8300HD and External SATA - It Works!! - Page 295

Just installed a Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB
SA 8300HD, Sara
Works fine, drive is quiet, but head seeking is audible (was not audible with prior Seagate Baracuda)

Anyway, trying to see what level the Automatic Acoustic Management is set to.
Tried the Hitachi Feature Tool, but is does not recognize the WD drive.

Has anyone reset the AAM on a WD?

Thanks,
Tony

I am encountering a problem, I hope someone will be able to assist me...

Just purchased a Western Digital MyDVR Expander (1 TB) to use with my Cablevision 8300HD DVR. It took a few tries to get it going but it connected and my storage went from 44% to 7%. However, after 24 hours or so the DVR takes a few to several minutes to turn on from standby. After it does turn on, I see that the storage returned to the higher value, in other words, it was not seeing the external HDD anymore. This has happened twice already so I expect that it will continue to happen as well.

How can I remedy this situation?

Thanks in advance.

Been a couple years, but sounds similar to a problem I had. Only work around was to set the DVR on a lamp timer and have it turn off and then on about 5AM to reset. Best solution was the 320 GB HD in the new DVR. /Dan

Thought I would update this for anyone with Cox and a 8240HDC DVR.

Cox has a software update, that fixes this. I received the update, as a customer beta test a few weeks ago, DVR will now recognize and format a NEW External HDD.
8240HDC Ext eSATA Firmware Update

This has been discussed a while back, check the last several pages. The answer will also vary depending on the software and version the DVR is running.

The problem is either (perhaps both) Power Saving features on the DVR or the Power Saving features on the WD MyDVR Expander. One or maybe both the Internal and Ext HDD is powering down, You will need to disable one or both of these.

For the DVR check the Settings for HDD Power Management.

Newbie here. Did some searching through the thread and cannot find the answer I need.
I have a Time Warner SA8240HDC set top witha an eSATA port in the back. I called TWC (Binghamton, NY) tech support and they gave me the brush off naturally and would not tell me if the port was enabled.
I am about to pull the trigger on a WD DVR Expander but would like to know first if the SATA port is enabled before I buy it.
I can get into the diagnostics by holding the power switch down until it blinks then pressing it one more time.
I looked through the many diagnostic pages and did not see the word SATA anywhere.
Can someone tell me which page I should look for? A heading or category or some setting that says yes the port is enabled or no it is not.
I thank you in advance.

If your SA8240HDC is running TWC Navigator ODN guide software the chance of eSATA working is slim to none.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...a#post20407235

We need to quit scaring people with stale information. Although it had its problems in the past, eSATA has worked fine on the last several ODN releases. I don't have 4.1 yet, but I've seen no reports that it doesn't work. I don't know, however, if there's anything specific about the 8240HDC that interferes with it.

Thanks for the responses. I ordered one anyway (not the WD however) and will see what happens. I''ll let you all know my results.

Wanted to get back to archiguy's July 25 post (first one quoted below) ...

I'm in NYC with TWC running Navigator (not sure exactly what version since I can get into diagnostics but don't know which of the 33 pages of diagnostics and which line on which page to look at -- any help much appreciated) on an SA8300HD using the WD 1TB expander.

With the most recent software update (I noticed that the fonts are smoother/more anti-aliased on the 1/2/3/4x FF on the bottom pop-up display a few weeks ago) I've been having a lot of trouble as well with the HDMI port. Had a terrible time with reboots when I came back from 2.5 wks vacation -- HDMI was totally out, was about to bring the box back for a swapout figuring it was fried and then as a last ditch effort pulled out a set of component cables. Ever since then, HDMI will drop out with relatively no explanation, sometimes can predict it after a long "pause", have to switch over to component input, and then the next morning HDMI is usually back but not always. Also HDMI resolution output stickiness seems to have worsened, outputs 480i on an HD channel occasionally (yes, I have all my settings correct on TV - Sharp LC-46LE810UN - and the STB).

Stopped into TWC this afternoon and was told to call customer service and ask for a level 3 tech. Will try to do that sometime this week, don't know if I currently have the mental fortitude to sit through that phone call.

DVR expander has always been squirrely with pixellation and jumping, most notably when using both tuners on HD at once. Some elsewhere have recommended a better shielded eSATA cable (about $7 on Newegg so worth a shot).

Don't want to swap the box out less for loss of saved shows than TWC tells me today that new boxes they are handing out (SA8300HD, HDC, Samsung 3090 at my location, didn't ask about any Cisco 8xxx) have the eSATA disabled and I don't want to lose my extra storage space. But would very much like to have my equipment working as advertised (too much to ask, I know).

I plugged in an Iomega DVR Expander per the included instructions and after two attempts it seems to be working fine after all. The first attempt resulted in a message that the drive was not formatted (after requesting that I do so first). After rebooting the SA box a second time it recognized the external HD ok.
My only problem so far was a spontaneous reboot of the DVR after I started watching a recording. It has only happened once and has not repeated so I'm hoping all is well.

if the problem happens again try to swap out the drive to a larger pata drive, and before returning the box put the original pata drive back in.
hope this helps.

Hi Bryan,

It has been a while since we chatted about this issue. I would like to thank you for following the updates to the software. I was the one having the same problems with Blue Ridge Cable and the SATA port not recognizing the external hard drive. Since you stated you had a new version of software I thought I would go and check mine again. I couldn't believe it when I saw they updated our software also. Thanks again for all your help!

I'm glad I checked in here after the latest software update to see what was new. Seeing this message made me try my Apricorn 500GB DVR expansion drive on my SA8300HDC running Navigator again. I had given up on it long ago when the 3.x versions broke eSATA support and had just been using it for a backup drive for my computers. Lo and behold, I repartioned and partially formatted it in FAT32 and hooked it up to the DVR again, and it recognized and reformatted it, rebooted, and now I have 11% space used on the DVR instead of 56%. I've recorded two HD shows at once and played them back with no glitches. Hallelujah! It's working again...

TT

Thought I would cross post here as well as the TWC Navigator forum. Nobody has responded to these questions over there. Nearly everyone over there seems to be using boxes running ODN and I need info from people running MDN on legacy 8300HD boxes. Since expansion drives only seem to work on this platform (not ODN, right?), then maybe folks here will all be running MDN and will have seen this problem.

About 3 weeks ago they pushed out an update to MDN here in the Charlotte, NC market. A few cosmetic changes, no big deal, but a couple of REAL BIG deals in terms of reducing functionality. Wonder if anyone else has noticed them?

1) The size of the two buffers (for each tuner) has been cut in half, from 1 hour to 30 minutes. Anyone else notice this? Apparently, nobody on the Navigator forum has. That's a major reduction in functionality.

2) The box is now not recording scheduled shows if the box is in the "off" state (but still plugged in and powered). This came as a big shock as well. Used to be it didn't matter if the box was "on" or "off", as that only affected the output, not the scheduled recordings. Anybody else notice this?

3) Can anyone please post how to get to the diagnostic screens in MDN? Apparently there are two sets, requiring two different procedures to get to them.

Thanks to any and all who might take the time to reply... these reductions in functionality have me plenty steamed. It seems like every time they push an update out, nothing new gets added but something gets taken away.

Cox AZ user...
I've had my 1TB Seagate ST31000528AS hooked up to my 8240HDC for a couple weeks now, and it's pretty much been a complete disaster.
First, it took a few tries just to get the box to see the drive. I think I ended up plugging in the eSata cable while everything was hot. The box froze for about 10 seconds, then finally gave me the message about formatting. Things were good for a day or so.
Then, every couple days it seems the recordings would get flaky, and Live TV would have fits if I tried to pause or rewind. I'd have to unplug the cable box to get things back to normal. Also most of the time when we were done watching a recording, the box would reset back to channel 2.
Last weekend I bought a new AV receiver, and rewired the cable box/TV relationship so that everything would run through the receiver. I did not, at the time, unplug the cable box power or the external drive. I tried watching a recording that night, and out of the 20-25 shows I had, I could watch two of them. All the others said the recording was unavailable.
After resetting the cable box, I could still see the 1TB on the diags screen, and Live TV was OK, so figured it was some weird HDCP copy protection garbage, and starting recording shows again. This afternoon my wife came to me and said Live TV wouldn't rewind again, and just remove the external. So at this point the external is out of the picture and all of the recordings are gone, except for one recorded on the 14th.

I know that the recommended drive is the WD Caviar Black 1TB, but those are really hard to find now. Has anyone had any luck with a different drive? I had the Seagate already from my homebrew PVR, that's why I used it. And yes, it was formatted before it got hooked up to the 8240.

Or, and this is probably "forbidden", but is it possible to replace the internal drive with something bigger? It's hard to search for that solution, since everyone wants to hook up an external.

Ask for a newer model box.

I'm not sure there is anything newer. I'm running the latest firmware and OS. 3.1.091 and 6.20.75.106sp, respectively.

Cox Arizona only has the SA8300HD and the SA8240HDC, that's it. EDIT: Cox AZ does now have the Cisco 8642HDC running Rovi Passport.

Cox Arizona will have the Cisco 8642HDC whenever they launch the Whole Home DVR, (probably this spring) EDIT: See above but that will be for the Trio IPG only, it will not be running the Passport IPG.

I have time warner cable with a SA 8300hd on the Navigator software. What internal drive is proven to work with my unit?

Im looking for 500gb and higher,also looking from the top of my dvr the harddrive uses a ribbon cable?

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-F...5741932&sr=8-1
Is that the ide to sata converteri need?

I have used Rosewill eSata enclosure with Seagate drives.

See http://www.google.com/products/catal...B&ved=0CAwQrhI

So with the rosewill you need a esata to esata cable? I know most externals need sata to esata cable.. Will a 1tb drive work or have glitches?

I'm confused. Your first post looked like you wanted to replace the INTERNAL drive. Now you are talking about an external. If it's an external you are interested in, check out the first post in this thread. It has a data base of set ups that work and don't work. Just to get you started, a 1TB works fine. Above that, I don't think so. And it's a esata to esata IIRC.

The Rosewill unit comes with the proper cable. Check the drive list for compatibility.

I known there is a data base on the first page of this thread, but, I looked at it and got lost. I'm on Phoenix, Cox, with an 8300HD, using Passport. What is the current, best option for an external hard drive? I'm running a very old external housing - DVRXpander from Apricorn, with a 1 TB Seagate 7200 Barracuda drive. It seems to be having problems - freezes, looses its connection to the 8300HD, and I have to pull the power and restart it a lot now. It's always had video/audio stutters and pauses. So, if I'm going to revamp it, I'd like to know what I should replace it with? And, when I do, will I loose all my recordings or can I swap two externals back and forth until I see/delete all off the old one? Or is there a way to transfer the recording to the new HD now? I'm a high end user - both with the DVR and computers, but I am not an A/V expert, programmer, etc. Thanks in advance.

Your Power supply is likely starting to fail and that is probably causing most of the issues you are seeing. Try another similarly rated supply and you might have better luck. I've had to go through and replace about 15 power supplies I've setup in external expander drives, some even a third time. They are typically rated for about 18 months, but can fail in less than a year, or may last three. YMMV, but keeping sustained current during constant recording will wear those things out.

Ok. Dumb question --> where do I look for another power supply? Or should I just get another external casing? And, if the later, what do you recommend? Do any take something larger than a 1TB hard drive? And, will the 8300HD recognize something larger?

DC power supplies are fairly common in anyplace that sells general electronic equipment - Amazon, Radio shak, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc. Most cases use an external wall-wort style DC power supply. My most common supply used is a DC 12volt supply with a 2Amp rating and whatever the polarity is supposed to be. Just look at your specs to get another similar one.

So do both the SA8300HD and the SA8240HDC in Phoenix now completely work with DVR expanders?

I just traded my old box in and received a 8642HDC that is not working the DVR expander. Plus it has a 500gb hard drive but I'm only allowed to use 160gb of it.

AFAIK, you will still need to ask Cox AZ for the "Beta" software update that allows eSATA External HDDs on the 8240HDC. They have been responding fairly well on Facebook and AZ.CoxArizonaHelp@cox.com send Attention Gabe or Matt and send the Box Serial Number in the email starting with "SA"

http://www.facebook.com/CoxArizona

Another email address coxarizona.help@cox.com and twitter support also might work.