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8300HD and External SATA - It Works!! - Page 297

post #8881 of 8986
2/19/12 at 3:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGA$$TV View Post

hy3na and Mikos, I wish I could help, but I am at a loss. I am not that familiar with Navigator issues as I have SARA. Are you guys working with brand new drives? Mikos, you may want to take a flier and format in a PC in the unlikely event there is something on the HDD that is causing a problem.

Hy3na, can you return your drive? Clearly it is not functioning properly. If you haven't already done so, have you tried to do some test recording without the external attached just to make sure it's not something going on with the 8300 or your signal?

It's a Fantom 1TB Green Drive. I read some others having luck with the drive and my box sees it. It's just odd that every time I reboot the cable box, it says my drive isn't formatted. And my storage percentage drops from a high number down to a single digit.

The "black screen" recordings are bizarre and they just started when I connected the drive to the cable box. All the other program errors prior were pixel issues, nothing like the unplayable recordings I am getting now.

I will connect and format the drive on my computer. And of course, post back the results. I also have a cable guy coming on Friday so we will see what he has to say.
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post #8882 of 8986
2/19/12 at 5:23pm
Good luck with the cable guy. Usually the first words out of their mouths is "we don't support external drives" or external drives don't work with our boxes".

Quick question: is the black screen all you get? No progress bar? No fast forward arrows?

Also, possible problem could be the esata cable. Got another handy to try? I remember way back when my set up had issues and I found the cable connector wasn't seating properly in the slot.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikos View Post

It's a Fantom 1TB Green Drive. I read some others having luck with the drive and my box sees it. It's just odd that every time I reboot the cable box, it says my drive isn't formatted. And my storage percentage drops from a high number down to a single digit.

The "black screen" recordings are bizarre and they just started when I connected the drive to the cable box. All the other program errors prior were pixel issues, nothing like the unplayable recordings I am getting now.

I will connect and format the drive on my computer. And of course, post back the results. I also have a cable guy coming on Friday so we will see what he has to say.
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post #8883 of 8986
2/19/12 at 10:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGA$$TV View Post

Good luck with the cable guy. Usually the first words out of their mouths is "we don't support external drives" or external drives don't work with our boxes".

Quick question: is the black screen all you get? No progress bar? No fast forward arrows?

Also, possible problem could be the esata cable. Got another handy to try? I remember way back when my set up had issues and I found the cable connector wasn't seating properly in the slot.

The black screen programs are just that, a black screen. No progress bar, no arrows, no info. I can't even hit stop. I have to change the channel to get back to a functioning cable box. I can delete these from the list but it's so strange that they appear on the list in the first place.

I will try another cable before the cable guy gets here. I really want to verify that my signal is fine. I don't expect much else after that. It is time Warner after all.
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post #8884 of 8986
2/20/12 at 9:26am
The lack of the progress bar, etc. indicates that it wasn't just not recording a picture. It's not playing back anything.

The list resides on the internal HDD so that is why it can be deleted. I'd cross my fingers and hope it is something with the esata cable, one or more pins not connected causing a communication problem between the 8300 and the external. I assume you tried pushing hard on the connections trying to seat them. If that isn't the cause, then something is amiss with the external HDD in which case I hope you can return it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikos View Post

The black screen programs are just that, a black screen. No progress bar, no arrows, no info. I can't even hit stop. I have to change the channel to get back to a functioning cable box. I can delete these from the list but it's so strange that they appear on the list in the first place.

I will try another cable before the cable guy gets here. I really want to verify that my signal is fine. I don't expect much else after that. It is time Warner after all.
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post #8885 of 8986
2/21/12 at 11:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGA$$TV View Post

hy3na and Mikos, I wish I could help, but I am at a loss. I am not that familiar with Navigator issues as I have SARA. Are you guys working with brand new drives? Mikos, you may want to take a flier and format in a PC in the unlikely event there is something on the HDD that is causing a problem.

Hy3na, can you return your drive? Clearly it is not functioning properly. If you haven't already done so, have you tried to do some test recording without the external attached just to make sure it's not something going on with the 8300 or your signal?

Thanks for your help.
- My HDD is Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB (WD1001FALS) from Amazon
- Enclosure is Rosewill RX-358 V2 BLK (from Newegg)
both bought new within the last couple of weeks.
Before I connected the HDD I definitely had no such glitches. Also the recordings when left alone seem to come out fine. i.e., recordings when no one was watching tv are ok. Somehow rewinding and playing with delay is causing glitches (even when not recording anything). This did not happen before connecting the HDD (I would've definitely noticed it). Anyway I will test this again w/o the HDD as you suggested just to confirm. The new drive now has a recording that I'd hate to delete. It sucks if I have to return it. Just to confirm, I didn't jump any pins on the HDD -- hope it's not a case of not jump certain pins. Should I try connecting the HDD w/o the Enclosure?
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post #8886 of 8986
2/21/12 at 1:33pm
Yeah, certainly worth a shot to connect the drive bare. You'll need a power supply and connector. That way you would rule out a bad enclosure.

BTW, since apparently you have a valuable recording on the external drive, it must work sometimes? Occasionally I get bad recordings, but I am pretty sure cable related rather than a recording problem. I'd definitely do a little testing without the external just to make sure the cable and cable box aren't experiencing some problems.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hy3na View Post

Thanks for your help.
- My HDD is Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB (WD1001FALS) from Amazon
- Enclosure is Rosewill RX-358 V2 BLK (from Newegg)
both bought new within the last couple of weeks.
Before I connected the HDD I definitely had no such glitches. Also the recordings when left alone seem to come out fine. i.e., recordings when no one was watching tv are ok. Somehow rewinding and playing with delay is causing glitches (even when not recording anything). This did not happen before connecting the HDD (I would've definitely noticed it). Anyway I will test this again w/o the HDD as you suggested just to confirm. The new drive now has a recording that I'd hate to delete. It sucks if I have to return it. Just to confirm, I didn't jump any pins on the HDD -- hope it's not a case of not jump certain pins. Should I try connecting the HDD w/o the Enclosure?
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post #8887 of 8986
2/22/12 at 7:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGA$$TV View Post

The lack of the progress bar, etc. indicates that it wasn't just not recording a picture. It's not playing back anything.

The list resides on the internal HDD so that is why it can be deleted. I'd cross my fingers and hope it is something with the esata cable, one or more pins not connected causing a communication problem between the 8300 and the external. I assume you tried pushing hard on the connections trying to seat them. If that isn't the cause, then something is amiss with the external HDD in which case I hope you can return it.

Took a step back last night. I swapped out cables and the box doesn't even see the drive now. It may be a port issue on the box since the drive is fine. I will see what the deal is when the cable guy comes, probably will push him for a new box.
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post #8888 of 8986
2/22/12 at 1:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGA$$TV View Post

Yeah, certainly worth a shot to connect the drive bare. You'll need a power supply and connector. That way you would rule out a bad enclosure.

BTW, since apparently you have a valuable recording on the external drive, it must work sometimes? Occasionally I get bad recordings, but I am pretty sure cable related rather than a recording problem. I'd definitely do a little testing without the external just to make sure the cable and cable box aren't experiencing some problems.

Interesting note: Today I found that the glitches can also happen just on playback. i.e., soon after I found a glitch on a recording, I rewound back to replay it and it played w/o a glitch. There are some glitches inherent in the recording as they were recorded while playing back tv on another channel when glitches are observed. The reordings w/o other activities, have no inherent glitches! Also the glitches are much fewer now -- about once in about 5 mins. I haven't done anything but am debating whether to return the HD (BTW, the recoding on it that I wanted to keep will be re-run on Feb 26th so if I get a new HD before that, I can re-record it.)
Question: how much cache on your HD? Mine is 32MB and 7200rpm. Wonder if it needs 64MB cache. Also I'm using the SATA cable which came w/ the HD. So...HDD or SATA cable or SATA port on 8300HD.. Too bad I don't have a spare SATA cable on hand.
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post #8889 of 8986
2/22/12 at 1:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mikos View Post

Took a step back last night. I swapped out cables and the box doesn't even see the drive now. It may be a port issue on the box since the drive is fine. I will see what the deal is when the cable guy comes, probably will push him for a new box.

Last time I tried for a 2nd 8300HD box, I was told that Cablevision doesn't give out 8300HD boxes anymore. I was told about a new dvr service where one dvr can work from any tv in the house but at an added price. I'm not sure if they will give a 8300HD to replace a defective 8300HD though.

Hopefully you can get it replaced since you are w/ TWC. Best w/ cable guy.
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post #8890 of 8986
2/24/12 at 12:26pm
Well the cable guy came and went. Funny thing was he hooked up a newer Cisco/SA box, can't remember the model number. Said it was a bigger capacity but needed to update the software. I had to take a call from a client and by the time I was done I had a Samsung box and the guy was gone. My wife who was home said the guy swapped boxes and left. She doesn't really get all this tech nonsense.

So....I will see if I can boost the capacity of this box. So far what I have read it doesn't look likely. This Sammy box does have a 320GB drive so it's twice the capacity of the old 8300.
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post #8891 of 8986
2/25/12 at 7:51am
Solved!

BIGA$$TV, you nailed it. It is a faulty HDD. I had Amazon send me a second unit of the same model and it worked w/o a glitch -- recording 2 hd programs while watching another recorded hd. Thanks for the suggestion to return the HDD and finally I have glitch-free hdtv!

Before this I had taken the HDD out of the Rosewill enclosure and put it in a empty computer case w/ a pwr supply -- worked ok for about 30 minutes before I encountered glitches. Now the replacement HDD is in the same case. How safe is it in the case ? I had to jump couple of pins in the pwr supply main connector to keep pwr on to HDD.
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post #8892 of 8986
2/25/12 at 9:14am
Great! Perseverance pays off!

HDD probably should be fine in the case. Keep monitoring.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hy3na View Post

Solved!

BIGA$$TV, you nailed it. It is a faulty HDD. I had Amazon send me a second unit of the same model and it worked w/o a glitch -- recording 2 hd programs while watching another recorded hd. Thanks for the suggestion to return the HDD and finally I have glitch-free hdtv!

Before this I had taken the HDD out of the Rosewill enclosure and put it in a empty computer case w/ a pwr supply -- worked ok for about 30 minutes before I encountered glitches. Now the replacement HDD is in the same case. How safe is it in the case ? I had to jump couple of pins in the pwr supply main connector to keep pwr on to HDD.
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post #8893 of 8986
3/8/12 at 2:31pm
Strange.. sometimes the dvr stops recording before the program's end. Yesterday 1 hr program only recorded 38 min. Looks like it is doing this after I had put my HDD back in the Rosewill enclosure. I was watching the program from the recording with a lag while it was recording and annoyed to find out that the recording has stopped after 38 min..Somehow it seem not like me watching it from beginning while it is still recording it. Anyone experience something similar?
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post #8894 of 8986
3/8/12 at 7:35pm
Yeah, happens to me from time to time- maybe once a month. Seems to be no rhyme or reason, it just stops leaving a partial program. I have to believe it is the DVR and has nothing to do with the external.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hy3na View Post

Strange.. sometimes the dvr stops recording before the program's end. Yesterday 1 hr program only recorded 38 min. Looks like it is doing this after I had put my HDD back in the Rosewill enclosure. I was watching the program from the recording with a lag while it was recording and annoyed to find out that the recording has stopped after 38 min..Somehow it seem not like me watching it from beginning while it is still recording it. Anyone experience something similar?
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post #8895 of 8986
3/11/12 at 9:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGA$$TV View Post

Yeah, happens to me from time to time- maybe once a month. Seems to be no rhyme or reason, it just stops leaving a partial program. I have to believe it is the DVR and has nothing to do with the external.

It has nothing to with eSata drive. I have a cable card in Moxi DVR and it happens to me since about 3 months ago. Very annoying but that is what you get in a monopolistic market. I might $hitcan my video from cable in 6-12 month.
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post #8896 of 8986
3/12/12 at 8:42pm
I had to get a new dvr box but it keeps saying that my hard drive is for another set top. Do i have to reformat it on my pc first? Now my box is stuck on a l-13 countdown after i powered everything off and disconnected the hard drive.
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post #8897 of 8986
3/13/12 at 1:04pm
Sure sounds like that's the plan- reformat on your PC.

Quote:
Originally Posted by burts View Post

I had to get a new dvr box but it keeps saying that my hard drive is for another set top. Do i have to reformat it on my pc first? Now my box is stuck on a l-13 countdown after i powered everything off and disconnected the hard drive.
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post #8898 of 8986
3/13/12 at 3:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by burts View Post

I had to get a new dvr box but it keeps saying that my hard drive is for another set top. Do i have to reformat it on my pc first? Now my box is stuck on a l-13 countdown after i powered everything off and disconnected the hard drive.

Also make sure it works without the drive. You may have two issues. Without the drive problem TWC will help with. /Dan
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post #8899 of 8986
3/17/12 at 10:46am
I wish I'd found this discussion thread before purchasing my current drive.

We recently upgraded our Optimum IO (Cablevision) DVR to HD and discovered that the DVR capacity was very limited. So I bought the Iomega 34508 eSATA drive. After a couple tries, the 8300HD DVR unit recognized the space and we were happy.

Alas, we get pauses and pixelation glitches every few minutes now - worse when recording in the background. This seemed to start a couple weeks after we got it. The eSATA cable is shielded.

Any suggestions other than return it and get a WD drive?

Thanks!
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post #8900 of 8986
3/17/12 at 2:27pm
Have you checked the data base to see if others have had success with the drive you have?

I saw a Black Caviar 1tb advertised on Newegg for $119.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RickK101 View Post

I wish I'd found this discussion thread before purchasing my current drive.

We recently upgraded our Optimum IO (Cablevision) DVR to HD and discovered that the DVR capacity was very limited. So I bought the Iomega 34508 eSATA drive. After a couple tries, the 8300HD DVR unit recognized the space and we were happy.

Alas, we get pauses and pixelation glitches every few minutes now - worse when recording in the background. This seemed to start a couple weeks after we got it. The eSATA cable is shielded.

Any suggestions other than return it and get a WD drive?

Thanks!
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post #8901 of 8986
4/9/12 at 7:12pm
Is there a recommended order for getting the SA8300HD to reconnect with the drive?

I turned on the 8300HD, and only a few videos were showing on the My Recordings menu, indicating that the eternal drive was not being recognized. After jiggling cables and turning on and off power, the drive was recognized. I booted down the 8300HD and re-booted. The capacity shows properly now; but still can't access old recordings.

I just tried powering everything off, powering on the external drive, then powering on the 8300. But it sure would be nice to know if there is a recognized method to get everything to synchronize properly again and access previously recorded material on the external hard drive.

Thanks.
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post #8902 of 8986
4/9/12 at 9:51pm
The listing of recordings is kept on the internal drive, i.e. even if you disconnected the external, they would still show when you brought up the list, they just wouldn't play. Have you done a reset? Disconnect power to the 8300, plug back in while pressing the power button in.

No drive is "eternal".

Quote:
Originally Posted by originalsnuffy View Post

Is there a recommended order for getting the SA8300HD to reconnect with the drive?

I turned on the 8300HD, and only a few videos were showing on the My Recordings menu, indicating that the eternal drive was not being recognized. After jiggling cables and turning on and off power, the drive was recognized. I booted down the 8300HD and re-booted. The capacity shows properly now; but still can't access old recordings.

I just tried powering everything off, powering on the external drive, then powering on the 8300. But it sure would be nice to know if there is a recognized method to get everything to synchronize properly again and access previously recorded material on the external hard drive.

Thanks.
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post #8903 of 8986
4/10/12 at 11:16am
BIGA$$TV,

I have done quite a few re-sets, but none while pressing in the power button.

If that does not work; is there a way to force the unit to rebuild a playlist? I am on Comcast in Minneapolis.

As noted before, it seems to know about media on the drive within the 8300, knows it has more storage available on the other drive, but does not seem to know what is on the other drive. I keep getting messages about the external drive being recognized, and the storage available percentage changes based on whether the "external" drive is plugged in or not. But the available media list only shows recently recorded items, which I presume are on the internal drive.

Thanks.
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post #8904 of 8986
4/10/12 at 11:31am
My older WD DVR Expander stopped working. It may be the cable so I ordered a new one to try.

They seem to have stopped selling this model except for WD direct and they only sell ones that say they are compatible with Verizon DVRs. Does anyone know if the WD that says it only works with a verizon dvr will work with the 8300HD?

If not should I go with the Iomega which seems to be the only game in town for ready to use out of the box? Otherwise I guess I will have to figure out how to build my own.

Thanks!

http://store.westerndigital.com/stor...oryID.52348200
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post #8905 of 8986
4/10/12 at 12:49pm
Have you looked at the data base on drives that work? Link is on page 1 of this thread.

It is very easy to put together an external. I was a little wary at first, but a bare drive simply slides into the case. No way to mess up really. Alternatively, you can set up a bare drive. All you need is a power supply and some cables. Try Amazon and Newegg for drives, cases,etc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by if200 View Post

My older WD DVR Expander stopped working. It may be the cable so I ordered a new one to try.

They seem to have stopped selling this model except for WD direct and they only sell ones that say they are compatible with Verizon DVRs. Does anyone know if the WD that says it only works with a verizon dvr will work with the 8300HD?

If not should I go with the Iomega which seems to be the only game in town for ready to use out of the box? Otherwise I guess I will have to figure out how to build my own.

Thanks!

http://store.westerndigital.com/stor...oryID.52348200
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post #8906 of 8986
4/10/12 at 12:53pm
Probably SOL if the reset doesn't work. Must have corrupted the internal HDD. I'm just guessing here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by originalsnuffy View Post

BIGA$$TV,

I have done quite a few re-sets, but none while pressing in the power button.

If that does not work; is there a way to force the unit to rebuild a playlist? I am on Comcast in Minneapolis.

As noted before, it seems to know about media on the drive within the 8300, knows it has more storage available on the other drive, but does not seem to know what is on the other drive. I keep getting messages about the external drive being recognized, and the storage available percentage changes based on whether the "external" drive is plugged in or not. But the available media list only shows recently recorded items, which I presume are on the internal drive.

Thanks.
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post #8907 of 8986
4/10/12 at 5:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGA$$TV View Post

Probably SOL if the reset doesn't work. Must have corrupted the internal HDD. I'm just guessing here.

Unfortunately this reset did not work either. I will gladly takes any resurrection tips. After all, one must save those "eternal" drives!

If it can not be saved do I just reformat the external drive back to ntfs and then let the DVD format the drive again? The DVD does not really offer a menu for the external drive operation.

Shame to lose all that stored media.
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post #8908 of 8986
4/12/12 at 4:07am
I had purchased a Fantom 1.5 TB Green drive for my Cablevision HD8300 - Plugged it in , it formatted correctly tested fine ...
Went on vacation and returned to a drive not recognized message- dozens of 'black recordings", inability to pause etc.....

I read a lot here -and tried everything. Several reformats and similar results.
After aprrox 10-12 % full with the new drive - the system would beging to fail - more black recordings - inability to pauseand continue etc.

I removed the Green drive from the fantom case as I thought the Spindle speed of 5900 RPMS could be the issue (Cablevision tech said 7200 required)- and put in a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS.

This was recognized and formated fine - however after several days when I reached around 12% free space (according to the DVR) the same issues began again.

I startd to think that the 1.5 TB size could be the issue as the 8300 never properly reported the correct size in the diags screens ( it always showed size=1 TB and free space = 1 TB regardless of usage).

So I looked for a way to shrink my 1.5 TB drive to under 1 TB and found this link

search for techwarelabs.com/seagate_1-5tb-mod/

Note that the link describes a process to shrink the drive down to 300 GB.
I used a differnt Max LBA address of 1900000000 which resulted in a size of 974 GB. This was done on using the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS.

Put all back together and it now has hit 18% full and I have experinced no issues.
Also the 8300 diag screens see the drive partition size at 970 GB and show current free space at 820 GB,

A cold boot recognized the drive as ready to use (no format request)
All seems well - and I will update with any additional info as necessary.
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post #8909 of 8986
4/12/12 at 7:00am
Hi Guys,

Haven't posted here in a long time as I went the TiVo route a while back.

I have now gone to using a Ceton card in an HTPC with WMC.

It is soooo nice to not have to worry about storage space or stupid cable company upgrades breaking things.

Granted - it has it's own set of issues, but if you have the time, it is well worth it. IMHO of course.

xnappo
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post #8910 of 8986
4/12/12 at 9:33am
Nice work. As I began reading your post, I immediately thought ahead, I bet he reduced the size of his drive because 1.5tb won't work. Sure enough, that's what you did. I hope it continues to work.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ripgear View Post

I had purchased a Fantom 1.5 TB Green drive for my Cablevision HD8300 - Plugged it in , it formatted correctly tested fine ...
Went on vacation and returned to a drive not recognized message- dozens of 'black recordings", inability to pause etc.....

I read a lot here -and tried everything. Several reformats and similar results.
After aprrox 10-12 % full with the new drive - the system would beging to fail - more black recordings - inability to pauseand continue etc.

I removed the Green drive from the fantom case as I thought the Spindle speed of 5900 RPMS could be the issue (Cablevision tech said 7200 required)- and put in a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS.

This was recognized and formated fine - however after several days when I reached around 12% free space (according to the DVR) the same issues began again.

I startd to think that the 1.5 TB size could be the issue as the 8300 never properly reported the correct size in the diags screens ( it always showed size=1 TB and free space = 1 TB regardless of usage).

So I looked for a way to shrink my 1.5 TB drive to under 1 TB and found this link

search for techwarelabs.com/seagate_1-5tb-mod/

Note that the link describes a process to shrink the drive down to 300 GB.
I used a differnt Max LBA address of 1900000000 which resulted in a size of 974 GB. This was done on using the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS.

Put all back together and it now has hit 18% full and I have experinced no issues.
Also the 8300 diag screens see the drive partition size at 970 GB and show current free space at 820 GB,

A cold boot recognized the drive as ready to use (no format request)
All seems well - and I will update with any additional info as necessary.
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