Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA External Hard Drive by Western Digital
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Digital camera reviews of Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA External Hard Drive
Digital camera Review: Blessing for HD DVR recording
Summary: 5 Stars
I've always liked WD products (I have 6 WD external hard drives for my computer). This WD DVR Expander did not disappoint.
Easy hookup - AFTER I followed WD's instructions, NOT Cablevision's.
I am now able to record HD programs at will without worrying about what else I need to delete off of the DVR.
My only regret is that it isn't a terabyte drive, but I went from no free space on my DVR to 70% free, without breaking a sweat.
If you love your DVR, you'll fall in love all over again when ALL of cable is available at your beck and calling. (OK, not ALL, but a helluva lot more)
Digital camera Review: Compatibility a problem
Summary: 2 Stars
If you have Cox cable, ONLY the Scientific Atlanta 8300 DVR box will work. No other. Unfortunately, it isn't easy to exchange boxes. Cox is always running out.Digital camera Review: Connectivity Failures
Summary: 2 Stars
Both of my WD "My DVR Expanders" were detected by (1) both of my Brighthouse SA8300HDC DVRs active eSATA port, and (2) by Device Manager for both of my Compaq Presario eSATA ports, but neither of the WD Drives would read/write, for either host. Any tips?Digital camera Review: Couldn't Be Easier - Works With Scientific Atlanta 8300
Summary: 5 Stars
What can you say - for a device like this, "scoring" is it easy. It either works as advertised, or it doesn't - this thing works as advertised. It's easy to hook-up/install, or it is not - the directions couldn't be clearer, and it was a snap to hook-up.
I have a Comcast DVR Scientific Atlanta 8300HD. I was constantly running into low space issues. No matter how hard I tried to keep up with "house keeping" it always seemed to run at or near capacity. And with the 2008 Summer Olympics coming up, I was finally motivated to find a solution.
I did few Google searches, and yielded some promising results. Other users of the SA-8300HD had the same problem and came up with varying solutions - build you own eSATA external drive, or buy an out-of-the-box device. I'm pretty tech savvy, having built a number of PCs and external USB drives. The cost of DIY-ing a similar device was about $100-110, delivered. For $40 more, I could get a pre-built and certified device. I didn't want any hassles, so I went with this.
It looks like and is the same size as any of the WD MyBook external drives. It's a little smaller than a hard covered book. It comes with an external power supply and an eSATA cable, and a Quick Install guide.
Total time to install - 15 minutes, tops. I could have done it in less than ten, if I read the install guide fully. I jumped the gun and instead of pulling the plug on the DVR, I just turned it off. YOU HAVE TO UNPLUG THE DVR BEFORE CONNECTING THE EXPANDER. Which is what the directions says, but I skipped.
So, to install, you:
1) Check Capacity of your recorder (mine was at 62%)
2) Unplug the DVR
3) Plug in the Expander
4) Connect the Expander to the DVR with the eSATA cable
5) Plug the DVR back in.
The DVR will go through its boot process. When the clock reappears, turn on your TV and then your DVR. A message will appear:
"Detected an external DVR Expander - do you want to format it for use with this DVR?"
Hit Yes and the message disappears. There is nothing to tell you it is performing the install/format. A few minutes later, a new message appears:
"The DVR Expander is ready to use"
Go to the recording section and check capacity. Mine dropped to 16%!
My recommendation - do not hesitate, buy this. Even if you are tech-savvy, is your time/effort worth $40? This is certified and guaranteed to work. WD drives are typically sturdy, and their MyBooks are highly rated.
Hurry - the Olympics start August 8!!
Digital camera Review: DOES NOT WORK with Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR
Summary: 1 Stars
I think others had the same problem as I did. I have a Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD DVR (Time Warner Cable) and although installation was easy and my SA 8300 can read the extra memory...the shows that are recorded on my Western Digital external drive don't play back normally. There is a LOT of pixelated distortion and not just occasionally, like every 10 seconds or so. So much that it just makes whatever I recorded un-watchable and I end up deleting everything that's recorded on the external drive. When I unplug it and go back to using my SA 8300 DVR, the shows get recorded normally, so I'm sure it's the external hard drive that cannot record properly from cable. Does anybody have any solutions to this? It's too late for me to return the hard drive, so it just ends up getting dusty and unused...and I'm out about $100 bucks from this now. I've called WD many times and so far I have had 2 replacement drives...but they all have similar results. They say they "don't do refunds", so what am I supposed to do? If you have a scientific atlanta DVR (from Time Warner Cable) DO NOT buy this product unless you like throwing out $100.