Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA External Hard Drive

by Western Digital

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 2.2 x 6.8 inches ; 2.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0018O77Q2
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: WDG1S5000VN
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (200 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 30, 2008

Product Description

Western Digital My DVR expander 500GB eSATA Compatible with Scientific Atlanta 8300 Series TiVo Series3 and TiVo HD DVRs. Quiet and Cool - A unique no-fan passive cooling system and special hard drive design makes it quiet for the living room or bedroom

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Be Easier - Works With Scientific Atlanta 8300, July 2, 2008

By 

Space For The Poppa "Kevin" (ByTheShore, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA External Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

What can you say - for a device like this, "scoring" is it easy. It either works as advertised, or it doesn't - this thing works as advertised. It's easy to hook-up/install, or it is not - the directions couldn't be clearer, and it was a snap to hook-up.

I have a Comcast DVR Scientific Atlanta 8300HD. I was constantly running into low space issues. No matter how hard I tried to keep up with "house keeping" it always seemed to run at or near capacity. And with the 2008 Summer Olympics coming up, I was finally motivated to find a solution.

I did few Google searches, and yielded some promising results. Other users of the SA-8300HD had the same problem and came up with varying solutions - build you own eSATA external drive, or buy an out-of-the-box device. I'm pretty tech savvy, having built a number of PCs and external USB drives. The cost of DIY-ing a similar device was about $100-110, delivered. For $40 more, I could get a pre-built and certified device. I didn't want any hassles, so I went with this.

It looks like and is the same size as any of the WD MyBook external drives. It's a little smaller than a hard covered book. It comes with an external power supply and an eSATA cable, and a Quick Install guide.

Total time to install - 15 minutes, tops. I could have done it in less than ten, if I read the install guide fully. I jumped the gun and instead of pulling the plug on the DVR, I just turned it off. YOU HAVE TO UNPLUG THE DVR BEFORE CONNECTING THE EXPANDER. Which is what the directions says, but I skipped.

So, to install, you:

1) Check Capacity of your recorder (mine was at 62%)
2) Unplug the DVR
3) Plug in the Expander
4) Connect the Expander to the DVR with the eSATA cable
5) Plug the DVR back in.

The DVR will go through its boot process. When the clock reappears, turn on your TV and then your DVR. A message will appear:

"Detected an external DVR Expander - do you want to format it for use with this DVR?"

Hit Yes and the message disappears. There is nothing to tell you it is performing the install/format. A few minutes later, a new message appears:

"The DVR Expander is ready to use"

Go to the recording section and check capacity. Mine dropped to 16%!

My recommendation - do not hesitate, buy this. Even if you are tech-savvy, is your time/effort worth $40? This is certified and guaranteed to work. WD drives are typically sturdy, and their MyBooks are highly rated.

Hurry - the Olympics start August 8!!

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TiVo Approved!, June 21, 2008

By 

John Arguello (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA External Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

This is the same drive that's sold on the TiVo website at a much better price! It works as easily as everyone said it would too! Right away, on the system info screen, it'll tell you about the added capacity but it takes about an hour for the To Do List to catch up so don't panic. If you've got a big home theater set up, do yourself a favor and get a longer eSATA cable, this one only comes with one that is 3 feet long. Happy HD viewing!

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Easy install, but limited life expectancy, November 27, 2008

By 

Early Adopter "feisty111" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA External Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

Like the other 40+ reviewers, this was a breeze to install with my TiVo Series III HD. That was 18 months ago, and it's worked perfectly until today. I ran the Kickstart 54 SMART diagnostics, and the external drive has failed. A ton of stored stuff is gone forever (although I may try the trick of freezing the drive and transferring to my PC). 18 months is way too short for the life of an HD drive.