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Discussing the DCT-6412, Home Theater Devices, Entertainment, Celebrity and the Cable Industry. Not affiliated with any Cable Company, Hardware Manufacturer or Software Developer.
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#1 03-25-2007 3:38:38 PM
Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
Please forgive me if there's a definitive answer to this question posted already, but my inquiry is about connecting an external hard drive to the DCT6412 for additional recording capacity. I'm aware this has not been possible in the past and that even "enabled" USB ports on the unit have only been useful for powering small passive devices like lights and fans. However, there seems to be a change on the winds. People have had success doing this with Scientific Atlanta and other set-top boxes from other CATV providers. Most significantly, when I asked a Comcast rep about this yesterday (for about the 99th time) she said, "the official answer is still 'no,' but some people have had success adding additional capacity if their USB ports are 'enabled' per their diagnostics." Mine are enabled. So I'm asking; has anyone tried using the USB ports in this way *recently,* with a Phase III unit? Any success or failure to report? IF it's not a guaranteed waste of time I'll be the Guinea pig and give it a go; after all external hard drives are easily returnable. Thanks in advance!
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#2 03-25-2007 5:00:44 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
I'm here in Phase II land, so input from me is unlikely to be helpful. However, I'd be very interested to know of the outcome of any Frankenstein machine you create.
And yes, I do propose that 6412s or 3412s with appendages be termed "Frankenstein DVRs" because it sounds cool.
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#3 03-25-2007 6:21:33 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
I, too, would be interested in your efforts. I do know that many of the ports state they are enabled, but not always functional. I will try contacting a friend at one of our repair facilities to get details on what exactly is functional and what can be done with it. If you plan to hook up an external USB drive, I would make sure that it is either brand new or unformatted (RAW). I'm not sure what file system the DVRs use, but I currently have 2 of the 120gig HDs from both a P1/P2 and a P3 (only difference is P1/2 use IDE, P3 is SATA) in my PC and they installed as RAW data. I happen to have about 10-15 of these HDs laying around; I removed them from DVRs that were damaged or no longer usable and they work great. I've even had a few people install them into their XBOX for emulator storage.
Comcast Cable Communications Technician - Fresno, CA system
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#4 03-25-2007 6:52:07 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
I just connected an IOMEGA 250 GB USB drive to my 3412. It's running 16.20 firmware. The DVR sees the disk drive - the 4th page of the Interface/port status diagnostic screen (d11) says
USB DEVICES
1 USBDISK001 MASS STORAGE
IOMEGA EXTERNAL HD
But, as far as I can tell, it's not using the drive - the percentage of used disk space didn't change, and the DVR/HDD status (d13) still only shows the internal drive.
Power cycling the DVR made no difference - it still doesn't appear to be using the external drive.
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#5 03-25-2007 7:45:13 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
Thanks for the info...especially that PIII uses SATA drives. Some other boxes (such as Scientific Atlanta) that do recognize and use external HDDs don't like most SATAs, but matching the drive system already present should improve my chances. Checking out user reviews for external HDDs offered on Amazon, NewEgg, and Tiger Direct tell me that when this experiment works the box recognizes and uses the new drive right away (using a FAT32 file system), so I suspect shj's box is NOT using the IOMEGA...but this is useful info and represents progress! Perhaps the next firmware update will improve matters there
In some cases other manufacturer's boxes will use the external HDD exclusively and cease to use its internal drive at all, so
my inclination is to try a 400-500 GB SATA drive (adequate alone) and connect it with the internal 120 GB drive empty, then reset the box (unless it works right away!). It will likely be a week at least until I try this, after which I'll post the results here...
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#6 03-26-2007 10:18:43 AM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
WoW... waiting with bated breath to see what happens here. I've got a 6412 II and a 3416. Will check Diagnostics tonight to see if either shows USB enabled.
If it does I'll have to dig out the external 80g I have lying around unused and see if it works. Can anybody point me in the direction of a freeware low-level drive formatting utility so I can make sure it's unformatted if I plug it in?
Hey CommTech, could you try hooking up a FAT32 drive and then a RAW drive to the same box and see what happens on both?
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#7 03-26-2007 10:49:32 AM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
jganyard wrote:
WoW... waiting with bated breath to see what happens here.
As long as you don't hold that bated breath -- you might turn blue waiting for the Comcast Motorola DVRs to accept external storage. 
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#8 03-26-2007 10:55:01 AM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
jganyard wrote:
WoW... waiting with bated breath to see what happens here. I've got a 6412 II and a 3416. Will check Diagnostics tonight to see if either shows USB enabled.
If it does I'll have to dig out the external 80g I have lying around unused and see if it works. Can anybody point me in the direction of a freeware low-level drive formatting utility so I can make sure it's unformatted if I plug it in?
Hey CommTech, could you try hooking up a FAT32 drive and then a RAW drive to the same box and see what happens on both?
That's interesting. I didn't even think about this when shj mentioned it, but the size limit for a file in FAT32 is 4GB minus 1 byte. That's not even 1 hour-long HD show.
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#9 03-26-2007 11:45:37 AM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
Wareagle wrote:
As long as you don't hold that bated breath -- you might turn blue waiting for the Comcast Motorola DVRs to accept external storage.
*cough**cough* Gave up on them making it easy for us long ago.
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#10 03-26-2007 8:39:20 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
jganyard wrote:
Hey CommTech, could you try hooking up a FAT32 drive and then a RAW drive to the same box and see what happens on both?
I actually don't have any external drives that I can plug into my 6412. All of my HDs are internal. I have been thinking about getting a multidrive rack to hook a couple of them up to my PC for a small file server, in which case I may be able to USb the rack with one drive in it to the DVR, but that's not a task I will be doing anytime soon.
As for your request for a format utility, PM me and I can give you Paragon Partition Manager. It's a good Windows-based utility for formatting and partition managing (deleting a partition on a drive will cause it to become RAW).
Comcast Cable Communications Technician - Fresno, CA system
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#11 03-27-2007 10:09:25 AM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
PM sent....
I did check Diagnostics on the 6412 Phase II I have (running 16.20) last night and it does show USB as Enabled but not active. I'm guessing not Active since I don't have a device plugged in. It also showed Ethernet as Enabled but not active.
Looks like I'll try it out tonight with my external drive to see if I get anywhere (and I'll check the 3416 also).
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#12 03-27-2007 4:13:04 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
I doubt if the drive format would make a difference, if it worked. Most likely, if USB/eSATA was ever activated, it would either require a pre-formatted drive with a security code, or would automatically format it as needed. That format would most likely also include a security code, so if you moved it to a new box, it would probably either be reformatted or unusable.
People you have updated the xx12's with bigger drives (it will only recognize up to 160G right now) have reported it simply comes up as an empty drive, as if you had performed the DVR reset procedure.
Last edited by andyross (03-27-2007 4:14:13 PM)
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#13 03-28-2007 9:52:04 AM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
Deleted the partition on my external USB drive last night so it would read as RAW. Plugged into the 3416 and nothing happened (did a soft-reset but not a factory-reset).
Checked Diagnostics, it showed USB Enabled and Active, on page 4 it did identify it as a USB Mass Storage device.
I wonder if I need to do a factory-reset in order for it to do anything with the drive? Not ready to do that, have recordings to get caught up on.
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#14 03-28-2007 2:38:42 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
Since I started this thread I've done a lot more research, most fruitfully on the very active AVS forum. I've come to the conclusion that if anyone has successfully used an external HDD to boost the DCT6412's capacity they must have been sworn to secrecy by Motorola, Comcast, or both. I'm pretty well satisfied that this method will NOT work as things stand today.
On a hopeful note, I found this tidbit from a credible-sounding source on AVS:
"Motorola is working on a firmware update to allow encrypted storage to an external SATA drive -- that capability is coming in the second half of 2007. The recordings will be encrypted, and only playable from the DVR where they were recorded."
This makes a lot of sense when I think about it. If the recordings are not encrypted or could be played on any Motorola DVR, then that raises all sorts of piracy issues...for about $150 you could make a 500 GB external drive with 60 hours of high-definition movies to offer on eBay.
I also found this:
"I have worked for 3 cable companies and Charter's DCT's support external expandable hdd storage via firewire. It's all about whether the system that you are serviced by has requested the feature in the STB firmware from Motorola."
Very interesting, since other well-informed sources have stated that Motorola's firewire port is "output only" and this is not changeable via firmware. Go figure.
Here's hoping that Motorola firmware update rumor is true AND it will be out this year AND when it is Comcast will distribute it...
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#15 03-28-2007 6:18:48 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
jganyard wrote:
Deleted the partition on my external USB drive last night so it would read as RAW. Plugged into the 3416 and nothing happened (did a soft-reset but not a factory-reset).
Checked Diagnostics, it showed USB Enabled and Active, on page 4 it did identify it as a USB Mass Storage device.
I wonder if I need to do a factory-reset in order for it to do anything with the drive? Not ready to do that, have recordings to get caught up on.
I'd be careful with doing a factory reset as this will render your box useless until it is "HIT" by the system, in which case they will more than likely send out a technician who, in turn, will probably swap the box, thus putting you back to the beginning. 
Comcast Cable Communications Technician - Fresno, CA system
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#16 03-28-2007 7:54:50 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
CommTech wrote:
jganyard wrote:
Deleted the partition on my external USB drive last night so it would read as RAW. Plugged into the 3416 and nothing happened (did a soft-reset but not a factory-reset).
Checked Diagnostics, it showed USB Enabled and Active, on page 4 it did identify it as a USB Mass Storage device.
I wonder if I need to do a factory-reset in order for it to do anything with the drive? Not ready to do that, have recordings to get caught up on.I'd be careful with doing a factory reset as this will render your box useless until it is "HIT" by the system, in which case they will more than likely send out a technician who, in turn, will probably swap the box, thus putting you back to the beginning.
Nah, not at all, many of us have done this countless times and it works just fine.
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#17 03-28-2007 8:12:58 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
What do you guys define as a factory reset? Perhaps this is different from process and definition of a factory reset that I am familiar with.
Comcast Cable Communications Technician - Fresno, CA system
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#18 03-28-2007 8:16:33 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
CommTech wrote:
What do you guys define as a factory reset? Perhaps this is different from process and definition of a factory reset that I am familiar with.
No doubt it is: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use … Full_Reset
Last edited by Wareagle (03-28-2007 8:17:03 PM)
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#19 03-28-2007 9:34:14 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
Thank you for that. As I expected, what you folks assume is factory reset is much different than what I know to be factory reset. Basically, what you are doing is obviously reloading the firmware code from our system (Guide info, Menus, etc.). A full factory reset, which is what we perform when we pick your box up and take it back to the processing center (known as Converter Control) will in fact render your box dead, or what we call a "Zero box" (it leaves you with a "0" on your display with a blank screen on TV), in which case a reinitialization from our system is the only thing to fix this, which they rarely allow a customer to call in for (not even technicians can do this without authorization), at least in my system, so you would end up with a swapped box from a technician. Believe it or not, we fix quite a few bugs in boxes by simply doing a full factory reset, but as you can understand, I cannot disclose this procedure to the public. If you find it elsewhere, so be it, but I warn against it's use, simply to save you the hassle and Comcast the money to send a technician to your house. Believe it or not, it costs roughly $100 per trip for the company to send a technician.
Last edited by CommTech (03-28-2007 9:36:35 PM)
Comcast Cable Communications Technician - Fresno, CA system
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#20 03-28-2007 11:24:09 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
CommTech wrote:
Believe it or not, it costs roughly $100 per trip for the company to send a technician.
Which begs the question, why are they always so eager to roll the truck?
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#21 03-28-2007 11:59:50 PM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
We try to minimize truck rolls as much as possible. Again, I am speaking from experience in my system, however on a corporate scale, they want to as few "trouble calls" as possible. Unfortunately, a better part of our problems are due to two specific areas: customer error (ie. TV on wrong channel, turned STB off, used splitter on their own, etc. etc.) and technician error (incorrect procedures on job site, failed to certify the job for accuracy, etc.). When possible, we may simply call the customer ahead of time and actually fix the problem on the phone to avoid the truck roll. We would much rather be rolling a truck for an installation/upgrade than a service call. I'm curious why you say they are eager to roll a truck?
Comcast Cable Communications Technician - Fresno, CA system
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#23 03-29-2007 1:06:08 AM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
I agree. I'm fairly tech savvy (not a tv was on the wrong channel kind of guy) and any time I call to report anything the first thing they want to do is schedule a visit. Sometimes I even have to tell them to check to see if there's a general outage or any main't going on in my area.
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#24 03-29-2007 2:45:25 AM
Re: Boosting Recording Capacity with External USB Devices
One time, I called to report that I wasn't getting one specific channel. The person I was talking to immediately said they'd schedule someone to come out to look at it. I don't remember how, but I determined that I was talking to someone local - only a few miles from where I am. I asked if they could check to see if that channel was ok where they were. A few seconds later, they said "Gee, it's not working here, either. I'll report it to the technicians." A few hours later, the channel was ok.
At least a couple of other times, I've reported what was most likely a head-end problem, but invariably, they say "you're the only one reporting this, so we need to send someone to your house."
Comcast may want to avoid truck rolls, but the people who answer the phones obviously don't have the training that would let them determine when a visit is really necessary.
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