Compatible USB Hard Drives

ross · Post by **ross** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 18:57

aza0 wrote: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.

That would depend on the hard drive fitted.

You can buy an Astone with a drive fitted, but they are sold at many places with different drives.

I bought the case and fitted my own.

kaanage · Post by **kaanage** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:47

Wiz Support wrote:Most small, pocket sized, USB Drives do NOT work!

- 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.

With my P2, I found that my generic USB 2.5" case + hitachi 2.5" 30Gb IDE drive will not work with the front USB port but works fine with the rear port. Perhaps the rear port can supply more power than the front one.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 14:21

Hi Kaanage,

If your drive power requirements are that close to the limits then I would be concerned about the reliability of that device on the Beyonwiz. If possible you should consider an external power supply or a powered USB hub that can deliver more stable power to your disk.

Regards,
Ian.

mick_queensland · Post by **mick_queensland** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 16:51

IanSav wrote:Hi Kaanage,

If your drive power requirements are that close to the limits then I would be concerned about the reliability of that device on the Beyonwiz. If possible you should consider an external power supply or a powered USB hub that can deliver more stable power to your disk.

Regards,
Ian.

Hi Ian,

do you think that the power limits could be the problem with my USB thumb drive? It is a large drive, 128GB, and worked erratically when connected to my DP-H1. (See post above)

I may dig around for a USB hub to try, but I really wanted to have the device power up and down when I turn my wizzer on and off.

Cheers Mick

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 20:00

Hi Mick,

mick_queensland wrote:do you think that the power limits could be the problem with my USB thumb drive? It is a large drive, 128GB, and worked erratically when connected to my DP-H1. (See post above)

I may dig around for a USB hub to try, but I really wanted to have the device power up and down when I turn my wizzer on and off.

USB sticks shouldn't have much of a power demand. It is the motors and moving parts in a hard drive that usually take all the power. If you are having issues then trying a powered hub shouldn't hurt and it may help.

Regards,
Ian.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 20:47

Flash devices are really silly for a PVR recording drive, they are not designed for this reading/writing constantly changing type setup, they are more designed for write once, playback, write again, playback etc. So timeshifting is really going to have issues too, once the timeshift buffer size is full (erasing and writing and reading all at the same time)... I am sure a flash device on a PVR (as the main drive) will grind to a massive halt, flash devices do not have cluster erase options like a HDD, they essentially have to erase a whole block at a time.

mick_queensland · Post by **mick_queensland** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 23:31

tonymy01 wrote:Flash devices are really silly for a PVR recording drive, they are not designed for this reading/writing constantly changing type setup, they are more designed for write once, playback, write again, playback etc. So timeshifting is really going to have issues too, once the timeshift buffer size is full (erasing and writing and reading all at the same time)... I am sure a flash device on a PVR (as the main drive) will grind to a massive halt, flash devices do not have cluster erase options like a HDD, they essentially have to erase a whole block at a time.

Hi Tony,

now that doesnt make any sense to me. I dont see how a computer can treat a drive connected to a USB port differently. It uses the same drivers to address the bus, and move data back and forth for any/all drives, be they spinning disk or solid state. Please correct me if I am wrong... Is there a drive guru out there that can set me straight?

Cheers Mick

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 23:40

Flash technology cannot simply turn a 0 into a 1 or a 1 into a zero when erasing/changing information. You must erase the chip to be able to turn 1s into 0s, and can't turn them back into 1s again until erased again. So erasing or altering information is painfully slow on a flash device. Now simpler flash chips used for firmware have about 8 sectors only that can be erased one at a time (or the whole chip can be formatted also), I don't know what these multi-gigabyte sticks are like, but it would be quite similar technology. Erasing is not something that is instant, it takes time. USB flash devices have a striping or control circuitry on them however so you constantly aren't erased and writing to the same area on the chips, as they do have limited write cycles. But the underlying "erasing required to write" is still there to some extent.
I don't think flash technology can be seen as a serious HDD replacement.. yet.

edited to swap "format" with "erase" everywhere to remove confusion, as formatting is more about putting a filesystem on a drive.

prl · Post by **prl** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 23:50

tonymy01 wrote:...
I don't think flash technology can be seen as a serious HDD replacement.. yet.

Steve Jobs seems to disagree

kaanage · Post by **kaanage** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 00:30

IanSav wrote:Hi Kaanage,

If your drive power requirements are that close to the limits then I would be concerned about the reliability of that device on the Beyonwiz. If possible you should consider an external power supply or a powered USB hub that can deliver more stable power to your disk.

Regards,
Ian.

Hi Ian

I've used it successfully to copy files to and from the P2 about 5 times now over the last couple of weeks with no issues so it seems reliable enough for my purposes. It would be interesting to see if anyone else who has had issues with usb powered HDDs finds the rear USB port works when the front port doesn't.

I'll give it a go with a SATA 2.5" WD drive in a Vantec CX case in the next couple of days.

Greg

kaanage · Post by **kaanage** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 01:06

prl wrote:
tonymy01 wrote:...
I don't think flash technology can be seen as a serious HDD replacement.. yet.
Steve Jobs seems to disagree

SSD HDDs are rather more complex than a simple flash usb drive and they do slow down after being used for a while for the reason tonmy01 stated, unless the deleted blocks are erased using a "trim" command.

[tried editing the previous post to add this but the site software keeps failing to delete the orig post]

StarbugII · Post by **StarbugII** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 13:45

Is there an updated list of 1TB USB HDD that will work with a P2 without too much stuffing around?

I was thrilled when I found the list at the start of this post and have been looking for one of the drives listed, but I?ve found that since the price of drives has fallen so much recently, all the shops now only stock 1TB drives or portable drives. I?ve tried reading through other posts to see if any of the 1TB drives will work easily, but I?ve ended up completely confused. My understanding is that a 1TB drive might work, if it?s partitioned into 2 smaller sections ? it this correct? Is it necessary? I would really appreciate some help.

Recusant · Post by **Recusant** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 19:12

My 1tb WD Essentials (small plug on the hdd - i know the list says it's not cool - but because it navigates fine i assume it would still work??) connects and reads fine, i can navigate comfortably - seeing everything.

But not a single file will read: "unsupported format". Be it picture, video or music.

I'm going to try turning off the "compress drive to save space" that is currently on it - but aside from that does anyone have any ideas?

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Fri Jul 10, 2009 21:27

Hi Recusant,

Does the drive use an external power pack? If not, it is probably trying to draw too much current from the Beyonwiz.

Regards,
Ian.

prl · Post by **prl** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 11:52

Recusant wrote:...
I'm going to try turning off the "compress drive to save space" that is currently on it - but aside from that does anyone have any ideas?

That could easily be the problem. Media files will typically not compress much more anyway; they're usually already compressed quite well.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:23

IanSav wrote:Does the drive use an external power pack?

I am sure it would. They don't make 1TB USB powered HDDs yet (as I don't think there are 2.5" 1TB drives yet).

Recusant · Post by **Recusant** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 19:28

OK. I tried decompressing the HDD and it went for about 12hours (hey, it is a TB) and thought :"it's done enough - i'll check out a folder i know its done."

I attached it and the BW could navigate - but all the files were 'missing'.

Put back into PC - all files were present and worked.

So, i tried to change all the permissions to "everyone". It didn't seem to help. I suspect that i may have had to uncompress the entire drive. But as it took over 12 hours to do not all i decided the best thing to do was start from scratch.

I blew away the partitions, created a FAT32 and NTFS partitions (FAT32 to move files from the BW to HDD caddy) and formatted both.

Copied some files and now everything seems to work.

FYI - this is a WD Essentials 1TB drive with the small USB connection. It (eventually) worked fine and shuts itself off when the BW turns off. Neat

prl · Post by **prl** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 22:25

Recusant wrote:...
FYI - this is a WD Essentials 1TB drive with the small USB connection. It (eventually) worked fine and shuts itself off when the BW turns off. Neat

That's a feature of all the WD MyBook series, it appears, and is generally much appreciated.

mick_queensland · Post by **mick_queensland** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 07:25

prl wrote:
Recusant wrote:...
FYI - this is a WD Essentials 1TB drive with the small USB connection. It (eventually) worked fine and shuts itself off when the BW turns off. Neat
That's a feature of all the WD MyBook series, it appears, and is generally much appreciated.

Hi

would the WD MyBook series make a suitable recording drive for an H1?
What I want is a drive that I dont need to turn on and off when I turn the BW on and off, and of course it will need to start up quickly when the BW timer record starts. Anyone tried this with a drive that turns itself off and on?

Cheers Mick

prl · Post by **prl** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 10:20

mick_queensland wrote:
prl wrote:
Recusant wrote:...
FYI - this is a WD Essentials 1TB drive with the small USB connection. It (eventually) worked fine and shuts itself off when the BW turns off. Neat
That's a feature of all the WD MyBook series, it appears, and is generally much appreciated.
Hi

would the WD MyBook series make a suitable recording drive for an H1?
What I want is a drive that I dont need to turn on and off when I turn the BW on and off, and of course it will need to start up quickly when the BW timer record starts. Anyone tried this with a drive that turns itself off and on?

Cheers Mick

Funny you should ask that

I use a WD MyBook Essentials 250GB as the recording HDD on my H1. It spins down and goes to low power mode when the H1 powers off. If you have timeshifting enabled, the HDD won't spin down when the H1 is powered up, anyway, except perhaps when you're in the FilePlayer or Setup menu. IMO, the only thing wrong with the WD MyBook series is that they have quite bright and obtrusive status LEDs.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 10:38

Hi Peter,

prl wrote:IMO, the only thing wrong with the WD MyBook series is that they have quite bright and obtrusive status LEDs.

The same could be said of most of the Beyonwiz front panels.

Regards,
Ian.

prl · Post by **prl** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 11:19

IanSav wrote:Hi Peter,
prl wrote:IMO, the only thing wrong with the WD MyBook series is that they have quite bright and obtrusive status LEDs.
The same could be said of most of the Beyonwiz front panels.

Regards,
Ian.

True, and they're harder to hide than a HDD. Our HDD sits behind the phone books

The lack of the blue searchlight effect is one of the few thinks I like about the S1 case design.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:08

Hi Peter,

prl wrote:The lack of the blue searchlight effect is one of the few thinks I like about the S1 case design.

There is that and the self illuminating touch panel, that only lights up when the buttons are in active use, and adds a touch of class, it also eliminates button moving parts.

Regards,
Ian.

prl · Post by **prl** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:23

IanSav wrote:Hi Peter,
prl wrote:The lack of the blue searchlight effect is one of the few thinks I like about the S1 case design.
There is that and the self illuminating touch panel, that only lights up when the buttons are in active use, and adds a touch of class, it also eliminates button moving parts.

Regards,
Ian.

Hi, Ian. The self-illumination of the front panel touch "buttons" is nice. However, I've never been able to make the "standby" double press (or triple press if you count the press to activate the touch screen) work reliably on my S1.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:41

Hi Peter,

prl wrote:Hi, Ian. The self-illumination of the front panel touch "buttons" is nice. However, I've never been able to make the "standby" double press (or triple press if you count the press to activate the touch screen) work reliably on my S1.

I rarely turn my unit off but when I have used the front panel to do so it has never been an issue for me. I usually brush my hand across the panel to activate it then double tap the STANDBY button to effect the shut down.

Regards,
Ian.

mick_queensland · Post by **mick_queensland** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 06:09

Hi prl,

thanks for that, its nice to know that there's a solution if I choose to use the H1 for a recorder.

Cheers
Mick

sub3R · Post by **sub3R** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 16:40

For those interested I?ve just edited/updated my post here on replacing the LED in a Vantec Nexstar 3.5? HDD enclosure.

pellajl · Post by **pellajl** » Sun Aug 09, 2009 23:52

Compatible

Make: BUFFALO
Model: LinkStationQuad - LS-QL81C
Size: 4TB (RAID 5)
Connection used: Ethernet (100Mb/s at the moment)
Disk/Fan Noise: Very quiet
Transfer speed: (MB/sec): 0.8-0.9MB/sec (using Wireless network in BW)
Ease of set up: Easy
Other features: See link to Buffalo

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/net ... tion-quad/

Problems experienced: None

prl · Post by **prl** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 09:15

pellajl wrote:...
Connection used: Ethernet (100Mb/s at the moment)
Disk/Fan Noise: Very quiet
Transfer speed: (MB/sec): 800-900Kb/sec (using Wireless network in BW)
...

Kb/s? Do you mean kB/s (kilobytes/sec) or kb/s (kilobits/sec/sec). And why a heading of MB/s when you give kB/s (or kb/s) on the line?

'K' is not an SI unit multiplier. It only ever means thermodynamic temperature in Kelvin in SI.

pellajl · Post by **pellajl** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 23:14

prl wrote:
pellajl wrote:...
Connection used: Ethernet (100Mb/s at the moment)
Disk/Fan Noise: Very quiet
Transfer speed: (MB/sec): 800-900Kb/sec (using Wireless network in BW)
...
Kb/s? Do you mean kB/s (kilobytes/sec) or kb/s (kilobits/sec/sec). And why a heading of MB/s when you give kB/s (or kb/s) on the line?

'K' is not an SI unit multiplier. It only ever means thermodynamic temperature in Kelvin in SI.

I have the changes.... Are you happy now?

If you are so hung up about the "K", then you better get our friends at BW to change the K to lower case when they display the data transfer rate.

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 23:21

pellajl wrote:If you are so hung up about the "K", then you better get our friends at BW to change the K to lower case when they display the data transfer rate.

LOL! But it is good to get right, as so many people get it wrong and it is difficult to know the point they were making when it is wrong (well, I am referring in particular to the other point of the bits/sec vs bytes/sec. I pretty much know "K"=kilo in 99.999% of the context related to data transfer rates).

rexlt · Post by **rexlt** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 18:24

I have a Western Digital My Book 250GB USB HDD which appears on the list of drives in this post that should work but I have a problem with it on my FV-L1.

While the device was recognised and I could explore it under the File Player when formatted as FAT32 but when I attempted to format it under Setup my FV-L1 would not show the HDD on the list to enable me to format it.

I tried other things like formatting as exFAT, delete the entire partition and it still will not display the device for me to format. What is wrong with this machine?

My FV-L1 has the current firmware of 01.07.012. Hope someone can help.

netmask · Post by **netmask** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 20:08

How do you want to use the attached HDD?

prl · Post by **prl** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 22:48

rexlt wrote:...
I tried other things like formatting as exFAT,
...

The Beyonwiz can't use exFAT (or FATX). The only HDD formats it recognises are FAT and NTFS, and the latter read-only.

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 22:14

rexlt wrote:I have a Western Digital My Book 250GB USB HDD which appears on the list of drives in this post that should work but I have a problem with it on my FV-L1.

Which My Book? There are lots of different models. If it's a Passport then you may be out of luck as it could require more power than the Beyonwiz supplied 500mA (which is exactly what a USB 2 port is supposed to supply). Try the rear USB port (some people have found it supplies a bit more power than the front port). Otherwise you'll need a powered USB hub between the Beyonwiz and the USB HDD.

rexlt · Post by **rexlt** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 21:10

Hi,

Sorry for not getting back until now. Been hugely busy at work and this is the first chance I have had to see if anyone has responded. Big thanks to everyone.

To answer the questions:

Dave:
The MyBook is Model No. is WD2500I032. It has its own power supply. I have tried both front and rear USB ports. In both cases the device was recognised and the content was viewable in the File Player but the Format USB HDD list under setup will not show my device to enable me to format it with my FV-L1.

Netmask:
I want to be able to copy my recorded programs from the FV-L1 to the HDD for safe keeping. In the 2 months I have had the FV-L1 it has totally corrupted all the recorded programs I have made to that point for no apparent reason 3 times already (frustrating). No power outages during use (on decent power surge protector) and it does not get moved or knocked and so on. So either the HDD maybe dodgy or the firmware is not solid enough to deal with minor glitches in recording or write operations.

prl:
I figured that was the case and it was a long shot but my laptop is Vista and it was the only other option it gave me to format the HDD other than NTFS. I only want to get the FV-L1 to format because I am not going to use the HDD for anything else but store recorded programs.

Many thanks for your time. I hope there is an answer.

netmask · Post by **netmask** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 21:32

You cannot copy ANY files recorded to your internal hard disk from digital TV services with the Freeview model. That's what the Freeview model is all about restricting copying. You need a P2 if you want to be able to archive off air recordings.

rexlt · Post by **rexlt** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 08:44

WHAT!!!! What a rip-off.

Where are the warnings saying you cannot do this in the manual? No where.

Why have these USB ports if you cannot do the most basic operations? Why say that I can do these things in the manual when I can't?

I might to go back to Harvey Norman and give them a blast as well for misleading conduct for saying that I can do these things.

Thanks for all your help anyway.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:24

Hi Rexlt,

rexlt wrote:Where are the warnings saying you cannot do this in the manual? No where.

For most people reading this in the manual is too late. Most people, who read the manual, do so after the purchase has been made. They need to be told by the salesperson at the point of purchase.

rexlt wrote:Why have these USB ports if you cannot do the most basic operations? Why say that I can do these things in the manual when I can't?

The restrictions on copying etc only apply to TV recordings. They do not apply to other media files.

rexlt wrote:I might to go back to Harvey Norman and give them a blast as well for misleading conduct for saying that I can do these things.

Good move.

Regards,
Ian.

DaveR · Post by **DaveR** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 21:52

rexlt wrote:Where are the warnings saying you cannot do this in the manual? No where.

The warning is the big Freeview logo on the outside of the box.

The manual, quite rightly, says what you CAN do, not what you can't.

rexlt wrote:Why have these USB ports if you cannot do the most basic operations? Why say that I can do these things in the manual when I can't?

As Ian said, on the FV-L1 the USB ports are used for other media files - not recordings.

rexlt wrote:I might to go back to Harvey Norman and give them a blast as well for misleading conduct for saying that I can do these things.

Every stores' sales staff should ask if the customer wishes to transfer recordings off the HDD, or easily skip ads, and then steer them to a DP-P2 if either answer is yes. But in reality, the stores will sell you whichever model (and brand) that they have in stock at the time. At the end of the day, it is up to the customer to make an informed purchase, and to ask the salesperson the right questions. Never assume anything.

Jeff Parker · Post by **Jeff Parker** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:56

Hi, I have a 1TB connected to my S1 and it works fine. Had to format it first to FAT.

Does anyone know if the recently released 2TB Seagate Freeagent drive works? If not, would you foresee any problems with it as a USB HDD?

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 17:30

Hi Jeff,

Jeff Parker wrote:Hi, I have a 1TB connected to my S1 and it works fine. Had to format it first to FAT.

Does anyone know if the recently released 2TB Seagate Freeagent drive works? If not, would you foresee any problems with it as a USB HDD?

If the drive is formatted as FAT then there should be no issues reading or writing to the disk. If it is formatted as NTFS then you should be able to read from the disk. That is, the size should not be an issue. If the previous FreeAgent models worked then I see no reason why the new model shouldn't work.

Regards,
Ian.

Jeff Parker · Post by **Jeff Parker** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 17:37

Many thanks Ian. FYI, the initial post for this thread lists the Seagate Freeagent 1TB in the "What does not work!" section, which at least for me is not the case. Mine has been working well for over 15 months on my DP-S1 as a USB HDD.

crippstor · Post by **crippstor** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 18:13

Many thanks for the replies in this section, just bought a WD 250GB My Essentials for my H1 and it is going fine.
Special thanks to all that run the forum

Jan · Post by **Jan** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 21:25

Hi Everyone

I'm after a small (capacity-wise), cheap USB Hard drive. The Verbatim and WD that Tony speaks of in the first page of this thread, are no longer available. I can get a Verbatim 250GB and a WD Elements 320GB. These seem to be the smallest available these days. Do you think that these Drives would work as well as the proven smaller capacity ones? Or, even better, has anybody tried them?

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 21:34

Yeah, it is a shame, as a $69 HDD (120G) is way way better value than those silly USB sticks. I couldn't get one again for myself either (I got that as a gift for a friend) so ended up with a WD 160G elements for $89 I think it was.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 21:36

Hi Jan,

It is very likely that a drive, from a manufacturer whose products used to work, should still work.

The only issue that may crop up is that a larger capacity drive *may* have a higher power requirement that *may* cause power problems. The smaller capacity drives usually do not create any problems.

If you are unsure or concerned about your purchase the select a store that will allow a full money back guarantee should you have any issues with your purchase.

Regards,
Ian.

Jan · Post by **Jan** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 22:10

crippstor wrote:just bought a WD 250GB My Essentials for my H1 and it is going fine.

Hi Crippstor

Is that the My Passport Essentials? Also, have you tried it with your P1?

Jan · Post by **Jan** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 22:15

Thanks Tony and Ian.

Tony, it seems the WD 160G is an extinct species now.

Ian, I can get both the drives I mentioned at Officeworks, so I might check on their returns policy and see how I go. They are $88 and $97 there which seems to beat anything I can find online.

Compatible USB Hard Drives

Re: Compatible USB Hard Drives

USB power needs

Re: USB power needs

SSDvs HDD

Western Digital MyBook not recognised

Re: Western Digital MyBook not recognised

Re: Western Digital MyBook not recognised

Seagate Freeagent

Re: Seagate Freeagent

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