[davvos]

Hi, - very basic question someone can hopefully answer. Have a Shaw PVR extender with a lot of recordings on it which I don't want to lose. BC Hydro are upgrading and shutting power off for 8 hours overnight - am I safer shutting everything down myself tonight and then re-powering tomorrow or just letting PVR and extender handle as I assume they do with any power failure?

thanks

 

[57]

Better to unplug to avoid any surges, etc. Also, the latest firmware seems to require the eHDD to be powered up before the PVR, or perhaps the PVR requires a reboot after powering back up.

As mentioned in the A28 thread, I recommend an inexpensive UPS for anyone with a PVR, although that would typically only cover 1-2 hours of power outage, not 8. This assumes only the PVR (and eHDD) plugged into the battery protected side, with everything else into the surge protected side. Of course the battery protected side also protects against minor surges.

The UPS would also allow for recordings during brief outages. The service provider signal may still be there since they have their own UPS. A 350-500 VA UPS can be had for about $40-60 on sale.

I moved this thread to the appropriate forum.

 

[Jetranger]

I would definitely shut it all down myself and disconnect from both the cable and power connections. Once the power is back on and 'stable' again, it should be safe to plug it all back in.

Edit: 57 beat me to the 'send' button. I was thinking of suggesting a UPS too but, as he points out, they typically wouldn't last for more than a couple of hours, unless you spent a couple of thousand dollars on a HUGE one.

 

[davvos]

thanks for the replies - I'll also check out UPS anyway for future more normal power interruptions even though they wouldn't help this time with the extended shutdown.

 

[davvos]

just an addendum - unplugged the pvr and extender for the overnight outtage and then reconnected as per normal extender installation. Everything seemed fine until trying to view one of the recorded shows and got message that drive wasn't connected. Could not get the pvr (6416) to recognize drive and despite extended time on the phone with Shaw trying various resets etc, still can't access the extender drive. Of course, the recordings or index was lost during all this as the pvr listing is empty. The weird thing is that pvr now won't turn on if the extender is powered on and connected but works fine if the extender isn't on.

So despite being safe and disconnecting power, ended up losing the recordings which we were trying to protect. Now waiting for Shaw to come out and check.
Car also broke down on the weekend so looks like I'm jinxed this week!

 

[antonk]

Did you power up in the right sequence? When I first hooked up my extender without doing it properly, the DCX3400 wouldn't respond to any commands at all, even using the buttons/touch panel on the box itself.

But anyway, unplug both from power (you can leave the eSATA connection in though), give it about a minute, then plug in the extender, give it a minute or so to boot itself up, and only then plug in the 3400 so that it's able to recognize the already running extender.

If you've done that already, then I don't know what to recommend. I would think Shaw would've given you the same directions, but you never know...

 

[davvos]

thanks - yes I reconnected everything in the correct sequence and repeated it multiple times when on the phone with Shaw. The pvr is working except when the extender is powered on so assume the problem is with the pvr sata port or software. Hopefully the Shaw tech can fix on Weds without me having to buy another pvr.

 

[wolfman]

Ever since the new guide came down, the required sequence seems to be to be to unplug/replug power for the extended drive after any removal of the power to the PVR. Symptom is the 'drive 1 not connected' message. Should be resolved by unplugging/replugging the power for the external drive (while the PVR has power).

This differs from the old behaviour where the external drive needed to be spinning before plugging in the power for the PVR.

 

[davvos]

thanks Wolfman, tried powering on the pvr first and then the extender this morning as you suggested and magically got message that drive was connected. Recording seemed to work as well although don't think it was actually writing to the extender as % full was going up too quickly.

Shaw tech arrived and duplicated problems, tried another extender drive which worked fine so swapped drives.