I have got 2 of these running my 2 Channels DVR Raspberry Pi’s. I’ve not had one issue with them and I can highly recommend them:
Seagate Portable 4 TB External Hard Drive HDD for PC Laptop and Mac (STGX4000400) - Amazon Exclusive, Dark Grey https://amzn.eu/h36SBcL
Also, the Pi is powering them too and again no issues at all. The speed of the drives are also very good too.
For what it's worth: I am running channel on a RPi 4GB memory and a 1 TB SSD tethered to my home network. I have no issues recording at least 2 programs while watching a 3th.
Very happy with my similar setup. I have the latest RPI image running on a RPI 8GB. I can record 3 programs while watching a live program with no problem. I have 2 TVs that usually are on at the same time. Very happy with the RPI4-8GB
Update:
I am lately getting a Recording Interrupted flag on recordings that have overlapping an start times with an already recording program. The shows that have the error message still seem to record OK, but strange about the error. It must be just a momentary error in RPI. This started after I upload the latest image.
While I appreciate everyone’s comments how wonderfully their RPi4 and HDD combos are performing, mine isn’t. I’m looking for solutions.
Running ChannelsDVR on a PI is only good for 1 user and very little recording. If channels DVR is an important part of your household invest in better hardware.... You can get refurbished PC's on amazon that perform 5x better than a PI.
Sorry, but many Pi users won't agree with this, and neither will I. Out-of-home transcoding is the only real weakness on the pi. Commercial detection is slower, too, but not to the degree of the cost difference with other options.
I record 8 streams during Prime time and have 4 people watching ... Like I said if you want a household reliable DVR invest in some good hardware not a tinker toy.
...and I recorded at least 5 simultaneously, on the pi, without issue. It easily could do more, with the right paired I/O.
Recording is I/O intensive, not CPU, so the Pi keeps up just fine. Watching in-home is, really, intensive on neither. The OP has an I/O problem, which may or may not have anything at all to do with the Pi, at all (depends on whether this is just the USB port powering the drive being a problem, or SMR, which would be bad on ANY platform).
Sorry, but your opinion is misinformed.
I added a USB hub between the RPi4 and HDD to no avail. I’m going to replace the HDD with an SSD and will report back later. Thanks for your legit approach.
OK. Sorry the cheapie didn't help. Was worth a shot, and now you have something new for the tech junk drawer!
Another Pi plus - the devs own the entire stack. Hopeful that SMR issue is the entire issue, but the devs will own this, and fix it, if not. I can say this from experience as a beta tester on this, too.
put it on a real computer, problem disappears..if you really want to continue using it trouble free, this is the way
If SMR is the main issue, the computer in play will have very little to do with it.
SMR means what?
WD (and others) got in big trouble by rolling out this tech silently. See link below.
I had very similar issues with a pi4 and a usb powered 5tb wd drive . It was great for about a year then started doing exactly what you are seeing .
I bought a powered usb hub and it helped but ultimate I ended up having to replace the drive it had bad sectors
Replaced with a spare of same type and it’s been running great so far
Is your drive a NVR/DVR class drive? Standard HDD will stutter as they resync periodically. Also not sure if a RPi4 is enough horsepower for all that. For HD if you use WD it needs to be the Purple drive. My Security cameras are 11 2-4K streams and the WD Purple 6TB does not miss a beat. I also use a 2TB Purple in my service dedicated to Channels DVR.
Also not a RPi person, but if you can format the drive with larger clusters it means more data with each cluster read/written. I use Windows and format the drive to 64K cluster.
I have easily recorded 6 sources simultaneously. Combination of OTA via HDHOMERUN, TVE, Pluto and Stirr.
I use a 2001 i7 quad core server with SSD and 16 GB ram.
So if you want to record a lot simultaneously, you need some raw power to do it.
Pick up an old Mac Mini and it will likely run much better.
Sorry, but notice that the devs, along with those who have actually used the Pi, aren't saying anything like this?
The pi can handle your scenario, pretty easy actually.
