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TiVo HS upgrade, AV drives vs. normal drives

Discussion in 'TiVo Series3 HDTV DVRs' started by Looper, Dec 15, 2007.

  1. Dec 15, 2007 #1 of 5
    Looper

    Looper Member

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    Hi forum,

    I just got my new Tivo HD up and running. I obviously need to expand the storage a bit. I was a little surprised in reading the FAQ about how much importance was placed on "AV" drives. I understand the differences, but I've upgraded a number of TiVos over the past years (series2, multiple DirecTiVos), and never used anything but normal drives. The AV drives seem to carry a pretty significant price premium (I can get normal SATA 750GB for $150 shipped, or 1TB for $175 shipped - these are Seagate or WD drives), and it seems to me like the extra price might not be worth it.

    Are there any differences with SATA drives and AV vs. normal, as compared with the older IDE/PATA drives (all my older upgrades were pre-SATA)? I'm having a hard time convincing myself to spend the extra $$$...

    Also, it seems like it may make more sense if I'm going for 160GB -> 1TB to just upgrade the internal drive, as opposed to adding eSATA. I already have to pull the drive to marry the two together, so at that point it seems like it's not worth the extra enclosure cost to have 160GB + 1TB as opposed to just 1TB internal (and put the 160GB on the shelf). Am I missing anything here?
     
  2. Dec 15, 2007 #2 of 5
    aaronwt

    aaronwt UHD Addict

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    I've never noticed any difference between the two AV drives I've used in the past for TiVo and the couple dozen regular drives I've used. The performance, from a user perspective, was identical.
     
  3. Dec 15, 2007 #3 of 5
    lafos

    lafos Well-Known Member

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    I put a WD Av drive in a S2DT, as it is in the bedroom. It is very quiet; I can't hear the drive at all. it replaced a noisy Seagate "normal" drive, where I could not set the acoustic mode.

    On the other hand, I put a WD 750GB SATA drive in my S3. I set the acoustic mode to 128 (quiet), and could not hear a difference between it and the original drive. It has performed flawlessly over the past month, with no visual or audio issues.

    I have a couple of other TiVos with Seagate drives. I will not buy any other Segates except for the DB35 drives. The head seeks are very noticeable. But I will consider other WD drives with acoustic mode set.
     
  4. Dec 15, 2007 #4 of 5
    flightrisk

    flightrisk New Member

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    Most of the drives have a thread in this forum, so definitely read them before purchase. I'm particularly skeptical about a 1TB at 175... for example, there seem to be issues with the 1TB OEM WD, and the non-DB35 Seagate will be hellishly loud since acoustic management is disabled on them. But the Hitachis and retail WD's have been used by numerous forum users without issue.
     
  5. Dec 15, 2007 #5 of 5
    Looper

    Looper Member

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    Jan 10, 2003

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    Newegg has the WD WD7500AAKS 750GB drive for $150 shipped. I just bought a few of them for a PC of mine. I think the $175/1TB deal is gone now - I think it was newegg also (maybe Seagate?). I can't find 1TB drives at the moment for any sort of reasonable $$/GB.

    I wouldn't think that performance would be an issue with any of these drives. Sounds like it comes down to acoustics, and reliability. I wasn't thinking that the acoustics would matter too much to me, but it sounds people have been happy with the WD above. I guess the reliability issue would be the only issue, but quite honestly I don't consider it to be the end of the world if a HDD dies and I lose some recordings......
     

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