I have had good luck with an Iomega MiniMax 320 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400 Desktop External Hard Drive that I use with my Apple Mac mini MB463LL/A Desktop so I thought I would give this Iomega 34508 eSATA DVR 1TB Expander Drive a try with my DirecTV HD DVR HR-20. The HR-20 is a silver DirecTV HD DVR and not like the newer all black DirecTV HR21/HR22/HR23 which I have one as well. It works great with the extra storage. As anyone who likes to use the DVR for HD content knows, the drive on the DirectTV gets full very fast. I had to keep deleting recorded programs. This Iomega 34508 eSATA DVR 1TB Expander Drive replaces your existing DirecTV Drive so you will not be able to access your existing programs you recorded on the DirecTV HD DVR. It basically steps in "front of the line" of the DirecTV drive but does not delete those programs on DirecTV. I suggested that you watch all your programs you want before you install the Iomega drive. You will not be able to access those DirecTV recordings while the Iomega 34508 eSATA DVR 1TB Expander Drive is connected.
The good news is that an eSata cable comes with the Iomega drive and it works fine. It is not that long - maybe 3 feet but it is not a problem where I have it. I will probably return the 6.6 foot SIIG CB-SA0211-S1 6.6-Feet Serial ATA External Cable that I purchased in addition to the Iomega drive.
I just followed the instructions by unplugging my DirecTV DVR for 10-60 seconds before hooking up the Iomega 34508 eSATA DVR 1TB Expander Drive and plugging in the power for the Iomega drive and then the power for the DirecTV HD DVR. After the DirecTV came back up from searching for a satellite signal, everything was there. I believe some of the shows I wanted to record came up in the menu search after a while since it takes a little time for all the shows to get populated into the menu.
I recommend this for DirecTv HD DVR owners as a great lower cost solution to the Western Digital and Seagate versions of this item. Iomega 34508 eSATA DVR 1TB Expander Drive
Installation instructions were short and effective. I had to reboot my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD a few times to get it to work, which I blame on my DVR's quirky software. The first reboot yielded a question, would I like to format the drive? That complete, it took another reboot for my percent free space to increase massively. This is a simple, inexpensive fix to a DVR storage problem.
Received the Iomega DVR expander from Amazon, registered it online, and performed a "by the book" installation. This is my third device of this type, first Iomega, so the procedure was familiar. The SA8300HD asked if I wanted to format the drive. I said OK. No confirmation of any type. After about 45 mins of no discernable activity, I rebooted the DVR. When it did not recognize the new drive, I rebooted several more times. Iomega chat support suggested a slightly different sequeence of install events. This resulted in a "drive is bad" message from the DVR. Iomega chat support had nothing more to offer other than a "refurbished" replacement of the product.
Installed as a DVR expander on a DirecTV HR20-700 DVR.
Instructions were clear... simply power off DVR, plug in the included 3ft eSATA cable, power up the drive then power up the DVR.
DVR then starts up and formats the new drive (about 15 seconds).
This drive takes over as the new Hard Drive for all recordings and the other drive vanishes (as expected and documented). That said, all of your searches, lists and recording schedules are not available and you must reset them. Also, because you are starting fresh, it takes awhile for the guide to fill in.
Records with the quality of the original and has the same response time.
Only a nit but wish they had put the power LED in the front instead of toward the back.
About a day old but happy so far and looking forward to NOT having to delete things all the time as I did with the standard drive.
Also, I have to thank Amazon for the free and fast super-saver shipping. Very much appreciated!
Good luck!
November 23rd update... could not be happier. Solid performance... have four full NFL games, three full length movies, several tv series episodes and still tones of room.
Many of the reviews mention the Scientific Atlanta 8300 but do not address the 8300 HDC. I have been using this Iomega with the 8300 HDC for about a month and I love it. It installed in less than 5 minutes using the very simple instructions and everything has recorded just as it should since then. It works with the Scientific Atlanta interface and immediately showed that my recording space went from almost full to less than 10% as soon as the installation was complete. Playback has been excellent. The info with this Iomega says that it is designed to work with certain Scientific Atlanta DVR's only. I take that to mean that this will not work with TiVo, etc. - Dvr - Cable - High Definition - Esata'
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