[Gai-jin]

I've got a DRT800 that had an extra drive added some time ago. (Can't recall if it was a 2nd drive, or replacing the primary.) I also have a DRT400. The DRT400 has lifetime on it. I just bought a TiVo HD, which would ideally replace my DRT400, but because that box has lifetime on it, I need to keep that one going.

So, I want to swap the 40gb storage from the DRT400 with the 200gb or so storage from my DRT800. What's the easiest way to do this?

Is there any simple way to just un-marry the DRT400 drive from the TiVo so I can put it right in the other tivo?

Then, is the software between these two models the same? I know the DRT400 doesn't have the firewire port on it, but I'm not sure if that means it's a separate drive image or just something the OS detects and adjusts for.

Thanks,
Gai-jin

 

[robomeister]

You can simply take the 200GB from the DRT800 and put it into the the DRT400. But when you restart the TiVo, you'll get a hardware error #51. This is because the TiVo Serial Number (TSN) on the hard drive does not match the TSN on the motherboard. To get it to work after installing the drive, you'll need to do a Clear & Delete Everything on the Restart the Recorder menu under Messages and Settings. This means you'll lose all your recordings, your season passes and wishlists, thumb settings, etc. But the drive should work. Once you get it working and look at the System Information page, it will list the recorder as a DRT800 instead of a DRT400. But it will still work.

Hope that helps,
robomeister

 

[Gai-jin]

You can simply take the 200GB from the DRT800 and put it into the the DRT400. But when you restart the TiVo, you'll get a hardware error #51. This is because the TiVo Serial Number (TSN) on the hard drive does not match the TSN on the motherboard. To get it to work after installing the drive, you'll need to do a Clear & Delete Everything on the Restart the Recorder menu under Messages and Settings. This means you'll lose all your recordings, your season passes and wishlists, thumb settings, etc. But the drive should work. Once you get it working and look at the System Information page, it will list the recorder as a DRT800 instead of a DRT400. But it will still work.

Hope that helps,
robomeister

And the same process works for putting the 40GB drive in the drt800, I assume?

 

[robomeister]

Hmm, I didn't try that. It might work, but I seem to recall that the drive that you put into a TiVo has to be at least as large are the drive that originally went into the TiVo.

I recently tried to put a working drive from a Pioneer 810 (80GB, original size) into a Pioneer 57H (120GB, original size) to see if the 57H worked or not (ebay purchase). It looked like it was trying to boot, but it never got to the TiVo Central screen. But I was able to put the Pioneer 810 image onto a 250GB drive and the Pioneer 57H booted fine.

So you could try it. But I make no guarantees.

robomeister

 

[mick66]

Hmm, I didn't try that. It might work, but I seem to recall that the drive that you put into a TiVo has to be at least as large are the drive that originally went into the TiVo.

No that's not quite it.
When replacing a hard drive, you need a drive that is at least as as large as the one that the original image was on. The Tivo (or D*TiVo) itself has nothing to do with hard drive size - the only difference in the hardware is the sticker on the back of the box.