Quote:
Originally Posted by
Redneck_Randy 
Has anyone updated/changed out the HDD in the DTV Genie to say a 3TB drive ? I own mine so DTV doesn't have a say what I do to the unit. If you have does the Genie format the drive and add the proper partition extension for the new drive ? I know I can use a esata external hard drive but what I don't like about that is if the drive looses power it formats when it gets power back. I know I can add a UPS. I'm very rural and we do loose power out here all the time and sometimes it's more then just a few hours and a UPS won't last that long.
Thanks
Randy
DBSTalk.com would be the place to look. I don't remember anybody posting about doing it though (there were many threads about doing such for the HR24 and earlier DVRs).
That said, you are incorrect about the external drive reformatting after a power outage. That should never happen. The worst that I could see happening is that possibly the external drive might not get started back up as fast as the HR34, so the HR34 might boot to it's internal drive instead. Rebooting the HR34 with the external drive still hooked up and turned on should get the HR34 to recognize it again and all your recordings should still be there and play fine.
As far as I know the only time any DirecTV DVR will actually reformat an external drive is the very first time that drive is hooked up so it gets formatted to the right file system type. After that it shouldn't ever have to be formatted again. Even if it gets hooked up to a different DVR it shouldn't get reformatted. The recordings and DVR settings should all still be on the drive, and from what I remember the recordings will even show up in the playlist, but if you try to watch them they will not play since they are encrypted to the DVR that made the recording. You end up just having to delete them all to free the space back up.
