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Hard Drive Upgrade Info

832K views 3K replies 437 participants last post by  austinsho 
#1 ·
Upgrade your Roamio with a new drive. No discs needed.

What you need:
T8 Screw driver
T10 Screw Driver
New Hard Drive

 
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#1,345 ·
Tivo's warranty is only worth using for the first 90 days; after that any extended warranty is cheaper than what Tivo will charge you for a replacement unit.

So if one plans to upgrade DIY, they should buy an "extended warranty" (even the one Tivo sells is serviced by a third party) and if anything goes wrong reinstall the original drive and contact the 3rd party "extended warranty" provider for replacement.

Tivo's not involved in any part of that process, since you're not asking to use their warranty.
This isn't an argument that I am presenting, just some details I feel shouldn't be left out:

As I attempted to make clear in my post, regardless of 3rd-party warranties (and perhaps making a mistake by neglecting to mention them), you still have to get support services from TiVo, if you need it. I don't know of any 3rd-party warranties that take over the support role that TiVo plays. Any I am aware of, only handle warranty claims. A 3rd-party warranty provider generally only asks why you consider the product defective, in order to justify authorizing the return for replacement. That is not the same as providing support.

While there are plenty of cases, with other products (not TiVo), where the 3rd-party also takes on the responsibilities of providing support, I have yet to come across any mention of this for TiVo. I think this is by TiVo's design.

TiVo can, and sometimes will, refuse to provide support to you, open support tickets, or even take bug reports, if they notice you have changed drives. If the problem you are having is due to a TiVo design flaw, or software bug, a replacement under 3rd-party warranty will not resolve such an issue, just provide you another TiVo, with the same flaws/bugs. This is why having TiVo continue to provide you with support services is so important. TiVo doesn't stop supporting you, just because their own 90-day, or their own extended warranty, ends.

No arguments over that the extended warranty from TiVo, is very likely handled by a 3rd-party, only uncertainty on how much the involved companies share with each other, if any. After all, When you call TiVo support, you are dealing with a 3rd-party company. Do we know for sure TiVo's own 3rd-party support company has no ties to TiVo's choice for their 3rd-party extended warranty company? It could just two differently named service providers, who could both be part of the same parent company and, theoretically, share information. I can't prove it, nor disprove it, at the moment.

Also, I've seen many other challenges to the way of thinking you describe, spread throughout various threads. I'm not going to challenge it, in any other ways, myself, as it always winds up turning into bickering back and forth, until everybody just drops the matter, so the threads the debating was going on in could return to their normal intended purpose.

This post is intentionally simplified, for the sake of brevity. I just felt it was worth bringing up the otherwise left-out, matter of insuring continued support, from TiVo, when discussing warranties and drive upgrades.
 
#1,346 ·
I'm reading that adding a new bigger internal drive will void the warranty. How exactly will Tivo know that it's been tampered with? Is there a VOID sticker or whatnot that you have to tamper with to open the unit? Assuming there's not, if I keep the original drive intact and I have a problem with the Roamio, couldn't I just stick the original drive back in before I ship off my defective unit to Tivo?

Has anyone had a warranty claim on a defective Tivo that contained a previously upgraded hard drive?
Yes. One of the two Roamio Plus units I bought and upgraded to 3TB failed within a week due to non drive issues. I dropped the original drive back in and returned for replacement. No issue.
 
#1,347 ·
Yes. One of the two Roamio Plus units I bought and upgraded to 3TB failed within a week due to non drive issues. I dropped the original drive back in and returned for replacement. No issue.
When making such statements, I feel there should be an obligation to warn the inquiring party, more so the countless others that will read it, that TiVo can change this at any time, if they wish.

I consider this more of a blanket post for all, and hope you don't feel I'm trying to pick a fight, just because I quoted your post.
 
#1,349 ·
Dude, I don't know what your sudden problem with me is but I'd like to get past it.
Didn't you read the last line of my last post?

I don't have a problem with you, so there's nothing to get past.

I'd have posted the same things, regardless of who the posts I referenced came from, if they had the same, or similar content.

If you still feel we have a "problem", please take it to PM. Thanks.
 
#1,351 ·
I feel people are smart enough to know when they upgrade the HD they are voiding the warranty.
That is merely an assumption, on your part. There's an ages-old saying about assuming things.

You just joined this month, and have 3 posts, at the time of this post. How could you possibly know the makeup/breakdown of the members here, and what their levels of knowledge and expertise are? (That's a rhetorical question). I just assumed something, about you, and would guess you don't like that I did... Just making a point.
 
#1,352 ·
That is merely an assumption, on your part. There's an ages-old saying about assuming things.

You just joined this month, and have 3 posts, at the time of this post. How could you possibly know the makeup/breakdown of the members here, and what their levels of knowledge and expertise are? (That's a rhetorical question). I just assumed something, about you, and would guess you don't like that I did... Just making a point.
Simple, I have a better opinion of people's intelligence than you apparently do. Most people would know if they take a piece of electronic equipment apart, they void the warranty.
 
#1,353 ·
Simple, I have a better opinion of people's intelligence than you apparently do. Most people would know if they take a piece of electronic equipment apart, they void the warranty.
Whatever... :rolleyes:

I'm not commenting any further, which is not an acknowledgement that I agree with anything, and/or that I couldn't find anything to disagree with.

You made your statement, I made mine. Anything further would just be "bickering", which is against the forum rules, as well as going Off-Topic, which is also frowned upon.
 
#1,356 ·
Whatever... :rolleyes:

I'm not commenting any further, which is not an acknowledgement that I agree with anything, and/or that I couldn't find anything to disagree with.

You made your statement, I made mine. Anything further would just be "bickering", which is against the forum rules, as well as going Off-Topic, which is also frowned upon.
I agree with everything in your last post.
 
#1,358 ·
How are WKs adding 4GB external drives, I thought only the 1TB WD DVR extender worked?
The Tivo can't prepare a blank 4 TB hard drive by itself. You have to connect the hard drive to a PC and use a special tool to prepare the drive for the Tivo. Once the drive has been prepared ahead of time, the Roamio can use it without major problems.

Weakness has developed such a tool, but no one else has developed a free version of this tool yet.
 
#1,361 ·
Is WD the only brand compatible with Tivo (Roamio)?

What is the largest possible drive I can insert myself (I see weaknees does 8GB) and would you recommend the WD Black/Red/Green?
aV drives are recommended for reasons you can find by searching this thread or doing a google search. Other AV drives work and some TiVo Roamio boxes are shipping with Seagate AV drives.
 
#1,362 ·
So... If one were to buy a 4tb Weaknees drive, and a blank 4tb drive, what are the odds that a dd "clone" could result in two working 4tb drives?

It SHOULD work... Right?
 
#1,363 ·
Is WD the only brand compatible with Tivo (Roamio)?

What is the largest possible drive I can insert myself (I see weaknees does 8GB) and would you recommend the WD Black/Red/Green?
aV drives are recommended for reasons you can find by searching this thread or doing a google search. Other AV drives work and some TiVo Roamio boxes are shipping with Seagate AV drives.
I'm not even going to argue all the reasons why an AV-drive isn't a necessity, but merely recommended more, since TiVo uses them (although not using the actual AV-functions that make them AV-rated), they usually have a longer warranty than non-premium drives, and the price difference is not as large as it used to be.

What concerns me about your reply, was the poster's question of "WD Black/Red/Green?", largely not being addressed.

If speaking of WD:

"Black" drives will run too hot, and have performance a TiVo can not, and will not, use (so, not recommended, at all). No mainstream, high-performance, drives are recommended. To be complete, the "Blue" line from WD, is also likely to run too-hot, and exceed the performance required (which isn't hard to do). Anything not "green" and/or low-RPM, could also stress the power supply, especially during spin-up.

"Red NAS" drives are acceptable, and AV-Rated. Plenty of success stories with these models, which combine reliability, performance, green, long warranty, and AV-Rating, all together. (by "performance", I don't mean high-performance, just very good, and more than TiVo even needs).

"Green" is the most used, and comes in both Green (non-AV), which will work (plenty of success stories to back this up), and AV-GP (Green, with AV-rating), the latter being what TiVo uses, and most here would recommend, unless they are Seagate fans.

Then the size was also part of the poster's question (the max): Unless you buy it pre-prepared, 3TB.
 
#1,364 ·
So... If one were to buy a 4tb Weaknees drive, and a blank 4tb drive, what are the odds that a dd "clone" could result in two working 4tb drives?

It SHOULD work... Right?
Not necessarily. I'm thinking there is a possibility that the drive s/n is buried somewhere in the data on a configured drive and that it must match the actual s/n. Has anyone cloned a setup stock drive and tried the copy in the source machine?
 
#1,365 ·
So... If one were to buy a 4tb Weaknees drive, and a blank 4tb drive, what are the odds that a dd "clone" could result in two working 4tb drives?

It SHOULD work... Right?
Yes, it "should work".

But, before the swarm of agree bees descends upon you, I'll make the point that what you describe would be considered, by many, to be "theft".

Although, say I buy one, make a successful copy, use the copy, then never use the original I paid for, is that theft?

Have any of the many TiVo upgrade drive vendors, throughout history, put break-seals on the box, binding you to any agreement, or ever made you agree to terms of what you will do, or not do, with the drive, once you have completed the transaction?

So, technically, one could try what you describe, report the results, and not commit theft, just so long as they only use what they paid to have.
 
#1,366 ·
Not necessarily. I'm thinking there is a possibility that the drive s/n is buried somewhere in the data on a configured drive and that it must match the actual s/n. Has anyone cloned a setup stock drive and tried the copy in the source machine?
I almost mentioned that exact possibility/scenario in my own response, but then took it out, thinking YOU'D disagree that would be possible. Too funny! ;)

We were also typing at the same time, and you posted 1st.
 
#1,367 ·
I almost mentioned that exact possibility/scenario in my own response, but then took it out, thinking YOU'D disagree that would be possible. Too funny! ;)

We were also typing at the same time, and you posted 1st.
Yeah well, TiVo seems to be moving more and more into the Apple/"See figure 1" operating model.

Dontcha think it a bit ironic that you assumed something, considering the first post on this page of the thread? :)
 
#1,368 ·
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