What's the best usb flash drive for TM-6800?

[ixus]

Sorry if this is covered elsewhere but I can't find an answer to this specific question. I know it has to be FAT32 formatted, but is a memory stick good enough or should I buy an external hard drive for my new Technomate 6800 (non-super) receiver? I have tried a 4Gb memory stick which is ok for normal channels but HD channels are unwatchable ... as if the drive isn't fast enough to handle the data (like when you try to play an HD video on a slow computer). What are others using? Any advice?
Thanks

 

[ixus]

Sorry if this is covered elsewhere but I can't find an answer to this specific question. I know it has to be FAT32 formatted, but is a memory stick good enough or should I buy an external hard drive for my new Technomate 6800 (non-super) receiver? I have tried a 4Gb memory stick which is ok for normal channels but HD channels are unwatchable ... as if the drive isn't fast enough to handle the data (like when you try to play an HD video on a slow computer). What are others using? Any advice?
Thanks

 

[PaulR]

I've no direct experience (yet!) but I believe that you could use an external hard drive if you can format it in FAT32. The problem is that Windows will only format large hard disks in NTFS so you will have to use some other program for this. I've been told that something like Partition Manager can do this. Perhaps Linu can do this as well.

The other aspect to consider is the power consumption of the hard disk. 2-1/2" hard drives are quite meagre in their requirements, they can run off 2 USB ports after all, I wouldn't be sure that the single port on a satellite receiver would be up to the job. In a strange way a 3-1/2" hard drive might be better as they always seem to require an external power feed.

With regards to the HD problem possible it's down to the speed of the USB port? Or maybe the speed of the USB drive itself? I'm not a hard drive would be any better in this respect. Let's hope there's someone with first-hand experience.

 

[PaulR]

I've no direct experience (yet!) but I believe that you could use an external hard drive if you can format it in FAT32. The problem is that Windows will only format large hard disks in NTFS so you will have to use some other program for this. I've been told that something like Partition Manager can do this. Perhaps Linu can do this as well.

The other aspect to consider is the power consumption of the hard disk. 2-1/2" hard drives are quite meagre in their requirements, they can run off 2 USB ports after all, I wouldn't be sure that the single port on a satellite receiver would be up to the job. In a strange way a 3-1/2" hard drive might be better as they always seem to require an external power feed.

With regards to the HD problem possible it's down to the speed of the USB port? Or maybe the speed of the USB drive itself? I'm not a hard drive would be any better in this respect. Let's hope there's someone with first-hand experience.

 

[aileen]

There is a formatting facility within the menu I believe

 

[aileen]

There is a formatting facility within the menu I believe

 

[PaulR]

The menu of what?

 

[PaulR]

The menu of what?

 

[aileen]

The question is about a TM 6800: Under Installation > USB > Disk Manager > Third item down > 'Format disk' . I record to both a Seagate Hard drive and memory sticks and always use this method to format them or, occasionally, by Disk Utility on a Mac. No problems recording SD or HD ( HD from home programs)

 

[aileen]

The question is about a TM 6800: Under Installation > USB > Disk Manager > Third item down > 'Format disk' . I record to both a Seagate Hard drive and memory sticks and always use this method to format them or, occasionally, by Disk Utility on a Mac. No problems recording SD or HD ( HD from home programs)

 

[ixus]

aileen,
Thanks for joining in the discussion. Yes, I am aware of the format facility on the receiver but I my portable hard drive (500Gb Western Digital Mybook) contains all my movies, photos, music etc and is presently formatted as NTFS (so that it can handle large file sizes, over 4Gb) ... I don't want to lose them by formatting to FAT32! I intend buying a separate drive just for the receiver, and I'm not sure which to buy. I don't want to go over the top & get another expensive 500Gb drive, but a small memory stick doesn't seem 'fast' enough. I hoped that someone might have tried something in between e.g. a 16Gb memory stick or a (cheap) 160Gb(?) usb drive.
In my experience, most off the shelf drives seem to be already FAT32 in any case so formatting isn't the issue. I had more trouble going the other way (i.e. to NTFS) with my WD drive. Thanks

 

[ixus]

aileen,
Thanks for joining in the discussion. Yes, I am aware of the format facility on the receiver but I my portable hard drive (500Gb Western Digital Mybook) contains all my movies, photos, music etc and is presently formatted as NTFS (so that it can handle large file sizes, over 4Gb) ... I don't want to lose them by formatting to FAT32! I intend buying a separate drive just for the receiver, and I'm not sure which to buy. I don't want to go over the top & get another expensive 500Gb drive, but a small memory stick doesn't seem 'fast' enough. I hoped that someone might have tried something in between e.g. a 16Gb memory stick or a (cheap) 160Gb(?) usb drive.
In my experience, most off the shelf drives seem to be already FAT32 in any case so formatting isn't the issue. I had more trouble going the other way (i.e. to NTFS) with my WD drive. Thanks

 

[timo_w2s]

I use a couple of 250gb Freecom 2.5" drives with my TM6900 and it works very well. I had problems with a Seagate drive where the box would sometime refuse to record and sometime it wouldn't see the drive at all. Never had issues with my Freecom drive in the 18 months I've had it so I recently bought another.

 

[timo_w2s]

I use a couple of 250gb Freecom 2.5" drives with my TM6900 and it works very well. I had problems with a Seagate drive where the box would sometime refuse to record and sometime it wouldn't see the drive at all. Never had issues with my Freecom drive in the 18 months I've had it so I recently bought another.

 

[aileen]

I use 'Crucial' brand memory sticks which I understand are recognised as of high quality. There are some big capacity ones available now. Worth a try as there is always a use for them if not as above

 

[aileen]

I use 'Crucial' brand memory sticks which I understand are recognised as of high quality. There are some big capacity ones available now. Worth a try as there is always a use for them if not as above

 

[ixus]

Thanks for your replies ... I now have an answer to my own question! I've just bought a Western Digital 'Elements' 320Gb portable drive (£45), formatted it to FAT32 on my PC, plugged it into my receiver, and it works fine!
Just one final quick question for aileen ... in your second post you said you recorded 'HD from home programs'. Do you mean you put your own films on the drive and it plays them?

 

[ixus]

Thanks for your replies ... I now have an answer to my own question! I've just bought a Western Digital 'Elements' 320Gb portable drive (£45), formatted it to FAT32 on my PC, plugged it into my receiver, and it works fine!
Just one final quick question for aileen ... in your second post you said you recorded 'HD from home programs'. Do you mean you put your own films on the drive and it plays them?

 

[bigkenny]

I to have a TM-6800HD and was trying to use a standard 3.5" HD in a caddy (using its own PSU) It did not work, I tried with a friends same 6800HD still no good. Also was trying to use a MicroSD memory card still no good. Thats when I found out (other groups) that the TM-6800HD was very picky which drives and memory it likes. I`ve found it works with normal Flash memory sticks (not a micro card used in phones) also I have bought a `WD My Passport Essential 320GB external HD` this is powered by the USB cable. This type of HD needs to be formatted in a special way.

For all USB HDD’s more than 30GB:

1. Connect the hard disc via USB to your PC
2. Right click (with the mouse) on My Computer (found on the Desktop)
3. Go to Manage
4. Go to Disk Management
5. Right click on the USB drive
6. Click on Delete Partition and follow the procedures
7. When this has finished, a new drive will appear. Select the drive with the largest file size and Right click on it.
8. Go to Make a New Partition (it has to be Primary). Assign a drive letter, for example, f:
9. Select: Do not Format this Partition and follow the procedures
10. Right click on the USB drive and set the partition as Active
11. Copy fat32format.exe file to your C: Drive, found in: My Computer > C:
12. Go to Start > Run > enter CMD > OK
13. Enter: cd c:\
14. Enter: fat32format f: (if you used f: in step 8, if not, enter the drive letter you used)
15. The following message will appear: Warning ALL data on drive 'f' will be lost irretrievably, are you sure (y/n)
16. Enter: y
17. Wait until it says Done
18. When this has finished, connect your USB drive to the Technomate TM-6900 HD COMBO or the TM-6800 HD and go to Menu > USB > Management > Format Disk and press OK
19. Do not use the Management menu found in the USB Menu of the receiver

The fat32format.exe file can be found on web sites.

Before I did all this above I could not get it to work, after I did all above it works a dream. Records/plays back on my 6800HD brill. Using the EPG its like having a SKY HD (Sky+) STB.

As long as you get the HDs the TM likes your OK. FreeAgent HDs seem to work as well. I sent an Email to Technomate and they said the WD Passport is good.