I recently upgraded from a non-DVR HD box to the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8240HDC DVR box. I was told during this exchange that this DVR recorded 80 hrs of programs. That 80 hours is only if recording Standard Definition (SD) programs, not 1080i HD programs. After recording about 11 hours of 1080i NASCAR races the DVR showed 46% of space used (54% free space). I quickly realized that would only allow me to record approximately 24 hours of 1080i programs. After extensive on-line research pertaining to the SA 8240HDC I decided to proceed with expanding storage using an external hard drive connected with an eSATA cable. The 8240HDC has an eSATA port on the rear panel. I purchased a 2TByte external drive from BestBuy for $151 including tax. The specific info on this drive is:
Buffalo DriveStation Combo 4 2TB External USB 2.0e/SATA/FireWire Hard Drive Silver
SKU: 3697855
After purchase I connected this unit to my desktop via an eSATA cable and determined the internal drive was a Seagate ST2000DM001-9YN164 2TByte 7200 RPM SATA 6.0 Gbps. Factory installed on the drive were 3 folders (MAC, PC Utility Programs, & encryption software). Since I planned to use this drive solely for additional HD storage with the 8240HDC I deleted the existing disk partion (deleting all files previously stored) then create a new basic partition, made it active, then formatted the entire drive as NTFS.
Next, I began connection to of the external drive to the SA 8240HDC as follows:
1. Turn off & UNPLUG power to the SA 8240HDC box
2. Install an eSATA cable into the port on the SA 8240HDC box
3. Connect the eSATA cable to the Buffalo DriveStation
4. Plug in the power plug for the SA 8240HDC and wait until it completes rebooting
5. Plug in power for the Buffalo DriveStation, then switch on the power switch (on rear panel)
6. Within seconds video displayed on the HDTV will FREEZE for a few seconds, the resume as normal, then FREEZE again, the magically an on-screen prompt will appear stating an external drive has been detected and must be formatted. Press the yellow triangle button on the remote to permit formatting of the external drive. This also installs the encryption on the drive that will only allow this drive to connect and display recorded programs to this same DVR, not even another identical SA 8240HDC box.
7. I then checked the recording list and found that the previously displayed 54% of free space was now increased to 97% free. Rough calculation using 11 hours of previously recorded programming on the internal SATA drive, plus nearly 2TBytes of free space would provide me with approximately 225 hours of recording at 1080i high definition.
8. Playback of recording is seemless as far as which drive (internal or external) is being accessed. According to the SA Explorer 8240HDC User Manual, recording will be routed to the drive (internal or external) with the most free space available. Obviously all of my recording for the near future will be on the external drive.
9. I further experimented with replacing the drive inside the Buffalo DriveStation with an on-hand 320GB SATA drive, went through the same steps to get it recognized by the DVR and then formatted it also. I recorded 2 shows on this smaller 320GB drive, checked playback, then swapped the 2TByte drive back in (with rebooting of the DVR between each drive swapping). This confirmed I can use multiple drives within the external drive housing (although only 1 at a time) to further increase recording capacity for archive purposes.
10. IMPORTANT - The process I used to get the external drive recognized by the DVR and then formatted IS DIFFERENT than the process listed in the SA Explorer 8240HDC User Manual. That manual was written when COX was using SARA firmware on this DVR. Currently COX downloads PASSPORT ECHO firmware during rebooting, hence the process pertaining to the external SATA drive has changed.
If you have questions pertaining to the above, please post them and I'll try to help. My numerous calls to COX here in Las Vegas resulted in nothing more than "COX DOES NOT PROVIDE TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR EXTERNAL STORAGE ON DVR UNITS".
Hopefully the above info will prevent others from the hassle I went through getting this up and running.