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Shaw Gateway: Adding External Drives

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Edit by 57. See the following post for instructions:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=2043129#post2043129



Just wanted to post an update around external enclosures and capacities:

Thanks to some help from deaenforcement I now have my Vantec enclosure working with a 3TB drive. Wahoo - tons of recording space now!

The drive I used is a Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 from Memory Express, and the Vantec is a standard low-end eSata (+Firewire / USB2) enclosure. Just for others looking to hook this up:

Step 1: Get the code added to your account
Step 2: Get the code actually pushed out to your Arris Gateway.

The latter is the more challenging one, it was hard to find a TSR who knew what I meant, I ended up pinging @Shaw_Alex on twitter who did some hunting around for me and got it done - but even that took about a day or so.

After that a gateway reboot and then entering the external hard drive menu item in settings. Formatting took about the full 30 minutes due to the size of the drive I'm assuming.

One item of note - I accidentally formatted a 1TB drive and had that running for a few days before I did the math and realized I mixed it up with my 3TB enclosure of the same type. When I switched them I assumed I'd lose some recordings but actually didn't. I speculate this to mean the unit may fill up the internal drive before the external, but that's just speculation.

Thanks again to deaenforcement for the help!
 
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#34 ·
jorton,

Good catch, looks like there are enclosures working with the gateway supporting full 3TB drives. I saw this note on the Vantec Nexstar MX dual enclosure page, "*More than 2TB can now be recognized under JBOD and RAID 0 mode". The Vantec manual seems pretty dated and claims only up to 2TB drives. For the Medasonic enclosure page states "All Brand of 3.5" SATA / 2 up to 3000GB per drive" BUT in the manual p11 it states "For 3TB Hard drive, users must format in GPT Partitions and use Windows Vista or Windows 7 in 64bit. I assume Vantec is doing something special for full 3TB drive to work with the gateway. I would love to know what that is.
 
#36 ·
4TB Vantec Nexstar MX Raid 0 (2 x 2.0TB WD20EARS)

Been using a Vantec Nexstar MX in Raid 0 with two Western Digital Green 2.0TB "EARS" drives for the past 24 hours with no problems with all the usual tests like recording 6 HD streams at once, checking playback, stoping playback on one TV and resuming on another etc....

There are a couple tricks that you have to follow to use the enclosure though,

1. Use the switch settings on the PCB in the case itself not the manual that as someone else stated is quite dated. I set mine to Raid 0.
2. When pushing the reset button you need to have power on the unit for it to take and trigger the build of the raid. I had the case appart with power on and hit reset then shut off and then it built the Raid 0 when I powered it back on. The Gateway will format the Raid 0 with it's own file system so no need to preformat with GPT etc... in Windows, cause that's for windows ;)

Before connecting up the Nexstar MX the internal drive showed 30% (500GB). After connecting and formatting the recording space showed as 3% (4.5TB). This math seems to work out correctly. (30% of 500GB is 150GB, 150GB / 4500GB = 3.333% rounded to 3% as shown on the Arris UI)


Warning - Do the next two notes at your own risk! ;)

The chipset on the MX is a Silicon Image 5723. If you happen to not get an enclosure without the latest Silicon Image firmware I have read that you should update to 1.1596. The enclosure I received was 1.1596. There is a process to update using Silicon Image Steelvine software if you Google it. This was recommended but don't know if it's necessary as I couldn't test this.

The two WD 2.0T "EARS" drives have both had the wdidle3 (command "wdidle3 /d") utility run on them to disable all parking on the drives. ( I had previously had issues with running these drives in a Raid 5 enclosure so this was recommended by several users, although it didn't seem to help with that enclosure) If you google "TIVO" and "WDIDLE3" you will find a few links to people using this utility setting up the drives for TIVO DVR use.

 
#37 ·
The two WD 2.0T "EARS" drives have both had the wdidle3 (command "wdidle3 /d") utility run on them to disable all parking on the drives. ( I had previously had issues with running these drives in a Raid 5 enclosure so this was recommended by several users, although it didn't seem to help with that enclosure)
Hi Jorton, as I have an enclosure on order and have 2x2TB WD EARS hard drives on hand I went to the WD site to look into the wdidle command you mentioned, this is what it says:
File Name: wdidle3_1_05.zip
File Size: 170 KB
Version: N/A
Publish Date: 4/2010

Important! If a pop-up blocker is installed, you may need to disable it in order to download the software.
Description

This firmware modifies the behavior of the drive to wait longer before positioning the heads in their park position and turning off unnecessary electronics. This utility is designed to upgrade the firmware of the following hard drives: WD1000FYPS-01ZKB0, WD7500AYPS-01ZKB0, WD7501AYPS-01ZKB0.

CAUTION: Do not attempt to run this software on any hard drives other than what is listed above.
Please make sure that the computer system is not turned off during the firmware upgrade. Doing so may damage the hard drive beyond repair and your data may be lost.
I could not find anything along these lines pertaining to EARS drives?
 
#41 ·
Wdidle3

I did say use at your own risk ;)
Yes you did :D. I like the idea, reading the forum (still haven't found the link in the message you provided (link is cropped and would not load the page :rolleyes:).

Appreciate your information, I have a couple of days to study up and decide before I proceed. It would be nice if WD would update their site with the new applicability.
 
#45 · (Edited)
Here is a summary of the enclosures posted in this forum to date,

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8067076/ShawGatewayEnclosureDetails.htm

Best viewed in Explorer/Firefox, the grid lines aren't showing when I publish from Excel 2010 in Chrome, it still works just harder to read.

Please post if you have a working configuration. I will try to keep this up to date as people add new configurations or update their current.

------------------------------------------------------------

What I can see from the results so far is that there may or may not be an issue with the Mediasonic NHUR1-SU3S2 going to sleep/offline. There were several types of drives used in this unit and two of three had the issue where it went off line and the Gateway had to be reset.
 
#52 ·
This is the unit that I purchased, Vantec Nexstart MX (NST-400MX-SR) it came with the latest firmware for the SI5744 chipset.

http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/277

Looks like they have up'ed the specs to 6TB now now that the largest two drive max is 2x3TB.

----------------------------------------

After reading a bit in the Mediasonic forums it looks like the 2TB / 3TB drive size max is sometimes just the largest drive size available at the time the enclosure is released and the manual is printed. It doesn't mean that it can't support a larger drive released in the future.

http://forum.mediasonic.ca/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=458#p2014
 
#53 ·
Contrary to my 2011-08-20 posting, I have confirmed that full 3TB drive is utilized by the gateway.

1 x Mediasonic HUR1-SU3S2 RAID enclosure
2 x Hitachi Deskstar 0S03208 3TB SATA3 7200RPM

Prior to attaching the expander I filled the internal gateway drive to 39% or 195MB. After format which lasted almost exactly 10 mins the recording space shows 5% full for 3TB expander, 195MB / 3500MB = 5.57%. For comparison with 2TB drive, 195MB / 2500MB = 7.8MB. Thanks again for the prior info.
 
#56 ·
I have been following the various Gateway discussions across the web for a little while now. Recently I was forced to take the plunge and order the Gateway as Shaw going digital in my area pretty much made my HTPC obsolete without a lot of franken-rigging which I was unwilling to do. Since I already know that the 500 GB HD in the gateway will not be enough I knew I would have to upgrade that.

I have now ordered 2x2TB WD AV-GP to be put into a Vantec Nexstar MX (NST-400MX-SR) just like Jorton did. I am currently testing the enclosure with two 200 GB Maxtor DiamondMax10 HD's just to ensure that everything is proper before my HD's get here in a week.

Thanks to Jorton for his tips in a prior post. I can't believe that they left the step out that the reset only works if the power to the enclosure is on. I am not quite sure when you say to use the settings on the PCB as the manual is old. I used the ones in the manual and they seem to be fine.

I seem to have Raid 0 working but since the HD's had been used before had to re-allocate and remove the old partion using Diskmanagement. The one thing I am a bit worried about is that the two HD LED's don't seem to light up. The only one that is on is the power LED.

Is the wdidle3 command really necessary on the AV drives? I thought they were designed for AV and constant on uses.
 
#57 ·
I had just read in another forum that the DIP switch settings printed on the PCB were different than the ones in the manual and that the PCB ones were newer. Worked for me.

The front HD LED's only light up with the drives are being accessed (read/write) and the power LED is the only one on all the time. I couldn't see anything in the manual that said otherwise.

Before I put my two WD20EURS (AV-GP drives) in the Nexstar MX, I tested with two WD20EARS (Green PC drives) that were not meant for 24/7 DVR so on those I used the wdidle3 /d to stop them from parking their heads and causing issues. The AV-GP drives do not need to have WDIdle3 /d set on them.

Were you Sagetv, Mythtv or MCE? I'm still running my Sagetv setup with Hauppauge HDPVR's until the Gateway is ready for prime time.
 
#58 ·
My switches are set to the following: Up, Down, Up, Up what are yours set to?

I was a bit worried as that was the only time they would light up. Didn't realize they were just activity indicators.

I was using Window 7 MCE with 6 tuners. With the switch to digital it will still work but only on the first 20 channels or so. Of course most of the shows I watch are not there. I am thinking of switching to XBMC for my other media needs.
 
#60 ·
My switches are set to the following: Up, Down, Up, Up what are yours set to?
I am using Up, Down, Up, Down per the PCB for Raid 0. I have read that some say the PCB is correct and some say the Manual is correct. I went with the PCB as the manual is quite old.

The odd thing is that Up, Down, Up, Down is not even a setting in the manual and I definitely have all 4TB showing on the Gateway. Oh well it's working for me so I won't mess with it.

Just make sure that when you put on the expander that the math works out to what you expect,

Take the before % of Internal drive x 500GB = X GB used.

(X GB used) / (500GB + 4000GB) = Estimated After %

This should be pretty close to what you see. Try to have the internal drive about a 40% to 50% full so that the math gives you an after % of something like 6% full after adding the expander, it just makes it easier to compare and make sure you are seeing the full size.
 
#61 ·
My HDD's will be arriving next week. For some reason there seems to be a bit of a shortage on those drives right now. The gateway gets installed on the 16th. Fingers crossed that all goes well.

I will have to make a list of every channel I currently receive, just to ensure that I do not get screwed in the end. I heard from some co-workers that once they went digital they lost a few of their channels and the only way Shaw fixed is by adding through the Shaw Personalizer which in the end cost them more.
 
#67 ·
Shaw PVR Expanders Out Of Stock Everywhere

My Gateway install is scheduled for Sept 7th. I talked to Shaw customer service about adding a 1T Shaw PVR Expander to the order. She indicated they were out of stock but might still be available at Best Buy or Future Shop. Best Buy and Future Shop are both out of stock on line and at all stores for the "Shaw Iomega PVR 1TB Expander".

Various people in this forum have tried third party hard drives but I prefer to go with something that Shaw has confirmed to work with the Gateway. The Shaw rep indicated the Shaw Expander 1TB does work but it appears they are being phased out (my assumption due to no stock anywhere). Are larger Shaw certified PVR expanders on the way?

I was hoping to have the Shaw intaller set up the Expander when he does the install but it appears that is not an option. Even if I managed to buy one from a third part I doubt the Shaw installer would install it if not purchased through Shaw (and Shaw is out of Stock).
 
#68 ·
The tech support guy I talked to mentioned that there will be larger ones coming but didn't have a clue when.

Re: to buy Shaw or not - Shaw or custom they all have about the same chance of something going wrong with the hard drive in them so as long as you buy a known working enclosure and buy a hard drive that is meant for DVR use you will be as good as a Shaw unit.

The installer hooked up my custom expander no questions, I think he was excited to try it ;). Also, it's not like you can't do it yourself either, you just have to power it on and plug it in then you get prompted to format, so you select "yes" and wait, easy to do.

I you are going to build your own go with known a working setup for the best results.
 
#69 ·
I have 2x2TB AV-GP drives on order but they are backorder everywhere it seems! I will use the 500GB until the new drives arrive, I have the Mediasonic HUR1-SU3S2 box now, it seems well built.

Rocko, I wouldn't worry about using "Shaw" branded extender, I have been using a 1TB drive in a Thermaltake BlacX eSATA Docking Station on my Motorola box for several years without issue (using the much discussed WD green drives), for under $200 you can put together a decent 2TB extender.
 
#71 ·
I am currently using a 4TB Raid 0 expander. With the internal 500GB I am showing 10% full with 115 hours of recordings, of which I would estimate that 80% HD.So using these numbers I can expect to have up to 10x 115 hours so approximately 1150 hours of recorded TV stored based on my recording preferences.

To be honest, I really probably need an additional 2TB or I could mirror the drives and not worry about one dying on me. 4TB is probably excessive for my use.
 
#72 ·
I am seriously thinking of Raid 1, my recording history (with 1160GB available) seldom did I get close to 80% full (only after a vacation). I am sure 2.5 TB of space will more than fill my requirements.

The Shaw Gateway Experience has a 500-gigabyte hard drive
which means you can record up to 60 hours of high-definition
programming or 300 hours of standard-definition programming.
Using that baseline 2.5 TB = 300 hours of HD recording
 
#73 ·
Using that baseline 2.5 TB = 300 hours of HD recording
From my earlier testing with only my 2TB and the internal 500GB, I think you will get closer to 400-500 hours total. I think they are being conservative with the 60Hrs for 500GB estimate but like you say it's a good baseline to determine what kind of space you need.

I am thinking a 2TB Raid 1 as well, would really hate to lose 4TB of recordings in one fell swoop.

I may wipe my external and internal drives and do some testing on the numbers to see how close the 60Hrs per 500GB is.
 
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