> How hard would it be to add 3 lines of code to display the number of
> files still to be copied? I mean, maybe it would actually be difficult
> to add a second progress bar, I don't know, but I can't imagine adding a
> little bit of text could be that hard.
>
> There's already an option to reformat the internal HD. So why isn't
> there one to format an external one? The necessary code obviously exists
> already, so...?
>
> We're talking about tiny little changes that would have made a big
> difference to how easy to use the product would have been. OK, making it
> so that you can still change channel while a file copy is in progress
> *might* actually be difficult. Most of the other stuff would have been
> trivial.

You'll probably find a lot of the code is just copied from an earlier 
generation product (where HDs were much smaller), and the external drive 
thing was a last minute add-on.  To go through a thorough a test, code 
and test cycle would probably end up way more expensive than any 
additional profits they could make over just shipping it "as-is" with 
minimum modifications ("how can we make huge external drives work as 
quickly as possible").

Don't forget these type of products sell for 12 months or so until the 
next better one comes along, in a lot of cases it's much more profitable 
to sell your product NOW with a few bugs rather than wait some time to 
iron them out.  And in the end a company that makes amazing products but 
no profit will not last very long.

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