Is Powered USB Hub Required for HDD?

I read somewhere that these H2S USB ports are not powerful enough to support an external HDD for long.

I'm pretty sure I read it here but can't find anything about it now, typically. I have a powered USB hub I could use but to be honest It is more useful on my PC but I'd rather not kill my H2S if it is going to stress it.

Has anyone had an issue?

On a slightly different subject, I started off with a new W D pa$$port HDD plugged into the powered hub earlier, but the menu to format it was missing in settings where I could see it before with a small thumbdrive mounted earlier.

I inserted it directly into the back of the H2S but the storage menu is still missing! However it works fine for recording as I tested it but it has NOT been automatically formatted.
I can see all of the W D files and software that come with a their new drives via Samba on my phone.
I can also play the recordings downstairs on another telly via DNLI, which is kinda cool as I can record C-4 HD upstairs and watch it downstairs when I leave S*Y in a couple of days and swap to the Fr33S@t PVR.
Just a bit surprised it works at all without ext formatting. Whoosh infinity btw.
 
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Just wait for the message FULL,to use recording format ext is needed.I would always suggest internal hdd or powered externally as less stress on the port.Plenty of members using a passport hdd and i have 3 that never worked properly .Others have used a powered hub with passports and no issues.
 
Personally I'd always choose to use a powered hub whenever possible, just as @cactikid points out it places less stress on things.
If you are not formatted to EXT4 you will probably run into issues at some point in the future.
The lack of 'storage menu' might possibly be a product of the skin you are using - might be worth using Metrix-HD or the default skin rather than a third-party one to see if that resolves things and after doing the necessary admin/system work you can flip back to your preferred skin.
 
Thank you to both of you for the advice, much appreciated. I will switch back to using the hub.
Knew I hadn't dreamt it

I'll do some research in regard to the missing format menu as per your advice too about skins;I guess there is a thread somewhere on this site.
Would you advise against formating the passport drive on a Linux distro or a PC with ext drivers?
Sorry for the dumb questions; is ext4 stable? Last time I played with Linux ext3 was still quite new (showing my age here..)
 
EXT4 is very stable and solid.
You can certainly format using a PC running a Linux distro if you wish. (i often choose to do that myself as it happens). that said, you may also format it directly from your Zgemma too. How you tackle that and changing the skin will depend upon what build you have on your Zgemma.
 
Any usb or hdd is setup by box as its usually fat 32 when installed and then needs initialization to ext 3- ext4 And left inserted.
You can format it on box also along as no recordings are on it as it erases everything.
 
Never had any problem, nor do I know anyone who has,
I have heard anecdotal stories - mainly from Cacti, but never happened to anyone I know on TK.
 
Thank you for your constructive comments guys, really grateful. I was half expecting abuse because I hadn't spent elleventy billion hours reading every single post here and also the entire internet.
Not always possible in a household outnumbered by females (they don't understand our need to research things properly).
;-)
 
Ran a bus powered on h2s for many years

think people buy cheap or fakes and they don’t want the blame so they blame the port
 
My hdd is powerred by the usb on the box, it was on my h2s and then my vu+ when I upgraded my box, both without issues
 
tech correct answer will be to use powered hdd but its more common to see system powered hdd's, personally I've used an external 1tb Toshiba USB hdd which draws power from the systems USB port, never had any issues with the drive itself. Used this drive for around 3 years on several E2 systems.
 
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