Suggestions where to buy a 750GB SATA? [Text View]

Bierboy

12-23-2006, 05:45 PM

phototrek

12-23-2006, 05:55 PM

If you want the quiet DB35 variety, as I would recommend, WeaKnees is your best & cheapest source.

wackymann

12-23-2006, 08:14 PM

If you want it easy, Weaknees is a good place, if you want it cheap and do it yourself, somewhere else.

They actually had the cheapest price (by far) when I bought my bare DB35 drive. I was copying my old drive, so I didn't need to pay extra for the one they have with a Tivo image pre-written to it.

Jerry_K

12-23-2006, 09:21 PM

eBay has had the best prices for me so far. I don't care about the "quiet" drive so mine have been under $275 shipped. You have to be patient tho. Can't just rush in and start bidding something up.

oldskoolboarder

12-24-2006, 11:28 AM

Best Buy is showing a Seagate 750GB external firewire/usb drive for sale on 12/26 for $379. Just saw the Sunday ad. Does anyone know if that's SATA or PATA? Hmm....

AbMagFab

12-24-2006, 03:03 PM

Best Buy is showing a Seagate 750GB external firewire/usb drive for sale on 12/26 for $379. Just saw the Sunday ad. Does anyone know if that's SATA or PATA? Hmm....

Some key words to tell you it's not an internal SATA drive:
1) "External"
2) "Firewire"
3) "USB"

And you can now get the DB35 much cheaper from places other than Weaknees. Just google it in the normal places and you'll find it for sub-$400.

keenanSR

12-24-2006, 03:32 PM

Does Weaknees have an add drive kit for the S3? I can't seem to find it at their site, all I can find is the replacement option.

btwyx

12-24-2006, 03:51 PM

Does Weaknees have an add drive kit for the S3? I can't seem to find it at their site, all I can find is the replacement option.There's no space for 2 drives.

dswallow

12-24-2006, 03:54 PM

Some key words to tell you it's not an internal SATA drive:
1) "External"
2) "Firewire"
3) "USB"

But inside the case is going to be a PATA or SATA drive, and that was his question.

oldskoolboarder

12-24-2006, 04:37 PM

Thanks Doug. Yes that was my question.

keenanSR

12-24-2006, 04:47 PM

There's no space for 2 drives.
I thought that might be the reason, thanks.

Anyone know what the turnaround time is for the HDD upgrade?

Are there any pros and cons to sending it to Weaknees vs having the drive sent to me to install?

Bierboy

12-24-2006, 05:14 PM

...Are there any pros and cons to sending it to Weaknees vs having the drive sent to me to install?WeaKnees will install a pre-formatted drive for about $30 more than their price for the pre-formatted drive alone. You can install a pre-formatted drive (with minimum tech skills) in about 30 minutes and save the money, the time and the risk sending in your precious S3 to have them do it (risk in the transport NOT in them doing it).

keenanSR

12-24-2006, 06:15 PM

WeaKnees will install a pre-formatted drive for about $30 more than their price for the pre-formatted drive alone. You can install a pre-formatted drive (with minimum tech skills) in about 30 minutes and save the money, the time and the risk sending in your precious S3 to have them do it (risk in the transport NOT in them doing it).
How does that effect the CCs? I'm assuming there's some PC work involved? I guess I'll have to do some research.

btwyx

12-24-2006, 06:32 PM

How does that effect the CCs?It didn't affect mine, but it may depend on how your cable company works. As Comcast around here doesn't pair your cards to your equipment (yet), it probably won't affect you. I'm assuming there's some PC work involved? PC Work? If you buy a preformatted drive, there's nothing you need a PC for, that's if you want to format your own drive. Swapping is simple, you pop the top off the unit (6 screw, driver incuded in the kit). Undo a few more screw, take out drive. Put things back together with new drive in place. Its simple.

keenanSR

12-26-2006, 09:33 PM

It didn't affect mine, but it may depend on how your cable company works. As Comcast around here doesn't pair your cards to your equipment (yet), it probably won't affect you.PC Work? If you buy a preformatted drive, there's nothing you need a PC for, that's if you want to format your own drive. Swapping is simple, you pop the top off the unit (6 screw, driver incuded in the kit). Undo a few more screw, take out drive. Put things back together with new drive in place. Its simple.
Comcast did call a few weeks ago and got the CC pairing info, actually it was a third party data collection agency, so I'm not sure if Comcast has actually linked the cards to the S3 electronically yet.

So all I need is the drive from Weaknees, install it, and I'm ready to go? How does the new drive get all your account data and such?

btwyx

12-26-2006, 11:46 PM

So all I need is the drive from Weaknees, install it, and I'm ready to go?Its like you've just done a clear and delete everything (Weaknees does to unpair the HD from the box) so you have fresh everything.How does the new drive get all your account data and such?The TSN doesn't change so when the drive calls in the mothership knows what's what. You have to set up all your season passes etc again.

wackymann

12-27-2006, 12:08 AM

If you don't want to worry about potential issues with cable cards, and you are comfortable with pulling apart computers (and your computer supports SATA drives), I'd recommend copying your old 250 GB drive to a new, bare 750 GB DB35. I did it, and have been very happy with the results. An added bonus (other than saving money) is that you don't lose any of the shows you've already recorded. You just suddenly have 3 times the disk space. It took about 2 hours, including the disk copying process.

mstrroissy

12-29-2006, 10:01 AM

AbMagFab

12-29-2006, 11:51 AM

Wackymann,

I am very interested in learning more of your DIY solution to the HD upgrade. I am a pretty computer savy guy, so I can't see paying as much as people want for a new hardrive+software that I figured I could copy myself.

So how did you do it? (If you don't mind). I have a pc that I could schlep the drives into but what app did you use to format the drive and copy the old image to the new....and did it have to be an image copy or just a file transfer? I am glad that I found this thread....Like I said I know this a pretty easy DIY. Thanks for your help.

It's painfully easy:
1) Get yourself a new SATA drive, preferably 3Gb/s, preferably with the same connector (WD and Seagate use them)
2) Open your Tivo, remove the old drive
3) Download the mfstools CD
4) mfsbackup/mfsrestore

There are details in #3 and #4, but do a little research and you'll find them. The only issues you might run into are how old your MB is and how big a SATA drive it will support natively (mfstools is a super old Linux build, so you might need to download something newer like Ubuntu, and then run mfsbackup/restore from there).

dswallow

12-29-2006, 01:06 PM

It's painfully easy:
1) Get yourself a new SATA drive, preferably 3Gb/s, preferably with the same connector (WD and Seagate use them)
2) Open your Tivo, remove the old drive
3) Download the mfstools CD
4) mfsbackup/mfsrestore

There are details in #3 and #4, but do a little research and you'll find them. The only issues you might run into are how old your MB is and how big a SATA drive it will support natively (mfstools is a super old Linux build, so you might need to download something newer like Ubuntu, and then run mfsbackup/restore from there).
I've noticed there's this new mfstools build + Linux boot CD out there: http://mfslive.org/

I've not actually tried it myself.

wackymann

12-29-2006, 01:35 PM

Wackymann,

I am very interested in learning more of your DIY solution to the HD upgrade. I am a pretty computer savy guy, so I can't see paying as much as people want for a new hardrive+software that I figured I could copy myself.

So how did you do it? (If you don't mind). I have a pc that I could schlep the drives into but what app did you use to format the drive and copy the old image to the new....and did it have to be an image copy or just a file transfer? I am glad that I found this thread....Like I said I know this a pretty easy DIY. Thanks for your help.

I used the method posted here:

http://bumwine.com/tivo.html

It requires that your PC have support for SATA drives. My mother board didn't support SATA, but my power supply had the right power connectors, so I went ahead and bought a PCI-SATA card, and it worked fine. If you have a newer computer with SATA support, it should be very easy. Downloading and burning the Knoppix CD image was one of the more challenging parts LOL and that wasn't very hard. I was a little nervous opening up the S3, but it's amazingly easy to work inside it. It's very spacious inside.

lessd

12-29-2006, 05:55 PM

I've noticed there's this new mfstools build + Linux boot CD out there: http://mfslive.org/

I've not actually tried it myself.

It the greatest TiVo hard drive software I have seen, use it all the time and if you have any problems the guy doing this (for love) get back to you fast by E-Mail. Read about this version as it takes care of the -s problem will work with more then 4 drives in your system and will see SATA drives.
OH did I mention its FREE

kemac

12-29-2006, 06:09 PM

It the greatest TiVo hard drive software I have seen, use it all the time and if you have any problems the guy doing this (for love) get back to you fast by E-Mail. Read about this version as it takes care of the -s problem will work with more then 4 drives in your system and will see SATA drives.
OH did I mention its FREE

I agree, it works very well and the support is top notch! I was successful upgrading my hr10250 from dual 500G drives to dual 750s with recordings. I was also able to fix my shrunk root at the same time.

keenanSR

12-29-2006, 07:29 PM

I'm thinking of going the self-install route. Does it matter for usage in the S3 if it has 8mb cache or 16mb cache?

Spec sheet for DB35 models linked below.

http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/ds_db35_7200_3.pdf
ds_db35_7200_3.pdf (application/pdf Object)

AbMagFab

12-29-2006, 11:23 PM

It really doesn't matter.

BakedBeans

12-30-2006, 10:26 AM

WeaKnees will install a pre-formatted drive for about $30 more than their price for the pre-formatted drive alone. You can install a pre-formatted drive (with minimum tech skills) in about 30 minutes and save the money, the time and the risk sending in your precious S3 to have them do it (risk in the transport NOT in them doing it).

Sending an S3 with full insurance on UPS is less than $20. Insurance on the declared value of $800 is only $4.00

CHeap peace of mind. in my opinion.

Though I would do the work myself, I am waiting for 1 TB drives to ship. Anytime now!

TedEstes

01-02-2007, 05:19 PM

Best Buy has the Seagate 750G SATA drive on sale this week for $330.

--Ted

lemketron

01-02-2007, 08:07 PM

Best Buy has the Seagate 750G SATA drive on sale this week for $330.
That appears to be the "AS" model (ST3750640AS) as opposed to the (new?) DB35 DVR model (ST3750640SCE)... Does anyone know what the specific differences are? Will either one work as a Series 3 upgrade drive? Is the (cheaper) AS model slower or noisier than the stock 250GB WD drive?

btwyx

01-02-2007, 08:11 PM

The stock drive has a very noisy seek, you'll hear lots of clicking if you use one in your TiVo. The DB35 is quietend and uses acoustic management so you hear nothing from the drive.

Personally, I'd only use a DB35.

wackymann

01-02-2007, 08:50 PM

I would also highly recommend the DB35 model. It is very quiet. It's definitely worth the extra cash to me. I figured I had already spent well over $1000 on my S3 - what's another hundred to make the thing quiet? LOL

20TIL6

01-03-2007, 02:26 AM

With discounts, WeaKnees 750GB pre-formatted was $444 shipped for me. I installed it, but WeaKnees will also install for you for a price. If you go completely DIY, I would still get the Seagate DB35 -- I can't hear it at all.
What kind of discounts did you get from Weaknees? Better, how did you get the discounts? I just visited their site and they show pre-formatted 750GB for $499. I did not see any discounts.

deeremj

01-03-2007, 07:55 AM

What kind of discounts did you get from Weaknees? Better, how did you get the discounts? I just visited their site and they show pre-formatted 750GB for $499. I did not see any discounts.

I bought the following bare db35 750gb, and had to dd the image from my 'old' 750gb "AS' drive to the nwe db35:

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-dvr-hard-drive.php

The difference in seek noise (or lack thereof) is night and day - DB35 IMHO is clearly the way to go.

-mj