Hard Drive "temporarily unavailable"... how to set up? (old thread)

I hooked up the Tablo and seem to have gotten everything working except the hard drive. 

I don’t remember ever being given the opportunity to format or set it up, and the web app and iPad app both don’t show any option for that either.

The error I’m getting in both apps is "Hard drive temporarily unavailable"
It recognizes it as a: "ST2000DM 001-1CH164 (2000 GB)"
It is a Seagate 2TB SATA internal drive connected by putting it inside an I/O Magic usb 2.0 Hard Drive Enclosure 135USBEN

Am I missing something?
The settings don’t give any options for managing the hard drive.

If you are getting that message, it means the Tablo can’t use it.  Some 2GB drives have 4K sectors instead of 512 byte sectors, and the Tablo right now can’t use that.   So you will need to find a different drive.  


There is a thread all about hard drives that work and don’t work with the Tablo.

I went ahead and ordered one of the drives reported there as working.

I’ll get back with you after it arrives and I see if it will work.
Sounds like Tablo needs to figure out why their device is so picky with hard drives. This would make it a huge hurdle for the average consumer.

@j321cordcut - We’re actively working on the 4K sector size issue so that we can support these type of drives.

What is the status of the hard drive fix?  I hate to have to go out and get another one.

@TJANDJJ - We’re making progress on this but I don’t have a specific ETA to share. The fix requires some significant work on the Tablo’s operating system in order to support larger drives. 

gotcha…well I will see if i can dig up my receipt and take it back…real shame though since it was signifigantly cheaper.

I got this error on a drive I had been using for over a week. Today I went to watch something and discovered this problem. I rebooted the tablo, and took some time to repair the drive, but then it goes back to showing the drive as “Hard drive temporarily unavailable.”.

I can plug the drive into a Linux box and mount it, so the drive is still working fine. It is one of the older WD MyBook 1TB drives, so there shouldn’t be any block size issues.

In the thread about hard drives, it says Elements Line only for WD. I know that the Elements 1 TB drive works, because I used to use it until this past weekend when I upgraded to a Seagate 5 TB Expansion Desktop, which also works since firmware 2.2.2 in the Tablo and is the model they tested in house.

As it’s an older drive, can you please connect the drive up to a PC and download the firmware update utility from WD to update the firmware on the drive?

You may have to do this on a computer running Windows, people have had issues with using Macs. And as for Linux, not sure if WD has a utility for that platform.

Updating the firmware has fixed HDD disconnect issues for many individuals. You can even “force” a firmware update if the utility reports the current version is up to date, this will reinstall the firmware which has also resolved issues.

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The Tablo support guy(s) remoted in an found some drive errors showing it was about to fail ( wishlist item is give the reason for unavailable errors ). I ordered a new drive ( the WD elements they recommended ) and it is working fine now.

A big shout out to Tablo support on this one. Thanks David.

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I am getting this error on a brand new Seagate Backup Slim 2TB drive. Is the 4K sector size still an issue?

No, it is not. I am really surprised you would have a problem with that drive, since it works pretty well for everyone.

Wonder if I got a bad drive or a bad Tablo, now it shows as Hard Drive Not Connected. However when I plug it into the mac, it comes up fine.

@nmuckom - Can you drop us a note if you’re still having issues? We’ll get this patched up for you: http://support.tablotv.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

I’ve been working with support on this. They’ve confirmed a defective tuner on the Tablo and will be sending a replacement.

My 3 TB WD Elements hard drive worked for less than 24 hours before I got “No Hard Drive”. after booting and rebooting the router and Tablo box, I now get “Hard Drive temporarily unavailable”. I have spent about 12 hours trying to fix this mess and have gotten nowhere. From the online comments I have been reading, I think this is an inherent
Tablo design error. If I don’t get something resolved soon, I will be going to TIVO.

@leinije - Were you asked to format the drive during setup?

If so, drop a note to our support team. They can give you a hand and check out some diagnostics: www.tablotv.com/ask-tablo

Just installed my new Tablo, with WD My Passport 1TB hard drive. It asked me to format, which I did, and after about 3 or 4 minutes of “formatting hard drive”, it now says ‘Hard drive temporarily unavailable.’ It still lists the HD in settings under STORAGE, but does not give me an option to reformat. Just says HD temp unavailable. Is there a fix for this?

Sometimes the hard drive status is incorrect.
Can you record something, and play it back?
If yes, the hard drive is definitely available. :slight_smile: