'Tested' Hard Drives

CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Toshiba
PRODUCT NAME TOSHIBA DT01ACA200
SIZE 2 TB
LINK just google it
COMMENTS internal full size HD installed in generic USB3 container purchased from Amazon.

Here’s an update for some people that might be useful…

My live playback via Roku was acting up and would skip a lot and display “loading…”   I emailed tech support and Nolan provided a tip that worked.  The Western Digital drive had a sleep timer on it set to 30 minutes.  Download the free drive tools from the vendor. You can then disable the sleep timer.  Since doing this the playback has been MUCH better.
1 Like
CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME My Passport For Mac
SIZE 2 TB
LINK http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/921638/WD-My-Passport-For-Mac-2TB/
COMMENTS Work great

I decided to keep this drive for portable backups with my Macbook so I swapped the Passport for a desktop SATA drive I had on hand and hooked it up to the Tablo with a Vantec SATA to USB 2 adapter. No issues.

CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME WD20EARS SATA Desktop Drive
SIZE 2 TB
LINKS
DRIVE http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Desktop-WD20EARS/dp/B002ZCXK0I/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398561255&sr=8-1&keywords=wd20ears

ADAPTER http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2477926&SRCCODE=WEBGOOKWL&cm_mmc_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCs81CjCE&gclid=CPH6hZu__70CFSdn7Aod1VkAHA

COMMENTS Works great
CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: My Passport Ultra
SIZE: 2 TB
LINK http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EAS89AG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
COMMENTS:
Small form factor, Large storage, great reviews, great price ($109), Works fine with Tablo.

Just purchased western digital elements hard drive. It is working great but there is a flashing white light in the rear of the hard drive. Anyone kmow how to turn the light off?

another +1 for…

CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: My Passport Ultra USB3.0
SIZE: 2 TB
1 Like

hey j321cordcut,

According to the TabloTV support the Passport line wasn’t recommended because of frequent disconnects, which cause missed recordings. But I see you have tested the WD Passport Ultra with success and I am thinking the Ultra doesn’t have the same issues the regular WD My Passport has because of a newer design maybe.

Can you please keep us posted if you ever notice any missed recordings? I’m interested in the Passport Ultra also because of good prices and Costco carries the 2GB model also. But I want to be sure it doesn’t suffer the disconnects that were seen in the regular My Passport series.

Thanks so much in advance!

I agree with doni... I see a number of WD My Passport Ultras listed as good when the Tablo folks originally stated that they did not recommend My Passports because of USB disconnects. Can someone from Tablo comment back as to whether the newer models are working better? The My Passport Ultra line of HDs are fairly inexpensive, readily available and would give us another recommended option.

Thanks. 

We haven’t tested the ‘Ultra’ line but it’s something we can look into further. We’d be interested in hearing how it’s working for @cmilne and @j321cordcut as well. 

Newby here… When my Tablo arrives, do I just plug in the hard drive or do I need to set it up on my pc first then attach to the Tablo? I just bought it and want to do things right. Above there is a mention of using the Seagate Dashboard software to 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.


That is all greek to me.

I also have a concern as I looked at recommended hard drives and purchased Seagate backup plus based on the recommendations. Now that I saw this discussion board I am lost. I see above my hard drive and noticed that the product numbers drive the good or bad. Some are good and work fine and some just say bad. Mine is STDT2000100

@napercourt, just plug the hard drive into the Tablo and it will format the drive for recordings.


I had the STDT200100, and it did not work for me.  That is the larger hard drive format (uses its own power supply), and because it’s sector size is bigger than normal, the Tablo didn’t recognize it.  All the portable Seagate Backup Plus drives seem to work just fine.  

I also don’t recommend using the Seagate Dashboard software to let the drive spin down.   I tried it for a while, and that was the only time I lost recordings.  Once I had it set back to the default (no spin down), I didn’t have any issues.

Thanks Snowcat… so would you recommend that i return the hard drive and get a different one?

I would, though I ended up keeping mine just for backing up my main PC in the house.


While the “slim” drives are a little more expensive, then do save a power plug.  Though some of the other brands listed here are working just fine as a desktop drive.

Do you think it is the separate power supply that causes it?


No, that’s not the issue.  It all comes down to sector size.  Traditionally, all hard drives 2TB and under had a 512 byte sector size.  Any bigger hard drives used a 4KB sector size.   What Seagate has done with their 2TB desktop drive is use the 4KB sector size anyway, and the Tablo can’t use that that.  Apparently, Seagate hasn’t done that with their “Slim” line of drives, and most other manufactures haven’t either.


At one point, the Tablo folks were working on having the device be able to use either size, but they apparently haven’t been able to make it work.   

got it…512 byte sector size is the key. Thanks


Need 1.5-2 TB since my wife tends to fall asleep on me when we watch tv, so the larger size is needed since a show will hang out for a few days while recording other shows.

We’re getting there with the sector size issue @snowcat and @napercort - no definitive ETA yet but it’s something we’re actively at work on.

Thanks Tablo…has testing on the four tuner been conducted yet? That is what I have ordered and will be using.


If I need to head to Best Buy and swap out the already purchased HD that is ok I guess…

Snowcat, thanks again for the two cents. I went today and exchanged hard drives. Went with 

CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: Seagate
PRODUCT NAME Backup Plus Slim (STDR2000100)
SIZE: 2TB

Again, thank you.

Now if my Tablo would just show up…

@napercort - Yep, testing is done. Just working on getting the 4-Tuner into the channel. Some lucky folks who backed us on Indiegogo already have their 4-Tuners in fact!