# eSata Drive/Enclosure Thread



## dtphonehome (Dec 26, 2006)

As many of us are eager to try the newly enabled eSata port on our S3's, I figured we should have a thread to discuss the optimal drives and enclosures for this purpose.

So, please post your best deals on the best drives and enclosures!


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## Ewdlorr (Mar 31, 2007)

This is the configuration that I'm using and it seems to work perfectly -- your mileage may vary:

For a drive, I'm using a Seagate Barracuda 750GB and for an enclosure, I'm using a Vantec Nexstar 3. (You can look them up on newegg -- this is my first post so they won't let me add URL's yet...)

Everything seems to be working fine using this combination, although I don't know that my "A" drive is full enough at the moment that the TiVo will start utilizing the new drive all that much yet. It's nice to see that the capacity is 131 HD hours, 1244 SD hours, though  . That's almost 6 full days straight of HD, almost 2 full _*months*_ straight of SD, not that I watch much SD anymore... but still!


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## rodalpho (Sep 12, 2006)

My understanding is that you're looking for two things with these enclosures:

1) eSATA only, no USB or firewire, so it's a direct connection.
2) Some sort of active cooling so the drive doesn't overheat.

Basically once you have these two prerequisites, it doesn't matter what you get. There's no firmware or controller to worry about with #1, so brand doesn't matter.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

I missed this eSATA "DVR Expander" from Apricorn earlier. It does appear to be an ideal option for TiVo S3's. It has a large but quiet fan to keep the drive cool as well.

It comes in 250GB - $129, 500GB - $199 and 750GB - $399 (just added!). The price is a little higher than it should be IMHO, but it is built specifically for this task, has 5 star reviews everywhere and I've used their regular external HDD's for a couple of years without a problem.

If you're interested Click here for more details.

Edit 05/07/07: I just ordered one of these and will update this post when I receive it and see that it works.


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## terramar (Jan 28, 2003)

In addition to what Rodalpho posted, I'd add "physical power switch" - we want the drive to come back on automatically if there were to be some sort of power glitch.


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## John Bennett (May 6, 2002)

I've been trying to decide between using a "dedicated" external drive, and assembling my own from an internal drive and separate enclosure. After doing a bit of research today, I think I'm going to take a chance on this 500GB Seagate eSATA drive:

buy-dot-com/retail/product.asp?sku=202636811&adid=17662

For $148.99 delivered, I don't think I can even _build_ one much cheaper than this and still use a decent enclosure. I think the thing that ultimately swayed me was the handful of reviews here:

amazon-dot-com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B000FOL7Q2

One of them describes the built-in fan (which I couldn't find in the specs or anywhere else), as being infrequently used and very quiet. Another reviewer was specifically using this drive with a DVR, too (the SA8300HD) and reported great success. The only complaints were in regard to things like quirky power-switch behavior and the included backup software, neither of which will bother me in this application...

--John

P.S. Sorry for the clunky URLs, I'm apparently not allowed to post actual links yet, despite lurking here for years.


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## gteague (Apr 1, 2007)

<moved>


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## rodalpho (Sep 12, 2006)

Thanks for the link John, I just bought the same drive from buy.com. Note that you can save an extra $10 if you use google checkout, and shipping is free. I did my homework at newegg, you _can't_ buy a 500GB drive with an external enclosure for that. Here's hoping it works!


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## jwehman (Feb 26, 2003)

I wouldn't worry about only E-sata vs E-sata plus USB/Firewire. The performance loss (if any) is not going to be missed by the pittance requirement of a DVR, even 3-stream HD (2 record, 1 watch). Most pre-assembled e-sata enclosures use the DVR-version of the drive which has extremely quite seeks, which knock down "performance" much more than some overhead of a dual-connection chipset.


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## msu2k (Jan 4, 2001)

John Bennett said:


> I've been trying to decide between using a "dedicated" external drive, and assembling my own from an internal drive and separate enclosure. After doing a bit of research today, I think I'm going to take a chance on this 500GB Seagate eSATA drive:
> 
> buy-dot-com/retail/product.asp?sku=202636811&adid=17662
> 
> ...


Do you know if that drive powers on by itself after a power loss, or do you have to physically push a button to get it running again?


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## jon96cobra (May 24, 2006)

I picked up my external enclosure at NewEgg.

I just noticed its out of stock in black but they do have the silver. Very easy to use and has a fan.


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## rodalpho (Sep 12, 2006)

msu2k said:


> Do you know if that drive powers on by itself after a power loss, or do you have to physically push a button to get it running again?


According to the amazon reviews, the power switch defaults to off after power loss. If you don't already have one, you should really get a UPS. They're very inexpensive these days and well worth the trouble. The cheapest 280VA UPS you can find will work fine for a tivo and external drive.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

I got one of these...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822101030

Works fine so far. It's a little warm, but not too hot. It's pretty quiet...I can hear it over the sound of the TiVo, but barely.

The power switch goes in (on) and out (off), so I assume that if it loses power, it will automatically turn on when power is restored.


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