DVR and external hard drive

[wmoran]

My DVR is at 82% capacity so I decided to add a 1tb external hard drive.  I made the connections and rebooted both the new HD and the DVR.  On the DVR menu I now have two drives, one called the internal and one called the external.  The internal is still at 82% and all the new recordings seem to be going onto the external drive since it is indicating about 5%.

I have read where others who have added an external HD have seen their capacity go from the original capacity, say 82%, to 20% or so after adding the external HD.  They still see only one storage drive on their DVR menu.  How to I get my two drives to combine into one, and why are my new recording going onto the new drive, leaving the original drive stuck at 82%?

[PJL · Accepted solution]

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@wmoran wrote:

My DVR is at 82% capacity so I decided to add a 1tb external hard drive.  I made the connections and rebooted both the new HD and the DVR.  On the DVR menu I now have two drives, one called the internal and one called the external.  The internal is still at 82% and all the new recordings seem to be going onto the external drive since it is indicating about 5%.

I have read where others who have added an external HD have seen their capacity go from the original capacity, say 82%, to 20% or so after adding the external HD.  They still see only one storage drive on their DVR menu.  How to I get my two drives to combine into one, and why are my new recording going onto the new drive, leaving the original drive stuck at 82%?

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I think what you are seeing is how it works -- it reports the capacity of both drives separately.  The software always places new recordings on the external drive until it is filled up -- that's the way it works. 

[wmoran]

So the DVR drive will start to fill only after the external is full?

[PJL]

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@wmoran wrote:

So the DVR drive will start to fill only after the external is full?

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Yes, the external drive is filled before the internal is used for new recordings.

[wmoran]

Thanks.  I may not see that because I don't know I'll ever fill a 1tb drive.