I have the same STB plus an earlier one (5428) and they both have no facility for shutting down the external drive. I assume they're simply relying on you not actually writing to the drive when shutting down so let the HDD take care of itself. I simply unplug the drives if I want to process the recording on the PC (say to edit out adds or change format etc) and I've never had any errors attributable to doing that.
I wouldn't recommend leaving the HDD plugged in with the box in 'standby' because of the extra load on the box power supply which will cook the PS caps that much faster. In practice, most USB powered external drives take a little too much power and a power injector is needed for reliable recording because the STB is only rated at something like 8W max. I only plug in the external drive when actually recording something or playing it back and shut the box off at the mains when not using it after experiences with fried electrolytic caps in boxes that are left on 24/7.
Bookmarks