Question about Upgrading HD's for DT Tivo's.

[DarienA]

I recently returned to the Tivo fold... thank god.... we dropped DirecTV a bit back due to issues in regards to getting a clear signal in bad weather. To make a long story short regardless of how high a signal we had (95+) we never were able to maintain a signal during the rain. I agreed with the missus that DirecTV had to go but I pushed it off as long as possible because I KNEW I was going to miss Tivo. We switched to Comcast and picked up their DVR. I don't have to explain how crappy Comcast DVR's are as I've seen much of it posted here... but quickly, slow machines, weird hiccups where you can't switch tuners or pause the machine... incomplete program guide info that makes it hard to schedule season passes, and just weird interfact choices(do I REALLY need a pop up on the screen to let me know recording has ending?)

But I lived with it... as long as I could.... but I finally over the weekend picked up a DT Tivo... many of the shows I watch are covered in the analog band so I didn't have many concerns about only have one digital feed to record off of... and HD doesn't enter the equation for us yet. Anyway I'm VERY happy with the new machine it's peppy, the program guide moves much faster than the DirecTivo version... I've even played around with moving shows off the unit(purchased the Tivo G Wireless adapter... my only beef with it is only WEP for security... that's not cool at all).

Anyway you know the deal the quality you choose affects the recording time... I'd really like to upgrade the machine and I see what weaknees and ptvupgrade both offer self install upgrades for the new DT Tivo.

My question is... has anyone here one an upgrade on the DT Tivo? Is it pretty straightforward once you remove the cover? Basically just disconnect the HD and attach the new one? Will I have to be a gymnast to access anything inside the unit?

Thanks for any feedback you can provide.

[ZeoTiVo]

the upgrade forum here reports that it is no different than a single tuner series 2 upgrade. The caveat being that there is currently no bracket for using two hard drives as there is no real good place to putt he second drive. People have done two hard drive upgrade but dealt with second drive placement issues on their own.

check out the upgrade forum here for more details.



PS - the WEP issue revolves around lack of good linux driver for USB adapters.
on the DT you could use the thernet port and an inexpensive wireless bridge to get use of WEP again.

[funtoupgrade]

Replacing the drive with another imaged drive is a piece of cake if you have the proper torx #10 and #15 screwdriver. Takes maybe 5 minutes max. If you are at all computer savy you might look into getting your own drive and upgrading yourself - way way cheaper if you watch for a drive bargain which are very common. Just picked up a 400GB at Fry's on Monday for $99.99 - of course a one day sale only but a great deal.

[VOLFAN]

Replacing the drive with another imaged drive is a piece of cake if you have the proper torx #10 and #15 screwdriver. Takes maybe 5 minutes max. If you are at all computer savy you might look into getting your own drive and upgrading yourself - way way cheaper if you watch for a drive bargain which are very common. Just picked up a 400GB at Fry's on Monday for $99.99 - of course a one day sale only but a great deal.


A member is selling two unopened Seagate 400gb hdd's here - http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4077296#post4077296

He / she is selling both for the same advertised special price outpost ran last week. Outpost's has since raised their pricing.

Hope this helps.

VolFan
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[mick66]

the upgrade forum here reports that it is no different than a single tuner series 2 upgrade. The caveat being that there is currently no bracket for using two hard drives as there is no real good place to putt he second drive. People have done two hard drive upgrade but dealt with second drive placement issues on their own.

Keep up, you're falling behind.
http://www.auctionnook.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=53

[DarienA]

Keep up, you're falling behind.
http://www.auctionnook.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=53

Have you used this rack?

[ZeoTiVo]

Keep up, you're falling behind.
http://www.auctionnook.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=53

it looks good - wonder if the power supply on a DT needs the protection of not letting both drives spin up at same time on startup

[funtoupgrade]

For some reason I cannot make either of my new 400GB seagate drives (8MB cache) work in a new DT. Been through the upgrade process over 200 times on other units and never been stumped as on this one. I was trying a 200MB swap file and running tpip afterward. The only guy I know of that has a working 400GB in a DT said he used 127MB swap file. My symptoms are the GSOD cycling in a powering on loop. Original drive works fine. Gave up for the time being. I have stuck both a 250GB and 300GB in two other DT's with no problems. Is it possible that a particular unit could have some sort of hardware problem with a bigger drive yet seem to work fine with original drive? Doesn't make any sense to me. I know if somebody else were asking this question, my first response would be that they probably don't know what they are doing. I have done this upgrade process enough times on a number of different flavor units to not be worried that I have the process screwed up. These are the first 400GB drives I have messed with, so my next step will be to try and make them work in a non-DT TiVo to try and pin down the problem.

[bob61]

For some reason I cannot make either of my new 400GB seagate drives (8MB cache) work in a new DT. Been through the upgrade process over 200 times on other units and never been stumped as on this one. I was trying a 200MB swap file and running tpip afterward. The only guy I know of that has a working 400GB in a DT said he used 127MB swap file. My symptoms are the GSOD cycling in a powering on loop. Original drive works fine. Gave up for the time being. I have stuck both a 250GB and 300GB in two other DT's with no problems. Is it possible that a particular unit could have some sort of hardware problem with a bigger drive yet seem to work fine with original drive? Doesn't make any sense to me. I know if somebody else were asking this question, my first response would be that they probably don't know what they are doing. I have done this upgrade process enough times on a number of different flavor units to not be worried that I have the process screwed up. These are the first 400GB drives I have messed with, so my next step will be to try and make them work in a non-DT TiVo to try and pin down the problem.
Don't know if you solved your problem, but the DT will support a pair of Seagate 7200.7 400GB drives (works quite nicely). Nothing special on the config than you would do for any other dual drive Tivo with 400GB drive. Were you trying to install a pair of 7200.8 drives? Seems to be a power consumption issue with those.