Compatible USB Hard Drives

Post by **Wiz Support** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:00

Compatible USB Hard Drives

This is a list of which USB HDDs are known to work, not work, and ones that 'should' work. Please reply below with any additions or corrections.

Generally, what does work are USB HDDs with the following specs:
- Contains a single 3.5 inch size HDD
- Contains a single HDD with a capacity of 750GB or less
- Includes it's own power supply pack for powering from 240V
- Has only a normal sized USB 2 port
- Does NOT have a mini-USB 2 port
- Does NOT have a Firewire port
- Does NOT have a eSata port
- Does NOT have a one-touch backup button
- Does NOT have any built-in hardware security

What DOES work:

Most USB Drives that contain a single 3.5 inch HDD and includes it's own 240v power pack.

WD My Book Essentials Edition 120, 160, 250, 320, 500, 640 and 750GB - USB2 only

WD My Book Office Edition 250, 320, 500, 640 and 750GB - USB2 only

WD My Book Mirror Edition 250, 320, 500, 640 and 750GB - USB2 only

WD My Book World Edition (Ethernet, NAS)

Seagate FreeAgent 320GB Portable USB Drive PLUS a Powered USB HUB

What MAY work?

Any 1TB or larger USB HDDs, USB Drives that contain a two 3.5 inch HDDs, or pocket sized USB HDDs with low power requirements (500mA from a single USB connection) or that include their own 240v power pack.

WD My Book Office Edition 1TB - USB2 only

WD My Book Mirror Edition 1TB - USB2 only

NOTE: Many 1TB and 2TB USB HDDs that do NOT work, MAY work when using a powered USB hub between the Beyonwiz and the USB HDD - and/or partitioning the HDD on a PC into 2 or more smaller partitions (with 1 FAT32 and 1 NTFS, or both FAT32 etc).

What does NOT work!

Most small, pocket sized, USB Drives do NOT work! (see Note below)

- Most small, pocket sized, USB HDDs that get their power from the USB cable(s).
- Some small, pocket sized, USB HDDs that have an external power supply.
- If they do work, you may only be able to play files off it, and NOT be able to copy recordings to it because you can NOT format it.
- If they do work, you may only be able to play files off it, and NOT be able to copy recordings to it even though you CAN format it.

NOTE: Many USB powered HDDs that do NOT work can be made to work by using a powered USB hub between the Beyonwiz and the USB HDD.

Maxtor 1TB (and other sizes?)

Seagate FreeAgent 1TB (and other sizes?)

Seagate FreeAgent 320GB Portable USB Drive (needs a Powered USB HUB)

WD My Book Home Edition 1TB (and other sizes?)

WD My Book Studio Edition 1TB (and other sizes?)

WD Elements 1TB

cheers
-

prl · Post by **prl** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:16

Jai, good idea posting this information. Thanks.

I use a MyBook Home Edition 500GB (USB2 connection) with my Beyonwiz. I formatted it on the Mac, because it's has two volumes: one FAT32 and and one HFS+. I never tried formatting it on the Beyonwiz.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 18:33

The Verbatim 120G drive for only $59 from OfficeWorks works fine with power only from one USB port also!
Cheaper than a 16G memory stick, and a lot faster and more useful also (and almost as light actually, this verbatim drive is mega-light, more plastic than drive by the feels of it

)
Regards

Brad_M · Post by **Brad_M** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 08:07

Jai's original post has a query over the 1Tb WD My Book Essentials Edition.

I bought one of these last night - I had to format with fat32format via a PC first, as the format via the BW didn't remove the preinstalled files. Once that was done, I formatted again via BW and transferred and played files without a problem.

Overnight I copied about 160Gb of BW recordings onto the USB HDD without a problem. So it appears to be working fine, I'm not sure if I need to wait until it is filled over 750Gb but so far so good.

supergrover · Post by **supergrover** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:54

Can anyone offer any suggestions for a cheap pocket USB hardrive which works with the Wiz?

Would go for the Verbatim 120G per Tonymy01 post above, but doesnt look like these are available anymore at Officeworks.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 22:10

Ok, I just bought another cheapie from Officeworks today that does the trick.
For $69, you can get a WD Elements Portable 160G HDD, which is a small pocket sized thing (plastic enclosure too) that will happily work in the Wiz with the native FAT32 format, and will also happily format using the Wiz GUI (which I know some drives don't).
I played media files etc off it no probs, same with HD files, and transferred files to it from the GUI no probs, albeit painfully slow (typically the meter was going between 1.5MByte/s to 2MB/s... I get 3MB/s normally to a network share!!)
I found the usual issues with the FAT32 filesystem though, with a 4G TS file, there is no skip navigation due to the FAT32 "bug" with large files (NTFS is fine for files larger than 2G last time I tried).
It powers fine from the front S1 USB port (didn't bother digging around the back to try that port).
Regards

j s · Post by **j s** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 09:09

tonymy01 wrote:Ok, I just bought another cheapie from Officeworks today that does the trick.
For $59, you can get a WD Elements Portable 160G HDD, which is a small pocket sized thing (plastic enclosure too) that will happily work in the Wiz with the native FAT32 format, and will also happily format using the Wiz GUI (which I know some drives don't).

Interesting!!

I have a WD 160GB Passport 2.5" drive that does NOT work on a BW. Nor does it work on my main desktop PC (a fairly old Asus P4 motherboard) unless I use a double USB cable but it does work on both notebooks (work-Lenovo & personal-LG).

Using a powered USB hub allows the Passport (and probably most other 2.5" drives) to work. Didn't try a format though. At the same I also plugged into the hub another 40GB portable drive and an 8GB memory stick. All three were recognised and could be played from.

The WD Elements Portable 160G HDD that Tony mentioned is available online at Officeworks for $69 (+$4.95 "handling fee") but including same day delivery.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 09:15

OOps, just looked at my rcpt, and it was indeed $69. I will ammend my post.

x1048576 · Post by **x1048576** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 18:50

I just got one of those WD Elements Portable 160G from OfficeWorks for $74 delivered the same day. It works perfectly with my DP-H1.

xris · Post by **xris** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 07:59

Thanks for the useful tips in this thread.
My contribution is to let you know that I've successfully connected a Seagate Freeagent 750GB USB drive to my DP S1.
Out of the box, the S1 could read the drive but not write to it. I had to reformat it on a PC using fat32format as advised in this forum, then it worked perfectly.
I couldn't get fat32format to work under Vista, but fortunately had a laptop with XP Pro available and used that without problems.

duke · Post by **duke** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 15:37

What would be the best 32gig flash drive to use with the Beyonwiz?

Something that you can play ISO's off.

peteru · Post by **peteru** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 16:16

If you are getting a solid state memory device (flash key / USB dongle) you need to ensure that it is a fast model. Most large capacity, low cost devices are painfully slow and will not result in a good experience.

duke · Post by **duke** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 16:25

That's why I was asking.

peteru · Post by **peteru** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 16:29

I see, you would actually like someone to give you the brand and model of a drive known to work? In that case, I can't help - I don't have anything that large.

You may wish to find out more about Transcend devices, they used to have some faster-than-average devices.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 16:31

But any reason why you are keen on a Flash device rather than a pocket HDD? There are a number of places selling those 2.5" USB powered HDDs starting from 120G in capacity and starting from $69 in price, you can't ask for better than that I would have thought?

duke · Post by **duke** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 16:42

tonymy01 wrote:But any reason why you are keen on a Flash device rather than a pocket HDD? There are a number of places selling those 2.5" USB powered HDDs starting from 120G in capacity and starting from $69 in price, you can't ask for better than that I would have thought?

I don't know much about them. So what are some decent ones?

I'd be looking at it to store ISO's now that the beyonwiz plays them.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 07:55

Hi Duke,

The WD Elements drives seem to be doing well. All the smaller capacity models 120GB, 160GB and even the 320GB models all appear to be working on the Beyonwiz without an external power supply. I don't know how the larger models are going but I suspect they may need to be externally powered.

Regards,
Ian.

duke · Post by **duke** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 16:40

I got the Elements drive and the Beyonwiz detected it. Seeing it was FAT32 I used Vista to format it to NTFS but now the beyonwiz does not detect it

What am I doing wrong?

Gully · Post by **Gully** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 16:49

Not sure why it is not detected but the Wiz cannot write to NTFS, though it should still read it.

jillybean · Post by **jillybean** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 17:07

I have come across a minor problem with my 250Gb WD Elements drive, in that the only cable I can get this to work with on either my H1 or my computer is the short one that came with it. It appears that the longer ("standard" length) cables I have somehow reduce the power to the drive below that required for it to work.

Jill

grl · Post by **grl** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 06:18

jillybean wrote:I have come across a minor problem with my 250Gb WD Elements drive, in that the only cable I can get this to work with on either my H1 or my computer is the short one that came with it. It appears that the longer ("standard" length) cables I have somehow reduce the power to the drive below that required for it to work.

Jill

Not sure if you are aware that there is USB 1.0 and USB 2.0. These days USB disks are USB 2.0 so you need to be sure you use USB 2.0 cables with your disk. Cable length could still be the issue, even so.

jillybean · Post by **jillybean** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 07:34

grl wrote:
jillybean wrote:I have come across a minor problem with my 250Gb WD Elements drive, in that the only cable I can get this to work with on either my H1 or my computer is the short one that came with it. It appears that the longer ("standard" length) cables I have somehow reduce the power to the drive below that required for it to work.

Jill
Not sure if you are aware that there is USB 1.0 and USB 2.0. These days USB disks are USB 2.0 so you need to be sure you use USB 2.0 cables with your disk. Cable length could still be the issue, even so.

Looks like it is a combination of things. The "normal" length cable that came with my powered Maxtor OT4 external drive will work with the WD Elements on my pc but not on the H1. The other cables I have all have the small filter block (or whatever it is) at the drive connection end - these work ok with the Maxtor but not with the WD.

I was looking to use a usb powered drive to copy files/recordings off my pc for playback on the H1 (my wireless network will not handle playback of anything much other than mp3's direct from the pc). As the H1 has both usb ports at the rear (and not easily accessable in my setup) the plan was to leave a longer cable attached to the H1 to make it easier to swap the drive from pc to pvr.

Do any of the usb powered drives anyone else has purchased have a longer cable?

Jill

peteru · Post by **peteru** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 09:15

Most drives need more power than a single standard USB port can provide. You would be best to use a Y cable. This will have two USB connectors on one end - you plug both of those into your DP-H1 so that the drive gets power from both ports.

jillybean · Post by **jillybean** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:00

peteru wrote:Most drives need more power than a single standard USB port can provide. You would be best to use a Y cable. This will have two USB connectors on one end - you plug both of those into your DP-H1 so that the drive gets power from both ports.

Thanks - but I already have the Maxtor plugged in to one port as the recording drive. The WD works in the second port but only on the short cable that came with it (NTFS format - used only to play from). What I am after is something that I can use on the second port with a longer cable than the WD one (ie I only have the one port spare for this use) so that I can easily move it from pc to H1 when needed.

From some earlier comments, I guess another option might be to connect a powered usb hub.

Jill

TurkeyTom · Post by **TurkeyTom** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:40

Looking at buying a external HDD for my recently purchased P1.

Bit of a clarification required, in the original post it says:-

What DOES work:

WD My Book Office Edition - USB2 only

WD My Book Mirror Edition - USB2 only

What MAY work?

WD My Book Office Edition - USB2 only

WD My Book Mirror Edition - USB2 only

---------------------------------------------------------------

So which is true?

Thanks.

Post by **Wiz Support** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 13:31

Oops, I've updated the original post...

---------------------------------------------------------------
What DOES work:

WD My Book Office Edition 250, 500 and 750GB - USB2 only

WD My Book Mirror Edition 250, 500 and 750GB - USB2 only

What MAY work?

WD My Book Office Edition 1TB - USB2 only

WD My Book Mirror Edition 1TB - USB2 only
---------------------------------------------------------------

prl · Post by **prl** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 14:12

TurkeyTom wrote:Looking at buying a external HDD for my recently purchased P1.

Bit of a clarification required, in the original post it says:-

What DOES work:

WD My Book Office Edition - USB2 only

...

---------------------------------------------------------------

So which is true?

Thanks.

I have also used MyBook Essentials 250GB and MyBook Home Edition 500GB with both my DP-S1 and DP-P1.

MaximumWarp · Post by **MaximumWarp** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 14:12

Hi all, just adding another successful drive and enclosure combo result using an Astone Iso Gear 481E enclosure (both USB2 and e-sata connections) with a WesternDigital 1TB SATA drive. It wouldn't write properly until I formatted the drive with FAT32FORMAT tool.

I was just about ready to give up on it when I had success after using that tool and following the instructions on the website on how to use it correctly. I was worried as I hadn't found this thread until after I'd bought it, so I was concerned that it might not work given that its a 1TB drive and an eclosure that also has esata. Speed seems to average around 2.5MB/sec in file window.

ross · Post by **ross** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 09:40

I have been using a Western Digital 1TB My Book Essentials 1TB drive without any issues for over a week now.

astro · Post by **astro** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 16:34

MaximumWarp wrote:Hi all, just adding another successful drive and enclosure combo result using an Astone Iso Gear 481E enclosure (both USB2 and e-sata connections) with a WesternDigital 1TB SATA drive. It wouldn't write properly until I formatted the drive with FAT32FORMAT tool.

That's great, this is the exact combination I am just about to try. Ordered my Astone and it is on the way, will be getting the 1TB drive in a week or so.

Thanks.

grl · Post by **grl** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 09:33

I am looking for something like this too. Did you get yours from Umart at $33.00?

Also, welcome to the forum. I see you have given and received already with 2 posts.

astro · Post by **astro** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:23

grl wrote:I am looking for something like this too. Did you get yours from Umart at $33.00?

Also, welcome to the forum. I see you have given and received already with 2 posts.

Thanks!

In regards to the Astone, I was just about to get it from Umart (and pick up from Milton store) as I am a big Umart fan, however I found it on ebay for $25 including free shipping. I know it was only $8 saving but that's like 25% so was happy with that. Haven't got it yet, so can't vouch for the seller but will post once I get it and all good (fingers crossed).

Here is another auction by the same seller - http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... %26otn%3D3

Obviously you have to win it without any else bidding to get it for $25 which is what I did.

astro · Post by **astro** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 22:38

astro wrote: can't vouch for the seller but will post once I get it and all good (fingers crossed).

Just thought I would add that I got my Astone today - no problems so can recommend the ebay seller. Don't know if it works yet until I get my HDD though!

craigh · Post by **craigh** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 20:21

I am using a Corsair FlashVoyager GT in my H1 Formated as recording drive.

Mostly used to Timeshift after a pause key used - (Timeshift disabled)

Seems to work fine.

Corsair 16GB Flash Voyager GT USB 2.0 Drive
Plug & Play functionality in Windows Vista, XP, 2000, ME, Linux 2.4 and later, Mac OS 9, X and later
Lanyard and USB cable included
Supports sustained read spead of 34MB/sec
Supports sustained write speed of 27MB/sec

matt_h · Post by **matt_h** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 21:25

@ MaximumWarp and astro:

Hi, I also have Astone Iso Gear 481E enclosure and ready to buy HD for it. The Western Digitals look good but I wanted to ask what cache size do you have? Is it the 16 Mb or 32 Mb cache?

I don't want to run into the dreaded "Delayed Write Failed" error and I think cache size has something to do with it.

Many thanks in advance...

astro · Post by **astro** » Wed Mar 25, 2009 08:47

matt_h wrote:@ MaximumWarp and astro:

Hi, I also have Astone Iso Gear 481E enclosure and ready to buy HD for it. The Western Digitals look good but I wanted to ask what cache size do you have? Is it the 16 Mb or 32 Mb cache?

Many thanks in advance...

Well, I actually ended up getting a Samsung 1TB Silencer Series drive instead of the Western Digital. Slightly cheaper, seemed to have good reviews for speed, noise and quality. It is a 32Mb cache I believe. I installed it, quick formated into 2 partions with NTFS, then used fat32format to format one of the partions to FAT 32 (all as per the quick simple instructions on the fat32format page). This provides me with a small (circa 200Mb) drive that I can use to copy files off the P1, and the larger NTFS formatted drive which will store all my media.

All seems to be working well. The P1 recognises both partions, plays files from the NTFS and can write files to the FAT 32. I am extremely happy with it.

Straydog · Post by **Straydog** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 22:53

I just started using a WD mybook essentials 640 gig drive on the usb port for extra storage. I have found though that it goes into standby if you haven't accessed the drive for a while which meant I couldn't access the drive again unless I put the beyonwiz into standby and restarted it. Has anyone found this problem?

Gully · Post by **Gully** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 23:10

Straydog wrote:I just started using a WD mybook essentials 640 gig drive on the usb port for extra storage. I have found though that it goes into standby if you haven't accessed the drive for a while which meant I couldn't access the drive again unless I put the beyonwiz into standby and restarted it. Has anyone found this problem?

Please don't cross post. You just need to post once for people to respond to.

pyro33 · Post by **pyro33** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 23:45

Straydog wrote:I just started using a WD mybook essentials 640 gig drive on the usb port for extra storage. I have found though that it goes into standby if you haven't accessed the drive for a while which meant I couldn't access the drive again unless I put the beyonwiz into standby and restarted it. Has anyone found this problem?

I am using a Seagate freeagent 320gb portable drive. I have to power it through a powered USB hub otherwise won't work.
I have the same problem as quoted above.
Also if i pause a full HD movie and come back to it a few minutes later the same problem.
It has not been formatted with the P1 yet or Fat32. Could this be the cause.
Thanks

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 00:12

Hi Straydog & Pyro33,

I don't believe that the Beyonwiz understands or copes with drives spinning down into a power saving mode. The drives do not spin up or respond as ready fast enough when the Beyonwiz tries to access the drive.

Connect the drive to a PC and use the management software to turn off the drive's sleep mode.

Regards,
Ian.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 07:20

With the network connection when this happens on your network drive, you can normally just go back in the second time and it will be ok (depending on firmware version though, I know if you are first accessing the share and it delays due to the drive spinning up, it removes the share from the list!)

Straydog · Post by **Straydog** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:14

IanSav wrote:Hi Straydog & Pyro33,

I don't believe that the Beyonwiz understands or copes with drives spinning down into a power saving mode. The drives do not spin up or respond as ready fast enough when the Beyonwiz tries to access the drive.

Connect the drive to a PC and use the management software to turn off the drive's sleep mode.
.

I don't think its possible to turn off the sleep mode with that drive. Ideally it would be good to keep the drives auto power up/down function so that its only on when the wiz is on but extend the time before the drive goes to sleep when there is no activity. For some reason the wiz won't wake the drive up like a pc does.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:45

Hi Straydog,

Straydog wrote:I don't think its possible to turn off the sleep mode with that drive. Ideally it would be good to keep the drives auto power up/down function so that its only on when the wiz is on but extend the time before the drive goes to sleep when there is no activity.

Sleep mode and remote power up are usually two separate functions.

Straydog wrote:For some reason the wiz won't wake the drive up like a pc does.

The Beyonwiz is not a PC.

I suspect that it is all a matter of timing. The Beyonwiz does not expect its connected devices to go to sleep and become unavailable. It is not coded to spin up a drive or wait for a drive to spin up before timing the device out.

Regards,
Ian.

sub3R · Post by **sub3R** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:32

I find the following works.

Welland Sun Bright Classic 3.5" HDD Enclosure Model No. ME-740D (IDE to USB2.0 + 1394A, supplied with power pack & leads).
(see problems experienced with the DC power socket on this enclosure below)

Tried with the following HDDs:
Western Digital 500GB WD5000AAKB 3.5" IDE HDD.
and
Samsung 200GB SP2014N 3.5" IDE HDD (original Int HDD from DP-S1).

Set the HDD as 'master'. The DP-S1 will find the Ext HDD almost every time.
Attach a piece of thin high density foam to the bottom of the enclosure stand to eliminate any noise transfer.
Be careful not to jam the pair of wires running from the LED back to the PC board when re-assembling the case.
One advantage of this setup; purchase another enclosure & leave one power pack & USB lead on the S1 & the other power pack & USB lead at the PC or 2nd BW.
Welland also make other various combinations of this enclosure (eg. SATA to USB2.0 + e/SATA) - look under Welland's website.
After seeing peteru's recommendation on the enclosure I have been using this on the S1s for well over 12 mths now, partitioned as NTFS & FAT32, without any issues (thanks Peter).

Update 11-Aug-09:
The DC socket on these Welland enclosures is probably the only weak part of the design; the 4 pin mini-DIN plug doesn't locate easily & requires slight wriggling from side to side while pushing to fully seat it. The only way the DC socket is mounted in the enclosure is by four 90º solder legs on the socket soldered onto a small PCB which is screwed to the enclosure, & therefore every time the plug is pushed into the socket it stresses the solder joints.
After just over two years use on a TF7000HDPVRt, a PC & on two DP-S1s the solder joints between the DC socket legs & the solder pads on the PCB had fractured on three out of the four legs. This still allowed the LED to come on but prevented the HDD from starting up intermittently & therefore prevented the DP-S1s from logging onto the Ext HDD whenever this occurred. The power supply plug had probably been plugged & unplugged hundreds of times over the two year period.
Re-soldering all four legs fixed the problem.

Update 11-Jan-10:
Similar problem again where the DC socket joins onto the small PCB as above (11-Aug-09). This time the PCB track fractured around two of the DC socket legs which still allowed the LED to come on but prevented the HDD from starting up intermittently & therefore prevented the DP-S1 & the PC from logging onto the Ext HDD. This time I soldered two flexible leads from the 'DC socket to PCB' solder joints (two joints closest to the HDD) to the 'switch to PCB' solder joints.
Instead of wiggling the 4 pin mini-DIN plug from side to side to seat the plug into the socket (which flexes the small PCB) it is better the wiggle the plug up & down which doesn't flex the small PCB as much.

The following LED replacement for the Vantec enclosure should also work for the Welland enclosure although I haven't fully dismantled a Welland enclosure to see how different they are at the LED end - the LED PCB looks identical & the way this is mounted looks the same, however the inside of the front cover has a cover over the LED which the Vantec doesn't, so I can't see how the LED fits into the front cover. If someone finds they are the same in this regard can they let me know & I'll update this post.

The following enclosure also works.

Vantec Nexstar-3 3.5" HDD Enclosure (IDE to USB2.0, supplied with power pack & leads).

Tried with the following HDDs:
Western Digital 500GB WD5000AAKB 3.5" IDE HDD.
and
Samsung 200GB SP2014N 3.5" IDE HDD (original Int HDD from DP-S1).

With the HDD set to 'master' both DP-S1s can find any of the three Vantec enclosures I choose to use every time (doesn't matter if the Ext HDD is already ON or switched ON some time after the S1).
Attach a piece of thin high density foam to the bottom of the enclosure stand to eliminate any noise transfer.
This enclosure is almost identical to the above Welland enclosure which is getting hard to source in IDE configuration. The Vantec uses the same power pack, leads & plugs as the Welland.
The LED on the front panel failed on my unit after a short period of time, this appears to be a problem with some units. The LED failing doesn't effect the operation of the unit, the LED only indicates read/write & power ON/OFF status. Reports indicate that Vantec will replace the LED under warranty; however it is quite easy to replace the LED & reduce the LED intensity at the same time for more acceptable night time viewing.

Replacing the LED:

A small tipped soldering iron, small & very small Phillips head screwdrivers, Stanley knife, small pair of side cutters & small pair of long nose pliers will be required. A solder sucker can be handy but not essential.

Unplug the power supply lead & USB lead from the enclosure.
Remove the two Phillips head screws securing the rear end cover of the enclosure & partly withdraw the HDD chassis.
Unplug the 3 pin plug supplying 5V DC to the LED & remove the HDD chassis.
Using a sharp Stanley knife, from the bottom gently prise off the front thin black plastic bezel which includes the LED lens cover (on my unit this was held on with weak glue which was still slightly sticky).
Unscrew the two small Phillips head screws securing the front end cover to the aluminium case (one screw also secures the small PCB for the LED).
Pass the front end cover, including the LED PCB, through the centre of the case to the opposite end.
Push out the LED from the front of the end cover & lift off the PCB.
Unsolder the LED & remove any excess solder from the PCB LED solder pads so the holes are clear.
Replace the LED with a standard low intensity 5mm Red LED in the correct polarity (the full length of the LED leads will be required - bend these to the same shape as the removed LED before fitting). Place some small diameter heat shrink tubing over the LED leads prior to fitting.
Cut away the outside longest PCB track (between the white wire & one leg of the LED).
Solder a 1/4 Watt 820 ohm resistor in series with the LED (between the solder connection for the white wire & the solder connection for one of the LED leads, with the resistor against the side of the PCB and clear of the LED leads).
Re-assemble making sure the HDD is mounted far enough towards the rear to prevent the end of the HDD case coming in contact with the resistor, PCB or LED leads. The front black plastic bezel should remain in place if pressed firmly.

Note: Depending on the LED used, the resistor value may need to be varied from the above to give the required LED intensity (I used a very old LED from my semiconductor spare parts bin so I don't know how new LEDs will compare). The above combination reduced the LED current to 4mA which was just bright enough for daytime use & just about perfect for night time use with the enclosure sitting just below the TV. On two other Vantec enclosures I used a 680 ohm resistor which is also a good compromise between daytime & night time viewing. Maximum current for standard red LEDs is usually 20mA with a voltage drop of 2V across the LED. A different coloured LED can be used with a resistor value to suit, but keep clear of the high intensity LEDs.

(mods if this post doesn't belong under this topic please feel free to move it).

manic · Post by **manic** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 09:10

I bought a WD Elements 2.5" 320GB a few weeks ago from OfficeWorks ($129), formatted it to fat32 on a pc and copied some DVD folders to it from the pc.
Plugged it in to the front usb port on my P1 and initially looked promising.
Played about half of one of the movies then just froze. The P1 wouldn't respond to any commands from the remote except the power off button. When the P1 powered back up it wanted to perform a HDD check (which was OK).
Tried copying a recorded show from the P1 to the WD, it copied about 4GB of an 8GB folder then failed.
I've now connected the WD via a powered usb hub and that seems (so far) to have resolved these problems.

dicknose · Post by **dicknose** » Wed May 27, 2009 09:59

I tried a Maxtor Basics 1TB and it worked on my P1

Needed to fat32 it, but after that it seems all good. Can transfer stuff to it and Ive played back both transfered beyonwiz recordings and some other file types.

Its got external power.
It also has a "sleep mode" which sort of works, Ive seen the the P1 report an error accessing the usb drive but then it will work on the next go (ie it wakes it, just it might fail while waking)

The drive was about $165 from Officeworks - I got it cause that was fairly cheap for a brand name from a store I could drive past on my way home!

TripleJ · Post by **TripleJ** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 15:05

Purchased a Astone 1TB External USB Hard Drive from CatchoftheDay last week for $130. Did the format thing everyone mentioned and so far it works like a charm, not exactly fast moving files to it but that's not a worry as I'll do it overnight when I go to bed.

How does one determine how much free space is left on the drive though, the wiz doesn't seem to provide that info.

ross · Post by **ross** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 19:44

TripleJ wrote:Purchased a Astone 1TB External USB Hard Drive from CatchoftheDay last week for $130. Did the format thing everyone mentioned and so far it works like a charm, not exactly fast moving files to it but that's not a worry as I'll do it overnight when I go to bed.

How does one determine how much free space is left on the drive though, the wiz doesn't seem to provide that info.

Slow transfer speed is a result of the BW being a little under powered.

Free space on an external drive, when you go to transfer a file a window comes up telling you the file size and estimated transfer time, write down the sizes and keep a total.

The Astone works well as do most.

I have found that if I connect a 4 port USB hub to the BW (DP-P1, not sure about others) I can have 4 x 1TB drives connected at the same time.

I have used new 1TB drives in some 8 year old USB Aluminium hard drive cases and they work connected through the hub.

Those old cases have Firewire & USB connections but they still work okay on USB.

aza0 · Post by **aza0** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 08:25

Does the Astone Hdd turn it self off when you power the wiz down? My Wd external drives do and I like this function as it saves on power, wear and tear.

Compatible USB Hard Drives

Compatible USB Hard Drives

Seagate Freeagent 750GB works

WD Elements drives

Re: WD Elements drives

Re: WD Elements drives

Clarification on WD My Book HDD required.

Re: Clarification on WD My Book HDD required.

Re: Clarification on WD My Book HDD required.

Success!

Re: Success!

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