8300HD eSATA Hard Drive for Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR 250GB

neTegriti 250GB eSATA Upgrade for Scientific Atlanta 8300HD & 8000HD. This is a complete external SATA hard drive kit that includes all necessary cabling to attach to the SA8300HD's eSATA port.

Similar but better than Maxtor Quickview Expander drives. Maxtor uses 5400RPM, we use 7200RPM for reliable multi-room viewing and steady video playback and record of multiple programs.

Capacity: 250GB
Spindle Speed: 7,200RPM
Interface Type: eSATA / SATA II (External)
Disk Size:
Sustained Throughput (MBps):
Average Seek Time (read/write ms):
Electrical Interface Speed: SATA 150 - 1.50Gbps
On-Board Cache: 8MB

You own or rent a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD (or 8300SD) cable tuner & digital video recorder (DVR/PVR). It currently holds either 10 or 20 hours (80GB or 160GB) of high definition video (or 90 hours of standard definition video). Many users find that they exhaust their storage space quickly. Therefore we offer you an external SATA hard drive that connects to the SATA port on the back of the SA 8300HD. It allows you to record an extra 30 hours of high definition television (or an extra 135 hours of standard definition video).

We have selected the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 hard drive (faster than the Maxtor QuickView Expander drive), it leverages the core technology of Maxtor QuickView consumer electronics (CE) hard drives, which power a high share of today's DVRs worldwide. Different than a standard PC hard drive, Maxtor QuickView CE drives are designed for streaming media applications and offer exceptional performance and advanced features that enhance the digital entertainment experience.

Life in a desktop computer doesn't compare to the extreme environment in an always-on, high duty cycle digital video recording system. What's needed is a drive engineered to thrive in a high-intensity video system while still offering traditional low cost-per-capacity desktop value.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is this external drive compatible* with all cable companies' 8300HD's?

No. It works with many companies/8300HD boxes, but not all. It depends primarily on which software is running on your box.. Cable boxes that run the SARA software are fully compatible, those that run the Passport software are not. For example all Cox cable subscribers with the 8300HD are fully compatible. To check which software is on your box:

Go into Diagnostic Mode. There are two ways to enter the Diagnostic Mode:

Press and hold the Select button on the front of the unit until the Mail light starts to flash, then press the INFO button.

Press and hold the Pause button on the remote until the Mail light starts to flash (around 10-15 seconds), then press the Page Up (-) button.

Scroll through the pages until you see SARA or PASSPORT listed. If you see SARA, then your box is compatible!
Known to work with Cox Cable, Cablevision, Time Warner cable, Comcast, WOW Cable, Brighthouse Cable & Adelphia in most areas.

Our commitment to you, if you check the follow the instructions above, we guarantee our system to work with your SA 8300HD running SARA software or your money back!

How are programs stored on the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD once an external disk is installed?

Recordings are balanced between the internal hard drive on the 8300HD and the external SATA drive as follows:
A recording is not split between an internal and external hard drive.
The 8300HD automatically stores complete program using the following space available logic:
If the external SATA drive has more space available, the SATA drive stores the next recording.
If the internal hard drive on the 8300HD has more space available, the internal hard drive stores the next recording.

Compatibility

Contents:
1 x SATA External Case (with built in anti shock dampers) with 250GB 7.2K 8MB SATA Hard Drive installed.
1x AC Cable
1 x eSata/Sata II - Sata I Cable (3') (Comax Part # 221303D or 221303C)

Similar to Maxtor Quickview Expander drives, but faster.
Compatible with some Tivo units.