Wondering if anybody has had good experiences with an SSD drive?
Thank you!
Been using an internal 2tb WD Blue ssd with no issues in my QUAD. Used a Samsung 500gb T5 external (current model is T7) before that (with a dual tuner Tablo).
My older vintage 4 tuner Tablo uses external USB 2.0 drives rather than your faster SATA internal SSD. Wondering if a Samsung T5 versus a T7 would be a better choice? Both offer unuseable but downward compatible USB 3 interfaces but would run much slower on my Tablo.
A T5/T7 is a good choice, just a little pricey compared to internal SSDs.
When I got my Quad I purposely got a larger SSD than I really needed (2tb), just for the increased TBW.
A note from tablo’s Setup & Networking
There are no speed or performance benefits from USB 3.0 and solid state drives (SSD) vs. USB 2.0 and spinning drives.
This passage is listed for each of their devices. Virtually any quality drive is going to get the job done. You’ll never get the performance via USB 2.0 with SATA, your tablo can get the job done on a slow drive… an expensive one isn’t going to speed it up noticeably.
Although there is a user stating tech support “suggested” they try a SSD, even though tablo’s own docs claim it’s pointless.
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You’re right, an SSD is probably a little overkill - but when I switched to an SSD there was a noticeable difference bringing up the list of shows, fast forwarding, etc. Not twice as fast or anything, just noticeably faster.
That’s very likely, didn’t you go from an external USB 2.0 drive to an internal SATA drive…
But the external was SSD? Or maybe just switching to an internal may have been the improvement?
-just ask’n 
I had an OG 2-tuner and used it with an external Seagate 1TB hard drive for a few years, when that drive started to fail I replaced it with a 500GB Samsung T5 SSD (external). You could definitely see the performance difference - not during playback of course, but when starting to play a recording, or forwarding, etc.
When I got my Quad (needed more tuners) I put in that WD 2TB SSD - only drive I’ve used with it so far.
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Thank you very much to all of you who have offered suggestions and assistance here. It is sincerely appreciated.
I’ve spent nearly a full day experimenting, rebooting, reformatting, et cetera. All of this has been in response to the firmware upgrade recently which took most of my DVR capabilities out of commission for a few days, as posted elsewhere on this forum.
What I ultimately learned was that my disk drives had both become corrupted/damaged, perhaps due to wear and tear, higher I/O traffic required by the firmware update, or some combination of both.
Even though reformatting the drives would temporarily recover some stability, the eventual “solution” was to put new drives into both of my Tablos. I have aggressively loaded both machines with very heavy work loads, using all tuners, doing a lot of shuttle fast forwards and generally high data rate activity. I am finally no longer seeing any connection problems, stalling, spinning cursor’s, or any error messages complaining of no disk space, no hard disk connection, player errors, etc.
My conclusion would be that marginal hardware combined with a more stress inducing firmware update caused my problems.
I have decided to add a third Tablo, and ordered it this afternoon. Operationally, it will replace my two tuner unit purchased in November 2014, with a quad tuner box with an SSD Samsung EVO 870 SATA drive. Compared to the SSD speed, I recognize that the peak demand for making or playing 4 simultaneous streams is orders of magnitude lower, but the low SSD SATA cost along with their low latency and no moving parts makes them an interesting alternative. Unlike some of my earlier experiences with SSDs, these drives, and especially the Samsungs, can write over 2 petabytes (2000 TB) before write “wear-out” is a problem. I also ordered a Samsung T7 USB external drive to be used on my older Tablo 4 tuner unit, just to see how it compares, and potentially enjoy the same benefits of the EVO SATA.
If my hypothesis is correct, and a marginal hard disk caused all of the totally disruptive “bricking” of my Tablos, when the update came along stressing them much harder, then I would suggest that future beta testing include a much wider range of older “compatible” discs, which may suddenly become Incompatible once the update is applied.
I will need another day or two to convince myself that the remedy I have described above is based on correct conclusions. I do think it is pretty safe to conclude that significantly increased disc traffic is at the root of this latest update kerfuffle.
Interesting turn of events. What are the make and model of the new drives?
Both the new and the old drives are Western Digital Elements 1 TB.
I have a few of them here for back up of home videos, and they now can be purchased for $48.
WD 1TB Elements Portable External Hard Drive HDD, USB 3.0, Compatible with PC, Mac, PS4 & Xbox - WDBUZG0010BBK-WESN https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VVS7S94/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_603Y3HZBY815E3BY6VCX
Nevertheless, still listing the firmware upgrade as a possible cause.
this post is very helpful. I have a kingston 4.5TB SSD and will try that out in my new Tablo Quad. I am hoping that the SSD helps with some of the heat issues noted with the internal SATA’s. If not, then it will be time for the laptop cooling pad or a USB mod of one of my extra PC fans.
Not sure about the Kingston SSD you mentioned, but many of the SATA SSDs run pretty warm/hot. If heat is a problem you may want to look at an external USB SSD (Samsung T5/T7 works well, just pricey).
The QUAD can use internal hard drives that are 7mm or 9.5mm in height. Some higher capacity drives are thicker and won’t fit internally.
*edit - HDD details
Thanks for the response. First time Tablo, long time OTA.
I ended up leaving the extra kingston in the gaming PC and bought the 1TB western digital 2.5" SATA recommended by Tablo. With a quad network version my understanding is the storage demand is lighter than an HDMI version so it was a nice economic tradeoff ( WD Blue 1TB Internal SATA Hard Drive for Laptops, $55 at local Best Buy). Bought a laptop cooler ($35) to put under it like others have recommended. Only 24hrs. in so too early to tell but through day 1 very happy. Great initial product experience casting shows to ipads and PC’s anywhere else in the house. so different you can OTA roof to attic then Tablo to rest of house - kind of a game changer for those pre-antenna install.
28 more days to go before the subscription TV Guide decision…
For those if you using externals (SSD or HDD), if the drive you are using is portable (powered by USB) does that work with the Tablo? (Quad). I’d like to eliminate an extra cord if possible.
Used a usb-powered Samsung T5 SSD on my old 2-tuner Tablo - no problems! If you are trying to use a large 3.5" form factor hard drive and power it from the USB port only, then you might have a problem.
The network QUAD can take an internal SATA drive if you want to eliminate all cables. 
I recommend using low rotational spinny bus powered portable drives. They take less power, generate less heat and usually are far more reliable than higher rotational drives. Tablo doesn’t require much on the performance side, noting that some card or thumbdrives have horrible performance.
8 years plus using used drives on my Tablo units. They might be getting close to end of life, but you never know.
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In the end I got a portable 4 gig non-SSD drive and yes it worked just fine to eliminate the “extra cord” (also much smaller). Waited overnight to see if old recordings would disappear. They did not, so deleted them manually. (First world problem)
Benefit of an ssd over a standard drive would be, no moving parts, potentially quieter, less power draw, and run cooler.