Interchange eSATA drives with different top boxes

I just had a big scare today because I had a problem with my top box and thought I would have to replace it. The problem is that even though most of the shows (my son's) are in the external eSata drive, they wouldn't be accessible with a new DVR unit. Sometimes I wonder if I should go back to the days of VCR's where you could see the recorded programs in any TV.
My question is.......does anyone know if Verizon is planning or it it's even possible for these external eSata's to one day be like the VCR's, or independent of the top boxes it recorded from?
Thanks,

morcom201 wrote:
I just had a big scare today because I had a problem with my top box and thought I would have to replace it. The problem is that even though most of the shows (my son's) are in the external eSata drive, they wouldn't be accessible with a new DVR unit ... does anyone know if Verizon is planning or it it's even possible for these external eSata's to one day be like the VCR's, or independent of the top boxes it recorded from? ...
This issue has been raised many times, but so far there is no resolution. We have brought it to the attention of VZ Communications many times, but so far no relief. See for example:
http://forums.verizon.com/t5/Share-Your-Ideas-with-Verizon/quot-Divorce-quot-External-eSata-Drive-Fr...
Another user once suggested that the external drive be referenced to the account holder's account number rather than a specific physical device. I believe this practice is followed by another ISP or cable company. However and sadly once again, no relief yet.

Similar Messages

Need help with my TOP Box--can't change the channels

I can't change the channels, go to Guide or Menu by using the Remote Control. (it's not the remote control because i use this remote for my other topbox and it works fine)
This happened a few hours after i had my Fios installed. (at first, it let me change the channels, then 5 times,2 and now i cant)
Does any one have the same problem and have a solution for this?
Thank you very much.

do the front display buttons work? and how close is it to the tv, some tv's create IR interference, and if the set top is too close then it acts how you are describing.
three solutions if that is the case.
move the set top box further away
change the TV brightness and color settings from the "vibrant" setting or whatever brightest they have and then try again
Get an IR Extender so that you can move the IR 'eye' - verizon can send you one, they have them on their site or you can buy one at radioshack.
try moving it further away for a test only, or try to get like a piece of cardboard and shield the eye from the TV. So if the TV is on top put that piece of cardboard inbetween the two, if they are sitting side by side, then put it inbetween the tv so it shields from one another and try it again.
Might not be your problem, but we have seen it before.
Also don't forget to do old faithful, unplugging the power for the set top box, wait 30 seconds plug it back in resolves a lot of minor hiccups.

How do partition a hard drive with different partition schemes?

How can you partition an external HD with different partition schemes for different partitions? GUID one one partition and Apple Partition Map on another?
Thanks.

I am trying to add a second partition to my (1TB) external firewire HD. Apparently it was preformatted as "MS-DOS (FAT)" and I started putting lots of files on there. Now the "partition" option in disk utility shows me the one partition that's on there, but all options are grayed-out - I cannot add another partition, it seems, nor change anything on the existing one. Is there any possible solution other than totally erasing the disk and starting from scratch? I would be hard-pressed to find enough disk space to (even temporarily) store the stuff that's already on that HD.

Time Machine Backup, 2 external drives with different exclusions

Hello
Does anyone know if it's possible to use two separate external drives in Time Machine to backup different parts of my mbp hard drive? That is, I want to use ex.drive1 to back up work files at work and ex.drive2 to back up personal files at home. In time machine options, I can set the folders for exclusion, but currently have to set those each time I back up at home/work.
Thanks,
-Dan

dman8950 wrote:
Hello
Does anyone know if it's possible to use two separate external drives in Time Machine to backup different parts of my mbp hard drive? That is, I want to use ex.drive1 to back up work files at work and ex.drive2 to back up personal files at home. In time machine options, I can set the folders for exclusion, but currently have to set those each time I back up at home/work.
There's no easy way to do that with Time Machine. As you see, it only has one set of exclusions and one destination drive at a time.
In theory, and if you're careful, you might be able to manipulate the preference file where all that's stored. Set TM up for home, say, then copy or rename that version. Then set it up for work and do the same.
The file is at the top level of your drive, not in your home folder:
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist
You could probably write an Automator workflow or AppleScript to simplify swapping the files.
Otherwise, two alternatives:
Back up everything in both places.
Use Time Machine at home, and a different app, such as CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, at work, or vice-versa.

Is the mac mini server the same hardware as the other mac minis (except for the quad core i7 and dual hard drives) with different software or is it configured differently?

I have a mac mini with an i7 dual core processor. It is perceptably slower than my macbook pro with a quad core i7. Does the mac mini server have the same hardware configuation as the regular mac mini with server software or is the hardware different (aside from the i7 quad core and dual hard drives)? I want a mini with a quad core i7...

Your assumption is correct. The server does however only
have the Intel HD3000 graphics like the base model with
no option, at this time, for the discrete graphics chip. So,
depending on what you are using it for, that could be a deal
breaker. Remember that your MBP does have a discrete
graphics chip.
I have a 2011 Mini Server connected to a Thunderbolt display
that gets used as an engineering workstation and general
personal use (some photo editing, LP restoraton, general
internet browsing). You simply just not enable any of the
server services. I find the combination to work quite well
for my purposes. I also have a 13" 2.7 GHz i7 Macbook Pro
which is pretty much strictly for work. As far as CPU
power it is pretty much equivelent to your Mini. For the most
part I find the Mini does outperfom my MBP. I heavily use
Parallels and Windows7 virtual machines, so the more cores
the better.
So, If you do a lot of CPU intensive stuff that is multithreaded,
the Server may help. If it is graphics intensive and your software
heavily leaverages the GPU, you may actually take a hit on
performance.

Dual boot Win7 on external eSata drive with Precision M4700

Because virtualization doesn't support some HW devices I need, I would like to dual boot Win7 Pro/64 on an external (removable) HDD connected to the eSATA port of my Precision M4700.
eSata means optimal performances, but will the boot menu be happy with a removable disk, i.e. which will NOT be permanently connected (obviously I won't boot the OS on the removable disk if it is not connected) ?
And on the legal side, is it OK to use the OEM license of the OS that shipped with the system for this ?
As a side question, are the OS entries in a Win7 boot menu bound to a physical disk on a specific Sata port ? IOW, what happens if I move a HDD with a bootable partition/volume from the internal bay (port 0) to an external eSATA enclosure connected to the eSATA port (port 5) ? Is the eSATA port transparent to the Win7 boot loader ? Will the volumes and drive letters remain unchanged and appear seamlessly to the OS on it ?

Hi Benoitm,
Assuming the M4700 can boot from an external eSATA port, this should be possible. And it should be possible to install onto an HDD then put that drive in an external case and boot from it. Your preferences and drive letters should be retained. You might want to verify your system can boot to an external HDD first.
The Dell license only covers the version of the OS that came with the system. In theory, dual boot requires two licenses.

Use two Time Machine Drives with different settings?

Hello everybody, is it possible to use time machine with two drives and use different settings for each drive?
For example: at home I currently have two external LaCie d2 quadra drives. My plan is to leave one at home, and take one to Uni. On the drive which I have at home, I have backups of a secont parttion of the drive which I am taking to Uni, which contains some important files (about 500 GB). Is it possible to have a backup of that data partiton on the drive which I'm leaving at home, but not on the drive which I'm taking to uni?
I know that I can set up two drives to work simultaneously, but can I say to exclude folder A on drive A, but not on drive B?
Thanks a lot in advance

Thanks for the fast reply. II'll try to make things clearer. I have two drives (let's call them drive A and B). Drive A has one partition, and is my primary back up drive. Drive B has two partitions (one with files and one for Time Machine). Currently, the files partition of Drive B is being backed up to Drive A. When I connect drive B, Time machine asks me if I want to replace the existing drive, or use both. Using both is what I want. However, I don't need Drive B to back up the files from it's second partition, as that would not make any sense; I do, however, want drive A to back up the data partition from drive B. I guess the easiest way is to manually change the settings, or just live with a larger backup....

Problem using eSATA drive with my G5

I recently bought an eSATA card for my G5, hoping that it would speed up my backups and other transfers of large quantities of data. The card is a FirmTek SeriTek/1VE4 PCI-X. The drive I am using is a Seagate Freeagent Pro 750gb.
The drive works perfectly when used with either the USB or Firewire connections. But when I tried to hook up via the eSATA cable I got this message - "SeriTek/1VE4 in slot 2: configuration changed. Finalize all changes (connecting/removing devices) before closing this window". I then have the option of clicking on "Done - Show More Details" or "Done". Clicking on either simply causes the message to reappear.
Unfortunately I have no idea what this means, and what I need to do. The drive is not showing on my screen when hooked up via eSATA; all that happens is the message above appearing on the screen. I have to disconnect the drive to get the message to go away.
While I suspect (and hope!) this problem has an easy resolution I have no clue what to do at this point. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

You checked first that the card is okay with those consumer style dual/quad interface cases?
Sonnet cards specifically warn against.
Your best bet is always to avoid vendor name brand drive cases for external drives.
Go get yourself a plain simple dual SATA only case that doesn't have USB/eSATA (or USB/FW/eSATA).
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MESATATBEK/
FirmTek's own dual drive hot-swap
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/SATA2EN2/
FirmTek 5PM
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/SATA5PM/

Replacing an imac and getting data off the backup drive with different OS

Hello. I have a 2008 imac 27 inch. i backup with a toshiba portable drive. When my machine dies, i may get an android tablet or a windows laptop. If i use a different OS, will i be able to get the data off my imac's backup drive? thanks.

Well, Pictures & photos should be easy enough, Documents depends what kind exactly, calendar I'm not sure what might work.
Other things like Bookmarks will be more work, on Address Book you need to Select All & Export a vCard for them all.

Realms with different top-level domain

I'm testing OCS 10.1.2 and I am interested in setting up multiple realms.
Must all realms be in the same top-level domain? I see in the examples (like in Note Note:317434.1) names like this:
- Default realm created at install:
dc=us,dc=oracle,dc=com
- Additional realms created by the administrator post-install:
dc=uk,dc=oracle,dc=com
dc=ca,dc=oracle,dc=com
A more typical example for what we need would be:
dc=company,dc=co,dc=uk
dc=company,dc=no
dc=company,dc=de
Is this possible?

What are the consequence of that? Any practical problems?
I see in Note 308682.1 that the top level of a top level domain is NULL. So maybe instead of world you can use an empty top level domain.
However, this document refers to mail and not OID.

Can i set up my drive as encrypted with different partitions for different versions of osx?

i have some questions about setting up an encrypted drive with different versions of osx installed on separate partitions, and how this choice effects time-machine and the emergency recovery disk.
I have a new/refurbished macbook pro with a SSD. it already has mavericks installed. i want to fully wipe the drive and reinstall everything my self because I'm odd like that.
first wiping the current drive
Does the recovery partition get wiped if i use disk-utility to reformat the drive. Even thought the recovery partition does not show up as a partition, when i look at it with disk-utility? i would like to know I've wiped all partitions so that no little bugger gets left with out me knowing. Disk-utility does not show the recovery partition and this makes me concerned it might not wipe it.
Does mavericks automatically make a recovery partition during the installation process? Or do i need to make a new 1gb partition for the recovery disk?
Can i have two different partitions on my drive with separate installations of OSX on it? (one for work that i don't update the system os till my current project is done, and the other for experimenting with new software.)
will time machine back up both of the partitions or just one?
can i accomplish all this from a bootable usb drive or do i need to do this in target disk mode?
do i need to use a more capable utility than the stock apple "disk-utility"?
when reformatting the drive should i format it as encrypted or let file vault do this after i install mavericks?
how much does encryption slow down performance for things like photo/video/music production?

Do a backup before you do anything.
Does the recovery partition get wiped if i use disk-utility to reformat the drive
It shouldn't
Does mavericks automatically make a recovery partition during the installation process?
Yes.
Can i have two different partitions on my drive with separate installations of OSX on it?
Yes.
will time machine back up both of the partitions or just one?
It will as long as one partition is not excluded in the Time Machine/Options.
do i need to use a more capable utility than the stock apple "disk-utility"?
No, just boot into the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart).
file vault do this after i install mavericks?
I would let File Vault do that.

New DVR, Can't Recognize Existing ESata Drive/Programs

I had a Motorola 7216 DVR box that had an external ESata drive. The box had three issues: froze 2-3 times a day for maybe 30 seconds, sound "clipping" during loud sections of shows/movies, and I could never get the Android app or web app to connect to the DVR. So, I received a new 7232 DVR today. Prior to disconnecting the old, I did the proper method of ejecting of the ESata Drive.
I hooked up the new DVR, and (possibly mistakenly) hooked up the ESata drive as well before booting it up the first time. Did the initialization, all went well. Went through the routine of adding ESata, rebooted, didn't recognize the drive. Realize I maybe shouldn't have plugged it in, so unplugged ESata cord, rebooted, did Set-Top Box Auto Correct, then went through the proper routine to add external storage. However, when rebooting, the box blinks one light for 30 seconds, then the entire display lights up, then it reboots, repeating this routine ad infinitum (nothing ever displays on the TV).
So, thinking I got a bad box, I hook up the old DVR, get it working, and then run the add ESata routine. It now is in the same infinite loop as the old box (for 30 minutes now as I type).
Removing the ESata, and rebooting, back to normal operation, though without ESata and all of the recorded shows.
Any ideas? Do you think my "mistake" in hooking up the ESata drive to the new box right off the bat might have messed up the drive? I'm ordering an ESata to Sata cable so I can hook up the drive to my PC and see if it's accessable. Maybe I can reformat it, knowing we'll lose all our programs (actually, my wife's programs......no big deal to me )
Or does it take a long time to initialize an existing ESata drive with lots of programs on it?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Greetings, armond_in_nj!
Thanks for your message responding to my plea for help!
OK.... Finally have had time to try everything again AND make notes along the way.
I have a Motorola STB, model HD DVR QIP 7216 P2 500GB.
I have a Western Digital external eSata hard drive, model WDBABT0010HBK-NESN – 1TB (on the "approved" list).
And yes, I have tried everything mentioned in the post by "steveKane" just above my original. See below at the end for what happened when I tried to re-format my WD drive on my desktop PC.
When I first got my WD external HD several months ago, I had to call Verizon support to get the DVR to recognize the Western Digital external HD, but we finally got that fixed and all was fine (i.e., programs recording to external HD, status visible under DVR/Recorder Status using my remote). Then, around mid-november, when I would schedule programs to record, either when I was asleep or at work, when I went to view them later, often times one program was broken into 2 or more segments. Then a little later, sometimes while watching a recorded program, the DVR would just freeze. I would reset the Set Top Box (STB) and could continue watching the program. But this all got worse and worse and, finally, I called tech support. After a frustrating hour with a tech support person, who declared everything was fine with my STB because I could press RECORD and the DVR would record a short segment of programming. During that hour conversation, we had reset the STB more than 10 times. I finally asked to speak with this technician's supervisor, who finally agreed with me that the STB needed replacing. When I received the new STB, it would not function at all. So.... another call to support, more attempts on their end to re-set the STB, and finally they agreed that I needed yet another new STB. When that arrived, I went through all the proper steps to set up the STB first, without the external HD and, only when the new STB was working properly did I try to get it to recognize my external HD.
The Western Digital instructions for connecting their drive to my DVR are as follows:
1. Power off the DVR box by disconnecting the AC power cord. --- Did that
2. Connect one end of the eSATA cable to your My Book AV and the other end to the DVR box (do not use a USB cable to connect to DVR) -- Did that
3. Connect one end of the AC power cord to the My Book AV and the other end to the electrical outlet. The power LED inlluminates. ---- I did, and it did
4. Waii approximately 15 seconds for the hard drive to reach operating speed. -- Did that
5. Power on the DVR box by reattaching the AC power cord. -- Did that
6. Follow the on-screen instructions.
This procedure did not work. There were no on-screen instructions when I powered the STB back on. So, I did the following:
1. I went to "DVR/Enable more storage" and followed the prompts from there, which at one point told me to connect the external HD to the STB, which it already was. I pressed OK to proceed and got the message that "external storage is active for this STB. To detect the external hard, please press OK to reboot the STB".
2. Did that, waited; during reboot, a white band appears briefly across the TV screen with the words "Please wait" in red, then it goes away as the reboot process continues. Eventually, I get a message that says "Press MENU to watch FiOS TV, or turn your TV off". I press MENU, the screen appears (with red background) saying "Verizon FiOS is starting up - one moment pleast. Initial download in progress. It takes about one minute", then after a minute or so, the TV image appears.
3. I go to DVR/Recorder status, and the external HD is not there.
Since the STB prompted me to connect the external HD during step 1 above, I decided to power everything off, disconnect the eSATA cable from the back of the STB, reconnect power to the external HD, then reconnect power to the STB to reboot.
Everything in step 2 above proceeds as outlined there, but still I got no on-screen instructions after FiOS started back up. So, I went to DVR/Enable more storage, followed the prompts until asked to connect the external HD to the STB, at which time, now, I get a pop-up screen that says "The connected external HD has been previously used with another STB with a different DVR. Using the drive on this STB will remove all existing content on the drive. Do you want to use this drive?" Options are "ACCEPT" or "REJECT". I press OK to ACCEPT, then we go through the whole reboot thing again, and still no sign of the external HD under DVR/Recorder status.
I even tried connecting the WD external HD to my desktop computer (running XP Professional) using a USB cable (following "steveKane's" suggestion in his posting of 12-02-12), thinking I could try to reformat the drive on my desktop. After connecting, I go to Window Explorer and the drive is not there. When I open the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the Task Bar, the drive is visible there. I tried stopping the device, removing it, then waiting a bit and reconnecting it, but get the same results. Not visible in Explorer so that I can try to re-format.
The posting by "mcorbo" right above "steveKane's" posting says "The only way to reuse the drive is to let the dvr reformat it." So how does one get the DVR to reformat the drive????
I hope I have given you the information needed.
I'm at my wits end. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Mac Pro External eSATA Drive

I am looking for a 2TB external hard drive for my Mac Pro (Quad Core 3GHz) and have a question. The Mac Pro has a 500 GB internal boot drive and three internal 500 GB drives RAIDed into a single 1.5TB drive. I would use an external 2TB drive for backing up the 1.5TB daily with Apple's Backup and will use it for Time Machine when I install Leopard. The computer is used primarily for Final Cut Pro Studio.
Costco has a Western Digital external 2TB drive with Fire wire 800 (800mb/s) for $600 and a Western Digital external 1TB drive with eSATA (3000mb/s) for $300. Either way it's $600 for 2 TB. I would need to purchase an eSATA Extender Cable to utilize the two extra SATA ports found on the Mac Pro's logic board for $25.
*The question is*: Could I connect two of the 1TB eSATA drives with the eSATA Extender Cable and make them a single 2TB RAID with Apple's Disk Utility... and would you recommend doing that over getting the 2TB drive which is 1/4 the speed and the same price?
Please see the details below and thank you for your help. I asked the Geniuses at three different Apple Stores and got 3 different answers.
2TB - My Book Pro Edition II (Firewire 800) $600
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=341&language=en
1TB - My Book Home Edition (eSATA) $300
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=357&language=en
eSATA Extender Cable $25
http://www.newertech.com/products/esata_cable.php

I am looking for a 2TB external hard drive for my Mac Pro (Quad Core 3GHz) and have a question. The Mac Pro has a 500 GB internal boot drive and three internal 500 GB drives RAIDed into a single 1.5TB drive. I would use an external 2TB drive for backing up the 1.5TB daily with Apple's Backup and will use it for Time Machine when I install Leopard. The computer is used primarily for Final Cut Pro Studio.
Costco has a Western Digital external 2TB drive with Fire wire 800 (800mb/s) for $600 and a Western Digital external 1TB drive with eSATA (3000mb/s) for $300. Either way it's $600 for 2 TB. I would need to purchase an eSATA Extender Cable to utilize the two extra SATA ports found on the Mac Pro's logic board for $25.
*The question is*: Could I connect two of the 1TB eSATA drives with the eSATA Extender Cable and make them a single 2TB RAID with Apple's Disk Utility... and would you recommend doing that over getting the 2TB drive which is 1/4 the speed and the same price?
Please see the details below and thank you for your help. I asked the Geniuses at three different Apple Stores and got 3 different answers.
2TB - My Book Pro Edition II (Firewire 800) $600
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=341&language=en
1TB - My Book Home Edition (eSATA) $300
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=357&language=en
eSATA Extender Cable $25
http://www.newertech.com/products/esata_cable.php

Apple TV on Motorola Set Top Box Killing Wireless

Thought I'd share this find. Problem with set top box, not Apple TV.
Just moved into this house. Changed service providers from Comcast to Verizon. Only change in setup between houses is set top box from SP.
Setup:
Verizon router/AP in home office (adjacent to family room)
Family room
Motorola set top box with Roku or Apple TV sitting on top
External HD to left of set top box
PS3 on shelf below set top box
Soundbar and TV on shelf above set top box
Immediately noticed in new house that when Roku was downloading data/video, the download was extremely slow and the rest of the wireless network appeared to go down. The Roku was pretty much unusable. I would see wireless signal and Internet connection bounce. But it wasn't consistent, and I couldn't identify a pattern. I used inSSIDer and Android wifi analyzer.
So, I figured the problem was with my 1st generation Roku. Thought maybe that the wireless radio was shot. So I trashed the Roku and purcahased an Apple TV today. Same problem! Wireless and Internet bouncing.
So, I moved the Apple TV off of the set top box. I moved it to its own shelf on the TV stand. All is well now!
My conclusion is that the metal chassis of the Motorola set top box was doing something to the 2.4GHz signal. I recall that my Comcast set top box was Scientific Atlanta.
Also, I'm ultimately happier with the Apple TV because of its integration with my iMac, MacBook and iPad.

It would need HDMI or the three component jacks to input to.
DirectTV box has HDMI out but not in.
Best is to see if your TV has the component video jacks or multiple HDMI and switch via your TV remote.
For example my Bravia has 2 sets of component input and 3 HDMI inputs.
Hopefully, you have a newer TV.

Success with adding an external eSATA drive to a Verizon FIOS DVR

August 4, 2012 - Success with adding an external eSATA drive to a Verizon FIOS DVR
I just upgraded from a Comcast DVR to a Verizon FIOS DVR. I upgraded because my old DVR was limited to 500GB (1/2 TB) on the internal drive and the new FIOS DVR allowed for a much larger external eSATA drive. Selecting a viable external drive for the FIOS DVR was easier said than done. The three drives listed on the Verizon web site as compatible with FIOS DVRs are no longer manufactured by western digital and are not available on the market.
The DVR that I received from Verizon was a Cisco "CHS 435 HD DVR" that came with a 500GB (1/2 TB) internal drive. This is one of their "Multi-Room DVRs" that allows other set top boxes (not DVRs) to watch videos recorded on it.
I selected a western digital "WD30EURS" eSATA disk drive because it was a follow on product to one of the three listed as acceptable by Verzion on their web page and it was 3TB in size. I ordered from amazon.com for $170.99. This drive is a "bare drive" so it does not come with an external encloser or a eSATA cable.
According to the Western Digial web site this is a AV-GP drive: "These drives are designed to last in high temperature always-on, streaming digital audio/video environments such as PVR/DVR, IPTV, and video surveillance systems."
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/AAG/ENG/2178-771131.pdf
I got a "Macally G-S350SU Hi-Speed eSata/USB2.0 External Storage Enclosure for 3.5inch SATA HDD" to hold the drive for $34.39. I chose this one because it does not use a fan that could cause continious noise. The box is made out of metal so it cools itself as long as it is exposed to air (not covered up). This box comes with an external power supply that has a small transformer that plugs into a wall outlet.
Then I needed a eSATA cable. I got a "StarTech 6-Feet Shielded External eSATA Cable M/M (ESATA6)" for $6.50 and a 3-foot version for $5.90. I went with the longer one so that the cable would be less likely to become accidentally unplugged if I need to move the drive or the DVR. The cables and the drive houseing came from the same Amazon provider so it saved me on shipping. The drive came from Amazon/Western Digial directly but they do not have external housings or eSATA cables on that site.
The total cost was $255.56 including shipping for all these items.
I went with the largest (3TB) drive from western digial's AV-GP line to avoid a future upgrade from a smaller drive to a larger drive. There is no way to copy videos from one external eSATA drive to another drive because they are formatted by the FIOS DVR in a propriatary format. That would mean that any future upgrade would require losing all recorded files during an upgrade. That also means that there is no way to back up the contents of the drive to protect yourself from hard drive failure.
The installer who setup the DVR did not want me to plug in the drive while he was there and explained that I was on my own when I attached this kind of personal device to the DVR. When I plugged in the new eSATA drive it was automatically discovered. I was asked by the DVR if I wanted to format the new drive. I answered yes and within 2 hours the drive completed formatting. I did not watch the boring format so it could have finished faster.
When I started recording new videos they go directly to the external drive automatically and avoids the internal drive. It had no trouble recording two HD shows and playing a recording at the same time. I now have 20 hours of HD video recorded and the 3TB external drive is 17% full. So far my experience with the external drive has been great. No problems or issues. Learning the new remote control, new DVR menu system, and web browser control of the DVR from a laptop is another story. It will take some time to figure out how to make all the new features work.
It took me a while to figure out how to make this work since the verizon web site made useless suggestions and pointed me to products that are not available any more. I could not tell if this really would work until I plugged it in and then I was pleasantly suprised that it did. I have had this working for 3 days without any issues. I hope this post makes it easier for you to add an external eSATA drive to your DVR.
Here are the three items ordered from Amazon to make this work:
Western Digital 3 TB AV-GP 3 TB SATA 2 Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Driv...
Macally G-S350SU Hi-Speed eSata/USB2.0 External Storage Enclosure for 3.5inch SATA HDD
StarTech 6-Feet Shielded External eSATA Cable M/M (ESATA6)

You are right. I can only access 2TB of my 3TB external drive. That gives me a total of 2.5 TB counting the internal (0.5 TB) and external (2.0 TB) drives. This is a significant improvement over the just the 0.5 TB internal drive. I have not been able to find a reason for this limitation. Cisco and Verizon do not mention any limits that I can find. I hope that a future BIOS upgrade could provide access to more space but this would probably require me to reformat the drive and lose everything recorded.
I paid $170.99 for the 3 TB WD30EURS drive at amazon. I could have gotten away with spending only $116.99 for the 2 TB WD20EURS drive. Not worth returning at this point so I will stay with it. Makes me glad I didn't buy the most expensive 6 TB external monster drive available from another company.
I bought: 3TB drive: Western Digital 3 TB AV-GP 3 TB SATA 2 Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive WD30EURS by Western Digital
I could have bought: 2TB drive: Western Digital AV-GP 2 TB SATA II Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Internal Hard Drive - WD20EURS by Western Digital
Details of what I learned:
The external 2 TB drive now has 41 hours of HD video recorded and claims to be 34% full (66% free). My estimate would allow me to have aprox 120 hours of HD on the external drive (2TB) and 30 hours of HD on the internal drive (500GB) for a total of 150 hours of HD. This will keep me happy for the near future.
There is a hidden "diagnostic menu" that is not normally accessible or documented by CISCO or Verizon. This menu has a lot of interesting info on the inner working of the DVR. There was an obscure reference to this menu on another forum.
To access this diagnostics menu:
1) Get the DVR into normal live tv mode (no menu, no guide, no pause ...)
2) Go to the Cisco CHS 435 HD DVR (not the remote control) and press these buttons on the front of the DVR: Press both the Left Arrow "<-" button and "OK" button at the same time and hold them both down for aprox 5 seconds.
3) The "Verizon FiOS TV Diagnostics Menu" menu will appear. The menu can then be used by the remote control.
4) I chose "D03 Memory / HDD" and then "Hard Disk Information" and finally "OK"
A five page disk report appeared. With a little bit of interpretation I discovered:
The Internal Drive is know as "drive 1/hdc1" has 461 GB total space with 454 GB free.
The External Drive is split into two partitions "hdc2" and "hdc3" (aka two mount points).
"drive 2/hdc2" has 1007 MB total with 317 GB free
"drive 3/hdc3" has 1007 MB total with 974 GB free
The normal DVR menu has an "Eject" feature that allows you to stop the external drive and make it safe to remove it from the DVR without losing anything via an unplanned drive removal. This can be found at "DVR" button on remote then "Settings"->"External Hard Drive"->"Eject".

Interchange eSATA drives with different top boxes

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for