Thoughts on Using an External HDD With a Bolt

Sorry, I've found otherwise, for the present: the Toshiba 2.5" 2TB drive from the original Toshiba series that people were using still is available, and at a killer $49.99 price; and the 3TB drive in the series also still can be obtained, my just having found it from Grooves in the UK (with free int'l shipping) at a great $97.14 price. Note, however, that these drives have been EOL'ed.

Toshiba MQ03ABB200 -- https://www.amazon.com/TOSHIBA-MQ03...d=1&keywords=MQ03ABB200&qid=1585884118&sr=8-2

Toshiba MQ03ABB300 -- https://www.grooves-inc.co.uk/toshi...iba-hardware-electronic-pZZa1-2098341320.html

 

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LOL. Just providing the balance as to what others of us actually have found (despite the insinuation otherwise).*

* Also, as to the drive being "old," it only came out in 2015 or 2016; we're not talking Windows XP.

 

There is now. Someone replaced a bad drive with a 2TB 3.5 WD Red. Unfortunately the latest model 2-6TB WD Reds are SMR. The EMAZ models. And it did not work. They ended up buying an external from Weaknees. Which worked fine. And has a Purple inside. Reds ain't what they used to be in some cases, stick with purples or golds if you like WD.

 

First timer here!....
I was given a new Bolt OTA, 1TB as a gift.
Haven't set it up yet (still new in box).
It's essential for me to use an external drive. I'm pretty tech savvy with drives and would be using a WD/HGST enterprise drive (not SMR) for high reliability purposes.
I'm completely unfamiliar with the upgrade process and there's a good deal of outdated info. online regarding this.
I spent a good deal of time with a knowledgeable (oddly enough!) tech rep. at Tivo yesterday. He insisted that all that was necessary was to mount a brand new drive in an external (self powered) enclosure.
Then just connect it via the esata port on the Bolt and configure it as the primary drive on the Bolt. He mentioned something about larger drives being compatible but it may slow down the access time as it fills up.
I'm actually considering either a 6TB or 8TB.
I'm confused! Based on the info. above, the suggestion is to run a cable from the interior of the box. I get that....but why would there be a problem connecting an external drive to the esata port on the rear of the box?
Wasn't that the intention originally?
According to the rep. that I spoke with, there shouldn't be any problems with utilizing the esata port on the Bolt OTA.
Any and all comments/suggestions would be very much appreciated!
I'm sorry if this was discussed previously!
I'm starting from the very beginning.....but it's essential for me to use a high capacity external drive with the Bolt OTA.
Thank you in advance for your time!

 

A gift with 'LIFETIME/ALL IN' service OR just the device and you need to subscribe to the service?

 

Thanks for responding!.....
Interestingly, I questioned whether there was a SW/FW update that made this possible.
His response was that he wasn't sure but he knew for a fact that a brand new drive, mounted in an (esata compatible) enclosure would be recognized and configured by the Bolt OTA. I'm not doubting that he could be wrong but he said that he was with the company for 8 years and wasn't just making an assumption. If he's wrong, I'm going to make it a point to call back and speak to a supervisor about their representatives providing false information! I'm not a vindictive person but I don't like being mislead! It would seem pointless for him to do this, although nothing surprises me!!
It's not as if they're selling expansion drives, so I would expect an honest answer!
I called Tivo specifically because of what you mentioned here (the fact that the external storage port was mislabeled and actually doesn't function!). I was well aware of that from doing my homework on this forum (and elsewhere). However, I still had serious difficulty trying to digest the fact that they labeled the esata port for that exact purpose but yet it doesn't work!! They even produced new units with this labeling! If it wasn't their intention for people to use it, why not either remove the port altogether or (at the very least) remove the labeling?
Regardless, unless he was correct (and the new owners are more being more human), why would those (obsolete) "expander" drives work? What's the "magic"? Did they have some "arrangement" with WD (that would benefit both companies)? Just curious as to why those drives worked and others didn't?
Could it be possible that they "unlocked" the esata port and users aren't aware of it?
I did ask him if the USB ports would function for expansion purposes. He said no.
The newer "Edge" has USB ports. I'm not at all familiar with it (vs. the Bolt).
Is expansion a possibility with that model?

 

You’re new here? When you call TiVo you are getting someone in a foreign country that knows very little. Hell, if you were to get what remains of engineering, they probably wouldn’t know much these days with all the turnover.
The old WD drives were encoded so only they would work with the TiVo. Who knows what the financial arrangement was and it certainly is irrelevant now.
Now, as someone tried to explain to you, the expander drives supplemented the drive in the box. It didn’t replace the drive in the box. Content was written to both and if either failed, all content was lost. Maybe because the problematical situation, they stopped supporting the concept.

why did TiVo continue to put the esata connection on the boxes? Who knows. Maybe they thought one day they would revisit it, but the advent of larger, cheap drives made the concept of an expander drive unnecessary.
Bottom line is you need to deal with your failed drive. You can’t just connect a drive to the esata port. Replacing the drive is a relatively simple matter.

 

As a general rule, you're right about the level of knowledge with these offshore call centers. However, I've had considerable experience dealing with (so-called) experts on the phone and this particular representative was more tech savvy and more intelligent than most.
You can't assume that every single one of them isn't qualified to do their job.
Most....but not all!
He may have been wrong. I'm not denying that....but perhaps there was a change of attitude and they actually did "unlock" the esata port.
I suppose it's a "trial and error" situation.
I agree with you that replacing the original drive is a better option.
Just for clarification, would the new drive (connected internally) require formatting on a computer prior to use?
I'm asking this only because he insisted that a new, external drive would basically be "plug and play" if connected to the esata port. I was (and still am) skeptical about this!
BTW.....I upgraded several "ReplayTV" units years ago and the drives required formatting prior to use. That's generally the case with these upgrades, so I'm not assuming that he was correct about it being that easy!

 

This is how I did it

TE4 Bolt upgrade with external drive

Yeah, there are ways to use the eSata port on the Tivo but would end up with two drives, if either one fails you lose everything on both. The Esata port on the Tivo cannot be used as a replacement for the main drive, only as an add on. Stick with one external Sata to Sata CMR 5400RPM drive in enclosure for best result, IMO. Your enterprise drive would work but may be 7200RPM. 7200RPM will work but could be noisier and run hotter and is not needed for a Tivo, no benefit for 7200. Other than probably a 5 year warranty Enterprise drive

 

No!....firstly, I've done extensive research (here and elsewhere)!
In reality, asking that question was for the purpose of getting further clarification (vs. condescension!), as there has been contradictory information here (and elsewhere). If you were at all open-minded and actually took the time to read what I'm trying to convey (as opposed to being so abrupt and dismissive), you may have noticed that I actually agreed with you and had my doubts about what the Tivo rep had told me!
There's also the fact that sometimes changes do occur with SW and FW that might meet consumer's demands.
Yes, oddly enough, that has been known to happen!
In the interim, you make a ludicrous statement that there's nothing more that I can learn from "us"!
Please change that to "you", since you're the one that's actually being argumentative here and who prefers to be impatient and critical (vs. helpful)!

 

Lee,

Go try it. Try connecting your external drive to the eSATA port. Report back here to let us know what happens. You have nothing to lose since you don't have any recordings yet.

It will either a) not recognize the external drive, or b) use both the internal and external drives.

 

BTW, Lee... if you really want to connect an external drive to the eSATA port, you could follow my guide. You will still be using BOTH drives, which means that if either drive fails, you will lose ALL of your recordings. But, I did it this way because I didn't want to drill holes in my brand new Bolt VOX (with a 2 year warrantee). When my warrantee is up, then I will modify the case and connect the external drive directly to the motherboard's SATA connector.

Here's my guide:

Use the eSATA port with an external drive (up to 8TB DVR Expander) - simple method!