TivoLand: delivery times?

[Stroller]

Not a complaint, just an enquiry from previous customers. I have bought a 300GB HDD from TivoLand (tuesday) and wondered what the average delivery time is for them at TivoLand? I have the day off tomorrow so really would like it back by then, but just wondered if this is reallistic?

I haven't received any corresponance since ordering (paypal confirmation) so dont know if its been shipped yet?

Just wondering.

[jonphil]

Christmas is slowing down the postal service big time, so not a good idea to be waiting in for parcels. I have only just received something which was dispatched last Wednesday

[mini__me]

Damn you just reminded me! Before I went on holiday I ordered an IR blaster from there and it still hasn't arrived....I've been on holiday for 3 weeks :-s

Must chase that up tomorrow!

[Stroller]

OK then,. another question.
Can all UK Tivos take two hard drives?
When i opened mine up i noticed there were mounts for two drives but only one 40GB unit in place. If i went to a local PC store and bought say a 120GB drive and fitted that the hard way, could I then add the 300GB drive alongside this when it arrives?

Im at loss without the Tivo in my life!!!! :D

[Pete77]

Damn you just reminded me! Before I went on holiday I ordered an IR blaster from there and it still hasn't arrived....I've been on holiday for 3 weeks :-s

Must chase that up tomorrow!

You can get the original IR blaster lead set (which has two prongs that can control a Freeview and Sky Digibox and a very long lead) free of charge (apart from the cost of the 0870 call) by calling UK Tivo customer services - 08702 41 84 86. The cheapest time to call 0870 numbers is at the weekend when its only just over 1p per minute. They sent mine by post for free in less than a week. I dont know if the Tivoland leads are the originals or a cheaper generic lead that only has one IR prong that is also being widely sold on Ebay.

Surely the best way to find out when you will get your hard drive from Tivoland is to email them and see if they reply to you - they don't control the Royal Mail but they do control when they will despatch your hard drive and perhaps they might even send it first class if you asked them nicely (hard drives aren't that large or heavy).

Although I'm sure the proprietor of Tivoland knows as much about Tivos as the proprietor of Tivoheaven he perhaps doesn't seem to live, eat, breathe and sleep them 24/7 to quite the same extent as the Tivoheaven guy. I expect Tivoheaven would probably have been working till 3am to get your drive out the very next day.

My experience of Royal Mail at Christmas is that it is slow beween about 10th and 19th Dec and then everything shoots through at the end. That is stuff sent first class on Dec 20th or Dec 21st usually arrives in one day.

Your post on here might well of course have the effect of speeding up Tivoland a little bit, especially if you keep posting on it every day if you don't get a reply to your email....................... ;)

[Pete77]

OK then,. another question.

Can all UK Tivos take two hard drives?

When i opened mine up i noticed there were mounts for two drives but only one 40GB unit in place. If i went to a local PC store and bought say a 120GB drive and fitted that the hard way, could I then add the 300GB drive alongside this when it arrives?

No you couldn't add the Tivoland 300Gb alongside a 120Gb drive bought from PC World or wherever and installed yourself as Tivoland will have configured the 300Gb drive to work as Drive A.

A lot of earlier original Tivos were supplied with a 30Gb and 15Gb drive and then when the price of hard drives fell for what were then considered larger drives (i.e. 40Gb) Tivo supplied one 40Gb drive instead. To fit a second drive in an originally one drive supplied Tivo you need a hard drive bracket for it which Tivoland do sell.

Once you have your 300Gb drive from Tivoland you could add a second hard drive yourself at any time very simply (as the operating system is all on Drive A) though provided Tivoland have configured your A drive with enough swap space to make this possible. Certainly TivoHeaven would do so and I can't see why Tivoland would not.

By the way Stroller I thought your Tivo was still working or has it now given up the ghost completely, or did you send your original drives to Tivoland to have the thumbs data and recordings copied across? Or am I confusing you with someone else on here?

[blindlemon]

Can all UK Tivos take two hard drives?Yes
If i went to a local PC store and bought say a 120GB drive and fitted that the hard way, could I then add the 300GB drive alongside this when it arrives?Technically, yes (as long as the 300gb drive has enough swap space).

However, I always recommend people to stick with a single-drive system wherever possible as adding a 2nd drive (statistaically) doubles your chance of a drive failure as well as increasing the noise and heat in the system.

Also, adding a 120gb drive to a 300gb one, particularly if you are using VBR, won't give you a significant increase in capacity either. Yes, you'll have a few more hours on the System Info screen, but in practical terms I doubt whether you would really feel the benefit. IME you have to pretty much double the capacity to really make the TiVo feel bigger :)

[Pete77]

Technically, yes (as long as the 300gb drive has enough swap space).

Surely Stroller can't configure the 120Gb drive as his A drive and then also just add the 300Gb drive from Tivoland configured as his B drive to it though?

He could replace the 120Gb A drive with theTivoland 300Gb drive as his A drive and then reformat the 120Gb drive as blank and then add it to the 300Gb drive as a B drive using mfsadd though.

Also if Stroller checks hard drive prices I think he will find the 400Gb Samsung hard drive is the most cost effective choice if buying and installing your own hard drive.

If you have a 400Gb drive then most people wouldn't need any further capacity beyond that.

[Stroller]

thanks guys, panic over. drive arrived this morning, currently going through the guided setup as we speak!

phew!

Dont know why i was being so impatient. Managed with 40GB for about 7yrs anyway!!!

[blindlemon]

Surely Stroller can't configure the 120Gb drive as his A drive and then also just add the 300Gb drive from Tivoland configured as his B drive to it though?

He could replace the 120Gb A drive with theTivoland 300Gb drive as his A drive and then reformat the 120Gb drive as blank and then add it to the 300Gb drive as a B drive using mfsadd though.Yes, that's what I meant: use the pre-configured 300gb A drive and add another drive as the B. However, re-reading my reply I see that it could be taken the other way, so sorry :o

[Pete77]

Dont know why i was being so impatient. Managed with 40GB for about 7yrs anyway!!!

I see you believe in rounding up your years a lot even if you got your Tivo right back on Day 1? ;)