Spin Down DVR Hard Drive

kschrader · ‎01-18-2012

What is the time settings to spin down on the hard drive? Is it possible to manually spin down the hard drive when it's not going to be needed for a while? It might be worth doing for situations when I won't be watching or recording anything for some time, say after leaving for work in the morning. No sense in the thing continuing to spin if I'm done with it. Save some wear and tear?

Thanks...Kurt

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

The U-verse DVR does not operate like a Tivo or some other providers' DVR's where the hard drive is constantly working because it is buffering programming. The hard drive in the U-verse DVR is only in use when your are watching live TV, watching recorded programming or recording a program.

kschrader · ‎01-18-2012

I've noticed that it does run for some amount of time after I stop watching TV and recording is not going on...I can hear it hum. I don't know the length of time the drive continues to spin. I was just wondering if there might be a way of saying "I'm done now...hibernate".

Kurt

mibrnsurg · ‎07-15-2008

It'll spin up many more times as I've heard it when TV was off and no recordings occuring.

Chris

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-800-288-2020, After he gets acct info, press # a bunch of times, get a menu from Mr. Voice recognition
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

The DVR uses the hard drive more often than you think even when not recording. Guide updates, VOD catalog updates, updates to your recorded series/programs from the Web Remote, code or operating system patches, channel-to-IP mappings, etc. are all received over the network and written to the hard drive.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

True, those updates do occur on the U-verse DVR, but those updates typically last only for a few minutes each day unlike my Tivo's hard drive which is written to 24/7. That is the point I'm trying to make.

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

texasguy37 wrote:

True, those updates do occur on the U-verse DVR, but those updates typically last only for a few minutes each day unlike my Tivo's hard drive which is written to 24/7. That is the point I'm trying to make.

Yes, that is true. These things in the U-Verse system are intermittent and there are often periods of several hours between these updates, unlike the Tivos.

However, even things that don't need to be written to the hard drive can cause it to spin up. For example, if an EAS test/alert comes through the network, there is a specific DLL in Windows CE that will process it. If that DLL is not already loaded into memory, the unit will have to spin up the hard drive to load it.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

So over course of a 24 hours day, how much time would you estimate that the hard drive on the DVR is spinning and it is not due to live TV being watched, recorded programming being watched or record a program?

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

SomeJoe7777 wrote:

The DVR uses the hard drive more often than you think even when not recording. Guide updates, VOD catalog updates, updates to your recorded series/programs from the Web Remote, code or operating system patches, channel-to-IP mappings, etc. are all received over the network and written to the hard drive.

I just through about something regarding the updates. The same updates occur on the non-DVR STB's which don't have hard drives. How do those updates occur on the STB's?

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

One thing that I haven't measured is how long the unit keeps the hard drive spinning before it spins it down (i.e. the duration of the inactivity timer). I would assume that it's some sort of round figure, like 30 minutes.

I would estimate that updates and/or activity that requires a hard drive access to occur on average of 2-3 times per day. If each of these instances causes a hard drive spin-up from the sleep state, then with a 30 minute inactivity timer, that would equate to 1.5 hours of time where the hard drive is spinning while the unit is off.

Obviously these numbers could swing fairly heavily in either direction if the assumptions are off.

On non-DVR STB units, I believe the OS is in flash. These units obviously don't have any type of hard drive to spin up. But then again, there are many updates that aren't relevant to non-DVR units, like Web Remote recording changes.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

Aren't changes to your series recordings and scheduled recordings maintained on U-verse's servers, or is the information simultaneously written on both U-verse servers and your DVR's and STB's?

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

Yes, scheduled and series recordings are maintained on U-Verse's servers, however the DVR needs to get that information somehow. I do not know if the architecture is a "push" technology (i.e. the U-Verse servers where the series info is maintained informs the DVR of updates), or whether it is a "pull" technology (i.e. the DVR periodically polls the servers to get any updates). Either way, once the DVR gets the updated information it should have to save it. Just parking it in RAM doesn't seem like the best idea.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

I know that even when my DVR has been out of commission, I can still access my series and scheduled recordings on the STB. I can also still create new series recordings, schedule new recordings and delete scheduled recordings even thought the STB cannot talk to the DVR. So if this information is stored on the U-verse boxes, it seems that it would have to be stored somewhere on the STB's also. The only thing I couldn't access were my existing recordings on the DVR.

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

But the functionality is different. On the STBs all they have to do is show you the series and scheduled lists and allow you to manage them. (Basically, this means the STB presents a user interface to the U-Verse servers where this information is stored). Otherwise, the STB doesn't need to do anything else with this information. Temporarily storing it in RAM while you're managing it is sufficient.

But the DVR actually has to act on this information. It needs to record the programs, manage conflicts, and manage the stored/saved files as they relate to the recordings list. Thus the DVR needs to have more access to this data and more ways to manipulate the data than the STBs do. As an example, when the DVR begins or finishes recording a program, it has to notify the U-Verse servers that the recording is in progress or completed so that they can show that status on the web remote. This means the DVR needs its own copy of the data to modify and then push back to the server. In this situation, I'm fairly certain the DVR will use the hard drive to store this.

Anyway, why are we hashing all of this out? The original point was that the DVR sometimes uses the hard drive when the unit is off. I think we all agree on that.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

Yes, we can agree on that. The OP's concern was that the hard drive in the DVR is spinning all day when the DVR is turned off similar to a Tivo or other provider's DVR that constantly create program buffers. The OP wanted to know if there was a way to stop this spinning from occur. I simply posted to let him know that the hard drive in the U-verse DVR does not work that way (i.e. the hard drive is not constantly spinning), thus, he does not need to put the drive into hibernation or shut it down in some way to stop it from constantly spinning.

kschrader · ‎01-18-2012

OP here...my concern was not really that the drive keeps spinning all day. I know that it shuts down which is fine. I'm also fine with it coming alive as needed, although I've not heard that happen to date...not that I've been looking for it.

I just wanted to know that when I'm done with it, would it make sense to go ahead and shut it down then...no need to wait for it to power down on its own. Unless the DVR takes that opportunity to make a check to "mother U-verse" and get updates.

That's all...can I put it into hibernation...should I...or maybe I don't know enough about what's going on in the background and I should just leave well enough alone?

Kurt

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

No, there is no hibernation mode. The only thing you could do would be unplug the DVR! I doubt that you would want to do that.

kschrader · ‎01-18-2012

texasguy37 wrote:
No, there is no hibernation mode. The only thing you could do would be unplug the DVR! I doubt that you would want to do that.

You got that right! Thanks...Kurt

kschrader · ‎01-18-2012

I've paid more attention to the DVR lately. I don't believe that it ever turns back on by itself...at least I've never come home at different times and heard it running on its own. Also, today, I noticed that within 5 minutes of turning off the TV and DVR, it spun down. That's pretty good...it's not just spinning and spinning...

Kurt

JefferMC · ‎11-16-2009

My DVR is in our bedroom. At night, a few minutes after we turn TV off for the night, I'll hear the drive spin down. A few minutes later (around midnight) I can hear it spin back up. My impression is that it normally spins down 2 or 3 minutes after spinning up. My perception may be off because I'm half asleep and I'm not using a stopwatch. I've heard this type of cycle occur at other times when I'm awake during the middle of the night.

I normally can't hear it when the TV is on.

mibrnsurg · ‎07-15-2008

JefferMC wrote:

My DVR is in our bedroom. At night, a few minutes after we turn TV off for the night, I'll hear the drive spin down. A few minutes later (around midnight) I can hear it spin back up. My impression is that it normally spins down 2 or 3 minutes after spinning up. My perception may be off because I'm half asleep and I'm not using a stopwatch. I've heard this type of cycle occur at other times when I'm awake during the middle of the night.

I normally can't hear it when the TV is on.

You never would hear it spin down then, since it's buffering a live program or playing a recording.

Chris

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-800-288-2020, After he gets acct info, press # a bunch of times, get a menu from Mr. Voice recognition
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

JefferMC · ‎11-16-2009

No, I meant I can't hear the sound of the hard drive in operation when the TV is on; it's that quiet. Well, it is now. I was having an issue with the case vibrating, so I put a paperweight on it. No more noise from the vibrating case.

Last night when I turned the TV off. It spun down within 60-120 seconds. I fell asleep before the midnight spin up.