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ESata Harddrive Questions

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  • Storage
  • Hard Drives
  • External Hard Drive
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August 8, 2014 2:04:04 PM

Hello all, first time posting on these forums so bear with me. I Have a Directv DVR and recently it has nearly filled with recorded shows I really want to keep. I read that one way to back these recorded shows up on my Computer to have forever, would be to use an "Esata" Hard-drive. I own a USB 2.0 "WB" brand external hard-drive, but i'm not familiar with Esata. I read a bit about it and am not sure if i will need an entirely new Hard-drive that is Esata or whether i can get a converter or cord of some kind that will connect my USB 2.0 hard-drive to the Sata port on the back of my Directv box. Any help or direct links to what i'll need to buy to do this would be awesome!!!
Thank You,
Zach

More about : esata harddrive questions

a b G Storage
August 8, 2014 2:12:43 PM

You can buy hard drive enclosures that you place the hard drive currently within the DVR box into. These will then connect to the PC either by means of USB (Most usual) or eSATA.

eSATA works a lot like USB in its physicality, it even looks very similar. The difference is, depending on your board and the revision version, it's generally a lot faster.

You can buy USB to eSATA cables, although I'm not clued up on how well they work. In all likely hood, finding an enclosure to wrap around the internal hard drive inside your recording device would be the best bet - From there it will just act as a regular external hard drive really.
Once you've got what you need, you can then place it back in the DVR.

As for connecting directly to the DVR itself using just a cable, that's interesting. You would probably need to use some tool either on the PC or the DVR to copy files across. That is, if the port is designed for that. It sounds more like it's supposed to be used as extra recording storage for use with an external drive, there might be a move function however to make the process easy for what you want to achieve.

Watch out for any bizarre video filetypes the DVR might record in. Or even any content protection.
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August 9, 2014 8:48:27 AM

Great info, thank you! Are there different types of enclosures? Like say if one had an older DVR compared to a newer one would their hard drives go into the same type of enclosure?
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a b G Storage
August 9, 2014 9:04:15 AM

zach59923 said:
Great info, thank you! Are there different types of enclosures? Like say if one had an older DVR compared to a newer one would their hard drives go into the same type of enclosure?


Not necessarily different enclosures, but different port types.

E.g. There are two differentials to look out for:

1. Enclosure size. Make sure to buy either a 2.5" one for 2.5" drives, or, a 3.5" for those drives.

2. Port type. It's highly likely that the HDD in the DVR is SATA, but if it's super old it could be IDE. You'll need to buy the right kind of enclosure respectively.
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August 10, 2014 12:35:31 PM

zach59923 said:
Great info, thank you! Are there different types of enclosures? Like say if one had an older DVR compared to a newer one would their hard drives go into the same type of enclosure?


What model of DVR you have?
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August 12, 2014 9:00:04 AM

K6-II said:
zach59923 said:
Great info, thank you! Are there different types of enclosures? Like say if one had an older DVR compared to a newer one would their hard drives go into the same type of enclosure?


What model of DVR you have?

It says Model: HR23-700 inside the little flip down door on the front of the DVR. it's an HD one as well.
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August 12, 2014 10:12:46 AM

I'm not sure if the software which is installed on this devices let you transfer the files (movies) to a different storage device, it might be copyright protected. One way to do it is to connect the DVR hard disk or storage to an external enclosure which has the proper ports to fit the SD, than connect the enclosure to a laptop/pc and start copying, when finished, you need to plug in your external hard disk and start copying from pc/laptop to the external hdd. You can take the storage device out from the DVR and go to any PC shops and ask for an enclosure for it.
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a c 388 G Storage
August 12, 2014 11:20:23 AM

Most every DVR I know only uses the external drive as storage and it's either encrypted or a propriatary format which means it won't transfer to your PC or at least won't play on your PC. Tivo has the ability to move files back and forth from the PC to the DVR, so it's possible a DirecTV receiver with tivo software might allow it.
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August 12, 2014 6:00:38 PM

Is there such thing as a device/cable i could connect to my TV to simply directly capture what's being played on the screen? I would imagine gamers use something like this to capture Gaming video before recording was built into the newer generation consoles. I'm extremely interested in SOMEHOW keeping a couple Super Bowl & NBA recordings forever, even if the quality took a bit of a hit there must be someway to capture/extract these recordings if Directv doesn't allow it with traditional ways
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