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External Hard Drive Discussions - See Facts Link in Post 1.

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm new to this so please bear with me. I've tried searching with no success.

I just upgraded to a 9241 because my kids gave me an external hard drive for my BD.

Anyway, it formated just fine so here is my question.

As I keep recording movies etc, does the external drive become an overflow when the 9241 is full?? If this isn't the case, do I have to archieve shows to the external drive manually??

Once movies etc are in the hard drive do I just access them for watching the same as if they're on the 9241 drive.

I hope I explained properly but I'm sure somebody will let me know if not. :p

Here's the link to the eHDD facts thread. Read it to find the appropriate eHDD, etc.

Bell External Hard Drive Facts - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

Do not ask questions in the Facts thread. Use this thread for questions.
 
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#166 ·
It's strange because last night I transferred 3 hours of HD content to the EHD. It transferred flawlessly. Then I watched a full episode of a 1 hour show.

Since I removed the 2 SD shows, I've had no more trouble. It may not have been due to those shows being SD. Perhaps the recording was corrupted and it corrupted my EHD. I don't know what the answer is. If you've formatted and only archived one HD show, then it makes even less sense.

The only thing I am sure of is the v184/185 update seems to have caused this, and it seems random. Only certain people are affected by it. The other bizarre thing is that you can plug the EHD into the 9241 even though the drive was formatted by a 9242 and the recordings are from a 9242. The 9241 will read and even restore them. The 9241 even restored the SD shows that I had, even though the 9242 turned the EHD off after only a couple of minutes into the restore or viewing.
 
#167 ·
6131 and ehd

Maxtor 640 ehd is not compatible.
WD 1 terrabyte 5400 rpm works like a charm - about 130 HD hours and 1000 SD hours
Bell and The Source play ignorant when you ask them about the brand name EHD they use, but it looks like a WD.
I'm told the rpm speed is not the issue here as the USB only transfers 480mbs and a faster spin rate makes no difference.
I believe the La Cie drives are compatible
 
#168 ·
Both drives that I tried were WD. The 1 Tb drive worked great until v184. I replaced it with a WD 250 gb drive and it made no difference. The EHD continued to shutdown on me. I thought maybe it was the EHD enclosure I was using. Someone else has the same enclosure and they're having zero problems. I don't really trust it because I know something is wrong. At least I can restore the recordings with my 9241. Hopefully Bell will fix this issue with the 9242 EHD's.
 
#169 ·
WD WD10EARS / WD15EARS Spec Changes

When I bought my WD15EARS (caviar green 1.5TB) hard drive it was listed as a 7200 rpm drive both on tigerdirect.ca and on Western Digital's website, it's now listed as Intellipower and may or may not with with Bell TV. I was recommended to go with a Caviar Black drive to guarantee compatibility with Bell TV. That being said tigerdirect.ca offered to RMA the WD15EARS and pay for the return shipping and no charge ship me a Caviar Black drive. Pretty good in my opinion when they really didn't do anything wrong in the first place.

dave
 
#170 ·
9242 Internal HardDrive fail

My 9242 went into a continious rebooting phase a couple of days ago so I thought the HD-PVR was dead. I decided to unplug the internal Harddrive and then it worked fine. Problem 1 fixed.

Problem 2 starts. I bought an external HD yesterday (Lacie 1TB) and plugged it in, it asked to be formatted to which I said yes, it formatted and rebooted then asked to be formatted again, I did this about 4 times and still wouldn't recongnize that it was formatted.
I plugged the EHD into my laptop and formatted it with windows and it works fine, so the EHD seem to be fine

Is 1TB too large for the 9242 or could it be the brand?
 
#172 ·
There seems to be various bugs surfacing with the EHDs and the 9242. People are reporting their EHDs shutting down constantly, others are having issues with an error stating, "You must get Bell to activate your hard drive" and Bell doesn't seem to know what this is. Some are unable to format the EHD. Some of us run into problems after archiving SD content.

I have a 1 TB drive that used to work. Now with 9242 firmware v185 the 1 tb doesn't work well and I've got trouble with my 250 Gb drive too.
 
#173 ·
I tried both EHD in my 6131, both formatted with no problems so at least I know the EHD's are Good. I'm wondering if my problem is relating to the internal HD crashing. When I opened up the case I just unplugged the IHD from the main board.
Are there any other settings that I need to change to tell the 9242 that the IHD is no longer in use?

Just a thought...

I'm going to call tech support tonight.
I'll keep you informed.
 
#174 ·
My EHD shut down last night any time I tried to access it on the 9242. I had no SD content on it. So it's not SD content causing the issue. Plugging it into the 9241 I was able to restore the entire EHD back to being empty. Now it works again in the 9242. I give up on this one. All I know is I had no problems for months with this drive. After firmware v184 the entire situation has changed from excellent to horrible.
 
#175 ·
After an hour on the phone with Bell the final conclusion was there's something wrong with your receiver, would you like to buy another one since you aren't renting and it's 16 months old (That has already been replaced once within that time frame)? Ha! Ha!
So right now I have an HD PVR with no PVR funtionality, I got one expensive HD receiver.
While on the phone with them my version was V183 and after doing a Factory Default and a reboot I went to V185. They must know that there's something up EHD, 9242 and their versions... Now, I'm able to format the EHD but can't use it. "Data not available at this time".

One frustrated customer...I know, join the club.
 
#176 ·
I bought a new 9242 in September at the Source. When I got it home, I noticed the buttons inside the case on the left were all recessed inside the PVR. I could not press them. It was already plugged in when I noticed this, and the fan was making a terrible noise. I called Bell and they said to call the Source to get it exchanged. I did, and the Source exchanged it for me. Then last month (February), Bell replaced that one. So I'm on my 3rd 9242 since September. The last 2 PVRs had a problem with the EHD. Not exactly the same issue though.

- One would state, "Bell must activate this feature. Call 1-888-sky-dish.
- The other message is, "Your USB device has been removed from the PVR" - the EHD is off when this happens.

It continuously shuts itself off. So I replaced the hard drive to a completely different one. Instead of a 1 TB I'm now using a 250 Gb - same exact problem - shuts off after a minute or so of using it. None of the EHD problems existed before V184 and now V185. They appear to have compromised their once working EHD functionality with this new firmware.
 
#177 ·
i was wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar to my issue.i have a 9241 and i was hoping to move some of my recordings to an external drive i have.the receiver recognizes it but when i click on usb storage all it does is then show an option for photos,all i had on there was tv shows and movies.i decided to format it on my mac but nothing really changed,no option of formatting it through the receiver.the EHD is a 3.2 sata @ 5400 which i thought might be the problem but i do see other posters with the same rpm.any help would be great.
 
#181 ·
I believe you will be able to watch the EHD shows providing you are keeping your Bell PVR. I currently have a 9241 that's not hooked up to the dish and it will play recordings from my EHD shows. For all it knows, I may have left Bell. On your last day of service I suppose Bell could send some signal to disable the machine. I don't know if they do, but to be safe you might want to disconnect your pvr from the dish, phone line, and Internet before your Bell service terminates.
 
#182 ·
I purchased an HP Simplesave 1TB external HD and hooked it up to my 9242 today.

Seems to work well, recording, archiving, restoring, watched a movie etc. It is very quiet.

However, I noticed that there is an 8-10 second delay when I press the PVR button before seeing the on screen menu.

I imagine it takes some time for the receiver to communicate with the external HD. I am just curious if this is normal and if people with other brands of external HD experience the same delays.

Thanks
 
#183 ·
Panache, question asked lots before. Reboot your machine and the problem seems to disappear.

sn469, my guess is the same as funkytown but I wouldn't guarantee it since no one seems to have reported on that previously.
 
#184 ·
I read most of the threads before posting, so I was aware that hard rebooting may solve the issue. It did not not. My receiver also reboots every night at 3am, and this does not help either.

It is a short delay (8-10 seconds) when pressing the PVR button, but just long enough to be annoying. My question was: does anyone have similar problems with other brands of EHD or is this short delay considered normal in order for the receiver to communicate with EHD?
 
#185 ·
It's normal for your receiver to reboot at 3:00 am each night. They are supposed to do that.

The delay when accessing the PVR functions after an EHD is attached was introduced with the V184/5 software. If you read through those specific threads you'll see others are having the same issue. It may not affect everyone with an EHD, just those where the EHD "sleeps".

-Mike
 
#186 ·
Yes, I know my EHD reboots every night because I set it to do that.

I was simply stating that it reboots nightly because the previous poster suggested I reboot to solve the problem.

I am only trying to see if this problem exists on other brands of EHDs. I could always restore the recorded programs to the 9242 hard drive and return the EHD for another brand.

I took the HP Simplesave because I was told that it was very quiet compared to the LaCie. If there are other brands / models that are quiet but do not experience the delay in accessing PVR functions, I may consider switching.
 
#187 ·
I see only a 1 to 2 second delay when pressing the PVR button, using a Seagate FreeAgent 1T drive connected to my 9242. I have about 50 "events" recorded on the EHD, with folders (groups) turned on.

I can't comment on how quiet it is, because it's in a (well ventilated) closet where I don't hear it. It does give off a lot of light, which would be annoying in some viewing environments.
 
#188 ·
EHD Freeze

I apologize in advance. This was originally posted in the 9242 thread but I didn't get an answer. I occurred to me that it was posted in the wrong thread. Therefore, I'll try it here.

I'm encountering an issue with the "Group" feature on my external HD. (Maxtor One Touch 4 500GB) I don't recall seeing anything posted on this issue but I may have missed it.

I have a new (to me) 9242 and have the Group feature turned on. When I access a group folder on the 9242 HD, it works as it should. However, when I attempt to access a group stored on my external HD, the system freezes. After pressing many remote keys without any immediate response, the system will eventually reboot.

I've rebooted the 9242, disconnected and reconnected the external HD and the problem remains.

If I turn off the Group feature, I can go into the external HD and access the previously grouped programs.

The external HD was previously connected to a 9241 (very long story!) and it worked fine on that system.

Anyone else had or solved this problem?
 
#217 · (Edited)
I apologize in advance. This was originally posted in the 9242 thread but I didn't get an answer. I occurred to me that it was posted in the wrong thread. Therefore, I'll try it here.

I'm encountering an issue with the "Group" feature on my external HD. (Maxtor One Touch 4 500GB) I don't recall seeing anything posted on this issue but I may have missed it.

I have a new (to me) 9242 and have the Group feature turned on. When I access a group folder on the 9242 HD, it works as it should. However, when I attempt to access a group stored on my external HD, the system freezes. After pressing many remote keys without any immediate response, the system will eventually reboot.

I've rebooted the 9242, disconnected and reconnected the external HD and the problem remains.

If I turn off the Group feature, I can go into the external HD and access the previously grouped programs.

The external HD was previously connected to a 9241 (very long story!) and it worked fine on that system.

Anyone else had or solved this problem?
I'm experiencing the exact same issue. If I remove the grouping, then I can access and play shows from my EHD. If the shows are grouped, I can see the list of grouped shows on the EHD but when I pick one, the whole system locks up and I need to reboot.

I also have a 9242 using a Seagate 500GB external hard drive.
 
#189 ·
StanDev, thanks for the reply.

I am wondering now if I could remove the "sleep" function by connecting the Simple Save drive to my PC (and getting rid of this function) prior to formatting it on my 9242.

This would be a drag, because I have already archived 50 hours of HD shows on it. Would need to restore, reformat etc.

I guess you have to weigh the pros of not having the 8-10 second delay versus having the drive continously spinning.

Did you have to disable the sleep mode first on yours, or was it already that way out of the box?
 
#190 ·
Panache70: No, I didn't do anything to disable sleep mode on my Seagate FreeAgent 1T drive. Interestingly, I have two identical drives connected to a Mac Mini, and they regularly go to sleep, whereas the one attached to my 9242 never sleeps. Perhaps the Mac is explicitly commanding them to sleep?

(I doubt that it makes any difference, but mine are all the mac version of the FreeAgent, which means they include a couple of FireWire 800 ports, as well as the regular USB 2.0 port. I use Firewire to connect them to the Mini, but USB to the 9242, of course.)
 
#191 ·
Thanks StanDev.

I am still on the fence here. I have 30 days to return the Simplesave, but I really love the look of it and how quiet it is. The price was right also.

The drive goes to sleep after about 15 minutes, and I don't see any way to modify or remove this feature.

It seems like there is a 10 second delay to access any PVR features when I press the PVR button.

I also noticed that when I delete a program (even if the program is on the internal 9242 hard drive), there is now a much longer delay (about 10 seconds or so to delete). It's as if the 9242 waits for the SimpleSave to wake up, even if the program I am deleting is not on the EHD.

From what I hear, the LaCie is definitely too noisy, clunky and unreliable.

If you could provide the model number of the Seagate I would appreciate it.

Thanks
 
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