Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA External Hard Drive
by Western Digital
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA External Hard Drive
Customer Review: my dvr expander frustrations
Summary: 2 Stars
I have 2 My DVR EXPANDER's, each on a TIVO HD. Both came with very loosely connecting e-sata cables. And now one has failed after less then a year, and I've lost piles of programming. The symptoms? The TIVO started randomly rebooting, then hanging and rebooting at spots during playback and sometimes during live tv. Attempts to retry watching something where the TIVO rebooted had the same result. Attempts to copy off programs to a PC - I got 5 30 minute SD programs off over several hours of trying, and lost quite a bit of programming I had not watched yet.
I don't understand why a HD fails so easily. However, IMHO the poor e-Sata cables / connections, and very possibly the lack of a cooling fan both seem to cause problems.
I'm also concerned about my second unit. I've had some random reboots on my 2nd TIVO (on a fairly full drive). I'm hoping I'm not seeing early signs of failure of that one as well.
Customer Review: Works perfectly
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this hard drive to expand the capacity of my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR (Bright House cable).
The unit was packaged well and arrived with no problems. Everything you need (including the eSATA cable) is included.
I read the instructions and connected it correctly... and viola! My capacity went from 93% full to 21% full.
If you read the instructions and follow the steps, I don't see how it could NOT work the first time. Also, as a reminder (this is in the instructions too, BTW)... if you need to swap out DVRs for some reason, or move the expander to another DVR, it has to be reformatted, so you will lose everything recorded on it. Not likely scenarios, but I've seen this mentioned in a review or two.
It's silent, the indicator light on the front is dim (great for low-light viewing in a family room or bedroom) and it works right out of the box. That = 5 stars.
Customer Review: Only game in town for TiVo, and what a lousy game!
Summary: 1 Stars
When I bought this, 14 months before it died, TiVo told me that it was the only box they'd recommend.
While it may not be WD's fault that it is so awkward to use, it's quite a pain in the butt.
But the worst part is that now, about two months out of warranty, it's become unreliable and error-prone.
Shows fail to record, often the TiVo (HD) "forgets" about its unused/available capacity, etc.
Reading through the TiVo support forums I see many others have had similar experiences.
It is apparently a failure of the controller design, not the drive, for others have reported being able to use the "dead" (s.m.a.r.t. errors over the threshold) drive on their computers, but the controller/case is somehow fried.
So I say "save your time and money... don't buy this device."
Customer Review: Great Expander
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this expander a few weeks ago and think it works great. I no longer have to worry about being glued to my TV set to watch things I have recorded in fear of loosing the stuff as my DVR filled up. My only problem with this expander was the hook up. I followed the directions exactly as they were written in the instruction book and it did not work. I tried it several times and ended up calling their technical support line. On the phone they told me to do it the opposite of what the book said. In other words, I was to plug the DVR in, then plug the cord from the expander into the DVR, and then lastly plug the Expander power cord in. Up until I did it that way, I couldn't get my DVR to recognize it. Once it recognized it, then I got instructions on the TV screen as to how to proceed to install it so I could have the additional memory.Customer Review: Good product, could be better
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a very convenient way to expand the recording capacity of your TiVo DVR. It is easy to connect the average user should have no problems. The only caveat is that there is no active cooling so make certain it's in a location where air can circulate. Heat is the enemy of hard drives. I would prefer to see a low speed fan employed to enhance reliability or an alumium case used for better heat dissipation.
While I understand that copy protection issue force sharing recordings across the primary drive and this expander, as others have noted if either drive dies you lose most/all you recorded material.
For those TiVo Series 3 owners out there, your options are not limited to this expander. Any eSATA external hard drive will work. For everyone else, thank TiVo for making this your only convenient option.