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Adding a SATA Drive To Pace HDPVRs.

180K views 292 replies 107 participants last post by  Dr Den 
#1 ·
Edit by 57. Please discuss adding/using an external SATA HDD in this thread. Please also see the following new post:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=98929


Hi, new to DHome and Pace 775D. So far all is well with the Pace and love being free'd from commercials!

Thinking about adding an external drive and contacted Shaw tech support. They didn't really have much advise to offer except to email me these instructions from their notes;


8 - Connecting eSATA external Hard Drive to Pace HD PVR

This section outlines the process on how to properly install an external SATA (e-SATA) drive on Pace Tahoe TDC775D.

**Important: Content recorded on the PVR can only be viewed from that specific device. Content can not be transferred or viewed on a home computer or any other electronic device. Do not use an E-SATA from your PC as it will be automatically reformatted when connected to Pace resulting in ALL DATA BEING LOST.

Installation
1. Pace PVR must be disconnected at the time an e-SATA drive is connected.
**NOTE: If an e-SATA drive is connected while the system is running the e-SATA drive will not be recognized.
2. e-SATA drive must be connected utilizing the SATA port via an e-SATA cable.
3. Once connected, the PVR can be booted up. Boot time should not be affected when a properly working e-SATA drive is connected.
4. Once the e-SATA drive is connected and the PVR is powered on, the user will be prompted to format the e-SATA drive. This will mate the e-SATA drive and its contents to that PVR. Formatting of the e-SATA drive will only be required the first time the e-SATA drive is connected to the STB.
5. You must choose “YES” in order to have external eSATA Hard Drive functionality on the PVR, formatting will take 10 to 15 seconds.

**NOTE: Content recorded on the PVR can only be viewed from that specific device. Content can not be transferred or viewed on a home computer or any other electronic device. Moving eSATA to PC will cause an automatic reformat and all data will be lost (vice versa: PC drive to pace).


Reading this forum I didn't find any "approved" eSATA drives, though Western Digital seems preferred, but any drive can be used as long as it's; under 750GB, non USB, 7200rpm 133mb/sec, and conncected with an eSATA crimping cable?

I wonder if I will lose my programming currently on the PVR once I connect the external. Sounds like once installed both internal and external drives are accessed automatically.

Anyone have any sucess/failure with certain drives? Anything else I should be thinking about before going shopping for an external drive?
 
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#180 ·
Pace DC776D with expander

Hi all, I've had this 776D, the Pace Aspen unit with the internal 160GB HDD since August. I picked up an external 1 TB HDD with an ESATA enclosure (the Vantec unit). Anyway, all worked out well until we had a power outage. Basically, the external HDD requires to be ON BEFORE the Pace unit is turned on. If not, all shows on the ext. HDD are lost. Because of this, I have stopped using the external HDD since Nov.

I'm wondering if the new expander will have this problem as well. I had asked Shaw customer care and they were indicating that when I plug in the expander, it will no longer record or use the internal HDD. From what I could tell, that is NOT the case for the ext. HDD (as least not when I had it in use). It was still using a portion of the internal HD.

Has anyone had any experiences with the 776D using the new expander? I find it hard to believe that the new expander would be any different from a HDD in an enclosure.

Thanks for any feedback.
 
#181 ·
Whe have discussed this in October of 2009 in this thread (post 38 and on).

Normally, after power outage, PVR needs some time (few seconds) to go through startup sequence (boot) before it tries to access attached hard drive. Those few seconds are in normal circumstances enough for external hard drive to spin up and respond to PVR when asked to. It is possible that you have enclosure/HD combo that's too slow at spin up and thus PVR can't find external hird drive when asked.

Part of Calgary had 2-3 power outages yesterday and my PVR did not have problems detecting Western Digital PVR expander each time power came back (during one of them recording was in progres and when power came back after 7 minutes recording continued).
 
#184 ·
mgress, we need details to help, for example, what enclosure are you trying to use.

Generally, most multi-interface (e.g., USB, eSATA & Firewire) external drives/enclosures will not work.

See other, earlier posts in this thread for details, especially starting about post 19 (on the first page).

Most people generally report success with eSATA-only external drives. Some eSATA/USB combo drives (Vantec enclosures) have been reported to work. Others have worked for a while and thenfailed.
 
#185 ·
I just tried it with a Vantec NexStar3 2.5" eSATA/USB 2.0 enclosure(from like 2 years ago) and a Fujitsu 500gb 5400rpm hd from an apple macbook pro. So far so good, everything works! I can record and watch another show. No lag or anything, very quiet. Drive sleeps when Pace is off.

From what I have read, I think all the Vantec esata enclosure should work.
 
#187 ·
External eSATA hard drive for Shaw PVRs

I recently bought two external 1T eSATA hard drives and installed them on my 2 Shaw PVR sets.

On my Motorola DCT6416III the drive installed and formatted to 1T free space.

On my PACE TDC775D the same model 1T drive only formatted out to 662GB of free space, about 40% space less than the Motorola.

The external drive model I used is an Acomdata Puredrive 1T 7200RPM USB2.0/eSATA External 3.5 in Hard drive. I got them on sale for $99 each. When the PVR is turned off the external drive will spin down, however it will automatically spin back up when the PVR is turned back on.

I called Shaw's Technical dept, and they are aware of this problem. They told me that a firmware update is coming out for the PACE next month, however, they don't know if it will fix this issue.
 
#188 ·
Well my Pace 770 just dropped my Vantec SATA/USB connection. I thought it was the drive in the Vantec NST-360SU-BK so I swapped them out and still nothing. Hmm maybe its the chip set in the NST-360SU-BK so I bought a Shaw PVR Expander with the 1T Seagate drive and still nothing. The CSR scheduled a service call and it looks like my 770 has a broken SATA connection.

Now the question:
Once they swap out my Pace box with a replacement, will my NST-360SU-BK with its recording be recognizable or will the new PVR format and erase the external drive, hope not?
 
#191 ·
I am using a Vantec Nexstar 3 3.5IN eSATA USB 2.0 SATA Blue Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure W/ Power Adapter for my external enclosure. I don't recall what type of 500GB hard drive I have inside (bought over a year ago) but I think it is only 5400RPM.

I deleted the partitions on the drive and the Pace Summit detected it without any issues.

Just started using this setup so let's see how it goes...
 
#192 ·
I am also using the Alcomdata PureDrive PDHD1000USE-72. At first I wasn't able to get my Pace Whistler TDC770D to recognize the drive. I had the drive plugged into the back of the Pace for power.

I started to realize that the outlet on the Pace is switched and that it wasn't turning the Hard Drive on until after the Cable Box turned itself on, therefor it didn't recognize the Drive.

Once I plugged the Hard Drive into the wall and then rebooted my PVR it gave me the option to format the Drive and everything has been fine.

Happy so far.

Thanks for all the help.
 
#194 ·
Hey guys, found this forum by googling some problems I am experiencing with my new pace shaw box. I bought the Shaw Pace HD Receiver (DC758D) from London Drugs. My motorola pvr box pouched the other day.

I attached a 500GB harddrive in my brand new vantec enclosure.

I was able to connect the external drive to my Pace shaw box and format the drive. Cable worked, my new HD channels worked. I was able to watch the Flames game last night and record parts of it.

So now.. this is where the problems started. The box would randomly freeze, so I had to unplug the pace box (since the power button did not respond) This happened a couple of times last night, it would randomly freeze up and I would have to reboot the box. There was one time however, it froze and it came back up on its own and continued to record the show my fiance programmed.

This morning when I turned on the tv to check if everything was ok, it now shows dvr is disabled and to call a shaw number (when I press LIST)


Can anybody tell me whats going before I return this POS?

There is SUMFINGWONG with my shaw box! :)
 
#195 ·
The Pace may occassionally lose communication with the Expander. What Shaw will likely have you did is marry the 2 devices again. Unplug power to the DCT, then unplug the SATA cable and plug it back in making sure it goes all the way in and is seated properly. Pludg the DCT back in and this should go through some AxxA and CxxC codes on the display. It should not ask you to format the drive as it will recognize it as one it already can write to. Then wait about 2 minutes after powering on the unit and press List to ensure the drive is communicating and displaying the recorded programs in the list.
 
#196 ·
Very timely reminder Shaw Guru. After disconnecting my Expander from the Summit I have been unsuccessful in getting the two to communicate again, even following the sequence of steps you describe. I should say, it worked once, but I was unable to see the channels. I rebooted the unit and I couldn't get it to work after that. Then Shaw did a few resets. One worked but the box froze and did a spontaneous reboot. Again, no communication between the two. After having seated the eSATA cable properly, having swapped it end for end, having tried a different eSATA cable, Shaw has done one more reset, then asked me to plug in the Expander, while leaving the Summit off for 15 minutes. The tech will call me back in a few minutes and I'll see what the result is.

Update: Now I don't even get the "DVD Serice is not available" message. I just get the VCR timers. Shaw wants me to leave the box on a little longer. I'll try to get Shaw to give me another reset after this fails.

Update: Well, the reset worked, in a fashion. My Summit now talks to my Expander again and I do have a list of recorded programs but, after appearing briefly, the list is now blank - not empty, the entries all seem to be there (and the disk is at 85%) but they are blank. At least one page of entries is there. The 24 Content Listing shows all the titles.

Update: Well, a reboot brought the list back. Let's see if it stays back.
 
#197 ·
Will 15' eSATA cables work with Summit + Expander (WD)?

So far, I have been unable to get my Summit to communicate with my Expander (WD) via 15' eSATA cables. I have tried two different cables (same manufacturer, unfortunately). Both worked with a HDD and my computer and not with the Summit & Expander (WD). The shorter, supplied, cable works, most of the time. I was attempting to put the Expander into a separate room to cut down on its noise.

Update re post 196: After the last reset, the Summit and Expander are once again communicating, via the supplied eSATA cable, and reboot attempts are working properly again too.

ASIDE:
Shaw Guru or someone else familiar with Shaw hardware:
I posted a question about the type of Shaw-branded coax Shaw provides in the Shaw forum but noticed that my posting was moved to Home Theatre Equipment BELDEN YN29891 SERIES 6 vs COMMSCOPE "Brightwire" coax cable . Can you check it out please? Thanks.
 
#198 ·
Hmmm, it appears that, despite the availability of longer cables and despite the fact that some equipment works with the longer cables, the eSATA spec allows for a maximum length of 2 metres, with so-called active adapters. With passive adapters the maximum cable length is reduced to 1 metre. I haven't yet tried a 2 metere cable. It isn't long enough to be useful to me. I wanted to position the Expander in another room (through the intervening wall).

I wish I'd thought to check this out before I bought the cable.

Nonetheless, the cable worked with a Vantec enclosed HDD and my desktop computer's (passive- connected directly to an internal SATA port) eSATA adapter (retrofitted). Of course, I only checked that the drive was detected and readable. Who's to say how well or for how long or how reliably it would have functioned with a cable that much longer than the spec permits. At least I can get a store credit when I return the cable.

Got my refund for the cable. I will try to put the Summit & Expander, together, in the other room and use the IR extension receiver to control them from the first room. Wish me better luck than the first time I tried to use the IR extension receiver, when I had the "runaway" menu problem. This time, though, the Summit (with its built-in IR receiver) and the extension IR receiver will be in separate rooms. Maybe that'll eliminate any interference between the two IR receivers????
 
#200 ·
is there any way....

Hi, I was wondering if there was any way to watch recordings on my seagate external hard drive which is attached through esata to a pace tahoe dvr if I now have a different cable provider which does not support the pace tahoe box..... Both my old and new cable providers say no, but I thought it was worth asking anyway as I have many many unwatched programs on the drive :eek:(
Thanks!
 
#202 ·
Here's a suggestion but there are no guarantees:

If you have a friend who is a Shaw subscriber, you could have them add your Pace to their account so you could 're-activate' the box and Expander. Both the Pace and the Expander would need to be connected to the cable in your friend's home and you would need to have the two units powered with a UPS that has enough capacity to get at least the Pace back to your house. Once home, you could reconnect it all and watch the programs on the Expander.

Shaw would require that you call them to 'release' your Pace to your friend's account and then your friend would need to 'release' it back to you later if you were ever to want it back with a Shaw account of your own. This is no big deal, it is just a necessary couple of phone calls to Shaw.

It can't hurt to try this if the recordings are important enough to you. Good luck and let us know if this works for you if you decide to try it.
 
#203 · (Edited)
Probably asking a redundant question, but I'll ask anyways.

If I get the Pace HD box and then add a eSATA hard drive to it, will I be able to watch one program and record another. So basically, does the Pace HD box have dual tuner?

Also, anybody know if the Acomdata Puredrive 500GB 7200RPM USB 2.0 eSATA External 3.5IN Hard Drive from NCIX will work?

Edit: Nevermind. Read some of the previous posts and got my answer. :D
 
#204 ·
Thank you all who post

i was debating on what to do, and after reading this thread I was thrilled to see I could make my own hard drive!! It was the pace or motorolla pvrs i had to choose from. So I chose the Pace model and with the after market parts recommended here and memory exp help, it was at least $150 cheaper and works great.

Thanx for the savings
 
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