I have heard that all you have to do is go buy an external hard drive and plug it in via ethernet into the back of your Directv DVR and this will act as your hard drive, My question is a) Is it true? b) do you have to configure your directv box in any way or is it just plug and play? c) any reco's as far as what brand and size to purchase?

In theory it seems like it would work but I just don't know for sure and would appreciate any answers.

Thanks,

Matt

I have heard that all you have to do is go buy an external hard drive and plug it in via ethernet into the back of your Directv DVR and this will act as your hard drive, My question is a) Is it true? b) do you have to configure your directv box in any way or is it just plug and play? c) any reco's as far as what brand and size to purchase?


Not quite true. You can plug an eSata external hard drive into the eSata port on the back of the HR20.

A lot of people have been getting the Seagate Free Agent 500GB or 750GB. A few places have been having the 750GB model in the $175 - $200 range. You also have to by an eSata cable since the hard drive does not come with one.

The eSata hard drive is used in place of the internal drive. That is, it is not used in addition to the internal hard drive but instead of the internal hard drive.

To add the external hard drive, you stop all recordings on the HR20 and then unplug it. Plug in your external hard drive to the HR20, power up the external hard drive and then plug your HR20 back in. The HR20 will take a while to startup as it formats the external harddrive. Once it completes the startup, it will look like you have a brand new HR20. You will have to redo all of your Series Links, re-setup your Favorites, re-setup your network if you have one, and anything else I can't think of.

There is a dedicated topic on external hard drives on dbstalk.com (http://www.dbstalk.com/) when it comes back up.

does a 500 gb external hard drive have?

Okay... I hope you guys don't mind me jumping in here...

When I buy a new PVR from DirecTV, their best one - what model is it? I couldn't find this information anywhere.

Also, what size hard drive comes standard in it?

Thanks!

does a 500 gb external hard drive have?

Depends on what you're recording and the encoding....good rule of thumb is approximately 1GB/hr for standard definition, 10GB/hr for MPEG2 HD, and 4-6GB/HR for MPEG4 HD

Okay... I hope you guys don't mind me jumping in here...

When I buy a new PVR from DirecTV, their best one - what model is it? I couldn't find this information anywhere.

Also, what size hard drive comes standard in it?The current model is the HR22 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8911449&st=HR22&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1213047334087), which features a 320GB hard drive. This model is about to be replaced by the HR23 (http://hr20.dbstalk.com/HR23-700%20First%20Look.pdf), which features a 500GB hard drive.

If you can't wait for the HR23, you might want to look for an older HR20. The HR20 is a bit more responsive than the HR22, due to a slightly faster CPU.

Not quite true. You can plug an eSata external hard drive into the eSata port on the back of the HR20.

A lot of people have been getting the Seagate Free Agent 500GB or 750GB. A few places have been having the 750GB model in the $175 - $200 range. You also have to by an eSata cable since the hard drive does not come with one.

The eSata hard drive is used in place of the internal drive. That is, it is not used in addition to the internal hard drive but instead of the internal hard drive.

To add the external hard drive, you stop all recordings on the HR20 and then unplug it. Plug in your external hard drive to the HR20, power up the external hard drive and then plug your HR20 back in. The HR20 will take a while to startup as it formats the external harddrive. Once it completes the startup, it will look like you have a brand new HR20. You will have to redo all of your Series Links, re-setup your Favorites, re-setup your network if you have one, and anything else I can't think of.

There is a dedicated topic on external hard drives on dbstalk.com (http://www.dbstalk.com/) when it comes back up.

this sounds easy, but what do you mean by redo "Series Links" ?

this sounds easy, but what do you mean by redo "Series Links" ?He means you'll have to re-do (re-create) all of your recordings, just as you would with a new DVR.

Here is DIRECTV's list of recommended external drives:

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/article.jsp?assetId=P5980155

just do an xfsdump on a linux machine to save all your settings onto the new drive.