Glad to help, @napercort. 
Waiting is the tough part.
Just got my tablo but had a disappointing experience with the hard drive I was planning on using:
CONFIRMED: BAD
BRAND NAME: TOSHIBA
PRODUCT NAME: Toshiba 500GB2 USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive - HDDR500E03X
SIZE: 500GB
Will have to look for some other HD I guess.
Any word on the WD My Passport Ultras? These seem to go on sale quite often but I’m hesitant to purchase a 2TB drive if it has issues mentioned at beginning of post. Hoping @TabloTV, @cmilne and @j321cordcut and others will let us know if the Ultra version is working. Should be getting my 4 tuner model very soon and I want to get everything put together and working.
CONFIRMED BAD
BRAND NAME: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: WD Elements SE Portable
BRAND NAME: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: WD Elements SE Portable
SIZE: 500GB
LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBPCK5000ABK-NESN/dp/B0052L77QW
COMMENTS: Had it laying around so I hoped it would work but the Tablo wouldn't detect it.
COMMENTS: Had it laying around so I hoped it would work but the Tablo wouldn't detect it.
@TabloTV regarding Toshiba HDD, I too tried this before reading Watson’ s post. In my case it seemed not to recognize it. Access light on drive flashed for a bit then went out. I reformatted drive for 512K sector under Win7 but that did not help.
CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND: Seagate
PRODUCT NAME: FreeAgent Go
SIZE: 1TB
LINK: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002SYYO3A/ref=twister_B001LDJJ16
COMMENTS: Works perfectly
Confirmed: Good
Brand: Toshiba
Size: 2TB
Model: Canvio Desk Desktop External Hard Drive (Black/Black) (HDWC120XK3J1)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008DW96NY/ref=pe_385040_30332190_TE_dp_1
Technically I think this might be the same drive mentioned earlier, but this one isn’t a bare drive rather in an external case.
CONFIRMED BAD
BRAND NAME Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME Passport Model WD3200
BRAND NAME Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME Passport Model WD3200
SIZE 300 GB
LINK
COMMENTS - Tablo formats it, but won't record a program. No error, just doesn't record.
COMMENTS - Tablo formats it, but won't record a program. No error, just doesn't record.
CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Seagate
PRODUCT NAME Expansion 0502
BRAND NAME Seagate
PRODUCT NAME Expansion 0502
SIZE 1 TB
LINK purchased from Amazon
COMMENTS Took it out of the box, plugged into the Tablo and Tablo recoginized it and prompted to format. Works like it should.
COMMENTS Took it out of the box, plugged into the Tablo and Tablo recoginized it and prompted to format. Works like it should.
So, from what I’ve read, this would be a safe bet? … http://
(it’s a WD Elements WDBUZG0010BBK-NESN in case the link doesn’t work).
I have an old 500GB Seagate that I’m gonna try first, but just in case it doesn’t work, I’d like to be ready to order something quick. Thanks!
CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: WD
PRODUCT NAME: My Passport Ultra - WDBPGC5000ABK
BRAND NAME: WD
PRODUCT NAME: My Passport Ultra - WDBPGC5000ABK
SIZE: 500 GB
LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Ultra-Portable-External-Backup/dp/B00EAS8AA0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403959026&sr=8-1&keywords=wdbpgc5000abk-nesn
COMMENTS: Been using it for a week with no issues yet.
COMMENTS: Been using it for a week with no issues yet.
Can someone with some tech savvy please tell me if this HD is one of the Good ones or Bad ones?
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HFRWXV0/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I’m suspecting this is why the apps show recordings (except Roku) but I cannot play any of them. Roku says no recordings found. Tablo did format this hard drive, but I have not been able to record/playback anything. Have asked support about this hard drive but have not received a reply. 
@support, I hope you do realize that eventually you will need to provide support outside of 9-5 EDT? This limited support isn’t working for many people with jobs or in other time zones.
@MsMetaP, that was the one I first used, and it never did work. The Seagate desktop size drives use the larger sector size that the Tablo can’t recognize. The portable Seagate drives don’t seem to have that problem.
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Thanks snowcat. Guess I’m returning it and getting something else. I sure wish I’d seen this “list” instead of just going by the blog post. They need to direct people here from that blog post. Wasting shipping charges isn’t fun.
CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: Toshiba
PRODUCT NAME: Canvio Model HDTC720XK3C1
SIZE: 2 TB
COMMENTS: Unit is extremly small and quiet. Can be purchased on Amazon for $99 shipped.
CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Toshiba
PRODUCT NAME MK2002TSKB (internal drive)
PRODUCT NAME MK2002TSKB (internal drive)
SIZE (2 TB)
BRAND NAME Icy Dock
PRODUCT NAME MK2002TSKB (internal drive dock)
PRODUCT NAME MK2002TSKB (internal drive dock)
LINK http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812552001&cm_re=MB881U3-1SA-_-12-552-001-_-Product
COMMENTS Enterprise drive (I don't mess around with storage, sick of cheap/intermittent consumer drives) thus the need for drive dock.
COMMENTS Enterprise drive (I don't mess around with storage, sick of cheap/intermittent consumer drives) thus the need for drive dock.
I don’t understand…when I bought this and looked at the site, it didn’t say that some were supported and some were not. Here I have a $300 device with a brand new 2TB drive that isn’t recognized (among other major issues with the Tablo).
Why am I doing the research? I have to send it back to Amazon now and WAIT for another device.
This is a joke.
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@davejhahn, I am sorry that you bought one of the incompatible ones. I was expecting the Tablo in February, so I went out and bought my first drive that month. It sat in a box till early April, and then it didn’t work when I got my Tablo. By then, it was too late to return it. I ended up using it to back up my main PC and bought a new drive from Costco, which worked out great.
The problem is that the the Tablo just recognizes the 512 byte sector size, which used to be the standard for all 2GB hard drives and smaller. Seagate seems to be the leader is switching over their drives to the 4K sector size, and unfortunately for us Tablo users, the 2TB version is a common, reasonably-priced drive with the new sector size.
I am hoping that at some point, the Tablo will be able to recognize all 2TB drives, and if they can figure out the 4K issue, then maybe they can support any hard drive size.
They do have the hard drive compatibility thread stickied at the top of the forum for all new users to see. The Tablo has been in general release for a little over three months now, so there have been a lot of users that have been able to post about what is good or bad.
@davejhahn if it’s any consolation, I also had to return my original hard drive and get the one that works. I got a 2TB Seagate the first time, but the “wrong” one. You’re not alone.
Fortunately, I got mine from Amazon and I have Prime, so the whole process only took two days.