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Couldn’t Be Easier - Works With Scientific Atlanta 8300

What can you say - for a device like this, “scoring” is it easy. It either works as advertised, or it doesn’t - this thing works as advertised. It’s easy to hook-up/install, or it is not - the directions couldn’t be clearer, and it was a snap to hook-up.

I have a Comcast DVR Scientific Atlanta 8300HD. I was constantly running into low space issues. No matter how hard I tried to keep up with “house keeping” it always seemed to run at or near capacity. And with the 2008 Summer Olympics coming up, I was finally motivated to find a solution.

I did few Google searches, and yielded some promising results. Other users of the SA-8300HD had the same problem and came up with varying solutions - build you own eSATA external drive, or buy an out-of-the-box device. I’m pretty tech savvy, having built a number of PCs and external USB drives. The cost of DIY-ing a similar device was about $100-110, delivered. For $40 more, I could get a pre-built and certified device. I didn’t want any hassles, so I went with this.

It looks like and is the same size as any of the WD MyBook external drives. It’s a little smaller than a hard covered book. It comes with an external power supply and an eSATA cable, and a Quick Install guide.

Total time to install - 15 minutes, tops. I could have done it in less than ten, if I read the install guide fully. I jumped the gun and instead of pulling the plug on the DVR, I just turned it off. YOU HAVE TO UNPLUG THE DVR BEFORE CONNECTING THE EXPANDER. Which is what the directions says, but I skipped.

So, to install, you:

1) Check Capacity of your recorder (mine was at 62%)
2) Unplug the DVR
3) Plug in the Expander
4) Connect the Expander to the DVR with the eSATA cable
5) Plug the DVR back in.

The DVR will go through its boot process. When the clock reappears, turn on your TV and then your DVR. A message will appear:

“Detected an external DVR Expander - do you want to format it for use with this DVR?”

Hit Yes and the message disappears. There is nothing to tell you it is performing the install/format. A few minutes later, a new message appears:

“The DVR Expander is ready to use”

Go to the recording section and check capacity. Mine dropped to 16%!

My recommendation - do not hesitate, buy this. Even if you are tech-savvy, is your time/effort worth $40? This is certified and guaranteed to work. WD drives are typically sturdy, and their MyBooks are highly rated.

Hurry - the Olympics start August 8!!

Update (5/17/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.

The featured review for this product, Western Digital My DVR Expander 500 GB eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive WDG1S5000VN Electronics, was written by Space For The Poppa.

The average rating for this item is 4 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.