SA8300HD - External SATA Drive Works, Please Read Post 1 and Post 1 Links

[hddi]

Did anyone experience eHDD issues after the most recent SARA ver. 1.93.15.1 update (November 2012)?

I'm trying to reconnect the drive I've used successfully for a few months earlier in the year. The drive was disconnected and formatted under Windows prior to the SARA upgrade.

The drive model is WD6401AALS-00L3B2 (WD Black 640 GB) in Vantec 360 enclosure. When my 8300HD boots up with the drive connected, I get a prompt to format it. However, the drive doesn't actually get formatted. On the diagnostics screen the drive model and size are recognized but the partition sizes stay at 0.

Every time I reboot the box or turn it on via remote, the format prompt pops up again. I tried leaving it on for a few hours after confirming the format but to no avail. When connected to a PC, the drive still has its Windows partitions untouched.

UPDATE: I got this solved by erasing the drive and setting all sectors to 0 using Active@ KillDisk. I guess the new SARA cannot properly recognize a drive formatted under Windows. Another annoying new "feature" is that the warning "An external storage device connected..." now pops up every time I bring the box out of standby with a remote, not just after reboot like it used to do.

[Geo35]

I am planning to add an eHDD (WD Black WD1002FAEX) to my SA8300 to expand my recording capacity.

It seems that the Thermaltake dock is now the most reliable. Unfortunately, I need to use an enclosure that I can lay down flat to fit into a 4 inch shelf on my TV stand and the Thermaltake cannot be laid flat.

Excluding the Thermaltake, are people still successfully using the Vantec enclosures? These ones would work for me due to their thin profile which can be laid down flat.

[57]

Many people use the Vantecs (I have two). I believe the Thermaltake enclosures came into play when people began having issues with Vantecs after a firmware update a couple of years ago.

[MiG Hunter]

Hello all,

Could you please suggest the least expensive 1TB external hard drive for SA8300HD? I live in Markham, Ontario.

I am totally new to putting an extenal HDD. I only know that the interface should be SATA II cabel and HDD must be 7200 RPM and powered.

Where to buy the HDD? What enclosure? What power supply?

Please advise. Thanks.

[Phils]

I think you'll find your answers in the links on the first page of this thread. Just be sure to pick a drive and enclosure that is known to work.

In my case I found that western digital drives whose model numbers end in AAKS with a Vantec 3 enclosure work very well but I installed mine over 5 years ago and things may have changed.

[57]

MiG Hunter: Most people have found that the Vantec enclosure with a WD Black drive works well. You can read the last few pages of this thread for additional comments, recommendations, as well as post 1 and the links there.

[Geo35]

Originally Posted by 57

Many people use the Vantecs (I have two). I believe the Thermaltake enclosures came into play when people began having issues with Vantecs after a firmware update a couple of years ago.

Thanks 57. I went out and purchased the WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB HD and a Vantec 360 enclosure on the weekend and put it together. In the 2 days since, everything seems to be working well. The only minor hitch is that when I turn on the PVR, I always get a on screen reminder that there is an external drive connected and I have to push the select button on the remote to get rid of it. This setup is mostly used by the wife and she is quite happy now after looking at the 90+% space used indicator for the last year, now showing less than 15 %

[57]

The "this drive works" should go away after a few seconds - this happened as of two firmware versions ago...

[stemfi]

Could I get some feedback from people who have this combo? Trying to decide if I should buy the Shaw Expander. I read some posts that indicated stuttering problems when Rogers updated the firmware?

[57]

I searched this thread and found no posts with "shaw" in them and I don't recall anyone using the Shaw Expander with the SA8300HD. Suggest you read the last few pages of this thread for the latest recommendations, which haven't changed much from post 1 really.

[MiG Hunter]

Finally, today I installed my very first eHDD for the total of $60! Thanks to kijiji and eBay.

I got myself a 1TB SAMSUNG SATA HDD(7200RPM) for $40 from kijiji and a Vantec NexStar 3 for $20 from eBay(sells for $40 at Future Shop.

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...a9f53ccee6en02.

Hook up was a piece of cake and SA8300HD had no problem detecting and formatting it. Hope this info helps those who are planning to expand their HDD.