Hard Drive problems

[6CKK]

Well - I just spoke to Tech Support and it looks like my TiVo hard drive is just about dead. I have a series 2, 140 hour TiVo branded box (single tuner) with the lifetime service plan.

Since I've been a customer for more than 1 year (since March 2005), The tech support rep gave me the option to replace the box for $150 (not sure which size) which would allow me to keep my service plan. I'm annoyed though as this box is less than 1 year old (see below).

I'm curious if its possible for me to just replace the hard drive myself and transfer my existing service to the new drive with a disk image or something. Basically, what are my options since TiVo isn't offering anything good.

Maybe I'll write a letter complaining - I feel very cheated having spent a few hundred dollars on this lifetime of service only to have 2 hard drives die in a little over a year - if that happened with a computer I'd be furious. Makes me think maybe Comcast or TimeWarner DVR are the way to go. Inferior service, but its cheaper and you're not burdened with a box that fails so easily and leaves you SOL.


My TiVo journey:

March 2005 - bought first box and subscribed to lifetime service
July 2005 - hard drive in first box failed, Amazon replaced box, TiVo transfered lifetime service
June 2006 - hard drive in second box fails. TiVo doesn't offer much support

[litzdog911]

Yes, you can easily replace/upgrade the hard drive yourself and preserve your current Tivo's account status. Check out these resources, and many more in the Tivo Upgrade Center Forum here ....

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=25

http://www.weaknees.com/index.html

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/

http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/instantcake/

http://www.9thtee.com/


You can buy pre-imaged upgrade drives, or download the software tools needed to image your own hard drive.

[jjberger2134]

You can absolutely replace the hard drive yourself and keep your existing subscription. There are all sorts of upgrades available from a Do It Yourself (DIY) to actually sending your TiVo somewhere for service. Price depends on the level of assistance you receive. Of course, advice and help is always free at this forum. With that said...

I recently paid $20 for an image called instant cake from PTV upgrade. They are one of the sponsors of this website. Follow the ad link at the top of this page labeled PTV Upgrade. They are reliable and my upgrade using their CD worked out real well. Please read their terms and conditions carefully so you know what you are getting yourself into. I had a pleasant experience downloading the info, burning to a CD and then using the CD as a bootable image. My only complaint with instant cake was the image was TiVo version 5.2 or 5.3, which is fairly old now. However, after my TiVo was up and running the software was quickly updates to the current 7.2. To some, $20 is a lot of money to pay for an image that you can get free elsewhere. However, if your technical skills are somewhat lacking, the instant cake interface is pretty simple to use. There are no Linux commands that need to be entered by the user.

I also have used Weaknees (pre-imaged, plug and play drive) and was very happy. Weakness is also a sponsor of this site, and their link/ad can be found at the top of most pages in this forum. Pre-imaged drives are more money, but are truly plug and play. The companies that sell imaged drives are really no bargain. I have bought a weaknees (also a sponsor of this forum) pre-imaged drive about 2-3 years ago, was extremely happy with their service and professionalism, and paid $190 for a 160GB drive. I definately overpaid, now knowing what I recently did with the instant cake cd. However, for a person who does not want to get involved in the imaging process or has very little tech skills, this is a great option. The nice part is you receive a drive that is plug and play. The negative is you pay a pretty hefty premium for them to put the image on the drive. Currently, a 160GB drive is about $160 ($1 per GB) from weaknees. I recently bought a 250GB drive for $80 from outpost.com and paid $20 to PTV for the instant cake CD, so my total was $100 for a drive that is almost 60% larger.

If you have a dual drive unit, two drives will run much hotter than one so make sure that you have adequate ventilation and an additional fan (or upgraded fan) from weaknees. Also, if one drive fails you will lose both drives since they become a "married" pair.

The best advice that I can give you is to do your research, and depending on your skill level you can fix your TiVo for free (free tools in the upgrade center) a small amount of money (instant cake CD) or a much larger amount of money (pre-imaged drive). Clearly, this is a situation where the more you pay the easier the upgrade becomes.

[bluibri]

I am about to replace my Hard Drive in My Toshbia RS-TX20 Series 2 Tivo, What are my options with the type of hard drives I can place in here. What speed can the box handle, ex. a 7200 rpm drive? Thanks.

[jjberger2134]

A single 7200rpm drive should be ok as long as you have adequate ventilation. If you want to have a dual drive setup, you will need additional cooling. TiVo requires a PATA drive not SATA.

[litzdog911]

I am about to replace my Hard Drive in My Toshbia RS-TX20 Series 2 Tivo, What are my options with the type of hard drives I can place in here. What speed can the box handle, ex. a 7200 rpm drive? Thanks.

Check out the upgrade resources in my post above, especially the step-by-step instructions at Weaknees' web site.

[6CKK]

I think I'm going to try to just buy a hard drive and prep it myself (as opposed to buying something from weaknees).

I just wanted to make sure this is all correct (I have a series 2 stand alone box - TCD540140):

Speed: 7200RPM
Interface: PATA
Capacity: up to me...thinking maybe 200GB

I've been looking at the Seagate Barracuda series - they seem to have a good reputation, long warranty, and good marks for noise. Does anyone have any experience with or opinions of these drives? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!!

Also - I have a laptop, but I have an adaptor that will let me connect an EIDE drive to a USB port - will this work for me? Or do you need to be able to drop the hard drive into a desktop PC to format it.

Thanks!!

[litzdog911]

...Also - I have a laptop, but I have an adaptor that will let me connect an EIDE drive to a USB port - will this work for me? Or do you need to be able to drop the hard drive into a desktop PC to format it.

Thanks!!

Better asked in the Tivo Upgrade Center Forum.

But I don't think this will work for you. The free MFSTools used to upgrade your Tivo hard drive probably will not recognize a USB-to-EIDE adapter. Plus, you'll want to be able to connect BOTH your current Tivo drive and your new upgrade drive to the PC at the same time.

More information on USB-to-EIDE adapters here ....
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=306085