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

[Larry]

Its time to upgrade from my external 250G to something larger. Does anyone think that the WD 1TB drive would work with the Vantec Nexstar? I know it works with the 750G drive.

[rfielder]

Originally Posted by Larry

Its time to upgrade from my external 250G to something larger. Does anyone think that the WD 1TB drive would work with the Vantec Nexstar? I know it works with the 750G drive.

I put a 500Gb 7200.11 Seagate into a Vantec enclosure, and then removed it after a few days. The case just felt hotter then I am comfortable with, 'specially something that is going to run 24/7 for a very long time.

Went with a 3.5" case with fan instead, and it runs very cool. So far, after about 2 weeks of use, it is performaning flawlessly.

As for the 1Tb drives, I would suggest that the drive and case be closely monitored for a few days for temperature. Heat is the greatest killers of hard drives. The Vantec cases have no active cooling, so if you put it in a location with restricted air flow, you could be asking for trouble.

[ANDYA]

I have been running the Vantec NexStar3 NST-360SU-BK enclosure and the Western Digital Caviar (WD5000AAKS) 500GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Buffer (OEM) drive since September 02 2007. I have had no problems with it.

[zman3232]

Originally Posted by ilyo

I received my DVR expander today...well for those that don't feel like messing with finding the proper SATA cable, compatible enclosure, etc. Well then this is for you. 500GB drive in a nice solid enclosure...ready to go for less then 200 bucks! Take out of box...follow the simple steps outlined in post#1 and you are up and running!!

Nice and easy!

Are you still happy with the Iomega DVR expander?
Does anyone else own one and have any comments? I haven't been able to find any reviews other than the one above.

[Tennoh]

I recently had a hardware enclosure failure with my Bytecc unit equipped with a fan. Worked well until it mysteriously died. Luckily the drive inside still works.

Since then I have upgraded my 8300 with an internal WD 500GB. Easiest internal modification made thanks to help on the other thread. Worked like a charm. Additionally I got this neat Vantec external HD dock that I think bests most enclosures. It leaves the drive exposed and just provides a handy docking station ala iPod dock that provides quick and easy SATA drive swaps. I have put in my original 500GB Sata drive and plan to upgrade to 1TB soon. I highly recommend this device.

http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/295

[cybercs]

Since then I have upgraded my 8300 with an internal WD 500GB. Easiest internal modification made thanks to help on the other thread. Worked like a charm. Additionally I got this neat Vantec external HD dock that I think bests most enclosures. It leaves the drive exposed and just provides a handy docking station ala iPod dock that provides quick and easy SATA drive swaps. I have put in my original 500GB Sata drive and plan to upgrade to 1TB soon. I highly recommend this device.

http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/295

So does this Vantec NST-D100SU work with the 8300HD PVR? I am looking at getting an extra hard drive and this seems very interesting. How long did it take to get working with the PVR?

[cybercs]

One other quick question. Can anyone confirm that the Thermaltake MAX4 (N0012USU) works with a WD500GB hard drive and the 8300HD PVR? I like the fact in having active cooling.

Thanks again!

[Larry]

I don't really know people are so concerned about getting a drive enclosure with a fan. The ones like Nexstar which do a fantastic job of keeping the drive cool without are just fine. The entire enclosure is like a giant heatsink. I'm always concerned about fans - they make noise and get noiser as they age (especially the ones that do not have bearing), and fans can seize over time (seen lots of that).

The fanless enclosures have been sold and used for years and years. No problems.

[rfielder]

Originally Posted by Larry

I don't really know people are so concerned about getting a drive enclosure with a fan. The ones like Nexstar which do a fantastic job of keeping the drive cool without are just fine. The entire enclosure is like a giant heatsink. I'm always concerned about fans - they make noise and get noiser as they age (especially the ones that do not have bearing), and fans can seize over time (seen lots of that).

The fanless enclosures have been sold and used for years and years. No problems.

Yes, there have been problems. I have had problems with fanless enclosures. Not in reference to a PVR, but in other uses.

Specifically, when the enclosure is in an area with restricted ariflow, it's ability to cool is drastically reduced. Having the entire device work as a heat sync only works when the air warmed up by the radiated heat is moved away from the enclosure.

In my case, the enclosure used with my PVR is inside a closed cabinet with no air flow, and it sides beside the HTPC. I have had to put extra fans into my HTPC to control it's heat. In this case, the Vantec et al cases might be at a disadvantage.

If your case is sitting in the open, exposed to normal room air flow, it may work well. In my specific setup, it would not, so getting a case with a fan was required.

A second consideration may be the drive installed inside the case. As time goes on, we get drives that are larger but run cooler - in any other industry, that would seem impossible, but the computer field has seen many trends that run opposite what one might expect. I just retired five 10,000rpm U2W SCSI drives, which made huge reductions in power draw and internal heat in two PCs. Replacing a 10,000rpm 18Gb SCSI drives with a 7,200 rpm 1Tb SATA drive to achieve power and heat savings and performance improvements would seem backwards, but in fact works very, very well.

If you pick up or use an older drive - I have three 160Gb EDIE drives sitting around, for example - you might find that the Vantec case would burn up the drive after a few months. My 160Gb drives are older, made in 2001 to 2003, and generate much more heat than new 500Gb drives.

From my experiences, one must judge both the drive to be installed and the physical location of the enclosure before one can make a blanket statement that "it will work fine".

[rfielder]

Originally Posted by cybercs

One other quick question. Can anyone confirm that the Thermaltake MAX4 (N0012USU) works with a WD500GB hard drive and the 8300HD PVR? I like the fact in having active cooling.

I looked at that unit, and the Antec MX-1, when I decided to add additional space to my PVR.

I ended up getting the MX-1 and a Seagate 7200.11 500Gb drive. The combo has been working flawlessly for about two months now.

I went with active cooling because my enclosure is inside an old TV stand with glass doors. No air flow, so a case that relies on passive cooling would be at a disadvantage.

I went with the Antec unit instead of the Thermaltake after reading reviews of both. Tigerdirect.ca, NCIX, and some other web sites are good for letting users post their experieces with products. Searching here and on the AVS forums can also provide interesting comments about products. I don't remember exactly where I saw the comments, but there seemed to be some issues with the Thermaltake units.

On an unrelated note - I purchased two iCage units, and one similar unit from Cooler Master. The iCage with about $16 each, an

Also, I have a friend who has installed the Antec enclosure and was very impressed with how it was built, and how it operated. Ivan is very picky about stuff, and if he is impressed, that says a lot.

Having said that - I recently purchased two Thermaltake iCAGE hard drive coolers. After reading reviews, I was a bit concerned about them, but needed something for a server with seven hard drives. After installing them, I found that some of the reported issues seemed to have been resolved. It looked like the units had been redesigned to addresses reported problems. Possibly the enclosure you are looking at have also seen an update.

[Larry]

Fair enough - if its inside a cabinet, you have little choice, I agree, than going with a fan.

[jlet]

Another cooling alternative inside a cabinet is with an external PC fan. See my post #1084 and #1517 in this thread.

[Larry]

Decided to upgrade from 250G to 1TB. My experience:

Got the WD 1TB drive.
Vantec NexStar 3 - NST-360UFS (eSata, USB and Firewire)

This combo would not work - message saying that it was not working properly.

Decided to try same drive with an older NexStar - NST-360SU (eSata and USB)

This worked just fine. So I can confirm that a 1TB drive works with the NexStar 3 (NST-360SU)

I then tried my old 250G with the new NSTG-360UFS - no go.

So, I don't know why the NST-360UFS won't work with the 8300. Only difference (beside also supporting Firewire) is on the box, it says compatible with Windows 2000/XP/Vista), and the 360SU is compatible with Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP

I wonder if the 8300 PVR has Windows ME or Windows 98SE embedded in there.

I guess it is also possible that the 360UFS enclosure I got was defective in some way (although it worked just fine hooked up to an XP machine).

Just thought some of you might like to know my experience.

[RSAdvantage]

I just switched to Rogers last week from Bell ExpressVu for Condos and Sympatico. Bell ExpressVu for Condos was great - one box with 3 tuners for all TVs in multiple rooms; very fast internet gateway; call display on TV. But HD was unavailable, and customer service/support was not 24/7.

After looking into the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD, I realized I could add an eSATA drive to increase the capacity. Today I purchased a Seagate Barracuda 7200 1TB drive and a Vantac NexStar 3 hone a few weeks agoeSATA/USB case. I put it together, followed the instructions found here (thanks 57) and it's working like a charm - my PVR capacity usage dropped from 27% to 3% after the second reboot.

Once my eSATA drive is full I will remove it and add to my PC array of external HDs, to see if the video files can be played on a PC. I run my PC as a media server using TVersity, and stream video content from my PC to my livingroom TV by using a Sony Playstation 3 as a digital media extender. My PS3 is connected to the PC through a regular network cable to the router. TVersity converts almost all video formats, and upconverts as well. The PS3 also seems to upconvert, and video looks far better after being streamed through the PS3 than it does being played directly on the PC.

I also use TVersity to stream to my iPhone. My Slingbox AV is connected to an SAE940 for remote laptop TV viewing.

[Bplayer]

Originally Posted by RSAdvantage

Today I purchased a Seagate Barracuda 7200 1TB drive and a Vantac NexStar 3 hone a few weeks agoeSATA/USB case. I put it together, followed the instructions found here (thanks 57) and it's working like a charm - my PVR capacity usage dropped from 27% to 3% after the second reboot.

Once my eSATA drive is full I will remove it and add to my PC array of external HDs, to see if the video files can be played on a PC.

Great to hear that your 1TB drive is working fine.

It will not hurt to try playing back the files from the external HDD to a PC, and maybe you will be the first to find a way, but its is unlikely. First the index to the files, eg. recording titles and location on the disk, are stored on the internal HDD, and second the recordings are encrypted to your specific PVR. Even connecting the external HDD to another PVR will not allow the recordings to be played back. Good luck, but report your experience.