Directv Genie DVR Recordings Storage Upgrade Step by Step with 4TB Hard Drive from Best Buy

How to upgrade step by step your DirecTV genie DVR for more recoding storage space. Also a test of what happens when you remove the external drive when in operation. How to switch between the two so you can still watch your old recordings when needed. Best Buy sale ended but you can get the same 4 TB drive off eBay and you really only need a bare drive with an external eSATA case to get it working.
Things to note:
Upgrade was done on a HR54-200 Directv DVR genie but many other models work the same if they have an eSATA port on the back. If you do not have an external hard drive case laying around that supports eSATA you will need to get one ($25). For $115 you should be able to expand your capacity with 3X more space. I used a 4TB drive, you can use larger does not matter. HR54 Genie supports up to 12 TB but that's a lot of recordings :)
Before you start read the following:
You can not have your old and new recordings at the same time. Whatever is on the old internal drive can not be accessed while the new drive is connected. After you upgrade your show series will need to be added again. This could be considering a big inconvenience but well worth it in the end. If you feel the need to preserve the entire series settings and the actual recordings you can accomplished this by copying from the original drive to the new drive. This will require opening the HR which is at your own risk, so I am only providing this for informational proposes. You need to first format the new drive on HR by booting it up, then you need to take both drives onto a windows machine and do the following:
Transfer a dump of the XFS file system (folders/files/metadata) from the original formatted by the HR DVR HDD to another formatted by the HR DVR drive. This will allow for everything to transfer and have the new drive space. This will bring everything over and expand the space. This is not for the novice and again requires opening up the HR so I show the simple process in the video which is to expand by adding the external drive and starting fresh.
External Hard Drive purchased was model = WDBCKA0040HBK-NESN Western Digital External 3.0 from Best Buy (Also on Amazon)
External case can be any, just has to have an eSATA port (Amazon.com)
Please sub, comment and thumbs up!
HS17-100, HS17-500, HR44-200, HR44-500, HR44-700, HR54-200, HR54-500, HR54-700, H44-100, H44-500, HR22-100, HR22-200, HR23-700, HR24-100, HR24-200, HR24-500

[@WideWorldofTrains]

This is very cool to know. Lots of times people have to delete stuff when it gets down to 7 or 8 percent

[@tracydawnmetcalf]

Thank you very helpful!

[@doginstine]

You also have to redo all your favorites list and your quicktune settings.

[@hackologica]

Done

[@TechnicalExclusive]

Nice

[@earthstewardude]

I got a free Direct TV HR54-500 when I did a house clean out. is this something I can use? Do I need to bypass the old persons codes?

[@chrismigl8763]

With this external hard drive can you transfer the recordings currently on your dvr (internal hard drive) onto the external hard drive?

[@lgoamity]

Just recently swapped my 4TB External to a 10TB (has been "failing" for a while)... Currently having issues with not being able to see Search Results for Anything but On Demand stuff. Need to try a reboot... See if that does anything

[@upndaup]

great video. hadir disini for watching video , ini kunjungan mantap, like bro 176

[@bubba19912]

But I really wanna know is if I plug-in a 4 TB hard drive inside the box not an external the hard drive in my unit failed but because mine is for an RV I had to buy the unit and I want to know if I put a 4 TB inside that unit is it going to work

[@TechFan]

Yes it will work, however user who rents the boxes from DTV should not replace it since it breaks the terms of service. In your case if you own it where if you cancel service you won't have to return the box to DTV can replace the internal drive.

[@az3gunner]

Do you know if it would work if left the external drive in the original case and use a USB to ESATA adapter?

[@TechFan]

You can try it, the idea behind the eSATA is speed for the I/O. Post back if it works, would have to be USB 3.0 or better.

[@HVKViper6989]

Tech Fan I am a directv tech and if you get an external hdd it would work if you leave it in the original case

[@Fiddler186]

I have a Seagate external, but the hard drive inside the case doesn't have a ide power port to connect the power cord in the Sabrent case you recommended. How would I get power to it or would I have to use a hard drive from a WD instead of Seagate.

[@TechFan]

The Seagate drive needs to be a SATA drive, the Sabrent case supports both IDE and SATA, the instructions show how to connect a SATA drive to the SATA portion of the board inside the drive. Manual is here and it shows both installs and in your case you need to follow the SATA portion images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/D1GkeJJQQjS.pdf Is your drive a SATA drive?

[@Fiddler186]

I got it installed and it will power up, but the eSATA cable will not go into the dvr, no matter how hard I push. I even switched to a pare of pliers to get a better grip because it felt like it was going to tearing the skin on my thumb and index finger. It went into the hard drive with just a little force , but will not go into the dvr. I guess for me, it's get another cable or just forget about upgrading the storage.

[@TechFan]

reverse the cable and see if the other end goes in, maybe the eSATA cable has a bad end. The cables are cheap so if it's that its a easy to replace. Almost there it sounds like to me.

[@Fiddler186]

Yeah, both ends would go into the hard drive with little resistance but just couldn't get either end into the DVR. Ended up breaking it, the tip snapped and bent up at about a 45 degree angle. Ordered two more, now just waiting for them to get here.

[@Fiddler186]

Well, thank for the help but it isn't going to work out for me. A new eSATA cable of the same brand still wouldn't go into the DVR, and one of a different brand went in easily, but when I pushed the red button, it wouldn't recognize the new drive when it came back on. Guess I'm stuck with the 1TB factory drive.

[@bettyannmccue1237]

How long should this take? (For a 4T external drive)

[@TechFan]

How long should what take? How many hours can you record?

[@carloso5910official]

That’s the HR54

[@cchavez9217]

will this technique work on a HR24 dvr? or does is it specific to HR54??

[@TechFan]

You can add an external drive to the HR24 in the same fashion but the supported limitation is 2TB, that is the only difference. Just has to be with a 2 TB eSATA drive etc.

[@cchavez9217]

Thanks for the reply!! So I have a Fantom Disk 2TB external hard drive that the HR24 will not accept (error message) does it have to be a specific disk drive? Will Seagate 2TB BarraCuda SATA 6Gb/s 64MB ( smile.amazon.com/dp/B01IEKG402/?coliid=I1TTE23CYLAPLN&colid=19CFBZOVD74XN&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1 ) work if I assemble it in the enclosure?

[@TechFan]

I can't confirm if the Fantom drive works or not (does on the HR54) but I suggest first trying to format it for FAT32 on a PC. Make sure it's good and that you can put a file on it, then format it again for FAT32 and try it with the HR. If not remove the partition on the PC again, but don't add another one and try again etc. The original drives are Western Digitals and I can say on the HR54 it's not picky but I know on the HR24 it's a bit more and the recommended drives are western digitals. Anyone of the current ones should work, so I suggest not playing around with a Seagate.

[@cchavez9217]

So my Fantom drive 4TB formatted on my HR54 but the DVR is now very very slow and freezing. Have left it connected for 2 days now and it is still very very slow and freezing up, should I give it more time, or should I reformat the Fantom drive to FAT32 like you suggest and start again on the HR54?? Thanks again man!!

[@TechFan]

Well that is another issue as you originally said, the 2 TB Fantom didn't work on the HR24 (I thought)? If you tried the 4 TB on the HR24 it's not going to work and that makes sense too. Freezing is a different issue, this usually is due to a performance issue or something else is going on like using a 6 ft eSATA cable. Note the eSATA cable shouldn't ideally be more than a foot long. I have spoken with others who used a Fantom 4 TB with the HR54 with no issues but they make a few drives and or versions. I personally suggest a Western Digital as that is what DTV uses as the original drives and suggests. They actually use green drives which are the cheapest you can get, I used what came inside the 4 TB external drive which was not labeled as such, but it works just fine. No freezing or slowness.

[@tooncastfan5151]

Is the removing the drive part necessary or could I skip it?

[@TechFan]

You can skip it, was my setup to covert a WD case into an eSTAT output. The Genie only has an eSATA input. You can get a converter to USB if you need to etc.

[@tooncastfan5151]

@@TechFan okay thanks! Is the hard drive still sold at Best Buy?

[@tooncastfan5151]

@@TechFan would a eSATA cable be enough or does it need to be usb to eSATA?

[@TechFan]

@@tooncastfan5151 eSATA should be fine, the Genie is just looking for eSATA, what is on the other end just needs to be the same, either from conversion or native.

[@456zounds]

PLEASE....why all the steps at the beginning with the Hard Drive? Why not SIMPLY attach to the Genie box?

[@TechFan]

Because the Genie box is not a standard USB port for external recording, you must use eSATA which generally is no longer sold in the stores with the larger drives. So I had an older eSATA drive laying around, really all I needed it for was the converter board. Now you have to buy a eSATA converter cable which would do the same trick. Hope that helps.

[@456zounds]

@@TechFan Thanks for the reply...which I didn't--at first--understand (and may not completely even yet). My new WD ext. HD has only an "SS" USB port. Are you telling me, I guess, that I need a special converter cable? I can't simply go from the SS-USB to the USB on the back of my satellite box? Now--if NOT SO--I think the SATA port on the box is regular SATA, so do I need a SS-USB to SATA converter cable? And, if so, are these cables readily available?

[@TechFan]

@@456zounds The DTV Genie is eSATA input only, you need to match that to whatever drive you are using. You can try a SS to eSATA and see if it works. The reason the box wants eSATA is for speed reasons and spec's of such. A 3.0 USB SS should work but I never tried it. I used a eSATA board on the drive side, so the drive output was eSATA which went direct to the DTV box via the eSATA input.

[@jetson213]

don't need all that bullshit!!! like if i going to go out buy a usb hard drive case with a hard drive inside,,, I DONE A UPGRADE ON MY internal hard drive already... go on ebay buy a sata drive of your liking, laptop sata hard drives are fine.. just put some cushioning around it so it don't get bumped around. remove the old drive PLUG IN THE SATA & power chords to the drive.. power up the dvr. and the dvr will AUTO FORMAT IT. MAKING IT for use.. Works on all the current HD-DVRS out there.... plain and simple without the crap...

[@TechFan]

Yes one can upgrade the internal drive but it also breaks the terms of service (TOS) agreement for most who are forced to lease hardware and not own. Also many folks prefer to not open up and modify their receiver and external is the approved way of upgrading. One can also just buy an external eSATA drive off the shelf too but they are more expensive outright since they are less common these days. You can also copy your old drive to the new drive saving your settings and recordings. So if I was going to replace my internal I would go that route which is just transferring a directory from the original drive over to new using a PC. Google how if you want to know more.

[@charleslove2319]

Warning ⚠️ warning ⚠️Don’t get AT&T Direct TV it’s totally a ripoff warning ⚠️ warning ⚠️ warning ⚠️ people!!!

[@TRUMP-2024-STF]

I have it. Nothing has changed.