How Are You Using Your External ESATA Drive?

[HDhysteria]

I was wondering the different ways in which you are using your external ESATA hard ddrive (that is of course if you have one)

I was thinking that I would continue to use the internal for everyday programming and just reboot to the external when I wanted to save a move and build up my own HD Movie Jukebox.

Any other thoughts?

 

[CRendall]

I don't use eSATA but I believe you can only use the internal storage or an eSATA drive. Currently you can't use both. I think once you plug in an eSATA drive it will wipe your DVR clean.

I'm hoping someday I can add an external storage and it would migrate all my recordings and Series Links to the external storage without wiping out everything I have on the DVR

 

[HDhysteria]

I don't use eSATA but I believe you can only use the internal storage or an eSATA drive. Currently you can't use both. I think once you plug in an eSATA drive it will wipe your DVR clean.

I'm hoping someday I can add an external storage and it would migrate all my recordings and Series Links to the external storage without wiping out everything I have on the DVR

I agree with that, It is why I stated that I would reboot to the external when I wanted to record a movie. So far I can keep everything cabled and just hold the red reset button in, then turn off power to the esata drive , then release the red button and it reboots to the internal. Since there are different limitations becuase of how it currently works, I am hoping to turn those into "features" rather than bugs... Such as, you could have a different Series Link list on each drive to record only what you wanted on that particluar drive.. You could have a movie drive, a sports drive, etc... you just need to reboot to use it, not something I would do 10 times per day, but I like some of the benifits.

 

[*mad_professor*]

I think once you plug in an eSATA drive it will wipe your DVR clean.

Not true, it simply disables it. I have had info on my internal drive, plugged in the eSATA and then couldn't see the programs on my internal drive. When I unplugged my eSATA and rebooted, the programs on the internal drive were there.

This is also a good way to test. One of my units had a bad eSATA cable so it wouldn't see the external HD. I only new that because after each reboot, I could still see what was on my internal drive. Without having known that, I would have only figured it out after my DVR filled up and I counted the hours of programming and realized my external drive wasn't actually working.

 

[jdspencer]

I'm getting the HR20 installed this Thursday to supplement my HR10 and I'm interested in the external eSATA capability. I totally understand how this works but a question has come to mind. If you get an eSATA enclosure that is also USB enabled can you plug the unit (disconnected from the HR20) into a PC and see the shows files? My guess is no, but thought I'd ask.

 

[Ramy]

Can someone answer a question?

I just got a new external eSata drive and when I plugged it in I saw none of my Season passes. Is this supposed to do this? Do I have to go and resetup all my season passes again?

 

[jdspencer]

My understanding is that the SPs and other settings are kept on the hard drive, so when you connect the external you lose those settings since the internal is no longer accessible. You don't lose the settings or recordings on the internal, they become available again once the external is removed.

 

[Ramy]

My understanding is that the SPs and other settings are kept on the hard drive, so when you connect the external you lose those settings since the internal is no longer accessible. You don't lose the settings or recordings on the internal, they become available again once the external is removed.

I was thinking that too, but I was wanting a confirmation from someone that has done it. Thanks anyway.

 

[anhmduk]

My understanding is that the SPs and other settings are kept on the hard drive, so when you connect the external you lose those settings since the internal is no longer accessible. You don't lose the settings or recordings on the internal, they become available again once the external is removed.

You are 100% correct.

 

[Ramy]

Ok, That's what I figured. Thanks.