How can I disconnect a TiVo from my account?

You have to call Tivo Customer support and have them remove it. The service status will go back to the state when you first got it.

Ruth said:

I am cleaning house and I want to get rid of an old TiVo. Is there a way I can disconnect it from my account? I just want to freecycle it and I don't want the new owner to have access to my information. Right now, it seems linked to my active TiVo account, as though anyone could reactivate it and have charges billed to my credit card.

Thanks.

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Much ado about nothing

as though anyone with access to your tivo account and credit card information could reactivate it and have charges billed to my credit card.

scandia101 said:

Much ado about nothing

as though anyone with access to your tivo account and credit card information could reactivate it and have charges billed to my credit card.

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For privacy reasons, I recommend that you pull the HDD and wipe it with Darik's Boot and Nuke, or repurpose it as a slave drive for your PC.

Stuxnet said:

For privacy reasons, I recommend that you pull the HDD and wipe it with Darik's Boot and Nuke, or repurpose it as a slave drive for your PC.

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That would make the Tivo worthless to whoever the OP freecycles it to wouldn't it?

Just call TiVo to have the unit deactivated and removed from your account and do a Clear & Delete everything before it leaves your possession.

steve614 said:

That would make the Tivo worthless to whoever the OP freecycles it to wouldn't it?

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Correct. The new user would need to run InstantCake or reimage the drive if the HDD had been DBAN'd... same story if the drive is repurposed.

It's an individual privacy issue.

I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but running Clear & Delete Everything is insecure. Your information is still on the drive... it's just no longer mapped to the partition table.

If you want both worlds, I would run Clear & Delete Everything, save an image of the HDD, run DBAN, then reimage the TiVo with the image taken after "clear & delete". Paranoid? Yes.

Leave no trace... :up:

Stuxnet said:

Correct. The new user would need to run InstantCake or reimage the drive if the HDD had been DBAN'd... same story if the drive is repurposed.

It's an individual privacy issue.

I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but running Clear & Delete Everything is insecure. Your information is still on the drive... it's just no longer mapped to the partition table.

If you want both worlds, I would run Clear & Delete Everything, save an image of the HDD, run DBAN, then reimage the TiVo with the image taken after "clear & delete". Paranoid? Yes.

Leave no trace... :up:

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Who would spend the money to recover a TiVo hard drive that had run C&D all, the CIA maybe. If you had child porn or classified info on your TiVo just run C&D all, make a trunked copy using WinMFS, use some program to erase the drive fully than restore the drive from the image you made using WinMFS.

Stuxnet said:

I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but running Clear & Delete Everything is insecure. Your information is still on the drive... it's just no longer mapped to the partition table.

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What information is stored on a Tivo, and what can someone do with this info? My view habits? Blackmail me because I watch Friends reruns? My Tivo account number?

Sensitive data should be carefully destroyed, but not all data is sensitive.
Can you explain what data of value is stored on a TiVo that you would go to such lengths to DBAN and re-image the drive?
TIA for educating me.

I don't understand the danger of leaving the TiVo on the account. I thought was more for the use and convenience of the $ payor, keeping a record of payments on the account. If the owner is not the payor, they don't get access to that account.

I have 2 lifetimed Series 1s, both of which I acquired used, and TiVo will tell me nothing about them prior to my acquiring them except for the date they were put in service, or maybe the date the lifetime sub started, I forget which, but nothing about who used to own them.

If the Tivo doesn't have lifetime service, you may not even find anyone willing to take it for free. It doesn't make sense to get a new subscription on a Series 2, because you have to commit to a year of service and you can find a used series 2 with lifetime service for about the same cost as a one year subscription. The only real value it has is for parts for someone who already owns the same model with a lifetime subscription.

timckelley said:

I don't understand the danger of leaving the TiVo on the account. I thought was more for the use and convenience of the $ payor, keeping a record of payments on the account. If the owner is not the payor, they don't get access to that account.

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Well, I don't really understand how the reactivation process works. I just wanted to make sure that some random stranger who gets the TiVo doesn't end up with my full name, mailing address, and any other information about me. My thought process was that it couldn't hurt to sever the link between me and the machine.

As evident from this thread, everyone has a different comfort level with this stuff. I fall somewhere between "do nothing" and "nuke the thing into oblivion."

shwru980r said:

If the Tivo doesn't have lifetime service, you may not even find anyone willing to take it for free. It doesn't make sense to get a new subscription on a Series 2, because you have to commit to a year of service and you can find a used series 2 with lifetime service for about the same cost as a one year subscription. The only real value it has is for parts for someone who already owns the same model with a lifetime subscription.

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Yeah, I know. I have 2 that I'm trying to get rid of, actually. Neither has lifetime, neither supports HD -- I certainly don't expect people to fight over them or anything. I mean, one is a Series 1 dating from 2001! Not exactly up and coming technology. But they work, and they've got upgraded drives -- seems like there's an outside chance someone might want them. If not, I will take them to Best Buy and have them recycled.

Ruth said:

Well, I don't really understand how the reactivation process works. I just wanted to make sure that some random stranger who gets the TiVo doesn't end up with my full name, mailing address, and any other information about me. My thought process was that it couldn't hurt to sever the link between me and the machine.

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When someone, that does not have access to your TiVo account, tries to active the TiVo you just gave/sold it must be done in the new person own TiVo account, new or existing. They will have no information about you (except what you tell them) or your TiVo account. If you don't do a C&D all they may also find out what you like to watch on your TiVo, if your not a public figure who would care. Except for TiVos with Lifetime Service I never heard anybody (buyer or seller) having any ID problems selling an unsub TiVo.

P42 said:

Can you explain what data of value is stored on a TiVo that you would go to such lengths to DBAN and re-image the drive?
TIA for educating me.

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Good question. Do you really know what info is stored on your drive? Do you know absolutely — not with a "high degree of confidence, but ABSOLUTELY — that passwords, credit card data, personal address, phone, etc. aren't present? Are you comfortable turning over a drive to someone without knowing with certainty? If so, then don't worry, be happy, like an iPhone user.

Stuxnet said:

Good question. Do you really know what info is stored on your drive? Do you know absolutely — not with a "high degree of confidence, but ABSOLUTELY — that passwords, credit card data, personal address, phone, etc. aren't present? Are you comfortable turning over a drive to someone without knowing with certainty? If so, then don't worry, be happy, like an iPhone user.

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How many people have entered any credit card info into their TiVo ??, You think TiVo puts your CC information onto your TiVo after activation ? As for passwords, unless your banking password is the same as say your Netflex password, and i doubt any password info would be on your Hard Drive, and if it was it would take the CIA to get it off your hard drive. Even the iPhone only had GPS information on it, not your credit card information. We are getting a little paranoid !!

Stuxnet said:

Good question. Do you really know what info is stored on your drive? Do you know absolutely — not with a "high degree of confidence, but ABSOLUTELY — that passwords, credit card data, personal address, phone, etc. aren't present? Are you comfortable turning over a drive to someone without knowing with certainty? If so, then don't worry, be happy, like an iPhone user.

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Of course if the same household has a PS3, then the TiVo might be the least of their worries.

Your TiVo is not linked to your account, your account is linked to the TiVo. There is no way for someone to get your credit card info, or any other personal info, from the TiVo itself. Running Clear & Delete should be enough to wipe out any links to Amazon or Netflix, but if you're paranoid you can break those links as well from the respective websites.

One weird thing you will notice is that after you sell a TiVo, and the new owner activates it on their own account, it will still be listed on your account on the TiVo website. Although this is really only a bad thing for the buyer, since you still have some control over their TiVo, not for you since they have no indication the TiVo was linked to another account.

Dan

Dan203 said:

Your TiVo is not linked to your account, your account is linked to the TiVo. There is no way for someone to get your credit card info, or any other personal info, from the TiVo itself. Running Clear & Delete should be enough to wipe out any links to Amazon or Netflix, but if you're paranoid you can break those links as well from the respective websites.

One weird thing you will notice is that after you sell a TiVo, and the new owner activates it on their own account, it will still be listed on your account on the TiVo website. Although this is really only a bad thing for the buyer, since you still have some control over their TiVo, not for you since they have no indication the TiVo was linked to another account.

Dan

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What does or can the previous owner see about the no longer theirs TiVo? What, if anything, could they actually do?

If it was the "tent pole" for an MSD, does the presence of it on the previous owner's account allow them to continue to get the discount as long as the TiVo calls the mothership regularly and is either lifetimed or the new owner is paying yearly or monthly?

Could one TiVo be the basis for MSD on two different accounts, both the previous and the present owner?

Dan203 said:

One weird thing you will notice is that after you sell a TiVo, and the new owner activates it on their own account, it will still be listed on your account on the TiVo website. Although this is really only a bad thing for the buyer, since you still have some control over their TiVo, not for you since they have no indication the TiVo was linked to another account.

Dan

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Not quite so, I had a S1 removed completely from my account, it does not even exist anywhere on my Tivo account, not even history. I had lifetime on the S1, then to swap with THD, I had to get a 1 yr, it then took 2 months to swap the lifetime and the 1 yr. After that was done, I had the remaining 1 yr transferred to my S2 and removing the S1.

Stuxnet said:

Good question. Do you really know what info is stored on your drive? Do you know absolutely — not with a "high degree of confidence, but ABSOLUTELY — that passwords, credit card data, personal address, phone, etc. aren't present? Are you comfortable turning over a drive to someone without knowing with certainty? If so, then don't worry, be happy, like an iPhone user.

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The forums are always a great source of entertainment