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So, I have blogged about the journey of external SATA drives with the SA8240HDC DVR.  After discovering the 1TB WD DVR expander causes the DVR to crash I decided to revert to a build-it-yourself approach.  For this, I cannibalized an old external USB enclosure I no longer use.

Here is what I did:  first, I removed the USB adapter board and left just the power supply – since that’s all I really needed.  Then, I removed the original fan, since it was small (40mm) and whiny.  Since this went in the living room – I wanted it to be silent!  I did some searching on Newegg and found the Nexus SP802512L-03 80mm fan for $9.  It is specified to run at 1500 rpm, 20.2CFM and 15.6dB(A) – that’s pretty quiet. I cut a hole in the enclosure and installed the fan on top.  The gap between the fan and enclosure was sealed with some Silicone (RTV) to prevent air leakage and to dampen vibration.  Also, since now I had much more air flow, I needed to drill additional air ports on the other end of the enclosure.  Based on the cross section of the 80mm fan and the original vent holes, I estimated the amount of area I need to provide free air flow.  Since I had decent luck with a couple of Seagate drive, I purchased a recertified 750GB Seagate drive from Newegg for $33.  It’s a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3750528AS 750GB.  Why recertified?  Because it’s cheap and I know it’s been repaired and tested to specifications.  As a personal note, I’d never buy an open box since so many computer geeks overclock, overheat and return for a replacement.

I have had the SATA drive working for a week now and everything seems to be working well.  The drive runs cool to the touch, so it’s probably operating at about 75F-80F, and the enclosure is hardly audible.  Since the DVRs of this family always select the drive with the largest available space for recording,  I know the external drive has been recording 100% of the shows this past week.  750GB most always has more free space than the internal 160GB hard drive.

If I learn anything new, I’ll post updates.  I keep on crossing my fingers Cox doesn’t break it again!

And on another topic, Cox Cable once again prove they suck.  Last week they sent everyone an email to let us know that we are now throughput AND have monthly data transfer caps.  Since they already block ports, I wonder how long until they will start QoSing VoIP and other protocols in order to steer us torwards their low quality / high price services.

Here are pictures of the final product:

So last week I reported that the Cox Cable SA8240HDC SATA bug was fixed – well, it was… kinda.  I tried several hard drives and all seemed to work fine.  But then I added a Western Digital 1TB DVR Expander.  This unit was design especially for DVRs such as the SA8240HDC.  After I plugged it in, the DVR recognized it and asked to format it  – as expected.  But within a few hours the DVR started going bonkers.  This included the DVR becoming non responsive, rebooting, and finally – just going blank.  The only way to resolve this was to unplug the Western Digital DVR expander and reboot the DVR.  I tried this several times, with identical results each time.  So Cox, good job on getting the DVR to recognize and initialized external drives, now it’s time to make them work right!

For once, here are some raves to Cox Communications.  It seems like Cox has been listening and working on a fix.  I checked the firmware versions on my DVR and discovered a new release was uploaded (I’ll post firmware versions when I get to it).  I plugged in a few SATA drives and all of them were recognized, formatted, and added to the storage pool.  The drives I tested are:

1. Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9, 120GB, Model #: 6Y120M0
2. Seagate Barracuda ES.2, 500GB,  Model #: ST3500320NS
3. Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, 750GB, Model #: ST3750640A

The only reason as to why I tried these particular drives is that I had them handy.

Good job Cox!

Here is a screen capture of the updated firmware versions:

First over all a disclaimer:  I don’t have much love towards Cox Cable.  They provide inferior service at a higher cost when compared to other regional cable providers like Time Warner.  But this issue isn’t about love – it’s about their poor customer service.

Prior to upgrading to HD, we had their standard definition DVR – the SA8300 (I have several blog entries about it) and used an external SATA drive in order to increase the storage capacity.  Fast forward to the present, we now have an HDTV so we upgraded (or so we thought) to their HD capable DVR – the SA8240HDC.  Happily, I plugged the same external SATA drive I had on the SA8300 into the SA8240 – but nothing happened.  Normally, when a new drive is plugged into a DVR, the DVR brings up a dialog box acknowledging the connection of the drive and then request permission to format it.  After trying every documented and non-documented boot procedure I realized that the SA8240HDC just doesn’t want to play nice with the external SATA drive.

After doing some research online I discovered that I wasn’t alone. Apparently non of Cox Cable SA8240HDC were recognizing and formatting the external SATA drives.   This is a known problem with the specific firmware on this specific model but Cox has been refusing to fix it.  Apparently, Cisco (owner of Scientific Atlanta) has a firmware fix for it, but Cox hasn’t rolled it out.  Cox you suck!

Reference threads:

• http://www.sandiegohdtv.org/forums/thread-cox-8240hdc-not-able-to-utilize-esata
• https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/r25173512-AZ-8240HDC-will-no-longer-Format-a-New-External-HDD

Today, Governor Brown signed the California DREAM act:  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brown-dream-act-20110726,0,3203216.story.

I thought it’s interesting the Governor has decided to provide taxpayer money to non tax payers for the following reasons:

1) Tax paying CA residents receive “free tuition” but they pay “fees” that are higher than tuition in most academic institutions.

2) California schools have been actively advertising and seeking to bring as many out of state students as possible because they pay higher “out of state” rates.  Reference: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/30/university-of-california-out-of-state_n_855924.html

3) The California state budget hasn’t been balanced in over a decade and the state is on the brink of insolvency.

So, put all those issues together, is it really smart to take tax payer money and give it to non tax payers at a time we don’t have enough money to fund our obligations?

So the Hippie finally posted a note about the Palestinian trip.  In this note, he clearly admits that the reason for the prohibition to speak at Israeli universities is due to a Palestinian boycott/divestment/sanctions movement that opposes academic cooperation with Israel.  Furthermore, while canceling the speaking events in Israel, the puppet masters allowed Stallman to to participate in an event by the Anarchists Against the Wall.  So Stallman, an advocate of freedom world wide has sold out to a bunch of murderers that have one objective, and one objective only when it comes to Israel – the destruction of the State of Israel and killing of all it’s people.  Stallman, you find it easy to talk about Palestinian suffering, but you remain silent about the thousands of rockets fired into Israel, you remain silent about the tens of suicide bombers that have killed Israeli children and women indiscriminately.  Stallman – you are a fake, and a hypocrite.

Richard Stallman, the guru hippie of “free software” was invited to speak at some Palestinian universities, so he used the opportunity to schedule speeches in Israeli Universities – since it’s on the way.  When the Palestinians heard of this, they threatened Stallman that they will not pay for the trip if he speaks at Israeli universities – so Richard Stallman immediately folded and canceled his engagements at the Israeli Universities.  The political overtone to this is obvious, but Stallman decided ignore it.

Also, if you frequent Stallman’s page you know that he has an opinion about anything and everything,  speaks constantly about the importance of civil liberties, and has suggestions for pretty much everyone, but it’s interesting that he has kept entirely silent about this issue.  I guess he doesn’t hold himself to the standards he expects of the rest of us.

As one that allegedly believes in true freedom and holds liberal points of view on just about anything, it didn’t take too much for him to sell his ideals out for the cost of airplane tickets.  As most hippies, he turns out to be a hypocrite that expects everyone to do as he preaches but not do as he does.

So, to summarize:

• One speech from a hypocrite: worthless.
• Perdiem: $150
• Three night hotel: $450
• Airplane ticket: $1,500
• Another hypocrite freedom-denying hippie exposed: PRICELESS!!!

One last thought:  shouldn’t speeches be free?

Here is the SlashDot story: http://politics.slashdot.org/story/11/05/29/1541208/RMS-Cancels-Lectures-In-Israel

Here is the notification email (http://hamakor.org.il/pipermail/discussions/2011-May/002978.html) :

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Stallman
Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2011 9:31 PM
Subject: I have to cancel the speeches at universities

The funds for my travel to Israel are coming from Palestinians who
invited me to give talks for them.  They are unhappy that I offered to
give talks at Israeli universities, and say they won't buy the
tickets if I'm going to do that.  So I can go, and cancel these
speeches, or not go, and cancel these speeches.

I think it is best if I go, and give the speeches they originally
invited me to give.

I am sorry for the disappointment this will cause.

--
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org, www.gnu.org
Skype: No way! That's nonfree (freedom-denying) software. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Aronovich
Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2011 1:17 AM
Subject: RE: I have to cancel the speeches at universities

I am not disappointed that you will not give the talks - That is your legitimate right.
When we had the same goals we set it and now we do not. That might happen and even though
it is not pleasant it is not totally unacceptable.

However, personally I start to doubt your truthfulness about freedom. Boycotting the Israeli
Universities since you get funds from Palestinians means that you accepted the Palestinians
proprietary license. Neither you nor them want to help their neighbor. That is the meaning of
what you are doing.

Oh boy, you should really re-consider the meaning of freedom given the agreements you make.

You chose the "Free beer" giving up the "Free of speech" and that disappoints me very much since
it has to do with the genuinity implementation of your own presented ideas.

Farewell,
Eddie

A May 17 story by the San Diego Union Tribune reports that California Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher is carrying a bill to cease using the words “pound,  pound keeper, pound officer, kill, destroy, dispose” and instead use “animal shelter, shelter director, animal control officer, humanely euthanize”.

Now, at first reading of the story, I thought it would be about new practices at pounds but no, this legislation is just about renaming the terms associated with animal control.  Here are some points for thought:

1. Changing names without changing practices is meaningless.
2. Killing of dogs using “humane euthanasia” is a blatant lie.  Animal killing is done via the administration of a barbiturate followed by sodium thiopental.  Human executions are done using a barbiturate, pancuronium and potassium chloride.  Human executions are not considered “humane euthanasia” and many states currently have moratoriums on them due to them being considered to be cruel and inhumane.  The point is that “humane euthanasia” does not exist, and the approach used to kill dogs would never muster that standard.
3. California is currently undergoing the biggest crisis in its history.  The economy has collapsed, businesses are fleeing the state to business friendly states.  The cream of the crop are following the businesses out of state.  The top tax payers are leaving, the tax users are staying.  The budget isn’t balanced and the legislature is failing to meet the constitutional requirement to pass a balanced budget.

Given all those points, does California State Assembly have nothing else to do but spend our time and money on a feel good bill that does absolutely nothing but to appease a few loony animal owners?

Link to the original Union Tribune Story.

The CTA has launched a massive campaign of disinformation throughout the State of California including radio and television ads, bill boards, and via teacher and parent email spamming.  The CTA is working hand in hand with Governor Jerry Brown to try and convince the public to extend the “temporary” tax hikes enacted during Schwarzenegger’s time in office.   Once again, they are using the children as hostages in a game designed to better their lucrative pay and pension benefits.

The facts are contrary to what the CTA claims.  The California education system is ranked near the top for teacher benefit, and near the bottom for student achievement.  They seem to ignore that when they threaten parent with apocalypse if we don’t agree to send more money their way.

Here are some interesting facts about the California educational system:

1) Teacher pay: California ranks the highest in teacher pay, check out the following resources

• Ranked 1st highest and 104% compared to median on: http://www.freeby50.com/2010/07/teacher-pay-vs-median-incomes-by-state.html
• Ranked 1st highest in the nation by http://theapple.monster.com/careers/articles/7515-average-teaching-salaries-by-state-2007-2008
• Ranked 5th highest in the nation by http://www.teachersalaryinfo.com/average-teacher-salary-california.html

2) Educational system ranking:

• Ranked 47 out of 50 (for those of you who went through the CA public education system, that’s a near the bottom): http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank.htm

This year, the public educational system will get over $37 BILLION US Dollars – that is 29.5% of the CA state budget (source:  http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/agencies.html).  This budget is larger than the entire budget of a large percentage of the world’s nations!

These figures do not include the amount of money the CTA has been extorting from the public via local bonds in order to improve teaching conditions “for the children”.

To summarize, in California we have the highest paid teachers in the nation, but the lowest performing students.  Since that suggests an inverse relationship between pay and performance – we should cut the California State educational budget in order to see improved performance.

In reality, the CTA has such a strangle hold on the “system” that there is only one viable solution to improve the public educational system in California – dissolve it.   Seriously, the public educational system should be dissolved as we know it today, and we should go to 100% voucher system and charter schools. This way, good schools with favorable performance will exist, and poor schools will go bankrupt.

We got the SA8240HDC a few days ago.  Haven’t had time to mess around with it too much but I did learn a few things:

1) The diagnostics screens are accessed just like the SA8300SD.  See earlier posts to learn how to access those.

2) The eSATA is enabled per the configuration screen.

3) I have not been able to get the DVR to recognize the same eSATA external hard drive I used with the SA8300SD. See earlier posts about the drive I used…

4) The internal hard drive has 160GB with roughly 142GB available for video storage – per the configuration screen.