External Hard Drive Problems and Discussion - See Facts Link in Post 1.

[dirtroad]

When you first set up your EHD on your Bell receiver it formats it, and Linux can access it, but Windows can`t. You said,

I ended up returning this drive as I connected it to 4 different computers and not one would recognize it, they would see it in device manager but not in my computer.

The fact that your computer could see it, but could not access it means all you would have to do is reformat it, but all data or recorded programming would be lost. It sounded like it was no good for a Bell EHD because of the 15 min. sleep issue though.
The same is true with Windows and Mac, most EHD`s are usable on both operating systems, but have to be formatted in a compatible way.
I have used Lacie drives and recently a 2TB Hitachi XL2000 without any issues. (Knock on wood)
I recently saw a 2 TB Lacie on for $99 at a boxing week sale.

[Westvu]

Originally Posted by dirtroad

When you first set up your EHD on your Bell receiver it formats it, and Linux can access it, but Windows can`t. You said,
The fact that your computer could see it, but could not access it means all you would have to do is reformat it, but all data or recorded programming would be lost. It sounded like it was no good for a Bell EHD because of the 15 min. sleep issue though.

My computer only could see it in Device Manager not My Computer so I have no access to it at all.

[dirtroad]

Just like when it was in NTFS, the Bell receiver could detect it, see it but not access it so it reformatted it, your computer could see it but could not access it, until it was reformatted in NTFS, or fat32 etc. The easier thing is to take it back, which you did, because it was not usable because of the sleep mode of the drive.
Have you purchased a new one yet that does meet the Bell PVR criteria?

[Westvu]

No not yet as everything I order electronic wise I have to do online then wait for it to be shipped to me so I am shipping back the Seagate for a return then will order a compatible drive.

[dirtroad]

1) Go to http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/pro...ContentSupport Downloads.
There is a utility you can down load to test the drive, because that still could be the problem.
2) If it works then, Reformat the drive to use with your computer, possibly the download may have that option.
3) Then turn off the sleep function. http://support.seagate.com/rightnow/...jpwrset-v.html
I am not familiar with this drive, but it looks like there is a chance you could use it.
It is worth the effort, and if it works let us know.

[Westvu]

This the drive I have here; http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/pro...op-hard-drive/

I did download this sea tool; http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.js...00dd04090aRCRD

But when I went to install it to use it would just come up with an error, actually it almost seemed like a virus or something as I had to format my PC after trying 3 times to install as my PC wouldn't finish it's boot up, tried safemode to restore but it wouldn't do that either so format was my easiest choice.

I did all this before I posted the first question.

All of this just so I had more storage for my PVR.....what a pain!

[GilKap]

I bought 2 Western Digital (500GB) extension kits from Bell TV for my 2 PVR's, a 9241 and a 9242 about 10 months ago and didn't hook them up until yesterday. The hookup to the 9242 worked without a hitch and we successfully archived several recordings to free up space on the PVR.

When I hooked up the other second kit to the 9241 it went throught he whole formatting and reboot sequence and all looked okay. When I tried to archive a one hour HD recording it started the process, indicating it would take about 30 minutes. After about 20 minutes an error message indicated that there was a problem with the archiving and it did not complete.
When I tried to restart the process I had to reboot both the PVR and the Ext. Drive before trying again. The same result.

After going through another reboot I tried archiving a 30 minute SD program. This archive took about 4 minutes and was successful. Since then I tried archiving a 30 minute HD program and a 60 minute SD program both of which failed.

I tried numerous tests: "restoring" the 30 min SD archive worked. Archiving the 30 minute SD rec, worked again, but no other archiving worked.

Does this sound like a hardware or software problem?
The next thing I would like to try is totally reformatting the disk and reloading the Bell software. How would I do this?

[joebloggs13]

I am just wondering how long my external hard drive will last when hooked up to my pvr. Is there an average life span? 2 yrs?

[joebloggs13]

GilKap, have you tried hooking the HD up to your computer and delete everything, without reformatting, then hooking it back up to your receiver.

[mlch75]

I have had an external drive to act as a pvr to my 6131. Ordered a movie last night Bell did a retrival for billing at 3 am then shut my receiver off. Still charting that I recorded my movie. When I turned on External drive which meets all earlier stated 7200 rpm, 40-1TB, 2usb no longer working. Reset receiver and unplugged external still not working when I reconnected. Called Bell . Now they have narrowed down to script for Western only. They are now having troubles with Western as well that they have not been able to
correct at this point.

[joebloggs13]

Hey mlch75, are you saying that Bell can have issues with certain EHDs, and that compatibility issues can arise out of the blue? I have a Verbatim 1TB, and so far no issues...yet.

[dirtroad]

There is an issue with the Hitachi 2 TB XL2000 EHD on my 9242. What happens is the drive goes into a partial sleep mode after a time, but it does not disconnect, so when you press the PVR button it takes approximately 15 seconds to respond for it to populate the recordings and external hard drive. Once you do this it works instantaneously after that until it goes back to hibernation. I can't remember if my Lacie drive did that in anyway.
Before I bought the drive I 'er I mean Santa researched that the drive meet the criteria, and it did, including no mention of any sleep mode. All documentation I have seen mentions nothing including specs and user manual from Hitachi.
The 9242 handles this well in that it has never disconnected, but I suspect the 6141/31 wouldn't because it requires the EHD to respond immediately for rewind, skip back/fwd and other PVR functions.
I reformatted my 2TB XL2000 with Windows to put it back to OEM condition, and also looked if any digital toggle to shutdown the sleep function but there appears to be none.
The Hitachi 2 TB XL2000 works fine otherwise even as a EHD for my computer.

[sp1343]

Originally Posted by sp1343

I have basically the same problem. My new 6131 does not recognize the EHD I purchased no matter what I try. It is a Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB in a NexStar .3 produced by Vantec enclosure. I have tried the following.
1. Changing USB cable
2. Holding down power button on 6131 till green light turns off then letting go to re-start 6131 while leaving the EHD on.
3. Unplugging EHD and 6131 for 5 min then plugging in 6131 and EHD
4. Plugging in EHD to my 9242 and it recognizes it right away and I reformat it.
5. Plugging in another EHD that I use for my PC into the 6131 and it recognizes it right away and asks to reformat I also tried unplugging that EHD and quickly plugging in the Western Digital and tricking it to reformat. It appeared to reformat as it went thru all the normal procedures but still did not work.
6. Going onto the Bell website and resynchronize programming.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Gave up on trying to get this drive to work. Spent 55 mins with Bell tech and their only answer was the usb port must be bad and to exchange the 6131. I knew this was incorrect since another EHD worked so I bought a Hitachi 1TB XL1000 at Best Buy and it has worked for a week now and no problems. I will have to keep the Western Digital for my 9242 since TigerDirect won't take back drives once you open the package. My suggestion to anyone buying a EHD is to purchase it from a retailer that will do refund's even on open packages since it seems to be an experiment to find one that works.

[Westvu]

Dirtroad; I did get the drive to reformat with windows and now I am just waiting for an email from Seagate for a link to download the Seagate manager that will let me set the sleep interval to never then I will try again to see if works.

[dirtroad]

Westvu, glad to see you were able to reformat the drive, it bothered me that I wasn't able to help you with that.

sp1343, you say that you are using an 1TB Hitachi XL 1000, have you had any issues with delayed response using it with your 6131? The 2TB XL2000 which I tried with my 9242 was slow to respond as mentioned above. sp1343, are you aware of any hidden settings for sleep mode on the Hitachi's?

Further to my above post, I put my 1TB Lacie Drive back into service, and it works like a charm, no lag ever when going to the PVR functions, unlike the 2TB Hitachi. I will be watching for the 2TB Lacie drives to go on sale again for my 9242.