In a previous article I blogged about adding an external hard drive to a Bell Expressvu 6141 receiver. In several emails I have been asked about adding an external hard drive to a Bell Expressvu 9242 HD PVR Plus Receiver. Several readers have written:
Is it possible to add an external hard drive to a Bell Expressvu 9242 HD PVR Plus Receiver using the same method you have described for the Bell Expressvu 6142 receiver.
The answer is Yes.
Even though the Bell Expressvu 9241 / 9242 HD PVR Plus Receivers already have an internal hard disk drive, you can expand your recording capacity in three easy steps since Bell has activated the USB port on the back of these receivers:
- Purchase an external hard disk drive for your Bell Expressvu 9241 / 9242 HD PVR Plus Receiver
- Plug the external hard disk drive into the USB port on the back of your HD PVR
- Transfer your PVR recordings to the external hard drive
Once you connect the external hard drive to your Expressvu 9241 / 9242 HD PVR Plus Receiver and power it on, you will be prompted to format the drive. This will erase all information that may be contained on the drive. Once formatted, the storage capacity of the external hard drive becomes available to the 9241 / 9242 receivers.
You can connect an external hard drive to your Expressvu 9241 / 9242 HD PVR Plus Receiver if it has the following specifications:
- 7200 RPM rotation speed
- 40 GB – 750 GB capacity
- Single hard drive enclosure, enclosures with 2 or more drives are not supported
- AC power source, drives supplied power by the USB port are not supported
- No sleep mode on the enclosure (drive cannot power down when idle)
While Expressvu states it will support only drives that are between 40 GB and 750 GB, I have successfully tested drives with 1.0 TB of storage. I have also successfully tested many different drive types, including Western Digital, Seagate and Maxtor in a variety of enclosures that I already owned.
If you are thinking of building an external drive for your Expressvu receiver because it is cheaper, shop around for an enclosure that is already built. Walmart in my area was carrying 1 TB external hard disk drives for $94! The drive was a no-name drive, but when I cracked it open to look, it had a western digital drive inside. I could not find anywhere online to even purchase the drive alone for that price. These cheap Walmart drives worked great. My only complaint was the flashing blue light on the drive but I fixed that with a piece of black tape.
It really is that simple to add an external hard drive to an Expressvu 9241 / 9242 HD PVR Plus receiver.
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I have the Bell 9242 with lots of programing on the harddrive. It is no longer working properly, and bell is sending a new reciever. Is there a way i can retrieve my recordings from the broken 9242. it will only power on for a few min, then shut off on its own.
Thank you
Hello Michael:
I picked up the WD Mybook Essential 1.5TB from Tigerdirect (on sale for $139) and then I hooked it up to my Laptop first to “to have sleep on idle set to NEVER” thru the SETTINGS TAB. Apparently, these come enabled by default for 15 seconds, which I believe, may cause problems on playback. I then hooked it up to my 9241. It has been working like a charm…
Barry… this is how I turned OFF the Idle settings….
thanx
Great information! Thank you so much for sharing!
Is it possible to connect a Bell 9241 PVR to “My Book” external drive 2TB in size? We hook it up and it trys to reformat and then says reformatting failed…
Thanks
Hello Barry,
I want to know if you can move an external HD from one PVR to another. I have programming saved on my Bell 9242 PVR (rented), and I’m looking at purchasing a new one. I’m looking at hooking up an external HD to the old PVR, copying the programming, and then hooking it up to the new PVR. Will the HD be re-formatted when attached to new PVR?
Thanks.
I had some problems with phone line coming into my 9241 and Bell tech said it was problem with modem. They’ve sent me another 9241 to swap out and then return the original, which is loaded with PVR recordings that I haven’t got around to watching yet. Can someone explain in simple terms if I can retrieve these recordings to an external drive and then transfer them to the new 9241. If the answer is ‘yes’, I may require some further advice of what kind of drive to purchase and what procedure would be.
Hi you all…………..
I have just purchased a 9241 PVR ,The unit is a bit to noisy so Bell sent me a refurbished unit as a replacement. To save the programs I have on the PVR I used a Seegate 5ooGig external HD, I used the front USB port and it worked well. So I am confused with what I am reading on this site. according to one of the posts it is the rear USB
port which is to be used. I do have one question; When I connect the HD to my laptop, the windows explorer can not see it. Therefore the HD can no longer be used for anything else ?
Hi I’d like to know if is there a way that I can download a movie registered on my expressvu 9242 PVR hard drive to an USB key
9242 pvr has crapped out. i have installed an external hard drive, but cannot get it to work. so, does pvr have to be working on the receiver, or can external hard drive replace hard drive in receiver? thanks
Barb:
Seems to be going around. Our 9242 crapped out as well at least as a PVR.. I have connected an external drive, and whiled the 9242 recognizes it under the multimedia tab.. I still can’t record to it.. so I am as well looking for an answer to your question..
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