I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked quite
hard with several concurrent recordings being made.

Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that might be
suitable?

--
Frank

On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
> I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
> recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked quite
> hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
>
> Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that might be
> suitable?
>

Kingston SSD = 34 quid. They have gone down in price a lot recently.

<https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-A400-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B079XC5PVV>

I don't think it is worth the effort of thinking too hard about.

Pancho <Pancho.Jones@proton.me> wrote:
> On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
> > I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
> > recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked quite
> > hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
> >
> > Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that might be
> > suitable?
> >
>
> Kingston SSD = 34 quid. They have gone down in price a lot recently.
>
> <https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-A400-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B079XC5PVV>
>
> I don't think it is worth the effort of thinking too hard about.

If this was CCTV I'd be concerned about write cycles, but in a DVR it's not
going to be doing a whole lot of writing (unless you record live TV 24/7) so
that sounds fine.

The Kingston A400 range is budget so I wouldn't expect any fancy
performance, but you don't need that in a DVR - the bit rate is not that
high. Sounds like a good use for it.

Theo

On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
> I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
> recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked quite
> hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
>
> Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that might be
> suitable?
>
Thanks, both. The recommendation of an SSD was quite a surprise as I had
assumed that an SSD wouldn't stand up either short term or long term to
the writes and reads that it would be exposed to when, possibly,
recording up to eight programmes and playing back another concurrently.

--
Frank

On 09/09/2023 20:13, Frank wrote:
> On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
>> I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
>> recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked quite
>> hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
>>
>> Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that might be
>> suitable?
>>
> Thanks, both. The recommendation of an SSD was quite a surprise as I had
> assumed that an SSD wouldn't stand up either short term or long term to
> the writes and reads that it would be exposed to when, possibly,
> recording up to eight programmes and playing back another concurrently.
>

someone else can probably answer this question....

Doesn't a SSD need TRIM support? A DVR running on spinning rust may not
support TRIM?

Do DVR's do defragmenting? Defragging a SSD would shorten its life. An
SSD aware operating system will nto defrag a SSD.

On 9/9/23 20:42, SH wrote:
> On 09/09/2023 20:13, Frank wrote:
>> On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
>>> I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
>>> recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked quite
>>> hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
>>>
>>> Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that might be
>>> suitable?
>>>
>> Thanks, both. The recommendation of an SSD was quite a surprise as I
>> had assumed that an SSD wouldn't stand up either short term or long
>> term to the writes and reads that it would be exposed to when,
>> possibly, recording up to eight programmes and playing back another
>> concurrently.
>>
>
> someone else can probably answer this question....
>
> Doesn't a SSD need TRIM support? A DVR running on spinning rust may not
> support TRIM?
>
> Do DVR's do defragmenting? Defragging a SSD would shorten its life. An
> SSD aware operating system will nto defrag a SSD.

The Kingston SSD is cheap. I don't know how long it will last. The
quoted TBW is 300TB. There are, probably, greater than 100 Films per TB,
so 30,000 recordings.

Other things may affect it, may reduce that. Say by a factor of 10. Is
3,000 recordings enough, for about 30 quid?

Of course, any of this may be wrong. But that also applies to more
expensive kit. My experience is HDDs fail more than SSDs. HDDs fail due
to mechanical wear and tear. I have had SDDs become problematic, but I'm
not sure they all will. I'm not sure the Kingston will.

So give it a try, see what happens. Defragging would only reduce SSD
lifetime a little.

On 09/09/2023 13:13, Theo wrote:
> Pancho <Pancho.Jones@proton.me> wrote:
>> On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
>> > I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
>> > recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked quite
>> > hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
>> >
>> > Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that might be
>> > suitable?
>> >
>>
>> Kingston SSD = 34 quid. They have gone down in price a lot recently.
>>
>> <https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-A400-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B079XC5PVV>
>>
>> I don't think it is worth the effort of thinking too hard about.
>
> If this was CCTV I'd be concerned about write cycles, but in a DVR it's not
> going to be doing a whole lot of writing (unless you record live TV 24/7) so
> that sounds fine.
>
> The Kingston A400 range is budget so I wouldn't expect any fancy
> performance, but you don't need that in a DVR - the bit rate is not that
> high. Sounds like a good use for it.
>
> Theo
Thanks. I've bought Crucial in the past so I went for a 2TB BX500
(CT2000BX500SSD1).

--
Frank

On 09/09/2023 21:32, Pancho wrote:
> On 9/9/23 20:42, SH wrote:
>> On 09/09/2023 20:13, Frank wrote:
>>> On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
>>>> I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
>>>> recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked quite
>>>> hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
>>>>
>>>> Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that might be
>>>> suitable?
>>>>
>>> Thanks, both. The recommendation of an SSD was quite a surprise as I
>>> had assumed that an SSD wouldn't stand up either short term or long
>>> term to the writes and reads that it would be exposed to when,
>>> possibly, recording up to eight programmes and playing back another
>>> concurrently.
>>>
>>
>> someone else can probably answer this question....
>>
>> Doesn't a SSD need TRIM support? A DVR running on spinning rust may not
>> support TRIM?
>>
>> Do DVR's do defragmenting? Defragging a SSD would shorten its life. An
>> SSD aware operating system will nto defrag a SSD.
>
> The Kingston SSD is cheap. I don't know how long it will last. The
> quoted TBW is 300TB. There are, probably, greater than 100 Films per TB,
> so 30,000 recordings.
>
> Other things may affect it, may reduce that. Say by a factor of 10. Is
> 3,000 recordings enough, for about 30 quid?
>
> Of course, any of this may be wrong. But that also applies to more
> expensive kit. My experience is HDDs fail more than SSDs. HDDs fail due
> to mechanical wear and tear. I have had SDDs become problematic, but I'm
> not sure they all will. I'm not sure the Kingston will.
>
> So give it a try, see what happens. Defragging would only reduce SSD
> lifetime a little.

I've gone for a 2TB Crucial BX500 (CT2000BX500SSD1) so time will tell!

--
Frank

On 10/09/2023 11:05, Frank wrote:
> On 09/09/2023 21:32, Pancho wrote:
>> On 9/9/23 20:42, SH wrote:
>>> On 09/09/2023 20:13, Frank wrote:
>>>> On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
>>>>> I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
>>>>> recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked
>>>>> quite
>>>>> hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
>>>>>
>>>>> Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that
>>>>> might be
>>>>> suitable?
>>>>>
>>>> Thanks, both. The recommendation of an SSD was quite a surprise as I
>>>> had assumed that an SSD wouldn't stand up either short term or long
>>>> term to the writes and reads that it would be exposed to when,
>>>> possibly, recording up to eight programmes and playing back another
>>>> concurrently.
>>>>
>>>
>>> someone else can probably answer this question....
>>>
>>> Doesn't a SSD need TRIM support? A DVR running on spinning rust may
>>> not support TRIM?
>>>
>>> Do DVR's do defragmenting? Defragging a SSD would shorten its life.
>>> An SSD aware operating system will nto defrag a SSD.
>>
>> The Kingston SSD is cheap. I don't know how long it will last. The
>> quoted TBW is 300TB. There are, probably, greater than 100 Films per TB,
>> so 30,000 recordings.
>>
>> Other things may affect it, may reduce that. Say by a factor of 10. Is
>> 3,000 recordings enough, for about 30 quid?
>>
>> Of course, any of this may be wrong. But that also applies to more
>> expensive kit. My experience is HDDs fail more than SSDs. HDDs fail due
>> to mechanical wear and tear. I have had SDDs become problematic, but I'm
>> not sure they all will. I'm not sure the Kingston will.
>>
>> So give it a try, see what happens. Defragging would only reduce SSD
>> lifetime a little.
>
> I've gone for a 2TB Crucial BX500 (CT2000BX500SSD1) so time will tell!
>

Which recorder? Does it support 2 TB?

On 10/09/2023 15:45, GB wrote:
> On 10/09/2023 11:05, Frank wrote:
>> On 09/09/2023 21:32, Pancho wrote:
>>> On 9/9/23 20:42, SH wrote:
>>>> On 09/09/2023 20:13, Frank wrote:
>>>>> On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
>>>>>> I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
>>>>>> recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be worked
>>>>>> quite
>>>>>> hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that
>>>>>> might be
>>>>>> suitable?
>>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks, both. The recommendation of an SSD was quite a surprise as I
>>>>> had assumed that an SSD wouldn't stand up either short term or long
>>>>> term to the writes and reads that it would be exposed to when,
>>>>> possibly, recording up to eight programmes and playing back another
>>>>> concurrently.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> someone else can probably answer this question....
>>>>
>>>> Doesn't a SSD need TRIM support? A DVR running on spinning rust may
>>>> not support TRIM?
>>>>
>>>> Do DVR's do defragmenting? Defragging a SSD would shorten its life.
>>>> An SSD aware operating system will nto defrag a SSD.
>>>
>>> The Kingston SSD is cheap. I don't know how long it will last. The
>>> quoted TBW is 300TB. There are, probably, greater than 100 Films per TB,
>>> so 30,000 recordings.
>>>
>>> Other things may affect it, may reduce that. Say by a factor of 10. Is
>>> 3,000 recordings enough, for about 30 quid?
>>>
>>> Of course, any of this may be wrong. But that also applies to more
>>> expensive kit. My experience is HDDs fail more than SSDs. HDDs fail due
>>> to mechanical wear and tear. I have had SDDs become problematic, but I'm
>>> not sure they all will. I'm not sure the Kingston will.
>>>
>>> So give it a try, see what happens. Defragging would only reduce SSD
>>> lifetime a little.
>>
>> I've gone for a 2TB Crucial BX500 (CT2000BX500SSD1) so time will tell!
>>
>
> Which recorder? Does it support 2 TB?
>
>
Vu+ Duo 4K SE. It supports 2TB.

--
Frank

On 10/09/2023 19:25, Frank wrote:
> On 10/09/2023 15:45, GB wrote:
>> On 10/09/2023 11:05, Frank wrote:
>>> On 09/09/2023 21:32, Pancho wrote:
>>>> On 9/9/23 20:42, SH wrote:
>>>>> On 09/09/2023 20:13, Frank wrote:
>>>>>> On 08/09/2023 16:11, Frank wrote:
>>>>>>> I need a 2.5" hard drive for a digital video recorder that will be
>>>>>>> recording from a satellite receiver so, presumably, will be
>>>>>>> worked quite
>>>>>>> hard with several concurrent recordings being made.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Anyone any thoughts on the type (NAS? CCTV?) and/or model that
>>>>>>> might be
>>>>>>> suitable?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks, both. The recommendation of an SSD was quite a surprise as
>>>>>> I had assumed that an SSD wouldn't stand up either short term or
>>>>>> long term to the writes and reads that it would be exposed to
>>>>>> when, possibly, recording up to eight programmes and playing back
>>>>>> another concurrently.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> someone else can probably answer this question....
>>>>>
>>>>> Doesn't a SSD need TRIM support? A DVR running on spinning rust may
>>>>> not support TRIM?
>>>>>
>>>>> Do DVR's do defragmenting? Defragging a SSD would shorten its life.
>>>>> An SSD aware operating system will nto defrag a SSD.
>>>>
>>>> The Kingston SSD is cheap. I don't know how long it will last. The
>>>> quoted TBW is 300TB. There are, probably, greater than 100 Films per
>>>> TB,
>>>> so 30,000 recordings.
>>>>
>>>> Other things may affect it, may reduce that. Say by a factor of 10. Is
>>>> 3,000 recordings enough, for about 30 quid?
>>>>
>>>> Of course, any of this may be wrong. But that also applies to more
>>>> expensive kit. My experience is HDDs fail more than SSDs. HDDs fail due
>>>> to mechanical wear and tear. I have had SDDs become problematic, but
>>>> I'm
>>>> not sure they all will. I'm not sure the Kingston will.
>>>>
>>>> So give it a try, see what happens. Defragging would only reduce SSD
>>>> lifetime a little.
>>>
>>> I've gone for a 2TB Crucial BX500 (CT2000BX500SSD1) so time will tell!
>>>
>>
>> Which recorder? Does it support 2 TB?
>>
>>
> Vu+ Duo 4K SE. It supports 2TB.
>

It looks like a pretty sophisticated bit of kit.

On 11/09/2023 14:56, GB wrote:
> On 10/09/2023 19:25, Frank wrote:
>> On 10/09/2023 15:45, GB wrote:

>>> Which recorder? Does it support 2 TB?
>>>
>>>
>> Vu+ Duo 4K SE. It supports 2TB.
>>
>
> It looks like a pretty sophisticated bit of kit.

It is and I'm delighted with it. But... it offers weeks of fiddling!

--
Frank

On 13/09/2023 12:53, Frank wrote:
> On 11/09/2023 14:56, GB wrote:
>> On 10/09/2023 19:25, Frank wrote:
>>> On 10/09/2023 15:45, GB wrote:
>
>>>> Which recorder? Does it support 2 TB?
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Vu+ Duo 4K SE. It supports 2TB.
>>>
>>
>> It looks like a pretty sophisticated bit of kit.
>
> It is and I'm delighted with it. But... it offers weeks of fiddling!
>

I find that the chief drawback of these things is that it's possible to
record far more programmes than we have time to watch. The disc then
gets clogged up, however big it is.

On 13/09/2023 16:32, GB wrote:
> On 13/09/2023 12:53, Frank wrote:
>> On 11/09/2023 14:56, GB wrote:
>>> On 10/09/2023 19:25, Frank wrote:
>>>> On 10/09/2023 15:45, GB wrote:
>>
>>>>> Which recorder? Does it support 2 TB?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Vu+ Duo 4K SE. It supports 2TB.
>>>>
>>>
>>> It looks like a pretty sophisticated bit of kit.
>>
>> It is and I'm delighted with it. But... it offers weeks of fiddling!
>>
>
> I find that the chief drawback of these things is that it's possible to
> record far more programmes than we have time to watch. The disc then
> gets clogged up, however big it is.
>
>
That's true but the advantage of this box over boxes like Humax and the
(useless) Freesat 4K Arris box is that it will record eight concurrent
programmes.

That's not something I'm likely to do(!), and it doesn't necessarily
lead to too many recordings to watch, but I was finding conflicts with
the Humax with its limit of two concurrent recordings.

The Freesat box will record four at the same time but its firmware is an
inconsistent mess.

--
Frank

Frank wrote:

> I've bought Crucial in the past so I went for a 2TB BX500

Which has a write endurance of 720 TBW, so assuming you record BBC1 HD
24x7, it'll burn out in around 15 years ...

GB <NOTsomeone@microsoft.invalid> wrote:

> On 13/09/2023 12:53, Frank wrote:
>> On 11/09/2023 14:56, GB wrote:
>>> On 10/09/2023 19:25, Frank wrote:
>>>> On 10/09/2023 15:45, GB wrote:
>>
>>>>> Which recorder? Does it support 2 TB?
>>>>>
>>>> Vu+ Duo 4K SE. It supports 2TB.
>>>
>>> It looks like a pretty sophisticated bit of kit.
>>
>> It is and I'm delighted with it. But... it offers weeks of
fiddling!
>>
>
> I find that the chief drawback of these things is that it's
possible to
> record far more programmes than we have time to watch. The disc
then
> gets clogged up, however big it is.

Yes but the great thing about PVRs is they can record all those
programmes that you feel you *ought^ to watch; the fact that you
never actually get round to looking at the recordings is neither
here nor there: the PVR has done your duty by watching them for you.