You can swap them but you have to do a Clear and Delete. You can't view the content from one box on another by swapping the drives since each box has different encryption keys.
swap harddisks from 1 tivo premiere to other
If I have 1 tivo premiere with 2 tb show and another tivo premiere with 1tb show. can I just swap the drive w/o loose any show and season manager?
the only difference between 2 tivo is software version and size of the harddisk..
thanks,
P
the only difference between 2 tivo is software version and size of the harddisk..
thanks,
P
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
If I understand your question correctly, then the short answer is no.
Once you move the hard drives from one TiVo to another and start up either TiVo, you will get the dreaded Error #51. If you try to play anything in the Now Playing list, you will get a blank list. This is because all recordings are encrypted with a unique key specific to each TiVo. The "new" TiVo does not have the "old" TiVo's encryption key, so it cannot play any of the recordings. So you have effectively lost all your recordings.
When a new hard drive is inserted into any TiVo, the hard drive must be "married" to the motherboard with the Clear and Delete Everything option on the Restart menu. This effectively returns the TiVo to factory fresh mode by resetting everything. All recordings are erased, all season passes and wishlists are deleted, all thumb settings are reset. It will also force you to re-run guided setup.
So, switching the drive will render all your recordings unwatchable.
You also mention different software versions. Is one of the TiVos a Premiere and the other a Premiere XL? If this is true, don't even try to switch drives as it won't work at all.
Hope this helps,
robomeister
Once you move the hard drives from one TiVo to another and start up either TiVo, you will get the dreaded Error #51. If you try to play anything in the Now Playing list, you will get a blank list. This is because all recordings are encrypted with a unique key specific to each TiVo. The "new" TiVo does not have the "old" TiVo's encryption key, so it cannot play any of the recordings. So you have effectively lost all your recordings.
When a new hard drive is inserted into any TiVo, the hard drive must be "married" to the motherboard with the Clear and Delete Everything option on the Restart menu. This effectively returns the TiVo to factory fresh mode by resetting everything. All recordings are erased, all season passes and wishlists are deleted, all thumb settings are reset. It will also force you to re-run guided setup.
So, switching the drive will render all your recordings unwatchable.
You also mention different software versions. Is one of the TiVos a Premiere and the other a Premiere XL? If this is true, don't even try to switch drives as it won't work at all.
Hope this helps,
robomeister
To reiterate: no. When/if you exchange hard drives between like model Tivos, the only way they will operate(properly) is by doing a "Clear and Delete Everything" from the menu upon start up.
This essentially reverts the Tivo back to the state when it was new. Virtually erases everything. Everything must be started from the beginning. Guided set up must be repeated, cable cards must be re-paired with the cable company, etc.
However, it may be possible to restore your seasons passes, as they are stored on the Tivo corp servers. I am not exactly sure how this works though. Log in to your account at tivo.com and go to the "Season Pass Manager"(or something similarly named) to possibly gain a better understanding of how this may work.
But outside of transferring any shows you want to save to a computer, and later transferring back after the hard drive exchange, there is no other way to save recordings.
This essentially reverts the Tivo back to the state when it was new. Virtually erases everything. Everything must be started from the beginning. Guided set up must be repeated, cable cards must be re-paired with the cable company, etc.
However, it may be possible to restore your seasons passes, as they are stored on the Tivo corp servers. I am not exactly sure how this works though. Log in to your account at tivo.com and go to the "Season Pass Manager"(or something similarly named) to possibly gain a better understanding of how this may work.
But outside of transferring any shows you want to save to a computer, and later transferring back after the hard drive exchange, there is no other way to save recordings.
thanks for the info before I swapped it yesterday night...To reiterate: no. When/if you exchange hard drives between like model Tivos, the only way they will operate(properly) is by doing a "Clear and Delete Everything" from the menu upon start up.
This essentially reverts the Tivo back to the state when it was new. Virtually erases everything. Everything must be started from the beginning. Guided set up must be repeated, cable cards must be re-paired with the cable company, etc.
However, it may be possible to restore your seasons passes, as they are stored on the Tivo corp servers. I am not exactly sure how this works though. Log in to your account at tivo.com and go to the "Season Pass Manager"(or something similarly named) to possibly gain a better understanding of how this may work.
But outside of transferring any shows you want to save to a computer, and later transferring back after the hard drive exchange, there is no other way to save recordings.
I did not delete all first. So I hook it up with a 2tb data to a newer machine. it took long time on the boot up screen.. after 20-30 minutes, it came up with harddisk problem... I can cont. or skip msg... I did a cont. and deleted everything.. now the wholething is brand new and all my data is gone...
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
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