Series3 eSATA Drive Expansion: FAQ + Discussion

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I added an external drive to my Series3 before it was upgraded to the 8.3.1-01 release. The software upgrade went off without a hitch, and the external drive kept on functioning. Having to "remarry" the drive to the unit would cause the external drive to be cleared, losing any stored programming, so that wouldn't be too cool.

 

Thanks demon for the heads-up.

 

it got me. or i got myself, more like it.

question: is there anything in the fap750 that would react with a laser?

being curious as to exactly what temperature the fap was running at and never neglecting the opportunity to add to my gadget list, i picked up one of those pistol-grip infrared remote temperature meters at fry's this evening. it has a laser built in to help you aim it.

and of course one of the first things i aimed it towards was the fap drive atop my a/v cabinet. the tivo was recording one program and i had the live news channel playing at the time. i was taking temperature readings of various spots on the outside of the fap from about 2-4' away. i activated the laser at the top of the base of the drive when suddenly the picture on the tivo froze.

i immediately thought of the previous freezes and had reconciled myself to the inevitable reboot, but i issued some remote commands anyway and to my surprise the tivo started responding within a minute. the recording started up again and i returned to my live channel only to experience another freeze.

the tivo again started responding, but rebooted itself this time. and, to my horror, i saw the dreaded screen that said it no longer recognized the external drive. it is not an amusing screen ...

i immediately pulled the power plug to reset the tivo and the fap750. again i got the 'unrecognized' screen. i again pulled the plug and waited for 5 minutes. after this i got my first sight of the gsod saying it was going to attempt to recover. just about when i was prepared to hook the fap up to my mac via usb and reformat, the tivo finally recovered the external drive.

checking the history, it appears that only one program was caught by this problem: 'lady in the water' an hd program which in the 'to do' list history says there was an 'internal error'. this was evidently the program that was recording at the time.

so this makes the 4th time i've had an incident since i connected the fap750, but each time i've had some external event to point to. i'm a computer tech, but i can't think of a reason the laser would have affected a hard drive. an optical drive, sure, but not a magnetic hard drive. of course, i'm not up-to-speed on modern hard drive technology either.

so, should i blame the fap yet? or write it off as an anomaly yet again? i'm way too spooked to fire up the laser again to see if the incident is reproducible.

oh, btw: the temperature was up to 50c/122f in the hottest spot at the base of the platform and 40c/104f in the coolest. i think that was what my guesses were already using my $9 coffee thermometer, so i really didn't learn anything i didn't already know, but hey, i got a new gadget!

/guy

 

Wow! Now that's an interesting story! I've no idea what may be causing all of your adventures, but thanks for sharing.

I'm wondering though if the laser might affect TiVo's Infrared receiver. I know they are different light spectrums but do you think it could have confused it somehow?

Could having a laser generating device, i.e. your DVD recorder or thermometer, somehow upset TiVo’s cosmos?

What if it’s something to do with people having a DVD player near their new eSATA drives? Or maybe it’s the whole 750GB drive thing. Who knows?

As Alice once said: This keeps getting curiouser and curiouser (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).

Keep up the good...and interesting work!

 

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i think you just hit upon the word ... INFRARED. it's an infrared thermometer after all. i emphasized the laser component but i think you have it right.

now, how a rogue infrared signal managed to make the tivo and the fap miss a beat, i have no idea. but what you're saying makes more sense than that a laser could affect a magnetic-head hard drive.

this is quite the education isn't it? we have two strange things (along with the common sense ones) to put in the faq to avoid: draping the sata cable over a subwoofer or power adaptor and using an infrared device or laser around the tivo.

i have no doubt there was a cause and effect due to my fooling around, so i'm not blaming the fap for this one either. perhaps if i had a spare tivo to play with i'd document whether i could control it using the infrared thermometer! [g]

/guy

 

It is a passive infrared device. That means it only receives infrared.

I have complete doubt. In fact, I blasted my Raytek right into the S3's IR port. Go ahead, try it.

 

You mentioned aiming the laser at the FAP's base.

I don't want to try it, but is the FAP's POWER Switch an actual PHYSICAL PUSH type switch or more of a pressure/touch/electro-sensitive pad? Maybe the laser triggered the FAP's power on/off?

 

I dunno ...I'm all for putting an aluminum foil hat over everything to keep the aliens from messing with it!

 

I have an MX-1 case connected with the esata cable that came with the case.

I have gotten the GSOD twice within the last week.

I have ordered new cables from both monoprice and SIIG.

Hopefully one or the other will fix the problem.

 

Just out of curiousity (I'm sure other's would want to know, too), what is the size and make of the HD mechanism you installed inside the MX.

FYI, my MX-1 w/Samsung HD-501LJ 500gig has been flawless for over 5 weeks now, also using the MX-1's cable; no GSODs, no glitches, no hitches, no gotchas.

(will be performing a ritual to ward off evil electronic spirits after I write this.)

 

i was pointing it within an inch of that switch (a touch switch) at the time, but the drive didn't power down.

that's not to say it couldn't have tried to power down and the tivo overrode it so quickly i wouldn't have noticed it.

/guy

 

My MX-1 holds a 750GB Seagate SCE drive. My GSOD rate has gotten much better lately. Could it be that the default low-level format on some drives in some way is slightly incompatible with the TiVo usage pattern, and this is the cause of all (or at least many) of the problems? If so, there's hope that, one drive at a time, they eventually learn to play together nicely, and the problems go away.

 

Final Update: it's been several days now. I have had zero re-boots on my MX-1/DB35 setup since I installed the SIIG cable. I think it's solved now. Thanks for all the help, guys.

Don

 

successful on the first try!

97 hd hrs and 927 sd hours!

 

I have all the cables you mentioned. The uninsulated portion of the connector on my monoprice cable is shorter than the Tripp-Lite, which is slightly shorter than the SIIG cable. As I have only one SIIG cable and 2 of the others, this comparison might not be valid due to manufacturing tolerances. I would suggest using the cable with the longest uninsulated connector - size does count.

BTW, my system; currently a Rosewill case and 320 GB drive had 2 freezes in a week of hard use - an improvement over multiple freezes and GSODs with other drive/enclosure/cable combinations. Currently (after the most recent freeze), I switched to a 36" Tripp-Lite from the 72" SIIG to see if cable length has an effect.

 

I have my MX-1 in hand and my DB35 is scheduled to arrive today. Any additional tips that aren't on the FAQ?

Also, I am considering purchasing an additional eSata cable.

Is there any real difference between the Tripp-Lite P950 and the SIIG CB-SA0111-S1 all I can see is that the SIIG is much more expensive.

Thanks!

 

The cable that's included w/MX-1 should be fine. If you run into problems, and you shouldn't, consider an alternative. No reason to spend $ before you need to.

My guess is that the overwhelming majority of MX-1 ESATA cables deployed have been working without issues.

Drive/Case assembly is easy, straightforward. Be mindful of the LED wires as you close up. Don't overtighten the drive mount screws to the sled/fan. Have fun and enjoy it!

 

Agreed. Ours has worked flawlessly for over a month now.

Here's a good Antec MX-1 assembly video tutorial if needed.

Enjoy!

 

What is the technical reason that the kickstart 62 procedure won't work on any already upgraded internal drive? How does it know it's not the original drive and why does it matter?

 

Partition structures are different.