If you search there are several posts and even a potential tool that the community have posted/developed.
(I too am working on a tool)
Currently using Syba SY-ENC35026 USB 3.0 Hard Disk Docking Station with Seagate ST2000VM003 Pipeline HD 2 TB 5900RPM SATA 6Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch Internal Bare Drive.
Thanks to QuadUser for Syba Docking station recommendation.
If you search there are several posts and even a potential tool that the community have posted/developed.(I too am working on a tool)
I would just be nice to be able to plug the new hard drive into the second USB port and have it transfer contents without interruption… {whishful thinking}
oh… yes… that case is a bit more specific. The tools posted are mainly for exporting the recordings… which is a more general thing.
I have a WD MY BOOK AV DVR EXPANDER…model # BABT0010HBK-00 NESN. 1 TB USB/ESATA that I’ve been using with a SHAW DIRECT PVR…Does anyone know if this is compatible with the Tablo?
Since I’m not set up yet I’m just looking for anyone with experience with this unit…and of course it worked fine with the satellite PVR…it’s externally powered.
@Marbil146 We haven’t tested this drive specifically, but we’ve found that quite a few externally powered drives report in at the incorrect (4K) sector size. I wouldn’t rule it out, though. The Tablo will tell you pretty quickly if the drive is compatible or not.
CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME: Seagate
PRODUCT NAME: Backup Plus Slim
BRAND NAME: Seagate
PRODUCT NAME: Backup Plus Slim
SIZE: 1.5TB
LINK: http://www.costco.com/Seagate-Slim-1.5TB-Portable-Hard-Drive.product.100095388.html
COMMENTS: This drive works perfectly. Model is unique to Costco. Purchased in store recently for $79.
After obtaining my Tablo I tried a couple drive enclosures and docks with a variety of hard drives. I encountered a lot of problems with each. I also had an older WD My Passport that was awful. I finally just purchased the Seagate and everything works great.
COMMENTS: This drive works perfectly. Model is unique to Costco. Purchased in store recently for $79.
After obtaining my Tablo I tried a couple drive enclosures and docks with a variety of hard drives. I encountered a lot of problems with each. I also had an older WD My Passport that was awful. I finally just purchased the Seagate and everything works great.
This is very discouraging. I have a 4 tuner model being shipped tomorrow by 8pm from Amazon $300. I then discover this blog & am now wondering if I made another mistake by unknowingly becoming a pioneer guinea pig to technology. I have to agree that it is unprofessional for a customer to search or trial and error hard drives to make this device work for them. I thought long & hard before posting thinking I should be nice or polite due to all the work Tablo has put into this product but then realized how absurd it is for their customers to have to go through all this embarrassing work for them. It makes me wonder if my $300 is purchasing sub par circuitry under the hood? I thought I could simply find a good deal on Best Buy for a 2TB drive but now realize I must scour through only 5 pages on a blog in hopes that the one I find at Best Buy is supported. In some cases I read customers who purchase supposed supported hard drives are actually not! Is Tablo really ready for the mainstream or just jumpy to acquire customers from SimpleTV & Aereo’s demise? I’ve got a serious decision to make by tomorrow whether I return to sender or not. Good grief Tablo, really? Tons of devices out there support whatever you plug into them, sounds like a hardware problem not software. Perhaps I should wait for ver 2 or 3 or for another company to do it right the first time around. I don’t believe I’m being harsh for my $300, I believe Tablo has a responsibility before accepting anyone’s $300.
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Best Buy has a pretty good return policy. I’m sure if the drive doesn’t work correctly you can return it and get something different. Or you and take your $300 and give $100 a month to the cable company for the next three months. Bottom line is even cable companies and satellite companies that I’ve been doing this stuff for years have issues. For me I’m willing to deal with a little bit of set up to save $100 a month and a few less features that the cable/satellite DVR box I have to pay rent every month.
@theclone19 - I’m sorry you’re feeling frustrated with this. Please let me explain a few reasons why this hard drive thread exists.
While we would have loved to be able to test every single hard drive out there for compatability, it’s just not possible. There are literally thousands of models of disks and enclosures from many manufacturers and even within the same brand/style the specs can be different (but not printed on the box).
Some hard drives are known to have buggy firmware, some have known issues with disconnecting, some are non-compliant to industry standards (e.g. draw too much power from USB). These issues might not affect the average use case of backing up family photos from your laptop, but when you’re streaming or recording content, a USB hard drive disconnect can lead to a corrupted recording or the inability to play back your show. The problems with these drives are not within our ability to control so we have to work around them.
The largest issue is posed by disks with 4 KB sector size. These are not currently supported by our firmware but we are working on making a change that will make these disks compatible in the future.
Hopefully this explanation will give you more confidence in our product and our company. We have thousands of loyal fans who love Tablo and we hope you’ll become one as well.
@mb190e, “Tablo is one of the most promising over-the-air TV recording solutions”- from Cnet.
I understand there will be cheerleaders for Tablo but it’s not just programing I’m after with my $300. Tablo doesn’t provide programing. With that said, their device is not ready for it’s claims if it can’t support yesterdays technology while putting an unusual burden on its purchasers.
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@theclone19 from one perspective I can see how you say that because somethings are not perfect and there are bugs.
But from another I also know any technology has to be researched fully before purchasing to find out if it meets his/her needs.
As an example, I don’t just buy a TV because of it’s size, I also need to research how many HDMI ports, refresh rate, etc.
For me, the Tablo meets and exceeds my needs for what it does. Are there things missing? Yes, and I have voiced those in the Roadmap thread, but they are actively listening and making improvements, which is a lot better than most companies 
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@TabloTV, I don’t want to be completely ignorant to this issue & don’t want to bog this blog with it. I do appreciate your response & now understand the complexities involved in recording streams. I’ve just not encountered this before with other technologies nor should I compare this device to others. Hopefully others can read this blog & quell their flames due to their ignorance’s as well. I will gladly except today’s package with the same excitement I had when discovering Tablo.
I have just one last thing to do, CUT THAT $120 CABLE!!!
Hey mb190e - who’s the cheerleader now, lol, Have a great time guys…
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@theclone19 - Glad the context helped you get back to warm fuzzies instead of flames. :-bd
CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: My Passport Ultra WDBZFP0010
BRAND NAME: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: My Passport Ultra WDBZFP0010
SIZE: 1 TB
LINK: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-my-passport-ultra-1tb-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-black/9028431.p?id=1218971610403&skuId=9028431&st=categoryid$pcmcat186100050005&cp=1&lp=1
COMMENTS: It's a hard drive.
COMMENTS: It's a hard drive.
CONFIRMED: GOOD with notes*** (see below)
BRAND: Hitachi
PRODUCT NAME:HGST Touro Mobile 500GB USB 3.0 2.5" External Hard Drive Black SIZE: 500GB
LINK: http://www.staples.ca/en/Touro-500GB-USB-30-Mobile-Portable-Hard-Drive/product_949468_2-CA_1_20001
Staples advised there are only a few of the 500GB units left and none of the 1TB units. The sale price is only on until Oct 14.
***NOTES: Hard drive seems to work well. SNL recorded no problem.
However this evening we were getting a great deal of macro-blocking even though we had a good signal. At one point a fragment of audio looped over and over while the video continued. Unplugged the hard-drive from the Tablo and unplugged the Tablo and reconnected without the hdd and video was excellent with NO macro-blocking. Reconnected the hdd and no problems as far as macro-blocking.
Possibly a communication issue between the Tablo and the hdd
@een - Keep an eye on that. It may be that this brand/style randomly disconnects. Keep us posted.
CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Seagate
PRODUCT NAME FreeAgent GO
BRAND NAME Seagate
PRODUCT NAME FreeAgent GO
SIZE 320GB
LINK http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeAgent-Go-Portable-External/dp/B005UFFD0W/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1413297629&sr=8-20&keywords=freeagent+go+320gb
COMMENTS Had it lying around the house, was previously used to backup WII U games and data but got re- purposed for the tablo.
COMMENTS Had it lying around the house, was previously used to backup WII U games and data but got re- purposed for the tablo.
@een - Keep an eye on that. It may be that this brand/style randomly disconnects. Keep us posted.
So far, so good. No further problems. We'll see if it's consistently good or whether it has further issues in the future.
@phatone17 - Sorry to hear you picked up a bad hard drive. If you read the blog post (http://www.tablotv.com/blog/back-away-from-that-flash-drive) carefully it says: "portable USB powered hard drives".
So I thought I had the right one too, it is a usb powered seagate slim stdr2000102 2TB slim but it does not work