Switching HDD between Phillips TIVo & RCA TIIVO

[Bill70]

I have two older model TIVO units that were used with Directv. One is an RCA DVR40 and the other is a Phillips DSR704. The HDD in the RCA unit is bad and will not go beyond "powering up". The HDD in the Phillips uinit was working perfectly, but when installed in the RCA unit, I get an error message stating that there is a hardware problem and to contact Phillips with error code #51. I can watch Directv but cannot record any programs. Is this a format problem? Both HDD are Maxtor Fireball 3 Ata 133 40gb units. If it is a format problem, how do I format it to work in the RCA unit? Thanks guys.

[Da Goon]

The issue is with a database object, a number string almost 1000 digits long, that ties that harddrive to the original motherboard. The easiest way to get around this is to do a clear and delete everything, which will wipe out that object, and create a new one, pairing the drive to the new board. There isn't really any way to save any programming on the disk, since it needs that key to decrypt the programming and let you view it.

[Bill70]

Thanks for the info, but I am new at working with HDD's in a TIVO unit. How do I go about clearing and deleting all info on this HDD? Past programs are not an issue.

[Dkerr24]

Thanks for the info, but I am new at working with HDD's in a TIVO unit. How do I go about clearing and deleting all info on this HDD? Past programs are not an issue.

It's in the menus on your Tivo. Click the big 'directv' button at the top of your remote, select 'messages and setup', then 'restart or reset system', then 'clear and delete everything'.

[Bill70]

Thanks for the help. I have followed your instructions and have been in the "clear and delete everything" mode for over an hour and a half and nothing. Approximately how long does this operation take. I didn't have that much on the hard drive nor did I have too many programs set to record on the "todo" list. The screen says it could take "up to" and hour, but is it normal for it to take much longer. Thanks again for the help.

[rbtravis]

Thanks for the help. I have followed your instructions and have been in the "clear and delete everything" mode for over an hour and a half and nothing. Approximately how long does this operation take. I didn't have that much on the hard drive nor did I have too many programs set to record on the "todo" list. The screen says it could take "up to" and hour, but is it normal for it to take much longer. Thanks again for the help.when it does a clear and delete everything it has to encode every sector and every byte so it is not an easy task. It encodes every byte whether or not preciously written.:)

[Bill70]

Again, thanks for the info. It has now been 3 hours and it is still "clearing and deleting". I will give awhile longer and then see what happens.

[Bill70]

DONE!!!! After the unit finally quit "clearing and deleting", it powered up, I did a complete setup and everything is working perfectly. Again, thanks for the help in solving this problem. It is greatly appreciated!

[Bill70]

Now I'm having another problem and am wondering if this HDD is beginning to bite the dust. For no unknown reason, the color will go away from my TV and then come back. At times, the screen will freeze and then be okay, then at times, the TIVO unit just shuts down. I can unplug, wait 15 seconds and plug back in and all is okay. This was happening with this HDD in the Phillips TIVO unit and I thought it was the TV going bad, but now that I have switched it to the RCA unit, it is happening again. I've heard that the HDD's are only good for about 3 years and this one is older than that, so, is the HDD about to go out on me? If so, without going overboard with HDD's, what HDD should I purchase and replace this one with?

[msommer]

You can check out the ad on the right side of the page for the TCF store. DVR upgrade kits are available for your unit. You can get a larger replacement drive with the exact software image preinstalled. All you do is drop it in and go. The extra capacity is nice.

You need the Series 2 Directivo kit.

[Da Goon]

If you're comfortable yanking apart your tivo and a pc, get an image from dvrupgrade for $20, and get any off-the shelf IDE hard drive. You can get large drives extremely cheap from places like newegg. Any IDE drive will work fine, just check their reviews of course before buying.

[Bill70]

If you're comfortable yanking apart your tivo and a pc, get an image from dvrupgrade for $20, and get any off-the shelf IDE hard drive. You can get large drives extremely cheap from places like newegg. Any IDE drive will work fine, just check their reviews of course before buying.
Thanks for the help. I have no problem with taking the tivo and my pc apart, but why do I need an image from dvrupgrade when buying an IDE drive. When I switched out the drives from another TIVO unit to the RCA DVR40, all I had to do was clear and delete and wait for it to resector the HDD for it to work. Can't I just purchase a new IDE drive and install it and go through the same process all over again. I'm still new at hacking the TIVO units and need all the help I can get. Thanks again.

[msommer]

Because the new hard drive does not contain the TIVO software (if purchased from a store like Best Buy), so you will need to install the software image onto the drive. The drive upgrade kits from DVR Upgrade come with the image preinstalled.

If you are comfortable with basic Linux commands, you can buy a new blank drive, and use MFSTools to copy the image off of your old drive and install it to your new drive. But be careful, if your current drives are failing, the image you copy could be corrupted.

If you are hesitant to install the image onto the drive yourself, then the DVRUpgrade route is your best bet.

Good luck..