Recently I came across some interesting information about how easy it is to add an external hard drive to a digital video recorder. Several brands of hard drives are suggested as well as an e-SATA cord. I show how a hard drive can be added to a Scientific Atlanta DVR, but others may work as well. Have a pencil or pen ready so you can copy down the details and before long, you’ll be able to greatly extend the recording capacity of your home DVR! Recorded: June 5, 2008
Related HD Sites
- How an External Hard Drive Can Benefit You « Prime Electronics
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hard drive media player
25 comments
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numpty1972 says:
June 4, 2008 at 12:48 pm (UTC 0)
Many thanks.
KingKongFan says:
June 9, 2008 at 6:40 am (UTC 0)
Wow Kerry you’re the man! I was just wondering what I could do, not 30 minutes ago, about having already used up most of my memory on my DVR (same model as yours)this week. Thanks for the info…I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself! Thanks very much.
RoboScreech says:
June 14, 2008 at 2:50 am (UTC 0)
any chance of more cooking?
KKD1247 says:
June 14, 2008 at 5:43 am (UTC 0)
Yes! Two more Kerrys Kitchen are underway & will be uploaded soon. Thanks!
RoboScreech says:
June 14, 2008 at 1:26 pm (UTC 0)
Thank you very much
gunmaster1981 says:
August 22, 2008 at 2:56 pm (UTC 0)
i got a kick out of the music in the beginning. sounded like a 80′s info commercial
justin6061 says:
December 29, 2008 at 3:14 am (UTC 0)
We have the same box with bright house but moving to directv soon. Anyways the box they have mostley disabled eveything! But i check the guide i got with them and see if that hopefulley not disabled thanks for the tip,
MurkedStat says:
January 25, 2009 at 12:32 am (UTC 0)
THANKS BRO, good job
calerid says:
March 1, 2009 at 2:45 pm (UTC 0)
Hey guys the other way to do this in a much better ending is to go buy an semi expensive tv tuning card but buying a new drive is going to be farely expensive to but now you have them on your computer and you can convert them to opperate on multi media devices such as a psp,ipod,Or burn them to a dvd without them being in the crappy format of going directly from your dvd player.but this is a very good tut if you donot have a tv card or a computer
Sabei0990 says:
April 20, 2009 at 10:54 pm (UTC 0)
CompUsa lol.
neiltc13 says:
May 1, 2009 at 7:27 pm (UTC 0)
In the UK you can buy a recorder like this which works on satellite or with over the air signals for less than £100. Once you have bought the box you don’t pay any subscription fees each month, it’s totally free to use.
locotito5647 says:
May 19, 2009 at 1:21 am (UTC 0)
please….i beg of you,is there any was i can add an external hard drive or extra memory to my directtv hd dvr,it had an sata port on the back but it is not active,also what directtv hd dvr has the most memory i have the hr21 at 500 gb but that is not enough,…thank you so very much for your support
KKD1247 says:
May 19, 2009 at 2:27 am (UTC 0)
I do not have DirecTV so I’m unable to help you. Perhaps another viewer can help you.
rendezvous65 says:
June 6, 2009 at 6:56 am (UTC 0)
DirecTV can use an eSATA drive but it then uses it as the primary drive. You are limited to 1.5TB. So it’s not really an expansion drive. Just like replacing your drive.
rendezvous65 says:
June 6, 2009 at 7:05 am (UTC 0)
Doesn’t work on the C/HDC boxes since they pushed out a nice update that disables eSATA. The 8300/8300HD boxes be warned because they too could push out a new version that wrecks eSATA. The Samsung SMT-H3090 will work with eSATA but it takes some trial and error. The 3090 will replace the 8300/8240 series boxes. Though there is an even better model called the SMT-H3270. Hopefully that also works with eSATA.
lmn604 says:
August 4, 2009 at 8:17 pm (UTC 0)
What format is the recorded shows in from the dvr?
KKD1247 says:
August 4, 2009 at 11:03 pm (UTC 0)
Sorry…don’t know. Maybe another YouTuber knows the format.
travelbytommy says:
November 21, 2009 at 5:21 am (UTC 0)
the format would depend on the cable company, how they are broadcasting, as well as the type of box that you have.
I am guessing you are asking to see if maybe you can hook up the external hard drive to your computer to watch tv shows? If this is the case I should point out that the external hard drive must remain connected to the DVR any time it is powered on or you will lose all your recordings. Perhaps your DVR might have a way to watch from your computer though.
travelbytommy says:
November 21, 2009 at 5:26 am (UTC 0)
my guess would be that the update was to fix a larger error, or maybe add a new feature, and it just happened to turn off the eSATA port in the process. Also cable companies run on multiple versions of the same software, so it might work for someone else in a different location, or also for you in the future. To my knowledge, cable companies don’t support eSATA yet, and if they do there are only a few tested combinations so it is still an at your own risk kind of thing for the time being.
rendezvous65 says:
December 5, 2009 at 6:10 am (UTC 0)
It’s a format that can’t be read by a PC. Your stuff is tied to that DVR thanks to DFAST licensing. Brighthouse is deploying Cisco 8642HDC’s in some areas. Might even have 500 GB HDD’s but they use ODN. I hear it also has working eSATA. If you unplug the ESATA drive the box want’s to reformat it.
bayonnebobs says:
January 29, 2010 at 11:54 pm (UTC 0)
Can I assume that any hard drive with an sata port will work?
locksmithllanelli says:
March 6, 2010 at 4:41 pm (UTC 0)
Mp4 / Jpeg
joker66599 says:
May 17, 2010 at 6:56 am (UTC 0)
looks like your door in the back ground is falling off
oc5nsli341nforce4 says:
June 23, 2010 at 4:00 am (UTC 0)
pvrexplorer for those who want their old shows off their old dvr. Dump in the hard drive from the old dvr (knowledge of hardware required) and boot up into windows and once installed (no format) and just start up the program then enjoy. Hmmm I am wondering how to get linux to boot on these dvrs and use them with a usb mouse & keyboard as a network client.
AbcChannels says:
June 26, 2010 at 4:04 am (UTC 0)
@KKD1247 charter block that port and finly stop offering the sata port when i sead i need more space i was out right told to rent a 5th dvr