8300HD and External SATA - It Works!! [Text View] - Page 30

Prey521

01-20-09, 03:49 PM

I'm on Time Warner Cable NYC (Queens) with an SA Explorer 8300HD running Passport Echo. I successfully added an external HDD but was disappointed to lose the live buffer. From skimming this thread, that seems to be common. Does Passport always do this? Are there any operating systems that don't? I've seen an updated cable box being distributed to recent subscribers in my area featuring a recorded program list sortable by date or title (and packaged with a redesigned, backlit remote). I think this may be the Navigator OS and not an upgraded Passport. Would this new box work with an external HDD while retaining the live buffer? Thanks for any answers.

I disconnected my external drive because of this. Live buffer is more important than extra space for me. I just have to make sure that I watch my shows sooner than later so that I don't run out of space.

jruhnke

01-20-09, 06:39 PM

so say i record to the TW drive and it plays back fine. Would you think that the problem is the HD or the enclosure? Can I swap the enclosure without losing everything or will it make me format again?Yes, you can swap the enclosure without losing anything. Could the enclosure be the problem? Yes, it's possible. Check out xnappo's database (see links at the end of any xnappo post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15560731#post15560731)) and you'll see examples of folks who tried one drive/enclosure combo and had poor results, then used the same drive in a different enclosure with no problems.

Will that turn out to be your situation? Dunno. Continue troubleshooting, and then let us know...

jmabuse

01-20-09, 09:28 PM

I have Charter in Central Massachusetts (east of Worcester), and I have an 8300HDC, apparently running SARA from the look of the IPG (I was unable to get the box into diagnostic mode). Since I have been recording in HD, and needed more storage, I bought an Apricorn 1TB DVR Xpander from NewEgg and hooked it up as per instructions.

When the DVR boots up after connection of the drive, it never shows any evidence that the drive is there. No menu, no error message, nothing.

Does Charter disable these external drives? Anyone else with Charter get one to work?

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

whatever69

01-20-09, 09:29 PM

It's been a week with my Fantom/8300HD rig. It has already given me grief!! I cued up two important recordings while I was out of town this weekend. They 'appear' to have been recorded as they show up in the recorded list, but they are not playable. If they are selected to play, you are kicked to the DVR Channel page..

I messed around including restarting the box and then I realized that my recording preferences once again showed that my capacity was less than 50%!! This indicated that the external drive was not selected.

I turned everything off and unplugged. I tried rebooting and waiting... waiting... waiting.. rebooted again... nothing. I finally got back to a working 8300HD box and I deleted these two recordings (from the list)... then, I power-cycled the drive (only) and all of a sudden I got a message on the screen saying "the external drive is ready to use with this DVR" (something like this).

Now my capacity is back to 90%... but I hope this isn't going to be a re-occuring problem...

What I learned: Even though the external drive may be 'offline'.. the recording made while it was online are shown in the recorded program list... If you can't seem to see the external drive, try shutting it down while the box is up and running (which is absolutely NOT recommended anywhere) and powering back up... see if your capacity returns. Maybe, then the recording off the external drive will be accessible. Unfortunately I erased these two important recordings including the last episode of Stargate Atlantis, before I got my drive back online..

I don't know if this is a good thing (power-cycling the drive while the 8300HD is on) and I suspect it's not, but...... I had to get the drive back online somehow.. and if it's not being recognized, it's a pretty good bet that nothing is being written to it by the 8300, right?? more to follow...

That's exactly what happened to me. Here's how it went down. I have an external SATA drive that's been running fine since July. It's 320GB Hitachi. I have 29 recordings on it. I was watching a show when it seemed jittery during playback, so I decided to reboot the PVR (SARA 1.89.22.2, OS 6.14.87.1) and the external HD and I believe I pressed the power button while the display was blank BUT after the BOOT message has disappeared. I didn't wait for the clock to show up. Don't know if that's bad or not.

Upon reboot:

1. The capacity is correct. It sees my external drive, but I don't get that message saying it's ready to use. *** I always saw that message when I rebooted my external HD and my PVR.
2. Out of the 29 recordings, 4 work. 1 is really old (August) and one from last week.
3. All the other kick me to the "DVR Playback Channel" greeting page.

I've tried a Hard Reboot, a Forced Reboot, I've tried deleting one of the recordings, I've tried power cycling the external HD (power off, power on) but nothing changes. Only 4 of my listings can play.

I can record and view new programs without any issues, but something got corrupted with it being able to find/play most of my old recordings.

So I decided to do another Reboot and I unplugged all the cables including the SATA cable, the power cable, etc. Instead of turning it on, I waited till the clock showed up, and then went into diagnostics mode where I saw the following SOFTWARE ANAMOLIES:

WARNING! 090120.21:04 [CONFIG] @ config.c:1442 (CONFIG:Skipping INVALID PARAMETER type 20 for owner 11)
WARNING! 090120.21:04 [CONFIG] @ config.c:1442 (CONFIG:Skipping INVALID PARAMETER type 19 for owner 11)
WARNING! 090120.21:04 [CONFIG] @ config.c:1442 (CONFIG:Skipping INVALID PARAMETER type 18 for owner 11)
WARNING! 090120.21:04 [CONFIG] @ config.c:1442 (CONFIG:Skipping INVALID PARAMETER type 17 for owner 11)

In the DVR STATUS page, it says no Corrupt files or Cross-links or LostClusters.

And according to the Diagnostics menu, it does see my "removable HD" at the correct size.

So I exited the menu, and went into my PVR. And now I can play **ALL** my shows again!

Btw, The show that was jittery, is still jittery. So I guess something was wrong when it was recording the show, and rebooting did not fix it. However, I recorded a new show and all is well now.

Hope this helps anybody out before they start deleting their shows :)

jmabuse

01-20-09, 10:01 PM

Re: can't get SA 8300HDC to notice attached Apricorn 1T DVR Xpander

Okay, I got the DVR into diag mode -- SARA 1.90.5.a.103
Flash DVR 1.5.3_8300HDC_LR_F.p.0902

Don't know if that helps...

benintendi.1

01-21-09, 09:20 AM

Yes, you can swap the enclosure without losing anything. Could the enclosure be the problem? Yes, it's possible. Check out xnappo's database (see links at the end of any xnappo post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15560731#post15560731)) and you'll see examples of folks who tried one drive/enclosure combo and had poor results, then used the same drive in a different enclosure with no problems.

Will that turn out to be your situation? Dunno. Continue troubleshooting, and then let us know...
okay, so last night I unhooked the external drive and recorded something. it played back fine. I did have trouble though with flipping through the HD channels. I got a message saying that ESPNNHD was unavailable. I hit try again and it came back so maybe I have a signal problem going on. Could the poor signal be the cause of poor external playback? I'm running a hard drive diag on my external drive, a green power wd 1TB. Any thoughts?

phousley

01-21-09, 09:59 AM

Yeah, as you can see from xnappo's database, some drives just don't play well. Looks like your's may be one of them.

benintendi.1

01-21-09, 10:19 AM

Yeah, as you can see from xnappo's database, some drives just don't play well. Looks like your's may be one of them.
so how would you approach it at this point? Different HD? Different Enclosure? Could signal strength be part of it?

conroy9

01-21-09, 12:05 PM

I have had an external (WD10EACS) drive in a Kingwin Z1 enclosure working great for several weeks with my 8300HD with SARA. However, I just went on a 2 week trip and came back to my DVR no longer recognizing the drive.

I've powered everything off and on several times, and held down the power button of the DVR while powering on, and it still is no good. I always power everything off, reconnect cables, then power on the drive, wait awhile, then power on the DVR.

Does anyone have any suggestions or see what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks..

Well, after nothing I tried was able to get the DVR to recognize the drive again, I gave up and torrented my shows.

Last night I finally got around to installing the e-SATA bracket into my desktop, and it looks like there are no problems with my drive. I formatted it as NTFS and everything seems to be okay. Maybe I'll check to see if the DVR can recognize it now... In any case, I don't have a good feeling about this eSATA any more, even if it does work after reformatting, so I'm not sure what I'll do.

My drive was reported as good by several people in that compatibility database, and I tried 2 different good enclosures.

nbourbaki

01-23-09, 04:56 PM

Wow what a lot of info in these forums. I am glad I found this thread in particular. I noticed the eSATA port on the back of my STB(SA8300HDC) and read on online manual that said an external HDD could be supported and to call your cable provider. When I called TWC they of course said that an external HDD was not supported.

I am happy to report that after reading through this and other threads I was able to get an external drive to work. I have live recording and so far all works as expected before I added the drive.

I am running a Seagate Barracuda 1TB 32 MB cache with a antec MX-1 case. I have TWC Cincinnati. I want to add to the database but I am a litle unclear on the version of Navigator I am running(or if I am running Navigator). Based on descriptions and screen shots from other threads in this forum I believe I am running Navigator. The version I believe is 2.4.10_11 based on the on screen diagnostics. However when I reboot the system Mystro appears on the screen. So is Mystro just another name for navigator? What should I put in the database?

As newbie to these forums I am not sure of the correct terms. Are navigator and passport considered an Operating System or GUI. And what does ODN stand for?

Thanks for all of the useful info provided already.

Way cool! I'm in Cinci as well with a TWC SA8240 Explorer, your post may have just convinced me to take the plunge and get an external eSATA drive.

bdfromsd

01-23-09, 05:00 PM

I stated some problems with ODN 3.1.0.11, but since then, it has worked perfectly. I troubleshoot stuff as part of my job, but I may not have all the facts to lead me in a direction. The SATA messed up, recorded programs are on the list, but can not be found, press play, blank screen. This could make sense in that the index is likely on the internal drive, the data (programs) on the external. When people say they can see some recoddings, they are likely recordings on the old drive.

The last two times it messed up, I did not lose recordings on either drive, it did, however, miss scheduled recordings until I rebooted.

So I am trying to figure it out. They installed 3.1... and the system could not see the index of the external drive. It locked up the whole DVR to any recordings until I rebooted. I could not play any recordings, or manually record anything by pressing the record, no DCVR functions worked - UNTIL I set up a future recording say for 15 minutes from now and then rebooted. It would reboot, hten pick up the future program, which by the time it reboots is a current or past program, then everything is fine. I may have to repeat this reboot deal a coupld of times in a few days, then it works fine again.

The thing is, it is the same DVR, ESATA drive, and ODN software. they iinstall it, it messes up for a couple of days, then works. This should not make sense. If the 3.1 was messing up the SATA, with the same version installed, it should not get better unless something else is happening. Any Ideas?

Tonight we are going to watch a few programs we recorded this week. Sometime this weekend, I will buy a small UPS for the STB and SATA. It could be a power problem. We have had a few SDGE power spikes this past few weeks, and the SATA may spin down just enough to tick it off. We jsut recived n9tice that the utility power will be turned off twice next weekend for repairs, so the spike I saw a few weeks ago and the outage a week later may be something causing this SATA headache.

I really don't want to mess with the STB, it is in a cabinet and I don't want to lose the ESATA cable, they are not the best connections. Does anyone know the draw (AMPS) of an 8300HD STB? I want to size the UPS correctly.

This is a pain, but a challenge, too. Stuff should not be this complicated.

phousley

01-23-09, 06:00 PM

I wonder of the file management info on the external drive conflicted with the info on the internal. Then when you continued to experiment with it, it gradually got back in sync. That might explain the inconsistent symptoms. I wonder if things would have worked better if you started with a virgin drive.

TanGU

01-24-09, 11:05 AM

Hi guys, i just checked if my drive is on the database, but cannot find it. I have a Western Digital Caviar RE "Raid Edition" model number: WD3200SD. I want to put it in my NexStar 3 eSATA & usb2.

Nobody seem to have tested any RE version, i found 2 RE2 instead.

Do you guys think i can fry my hard drive if i want to test it myself ? I will be glad to update the data base after...

thanks!
TanGU.

jruhnke

01-24-09, 05:26 PM

Do you guys think i can fry my hard drive if i want to test it myself ?There's no particular risk to your hard drive. It'll either work, sort of work, or not work at all with your DVR.

Regardless of how well or poorly it works with your DVR, you can always pull the drive out again and connect it back up to a PC, reformat it, and expect it to be none the worse for wear. (Unless you drop it on the floor or damage a connector while handling it.)

I will be glad to update the data base after...Please do so!

bdfromsd

01-26-09, 08:56 PM

evilted_detlive

01-28-09, 12:25 AM

Hi all, great thread, lots of useful info.

I've got a 8300hd with SARA ver. 1.91.14.102 and my provider is Cablevision (IO Optimum).

Just bought a 1TB LaCie Hard Disk, Design by Neil Poulton with the esata connection. The drive itself is a Samsung HD103UJ (Spinpoint F1).

I can not get the 8300 to recognize the drive, so that it formats it or shows a decrease in my available space (right now I have 7 recordings (6.5 hours all HD) and it is at 23% capacity).

I checked the SARA spreadsheet and saw that most users with this drive were successful. I think only one person with a Samsung drive (not this one) and cablevision was unsuccessful.

I checked the Diagnostic pages and on page 31 "HDD Info" and the drive seems to show up as "Device 2".

Any ideas on why the drive shows up in Diagnostics but doesn't show up for general use (or prompt to be formatted)?

I followed the SA instructions for connecting the drive (unplug 8300 and drive; connect esata cable to both; plug in drive; plug in 8300.) Once the 8300 reboots it goes right to channel 2; there's no pop up screen regarding the drive at all.

The LaCie enclosure does have a on/off switch (which I've left on) if that matters.

I did connect the drive to my computer and it was recognized and showed no faults. However, when I clicked the drive to explore it, the LaCie autoformat program ran, and formatted it in NTFS. Could that be an issue?

Your help is most appreciated!

sbddude

01-28-09, 12:29 AM

Works for me on TWC San Diego with Navigator. I had the external drive powered on, the DVR already booted, and plugged it in. It asked to format the drive, and then it was all set. I was able to record 2 shows in HD and watch a third.

evilted_detlive

01-28-09, 07:06 PM

re: my post above http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15671408#post15671408

Some other odd behavior.

I removed the esata cable from the 8300 while it was off, but the drive was on. The 8300 then wouldn't turn on.

Plugging the esata back in allowed the 8300 to turn on.

Unplugged the esata while the 8300 was on- nothing happened. Plugged it back in and the picture froze, pixelated and then returned to normal. But the 'format drive' screen didnt appear and I'm still at 23% full.

Thanks!

evilted_detlive

01-30-09, 12:26 PM

Not to be a pest, but can anyone help?

saladin98

01-30-09, 04:21 PM

evilted_detlive

01-30-09, 07:45 PM

I recently bought a Western Digital HDD with a USB connector and I realize that the 8300HDs memory can only be expanded by using the SATA port, but is there such a thing as a SATA-USB cable and if so, would it work? I apologize if someone already answered this or if this is a somewhat stupid question.

something like this (http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/28/five-port-usb-hub-does-sata-and-esata-too/)or this (http://www.addonics.com/products/io/aau2esa.asp)might help

alohashirt

02-02-09, 01:13 PM

So I have done exactly as the manual explains, started up the DVR expander, hear it spin up, and then start the DVR. The DVR starts as normal, gives no sign of seeing the SATA disk. The diagnostic screen says one storage device, the diagnostics also say SATA enabled. The WD drive came with two SATA cables and I tried both. I have tried disconnecting and reconnecting everything. At no time has the DVR given any indication of recognizing that a SATA drive had been connected.

Reading this list I realize that I haven't tried to connect the drive whilst the DVR is running to see if it detects it then. I have a multimeter and enthusiasm. Short of replacing the DVR, are there any other obvious things that I should try?

alohashirt

02-03-09, 09:54 AM

Thanks to this group my TWCNYC 8300HD & WD DVRExpander are now working in happy synchrony.

All I needed to do was disconnect the SATA cable and reconnect.
I then got a dialog box asking "The external drive needs to be formatted, press A" I pressed A and it "formatted" for about 20 seconds.

Now the Diagnostic --> DVR AVFS page says
AV Size 593.8
AV Used Space: 92 GB
AV Free Space: 501.5 GB

and Diagnostic --> SATA says:
Authorized
Drive OK
Format complete
Drive Not Formatted
Drive Unplugged

Now I have to ensure that my darling little children don't disconnect the two while the DVR is running.

kasey

02-03-09, 12:46 PM

jruhnke

02-03-09, 10:31 PM

Bought the same drive after testing another SATA enclosure thinking it would work as well, bottom line is it doesn't. Plugs in fine and the 8300 pauses, then goes back to normal. Never asks to format, but if I unplug while it's on I get the warning message to turn the box off first. Really frustrating and I guess a waste of $120 for this purpose.Please add your experience to Xnappo's database (be sure to pick the correct one for your software: SARA (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/main) / Passport (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/passport) / Navigator (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/navigator)), so that others can benefit. You might also want to check the database before your next purchase to see if anyone else has shared information that could save you some trouble.

evilted_detlive

02-04-09, 02:22 PM

Bought the same drive after testing another SATA enclosure thinking it would work as well, bottom line is it doesn't. Plugs in fine and the 8300 pauses, then goes back to normal. Never asks to format, but if I unplug while it's on I get the warning message to turn the box off first. Really frustrating and I guess a waste of $120 for this purpose.

Kasey- thanks for the response! It sucks that the drive won't work, but it's good to know that it's not just me. I guess having a 1tb drive isn't a total waste- I've now got somewhere to backup my computer. Did you wind up getting another drive and if so which one?

Thanks!

evilted_detlive

02-04-09, 02:26 PM

Please add your experience to Xnappo's database (be sure to pick the correct one for your software: SARA (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/main) / Passport (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/passport) / Navigator (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/navigator)), so that others can benefit. You might also want to check the database before your next purchase to see if anyone else has shared information that could save you some trouble.

If i recall correctly, the spreadsheet (SARA) does show a few people who have the same drive with no issues. Good idea to update with this info, though.

HDfrk

02-04-09, 09:28 PM

CountryJoe

02-07-09, 03:10 PM

I just got the first opportunity to hook up my new WD DVR Expander to my SA 8300 HD DVR. I followed the directions exactly. I unplugged the DVR, connected the cord from the DVR Expander to the DVR, plugged in the DVR Expander, waited a minute or so and then plugged in DVR. The first few events look like normal with boot showing up. Then the DVR shuts off. I hit the power button and the power on light comes on. Then nothing more. So, I reverse everything and try to repower the DVR with no DVR Expander. Same thing. I tried repowering, rebooting (hard and soft) several times. Nothing more than what I described. The last time I just did it I got "Er. 40" on the DVR window and it went black.

Does anyone have a clue as to what happened here? I am trying to avoid calling Cablevision, as I probably know more than their CS Reps and know their drill by heart.

Thanks.

jwdsail

02-07-09, 11:39 PM

Tried searching, if I missed it I'm sorry...

Anyone here w/ SA 8300HD on Cox Gulfcoast having any success with eSATA drives?

thanks all

jwd

jruhnke

02-09-09, 11:10 PM

Not sure if I'm posting in the right thread - I have a separate one going as well just in case.

I'm wondering if it is possible if I can pull the image down to an external SATA drive from my 8300? I have some recordings that are no longer showing up in the GUI (aka guide menu) when I turn on the device, however I will take all suggestions on how I might transfer over the files.

Decoding/decrypting is a whole other thing...but one step at a time!Nope. The 8300's use a proprietary file system. Even if you pulled the hard drive and moved it to a PC, there's no tool available to the consumer to retrieve the data.

There is also no user-level mechanism for direct file manipulation while the drive is installed in the STB, so there's no way to transfer a file from the internal drive to an external drive.

If you had access to the program, there are a variety of options for capturing the video. But if the captured programs no longer show up in the playback menu, you're hosed.

Before you completely give up, you might try a hard reboot, as documented in the first post of the "SA 8300 HD Tips and Tricks (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=4682052#post4682052)" thread.

MPython

02-11-09, 01:27 AM

Tried searching, if I missed it I'm sorry...

Anyone here w/ SA 8300HD on Cox Gulfcoast having any success with eSATA drives?

thanks all

jwd

I've got Comcast on the Gulf Coast, if that's close enough. SARA version 1.88.25.1. I do have an entry in the xnappo database. My Fantom Greendrive 500GB works with eSATA. I think I got it to be recognized and formatted on the second power up of the drive. But I think I did the sequence wrong the first time. However, this drive is very glitchy for me. I don't know if it's the drive, the cable, or the DVR itself. I've tried a different cable, with maybe slightly better results. I don't want to try a different DVR yet as I've got so much recorded that I don't want to lose. I am willing to try a different external hard drive, but I am only willing to do that one more time. So it better work the next time. The internal drive works fine. When I disconnect the eSATA drive, it forces use of the internal drive, and there are no glitches.

Live feeds work fine, no glitching. Recorded programs are glitchy. When I rewind a live program (the live buffer), it gets glitchy. If I happen to be recording this program and rewind it, even just a little bit, the recording stops. I can keep watching it, but the recording indicator stays on. When I get back to my recordings list after the recording would have ended, it tells me fairly accurately how much was actually recorded. On the live buffer, I have effectively lost the ability to rewind/instant replay if I'm also recording it. I've learned to stop doing that. Luckily for prime time shows, I can go back and watch what I missed on-line.

singitloud

02-12-09, 05:39 PM

What exactly is the pause issue with the WD DVR Expander? (or any external storage)?

I have Charter cable.

I have seen tidbits but no full explanation.

Dwaine

sdarnell

02-12-09, 07:38 PM

I used to be able to use the HDMI and Component at the same time and send a signal to 2 different sets. Now I get no picture on the set with components if the HDMI cable is plugged in. Is there anyway around this?
Thanks

TheDaveMan

02-15-09, 10:23 AM

Does anyone know if the Seagate Freeagent Extreme 1.5Tb drive works with the 8300HDC and TWC?

jruhnke

02-16-09, 03:38 PM

Does anyone know if the Seagate Freeagent Extreme 1.5Tb drive works with the 8300HDC and TWC?You could try checking Xnappo's database (be sure to pick the correct one for your software: SARA (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/main) / Passport (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/passport) / Navigator (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/navigator)).

MikeRoberts44

02-16-09, 10:20 PM

Does anyone know if the Seagate Freeagent Extreme 1.5Tb drive works with the 8300HDC and TWC?
Yesterday, I went over to a friend's house to help him get his Seagate Freeagent Extreme 1.5Tb drive working with his 8300 HDC. We were unsuccessful! However, we were able to successfully connect my external backup drive. It is a 1Tb Samsung in a CP Technologies housing. MicroCenter has both for $95 and $28 respectively. I am using the 7200 rpm drive rather than the $90 5400 rpm one. He later found a note on Wikipedia that the Freeagent did not work with the 8300 HDC. It did not say why.

My friend, also Dave, is on Surewest/Everest, running SARA. I will try to get him to post both drives on Xnappo's data base as soon as possible. Or I will post the Samsung as soon as Dave returns it and I can read the model number.

MikeRoberts44

02-16-09, 10:31 PM

xnappo

02-17-09, 12:52 PM

I wonder if I could request a couple of changes to the data base that I think would be useful?

First, I'm not sure the operating system differences are all that significant. I would like to see the three combined into a single data base. That would aleviate having to search the other two when looking for a drive possibility. I would like to see a sortable column for the operating system.

Well, the problem is that new users aren't going to know all of the background. There would be people who post a comment like 'fast forward and rewind don't work' which, as we know, is a Passport issue - then some SARA/Navigator user would not buy a perfectly good drive because of this. I get tons of questions about this kind of thing in PMs already - and I think combining them would cause more confusion. If you want it all in one place, it is easy enough to copy/paste them into Excel.

Second, I think there may be more significant differences in whether the box is an HD or HDC. I would like to see a column added for that.

I know certain versions of operating systems have caused problems with eSATA drives, but those problems seem to be across the board on all eSATA drives.

I agree there is probably something there. Actually, I think even within the 8300HD series there were many revs of the hardware, and possibly some of them worked better with drives than others.

However, at this point the data indicates to me that the main variables are:

Drive/Case - if it works, it is independent of software

Navigator MDN/ODN - MDN is stable, but ODN keeps breaking support. I think this is really where we see the 8300HD/8300HDC issue. I have not seen HD/HDC differences on SARA/Passport (not saying there aren't, I am just not aware of any)

Passport - FFWD/Rewind 'trick play' always breaks

Bad box - some boxes just don't work - this could be related to the version but we don't have this data

I would add a box version field (for HD/HDC AND the exact hardware revision on the bottom of the box) - however at this point the rate of new entries is very low, and I am not sure it is worth it (the code is quite nasty).

Thanks,
xnappo

MikeRoberts44

02-17-09, 04:21 PM

vegggas

02-17-09, 09:40 PM

Well, the problem is that new users aren't going to know all of the background. There would be people who post a comment like 'fast forward and rewind don't work' which, as we know, is a Passport issue - then some SARA/Navigator user would not buy a perfectly good drive because of this. I get tons of questions about this kind of thing in PMs already - and I think combining them would cause more confusion. If you want it all in one place, it is easy enough to copy/paste them into Excel.

I agree there is probably something there. Actually, I think even within the 8300HD series there were many revs of the hardware, and possibly some of them worked better with drives than others.

However, at this point the data indicates to me that the main variables are:

Drive/Case - if it works, it is independent of software

Navigator MDN/ODN - MDN is stable, but ODN keeps breaking support. I think this is really where we see the 8300HD/8300HDC issue. I have not seen HD/HDC differences on SARA/Passport (not saying there aren't, I am just not aware of any)

Passport - FFWD/Rewind 'trick play' always breaks

Bad box - some boxes just don't work - this could be related to the version but we don't have this data

I would add a box version field (for HD/HDC AND the exact hardware revision on the bottom of the box) - however at this point the rate of new entries is very low, and I am not sure it is worth it (the code is quite nasty).

Thanks,
xnappo

I completely agree with xnappo and adding my views.
Software differences:
There are certain elements that some consider a failure or a problem because of the differences in the operating system. This does not mean a drive combo is a failure, just that the software created for that particular system focused on things other than esata connectivity.
Hardware differences:
The differences between the HD and HDC are due to cable co's running different software on the two boxes, most notably Time warner. Those using the original SARA code don't see any difference between the two boxes. The esata connector and chipset is the same across the platform and revisions.
Drive combos:
Certain drives and cases will never work, no matter what version of box or software are used. Finding a good combo or prebuilt purpose made DVR unit will have the best success regardless of the OS used, but you may not like the tradeoffs associated with your particular version.
Broken Hardware:
Some boxes have had their esata ports broken by cables at bad angles due to weight or bad installation practices. These cables are stiff and do not offer any support or strain relief, so all of the weight and strain is on a very thin and fragile circuit board and their connectors. Some have been damaged by static discharge during installation or pulling and pushing during boot or power up. Others have been damaged by trying to force a SATA cable into a esata connection. Those types of bad boxes will never be recovered but will still work as a standard DVR with the internal drive. This is what the cable co's support and provide to customers.

vegggas

ojready

02-18-09, 07:08 PM

my 250 GB external died. I have Comcast and am wondering what's the largest size hard drive I can use my 8300HD with.

thanks

ojready

02-19-09, 06:08 PM

anyone?

JaxFLBear

02-19-09, 07:27 PM

my 250 GB external died. I have Comcast and am wondering what's the largest size hard drive I can use my 8300HD with.

thanks

I have 1TB drives hooked up to our 8300HD & 8300HDC from BHN.

cuzzin

02-19-09, 11:13 PM

Anyone ever ever had any problems with the "save time" settings for your recordings? I have some shows that I record and save every episode of (Save: All Episodes) and others shows where I only save the most recent episode (Save: 1 Episode). Lately, my save time settings keep changing on their own, with some of my "All" shows changing their displayed save time to "1 Episode" and some of my "1 Episode" shows failing to erase the previous week's episode. When this happens, rather than risk shows I want to archive from being erased, I always go into the menu and manually change the save time to "Until I Erase." Not a huge deal, but it's irritating when the DVR isn't saving like it is supposed to. Is this a problem anyone else has had with these boxes?

kidextremity

02-20-09, 01:44 PM

I just got the Western Digital MyBook Home Edition 500GB working properly for recording purposes, but I lost my live buffer in the process. Had to disconnect the drive and hard restart the 8300HD to get it back. I don't want to record a show every time I flip to a channel for casual viewing just to work around the loss of the buffer.

I am in Columbus, OH, using Time Warner. Am not sure of my Navigator version number, but the color scheme changed about a week ago, so I assume it's their latest push. I'll get it when I get home from work.

My question is this: Are there any confirmed successful pairings of a SA 8300HD (not HDC) and an external drive for the Columbus area using Navigator (Mystro) and the most recent update to the box that does not result in the loss of the live buffer?

Thanks in advance.

castaban

02-21-09, 09:17 AM

phousley

02-21-09, 10:09 AM

Cable company?
Software/Version?

castaban

02-21-09, 03:39 PM

SARA v1.89.22.2
Rogers Cable (Canada)

skanter1

02-22-09, 01:36 AM

My external SATA drive seems to have gotten corrupted, and will play nothing back from my SA 8300 HD. The play list seems to have gone back in time to a few weeks ago, showing items that I had erased. The diagnostic screen says that it is about empty, so it seems that it has erased everything. I reformatted.

Anyone else have this issue? Hope the HD isn't failing...now it seems to record and play back new shows fine.

skanter1

02-22-09, 04:27 PM

tzydzy

02-25-09, 05:38 PM

Try rebooting the drives. 1. Turn off the cable box. 2. Unplug cable box from outlet 3. Wait 1 minute and unplug DVR expander drive at outlet. 4. Disconnect cables from external drive and cable box. 5. Reconnect SATA cables 6. Connect power connector to external drive 7. Connect power adapter from external drive to outlet. 8. Wait 1 minute and plug in Cable box into power outlet. 9. Cable box should show "boot" and after a while show time. 10. Turn on cable box (there may be a delay in turning the switch and seeing any response on the box - wait. You should get a message on screen that the external drive works with the cable box. List the programs to see if things have changed and corrected to what is actually on the drive.

bgosselin

02-26-09, 09:19 AM

Sorry if that question have already been ask. I used the search fonction without much success.

The last time I bought an enclosure I bought a double one.

A vantec
http://www.vantecusa.com/front/product/view_detail/277

I have setup so far with 1 TB HD that work fine. I was curious to know if anyone was able to have two 1 TB work with the 8300HD. I know that it was suggested that two external HD was not possible but with the latest firmware upgrade it may be possible now.

VideoDrone

02-28-09, 07:32 AM

Anybody runnning 3.1.0_11 and still have functioning external DVR. If so please give me the specific model numbers of your box and hard drive. Mine died with the new upgrade. Why TWC?!?

phousley

02-28-09, 08:01 AM

Search for a forum member named xenophonite in the database (http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/xnappo/navigator&localparams=1&db=navigator&cmd=list&range=0,20&Id=37&cmd=do_mod). He reports that he had no trouble with his external drive when his system upgraded to 3.1.0_11.

ringo20000

02-28-09, 12:43 PM

Has anyone had problems with incomplete recordings? I added an external hd on Thursday and since then I have gotten 2 incomplete recordings. When I select the show to watch it looks like the whole show should be there but only part of the bar is yellow and the rest is red. Once it hits the red it stops and I can't get the rest of the show.

LukeH7

02-28-09, 02:49 PM

Way cool! I'm in Cinci as well with a TWC SA8240 Explorer, your post may have just convinced me to take the plunge and get an external eSATA drive.

nbourbaki, did you (or anyone else) get an external drive to work with an SA8240 and TWC latest software? I've got 3.1.0_11 on my 8240 from TWC Cinci, and I cannot get it to recognize or format the drive.

ringo20000

02-28-09, 07:38 PM

Well it looks like the problems are related to the external drive. I am using a gd1000eu external hard driver which is supposed to be compatible with SARA but the recorded video stutters and is producing partial recordings. I don't know if it could possibly be the cable, I bought an eSata to eSata cable from meritline. The dvr recognizes the drive and formatted it. In addition to the recording problems I was also having problems with booting where I would get "advanced options are not available".

Skid71

03-03-09, 07:48 AM

phousley

03-03-09, 11:09 AM

It looks like you've just been upgraded and my guess is you've lost your recordings. My suggestion would be to shut everything all the way down (turn off the dvr, wait a couple of minutes, and unplug the dvr and external drive), plug in your external drive and let it spin up, then plug in your dvr and let it boot up. This may allow it to recover.

Please check and report your release number. We've been getting inconsisent reports about the success/failure from an upgrade to version 3.1.x_x.

Skid71

03-03-09, 12:02 PM

SeaBee63

03-03-09, 05:12 PM

PedjaR

03-03-09, 05:23 PM

Tried reading through most of this thread (over the course of three days) with no luck coming up with an answer...

WD5000AAKS
Vantec Nextar3 Enclosure

Which, from what I'm reading in the thread, should be a solid problem free combination.

I'm getting glitches at least once every 5 minutes and the weird thing is during every recording of the series Lost, I get a glitch right when the main title screen should be displayed... every time.

Where can I start to resolve this problem? THX. :confused:

Maybe it is a flaky cable or a flaky eSATA port on the DVR. I had a similar situation with 3 different drives, then I replaced the DVR and the same drive that was having glitches every couple of minutes became glitch-free. So, replacing the DVR might be worth a shot. I kept the old one a few days until I finished watching some of the recordings on it, and TWC charged me just a fee for the second DVR prorated for the several days.

tzydzy

03-05-09, 04:34 AM

I recently connected a Western Digital WD6400AAKS/Vantec Nextstar combination to my 8300HD. Most of the time it works fine. But occasionally PVR does not see the drive, until I reboot it (then it tells me PVR recognizes the drive, please hit exit). The symptom I see is, when I try to play a recording residing in the external drive, I directly go to the green PVR playback screen and nothing plays (Shows residing on the internal drive is OK). I really can't tell what is causing the problem. I tried different things. I thought it is happening when I leave STB at the PVR channel, but that is not the case. Suddenly (usually overnight) I loose connectivity to the HD. Both the PVR and case are connected to UPS. This is started getting really on my nerves. Happened many times. Any help really appreciated.
Thanks

I am having a similar problem with the:
8300HDC
SARA 1.90.5a110
Flash DVR1.53_8300HDC_LR_F.P.3601
Apps: nvia2v1.95.70
Wide Open West (WOW) Cable
with a Western Digital My DVR Recorder (eSATA) external drive.

Things have worked flawlessly for about 2 years until I had a hard freezeup. The DVR would not respond to either the remote or on the box controls. I unplugged the DVR only (without unplugging the external DVR) and got a digital countdown display that lasted forever upon plugging in the DVR. After a proper reboot, with all drives powered down and cables removed and reconnected, the DVR and external drive operates as intended with full access to all recorded programs until either the DVR is turned off or the DVR goes through it's nightly reset by the cable company at 3:00 AM. (I tried leaving the DVR on all of the time, but the nightly "pause/update" happens without fail). After the reset or power off of the DVR, internally recorded programs play back fine, but programs recorded on the external drive give one the green DVR screen when playback is attempted. But all programs show up on the "Recorded Programs" listing. A reboot of the DVR and external drive brings things back. When the confirmation screen shows up indicating that the external drive works with this DVR, one can hear the external drive heads actuating.

When there is no playback from the external drive, the diagnostic screen shows that there are 0KB recorded on the external drive, but its existence and total capacity is noted correctly. Thanks for any insight or assistance in resolving this problem.

MPython

03-06-09, 01:35 AM

I can vouch for the DVR being the problem. I recently borrowed a friend's WD My DVR Expander. It had worked for him fine (on a different cable company, but same cable box), but he thought it crapped out. I fixed it, then connected it to my DVR (which has a perfectly working internal drive). It was almost as glitchy as my Fantom GreenDrive (sometimes 4 glitches/minute). So I got two boxes from the cable company, an 8300HD and an 8300HDC. Both worked great with the My DVR Expander. No issues whatsoever. I am not ready to change out my box yet, as I still have a lot of recordings on the external and internal drives. But I'm confident that's the fix. Although, it is still possible my Fantom will be glitchy on the new cable box. I just hope not.

Maybe it is a flaky cable or a flaky eSATA port on the DVR. I had a similar situation with 3 different drives, then I replaced the DVR and the same drive that was having glitches every couple of minutes became glitch-free. So, replacing the DVR might be worth a shot. I kept the old one a few days until I finished watching some of the recordings on it, and TWC charged me just a fee for the second DVR prorated for the several days.

rlanza1054

03-06-09, 08:58 AM

hi,

I've been using my setup for over two years now. Suddenly, things are acting up.

It seems the cable box recognizes the external hard drives but will no longer write to them.

Is this happening to anyone else.

I still need to run some tests, but my gut is saying a recent upgrade messed up the ability to record to an external hard drive.

If you too are having trouble let's get it posted here so we can figure out what was done, or it's just a fluke.

Thanks

Rob

wx27

03-06-09, 09:28 AM

I still need to run some tests, but my gut is saying a recent upgrade messed up the ability to record to an external hard drive.

Can you confirm what version of ODN your box is currently running?
2.4.10_11?
3.1.0_11?
I'm in a neighboring borough so I'm interested if 3.1.0_11 is being pushed out regionally.

CountryJoe

03-08-09, 01:15 PM

VideoDrone

03-08-09, 01:23 PM

xenophonite

03-08-09, 01:47 PM

ODN 3.1 works for me with eSATA drive. I hear for some people, it screwed up the formatting after the upgrade. They had to reformat the drive on a PC and then format on the cable box.

phousley

03-08-09, 02:31 PM

ODN 3.1 works for me with eSATA drive. I hear for some people, it screwed up the formatting after the upgrade. They had to reformat the drive on a PC and then format on the cable box.Glad to see you checked in here. Can you speculate what might be unique about your system that allowed you (and so far only you) to survive the upgrade without issue? How full was your drive? Did you have a lot of scheduled recordings? Was the box turned off when it upgraded? Was the external drive attached? Did you upgrade directly from 2.4.10_11 or was there an intermediate release? You get the idea.

malong335

03-08-09, 03:28 PM

My DVR was working wonderfully for a year an a half, now with ODN 3.1.0_11, I got nothing. I tried everything also, including two other hard drives, another enclousre, etc. I am so ticked with TWC, why did they have to mess with that! I've only heard one person say their's works under the new software. I miss my extra storage....and all my saved stuff....argggh.
I'm in the same boat. My eSata drive worked great for months. After the upgrade to 3.1.0_11, the DVR function totally screwed up. Many reboots, would work for a bit, screw-up, reboot, work for a day, screw-up. I finally unplugged the external drive(a few weeks ago) and the DVR functionality on the internal drive works fine now. I don't have the enclosure/disk model in front of me, but I'm sure it has to do with the ODN upgrade.

Does anyone know how many people have regained stability by reformatting the external drive?

ttweed

03-08-09, 05:56 PM

SA 8300HDC TWC San Diego ODN 3.1.0.11. I installed a small UPS to the SATA drive. We have a Utility power outage coming up Friday and Saturday and with the SB in Tampa coming up..
Anyway, I had to unplug the DVR to plug it in the UPS. I set up a timed recording for 10 PM and unplugged it around 5 of 10. When it came back up, all the recordings were still there. This morning I noticed the rewind did not work and I could not record by pressing record. I soft booted and all is fine now. The funny thing is this morning it showed 50% after reboot, now it shows 10% and everything looks like it is there. For those having problems with the rewind function, try turning off the STB, unplug it for 5 minutes, unplug the SATA, plug in the SATA, STB and let it do its thing with a programmed record waiting. Then Soft reboot again. This worked for me a few times, it may be a legit process....
I tried this process to recover the contents of my expansion drive after the upgrade to ODN ver. 3.1.0_11 and it did not work for me. In fact, after the soft reboot, neither the guide nor the DVR list functions worked anymore. I would get blocky, garbled graphics displayed on the screen when trying to access the guide and it would lock up. I had to remove the expansion drive and reboot, then the DVR worked normally. I am going to move the expansion drive to the bedroom DVR, which is an 8300HD running the MDN Navigator version and see if it works better there.

TT

xenophonite

03-08-09, 08:50 PM

Glad to see you checked in here. Can you speculate what might be unique about your system that allowed you (and so far only you) to survive the upgrade without issue? How full was your drive? Did you have a lot of scheduled recordings? Was the box turned off when it upgraded? Was the external drive attached? Did you upgrade directly from 2.4.10_11 or was there an intermediate release? You get the idea.

I was on 2.4.10.11 before the upgrade. I don't know if the box was on but it usually is overnight. The drive was likely nearly 100% full as it usually is and was up and running during the upgrade. My box did lockup when I found it that way the morning after the upgrade, but rebooted and everything worked, and all old content was there.

Could be related to model of drive I have, which is in link below.

Skid71

03-08-09, 09:41 PM

Equipment / Version / Etc.
TWC Kansas City
SA8300HDC
ODN 3.1.0_11
Antec MX-1 Enclosure
WD 6400AAKS drive

I too am having issues with the external drive no longer being written to, at least that what it appears to me.
KC area upgraded to 3.1.0_11, I'm not sure of the exact date, but we did get an upgrade that changed the guide interface colors, appox. 2 weeks ago.

Last Tuesday, while watching a *live* program, the DVR went into this (unseen before by me) countdown type screen (on the DVR screen, not my primary display) and of course the channel I was watching was gone.

After the box booted up... well, now that I mention it, it is possible I did a soft reboot while this countdown was going on....
Regardless, after the box booted up, I checked the recorded shows to see if I was still in business.
1. The shows were still in the list.
2. The percentage full went down from appox. 32% to 0%

After unplugging the DVR, then booting back up, still 0%, but this time the shows in the list were gone.

Another interesting note is that I was not able to record. Example... while watching a show, and pressing the record button, I would get a record notification on the info screen, but no recording was going on (the 8300 was not displaying "record" on the front of the DVR.

Not being very smart in this particular realm, I took the 8300 back to TWC and got a new box... literally. At very least it appeared to be brand new. Unopened box, DVR still in the packaging inside the box. The build date was November of 2008.

Went home, plugged everything back in. I was asked if I wanted the drive to be formatted, I tapped the "A" button, then received no other screen or notification saying the drive had been formatted (not sure if I got a screen the first time I did this.... which was about 9 months ago or so.)

This time the DVR did record when pushing the record button, but after I recorded an hour show, the percentage full was at 7% instead of what should have been either 1 or 2%

So I send the drive back to WD for replacement.

Fast forward... get a new drive back, install it in the Antec case and try again.

*Note While waiting on the drive to arrive, I recorded about 7 hours of HD programming which showed up as appox. 40% full on the DVR gauge.

Now, after a new DVR, new hard drive, plugging back in, going through the format screen again (again, without a confirmation type screen that says format complete) **if there is such a screen** I now have one show in the recorded shows list, and at 7%. Obviously not writing to the external drive, just writing to the DVR's internal drive.

Today I unplugged the DVR, disconnected the external drive's eSATA cable, powered down the external drive, then unplugged it. Waited about 15 minutes...
1. reconnected eSATA cable from drive to DVR
2. plugged external drive back in
3. turned on external drive
4. plugged DVR back in

This time no format screen (maybe because the drive is already DVR formatted?)

Shows recorded over the weekend still there (3 shows only recorded two minutes each though.... same channel by the way TLCHD)

Still only writing to the DVR's internal drive
I think about 4 hours of programming at about 28% full.

I apologize for the extremely long post, I wanted to be as thorough as possible when describing things in hopes that we can get this resolved.

I would like to thank for replying to my pm's regarding this issue.
phousley
xenophonite

Just wanted to share and see if something can be isolated and figured out.
Thanks for everyone's time.

Sincerely,
Skid

EDIT: ~off topic~
The new DVR will not retain my preferred Audio Output Format
Everytime my display powers off, or the box reboots, the audio output reverts back to HDMI from Dolby Digital.

This didn't happen before (either the new DVR or ODN 3.1.0_11)

For those of you connecting your 8300HD(C) to a receiver can you check if you can get this setting to stick?

sschnath

03-09-09, 11:07 AM

I've just connected an external WD drive in an Apricorn enclosure to my 8300HD. It appears to be running fine. But has any TWC customer seen their external drive spin down when the internal drive spins down after power off. Mine is not.

I see that the feature is enabled after a certain SARA version but may be controlled by the cable company. Before I try to figure out what version of SARA I'm running and then asking TWC for help with an unsupported feature, I'd like to know whether the external spin down even works for any version of SARA sfw for any TWC customer.

xenophonite

03-09-09, 11:18 AM

There might be a jumper setting on the drive to do it. Jumper settings are usually listed on the drive label.

MPython

03-09-09, 11:31 AM

Hi. I have an SA 8300HD and a Seagate 500GB My DVR Expander. No matter that I do, the external drive is not recognized by the DVR. I have tried about every combination of things and not even a twitch from anything. Has anyone else had any issues with this combination or have any ideas for me? Thanks, Joe

I borrowed a friend's MY DVR Expander (WD though). The first thing I did was connect it up to my DVR. No joy. There was nothing on it, so there was no fear of losing shows. I connected it up to my computer's eSATA port. The BIOS saw it, then Windows saw it. I went into Computer Management->Disk Management, and set it up to be an external drive for my PC (did whatever partition and allocation of space was needed, and a full format, not a quick format or low-level). I was able to moves files to and from it. So I cleaned it up and connected it back to my DVR (even formatted for PC's), and then the DVR recognized it and asked me if I wanted to format it. I did, and then was able to record on it.

sschnath

03-09-09, 11:47 AM

There might be a jumper setting on the drive to do it. Jumper settings are usually listed on the drive label.

Yes, there is a jumper setting for that drive that enables spin down but it also enables spread spectrum. I didn't have a jumper handy at the time I assembled the drive but I had seen in one of the SARA updates that the DVR could control the spin down of external drives so I went ahead and assembled/connected the drive without enabling the switch. I was hoping that it would just work.

I'll give the jumper a try. Thanks.

Skid71

03-09-09, 07:24 PM

I apologize for the noob question, but here goes.

I've connected the AntecMX-1/WD6400AAKS combo to my PC via USB.
I've got power to the drive.

I do not know how to format the drive to PC. I thought it the drive would show up under "My Computer" but I don't see it.

Any help sincerely appreciated.
Skid

scnrfrq

03-09-09, 10:14 PM

It won't show up under My Computer. You have to go to Administrative Tools, then Computer Management. It should be in the list of drives there, and then you can reformat it.

Skid71

03-10-09, 07:46 AM

scnrfrq

03-10-09, 08:19 AM

I don't see it listed in the top pane (the window that has my C: drive listed). However it is listed below that pane, along with the optical drive.

I suppose my question is how do I get the drive to show up in the top pane? I do not have a "Format" option with the drive listed where it currently is. I hope this is making sense. The drive I'm talking about is Disk 5 in the pic. I'm not sure if it matters, but the drive is connected via USB 2.0 port, not sure if my PC has an eSATA port.

http://i41.tinypic.com/2j1wlxs.jpg

As you can probably tell, I'm not that PC savvy.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Skid

I was a little confused when I did this too. From what I recall, just right click on the drive and it should give you a format option in the dropdown list. If not, I think you have to choose "Initialize Disk". Here's an explanation that should work:
http://www.jakeludington.com/hadware_upgrades/20040909_diy_external_hard_drive.html

sschnath

03-10-09, 09:40 AM

There might be a jumper setting on the drive to do it. Jumper settings are usually listed on the drive label.

Tried the jumper. No change. This drive was originally given to the company I work for as an eval drive. It's possible that the firmware that is on the drive doesn't recognize the jumper.

If I can't get the DVR to shut it down it looks like I may have to buy a green drive that will shut off on its own. I don't want this drive spinning 24x7 - I hate to see the electricity being wasted.

phousley

03-10-09, 10:22 AM

I kinda doubt that the cost of a new drive will be less than the savings in electricity.

Skid71

03-10-09, 12:18 PM

I was a little confused when I did this too. From what I recall, just right click on the drive and it should give you a format option in the dropdown list. If not, I think you have to choose "Initialize Disk". Here's an explanation that should work:
http://www.jakeludington.com/hadware_upgrades/20040909_diy_external_hard_drive.html

thanks so much for the link & instructions.
going to give it a shot after I get off work.

bdfromsd

03-10-09, 05:00 PM

We have been on 3.0.11 for a while now, and yes it is all messed up. It works for a while and then messes up. I am sorry the procedure I outlined did not work for you, Tweed, but it says to me it is not the procedure, but the random way this seems to work. This past Saturday Night/Sunday AM, I was watching whatever until like 2 AM. Then we went to the time change and everything was messed up the next morning. The DVR did not work, the guide did not come up at all. After a few unplugs and reboots, I finally got the list and guide to work.

The list listed all the shows, but showed 0% full. AT this point, DO NOT TRY TO PLAY OR DELETE ANYTHING ON THE LIST. If it is, say 225 PM, go into the guide and set up something to record at 230. In a minute or two, reboot the STB. As it is rebooting, the RECORD light on the Box will light. When it is done rebooting, the DVR worked again and the List goes to whatever percent (something not 0%) and we did not lose our recordings. This is at least 6 times in a row I used this procedure and it worked every time, with no loss of programs including this past Sunday. If you try to access anything on the list before you program a future recording as it is rebooting, you WILL lose your programs. All I can say is this has worked for sure with our Software version, and an 8300HDC box in San Diego. There may be other combinations that alter this, different boxes, different hardware versions, different Sata drives, I really don't know. It makes no sense but I ran into it by mistake one day and tried enough times since to say it works consistantly. Any other way and I have lost stuff on the list that was recorded on the external SATA Drive.

bdfromsd

03-10-09, 05:09 PM

We have an 8300 HDC that we have a SATA drive on. It works like the others, sometimes yes and sometimes no.

But it is VERY SLOOOW. It typically takes 20 seconds to pull up the List, and another 20 seconds or so to pull up and delete a program. We just got a 8300HD box for the bedroom. There is nothing on the DVR right now, but it is very fast, pulling up the guide, the list takes a second rather than 45 seconds or so for the HDC box with the SATA drive. Would it be better to have the SATA drive on and HD or the HDC box or does it matter? It is getting so slow on the HDC box it is almost not worth having the SATA drive on it. It can take 10-15 minutes a day to go through the list, delete shows, reconfigure series recordings.

Please, if someone knows for sure we would apreciate it. It may cost some money and a bunch of redoing, but if the SA 8300HD box is faster than an 8300 HDC and works more consistantly with a SATA drive, I would rather switch boxes.

me

phousley

03-10-09, 05:30 PM

I'm not sure what you're asking. I can say that the slowness you describe is not normal. Some who have both boxes report that the 8300HD is generally faster than the 8300HDC, but my experience with the HDC is that it is very responsive, with or without the external drive.

Skid71

03-10-09, 09:28 PM

Just an update to some posts up above.
Formatted the drive with the PC. Connected to the 8300 (while it was unplugged)
Power the external combo up.
Powered the 8300 back up.

Did not ask/no format screen when the DVR booted up. **argh**

Powered external drive down while DVR still on.
Powered the drive back up, again no format screen, but *I think* it caused the 8300 to reboot.

Before I tried this... this evening.
DVR: 3 hours HD programming......20% full

After
DVR: 3 hours HD programming.....20% full

I am just about ready to hurl the drive into the plasma...
Frustrated. Frustrating.

Still having the issue where the Dolby Digital Audio Output format will not stick when either my display powers on/off, or the box is turned off/reboots.

Guess I'll try a different eSATA cable, then maybe a different 8300HDC.

Thoughts and/or suggestions welcomed.

Skid

ps I'm jealous of xenophonite who has the same ODN version (3.1.0_11), same drive and enclosure combo, and is working fine.

kicks...slaps at the air... profanity

Edit: Going to try a different cable. Can someone confirm that I need an eSATA to eSATA cable?
Thanks,
Skid

bdfromsd

03-11-09, 05:46 PM

8300 HDC ODN 3.1.0_11
Antec MX-1 Enclosure

I guess my questions are:

Why is our setup so slow now, it was not like this in the past.
When we press the list button, it takes 15-20 seconds to pull up the list.
Then about 20 seconds to select the program and another 15-20 seconds to delete it.

Could it be the number of series recordings, or the number of recordings on the list? The drive shows 50-55% full.

Is there a way to see what the firmware version is, if so, what should it be and is there a way to flash it?

Is there a way to defrag the internal and external drives; and to force a reformat of the drive? It formatted the original drive fine, but I am OK with losing what I have to reformat it if that would get it to respond faster. This is really frustrating.

me

tzydzy

03-12-09, 04:02 AM

8300 HDC ODN 3.1.0_11
Antec MX-1 Enclosure
Why is our setup so slow now, it was not like this in the past.
When we press the list button, it takes 15-20 seconds to pull up the list.
Then about 20 seconds to select the program and another 15-20 seconds to delete it.

Could it be the number of series recordings, or the number of recordings on the list? The drive shows 50-55% full.

Is there a way to see what the firmware version is, if so, what should it be and is there a way to flash it?

Is there a way to defrag the internal and external drives; and to force a reformat of the drive? It formatted the original drive fine, but I am OK with losing what I have to reformat it if that would get it to respond faster. This is really frustrating.

me

The response speed of the STB is independent of the amount of recordings on the disk.

You can access the diagnostic screen which will show firmware version by holding SELECT on the STB until the mail icon flashes and then press INFO. Page through the screens until firmware version is shown (there can be over 60 pages on a HD STB).

Firmware updates are periodically sent by the cable company on their schedule or can be updated with a hard reboot. See the thread below for that and try such a reboot before you reformat.

See the 8300 tips and tricks thread for the key strokes for defragging or reformatting the drives. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=471859

BenJF3

03-12-09, 06:27 AM

Can anyone recommend a 1TB drive that works with the 8300? I tried all last night to make a WD My Book 1TB drive work to no avail. All I got was a message saying "The External Storage Device Is Not Working Properly. Please Check The Power Supply and Cables".

I can return it and probably just go with a My DVR Expander at 500GB, but I wanted a 1TB Drive because our Time Warner Division just added 15 HD channels for a total of about 70 and the 160GB internal just ain't cutting it. I like to save movies and programs to watch later.

I know I could build my own enclosure cheap, but I have like $50 worth of reward points to use, so I'd like to just get a plug and play option. Has anyone had any luck with a 1TB device? My SARA version is listed below and TWC already confirmed the port is active and supported, but no list of supported devices.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

jruhnke

03-12-09, 09:20 AM

Can anyone recommend a 1TB drive that works with the 8300?You could try checking Xnappo's database to see what other folks have reported good (and bad) results with (be sure to pick the correct one for your software: SARA (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/main) / Passport (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/passport) / Navigator (http://www.baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/navigator)).

BenJF3

03-12-09, 09:44 AM

Yea, I'm not looking to bust my balls with this. I may just exchange the one I have for a DVR Expander. 660GB should be sufficient. I suppose I could always up the drive in that later if need be. Plus I can get one for about $80 and I know if works.

jruhnke

03-12-09, 10:07 AM

Not sure how two button clicks and some scrolling might constitute ball-busting. Click on the "SARA" link I provided. Click the "Size" heading and the table will sort by size. Scan the 1 TB drives. There's a DVR Expander listed.

BenJF3

03-12-09, 10:21 AM

I wasn't referring to that, I was referring to plug and play. I meant to having to trial and error different drives and enclosures to get a working one. I should have been more clear - I guess I'm still a bit tweaked because of the issues I had last night after being told that the drive I got should have worked. The databases is awesome and helpful! I don't see any reasonably priced 1TB units that are plug and play. Sorry that it came out that way, I didn't mean to offend.

xnappo

03-12-09, 12:12 PM

I wasn't referring to that, I was referring to plug and play. I meant to having to trial and error different drives and enclosures to get a working one.

Hi Ben,

It is really, really easy to put the drive into an Antec MX-1 case. It will take like 3 minutes max. I suggest you go with an Antec MX-1 and one of the WD 1TB drives if that is what you want. I am weary of any pre-packaged external drives because the vendor could change the internals without warning.

Good luck!

xnappo

BenJF3

03-12-09, 12:18 PM

Hi Ben,

It is really, really easy to put the drive into an Antec MX-1 case. It will take like 3 minutes max. I suggest you go with an Antec MX-1 and one of the WD 1TB drives if that is what you want. I am weary of any pre-packaged external drives because the vendor could change the internals without warning.

Good luck!

xnappo

Thanks for the reply! I know it's not a big deal to put the drive in. Have you used the MX-1 case? I see my local BestBuy has it in stock for $70. I just want to make sure what I get will work with my 8300 so I don't have to run back and forth to the store exchanging stuff. I'm pretty sure a DVR Expander would work by default, but I wanted to get something that I could use else where should I no longer need it for the DVR. The DVR Expander is limited to eSata only. Appreciate the info!

xnappo

03-12-09, 12:26 PM

Thanks for the reply! I know it's not a big deal to put the drive in. Have you used the MX-1 case?

Yes, that is the case that I use. $70 is steep for it, but you can probably still buy it and a WD drive for the price of a complete solution. The other case I have personally used is the Apricorn, but you can't get that locally.

Back when I started the database, I wouldn't have recommended a drive/case to someone, but at this point I feel *fairly* comfortable that this would work for you. Still though - no guarantee!

xnappo

BenJF3

03-12-09, 12:31 PM

Well, I have $40 worth of Reward Points to cash in so I can do the whole thing for under $200. On the other hand, I can get the 500GB DVR Expander kit for $114 (or around $75 after coupons). I'm not sure that I need the 1TB, but I record alot and TWC just added like 15 HD channels.

Is the Antec case loud?

xnappo

03-12-09, 12:38 PM

BenJF3

03-12-09, 04:24 PM

Thanks xnappo! I went to BB to return the MyBook drive and brought an ad from B&H for the Antec MX-1. I got BB to price match it so I picked up the MX-1 for $50 and bought a Seagate 1TB 32MB Buffer 7200RPM (It was cheaper than the WD and had a 5 year warranty even though I'm a big fan of WD). It didn't take right away, but after two reboots I'm happy to report that it is working!!! First reboot prompted me to format it and second report reported that the device works with that DVR. My used space went from 87% to 10%. I had about 18 hours of HD on the internal drive plus some SD and by my calculations the 1TB should add approx 120 Hours of record time for HD equaling a total of 140 Hours (120 for the 1TB and 20 for the internal). I should basically never have to worry about space again. I will intentionally record a bunch of HD tonight to see how the drive performs and report on it. I'll make a post for the data base as well.

The My Book WDHCS1000 does NOT work.

The Seagate Barracuda ST310005N1A1AS-RK DOES work with the Antec MX-1.

Only gripe thus far is the humming from the Antec. It's louder than I thought it would be and clearly audible in the room. I'm wondering if it can be run without the fan since most of the eSata book style drives don't have fans.

Thanks for the assistance all! I know I could have gotten the HDD cheaper as a bare drive online, but with my $40 in Reward Points I got the whole setup done for $150 total. To me that's not bad for a 1TB eSata setup.

Skid71

03-12-09, 07:35 PM

Ben,
Congrats on the setup working for you. I have the MX-1 and it's as quiet as a church mouse.

I would give anything for my 8300HDC (3rd the last week) to recognize that a drive is connected and needs formatting.
(ODN 3.1.0_11)

Really crummy since the same drive/enclosure combo was working just 10 days ago.

Congrats on the new addition!

Skid

xnappo

03-12-09, 09:50 PM

The Seagate Barracuda ST310005N1A1AS-RK DOES work with the Antec MX-1.

Only gripe thus far is the humming from the Antec. It's louder than I thought it would be and clearly audible in the room. I'm wondering if it can be run without the fan since most of the eSata book style drives don't have fans.
.

That is good the Seagate worked. I like Seagate for computers - but they have a bad track record with DVRs. Sounds like their newest firmware may be okay though. I have been running my Antec without the fan for 6 months as it started to rattle.

xnappo

broadwayblue

03-13-09, 12:45 AM

Hey guys, is the 500GB WD DVR expander as big as they come in this series? Seems like the WDG1S5000 has been out for a while now and I was wondering if they had any newer (larger) models. I probably don't need more, but my 400GB external got zapped a while back and I really need to replace it. Thanks.

BenJF3

03-13-09, 07:31 AM

That is good the Seagate worked. I like Seagate for computers - but they have a bad track record with DVRs. Sounds like their newest firmware may be okay though. I have been running my Antec without the fan for 6 months as it started to rattle.

xnappo

Well, I wanted to go with the high end WD Black model, but they wanted $150 for the drive. The green model was $139, but had no specs listed for the cache and was variable speed of 5400-7200 due to built in power saving feature. I thought it would be best to use a fast 7200 RPM with larger cache. I figure that since the drive worked I should be OK. IF I have issues with it, I will swap it for a WD 1TB because I do enough computer builds that I could easily have a place for it later.

The fan is making a buzzing type noise and while it's not incredibly loud, it is annoying. The Antec case is great otherwise and seemed like a good deal at $50. I may just pop the plug on the fan or disassemble it and see if there is some obstruction. I suppose I could exchange it as well, but didn't think that the fan was totally needed anyway. At least I have an enclosure that I know works with the hardware now.

ttweed

03-13-09, 10:26 AM

The list listed all the shows, but showed 0% full. AT this point, DO NOT TRY TO PLAY OR DELETE ANYTHING ON THE LIST. If it is, say 225 PM, go into the guide and set up something to record at 230. In a minute or two, reboot the STB. As it is rebooting, the RECORD light on the Box will light.
Are you saying that the red "Record" light on the front panel comes on while the box is rebooting? That didn't happen when I tried it. I had set the recording to start at 12:00 and the STB finished rebooting at 12:01 and did not start the programmed record at any time, during or after the warm reboot, and in fact the guide and DVR list were scrambled and unreadable. In my case, I did try to play things on the list before the rebooting process, and got nothing but blank screens. Also, my box did not show 0%, so we may not be dealing with the same kind of failure. Apples and oranges, I guess. There are just too many things that can go wrong with these things.

I got tired of the problems with the 8300HDC ODN box and eSATA, so I hooked my Apricorn 500GB DVR Expander up to the 8300HD MDN box in the bedroom to see if it worked better. It seemed to recognize and format it, after I put it on my PC and renewed the partition, and live buffering still works along with the direct record function (pushing the red button while tuning a show, which had stopped working with the ODN 8300HDC box, as I and others had previously reported). However, now I am having a problem with incomplete programmed recordings. I find shows that I programmed to record stop before the end of the timeslot, or in some cases, don't begin recording until sometime after the beginning of the program and then go to the end. Very erratic behavior. No problem at all when the eSATA is unhooked. This is very sad commentary on TWC's lack of support with eSATA on their Navigator software.

TT

TheDaveMan

03-13-09, 05:17 PM

I have an 8300HDC and Apricorn DVR Expander with TWC-NYC (Manhattan South), and according to my diag screen, my Navigator hasn't been upgraded - I'm still with 2.4.10_11.

I installed my external HD 3 weeks ago and it was working flawlessly until I just turned on my system to discover that all programs recorded on the external drive are no longer visible. As I had managed to fill up the combined capacity to ~95% capacity and was looking forward to seeing those programs, this is quite annoying, to say the least. Also, my Recording Log doesn't exist any more - it's not blank, the entire tab is missing.

I unplugged the Apricorn and then did a cold boot of the DVR, to no avail.

Are my recorded programs going to come back? Is there anything I can do to make them come back? If not, how do I get the DVR to re-recognize the capacity so that I can look forward to dealing with this problem again in the future?

When I spoke with the idiots at TWC tech support, first a woman who could barely speak English, and then her supervisor, they told me that I'm not supposed to have been able to record to an external HD because 1) they don't support the connection, and 2) it's "copyright infringement." In addition to that being a contradiction of what a different TWC tech person told me before I bought the drive in the firstplace, we all know that that isn't true.

I know we've all dealt with these people at some point, but I've never been so frustrated by them before.

Any suggestions at all are greatly appreciated.

sschnath

03-14-09, 10:09 PM

Just added my WD drive to the SARA database:
TWC
SA 8300HDC
SARA 1.90.5.113
Apricorn enclosure
Western Digital WD5000KS

So far, so good. Did have a weird thing happen the other night though - after shutting the system down around 11 pm (DVR and TV both powered off via a Logitech Harmony remote), woke up at 3 am and heard noise downstairs. Both the DVR and the TV were on. No one had turned them on and the DVR was in a weird state - there was a screen saver that said something like "press any key to see video" or something like that -- I was half asleep.

But I could hear the audio on the TV. I reached up to turn off the power on the DVR by hitting the switch on the DVR itself and the internal drive spun up. It acted as if it were just powering up for the first time although it was clearly already working. What is going on there?

I was thinking that maybe it was in some weird state due to a sfw update but is it possible for the DVR to send a power up command to the TV via an HDMI connection? I assume not, and if that's the case, I have no idea how the TV turned itself on. This never happened until I connected the external drive!

Rich_Lanz

03-15-09, 03:21 PM

Hi,
I connected a 1 TB WD drive with a Irocks case to my TWC NY 8300HDC. The first time it powered up I got a message saying the external drive was present and asked me if I wanted to format to press the A button which I did. I expected the available space to increase but it did not, and shows are not being recorded to the new drive. When I go into diagnostics the Disk Info page tells me 1 device is present. How do explain this since the the system did detect the ext drive in the first instance? Also I tried disconnecting after powering down and then rebooting , then pwering down and reconnecting and rebooting but it does not tell me it is detecteing the drive. How do I recreate the initial set of condidtions?

thanks

rich

BenJF3

03-15-09, 03:26 PM

Rich, leave the external device connected and then do a hard reboot of the set top box. I had to reboot twice before mine setup properly. You should get a message saying the device works with the box once it's set up properly and notice a massive increase in record time.

bkazepis

03-15-09, 06:12 PM

bkazepis

03-15-09, 06:18 PM

Rich_Lanz

03-15-09, 09:01 PM

Thanks Ben,
Ive tried rebooting several times and there is no message about the ext drive. I never got a message saying it was available the one time it asked me if I wanted to format.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks

Rich

VideoDrone

03-16-09, 07:11 AM

Bkazepis,

Which odn software does your DVR box run on?

dignatec

03-16-09, 10:48 AM

Guys,
This thread is a bit complicated. I have one quick question.

Using the esata to Sata cable (just ordered from monoprice), can't I just use any external HD that has a esata connector and connect to the 8300?

For example: any of these hd's?
http://www.pcvonline.com/ProductsList.aspx?CategoryID=24515&23812&f1=140&f2=USB+2.0%2feSATA

I'm in Toronto , Canada.

Thanks guys, it's cheaper to order an external for me, than to buy an internal+case. I don't see why certain enclosures work/don't work? Shouldn't it all be standardized with the esata/sata terminals?

phousley

03-16-09, 11:33 AM

I don't see why certain enclosures work/don't work? Shouldn't it all be standardized with the esata/sata terminals?I'm not sure anyone here knows exactly why some sata drives work and others don't. Or why one might work but with frequent dropouts. Your best bet is to visit the esata users databases to see other's experiences with various drives:

SARA (http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/xnappo/main)
Passport (http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/xnappo/passport)
Navigator (http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/xnappo/navigator)

dignatec

03-16-09, 01:58 PM

Thanks, but can't I just buy any of the esata drives in that link I posted and not worry about it? These are already external HD's, with esata ports, isn't this good enough?

Edit: I tried the first hd in my link and looked it up, apparently it doesn't work.... Bizarre...

So I have to find a hd/enclosure that works? That is difficult given that there may be different model #s in Canada / US... Is this what everyone else did as well?

conroy9

03-16-09, 02:02 PM

Thanks, but can't I just buy any of the esata drives in that link I posted and not worry about it? These are already external HD's, with esata ports, isn't this good enough?

No.

dignatec

03-16-09, 02:07 PM

No.

Yeah I edited my earlier post. :)

danki6x

03-16-09, 02:17 PM

Thanks, but can't I just buy any of the esata drives in that link I posted and not worry about it? These are already external HD's, with esata ports, isn't this good enough?
Many guesses of why all operate different: cache (size/speed), firmware (error detection built-in, energy saving modes, etc.), and other things that are "different" among drives. For video it needs a contiuous stream moving or else you get "glitches". Remember the drive needs to record 2 streams of HD video and play back a third HD stream at the same time to "pass". So, you can see some of the features buried in the drive can affect that even though they may be helpful for computer HD use. /Dan

dignatec

03-16-09, 02:35 PM

Thanks Dan, that makes sense.

Last question: do I use a) esata to sata cables or b)esata to esata? I know the first post is saying a), but just making sure as I'm ordering cables online and don't want to make a mistake. Does the 8300 have a sata connector or an esata? I know the enclosures are all esata.

Thanks.

xnappo

03-16-09, 02:38 PM

dignatec

03-16-09, 02:41 PM

Do you mean the enclosures come with the cable? Esata to Esata? That would make sense, I should stop my order in that case right?

xnappo

03-16-09, 03:23 PM

Do you mean the enclosures come with the cable? Esata to Esata? That would make sense, I should stop my order in that case right?

Yes, they usually do. What drive did you order? I hope you didn't order that FreeAgent pro you linked... Make sure what you order is highly reliable in the database!

xnappo

dignatec

03-16-09, 03:40 PM

Xnappo, haven't ordered anything yet, but will probably order the vantec nexstar 3 that is popular on the database with a WD hard drive (750 or 1tb), should do the trick!

Thanks for the help, I wouldn't have totally wasted my cash without this thread. Cheers.

xnappo

03-16-09, 03:50 PM

danno321s

03-16-09, 10:37 PM

I'll post this query in the Navigator thread as well.
Thought it may be appropriate since I'm using an Antec MX-1/WD6400.

Watching Sportscenter this morning, the box (8300HDC) shuts
off, then goes into a rapid countdown type screen (on the box).
Not the usual soft/hard boot screen normally seen.

After turning the box back on, the audio is noticably lower, and
the DVR now reads 0%, even though the shows are still listed.
This is with an Antec-MX1/WD6400 combo connected.

When trying to play a show that is on the list, there is only
black.

I cannot remember the previous version of Navigator that was running, or if there is a new version now. This combo was working for about 9 months without issue.

Has anyone experienced this issue? Are the shows listed in
the DVR screen FOOBAR? Any hope of recovery?

Thanks,
Skid

After my Rosewill eSATA case with Seagate 750GB drive worked flawlessly for over one year, I noticed it disconnecting. At that time I also noticed the hexadecimal countdown which I had never seen before. Some update must have caused this (SA8300HD running MDN from November 2008). Most recently the box just kept hexadecimal rebooting until I turned of the eSATA drive. Just did a reconnect after powering off SA8300HD and eSATA drive. Connected again. Will see what happens...

Skid71

03-16-09, 11:20 PM

After my Rosewill eSATA case with Seagate 750GB drive worked flawlessly for over one year, I noticed it disconnecting. At that time I also noticed the hexadecimal countdown which I had never seen before. Some update must have caused this (SA8300HD running MDN from November 2008). Most recently the box just kept hexadecimal rebooting until I turned of the eSATA drive. Just did a reconnect after powering off SA8300HD and eSATA drive. Connected again. Will see what happens...

I hope you have better luck than me. Since this happened, I lost all my recordings, switched out 2 (or was it 3?) HDC's, sent back a drive to WD, and I still cannot get the HDC to ask me for a format. Well, it did ask once, I pressed "A", but no luck. Oh yeah, I even tried a different esata to esata cable.

It's terribly frustrating. I know it's just TV, but I've got to cram it in when I've got time.
Hell, I'm almost to the point of going with Tivo.

Please post your results.
Thanks,
Skid

BPlayer

03-17-09, 08:22 AM

After my Rosewill eSATA case with Seagate 750GB drive worked flawlessly for over one year, I noticed it disconnecting. At that time I also noticed the hexadecimal countdown which I had never seen before.
The hexadecimal countdown is an indication that the PVR is in communication with the external HDD, but that the HDD is not responding proprely to the requested commands. I have had this happen a few times. This usually occurs when my drive does not spin up after being powered on. A power off/on usually gets it going.

xenophonite

03-17-09, 05:49 PM

scott_bernstein

03-17-09, 06:18 PM

Well I'm bummin. I reported when 3.1 was released that I had no problems with eSATA. In the last couple days, the 750GB drive appeared to die because I could not format again on PC. I had a 1TB Hitachi drive, which worked temporarily but not consistent enough. I have since been able to format the 750GB drive in Windows, tried on cable box and can't get either drive to be recognized by the cable box (never asks to Press A to format on power up). So I've tried reinitializing disk, creating partitions with no format and also formatting the drive in Windows. No matter the combination, I cannot get the cable box to see either drive (using an Antec eSATA enclosure). All was fine with 2.x ODN. The Antec enclosure works fine attached to PC via USB.

BTW, is there a way to just force a re-initialize w/out creating partitions? Am running out of ideas.
Are you 100% sure that your enclosure hasn't died? I recently had my drive unexpectedly become unresponsive (on an 8300HD w/Passport, FYI) and when I tried another drive, that wasn't recognized either. On a hunch I ordered a new enclosure and everything was fine....

Skid71

03-17-09, 06:55 PM

Are you 100% sure that your enclosure hasn't died? I recently had my drive unexpectedly become unresponsive (on an 8300HD w/Passport, FYI) and when I tried another drive, that wasn't recognized either. On a hunch I ordered a new enclosure and everything was fine....

Scott,
You running ODN or MDN?
Which version?

I hope you are correct about it being the enclosure. However, with the few number of people I've seen running ODN 3.1.0_11, there have been external drive issues.

Still running ODN 3.1.0_11 in KC.

Skid

scott_bernstein

03-17-09, 07:50 PM

Scott,
You running ODN or MDN?
Which version?

I hope you are correct about it being the enclosure. However, with the few number of people I've seen running ODN 3.1.0_11, there have been external drive issues.

Still running ODN 3.1.0_11 in KC.

Skid

No ODN/MDN -- just Passport, which is a different OS. Still just a basic easy (and relatively cheap) thing to test. Enclosures do fail.

danno321s

03-17-09, 11:50 PM

The hexadecimal countdown is an indication that the PVR is in communication with the external HDD, but that the HDD is not responding proprely to the requested commands. I have had this happen a few times. This usually occurs when my drive does not spin up after being powered on. A power off/on usually gets it going.

I see no problem with my Rosewill/Seagate eSATA drive enclosure. All diags for it check out OK. I believe the the SA8300HD is the one that sends the power-down command so it is a SA8300HD problem. When I put the SA8300HD in stand-by the eSATA drive stops writing (green light goes off). If I start the STB soon afterward the eSATA starts writing as expected. But if I turn off the STB for a long time the eSATA usually is no longer recognized on start-up. I guess I could reprogram my Harmony to leave the STB on all the time but this just wastes energy. My MDN version is 2.4.1 May 28th 2008. I checked all cabling A OK. I repeat again that it worked worked solid for over a year until I think the latest MDN update.

CDietert

03-18-09, 12:43 PM

Sounds like your Harmony didnt turn off everything....that screen comes up sometime between 1am and 2am if you leave your TV on, which is a type of screen saver (if you dont respond to the message) and also spins down the HD from what I understand....

Only explination I can think of...
I've found this screen when my son gets up in the middle of the night to watch TV, then falls asleep in front of it. The 8300 pops up a screen warning of no activity, then goes into the "Press a Key..." screensaver if no response and powers down the HDD. That simply means that the DVR apparently did NOT power down when you hit the key on the Harmony, or another code got sent.

danno321s

03-18-09, 09:32 PM

I've found this screen when my son gets up in the middle of the night to watch TV, then falls asleep in front of it. The 8300 pops up a screen warning of no activity, then goes into the "Press a Key..." screensaver if no response and powers down the HDD. That simply means that the DVR apparently did NOT power down when you hit the key on the Harmony, or another code got sent.

I will probably sh$t can my TWC service. Content/Cost ratio is not good and now with the tech problems I am ready to discontinue TWC and just use TV connected Internet video.

Riverside_Guy

03-19-09, 09:23 AM

I've found this screen when my son gets up in the middle of the night to watch TV, then falls asleep in front of it. The 8300 pops up a screen warning of no activity, then goes into the "Press a Key..." screensaver if no response and powers down the HDD. That simply means that the DVR apparently did NOT power down when you hit the key on the Harmony, or another code got sent.

FWIW, I have a Kill-A-Watt on my whole entertainment system, so I monitor consumption. During ANY of the following conditions, use remains the same at 27-28 watts:

8300 OFF
8300 ON
8300 OFF with both tuners on a non-buffering channel (hard drive not spinning)
8300 ON and both tuners recording something
8300 ON with a video playing back (paused or playing).

leapnlarry

03-19-09, 11:15 PM

I am trying to install a seagate sata drive in an esata enclosure. After many tries it finally got me to the formatted successful screen. When i check capacity the percentage has not changed. When i enter the setup screens, no sign of the extra capacity.

Explorer 8300 hd
Seagate 500 gb esata drive 7200/32mb/sata3g
nexstar 3 esata enclosure
Brighthouse networks Central Florida
Software version ptv: V6.14.94.1sp

I have been working on this for hours, going blind reading posts but i cant seem to find a solution.

I have rebooted many times using different techniques

Any advice welcome.

Ajack

03-20-09, 09:38 AM

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could throw in a quick recommendation for this setup:

Time Warner NYC (Brooklyn)
8300HD DVR
Passport/ECHO v. 2.6.002

I went through a dozen pages of posts, and the database, but there is clearly a lot more test/experiences with SARA and Navigator (I understand why).

I was initially thinking of getting an off-the-shelf solution like Acorn DVR Expander, but they warn that some Passport unit may not work.

So I am thinking that I will go with an external case like the Antec MX-1 and maybe a WD(?) external drive..?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Ajack

Riverside_Guy

03-20-09, 03:57 PM

Ajack

03-20-09, 05:53 PM

There's one major bug that will never, ever get fixed. Using an external drive in that setup means that while you CAN pause and resume stuff, you LOSE the ability to use FF and FR functions.

WOW... that is pretty much a show stopper, I CANNOT bear to watch these commercials...

So there is absolutely no workaround for Passport users? I see you have Passport too, what do you do?

Also is that only for LIVE TV or is that for RECORDED TV as well?

(cuz I rarely watch live tv anyway)

xnappo

03-20-09, 06:47 PM

There's one major bug that will never, ever get fixed. Using an external drive in that setup means that while you CAN pause and resume stuff, you LOSE the ability to use FF and FR functions.

Whoa there. You make the Passport bug sound a lot worse than it is by putting it that way. You only lose the FF/REW functions on the live buffer. Stuff that you setup to record works as one would expect(FF/REW works).

xnappo

Riverside_Guy

03-21-09, 10:19 AM

Whoa there. You make the Passport bug sound a lot worse than it is by putting it that way. You only lose the FF/REW functions on the live buffer. Stuff that you setup to record works as one would expect(FF/REW works).

xnappo

I thought that was conveyed by the "while you CAN pause and resume stuff...you lose..."

I should have added that many have suggested a work around would be to press the record button and actually record the show you are pausing to resume later. I tried it a few times and somehow managed to record ONLY the portion that I had already seen. Never figured out what sequence caused it to fail, but fail it did.

I then went with a strategy of being aggressive about watching recorded content... and that seems to be working decently for the past year.

xenophonite

03-21-09, 04:42 PM

Well I'm bummin. I reported when 3.1 was released that I had no problems with eSATA. In the last couple days, the 750GB drive appeared to die because I could not format again on PC. I had a 1TB Hitachi drive, which worked temporarily but not consistent enough. I have since been able to format the 750GB drive in Windows, tried on cable box and can't get either drive to be recognized by the cable box (never asks to Press A to format on power up). So I've tried reinitializing disk, creating partitions with no format and also formatting the drive in Windows. No matter the combination, I cannot get the cable box to see either drive (using an Antec eSATA enclosure). All was fine with 2.x ODN. The Antec enclosure works fine attached to PC via USB.

BTW, is there a way to just force a re-initialize w/out creating partitions? Am running out of ideas.

Update: A friend has a laptop with eSATA so I tried hooking up my Antec case. It worked fine, to it's not the case or drive. It's either the cable box or the format of the drive.

Is there a way to force factory reset of the cable box or should I try returning it for another? I've tried deleting partitions.

Is there a way to force a re-initialize of a drive in either Windows or Linux?

Ajack

03-21-09, 05:15 PM

You only lose the FF/REW functions on the live buffer. Stuff that you setup to record works as one would expect(FF/REW works).

xnappo

I can totally live with that.

I was hoping to get some recommendation as to which drives would play nice with Passport/ECHO v. 2.6.002 and Antec MX-1

Any suggestion will be appreciated...

xnappo

03-21-09, 08:08 PM

I can totally live with that.

I was hoping to get some recommendation as to which drives would play nice with Passport/ECHO v. 2.6.002 and Antec MX-1

Any suggestion will be appreciated...

Any of the successful WD drives from the SARA database would be my recommendation. In general, other than the 'Live buffer' issues, I would say anything that works on SARA or Navigator will work on Passport.

xnappo

xenophonite

03-22-09, 12:55 PM

Skid71

03-22-09, 02:04 PM

I've made progress since my last post but still no go. I've figured out how to consistently get the cable box to do a 'Press A key to format'. I use a low level formatting tool in Windows. You don't have to run the format all the way through but it will wipe out header info on the drive so that the cable box can format it. I recommend using this tool if you have problems getting the cable box to ask for a format.

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.04.12-HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

It may take many hours to run through, which is not necessary. You can kill the LLFORMAT.exe program from the Windows task manager once it runs for a minute.

Unfortunately even after cable box format, my WD 750GB drive and 1TB Hitachi drives do not show a change in available capacity in the DVR listing. The WD drive worked fine on ODN 2.x. I guess the next step is to replace the cable box.

Frustrating.
Although TWC may not support use of an external drive, the hardware is capable.
I wouldn't **think** that it would be difficult to keep this feature working.
Unfortunately TWC has exhibited an uncanny knack to F it up.

Good luck xeno!

Skid

danno321s

03-22-09, 04:41 PM

Frustrating.
Although TWC may not support use of an external drive, the hardware is capable.
I wouldn't **think** that it would be difficult to keep this feature working.
Unfortunately TWC has exhibited an uncanny knack to F it up.

Good luck xeno!

Skid

Well, if you call customer support, they will say 'We can sell you a eSATA drive that is guaranteed to work!" after they intentionally made your self-bought eSATA have loads of problems. Charter used this tactic with a friend and his WiFi router. I am having problems with MDM on the HD model.

Skid71

03-22-09, 05:41 PM

Well, if you call customer support, they will say 'We can sell you a eSATA drive that is guaranteed to work!" after they intentionally made your self-bought eSATA have loads of problems. Charter used this tactic with a friend and his WiFi router. I am having problems with MDM on the HD model.

I could easily see our TWC doing such a thing.... but I'm not sure the CSR's would have any idea what an eSATA external drive is.... it's not on their cue-cards.

Skid

VideoDrone

03-22-09, 07:16 PM

I concur with the low level format tool. Thats why when TW updated the firmware and my external HD went belly up, I could not bring it back. I tried format, fdisk, quick and full format, but nothing would work. Finally I added a new HD to the enclosure and everything works..... Xen Add that low level format tool to the FAQ, it will help a lot of people

xenophonite

03-23-09, 10:38 AM

I've made progress since my last post but still no go. I've figured out how to consistently get the cable box to do a 'Press A key to format'. I use a low level formatting tool in Windows. You don't have to run the format all the way through but it will wipe out header info on the drive so that the cable box can format it. I recommend using this tool if you have problems getting the cable box to ask for a format.

http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.04.12-HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

It may take many hours to run through, which is not necessary. You can kill the LLTFORMAT.exe program from the Windows task manager once it runs for a minute.

Unfortunately even after cable box format, my WD 750GB drive and 1TB Hitachi drives do not show a change in available capacity in the DVR listing. The WD drive worked fine on ODN 2.x. I guess the next step is to replace the cable box.

Update: I finally got my 1TB drive to work. A low level format in Windows first will consistently get you the 'Press A key to format' on the cable box, but the cable box format hasn't consistently completed with the confirmation message. I tried many times and finally got the confirmation message. I'm not sure what I did other than trying many times. You do have to power down the cable box completely for a bit. Power up drive first and let it spin up. Power up cable box. You'll always get the 'Press A key to format' on the cable box (after a low level format with the Windows tool) but what's not consistent is the format confirmation message afterward. Keep trying until you get the confirmation message.

xnappo

03-23-09, 12:52 PM

Xen Add that low level format tool to the FAQ, it will help a lot of people

FAQ?

xnappo

Skid71

03-23-09, 06:46 PM

Update: I finally got my 1TB drive to work. A low level format in Windows first will consistently get you the 'Press A key to format' on the cable box, but the cable box format hasn't consistently completed with the confirmation message. I tried many times and finally got the confirmation message. I'm not sure what I did other than trying many times. You do have to power down the cable box completely for a bit. Power up drive first and let it spin up. Power up cable box. You'll always get the 'Press A key to format' on the cable box (after a low level format with the Windows tool) but what's not consistent is the format confirmation message afterward. Keep trying until you get the confirmation message.

xeno,
Can you confirm that your external drive combo is being recognized AND being written to with this new formatting tool?

I'm guessing that the many tries you described do not include having to re-format the drive everytime?
Just powering down the drive and the cable box and trying again?

This sounds very promising. I guess I'll give it a go.

What we're really looking for then is BOTH of these?
1. The cable box asking you if you want it to format the drive
2. A confirmation screen saying that the drive has been re-formatted.

After this procedure, are the programs that were on the HDC still retained?

Thanks for all of your work on this.

Off to work,
Skid

phousley

03-23-09, 09:04 PM

Update: I finally got my 1TB drive to work. A low level format in Windows first will consistently get you the 'Press A key to format' on the cable box, but the cable box format hasn't consistently completed with the confirmation message. I tried many times and finally got the confirmation message. I'm not sure what I did other than trying many times. You do have to power down the cable box completely for a bit. Power up drive first and let it spin up. Power up cable box. You'll always get the 'Press A key to format' on the cable box (after a low level format with the Windows tool) but what's not consistent is the format confirmation message afterward. Keep trying until you get the confirmation message.It took a long time, but I was finally able to reproduce your results. I had to reboot several times (with reformat in between) but it finally worked when I changed my setup to tune to one of the music channels (because it's not buffered) at power-on. When I turned the box on I got the format message and I waited several seconds to let it settle down. When I pressed the A button it was immediately obvious (from the drive's led) that it was finally doing it.

It's odd though that the percent used has adjusted as expected, but the new diagnostic page that reports disk usage still says that there is only one device.

I've done a brief HD recording and playback. Seems to work. I've got 2 recordings scheduled tonight. We'll see how it goes. I won't feel comfortable until I get a few days on it. I'll feel a little better if everything's still OK in the morning.

BTW: On my system, I could not get the low-level format tool to recognize the drive after having run once. I always had to reinstall it to use it again.

Skid71

03-23-09, 09:11 PM

It took a long time, but I was finally able to reproduce your results. I had to reboot several times (with reformat in between) but it finally worked when I changed my setup to tune to one of the music channels (because it's not buffered) at power-on. When I turned the box on I got the format message and I waited several seconds to let it settle down. When I pressed the A button it was immediately obvious (from the drive's led) that it was finally doing it.

It's odd though that the percent used has adjusted as expected, but the new diagnostic page that reports disk usage still says that there is only one device.

I've done a brief HD recording and playback. Seems to work. I've got 2 recordings scheduled tonight. We'll see how it goes. I won't feel comfortable until I get a few days on it. I'll feel a little better if everything's still OK in the morning.

BTW: On my system, I could not get the low-level format tool to recognize the drive after having run once. I always had to reinstall it to use it again.

Thanks for the tip on changing the turn-on channel to a non-buffering one.
I hope to try it out tonight, if not in the morning.

Skid

xenophonite or phousley
Appox. how long before the "your drive has been re-formatted" screen
after you press "A" to format?

A couple of attempts so far. As xenophonite suggests, I do get the screen asking if I want to format. Still cannot get the confirmation of re-format screen though.

phousley

03-24-09, 07:02 AM

Well, my recordings from last night survived the night.

One observation: On the previous release, I got an indication that the drive was spinning up when I turned the box on in the morning. This morning, it started up immediately apparently because it did not need to spin up.

Skid71

03-24-09, 07:46 AM

Skid71

03-24-09, 08:19 AM

It took a long time, but I was finally able to reproduce your results. I had to reboot several times (with reformat in between) but it finally worked when I changed my setup to tune to one of the music channels (because it's not buffered) at power-on. When I turned the box on I got the format message and I waited several seconds to let it settle down. When I pressed the A button it was immediately obvious (from the drive's led) that it was finally doing it.

It's odd though that the percent used has adjusted as expected, but the new diagnostic page that reports disk usage still says that there is only one device.

I've done a brief HD recording and playback. Seems to work. I've got 2 recordings scheduled tonight. We'll see how it goes. I won't feel comfortable until I get a few days on it. I'll feel a little better if everything's still OK in the morning.

BTW: On my system, I could not get the low-level format tool to recognize the drive after having run once. I always had to reinstall it to use it again.

phousley,
Any other variables that you can think of? I'm out of time this morning, still no luck getting the "re-format complete" type screen as of yet. I've set up my HDC to one of the non-buffering music channels to tune when box is powered on.

I'm willing to try any/everything to revive this combo to work.

Have an excellent day, and congrats again on getting yours working.

Skid

phousley

03-24-09, 11:42 AM

phousley,
Any other variables that you can think of? I'm out of time this morning, still no luck getting the "re-format complete" type screen as of yet. I've set up my HDC to one of the non-buffering music channels to tune when box is powered on.

I'm willing to try any/everything to revive this combo to work.

Have an excellent day, and congrats again on getting yours working.

SkidNo, I really don't understand why it took me at least a dozen attempts to get it working. I can't really say that tuning to a music channel had anything to do with it nor that waiting a few seconds after getting the format message did either. And I not to hot on the idea of experimenting any further now that I've got something working. I was using the low-level format tool that xenophonite referenced between each boot. Otherwise, the box would not produce the format request. I tried both short low-level sessions (5-10 seconds) and long sessions (5-10 minutes).

BTW: I have bad news. As I was writing this, I decided to reboot the system. My thinking is that I don't want to continue using the external drive if I can't trust that it will recover after a reboot. It doesn't happen very often, but it does occur. Looking now at my Show List, the three recordings I made last night have now been moved to the Recording Log and each has the message "The set-top was unable to record this program (13)". I started watching one of them this morning just to confirm that it was still good. So, I know they recorded.

Xenophonite, you may want to try the same thing before you pile up many recordings.

phousley

03-24-09, 12:33 PM

alleg23

03-24-09, 04:56 PM

i too removed my expanders after the update, cant trust it right now.

the included HD are tiny. I guess no archiving.

dsurkin

03-24-09, 10:11 PM

I just used Active@disk to clone my 320 GB Maxtor to a Western Digital 1.5 TB (WD15EADS). The SA8300HD box identifies the drive model number correctly in the diagnostic screen, but shows that it only has 1 TB capacity.

Also, the Preferences screen still shows 91% full, same as before I made the swap. I was under the impression that the Active@disk cloning function would enable the SA8300HD to expand the partition to the rest of the disk.

Any one else see these anomalies?

PedjaR

03-24-09, 11:40 PM

Well (sigh), it was all just a cruel joke. I'm pretty much back to where I was before: new recordings lost and it won't buffer live programming anymore. I've rebooted about 4 times with no change. In fact, somewhere along the way, it even threw away one of my old recordings from the internal drive; didn't even leave a trace in the record log.

I've already published my rant on the subject on the Navigator forum, so I guess I'll just disconnect it and go away and lick my wounds. *mumble*mumble*TW, you sons*mumble*of bitchs*mumble*

Found out this morning that my trusty 2.4.10_11 was replaced with 3.1.1_3. As the others reported, all recordings appeared to be there, but would not play. Reboot made the box refuse to accept any remote presses except on/off. Disconnecting the drive and rebooting again fixed everything, except for the paltry amount of space (@#$%).
I don't feel like connecting the drive again until somebody has had a real success with it (even if it is with crazy workarounds, like 2.4_9_3 constant recording). I can not use it if a reboot will wipe out my recordings; the box very rarely needs rebooting, but, of course, the moment you know you may not reboot, it will do it.

dsurkin

03-25-09, 09:01 AM

I just used Active@disk to clone my 320 GB Maxtor to a Western Digital 1.5 TB (WD15EADS). The SA8300HD box identifies the drive model number correctly in the diagnostic screen, but shows that it only has 1 TB capacity.

Additional information: Looking at the diagnostic page for the three partitions on the hard disk, I saw this for the internal drive: 1 GB, 163 GB and 1 GB. For the newly-cloned external drive, I saw 0 GB, 0 GB and 0 GB. However, when I had disconnected the power, connected the drive, and re-booted the SA8300HD, it displayed the message that the external drive would work with the box. From that, I assumed that the cloning operation had properly formatted the disk.

I'm not sure if I've got a hardware problem with the new disk, or if Active@disk did not fully clone the disk. I had used Active@disk (current version) while running Windows--perhaps my security software (Zone Alarm anti-virus & Counterspy) interfered?

I'm running SARA version 1.91, I believe--Cablevision IO (Yonkers, NY).

I would appreciate any suggestions.

xenophonite

03-25-09, 01:41 PM

Still having severe instability with ODN 3.1 and external Hitachi 1TB drive. I often cannot play the content stored to the 1TB drive, it just shows blank screen. However if I set the powerup channel to one that I'm not subscribed to, reboot the box and view the DVR from 1TB drive while in the non-subscribed channel, it consistently works. Not clean at all but I am at least able to consistently get it to work that way... so far. Content played from the internal drive has no issues at all. May try with my WD 750GB later, which was fine on ODN 2.x.

Who knows if TWC is trying to discourage external drive use or if they 3.1 is just buggy for external drives.

VideoDrone

03-25-09, 06:24 PM

Mine is back to screwed up, same symptons as as everybody else

xenophonite

03-26-09, 02:54 PM

I just used Active@disk to clone my 320 GB Maxtor to a Western Digital 1.5 TB (WD15EADS). The SA8300HD box identifies the drive model number correctly in the diagnostic screen, but shows that it only has 1 TB capacity.
?

What enclosure are you using? Some (like Antec) say they only support up to 1TB drive. Might be an eSATA limit or some eSATA chipsets?

http://www.buy.com/prod/antec-mx-1-usb-2-0-sata-actively-cooled-hard-drive-enclosure/q/loc/101/205851343.html

dsurkin

03-26-09, 03:36 PM

What enclosure are you using? Some (like Antec) say they only support up to 1TB drive. Might be an eSATA limit or some eSATA chipsets?

http://www.buy.com/prod/antec-mx-1-usb-2-0-sata-actively-cooled-hard-drive-enclosure/q/loc/101/205851343.html
I am using the Antec MX-1, but Antec says it supports 1.5 TB drives. This is from their web site:
# Dual output interface - USB 2.0 and eSATA (external Serial ATA) allows you to transfer data up to 480Mbps or 3Gbps respectively
Supports up to 1.5TB SATA hard disk drive
But thanks for the thought. Do you know of anyone successfully using 1.5TB with SARA? I had read on a Canadian website that they were using 1.5 TB drives, and I thought that would apply to all SA8300HD boxes.

Ronin1

03-26-09, 09:47 PM

some time back I asked a question (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13884772&highlight=) about doing this and it was suggested that I try DiskImage (http://www.disk-image.net/). The original poster (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12575357&postcount=1) reported success, but that was some time ago.

I am using Windows Vista Home Premium and two Apricorn ez bus dts eSATA/USB enclosures (http://www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=10) connected to my PC via USB. I have tried to clone the small one to the large one with DiskImage, but it thought the drive was empty (nothing on it). Ditto with Acronis True Image Home 2009 (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/), except that it says you can not clone an empty drive.

Has anyone done this?

Thanks!

[Edit]

Success!

A bit over 15 hours later, DiskImage did successfully clone the 500 GB drive to the 1 TB drive. It apparently does a sector copy even if it does not recognize it as containing data. It appears that the Apricorn ez bus dts has been discontinued and replaced by the Aegis Desktop (http://www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=56) model.

In any event, my SA8300 HD recognized the WD 1TB Green (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136317) (which I picked up from Newegg on special for $90) and the recordings that were on it. It is correctly identified in the HD data of the diagnostic page of SARA 1.89.24.1. The percentage of disk space used went down by a seemingly appropriate amount.

tzydzy

03-27-09, 02:46 AM

I have the following equipment
8300HDC
SARA 1.90.5a113
Flash DVR1.53_8300HDC_LR_F.P.3901
Apps: nvia2v1.95.70
Wide Open West (WOW) Cable
with a Western Digital My DVR Recorder (eSATA) 500 GB external drive.

Ever since SARA version 1.90.5.a110 earlier this month I have had problems with utilization of the external drive. Several reboots have caused the software to update but the present problem seems to be related to the spin down of the external disk drive. Previously, the external drive would spin continuously. Now that it spins down, one gets the green DVR Recorder screen anytime one attempts to playback a recording on the external drive. After shutting down everything, unplugging the devices and restarting and rebooting, things are fine until the system stops the drives (internal and external drives both stop now) or the system does its 3 AM system reset. If a recording is in progress on the external drive at 3 AM, thing are fine until the next reset, however.

When there is no playback from the external drive, the diagnostic screen shows that there are 0KB recorded on the external drive, but its existence and total capacity is noted correctly. After the reboot, the size of the external drive partition returns and accurately shows the capacity. Thanks for any ideas as to why the external drive is stopping (the amber "on light stays on all of the time, drive stopped or spinning).

Riverside_Guy

03-27-09, 12:00 PM

What enclosure are you using? Some (like Antec) say they only support up to 1TB drive. Might be an eSATA limit or some eSATA chipsets?

http://www.buy.com/prod/antec-mx-1-usb-2-0-sata-actively-cooled-hard-drive-enclosure/q/loc/101/205851343.html

Uh, no such thing as a chipset in the enclosure (at least not for the SATA part... typically boxes do USB and there does have to be a chipset for that). SATA is done by that small motherboard that is on all drives. One COULD get a SATA to eSATA cable and hook the raw drive directly (one WOULD have to also figure out getting DC to the drive).

dsurkin

03-27-09, 03:42 PM

Do you know of anyone successfully using 1.5TB with SARA? I had read on a Canadian website that they were using 1.5 TB drives, and I thought that would apply to all SA8300HD boxes.

According to Apricorn, Cablevision boxes do not recognize more than 1 TB. I had noted earlier that my box identified the 1.5 TB drive as a 1 TB drive. It occurred to me that perhaps cloning to a 1.5 TB drive may have caused data to be written to an area of the hard drive that the box simply does not recognize.

Tonight, I try a new experiment. I picked up a WD 1 TB drive (I was in a rush, so I bought it locally at B***B**, overpaying a bit and getting a retail kit rather than the bare drive). I will clone my 230GB drive over to the 1 TB drive and see if the box recognizes it.

This better work, or my wife will kill me.

Aside to Ronin: according to the Canadian website for Rogers cable, the only program that can clone the encrypted drive within Windows is Active@disk. One user reported that Acronis will work, but only if you boot using the Acronis-created boot disk (which boots a version of Linux) and perform the operation without using Windows. The reason for this is that Windows identifies the encrypted disk as completely empty (no data and no partitions). Actually, SA puts three encrypted partitions on the disk as part of its formatting process.

I hope this helps.

Ronin1

03-27-09, 04:07 PM

According to Apricorn, Cablevision boxes do not recognize more than 1 TB. I had noted earlier that my box identified the 1.5 TB drive as a 1 TB drive. It occurred to me that perhaps cloning to a 1.5 TB drive may have caused data to be written to an area of the hard drive that the box simply does not recognize.

Tonight, I try a new experiment. I picked up a WD 1 TB drive (I was in a rush, so I bought it locally at B***B**, overpaying a bit and getting a retail kit rather than the bare drive). I will clone my 230GB drive over to the 1 TB drive and see if the box recognizes it.

This better work, or my wife will kill me.

Aside to Ronin: according to the Canadian website for Rogers cable, the only program that can clone the encrypted drive within Windows is Active@disk. One user reported that Acronis will work, but only if you boot using the Acronis-created boot disk (which boots a version of Linux) and perform the operation without using Windows. The reason for this is that Windows identifies the encrypted disk as completely empty (no data and no partitions). Actually, SA puts three encrypted partitions on the disk as part of its formatting process.

I hope this helps.

@Dsurskin,

Thanks, it took a while, but worked (see my edit on the post above).

I had wondered about 1.5TB drives. They are certainly attractive...if they work.

waltinvt

03-27-09, 05:18 PM

If my SA8300HD has a sata port on it, does Charter have to activate it to work? I ask because I talked to a CSR there and she had no clue.

If they don't do anything at their end, can I make it work at my end anyway?

BenJF3

03-27-09, 05:32 PM

waltinvt

03-27-09, 05:58 PM

Starting with which version does the software support it and assuming mine does, do I need any help from Charter to take advantage of it? Thanks.

Ronin1

03-27-09, 06:47 PM

Starting with which version does the software support it and assuming mine does, do I need any help from Charter to take advantage of it? Thanks.

Someone may know which SARA version with your provider has an active eSATA port, but you should probably try to get ahold of a level two or three tech support person rather than a level one CS rep. Ask them if the eSATA port is "active". None of the cable companies that I am aware of "support" external drives in that they are not going to be responsible for whether any particular drive does or does not work. They will simply tell you whether the port is "active".

Or you can check the database (http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/xnappo/main) to see what external enclosure and drive combinations have worked. Most of the entries also not the SARA version that the combination worked with. You can compare that with the version of SARA that you have.

To view the SARA version on your box press and hold the pause button on the remote control until a flashing light appears on the front of the SA8300 HD (it is usually an envelope icon). When that appears, press the "page +" button located at the right side of the main control. Just press the button until you get to the page with the SARA version. When you are done, press the "Exit" button next to the Guide button and things should return to normal.

danno321s

03-27-09, 10:44 PM

Mine is back to screwed up, same symptons as as everybody else

I have MDN on a SA8300HD and the last update screwed up my 750GB Rosewill/Seagate eSATA drive. If the STB goes into stand-by for a period of time, it disconnects the eSATA drive. To fix, I have to cycle power on the eSATA drive while the STB is in stand-by, then turn on the STB and select A for reboot. Pain is the arse and clearly a TWC bug or effort to sell their own eSATA drive to you.

danno321s

03-27-09, 10:46 PM

Starting with which version does the software support it and assuming mine does, do I need any help from Charter to take advantage of it? Thanks.

Last I knew, on the MOTO box Charter did not enable the eSATA port so probably the same for your STB.

waltinvt

03-28-09, 07:52 AM

Someone may know which SARA version with your provider has an active eSATA port, but you should probably try to get ahold of a level two or three tech support person rather than a level one CS rep. Ask them if the eSATA port is "active". None of the cable companies that I am aware of "support" external drives in that they are not going to be responsible for whether any particular drive does or does not work. They will simply tell you whether the port is "active".

Or you can check the database (http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/xnappo/main) to see what external enclosure and drive combinations have worked. Most of the entries also not the SARA version that the combination worked with. You can compare that with the version of SARA that you have.

To view the SARA version on your box press and hold the pause button on the remote control until a flashing light appears on the front of the SA8300 HD (it is usually an envelope icon). When that appears, press the "page +" button located at the right side of the main control. Just press the button until you get to the page with the SARA version. When you are done, press the "Exit" button next to the Guide button and things should return to normal.
Thanks for such an in-depth answer, I appreciate it.

Riverside_Guy

03-28-09, 08:07 AM

I have MDN on a SA8300HD and the last update screwed up my 750GB Rosewill/Seagate eSATA drive. If the STB goes into stand-by for a period of time, it disconnects the eSATA drive. To fix, I have to cycle power on the eSATA drive while the STB is in stand-by, then turn on the STB and select A for reboot. Pain is the arse and clearly a TWC bug or effort to sell their own eSATA drive to you.

It would be impossible for TWC to actually offer an external drive for their DVRs. Not until they actually hire some programmers who may actually know what they are doing. Supporting an external drive is just NOT that complicated a task... but they can't seem to get it right. Witness how they seemed to have to somewhat working in ODN, only to have to broken in the last 3.3.1.x releases?

Ronin1

03-28-09, 09:48 AM

Thanks for such an in-depth answer, I appreciate it.

You are very welcome.

Cheers!

GlassEtcher

03-28-09, 08:30 PM

Does anyone in the Milwaukee WI area have an external drive working with the latest 8300HDC from TW? Or is the eSATA port deactivated?

Thanks

harveykopel

03-29-09, 09:28 AM

grouse101

03-29-09, 11:11 AM

Ever since a software update on around 3-17-09 I have not been able to get an external drive to work. I had a Cavalry 1TB that worked beautifully for two weeks. With the software update on 3-17-09 I wasn't able to get it to work.
I exchanged 8300HDC for another and still no luck so went out and bought 500gb Western My DVR Expander and still no luck.

Upon reboot with Western drive my available space under list went from 85% to 17% but shows scheduled are not being recorded along with other recording malfunctions.

What do I try next?

Anyone in Milwaukee area having luck?

phousley

03-29-09, 11:41 AM

If you're with Time Warner and the upgrade you got was ODN 3.1.x_x, you should read the last 3 or 4 pages. It doesn't work any more.

danno321s

03-29-09, 12:06 PM

If you're with Time Warner and the upgrade you got was ODN 3.1.x_x, you should read the last 3 or 4 pages. It doesn't work any more.

And since TWC also broke part way MDN/eSATA with the latest update (have cycle power of eSATA drive after sleep command), maybe the next update will completely break it. Good job TWC!

Skid71

03-29-09, 01:39 PM

And since TWC also broke part way MDN/eSATA with the latest update (have cycle power of eSATA drive after sleep command), maybe the next update will completely break it. Good job TWC!

Just another gentle push by TWC to go another route, either for service or DVR. If I weren't getting married in a couple of months I would have had a Tivo with about 1.5TB of storage weeks ago.

Skid

dsurkin

03-29-09, 02:06 PM

Tonight, I try a new experiment. I picked up a WD 1 TB drive (I was in a rush, so I bought it locally at B***B**, overpaying a bit and getting a retail kit rather than the bare drive). I will clone my 320GB drive over to the 1 TB drive and see if the box recognizes it.
the disk as part of its formatting process.

Update to my cloning project: I cloned my 320 GB drive to the WD10EACS (1 TB, 16 MB cache). I connected it, and the SA8300HD recognized it and could access all the stored shows.

One wrinkle: The space available showed 94% full (which was the number with the 320 GB drive). This morning, it showed 93% full. After noon it showed 92% full. I suspect that the SA8300HD is slowly increasing the size of the partition (diagnostic page shows the drive recognized as 1 TB, but the main partition is currently 297 GB). I'll post again if the available space keeps increasing.

Bottom Line: Cablevision SA8300HD does not support the 1.5 TB WD15EADS as a cloned drive. I do not know if it will recognize 1 TB of its capacity as a freshly-formatted drive.

Ronin1

03-29-09, 03:24 PM

Update to my cloning project: I cloned my 320 GB drive to the WD10EACS (1 TB, 16 MB cache). I connected it, and the SA8300HD recognized it and could access all the stored shows.

One wrinkle: The space available showed 94% full (which was the number with the 320 GB drive). This morning, it showed 93% full. After noon it showed 92% full. I suspect that the SA8300HD is slowly increasing the size of the partition (diagnostic page shows the drive recognized as 1 TB, but the main partition is currently 297 GB). I'll post again if the available space keeps increasing.

Bottom Line: Cablevision SA8300HD does not support the 1.5 TB WD15EADS as a cloned drive. I do not know if it will recognize 1 TB of its capacity as a freshly-formatted drive.

One thought. I have no idea whether this is correct or not, but did you connect the 1 TB drive to the SA8300HD and allow it to be initialized prior to cloning the contents of the 320 GB drive to the 1 TB drive?

I had done that simply to see if the (new) 1 TB drive would be recognized and recorded one or two things just to make sure that it worked OK. I then deleted those items and hooked up the new and old drives in the Apricorn USB/eSATA enclosures to a Windows Vista (Home Premium) laptop via USB. It took quite some time with DiskImage to clone things over, but the result was successful.

Put another way, I am wondering if you wound up with a 320 GB copied partition and the rest of the 1 TB drive's capacity was not recognized because it had not been initialized with whatever file format the SA8300HD uses.

xenophonite

03-29-09, 09:02 PM

I've posted some detail in the comment section in link on how I got eSATA to semi-work with ODN 3.x. It's not the ideal solution but it sorta works consistently. So far, I've decided to keep the drive attached than to use just the internal.

http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/xnappo/navigator&localparams=1&db=navigator&cmd=list&range=0,20&Id=64&cmd=do_mod

dsurkin

03-29-09, 09:07 PM

One thought. I have no idea whether this is correct or not, but did you connect the 1 TB drive to the SA8300HD and allow it to be initialized prior to cloning the contents of the 320 GB drive to the 1 TB drive?

Ronin:

I think that's a good idea. I was wondering the same thing myself. I had thought that the action of cloning would overwrite any initialization previously performed by the SA8300HD. However, based on your experience, it seems that isn't the case.

I've just tried another reboot. I will probably try your suggestion next, but I won't be able to do it tonight.

Thanks for your many suggestions.

P.S. After another reboot, the SA8300HD once again shows my 1 TB drive as having 0 in each of the three partitions. I disconnected the drive and confirmed that the power down mode was set to off (using a diagnostic program). I've reconnected the drive and rebooted. I'll see what happens next. This is starting to get frustrating.

danki6x

03-30-09, 05:11 PM

I hooked up an esata drive to my explorer8300hd DVR and lost my buffer. When I remove the drive the buffer returns. Is this a feature ands is there a work around to it. My wife would rather be able to rewind a live show than have the extra storage space
You must have Passport and the work around is to RECORD the show while watching it and buffer it there. Live buffer is gone with Passport and ESATA. /Dan

Riverside_Guy

03-30-09, 05:27 PM

You must have Passport and the work around is to RECORD the show while watching it and buffer it there. Live buffer is gone with Passport and ESATA. /Dan

Actually, the buffer should be there, but the bug is that one can ONLY play in real time from the buffer... i.e. no RW or FF.

The other option is to be aggressive and not let recorded shows pile up on the HD.

BuenaVista26

03-31-09, 10:17 AM

I have an SA 8300HDC with the latest 3.1 update and a 1TB external drive (Fantom G-Force GF1000EU 1TB). Before the update, everything worked great. After the update I started to have all kinds of issues that I couldnt resolve (missing shows, unable to record, unable to use the buffer, etc). In the end, I was able to re-format the external drive but I have the same problems. The 8300 sees the external and my used space jumps from 80% to 10% but I cannot record or use the live buffer. It appears that the live buffer wants to use the external to record and can't. I've disconnected the drive and I'm just using the internal small drive for now.

After reading all of the posts, it appears that there is no solution to get the eSata external working 100%. This couldnt be more frustrating. I thought a new cable box or external would do the trick but I see people have tried this unsuccessfully. Time Warner support is also useless so what do we do - switch to Tivo?

xnappo

03-31-09, 10:24 AM

After reading all of the posts, it appears that there is no solution to get the eSata external working 100%. This couldnt be more frustrating. I thought a new cable box or external would do the trick but I see people have tried this unsuccessfully. Time Warner support is also useless so what do we do - switch to Tivo?

I know it seems futile, but everyone on here with that situation should call in and also email TWC regarding this.

They will say it isn't supported, but costing them money by tying up their tech support is the only avenue of communication.

Personally, I can't wait for Tivo series 4...

xnappo

phousley

03-31-09, 10:49 AM

Personally, I can't wait for Tivo series 4...
I've got my eye on Moxi (http://moxi.com/us/home.html).

xnappo

03-31-09, 11:23 AM

I've got my eye on Moxi (http://moxi.com/us/home.html).

One acronym : SDV

I don't see anything on their website about SDV. Looks good otherwise.

xnappo

phousley

03-31-09, 12:06 PM

One acronym : SDV

I don't see anything on their website about SDV. Looks good otherwise.

xnappoYeah, I noticed the same thing. When I emailed them I got the following response:

In the case where your local Cable Company is implementing Switch
Digital Video (SDV) support there are two steps. First, you will need
to contact them to provide a "tuning adapter". This is an outboard
device that will connect to the Moxi HD DVR via an open USB connector.
Second, the Moxi HD DVR will need a software update to communicate to
the tuning adaptor. We are aggressively working on the necessary
software and anticipate it being ready in the late Spring. The software
update will be automatically downloaded to all Moxi HD DVRs. However,
the number of channels being switched digitally in this manner isn't
significant yet so the majority of the most popular channels would be
available without the tuning adaptor - check with your Cable provider as
to the channels that are switched.

They also have an esata port that not only works, but is not disavowed like TWC does.

xnappo

03-31-09, 12:10 PM

Yeah, I noticed the same thing. When I emailed them I got the following response:

..

They also have an esata port that not only works, but is not disavowed like TWC does.

That is interesting - will keep an eye on it. 'The number of channels is not significant' is *definitely* not true in my market - it is like 90% of the HD channels!

xnappo

alleg23

03-31-09, 05:40 PM

hmmm, am i so disappointed in twc that i would pay 500-700 to get a 3rd party box that will let me use esata?

im not sure i am now, but i might be soon.

i'll wait until the samsungs are out and see what they do to fix pip.

if the moxi was in the $400 i may of gotten it right now. $800 (x2) would mean i was really mad. not there yet.

hopefully, by the start of the next tv season i will have a clearer picture on what twc is doing.

btw, what do they charge for a cable card is all you are using is 2 cable cards?

phousley

03-31-09, 06:20 PM

Just 1 M-card.

alleg23

03-31-09, 08:42 PM

Just 1 M-card.

i have 2 boxes and if i were to go to a 3rd party box, i would need 2 cards.

sorry for the confusion.

reading up on moxi, makes me less interested in them.

tivo series 4 is coming out sometime in the far away future.

PedjaR

03-31-09, 11:34 PM

... They also have an esata port that not only works, but is not disavowed like TWC does.

What I like about Moxi is that, according to their web site: "MOXI isn't picky which hard drive you buy; any DVR certified eSata external drive will do." That appears to be more than just not disavowed, but kind of officially supported, and clearly better than "only one type of eSATA supported, short of voiding your warranty" TivoHD thing. Of course, Moxi can split hairs about what "DVR certified" means. Once they get SDV working, they seem close to TivoHD to me (in stuff I am intersted in, YMMV), both in features and price (lose some networking stuff, gain some looks; curious about performance). I'll be giving a good long look to true2way Tivo or Moxi or Echostar or Funai, whichever comes first and is not ridiculously expensive (probably would prefer Tivo, but if they are going to be a lot later than others...). If I knew none is coming for the next couple of years, I'd buy TivoHD now, but I am hopeful for late this year. TV season is almost over and the football season is long over, so now I am not as strapped for space as I'll be in the fall. Maybe by then there will be something or at least some better indication when will things be coming.

Shmooh

04-01-09, 08:46 AM

I know this is a 8300 forum, but since everybody's on the topic...

I bought a Tivo HD a couple months ago - very largely in part because of the pitiful storage space on the 8300 and the fact that, from what I read, Time Warner Cable's Navigator software kept breaking the external storage support. (Lo and behold, they just did it again with the latest OCAP rollout in my area.)

Not to rant, but first they change from Passport to Navigator which was a step down. Then they keep breaking external storage support and don't provide any other option (e.g., a better DVR for more money). Then they raise the price of their DVR service (at least in the Raleigh NC area). When Navigator kept messing up recordings (only once in a while, but often enough to be pretty irritating), I'd had enough.

I bought a TivoHD, lifetime subscription, and after a month of running with no issues, I swapped out the internal disk with a 1TB. I can confidently say that it's very liberating to never have to worry about storage space.

If what's holding you back from going the Tivo route is On-Demand, fair enough. However, Tivo supports YouTube (albeit it's not the greatest interface), Netflix streaming, Amazon video rentals, and some kind of Disney rental thing. It will soon support Blockbuster's stuff too. We don't personally use any of this, but it might be a big deal to some people.

With the tuning adapters now rolling out everywhere, SDV isn't an issue any more either. (Not to slam Moxi - I don't know anything about them - but I'd be cautious of getting one until they get the kinks worked out with the tuning adapters. Tivo had a long time to do this.)

Yes, it doesn't support the upcoming tru2way stuff, but I'm so unimpressed with TWC's software, it's not like I want that running on my box anyway.

Now for the downsides (I want to be fair):
1) Upfront cost is high. Sure, you can actually do better than break even after a few years, but it's still expensive.
2) While you do get used to it, I don't like how you have to stop watching the program to look at settings/programs/etc. in the Tivo interface. I liked the way Passport and Navigator put the show in the upper right corner while I looked around (I don't know what SARA does?). The guide also covers most of the screen on the Tivo.
3) You own it. If it breaks, you have to deal with it. Granted, hard drive failures are pretty easy to deal with (as are power supply failures) and that's the most common problem, but it's still your responsibility.
4) You need a network connection. You can get a wireless adapter if you don't have a wired network nearby, but it's an extra hassle.
5) You can't use a Tivo HD with satellite. Just OTA and cable.

All that aside - my point is this: If you're fed up with the 8300 but don't want to go to satellite, a Tivo very well may be a viable option (I don't know much about Moxi, but it may be too). You don't have to pay $20/month for an inferior product.

Although it has its drawbacks, I personally don't regret my decision to buy the Tivo, and CERTAINLY don't regret my disk upgrade on it. We now watch and record what we want instead of worrying about freeing up space for future programs.

BenJF3

04-01-09, 08:53 AM

Shmooh

04-01-09, 09:08 AM

I'm really interested in the new Moxi hardware. The things that are holding me back right now from a non-cable owned DVR are the lack of VOD/PPV. If I can get a solid third party box that gives me VOD/PPV with solid performance then my 8300 is history. I'd love to have an OTA option too, which I believe Tivo does. The big plus with Moxi is no monthly DVR fee. TWC just jacked the DVR fee to $11 here and we have the SARA IPG still!!!!

I don't mean to sound so much like a Tivo fanboi (I'm not), but you can get a lifetime subscription with Tivo so you don't have a monthly fee... I'm betting that Moxi just builds that into their price?

I started out with a 1-year subscription from Tivo, but changed it to a lifetime within my 30-day return-policy window (easy to do - you can do it on Tivo's website). The lifetime is a much better deal if you're going to keep it for 3 or more years. It also has some value if you decide to sell the unit.

Either way, I was paying almost $20/month to TWC for the DVR (box/remote fee plus the DVR service). Now, I'm paying $2-3 for the cable card. If you amortize the cost of the Tivo over 3+ years (or a Moxi, I'm guessing), you can come out ahead.

But hey - maybe TWC will dump the 8300 soon and go with some upgraded equipment? It'll probably take a year or so (from now) for all the kinks to get worked out, but then maybe this is all a moot point?

Personally, I used this thread (among others) to help me decide what to do when I was fed up with the 8300HDC (actually - I had an 8240HDC). I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to rely on TWC any more. Maybe I bet wrong, but at least I don't have to worry about it any more. (Although I'm still reading this thread out of curiosity.)

Riverside_Guy

04-01-09, 09:22 AM

One acronym : SDV

I don't see anything on their website about SDV. Looks good otherwise.

xnappo

Didn't I read that thew Moxie was a <tru2way> device? DoesN't that mean it can Do SDV without a "tuning adapter" that TiVo needs?

The TiVo 3 just came out last year... so what does a 4 bring to the table?

xnappo

04-01-09, 09:37 AM

Didn't I read that thew Moxie was a <tru2way> device? DoesN't that mean it can Do SDV without a "tuning adapter" that TiVo needs?

The TiVo 3 just came out last year... so what does a 4 bring to the table?

Where did you read that Moxi was tru2way?

Tivo 4 will be Tru2Way. No tuning adapter needed for SDV and OnDemand support.

xnappo

PedjaR

04-01-09, 10:23 AM

...

But hey - maybe TWC will dump the 8300 soon and go with some upgraded equipment? It'll probably take a year or so (from now) for all the kinks to get worked out, but then maybe this is all a moot point?
...

Even with the new equpment, it will never do certain things for political reasons, and that may be reason enough to buy your own DVR. Examples include 30 second skip and ability to remove channels you do not want to see (like the ones you don't subscribe to).
Also, they are not interested in making a great DVR (and they actually stated so); all they want is good enough so that people do not switch to competition (satelite, ...) because they do not have a DVR. So, their DVRs will never be anything more than basic. The independent DVR makers are not TWC competition. If you switch to TivoHD, say, they will lose some revenue they used to get from renting the box to you, but on the plus side (for them) that probably locks you up long term, as the DVR you own (and paid good money for) does not work with satelite.

PedjaR

04-01-09, 10:26 AM

Where did you read that Moxi was tru2way?

Tivo 4 will be Tru2Way. No tuning adapter needed for SDV and OnDemand support.

xnappo

There's also some hope (Alticast agreement) that Tivo 4 will not have to have the awkward Tivo mode/Navigator mode thing going in order to run VOD.

xnappo

04-01-09, 11:27 AM

There's also some hope (Alticast agreement) that Tivo 4 will not have to have the awkward Tivo mode/Navigator mode thing going in order to run VOD.

This is interesting - do you have more info? (boy this is getting OT).

xnappo

phousley

04-01-09, 01:24 PM

... (boy this is getting OT).

xnappoYeah, I was thinking the same thing. But I can rationalize discussing it here because of all the TW people with HDC boxes that can no longer use their external drives. We're all sitting here contemplating what our options are if we really need more storage space. I've got to think it would do TW well to somehow fess up that they screwed up and offer some hope of getting the problem fixed.

And to add insult to injury, I have switched all my series recordings to SD but now my SD ABC channel does not work without pixelation and dropouts. I've now discovered that I can view most the things I record with Hulu and a 15' HDMI cable. Let's me seriously consider firing TW altogether. This is from a loyal TW customer who has been subscribing to their service since they introduced Qube (some 30 years ago).

dsurkin

04-01-09, 04:53 PM

[snip] But hey - maybe TWC will dump the 8300 soon and go with some upgraded equipment? It'll probably take a year or so (from now) for all the kinks to get worked out, but then maybe this is all a moot point? [snip]

TWC is replacing the SA8300HD with the Samsung SMT-H3090, which is Tru2Way capable. I understand that NY TWC is rolling these out this summer.

xenophonite

04-01-09, 05:35 PM

I hope it will allow recording from firewire as SA/Moto boxes do.

PedjaR

04-01-09, 07:35 PM

This is interesting - do you have more info? (boy this is getting OT).

xnappo

I should have known better than to skim an article late at night and then post. It is not quite like I mentioned, but it is somewhat related. Mostly talking about Tivo selling directly to cable companies.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2342255,00.asp

The quote from it that cought my eye:
Monday's announcement will let providers who have embraced tru2way "to take their on-demand offering to a whole new level by highlighting VOD titles within TiVo universal search results," Rogers said.

BenJF3

04-01-09, 07:43 PM

TWC is replacing the SA8300HD with the Samsung SMT-H3090, which is Tru2Way capable. I understand that NY TWC is rolling these out this summer.

I hope we get some new hardware up in CNY! However, since my eSATA hookup is working well I can live with the 8300 for now. I'm hoping we see a new interface sooner than later though.

Habsfan10

04-02-09, 01:51 PM

Help I'm new to this.I have a Seagate Showcase Media attached Storage provided by Rogers in Canada.
The 8300hd it was attached to was swapped out due to Software problems and when I connect the external drive to my new 8300hd it wants to reformat it. No way I've got 35 or so hours of content I want to save How can I do this. Is there a way of hooking this up to a computer with the e-sata connector on the external drive box or fooling the new pvr in recognizing the drive
Thanks Habsfan10

PedjaR

04-02-09, 07:20 PM

jruhnke

04-03-09, 09:25 AM

Is there a way of hooking this up to a computer with the e-sata connector on the external drive box or fooling the new pvr in recognizing the drive

Don't think there's a way to save the content.I agree. The external drive is encoded with a key specified by the set-top box (STB) it's attached to when it's originally formatted. The drive cannot then be removed and then reattached to a different STB for playback, because the new STB will not know the key to decode the drive's content.

All you can do at this point is reformat with the new STB.

aceofspadez619

04-03-09, 08:25 PM

Hi all,

I really appreciate the forum and folks coming together with their ideas/experiences in adding an external drive to a cable company's DVR.
I do agree with earlier posts that if someone could put together a 'newbie level' step by step FAQ, that would be cool. It took a few days of combing through posts and google searches (always lead me back here) to try and verify that I was at least trying the right approach in trying to get the Cox STB to recognize the drive (power down, unplug, plug in SATA drive, turn on, power back up, etc). The info on the various OS's (SARA, etc), diagnotic modes, and database of working drives collected here IS awesome.

So i'm trying with a Macally (pretty much generic) eSATA/USB case I have, but no luck so far. Thanks to a well worded email to Cox Tech support, I was able to verify that the port is active on my 8240HDC (I'm hearing very similar to the 8300HD box) and thanks to the forum, I was able to verify last night I'm running SARA 1.90.xx.xx (i saw the 1.90 part atleast) and that it detected the Hard disk (after resetting my DVR umpteen times trying to plug in the drive different ways, this was a relief), except it didn't see any "formatted" space on the drive. In one page I was able to see the drive was detected and the total drive size, but the next showed 0MB drive space avail for the external drive.

When the DVR boots in normal mode, it doesn't prompt to format the drive. I first tried with a NTFS partition that wasn't reformatted (a storage drive literally taken out of a Windows PC and just plugged in), then tried reformatting in linux EXT2 and also leaving the partition unallocated, all with no luck, b/c I assumed NTFS wouldn't work. Next I'll try reformatting NTFS (I saw a post where someone reformatted NTFS and the DVR detected and reformatted).

Any ideas on the best way to format the disk in a custom case? Anyone know the disk format used when the DVR formats the drive? If the DVR is detecting the HD in the Diag mode, does that mean it should work, or is it no guarantee of the case/drive being compatible in actual operation?

If what I have on hand doesn't work, I guess I'll cough up the $$ on one of the verified cases or a WD DVR expander, which looks like it works pretty much plug and play for most folks.

Thanks for the forum...I'm a PC guy, but a total newb when it comes to AV/Home Theater stuff and this site provided tons of research and answers to my questions.

xenophonite

04-04-09, 04:41 PM

You may need to do a low level format in Windows, see below for link to tool.

I've started an instruction guide here for ODN users...

http://baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/navigator_comment?db=navigator&Id==64

originalsnuffy

04-04-09, 07:40 PM

Hi,

I am on Comcast in Minneapolis. I have been operating with the understanding that the Freeagent pro from Seagate has problems with this esata connection.

Is this still true?

I called Comcast, and they told me that esata is not supported at all here!

If it actually is...then I have some more questions (like recommended drives, will my current Seagate Freeagent Pro work, recommended place for cheap cables, what is the currently recommended cable configuration).

Thanks!

dsurkin

04-04-09, 10:32 PM

One thought. I have no idea whether this is correct or not, but did you connect the 1 TB drive to the SA8300HD and allow it to be initialized prior to cloning the contents of the 320 GB drive to the 1 TB drive? [snip]

I tried Ronin1's suggestion. The SA8300HD formatted my 1 TB drive for 1 TB of space. I then cloned my 320 GB drive to the 1 TB drive, and the SA83000HD told me my AVFS partition was only 297 GB--i.e., the same partition that was on my 320 GB drive.

The only explanation for Ronin1's success that I can think of (besides the fact that he had Harry Dresden's help) is that he uses a different version of SARA than I have. I want to thank you for your time and trouble, Ronin1, but I think if I cannot find some software utility to change the partition size on the AVFS encrypted partition, I'm out of luck.

CANNON-FODDER

04-05-09, 12:30 PM

I am not a smart guy on this at all, but might there be a [MBR] or [partition table] that could be compared from the 320 GB drive and the 1 TB blank drive? Like looking with a hex editor or something? Might be easier if you had completely blank drives to compare (then you would know the right addresses where the differences are). Then do as you have done, but after you clone the 320 GB image, go back and restore the partition table to the one setup for the 1 TB drive...

Edit: I was speaking to [monkey see - monkey do], not having to break or understand the encryption or partition table... Just comparing two blank drives to find the differences in the [MBR, partition table, etc.] that could be copied back since the cloning seems to overwrite it...

v/r,
C-F

dsurkin

04-07-09, 09:23 AM

I am not a smart guy on this at all, but might there be a [MBR] or [partition table] that could be compared from the 320 GB drive and the 1 TB blank drive? Like looking with a hex editor or something? Might be easier if you had completely blank drives to compare (then you would know the right addresses where the differences are). Then do as you have done, but after you clone the 320 GB image, go back and restore the partition table to the one setup for the 1 TB drive...

Thanks for the suggestion, Cannon-Fodder (great user name, by the way--brings to mind the quality of generalship during the Civil War). However, I dropped the cloning project for now and am switching back and forth between the two external drives, as needed.

aceofspadez619

04-07-09, 06:42 PM

Thanks Xeno,

I used the low lev tool as you suggested, but still no luck, but a little progress.

It seems my STB recognizes it somewhat when I boot it up. Live play back pauses for a bout 30 secs if I try connecting the drive with the case powered on and the STB already booted up. But I never get a format drive prompt.

I tried a second HD (this time a WD 160GB, I was trying a WD300GB 1st) but the same results...I see it in the SARA Diag screens, but only as 0KB formatted space and I never get prompted for a reformat.

Maybe it's the case...I've noticed in the cloning tools and the low lev format tool you suggested, the drive is recognized by Windows and Linux as "External Hard Drive" via USB connection and any info like where the WD part number would be is blank (unlike the USB only cases I have which Windows and the linux tools recognize as a Hard Disk, but on a USB bus). Don't know if this has anything to do with why it's not 'talking' to my 8240HDC STB.

aceofspadez619

04-07-09, 07:23 PM

Riverside_Guy

04-09-09, 12:05 PM

I've been quietly looking for external cases that have a RAID chip in them AND have a SATA i/o interface. I've come across several that use a RAID chip in a 2 drive enclosure, but with only a FW interface.

I've now come across the kind of beast I've been looking for! A 2 drive case with all of the typical interfaces (FW400, FW800, USB 2, SATA) AND has a RAID chip to strip (or mirror) 2 HDs. Not only that, but the price of this baby is simply not to be believed (2 T for $255???). I have no idea how long this price will last, but have to believe it won't be all that long.

http://www.jr.com/western-digital/pe/WD_WDH2Q20000N/

Of course, absolutely NO guarantee it will work with any DVR, but it sure as hell will work with any computer, so it meets it's design goals as a mass storage device.

Yes, two TERABYTES!

cam94z28

04-11-09, 02:22 PM

Just got the Vantec Nexstar 3 USB + eSATA enclosure for my 8300HD and loaded it with an old 160GB Western Digital SATA drive. Worked great on the first try. I went from 70% full to 30% full.

I do have a question, though. This enclosure mentions nothing about power management. Will the drive automatically power down when Idle like the one in the DVR does if turned off and nothing recording? I don't like the idea of an enclosed hard drive running 24/7.

scnrfrq

04-11-09, 02:25 PM

Just swapped out my 8300HDC for an 8300HD. My hard drive is back!

originalsnuffy

04-11-09, 04:48 PM

cam94z28

04-11-09, 11:01 PM

With regard to the Vantec enclosure and the 8300 HD....by any chance are you on Comcast?

Comcast claims that they don't support esata in Minneapolis...but sometimes they are full of beans. I'd be willing to experiment if I have some indication that this enclosure works on Comcast...its a small jump to see if it works here.

Thanks.

By the way are both the 260 and 360 known to work? I found two different model numbers for the drive.

I am with TWC (Brighthouse), so I can't speak for comcast. I do know that Brighthouse claimed the same thing while people here were busy using the eSata port without issue.

As for the enclosure numbers. The 260 and 360 are identical, but the 260 fits 2.5" (laptop) hard drives, and the 360 fits 3.5" (full size desktop drives). I am using the 3.5" version. My Drive is an old Western Digital WD1600AAJS and it works flawlessly, although a bit warm. The Aluminum case definitely dissipates a lot of heat. CompUSA has the enclosure $5 off at $34.99 right now. The only issue (if being nitpicky) is that if you lay the enclosure horizontally on it's attached rubber feet the drive is upside down inside the enclosure. I stand mine up on the provided stand.

originalsnuffy

04-13-09, 11:23 AM

cam--

What cable did you use? It would appear that one has to be very specific on type I and type II on each end.

Thanks.

danki6x

04-14-09, 05:20 PM

I am with TWC (Brighthouse), so I can't speak for comcast. I do know that Brighthouse claimed the same thing while people here were busy using the eSata port without issue.

As for the enclosure numbers. The 260 and 360 are identical, but the 260 fits 2.5" (laptop) hard drives, and the 360 fits 3.5" (full size desktop drives). I am using the 3.5" version. My Drive is an old Western Digital WD1600AAJS and it works flawlessly, although a bit warm. The Aluminum case definitely dissipates a lot of heat. CompUSA has the enclosure $5 off at $34.99 right now. The only issue (if being nitpicky) is that if you lay the enclosure horizontally on it's attached rubber feet the drive is upside down inside the enclosure. I stand mine up on the provided stand.
Of course test it (record two HD and watch a third already recorded). Then add it to the proper database with your results. Others would like to know. /Dan

waltinvt

04-14-09, 05:48 PM

What, if anything will the USB input on the SA8300HD do? What I'd really like to know is if an external HDD with a USB connection can be used with this receiver. Charter cable SARA 1.90.5.a103.

danki6x

04-14-09, 05:56 PM

What, if anything will the USB input on the SA8300HD do? What I'd really like to know is if an external HDD with a USB connection can be used with this receiver. Charter cable SARA 1.90.5.a103.Thought is it is for a keyboard. Definitely not for drives. Don't even think it is active on anyone's TWC box. /Dan

danno321s

04-17-09, 11:40 AM

I reprogrammed my Harmony to leave the STB on all the time. Sure it wastes energy but I got sick of rebooting my STB and eSATA drive to reconnect it.

xnappo

04-17-09, 12:05 PM

I reprogrammed my Harmony to leave the STB on all the time. Sure it wastes energy but I got sick of rebooting my STB and eSATA drive to reconnect it.

Actually someone recently did some testing with one of those power monitors and found there was no difference.

xnappo

Riverside_Guy

04-18-09, 09:02 AM

Actually someone recently did some testing with one of those power monitors and found there was no difference.

xnappo

That would be moi with my trusty Kill-A-Watt. It draws about 28 watts in every possible state, off, on, with a playing video playing or paused, recording from both tuners. Oh, it seems randomly to go up to 29 watts.

I have it set to show the channel when on, but the time when off.

Ronin1

04-18-09, 03:24 PM

--Forgot to put that this was a reponse to Dsurkin's post above--

I'm far from an expert as well on this as well, but i've run into a similar issue cloning a drive in Windows and I got the results I was looking for using a different cloning tool. You might want to try the clone job with another tool or make sure the settings of your clone job include expanding the partition to include the free space left on the drive. Even with a preformat of the new drive, like you did, the cloning the old drive will destroy the partition on the new drive. Details of what I ran into are below, but this was for drives to be seen by Windows. The concept might apply but I've never tested it on a DVR STB. (I'm still trying to get mine recognized).

By default, a clone tool may not expand the partition you are cloning over to the new drive to use all the available free space...you might have to tell it to do that, usually by dragging a slider representing the size of the new partition if your tool uses a GUI, or typing in a new partition size if using a command line. I was cloning a windows disk to a larger drive with PartMagic (free, open source) tool and telling it to expand the copied partition to the available space of the new drive, but it only registered in windows as a drive the exact same size of the original disk (new space was not recognized, even though I told it to expand). Tried it again using an Acronis True Image disk a friend gave me and it worked like a champ. It cloned it over and expanded the partition to include all the free space of the disk.

Any ideas on how to get the disk formatted AVFS or whatever in the 1st place? What's the 'boot up' sequence that works for you?

aceofspadez619,

Just what cloning tool did you use and what procedure did you follow?

I have forgotten whether I mentioned this before, but I was told, but can not vouch for the accuracy of the statement, that the Linux "dd" command should accomplish the same sector by sector cloning. I suppose that it would be possible to set up a bootable CD (of Ubuntu or Puppy Linux or whatever) and try it without getting the Windows drive cluttered up.

dsurkin,

I am sorry that the procedure I used did not work out for you...I am trying to think of an explanation for the different result. I was using an Apricorn ez bus dts enclosure which has since been superseded by a new model, the Aegis Desktop (http://apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=56). I have not tried the new enclosure yet, but did speak with Apricorn's tech support and they indicated that there should be no changes in terms of expected compatibility. They indicated that there have been improvements to the power supply and fan, as well as the changes to the case itself...the new feet look to be a useful improvement. I would expect that the chip set has been tested in their ready-to-go DVR Expander (http://apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=55). The web page describes it as "the perfect companion for the Scientific Atlanta 8300 series."

Interestingly, Apricorn also offers the DVR Expander with a 1.5 TB drive which should mean that a drive that size would work with the SA 8300s.

I have seen some listings in the database with mixed results with large drives in other enclosures. Has anyone tried a 1.5 TB or 2 TB drive in the Apricorn enclosures?

danno321s

04-18-09, 10:38 PM

I reprogrammed my Harmony to leave the STB on all the time. Sure it wastes energy but I got sick of rebooting my STB and eSATA drive to reconnect it.

The damn eSATA drive still disconnects. I will get rid TWC.

Trapdoresoth

04-19-09, 07:39 AM

Damn...went from 8300HD to 8240HDC. Everything was working fine with my 1TB eSATA drive from Cavalry. (Went from another successful 500GB Cavalry drive, I did report my successes in the main database.)

Cincy, OH TWC

I've gotten to the point where I can successfully get a "Press A to Re-format Drive" prompt with each reboot, but still there is no success confirmation...ever. I've read that it takes many attempts. I'm on attempt #20 or so....

Any other ideas? I mean, getting the format drive prompt is definitely about as close to success as possible, right?

The activity light just blinks when I hit "A" to format. I remember when I formatted successfully in the past it would only take a few seconds, but I'm pretty sure the drive light would stay on longer and the drive would spin more...gah....

Thanks....

EDIT#2: Ok so I tried holding in "A" button this time. Weird! The drive light stayed on for much longer, but then it prompted me a 2nd time "Press A to Re-format Drive." This is a first for me. I had to release "A" (still holding down, about 20 seconds elapsed) to press "A" again, but this time the set rebooted! ...rebooting now.

I'm just going to keep reporting in real time...:)

So this reboot is taking much longer than usual, which I guess means it will probably come back with a "Drive is bad, press A or C to exit" error...:(

Oh this isn't good...stuck on L-13 for many minutes, now I have a black screen and the STB front display still reads L-13....oh dear...

For those in the same situation and still reading, I should credit the page that got me this far (along with the low level format tool and tips):

http://baseportal.com/baseportal/xnappo/navigator_comment?db=navigator&Id==64

Ok well my reboot recovered, eventually went back to the much loved Mystro boot screen, and came up with "Press A to Re-format drive" prompt. Back to square one, no success confirmation, no added storage or extra drive in diagnostics. This sucks, I'm guessing maybe I should try to get another 8300HD? I had so many problems with reliable service with the 8300HD (non DVR related stuff, the DVR+expansion worked amazingly well), and the 8240HDC has been reliable on that front (with a crappy tiny HDD though). I just moved units in my building though, maybe I would have better luck in this unit with the 8300HD. The cable install guy said the 8300HD was for Adelphi customers only, blah blah...those guys all say different things.

Thanks again, I'm giving up for now it's been a long night...

phousley

04-20-09, 08:24 AM

I've gotten to the point where I can successfully get a "Press A to Re-format Drive" prompt with each reboot, but still there is no success confirmation...ever. I've read that it takes many attempts. I'm on attempt #20 or so....

Any other ideas? I mean, getting the format drive prompt is definitely about as close to success as possible, right?Based on my experience and similar reports from others, if you're trying to get your external drive working with ODN 3.1.x_x, you're pretty much wasting your time. I got mine to eventually format and record (my accounts are in this thread), but when I tested it by rebooting, I lost my recordings (again). I refuse to keep screwing with something I can't trust and I advise you do the same. If you do get it to format, be sure to try two important tests:

1) Let it sit idle long enough to enter sleep mode (3 hours) then press a button on your remote (or just turn it on after being off over night) and see if it still works.

2) Record something, then reboot. Make sure you can still view your recordings.

jruhnke

04-20-09, 08:44 AM

So has anyone had any success yet with a 1.5TB drive on a SARA system? Checking Xnappo's databases, I only see a couple of attempts, and none were successful.

I just ordered a 1TB WD10EADS drive and Antec MX-1 enclosure, which several people have reported success with...but I sure was tempted to get the WD15EADS, instead!

Trapdoresoth

04-20-09, 09:27 AM

Based on my experience and similar reports from others, if you're trying to get your external drive working with ODN 3.1.x_x, you're pretty much wasting your time. I got mine to eventually format and record (my accounts are in this thread), but when I tested it by rebooting, I lost my recordings (again). I refuse to keep screwing with something I can't trust and I advise you do the same. If you do get it to format, be sure to try two important tests:

1) Let it sit idle long enough to enter sleep mode (3 hours) then press a button on your remote (or just turn it on after being off over night) and see if it still works.

2) Record something, then reboot. Make sure you can still view your recordings.

Ok thanks for the reply. So even if I go back and get an 8300HD, this would probably still have the ODN 3.1.x_x rendering the external drive useless?

I stopped trying with the 8240HDC for now, losing patience...still nothing.

That sucks, I can't live with 150GB for HD storage...

These are incredibly naive questions for this 250th page of this thread, sorry:

1. if I go with DirecTV should I be able to use a 1TB expansion HDD with their box?

or

2. If I spend megabucks on an HD Tivo, can I use that with existing TWC and maybe even expand that HDD also?

Geez...after all the hell TWC has put me through, the saga continues. I had 6 techs out in one year in 2008, each one less competent than the last...

Thanks...