use old SATA drive in Tivo HD?

Pixel · 11-03-2009, 11:17 AM

Can I use a hard drive in my Tivo HD that was once used in a Windows PC?

I've got an old (about 6 or 7 months) 500GB SATA drive I'd like to use in my Tivo HD as a replacement for the hard drive that comes with it.

This drive was in my desktop as the non bootable secondary drive. The PC is running Windows Vista.

I know there's a list of suitable hard drives for use in Tivo, I don't know if this old drive is on that list, but in case it is, it'd be great to put it to this use.

scandia101 · 11-03-2009, 12:33 PM

If it's not on the list of drives that don't play nice with Tivo, I wouldn't expect any problems using it in a Tivo S3/HD/HDXL.

Pixel · 11-03-2009, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scandia101

If it's not on the list of drives that don't play nice with Tivo, I wouldn't expect any problems using it in a Tivo S3/HD/HDXL.

Excellent! Thanks.

I had to ask because I remember a time when I did a drive replacement in a series 1 using the Hinsdale instructions that a drive previously installed in a Windows PC couldn't be used in a Tivo.

scandia101 · 11-03-2009, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pixel

Excellent! Thanks.

I had to ask because I remember a time when I did a drive replacement in a series 1 using the Hinsdale instructions that a drive previously installed in a Windows PC couldn't be used in a Tivo.

That's not accurate. It never mattered if a drive had previously been used in a windows PC. What the problem was, was that if you took your Tivo drive and connected it to your PC and then allowed the PC to boot into windows XP, it would become "un-bootable" in your Tivo, but even then someone figured out how to make it bootable again.

lew · 11-03-2009, 03:41 PM

WinMFS has an option to "delete format" I don't think you'll normally need it but it will solve the issue.

You can buy a 1T drive for $75-$100 I don't know your budget but that gives you a 1T drive in your tivo leaving you with a 500G drive (in your PC) you can use to archive programs that can be transferred via TTGo

Pixel · 11-03-2009, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lew

WinMFS has an option to "delete format" I don't think you'll normally need it but it will solve the issue.

You can buy a 1T drive for $75-$100 I don't know your budget but that gives you a 1T drive in your tivo leaving you with a 500G drive (in your PC) you can use to archive programs that can be transferred via TTGo

The 500Gb was in my current PC as a secondary drive and is now available because I put a 1.5Tb drive in it's place.

At this point, I have 1 500Gb PATA drive and 1 500Gb SATA drive just lying around doing nothing. If that SATA isn't one of the known bad models, I may try using Instant Cake to make it usable in my Tivo HD. That is, unless what I'm thinking of doing is ill advised.

Pixel · 11-03-2009, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scandia101

That's not accurate. It never mattered if a drive had previously been used in a windows PC. What the problem was, was that if you took your Tivo drive and connected it to your PC and then allowed the PC to boot into windows XP, it would become "un-bootable" in your Tivo, but even then someone figured out how to make it bootable again.

Something like that. It's been a long time. That series one has been lying around gathering dust for years now. It's got a bad modem. All I knew was when I set it up, I had to not use the hard drive normally in the PC. It was sort of Rube Goldberg like to do it, but it was effective and that new drive worked well in that old Tivo.

rocko · 11-03-2009, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pixel

The 500Gb was in my current PC as a secondary drive and is now available because I put a 1.5Tb drive in it's place.

At this point, I have 1 500Gb PATA drive and 1 500Gb SATA drive just lying around doing nothing. If that SATA isn't one of the known bad models, I may try using Instant Cake to make it usable in my Tivo HD. That is, unless what I'm thinking of doing is ill advised.

Why not use WinMFS to copy your existing TiVo HD drive. That will save your recordings, Season Passes, CableCARD settings, etc.

Instant Cake is fine when there is not usable TiVo drive or image available ...

Pixel · 11-03-2009, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rocko

Why not use WinMFS to copy your existing TiVo HD drive. That will save your recordings, Season Passes, CableCARD settings, etc.

Instant Cake is fine when there is not usable TiVo drive or image available ...

Sure, I could do that. No need to worry about savng old recordings, I don't have cable cards. Season passes and wishlists are worth the effort.

No cable cards is my own one man protest against TWC and their "copy protect everything" business model.

lew · 11-03-2009, 04:31 PM

Why spend the money for instant cake? You have a working tivo with a working drive. Use WinMFS (free) to do a truncated backup. Restore and then expand the backup on your replacement drive.

http://mfslive.org/

Use your instant cake and you'll lose your SP, cable card pairing data, thumbs data and you'll have to repeat guided setup. Instant Cake makes sense if your tivo drive is NG, you don't have a backup and you don't have the time (or trust) using a p2p solution.

You want to make your life easier? Spend around $10 for a USB/Sata convertor from ebay.

I see a pp gave you the same advice. JMO but winMFS will probably be easier then instant cake.

Pixel · 11-03-2009, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lew

You want to make your life easier? Spend around $10 for a USB/Sata convertor from ebay.

I see a pp gave you the same advice. JMO but winMFS will probably be easier then instant cake.

What's the USB/SATA converter for?

lew · 11-03-2009, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pixel

What's the USB/SATA converter for?

You can connect your drive to your PC via an (external) USB port and don't have to even open up your PC.

Pixel · 11-03-2009, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lew

You can connect your drive to your PC via an (external) USB port and don't have to even open up your PC.

So during setup of what will be the new drive for the Tivo, with such a cable, I can leave the drive on the desk and do the setup that way. Cool.

dlfl · 11-03-2009, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pixel

What's the USB/SATA converter for?

To hook up a SATA drive to your PC using a USB port. You may not need it if you have SATA ports you prefer to use. The adapter (converter) is 2X to 3X slower than a SATA port but for the WinMFS truncated backup and copy ops it's inconsequential. Now if you decide to do an "extended" diagnostic test on the 500GB drive using the mfr's software, that difference will cost you several hours.

New USB-SATA adapters are about $16 many places, including Amazon.

Pixel · 11-03-2009, 04:58 PM

There are extra ports on the motherboard for more SATA drives, but no more open bays for any.

Even so, I'll think of something. I have to read the MFS instructions to decide how to go about it.

dlfl · 11-03-2009, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pixel

There are extra ports on the motherboard for more SATA drives, but no more open bays for any.

Even so, I'll think of something. I have to read the MFS instructions to decide how to go about it.

There are very detailed accurate WinMFS instructions in the Drive Expansion and Upgrade sticky thread.

You don't have to hook up the two TiVo drives simulataneously, i.e., one adapter or port is enough.

Be sure to disable any anti-virus or network protection software while using WinMFS.

rocko · 11-03-2009, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pixel

There are extra ports on the motherboard for more SATA drives, but no more open bays for any.

Even so, I'll think of something. I have to read the MFS instructions to decide how to go about it.

No need to mount the drives since they'll only be in there for a short amount of time - heck, I usually leave the cover off.

WinMFS is pretty straight-forward. If you don't need to save recordings just hook up the original drive, do a truncated backup, then hook up the new drive and do a restore and expand.

Easy.

ThAbtO · 11-07-2009, 02:01 AM

You may be able to use the drive if the disk surface hasn't been damaged at all, and it was designed for DVR use. Also the tivo needs to support for that drive model.