Ease Of Hard Drive Installation

[SpiritualPoet]

I have a series 1 Philips TiVo standalone unit. The hard drive failed. It has no subscription at this time. My questions: what is involved in the self-installation of a replacement hard drive? What specific tools are required? Once the new drive is installed, if no subsciption is added, what can the machine do? If a subscription is added, what will TiVo charge for month-to-month service? Thanks.

[George Cifranci]

You can do it youself with these instructions.

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

Or you can get a new drive that comes pre-installed with the Tivo software and has clear instructions and the tools you need from Weaknees...

http://www.weaknees.com/

[gastrof]

If a Series 1 TiVo goes back to a certain point, it can record like a dumb VCR and function without the TiVo service. You input the times (start and stop) and the channel.

It will still need to occasionally phone into TiVo's server to adjust its clock. It'll also do this at initial setup, so's to get your local channel lineup based on what type of TV service you have (cable, satellite, over-the-air).

TiVo allows unsubscribed units to do this, but eventually (as I understand it) they stopped offering that. Some of the later Series 1 units supposedly require the TiVo service to work.

Some that would work without service, but were subscribed anyway had some sort of setting changed, and when people went to use them after cancelling service, they found the thing wouldn't work unsubbed any more.

A phone call to TiVo gets such units working again. (Not the machine calling in...you call TiVo and talk to a live person....they set things up to restore the setting on your machine.)

With service, you get all the bells and whistles. (At least, for a Series 1.) You get about two weeks of TV listings downloaded to your machine. You can call up a grid showing all programming and you can scroll thru it and click on shows you want recorded. You can set the machine to record the program on a regular basis, or only once.

You get listings of the show's title and that episode's content once the show has been recorded. These show up in a "Now Playing" list.

An unsubbed machine also has a "Now Playing" list, but all it shows is channel and time of recording.

I can only tell you a few things...I'm sure others can give you more info on what a subscribed Series 1 can do.

Again, you could use it unsubbed as well (if it's not one of the "late" Series 1s), and still be able to record your favorite shows, one shots or on a regular basis.

[SpiritualPoet]

Thanks to both for your replies. However, I'm wondering: must the replacement drive have software installed such that the machine can simply operate (i.e. is it a requirement) to record manually scheduled events (provided the series 1 machine is old enough to function without a subscription)?

[dylanemcgregor]

Thanks to both for your replies. However, I'm wondering: must the replacement drive have software installed such that the machine can simply operate (i.e. is it a requirement) to record manually scheduled events (provided the series 1 machine is old enough to function without a subscription)?

I'm 99.8% sure that you still need the hard drive to have the software installed before it will be able to act even as a "dumb" VCR. But as long as you have access to a desktop PC installing the software is a pretty painless process. I'm not really a computer guy, but it still took me only about an hour the first time I did it, just followed the instructions real closely.

[LifeIsABeach]

I'm 99.8% sure that you still need the hard drive to have the software installed before it will be able to act even as a "dumb" VCR.

Make that 100%. Without the TiVo software on the drive it is useless. As everyone else has said, it is very easy to do.

[SpiritualPoet]

Then if I order a replacement drive to install myself, the software has to be acquired by paying a subscription again to TiVo, correct? Or is the software free from TiVo to install prior to establishing an account by means of paying for a subscription?

[ah30k]

You can buy a TiVo image and utilties on CDROM that can be used to format. I used www.dvrupgrade.com InstantCake. You will need to pay for the image. I had a S1 hard drive fail and needed the utilties to load up a spare drive I had lying around.

[SpiritualPoet]

Thanks very much!

[classicsat]

The TiVo subscription primarily delivers the guide data.

The OS and software has to be installed onto the HDD before the TiVo will work, and you need to do that on your PC, with an Instantcake CD, upgade CD with a separate image, or purchase an HDD with the software preinstalled.

An empty (to the TiVo) HDD will do nothing in the TiVo.

[Test]

Nobody recommended the tivocommunity store? or did I miss it?

http://store.tivocommunity.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=UPS1S-PHD&Store_Code=EA

[pl1]

Nobody recommended the tivocommunity store? or did I miss it?I think that is because the question was whether or not software was needed on a new hard drive, leading most to believe the OP was using a blank drive of their own. But there is no reason that this place couldn't have been mentioned (as you said) along with weaknees or ptvupgrade. All 3 places will sell you a drive with the software on it.

[epshih]

I fixed my S1 Tivo last weekend... for the THIRD time since 2001! It's really getting to be annoying.

My suggestion is if you aren't somewhat comfortable with PC hardware... like if you don't know what a jumper is, or if "configure CD-ROM as Primary Master and attach Tivo A drive to secondary Master and Tivo B to secondary Slave" means nothing to you, I'd recommend you spend the extra few bucks and just buy the preconfigured, drop-in hard drive kit that requires nothing more than you popping out the old drive and popping in the new one.

While not exactly rocket science, the kits that just give you a Tivo image on CD and require you to restore & expand that image to drives you provide can be somewhat tricky for hardware noobs. But if you don't mind doing it yourself, I see no reason why you'd even want to buy an "image kit" when you can probably get one for free from a fellow forum member. Oh, and to answer your only question no one has addressed yet, the only tools you'll need besides some spare IDE cables is a Torx head screwdriver... T10 or maybe T15 for getting the cover off the Tivo and for removing the drive(s).