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Once again my Bolt+ hard drive crapped out

Discussion in 'TiVo Help Center' started by UCLABB, Sep 8, 2019.

  1. Sep 8, 2019 #1 of 11
    UCLABB

    UCLABB Well-Known Member

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    I promised myself I wouldn't again play the game of exchanging it with TiVo. So I scrounged through my cables and parts boxes and found an old power supply and connector for a hard drive, a sata cable and an old 3.5" HDD. Tore the Bolt+ case off and set it up with the bare HDD and voila, a working TiVo. I'll probably just leave the HDD bare and hide it behind other stuff. I now need to drill a hole in the case cover for the SATA cable so I can put it back on. I don't think I spent more than 10-15 minutes doing this.

    Now I need to get a permanent HDD. Undecided of whether to just get a 3tb WD red or go for a bigger one. I'm leery about a bigger one as I keep losing all my programs even though I think this setup with the external should be rock solid.
     
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  2. Sep 8, 2019 #2 of 11
    UCLABB

    UCLABB Well-Known Member

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    It’s ugly. Note the fan. Got the ODT down to 34 degrees, but of course cooling not needed with the hdd outside the box.


    upload_2019-9-8_20-4-51.jpeg
     
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  3. Sep 9, 2019 #3 of 11
    Mikeguy

    Mikeguy Well-Known Member

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    Is that the new TiVo Edge machine? ;)
     
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  4. Sep 10, 2019 #4 of 11
    Davelnlr_

    Davelnlr_ N5GGG

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    Should put it all inside an old TivoHD or Premier case.
     
  5. Sep 10, 2019 #5 of 11
    Sparky1234

    Sparky1234 Well-Known Member

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    "down to 34 degrees, ...."
    Cool!
     
  6. Sep 10, 2019 #6 of 11
    tommage1

    tommage1 Well-Known Member

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    I'd be careful with that. If you are using the power from the Bolt. The Bolt PS and MB are designed assuming a 2.5" drive is being used. If you are going to use a 3.5 you might want to get your power from an external enclosure designed for 3.5s.
     
  7. Sep 10, 2019 #7 of 11
    UCLABB

    UCLABB Well-Known Member

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    No, I'm using a separate power supply with a Molex connector/adapter. I had those parts when I ran an external drive on an SA8300 DVR.
     
  8. Sep 10, 2019 #8 of 11
    tommage1

    tommage1 Well-Known Member

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    Excellent, did not see the picture, just read "bare drive". By the way really don't need an "expensive" WD Red if going to get a new drive. Any decent name brand PMR (not SMR) drive will do. For 3/4TB drives I usually use Seagates (larger drives like 6TB and up I do stick with NAS/Video/Enterprise type.) Do have to make sure it's a PMR drive though, sometimes easier said than done as PMR/SMR is not usually listed in specs. When I was doing a lot of upgrades I had a list of model numbers I knew were PMR.

    A nice enclosure is Sabrent EC-UEIS7. Even has a fan and molex so can use with the molex/Sata adapter. And large enough to hold the adapter and incoming Sata cable. I got them for $20-25, not sure what price they are now.
     
  9. Sep 10, 2019 #9 of 11
    tommage1

    tommage1 Well-Known Member

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    A couple pics, one with the Sabrent, the other when I was testing with a bare drive using the power from an external IDE enclosure.

    100_3538.JPG
     

    Attached Files:

  10. Sep 11, 2019 #10 of 11
    UCLABB

    UCLABB Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the tips, Tommage1. I am thinking ahead on how to get the sata cable out of the TiVo. Did you just leave the small cover over hdd location off and run the SATA cable out of there?
     
  11. Sep 11, 2019 #11 of 11
    tommage1

    tommage1 Well-Known Member

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    Well that is the way it is now. A more permanent solution would be to just run it out the back of the Bolt. Could cut a groove in case or maybe just use a couple shims each side of the cable so it does not get pinched. I do use two Sata cables with appropriate M/F connectors, that way I can detach the external from the Bolt easily.
     

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