Hd drive

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What is the best hd drive for the octagon 918 hd.

[peter273]

Varies, even with different FW versions some suddenly drop out and others suddenly start working or stop working after the first recording.

Maybe best to dig into the disk-info is scattered all over there in several posts.

Greetz

[peter273]

Updated: oct 07 2009

Just tried gathering some information on the "compatible disk theme"....
I've sorted them in three categories: working, doubtfull and non-working.
All of this info is "second to third hand info", meaning if they are wrong then this list is wrong, so don't blame me :smash:

If you report a brand, PLEASE report what's on the disk, NOT what's on the outside of the housing. Some "brands" use a different brand of disk (eg Toshiba uses mainly Western Digital disks)


WORKING
Samsung SpinPoint F1 DT SATA II 500 GB + Fantec C35US2 housing
Samsung SpinPoint F1 DT SATA II 750 GB + Fantec MR-35US2 housing
Samsung 500 Gb SpinPoint (no further info)
Samsung HD103UJUSB + Fantec housing DB338US2
Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB, 32MB cache + Akasa 3.5"casing
Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB HDD 7200rpm SATA serial ATA --3.0
Samsung HD 403 LJ (400 Gb) + Veris/Antec MX1 external housing (rather noisy due to fan)
Samsung HD642JJ 3,5" SATA 640GB + Fantec FB-C35US2 (USB2.0/eSATA)
Samsung HD501LJ , 500GB
Samsung HM320JI 320 GB (built in)
Samsung HD 203 WI 2TB
Hitachi Deskstar 1TB HDT721010SLA360 3.5" mit Verbatim eSATA & USB 2.0 Combo
Hitachi HCP725 with 500 GB
Hitachi HDT 721010 SLA 360
IOMEGA SKU 34290 PROFESSIONAL 1TB ESATA2/ USB2.0.
Seagate HDD 500GB USB External eSATA II
Western Digital MYBook WD5000H1CS 500 GB
Western Digital Caviar Green GP 500 GB.
Western Digital FP WD 10 EADS 1 TB + ICY BOX IB-351 (USB2.0/eSATA)


DOUBTFULL, mixed results
Western Digital MyBook 320GB (exact type? used low level formatter or not?)
Western Digital MyBook 320GB (used original low level formatter of WD first, then it worked)
Western Digital MyBook 1Tb SATA II disk
Western Digital Mybook2 Home 1TB

For the Tevion 640 GB :
==>some report problems, maybe due to different types of harddisks inside
==>one of these types is SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.11 ST3640323AS, no initial problems but soft of 18.12.08 seems to have "lost" this disk


NOT WORKING
Western Digital mybook 500 GB (probably not the same as reported above)
Western Digital MyBook 300GB from SW version V10163 and up
Western Digital MyBook 1Tb SATA II disk
Western Digital Mybook2 Home 1TB
Toshiba MK5055GSX only works by USB

In some cases the _tools of WD_ (http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?=113&sid=3&lang=en) seem to solve the problem of "unrecognized disk", by re-initializing them. Sure worth a try.


possible first conclusion
At first glance the Samsung disks seem to be the most compatible, whereas Western Digital generally seems to be failing one way or the other.


Copying films from disk to PC
Because of the proprietary disk format it's just not possible to simply copy something from disk to PC.
There is however a small tool PVR890 to be found in __this thread__ (http://www.octagon.gmc.to/thread.php?threadid=4544&hilight=PVR890), it is able to "see" and copy the disk contents.
IMPORTANT: NEVER change anything on disk using your PC (erase, overwrite,...), if try it anyway the disk will NO longer be recognized by the box.


Disk no longer recognized
Whenever this happens (and every possible trick fails), reset all bytes on the disk to 0xff (automatic or manual with for instance a tool like Hexworks).
In this way all information on the disk with respect to FAT, directories and partitioning will be erased.
On a PC the disk will be seen as "unpartitioned/unformatted", this doesn't matter since the box will create its own filesystem.


Please keep in mind:
- NEVER change anything on the disk when it's connected to the PC, for that's the way to have it no longer recognized for sure.
- this is most likely an incomplete list of what information is around on this theme
- so don't feel limited to this list to try any others :respect-065:
- ALWAYS do the connecting/disconnecting with everything SWITCHED OFF
- ALWAYS switch on the disk first,wait a few seconds for it to spin up
- THEN switch on the receiver (backside, mains switch)
- most of this info seems published by non-techies able to plug-and-try, but maybe not always accurate in describing their config or problems accurately if any arise.
- several posts have mentioned that building the disk right into the box got better recognition
- several posts also mentioned "bad esata cable" in the box
- especially keep in mind that IF the disk has a "sleep mode", the receiver will NOT recognise it after the first "disk-sleep". This is due to the fact it's not plug and play, but boot-time recognition.
If the receiver tries to connect to a "sleeping" disk, the disks response is too slow thereof "loosing" the disk.
This is especially irritating for "timer recordings". From firmware V 10293 upward this error should be fixed.

Greetz

[logout]

Thank you for all the info.

[eazy]

thanks for the info mate.

[fandtm666]

I can report the

Astone ISO GEAR ISO-481E 3.5 SATA to USB2.0 + eSATA External HDD

with the 500gi segate

Model Number ST3500320AS
Seagate® Barracuda® 7200.11


works flawlessly

[eazy]

thanks for the info.