HDD capacity for a TM-6800/6900

[Buster_uk]

Hi I have just bought and set up a 500gb iOMEGA network HDD from comet They are having a 10% off this drive online only at the moment, I used the collect from store option and paid £89.99 and upto now after reformating to fat 32 No problems with record or playback.

[flashgordon1952]

I probably go for the 200/250gb USB HDD from maplins. because i think there maybe a problem with the formatting with a bigger drive

[boxspanner2002]

Originally Posted by Mship

I've emailed Technomate to see if there is any limit or recommendations on HDD size for the 6*** range

I won't be holding my breath for a reply though - I'm still waiting for a reply to one I sent at the start of the year

Kev

EDIT: I've just read on another site that someone has a 500Gig HDD working on one

Morning Keith,

PVR facilties are fully working by USB.

You can use any HDD provided it is formatted by our manual on our Support page, however, we recommend USB powered HDDs such as the Western Digital Passport series as they do not need mains power.

We have tested up to 500gb.

Best Regards,
Ryan
-------------------------------------
Technomate Ltd
Unit 11 Nobel Road
Edmonton
London N18 3BH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 8884 0701
Fax: +44 (0)20 8884 0275
www.technomate.com
info@technomate.com

[satkitten]

Glad to read and hear comments here,,,

for Buster....how is your drive at HD recording and playback...defo thinking of one of these ...my xmas pressy lol

[charlie1966]

Can vouch for the Western Digital 250Gig, works a dream.

[alan194]

i got my 500gig from Satellite superstore it's a( my book) supplied and formatted ready to go with a 6800 hd. iv'e had it a year works perfectly always, give them a call they will guarantee it
dont let anyone tell you about big HD'S NOT WORKING.

[bloodstone1964]

500Gb Maxtor from argos works just fine

[althom40]

Hi Guys. Haven't been on this site for some months.

I have a Freecom 1 Terabyte external HDD and it works without a hitch.

I have been using it for months. Its an odd looking drive. totally encased,
black solid rubberised outer. No LED's to watch. To run it just put the mains plug in and to switch off just pull the plug.

It comes already formatted in FAT32...Works ok with my TM5300D usb and my 6800 HD. Think it cost me about £80.

regards

[slapper4]

Technomate reccomend western digital passport about 160-500gb

my tm6900 has a laptop 160gb drive in (not reccomended type) it that was supposed to run without external power, but it doesnt work reliably

only problem i have is power because i didnt want external psu on all the time, and all the external mess. i removed lid (invalidating warranty?) over a year ago , and found the main board had surprise surprise the 5v and ground on its PSU connector - so it seemed sensible to wire into that and i hid the drive inside.

i tried a 2:1 usb adaptor but it didnt like that so i couldnt retain the external usb connector for updates/patches (i use the serial port on a serial-usb adaptor for that)

over the 2 years i had this running i found i have to pull out the drive's power and usb supply, then replug powr first then about 2 secs later the usb - it comes up @usb connected@ and since the latest stb update a few seconds later @pvr ready@ , if thats not working, i redo the procedure up to 5 times with a minutes rest disconnected, and it always works in the end

It records HD glitch free, hours, and timer etc, but my conclusion is it works reliably only with certain type of drive i havent got yet, which is probably a type that pulls very little current from the weak tm 6900 usb power it gets. ive heard faster rpm would be an advantage but 5400rpm is obviously fine, and capacity not important as power consumption to wake it up

i have ordered a passport 1tb drive but the chinese ebayer dissapeared so im still yet to resolve it finally

the last stb seemed to clear up a number of recording reliability issues, and HD viewing a lot more stable.

what would be great is if you had a way of deleting recordings between the bookmarks you can set, then it would save a lot of space (technomate are you listening)

fantastic value for money. if you phone technomate they are quite helpful on this subject

[Basil2]

Food for thought...

1) As Ryan (Technomate) implied, the box expects to address a Technomate-formatted system area, so it's worth eliminating an OEM format as a potential problem.

2) He also mentioned that they don't recommend drives that need external supplies. Mixing PSUs can cause a myriad of problems from differing ground potentials to RF pick-up.

3) Some drives will make instantaneous current demands that are well within PC PSU specs, but not necessarily those that TM's design engineers had in mind when they looked at anticipated loads.

4) This isn't a criticism of TM's power supplies, but of all but the elite of electronic manufacturers. I'll use defunct companies as hypothetical examples.

The team creates a lovely, reliable design with a fantastically high MTBF figure. It then goes to be costed. After pressure from the board, the Toko transformers now come from Woolworths, the +12 rail now has 12 volt electrolytics instead of 15, then they find an even cheaper cap with a lower ripple current rating.... You get the idea?

I've never come across a failed TM component that I thought was 'pushing the limits', but we should recognise that TM gives amazing value from well designed, well made gear with phenomenal support.

What really impresses me is the PCB quality. Any component *can* be changed without lifting tracks and that's a very big plus in my book.

We should be thankful that TM don't have the budget to offer military performance specs. If they did, the only buyers who could afford them that we'd heard of, would be the Beckhams, as TM produce the only boxes user-friendly enough for them to understand. <wg>

When I bring my cowboyed eBay 6900 back to life, I'll try different drives and scope the rails for glitches if I get problems. It might be that a local LC filter (or even ferrite-beaded extender) will allow reliable operation of other drives beyond 500 GB.

Gotta go... Cat's just volunteered to be my new soldering iron sponge. ;-)

Basil The Cat Lover -especially with garlic sauce