'Tested' Hard Drives

I agree, @TabloTV you need to add the the FAQ at a minimum the link to the tested hard drives. I did a lot of looking around here before I purchased, but customers should not be subjected to that :wink: Just my 2 cents

Hey folks - We are hard at work on a firmware fix that will enable us to support a wider array of drives.


Until then, we will be adding a link to the hard drive information in as many places as we can so it’s more visible/accessible, including in the order confirmation email for orders from our site. 


CONFIRMED: GOOD

BRAND: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: Western Digital Blue 500MB 7200RPM 16MB Cache

SIZE: 500MB

LINK: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073
COMMENTS: Works perfectly

CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME My Passport Ultra
SIZE (2 TB)
LINK http://www.amazon.com/Passport-Ultra-Portable-External-Backup/dp/B00E055H5O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404915245&sr=8-1&keywords=my+passport+ultra+2tb

CONFIRMED: GOOD

BRAND: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: Western Digital WD AV-GP WD10EURX 1TB
SIZE: 1 TB

LINK: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136941
COMMENTS: Works perfectly, requires a USB hard drive enclosure. - Suggest finding one that supports SATA III + USB 3.0 for best results.

CONFIRMED: GOOD

BRAND: Mediasonic
PRODUCT NAME: Mediasonic ProBox K32-SU3 3.5" Black SATA I/II/III USB 3.0 SuperSpeed SATA HDD External Enclosure

SIZE: HDD not included
LINK: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817576014
COMMENTS: Works perfectly, SATA III + USB 3.0 over SATA II + USB 2.0 seems to remove quite a few bottlenecks during normal operation (loading speeds, fast forward, sync)

CONFIRMED: WORKS BUT SLOW
BRAND: Rosewill
PRODUCT NAME: Rosewill
RX35-AT-SC BLK Full Aluminum Cover, Metal Tray 3.5" Black USB2.0 &
eSATA External Enclosure

                </span><br>SIZE: HDD not included<br>LINK: <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238);">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182180</span></span><br>COMMENTS:  Works but slow due to only SATA II + USB 2.0 support.&nbsp; Only provides around .5 Gbps as opposed to 5 Gbps bandwidth along the USB line with a USB 3.0 enclosure.<br><br><br>

Hi Folks!

I’ve just ordered my Tablo dual-tuner and even though it won’t be here for a few days, I thought it prudent to figure out which USB drive to buy.  I could have sworn during my research that I’d read somewhere that the drive has to be self-powered and not USB powered, but it looks as though some of the confirmed working drives are USB powered.  Is this true?

@saturnnights Yes, I use one of these  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H4XH586/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

@saturnnights Yes, I use one of these  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H4XH586/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks Jestep!  That’s good news, and roughly doubles the number of drives available for the task!  :slight_smile:

I could have sworn during my research that I'd read somewhere that the drive has to be self-powered and not USB powered, but it looks as though some of the confirmed working drives are USB powered.  Is this true?

@saturnnights - It’s actually the opposite. We find the drives that are USB powered are best, vs. the ‘plug into the wall’ kind.

2 Likes
I could have sworn during my research that I'd read somewhere that the drive has to be self-powered and not USB powered, but it looks as though some of the confirmed working drives are USB powered.  Is this true?
@saturnnights - It's actually the opposite. We find the drives that are USB powered are best, vs. the 'plug into the wall' kind.</blockquote>

That’s interesting - and good to know - thanks!

Hey everyone,

Has anyone tried the Seagate Backup Plus 1TB for Mac (SRD0SP0)? I’m just curious before I wipe this one I have and try it out on the Tablo. I don’t know if this acts any different than the regular Seagate Backup Plus STD models.

CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Adata HV620
PRODUCT NAME  Adata 2TB USB3.0 2.5" External Hard Drive AHV620-2TU3-CBK Black
Size 2TB

I originally marked this as bad.  But under the latest FW 2.1.14 it appears to be working OK.  So what ever changes you guys made for the improvements for the USB drives its working.

CONFIRMED: GOOD 
BRAND: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive (WDBU6Y0020BBK-NESN)
SIZE: 2TB
LINK: http://amzn.com/B00DULWSXI
COMMENTS: Works perfectly, $99

@bromo999 you pasted the wrong link as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

CONFIRMED GOOD (VERY GOOD)
BRAND: Syba
 Can use any brand 5.25 inch internal hard drive(supports 2.5 inch drives but I have not tested them)

PRODUCT NAME: Syba SY-ENC35026 USB 3.0 Hard Disk Docking Station Supports 3.5" and 2.5" Drives
SIZE: ANY   (Tablo only supports up to 2TB but larger drive can be used)
LINK: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3XW1F73825
COMMENTS: The only trouble I had was when a bad hard drive was being used. The only issues with this I have seen were successfully diagnosed by attaching the hard drive to a real computer via SATA cable and then testing using Seatools Dos or Windows. (I have tried 4 old drives of which 3 had confirmed issues) I bought a new 4TB Seagate drive and found that Tablo would only show 2.16TB of space.

This is a 100% stable solution, not flaky in any way and is as rock solid as the health of the hard drive. This is powered via AC plugin.

CONFIRMED: GOOD

BRAND: Hitachi
PRODUCT NAME:HGST
Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 2.5" External Hard Drive
HTOLMX3NA10001ABB(0S03454) Black

                                     </span>SIZE: 1 TB


LINK: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145597
COMMENTS:
Works perfectly.  USB powered.  I use this on my Plex server and on my Tablo.  They stack, that is, they are flat and can stack on top of each other.

1 Like
@bromo999 you pasted the wrong link as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073

@Jestep - Link corrected, thank you. 

question, with tablo is there any additional benefit with a 7200 rpm over a 5400 rpm drive?

@brg88tx Not for the Tablo - the RPM’s won’t affect the way the Tablo interacts with the drive. So no cause for concern here!

CONFIRMED: BAD
BRAND NAME: Toshiba
PRODUCT NAME: Canvio Connect Portable HDTC720CK3C1
SIZE: 2 TB
LINK: http://www.samsclub.com/sams/2tb-port-value-pack/prod11520262.ip
COMMENTS: Would format for a minute or two then do the "Hard drive temporarily unavailable" and then ask to format again. Tried NTFS and exFat as well as multiple usb cables.