8300HD & WD DVR expander

Western Digital says the DVR should turn the external HD on and off as req'd. SureWest can't find any documentation supporting this for the 8300HD. Consequently the HD appears (two ring lites are on) to be on all the time. The HD (500GB) works fine as far as recording goes.

Anyone have any info on this?

TIA

I have the ITB version with a TiVo DVR and as far as I know both hard drives, internal and external, are running all of the time unless the TiVo is unplugged. Since the DVR's are buffering all of the time, data is being written to the hard drives all of the time, 24 hours a day. I have never used the 8300HD but if it isn't constantly running, I would be surprised. Any data written to the external hard drive has to be immediately accessible so I don't know how it could be off until needed.

Chris

WD lead me to believe that the DVR was supposed to somehow signal the HD to turn on and off as req'd.

I can live w/ it on all the time but just didn't want its life to be shortened.

WD lead me to believe that the DVR was supposed to somehow signal the HD to turn on and off as req'd.

I can live w/ it on all the time but just didn't want its life to be shortened.

I have been using DVR's for 9 years now and I have had 3 hard drive failures during that period. If Western Digital sent you anything in writing that indicated the DVR could be running but the WD drive not running, I would like to see what they indicated. That doesn't seem likely to me.

Chris

From WD - "From the information we have available, the unit will respond to the commands sent by the DVR machine when it starts looking for available space to store the contents, and also, when it should power on and off."

From this, I interpreted that the DVR would somehow signal the HD to turn on when necessary and off when the DVR shuts off.

What brand of HDs do you use?

From WD - "From the information we have available, the unit will respond to the commands sent by the DVR machine when it starts looking for available space to store the contents, and also, when it should power on and off."

From this, I interpreted that the DVR would somehow signal the HD to turn on when necessary and off when the DVR shuts off.

What brand of HDs do you use?

The only time the DVR is truly off, is when power is removed. Like unplugging it from the wall. If you hit the power button, it is put in standby, but like Chris stated the HD is constantly buffering.

DeadHead68

From WD - "From the information we have available, the unit will respond to the commands sent by the DVR machine when it starts looking for available space to store the contents, and also, when it should power on and off."

From this, I interpreted that the DVR would somehow signal the HD to turn on when necessary and off when the DVR shuts off.

What brand of HDs do you use?

I have used every brand imaginable, Quantum, Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, Hitachi, Samsung, and a couple of others. I have often had 3 different DVR's running for much of the period. I had a Quantum Fireball IDE drive fail and Maxtor replaced that under warranty and subsequently I had two Maxtor 120GB IDE drives fail. This TiVo has Western Digital internal and external eSATA drives. I think Western Digital has done more research with DVR drives and is probably a good choice. I wouldn't pay much of a premium compared to Seagate or the others and warranty period is probably most important.]

Chris