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Subaru
1-3-2-4
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join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT

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[iO] Adding external drive to DVR

I was wondering if I add a 500GB how much recording space would it give me?

SteveCVTech
@optonline.net

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SteveCVTech

Anon

Roughly triple what the internal hard drive would give you. Almost 290hrs SD content and 64hrs HD. Just know once you add an external hard drive, the internal one is disabled so you can't access its' content.
hbk4099
join:2005-12-30

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hbk4099

Member

said by SteveCVTech :

Roughly triple what the internal hard drive would give you. Almost 290hrs SD content and 64hrs HD. Just know once you add an external hard drive, the internal one is disabled so you can't access its' content.
thats not true you can access both and which ever one has more room on it thats the drive the dvr records to.

sheik28
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join:2000-10-15
New York, NY

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said by SteveCVTech :

Just know once you add an external hard drive, the internal one is disabled so you can't access its' content.
Why does it state the following on CV's website?
How the eSATA Drive Works with Your DVR
Recordings are balanced between the DVR's internal hard drive and the eSATA drive as follows:
A recording is never split between an internal and external hard drive.

Click to see how the DVR determines which drive to use.

The DVR automatically stores complete programs to the drive with the highest percentage of available space:
If the eSATA drive has more space available, the program will be stored on the external drive.
If the DVR's internal hard drive has more space available, the program will be stored on the internal hard drive.
You cannot view programs recorded on your eSATA drive on other DVRs. It is "tied" to the DVR from which it records.

»optimum.custhelp.com/cgi ··· opview=1

Subaru
1-3-2-4
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join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT

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crap I was hoping when the drive on the box got full it would start to use the external drive.
TheWiseGuy
Dog And Butterfly
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join:2002-07-04
East Stroudsburg, PA

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TheWiseGuy

MVM

It will start using the external immediately. It will not wait for the internal to be full. It will continue to use both. Is that a problem?
TwEaKz
join:2008-10-09
Brooklyn, NY

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Hmm. This brings up something I've been curious about. If I get an external HD and being it uses the one with the most free space, do you think this could fix any DVR playback skipping? Like recently one of my HD DVR's is starting to stutter for a second or two. Being that the external should always have more free space than the cable box it self, this should fix any issues. Am I totally wrong on this thought process?

It's just I really don't want to have to swap my cable box if I don't have to. It would be such a pain to do (recently put together a nice home theater system) and it's not even certain they will give me a working box back.

Thanks for your input.

Subaru
1-3-2-4
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join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT

Subaru

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Your box does that too? It happens to me on some shows but I think it's something else other then the hard drive
Subaru

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said by TheWiseGuy:

It will start using the external immediately. It will not wait for the internal to be full. It will continue to use both. Is that a problem?
it could be a small issue since I did not want to use the external drive right away for recording something it's bad enough the drive is small and with all the HD programs I record if I'm out for say 3 days (caught a cold) the drive will be full.

but then again also how I have the settings set to record are not right.. I get a lot of duplicates.
blacknoi
join:2004-11-06
Stanhope, NJ

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Guys, is there a limit to the size of the esata drive that can be hooked up?

My parents had a 500GB esata Calvary drive that started to go, so they got a Buffalo Tech esata 1.5TB drive.

But the box never sees the larger 1.5TB drive after a reboot.

Or is it possible that the newer enclosure / drive is just not compatible with the DVR? It works just fine when attached to a pc via esata / usb.
TheWiseGuy
Dog And Butterfly
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join:2002-07-04
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TheWiseGuy

MVM

Did you

Disconnect the power from the box, then boot the box with neither drive connected.

Then disconnect the power from the box, and connect the new drive, then power up the box?
blacknoi
join:2004-11-06
Stanhope, NJ

blacknoi

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said by TheWiseGuy:

Did you

Disconnect the power from the box, then boot the box with neither drive connected.

Then disconnect the power from the box, and connect the new drive, then power up the box?
Last night we disconnected the old drive, and booted the box up w/o any esata drive attached. The box still showed all the recordings that were on the internal and external drives (same # of recordings, and same % of free space)... like the box didnt know the old esata drive was disconnected. Try to play some random recordings and you'd just get dumped back to the generic channel 1000 "dvr" channel. Other recordings (that I presume were on the internal drive) worked.

So my parents just brought their old dvr back and got a new one from the walk in center this morning after talking to customer service and that weird behavior.

Hook up the NEW 1.5TB drive to the new dvr and the dvr still didnt see it.

Using the same esata cable, powered down the box, then hooked up the old esata drive and the new dvr saw the old drive and prompted to format it as I would expect.

So based on that, it seems like the new drive/enclosure isn't playing nice. I can't figure out why one esata enclosure would work, vs another one. I don't want to open the new esata drive enclosure (and move the drive to the old enclosure) as I might not be able to return it then.
TheWiseGuy
Dog And Butterfly
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Well there are some drives that don't work. I don't know why. Lex Luthor See Profile posted a link to a database of drives that had been tested, and whether they worked, you can check to see if the drive is there.

»baseportal.com/cgi-bin/b ··· ppo/main

Subaru
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join:2001-05-31
Greenwich, CT

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hmmm interesting
blacknoi
join:2004-11-06
Stanhope, NJ

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said by TheWiseGuy:

Well there are some drives that don't work. I don't know why. Lex Luthor See Profile posted a link to a database of drives that had been tested, and whether they worked, you can check to see if the drive is there.

»baseportal.com/cgi-bin/b ··· ppo/main
Thanks. I had bought this guy

»www.amazon.com/Buffalo-T ··· -1-spell

and the PC sees him fine.

That list looks pretty good, but its definitely not all encompassing as the old drive that still does work, is not on the list. Its a calvary branded esata enclosure/500GB drive.

Subaru
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said by TheWiseGuy:

Well there are some drives that don't work. I don't know why. Lex Luthor See Profile posted a link to a database of drives that had been tested, and whether they worked, you can check to see if the drive is there.

»baseportal.com/cgi-bin/b ··· ppo/main
first time I ever seen that link
blacknoi
join:2004-11-06
Stanhope, NJ

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So at this point I'm guessing I'm just SOL with that particular Buffalo tech eSata drive? Is there anything else you guys would recommend trying? Maybe formatting the drive again on the PC then re-hook it up to the DVR?

It is already formatted to Fat32 from the manufacturer and I thought the dvr would format it to a proprietary format anyway...

Just trying to think of anything else I can try before I box this drive back up and send it back...