'Tested' Hard Drives

Hi Tablo Fans! 


We’d like to create a bigger list of ‘tested & true’ hard drives for use with Tablo to fill out this blog post: https://www.tablotv.com/blog/tablo-usb-hard-drive-specifications-suggestions/

If you have a hard drive that is working well for you (or one you tried unsuccessfully) please contribute to this thread. 

Please try to use this format:
CONFIRMED GOOD/BAD
BRAND NAME (ie Seagate, Western Digital, Toshiba)
PRODUCT NAME (ie Backup Plus)
SIZE (1 TB etc.)
LINK (doesn’t matter from where, but just a link to an online store where it’s available)
COMMENTS (anything you care to share about the drive… ie - was on sale, works great, didn’t work etc.)

For example…
CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND: Toshiba
PRODUCT NAME: Canvio Connect Portable Hard Drive
SIZE: 500 GB
LINK: http://www.toshiba.com/us/accessories/Storage/Canvio-Connect-Portable-Hard-Drive/500GB/HDTC705XK3A1
COMMENTS: We sent these with review units to the media

Thanks in advance for your help with this team!

 




1 Like
CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND: Toshiba
PRODUCT NAME: Canvio 3.0 Plus Portable Hard Drive
SIZE: 1.5 TB
LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Drive-HDTC615XK3B1/dp/B00847V9Z6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397504637&sr=8-2&keywords=toshiba+canvio+1.5tB
COMMENTS: HDTC615XK3B1
CONFIRMED: BAD
BRAND NAME: Seagate
PRODUCT NAME Backup Plus (STDT2000100)
SIZE: 2TB
LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Desktop-External-STDT2000100/dp/B00HFRWXV0/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
COMMENTS: Wasn't recognized during setup (due to sector size supposedly).  Note, this is the newest mode of this drive that came out in early 2014.  I am using it now for backing up my PCs, and it's working great for that.

CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: Seagate
PRODUCT NAME Backup Plus Slim (STDR1000101)
SIZE: 1TB
LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Portable-External-STDR1000101/dp/B00H4XH5IG/ref=sr_1_10?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1397505740&sr=1-10&keywords=seagate+external+hard+drive
COMMENTS: No problems at all.  The Slim model is also nice because it doesn't use a separate power cord like the one listed above.

CONFIRMED: GOOD 

BRAND: G-Technology 
PRODUCT NAME: G-Technology G-DRIVE external hard drive 
SIZE: 2 TB 
COMMENTS: Disk Drive Speed- 7200RPM, Cache- Up to 64MB, USB 3.0 and bulletproof. 
The bad it’s a little pricey.

Delete

CONFIRMED: GOOD 

BRAND: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: Elements Portable WDBUZG0010BBK
SIZE: 1 TB 
COMMENTS:  Found at Fry’s for $60.   No need for external power supply, just plug in an format!

CONFIRMED:  GOOD
BRAND:  Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME:  My Passport Ultra 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 Backup - Black (WDBZFP0010BBK-NESN)
SIZE:  1TB
LINK:  http://amzn.com/B00E83X9P8
COMMENTS:  $69 and free shipping with Amazon prime.  It's small too & fits right on top of Tablo

CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND: Seagate
PRODUCT NAME: Backup Plus Portable Hard Drive
SIZE: 1TB
Link: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/903082REG/Seagate_stbw1000900_1TB_Portable_External_Hard.html
COMMENTS: Found it on sale, TabloTV formatted it without any issues, small, powered over USB, USB 3.0

CONFIRMED GOOD:

Western Digital My Passport Ultra 2 TB Portable External USB.
CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: Seagate
PRODUCT NAME: Backup Plus 2TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (STCA2000100)
SIZE: 2TB
LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Desktop-External-STCA2000100/dp/B00829TII6/
COMMENTS: At first, it was not recognized.  I then did the Tablo firmware update, restarted the Tablo and tried again. The second time it was recognized and has been working great. Notice that this model is just slightly different (STCA instead of STDT) than the one listed above as confirmed bad.

The blog post linked in original post above seems to be a dead link.  Is there another list somewhere of known good/bad drives?

@danwa, here is the info that was in that blog.  It really wasn’t much, which makes this thread even better:


What do we recommend?

We’ve had excellent success with portable USB powered hard drives from Seagate (especially the Backup Plus line) and the Western Digital (Elements line only). WARNING - We don’t reccomend the Seagate powered 3.5" drives as they can report the wrong sector size or the Western Digital MyPassport line due to frequent USB disconnects.

Updated the link to the blog… Not sure why it was busted. 

CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: Seagate
PRODUCT NAME Backup Plus Slim (STDR2000100)
SIZE: 2TB
COMMENTS: After NOT reading the blog post and getting a Backup Plus Desktop (which of course didn't work), I went to get the 2TB slim. This drive works great so far.
1 Like

I’ve also got the Seagate 2TB slim. (STDR2000100) No problems so far.

CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Seagate
PRODUCT NAME Backup Plus or Backup Plus Slim part # STDR2000100
SIZE 2 TB

CONFIRMED BAD
BRAND NAME Adata HV260
PRODUCT NAME  Adata 2TB USB3.0 2.5" External Hard Drive AHV620-2TU3-CBK Black
Size 2TB

The Adata initially appeared to work OK.  It formatted and worked for a few recordings.  But an over night test with several back to back recordings and I ended up with several failed recordings.  It was worth a try I already had the drive. 

@andersonas25 - Sounds like a disconnect problem. We’ve seen it with a few drives where they connect and format initially but then have random and frequent disconnects which result in failed recordings. 

Yeah probably some sort of power saving spin down mode.  Documentation for the Adata drive is sparse.  I don’t see any utilities to disable a power savings mode it if that is the issue.  I wonder if just touching a file every 60 seconds or so would be enough to keep the power savings spin down from activating.  Does the tablo have anything like cron?

@andersonas25 - We don’t really touch the hard drive aside from connecting to it. Spin up & down is all on the drive firmware side.

I have a Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB drive, using the Seagate Dashboard software I set the drive to spin down after 10 minutes.  The drive spins back up when necessary - have not had any problems with missed or failed recordings.  I had to attach the drive to my PC temporarily to do this; I powered off the Tablo, disconnected the drive, connected it to my PC to change the sleep time, and then re-connected the drive back to the Tablo and powered everything up.

@andersonas25 - Maybe Adata has something similar to the Seagate Dashboard software that would allow you to set a sleep time.