Roamio Dying/Looking at Bolt...can I swap HDD's???

Bolt uses a 2.5 inch drive.

Replacement drives for bolt

If both TiVo are networked, you can transfer all programs not copy protected. A Bolt has 1Gbps port. I don't know what model Roamio you have, but even a basic 100Mbps unit can work at 10 minutes of content per hour with a decent router. If it's a Pro, it should be 5 minutes per hour of HD content or better.

 

Even if they were the same size, swapping drives would render the shows unviewable (or it might trigger reformat)

Your best bet is if your roamio is still somewhat working, you can offload the shows to your new TiVo using TiVo Online to schedule the transfers or use one of the PC tools to copy the shows to PC.

 

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Way easier to this:
setup new Bolt+ on your network.
Login to TiVo Online
Goto the Mange, OnePass Manager
Select the old unit in the left column, and the new unit on the right.
Click the "select all" on the old unit, then drag all the passes to the right (new)
This transfers all the one passes

Next for recordings:
Manage, Transfer Recordings
Select old on left, new TiVo on right
Click the "All"
Press Transfer

It will take some time to do this, but you'll get most everything in a day or two.

 

Bolt uses 2.5" drives, as pointed out earlier. Is the WD Green drive a 2.5" or 3.5"? You could cut a hole and use SATA cable from motherboard to external enclosure for 3.5", but easier to get the Toshiba and install internally.

 

Note that with both DVRs still online and active within the same TiVo account, you can select individual recordings to transfer from the Roamio via the new BOLT's UI, by traversing into the Roamio's "My Shows" listing via the unit's icon at the bottom of the BOLT's "My Shows" listing. The same copy-protection restrictions apply.

Do this a few times and you'll see why using TiVo Online was recommended.