8300HD and External SATA - It Works!! - Page 201

For a case with a fan - go Apricorn... I had been reading your posts as well and thought since your drive had been working for 2 years you were probably in a bad spot... Make sure to check the warranty! It is easy to forget since HD warranties periods are actually useful...

xnappo

This is kind of long, so please bear with me.

I have been using an external drive with my 8300HD for about a year and a half with no problems until now. Yesterday I noticed the box was making a racket trying to access the external drive (I wasn't watching anything and it was turned off).

I turned it on and it was frozen on a blue boot-up screen while the external drive was grinding away. I unplugged the external drive and then the box displayed a message that the external drive appeared to be corrupted, and asking if I wanted it reformatted.

I unplugged everything and then started everything up in the proper sequence and got the same result. Had to unplug the external drive to get anything, and then I got the offer to reformat. Obviously if I chose "reformat" it wouldn't be able to do it as it was disconnected, and if I connected it the box would never get past the blue screen.

I plugged the external drive (Azio enclosure and I believe a Hitachi 400 gig drive) into a computer and opened computer management/storage. It recognised the drive. I decided to reformat it, but the only option at that point was to "initialize" it, so I chose that, which took about a second. Then I would have been able to format it, but I didn't bother because I wanted to try it again with the cable box which has its own format.

I unplugged the 8300HD, connected the drive, fired up the drive, and then plugged in the box. I have done this several times now, and it either freezes on the blue screen, or it boots normally as if there is no external drive connected. When it boots up there is no mention of detecting an external drive, no offer to format, and no message that there is a functioning drive. Nothing.

At this point I suspect that my eSATA cable went bad, because the computer, connected by USB, seems to think the drive is OK.

But here is my big question. When I first got the external drive in June 2006 I seem to recall that I was able to determine that I had the SARA software (firmware?) by calling up some obscure diagnostic screen. But now when I reboot the box, the blue screen says "NAVIGATOR" in big letters. At first I thought nothing of it. But then I started reading threads on this forum talking about how some cable companies were switching over to some awful Navigater software and people would lose their saved programs on the external drive when it happened.

How can I determine what actually happened? I have Cablevision (Long Island) and I can't find any mention of them changing over. Also, even if I lost the programs from a switch to Navigator, the external drive should still work, right?

[I just spoke to a Cablevision rep who assures me that they haven't done any major firmware upgrades that would affect my external drive. But he didn't know which operating system is on their boxes.]

I would appreciate any information or thoughts and comments.

AFAIK, the only cableco using Navigator is TWC, they are the ones who developed it. If you look in the first post in the SARA Tips & Tricks thread (see my sig), it tells you how to get to the diagnostic display, among other things you might want to try, like a "hard" reboot, etc.

Wow, that is a whole lot of useful information. I will be trying a hard reboot in a short while.

Thanks to you and everybody else who contributed to the tips and tricks.

OK, the hard boot didn't fix it. Next I will order a new eSATA cable and try that.

There were posts a few months back about improperly "seated"cables. Try a search or PM to xnappo, DoubleDAZ, pepar or DaveHancock for the details before junking your cable.

Bob

Good advice, Bob. One thing recommended is to reseat all cables inside the external enclosure. Don't just push on them, remove them and plug them back in. That goes for the eSATA cable as well.

Check connections inside the enclosure.

Thanks.

I unplugged and replugged both ends of the cable and that didn't help. I saw a post about checking to see if the cables inside the enclosure are seated properly, so perhaps that's what your referring to. I suppose I will check that eventually.

Beat you by mere seconds.

Ah! The big hitters are back on. Wasn't there also some talk about shaving the plastic to get enough metal to seat properly?

You have a good memory. There were some pictures (or links to such) posted showing some short connectors that didn't quite make good contact. After some of the plastic was shaved away, the metal parts were then long enough to go further in for better contact. The pictures showed the difference between the "shorties" and good connectors.

Wow!

Hi Guys,

I'm using the 8300HD with SARA Firmware 1.88.24.., I plug my Western Digital External ESATA with 320Gb using 7 Pin ESATA cables, however, I get a message on my 8300HD saying a communication error. When I unplug the cable, it says it's unplugged but it will not work when it is plugged in. I've tried rebooting the 8300HD and the Harddrive to no avail. I also have another 8300HD upstairs and I get the same error.

It appears to know that the drive is there, but it just keeps giving me a communication error. Any Ideas?

I've also tried a Seagate external Harddrive but I got the same error message.

I'm on Hargray Communications Cable out of Hilton Head Island, SC, so it's possible that my cable company is just backwards and the system will not work, but I wanted to give it a shot!

Thanks!

What EXACT models are you trying to use? Check the database and see if they are generally successful or now.

xnappo

I bought the I-Rocks eSata case for use with a Maxtor 320GB Sata drive on a Navigator (Mystro) 8300.

Upon rebooting the 8300 it recognized and formatted the disk.

Record and playback initially work OK with ~1 glitch per minute on average.

Twice now, after < 1 week, it stops recording all new shows with a "channel not available" error message in the record log.

I am ready to give up on this combo, as it is really annoying for it to randomly quit recording new shows.

How "cool" is "cool enough" for a HD? I just ordered a new WD 500g to replace my fried drive. I am planning on using my existing AZIO case, but plan on leaving the top cover off. I ordered an 80mm MASSCOOL COOLINGFAN ($1.99) from Newegg when I ordered the drive. The 8300 STB, HD, AVR, DVD are in one base cabinet about 30" wide. I have (8) 2" holes drilled at the bottom up under the baseboard. I'm planning on mounting the fan under one shelf and having it blow up directly through the AZIO. Does this sound adequate?

Also, where's the best place to pull 12V DC from, the HD or just find an old 9-12V power supply?

PS: I thought I'd add, in going back to no external drive I did a hard reboot. TV picture would flash on and off about every 2 or 3 seconds. After 2 more soft reboots all is back to "normal", except I already have it 75% full... my replacement drive can't get here soon enough. Also checked "warrantee" at WD web site, you just plug in your serial number and it tells you "warrantee expired 7/15/07, feel free to upgrade here" (at prices way hirer than Newegg).

People are reporting in the Navigator thread that this happens ~twice per week WITHOUT an external drive.

xnappo

Thanks xnap. I hope this fact gets me off the hook with my gf.

I decided to have Windows XP do a full format of my external drive that no longer works with the 8300 just to definitely determine if the drive itself is OK or not (short of doing a full format XP indicates that the drive is "healthy.")

So my question is: Is there supposed to be some sort of progress bar or some other indicator of progress during a full (as opposed to a quick) format?

Because I don't see any.

It's been a long time since I've formatted a drive, but I thought there was a status bar that gave the percent complete or something.

That's what I thought too. I'm starting to think the drive is shot. I will give it some more time.

Does the drive appear in the BIOS settings? Does the drive appear in Computer Management|Storage? Does the drive appear in Windows Explorer?

After PVR powerup I dont get the format screen. Seems like my PVR never sees the external harddrive.

Cable seems to fit snug. HD works via USB to my PC.

The HD is IDE in a case that can accept either IDE or SATA.

Does the drive need to be formatted in a special way before hooking it to the PVR?

Suggestions? Info Needed?

What drive?

xnappo

What drive, what case, what does the database have to say?
[excuse the double post]
xnappo

One glitch per minute! That's not working, IMHO. I use the WD DVR Extender - 500G WD Drive in a WD case, and see maybe one glitch a week - and I think that's more than it should be.

It is an external USB/eSATA drive, so it wouldn't appear in the BIOS screen. When I plug it into the computer via USB cable the computer detects it as an external drive. It shows up under Computer Management/Storage as a healthy, but unallocated drive. I was able to select the drive and go through the steps to format a partition, but, although the drive is spinning, and XP says "formatting," there is no indication of any progress being made.

I will open the case and reseat the cables and try one more time, and then I will toss it. That's why I now like to buy Seagate drives with a 5 year warranty. I have seen so many drives fail before then.

WD1600 Caviar
Sabrent Silver Serial ATA (SATA) & SATA II to eSata or USB 2.0 3.5" Aluminum External Hard Drive Enclosure

Drive isnt listed.
Sabrent in the reviews section of where I purchased it someone is using it there 8300 HD without problems.

Is that with Navigator?

Cause I see your entry in the Sara database.

I did not notice any glitches with this disk when I had Passport.

I could put up with glitches as long as the programs were recording reliably and the box did not crash all the time (cause it takes much too long to reboot).

Oh well, the 8300 will soon be gone cause I got my gf Tivo HD for her b'day.