'Tested' Hard Drives

I think my Seagate is bad after three format attempts with no success. It is a backup plus slim 2tb portable STDR2000102 that won’t work. I don’t believe it is Advanced Format (4k sector size) so am not sure why it isn’t working. @tablotv

I have a Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB and it works great on my 4 tuner model. My model is STDR2000100. It looks like there may be different models of the same drive. I do remember that when I bought mine there was a model for only Macs and one model of PC and Macs both. I purchased the one for PC and Mac. I bought it at Best Buy.

@philh mine is also Mac and PC compatible. Not sure what the difference is between yours and mine

@tony I don’t know. The only difference I see is the model number. Wish I could have been more help.

And this is what’s so frustrating about USB HD packaging… Sector size can differ even w/ the same model/style. We’re hoping to have a fix for the 4K disks soon. Working really hard on it! 

@TabloTV Is soon this year? I’m wondering if I should try to exchange the drive or just wait, although none of the information for my drive indicates AF or 4K

@PhilH mine is blue, maybe that changes the model number :slight_smile:

@tony Mine is black…  :stuck_out_tongue:

Has anyone tried an external ssd drive with any success? Seagate offers a Backup Plus 256gb drive. I’m looking for an option that won’t draw as much power/ produce as much heat as a sata external drive.

I use a 1TB HGST Touro… it runs at 5400rpm… very cool to the touch.  Works fine.

I mean, you could use an SSD, but the capacity would be limited unless you have a lot of money.

Today I noticed a bare SATA 960GB drive for $380USD… which is a “steal” for SSD today, but you’d have to decide.

The HGST 1TB Touro can usually be obtained for less than $70USD.

@tony - We’re working on it right now but I can’t give an ETA because we haven’t finished the work nor tested it yet. Ideally we’d like it to be the this year but it’ll depend highly on what happens in testing.

CONFIRMED GOOD
BRAND NAME Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME MyBook
SIZE 500 GB
LINK http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Essential-Desktop-External/dp/B000XRK3LG/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1414086142&sr=8-9&keywords=western+digital+500gb+hdd
COMMENTS This was an old HDD that I had sitting around holding MP3's. I let the Tablo format it and it worked without a problem. The link is mainly to have a picture of the unit. I do not believe it is for sale anymore in retail outlets.

It is older but if you have one sitting around it is a great option. 500gb is a ton of storage for me

I have  2 External Hard Drives that work well with my
2 channel Tablo:

1. Western Digital Ultra WDBPGC5000ATT-NESN
2. my older Seagate 250GB PN 9SD2A2-500 works well only if the sleep mode
    is set to 10 minutes or more.
    With the sleep mode set to default (5 Min). Tablo  intermittantly hangs
    during playback and must be rebooted.
   Seagate provides the software to set the sleep mode time.

Does anyone know of a 2.5" USB powered enclosure that works well?


I am seeing deals for a PNY 240 GB SSD 2.5 SATA drives in NewEgg for $80.

I am currently using a 500 GB Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex with no issues and it is not noisy, but seems tempting to eliminate moving parts.

I have 2 older USB enclosures that both did not work. One was not recognized at all. The other was locking up.

I’m not sure you need to upgrade to SSD at this point - for that much $ you can get 1-1.5 TB albeit in a moving parts drive.  Give it another couple of years as SSD prices fall and by then Tablo should have a way to move shows from one drive to another so you can retain all of your original recordings and roll them to a SSD.

In searching for a larger HDD that works with Tablo, I wanted to put everyone’s positive results into a table.  If I missed anyone’s post, please include it in the table (there were several duplicates).

Brand Model Size
Adata AHV620-2TU3-CBK 2TB
G-Technology G-DRIVE external 2TB
Hitachi HGST 1TB
Seagate Backup Plus 2TB
Seagate Backup Plus 1TB
Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB
Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB
Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1.5TB
Seagate FreeAgent Go 1TB
Toshiba Canvio 3.0 Plus 1.5TB
Toshiba Canvio Connect Portable 500GB
Toshiba DT01ACA200 2TB
Western Digital Elements 1TB
Western Digital My Passport Ultra 2TB
Western Digital My Passport Ultra 1TB
Western Digital MyBook 500GB
Western Digital WD20EARS SATA 2TB
Western Digital WD3200 300GB

@DoubleTap, the model number is very important, so please update your table to include them.  I know for instance that some Seagate Backup Plus drives work and some don’t.


I do like the idea of one table that is easily accessable.  

Syba SY-ENC35026 USB 3.0 Hard Disk Docking Station with Seagate ST2000VM003 Pipeline HD 2 TB 


As per quaduser, the SY-ENC35026 will work with almost any drive you plug in and its under 25.00


Here’s the table of “good” drives with model numbers (if provided).

**Note - the adata has both a good and a bad rating.

Brand Model (# if provided) Size Dock
Adata AHV620-2TU3-CBK 2TB  
G-Technology G-DRIVE external 2TB  
Hitachi HTOLMX3NA10001ABB(0S03454) 1TB  
Seagate STCA2000100 2TB  
Seagate Backup Plus 1TB  
Seagate ST3750640AS 2TB Syba SY-ENC35026
Seagate ST2000VM003 2TB Syba SY-ENC35026
Seagate STDR2000100 2TB  
Seagate STDR1000101 1TB  
Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1.5TB  
Seagate FreeAgent Go 320GB  
Toshiba HDTC720XK3C1 2TB  
Toshiba MK2002TSKB 2TB Icy Dock MB881U3-1SA
Toshiba HDTC615XK3B1 1.5TB  
Toshiba HDWC120XK3J1 500GB  
Toshiba DT01ACA200 2TB  
Western Digital WDBZFP0010 1TB  
Western Digital WDBUZG0010BBK 1TB  
Western Digital WD10EURX 1TB  Mediasonic ProBox K32-SU3
Western Digital WDBU6Y0020BBK-NESN 2TB  
Western Digital WDBZFP0010BBK-NESN 1TB  
Western Digital WDBPGC5000ABK 500GB  
Western Digital WD20EARS SATA 2TB  
Western Digital WD3200 300GB  
Western Digital AV-GP WD5000AVDS 500GB Sabrent 
CONFIRMED: GOOD
BRAND NAME: Western Digital
PRODUCT NAME: WD Elements 2TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive 
SIZE: 2 TB
LINK:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DULWSXI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
COMMENTS:
Smallest external 2TB drive that I've ever seen and feels solid.  Also, no external power supply.

@tony
I got the Seagate Backup Slim Portable #STDR2000101 from Amazon, have been trying to format (it just hangs there saying it’s formatting) and I guess that’s what happens when it’s incompatible…And I believe you’re right about the last number designating color. It seems the black model is okay??? So I guess I need to return this silver unit, was hoping to get going with it. I may try my local Costco for the 1.5TB model invalidprotocal had luck with.


CONFIRMED: BAD
BRAND NAME : Seagate

PRODUCT NAME : 

Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (Silver) STDR2000101

SIZE: 2TB 
LINK : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FRHTTIA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
COMMENTS: Just hung @ formatting hard drive…like 10+ minutes, apparently the black model works okay, so different colors of same model will not necessarily work w/Tablo! Isn’t that special?