would have seen that message.  If I'm around when it does that, after the reboot has completed and I turn on the box and tv, it presents the verizon red screen and then back to regular tv.  I'm hoping that these cables will do the trick.

Fortunately, everything still seems to have been recorded.  I have not noticed this on the other DVR yet.

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KWOO1
Enthusiast - Level 1

Both DVRs started getting the error about the external hard drive.  Luckily the shielded cables that seanwasta referenced came and I have not seen the error in the past few days.  Thanks seanwasta!

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mrchompers
Enthusiast - Level 1

I've had external drive (Seagate Barracuda 2TB) working just fine since Verizon enabled external storage on DVRs back in the Fall, 2011.  They pushed new menu (v 1.9?) to my boxes in the last few weeks (early June 2012) and it disabled the external drive.  tried three different drives and all three are not recognized, but work just fine on PC.  Also worked with verizon tech support and they replaced my 7216 with a 7232....same results.  trying seanwasta's suggestion of shielded cables.  will let you know how it turns out.

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tzm
Newbie

I have the same problem as you. My 2TB Seagate won't show up. Did a new Sata cable help?

Thanks.

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Desmondhuz
Newbie
^bump. I can't get my wd My Book to be recognized by my DVR stb.
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nascar
Master - Level 1

Get some esta cables from monoprice.com  Apparently the DVR is temperamental with some esata cables.

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BriLam
Newbie

Just for the record, I've tried everything.

New cables, booting the box and then the hard drive, booting the hard drive and then the box, getting a new box, hooking the hard drive up to my computer to make sure it was functioning properly, everything.

Verizon is out of ideas and has promised to get back to me after looking into the situation...and that's been months ago. Basically, I have a useless hard drive and no extra space on my DVR. And this is with the hard drive that was bought solely because Verizon can supposedly troubleshoot it. I know more about the hard drive than most Verizon folks I talk to.

I now have to call WD and hope that they'll be able to figure out what's wrong.

As you can tell, this has been a huge waste of time with no hope in sight.

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venturen
Newbie

I solved my problem. I formated the drive on my computer and then it worked fine. I researched this to death on what I would get and first got a 1TB Fantom dirve for $60, but that drive was dead. Then I purchased a Sabrent enclosure ECUEIS7 and a 

Western Digital AV-GP 2 TB(total $130 w/ $20 coupon). I tried attaching the drive but it wasn't at first clear. It sad it saw the drive but I didn't see the second tab for external drive. Best of luck.

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evanob
Newbie

I am having simialr problems.  My Fantom Green 2TB drives were working fine; I have 4.  Now 2 are working, but the other 2 can't be recognized any more.  Has to be a software upgrade issue.  I will try the shielded cables and reformatting the drives, but I am not hopeful.  I know I have already lost all of the shows and programming on the drives.  Very frustrating, but cool while it worked.

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PBS_Vrz_Cmnm
Newbie

doyleisland (and anyone else who formatted their external drive with their computer and then it was recognized by the QIP 7216) -- what type of formatting did you use? Was it NTFS or FAT32 (if you have Windows on your computer) , possibly ext2 or ext3 if your computer is running Linux, or maybe even MAC OS Extended on an Apple machine? Thanks for the help.

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tthom53
Enthusiast - Level 1

I experienced multiple failures trying to get my Motorola 7216 set-top box to recognize my new WDC AV 1TB external drive, trying everything I could think of UNTIL I used this exact sequence successfully:

1. Motorola QIP 7216 set-top box is ON

2. Do NOT power up the external drive yet

3. Connect the WDC drive to the 7216 with the eSata cable

4. In the 7216 Settings menu, go to "Expand Capacity" and follow instructions to the point where the screen says your

     drive is "activated"

5. When instructed to plug the eSata drive into the 7216, plug the drive in to the power outlet

6. Click "OK" on your remote to reboot your set-top-box

No other sequence of steps worked except this one.  Once my STB rebooted, I went to "Check Capacity" under DVR Settings and saw that I had two drives connected: Internal and external.

mrchompers
Enthusiast - Level 1
Tried seanwasras suggestion and it worked.....for a couple of months. Now box is back to ignoring my external drive. Even tried a few different shielded esata cables with same result.
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dmeeusen
Newbie
This is THE fix when the fios DVR doesn't recognize the external hard drive. I panicked and tried a bunch of different ways and this worked the first time I tried. This should be bumped or stickied so others can find it! Thank you tthom53!!!
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