Series3 possible to run only with external drive?

[peteprivate]

I have a Series3 maybe with a dead hard drive. Can it be made to run only with the Western Digital expander drive? Or can the expander drive be installed internally?
Thanks

[tiassa]

No, the internal drive contains the OSand I doubt there is a way to get a Tivo to see the OS from an external drive.
This is probably the time to drop a 1TB in that S3 and pitch the expander drive.

[richsadams]

Welcome to the forum. ln a pinch you could pull the external drive out of its case, use Instant Cake (http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm) to image it and install it internally. That would only set you back $19.99.

Instant Cake: http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm

You didn't say if you have a subscription to TiVo, but if not you'd still need to get a subscription (https://www3.tivo.com/store/plans.do) for it to work though. More here:

https://www3.tivo.com/store/plans.do

You can use an antenna with TiVo or if you want anything more than basic cable your Series3 will require two "S" (single-stream) or two "M" (multi-stream) cable cards which are generally installed by your cable company.

More information about your TiVo Series3, setting it up, etc. can be found here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=315791

And this thread is about TiVo HD's, but much/most of it applies to the Series3 as well:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=419994

If you decide to upgrade to a larger drive later (or now) everything you need to know can be found on the Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5616160#post5616160):

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5616160#post5616160

Enjoy!

[peteprivate]

Thanks I have FIOS with 2 cablecards. Ordered a replacement drive today just to get up and running. I will play with the old drives in time. My computer has two drives in RAID 0 so I have to find out how that will work with instacake.