Fantom Drives FD 4TB DVR Expander External Hard Drive - USB 3.0 & eSATA (Comes with Both USB and eSATA Cable) - Supports DirecTv, Arris and More, Black (DVR4KEUB)

I've only had this drive for a few weeks but my previous 2 Tb worked flawlessly for 2 years with DirecTV. It is a bit noisy and the blue light seems to flash constantly. But it's in a location where neither of these is an issue. Obviously since I bought another one I like it. I think the description said it does come with cables, but it comes with a usb 3.0 and a eSATA cable and power supply.

I used this to expand the capacity of a new Directv HS17 receiver. The installation was this afternoon and the hard drive arrived two hours later. It took about an hour to install the hard drive. Save some time by going directly to the esata connection. The USB 3.0 does not work. The installation appears to stall while the drive is formatting. The connection takes less than 5 minutes. The formating takes the better part of an hour, but is easy. Attach the drive, power it up, then push the reset button on the HS17. Wait for the formatting. DONE! So far, the drive is great. I will update the review if my opinion changes.

I own 5 different Fantom drives. I have never had a single one crash or get corrupted and am a loyal customer to them. I realize they populate differnt brand HDDs into them but so far I have been lucky. Only issue I have (1st one) is that the drive will not run off of the included 1 amp power adapter. I was about ready to return the unit until I just swapped in one of my other adapters from my other Fantom and the HDD worked perfectly. I looked and saw that the other power supplies provide at least 2 amps at 12v. the one included is a max of 1 amp and for sure insufficient. Why they put it into the box I cannot figure but because I had happened to find another power supply in my spare parts box I am keeping the drive. If I was not a loyal customer I would have returned the unit.

I purchased the Fantom eSATA 4TB hard drive to back up my DirecTv HR54 receiver. I followed the easy instructions to install the drive. When I rebooted my HR54 after installation, it took about an hour to boot up. Once the TV signal came on, the picture kept freezing and I could not get the guide or menus to respond to my remote. I emailed support & they said I had a bad drive & to request a replacement through Amazon. I did this & had a new one within 48 hours. When I hooked up the new one, it had the exact same issues! I emailed support asking for further trouble shooting and they said that there is no other solution or troubleshooting. Sorry.Do not buy this hard drive if you are trying to expand your DirecTv hard drive. It won’t work.

I am dug in now, worked perfectly to back up Dish DVR, but the noise, ugh!

Works great with my Reolink security system. Very easy to install.

*I've worked with many computer drives over the last 30+ years. This was the easiest setup yet. The quick-start guide was all I needed.*My only complaint is with the DVR. I wish it would transfer the old files to the new drive, or use both drives. Keep in mind: you can still use either drive, but not both. Also note that switching between drives causes the DVR to re-stage (similar to resetting). The process takes about 5 minutes.

If you are a DirecTv customer like me, Know this before you buy, adding external storage prevents accessing of your internal recordings. This would have been helpful to have on the listing page. Instead, this info is in the quick setup instructions inside the box. Supposedly, you can disconnect and re-boot the DirecTv DVR and watch your recordings but, I dont know if I believe this. FYI

Needed to add more storage to my Shaw Arris Gateway. This DVR Expander stated it was compatible with Arris which sealed the deal. When it arrived, I followed directions from the Shaw website to add Expander (Power on Expander, Plug in eSata cable, Format as prompted). After 20 minutes, formatting was complete and space full went from 91% to 9%.

Great product added to my reolink NVR, the power unit has only a USA 2 pin plug so had to use another power supply that fitted. NVR recognised it first time, formatted drive and all working great.

Plug in to your Shaw Gateway, click format on the screen, wait 30 minutes and enjoy. Its that easy.

Good: large storage at a reasonable price.Bad: makes a loud clicking noise when in operation. Also cannot transfer recordings from PVR to expander so PVR is always full. I contacted the company by website but I have not heard from them yet after about a week. I'm very disappointed.