• USB 2.0
• Size between 40GB and 750 GB
• Must have its own AC power adapter. Don’t try to power it off the receiver’s USB ports.
• No dual drives (two drives in one physical case)
• No flash-memory drives
• No hybrid drives (flash memory plus traditional disk in one physical case)
• A one-time External Hard Drive Activation Fee of $39.99.
  • This fee is associated with the account, not the receiver, so it is only charged once regardless of how many receivers will be using external hard drive.

• DISH 411™
• ViP 211™
• ViP 211k™
• ViP 622 DVR™
• ViP 722 DVR™
• ViP 612 DVR™

When connecting the external hard drive to the receiver for the first time, a message will appear asking to reformat the hard drive. By selecting Yes, anything previously stored on the external hard drive will be erased. By selecting No, content cannot be transferred onto the external hard drive until the receiver is able to reformat it.

• Only one of the receiver’s two USB ports can have something connected to it at a time. If you try to plug one device into the receiver’s front USB port and another device into the receiver’s back USB port, it isn’t going to work. The last device connected will be ignored.
• Do not connect a USB hub to the receiver. The receiver will get confused if it sees more than one USB device at a time.
• If the drive comes with sleep mode turned on, please consider turning it off as this feature may cause issues with the receiver (notably Seagate Free Agent models).
• Copy protection rules are applicable (the same recording transfer rules apply for external hard drives that are in place for the PocketDISH).
• Customers without the EHD service that connect external hard drives to their qualifying receiver will receive a message to call and sign up for the EHD service.
• The external hard drive cannot be used on any receiver that is not on the account (without reformatting the drive, and losing the existing content).

• How many receivers can the external hard drive be connected to?
  
  

  As long as the external hard drive authorization is on the account, the external hard drive can be transferred an unlimited amount of times between the receivers that are active on the account.

• How many times can a recording be transferred between the receiver and the external hard drive?
  
  

  If the recording does not have Copy Protection, there is no limit to the number of times a recording can be transferred between the receiver and the external hard drive. If the recording has Copy Protection, the number of times the recording can be transferred is limited, depending on the rules for the recording.

• Can the recordings on the external hard drive be accessed from TV2?
  
  

  The external HDD can play back only one event at a time. That event's playback can be controlled from the TV1 or the TV2 location, but not from both at once. That is true in both single and dual modes.

• Can the external hard drive be used between the computer and the receiver?
  
  

  No. The computer and receiver will prompt to reformat the hard drive when connected from the receiver to a computer and from a computer to the receiver. Dedicate an external hard drive specifically to the receiver as all data will be lost if reformatted.

• Can recordings be played back directly from the external hard drive?
  
  

  Yes. In the Manage Device menu, select Play to play recorded events from the external hard drive.

• I already paid the one-time $39.99 Archiving Activation fee to connect an external hard drive to my ViP-series DVR receiver – do I have to pay the DVR EHD one-time fee also?
  
  

  Yes. These are two different services.

• Can I connect the external hard drive used for my non-DVR to an archiving compatible DVR and vice versa?
  
  

  No. The external hard drives can be transferred once but not shared between DVR and non-DVR receiver. Moving each way will require re-formatting, and any stored programs will be deleted.

• How many non-DVR receivers can the external hard drive be connected to?
  
  

  As long as the DVR EHD authorization is on the account, the external hard drive can be connected an unlimited amount of times between compatible non-DVR receivers that are active on the account.

• Can I take the external hard drive used on my ViP211 to a friend’s house and watch content from it through is ViP211?
  
  

  No. You cannot share external hard drives between accounts. When the drive is connected to the new receiver, the receiver will prompt to re-forma the drive.