[neophyte]

I understand the frustration some of the veterans have with noobs asking questions before putting in any effort to find the answer first. I've spent hours trying to get clear advice on which HDD to buy for my upgrade. I've seen about 98 other posts with this similar question, BUT most all the advice I've seen is at least 3-4 years old and I know a lot can change in that time.

I'm looking to upgrade a Bolt (which I have yet to purchase from eBay or Facebook). I think I'd like about 4TB. 2TB seems like a lot, but I've recently pushed it toward 90%. 4TB seems like overkill (just for me - I know this varies for everyone), but still reasonable for my situation.

I've seen the discussions about SMR and PMR. I understand the terms, but it looks to be a chore to know which drives are SMR and which are not. I think I understand SMR is a bad idea for my upgrade.

I saw a great YouTube video of a guy who took a 2.5" 4TB drive out of a Seagate portable drive and he appeared to have good results. SOO, I went out and bought a 4TB Seagate portable drive. BUT now I realize that video is old. Who knows if I tear into this brand new portable drive, if the form factor and connections are even right for me? Furthermore, I'm seeing a bunch of bad posts about Seagate here in these forums.

Long story short - can anyone point me to the best, most recent suggestions for 4TB drives that work with Tivo? I think I want 2.5". (I googled reliability of 2.5 vs 3.5 and convinced myself the 2.5s are a safe bet, but that is another thread.) I'm not against drilling or modifying to accomodate 3.5" if that would be better.
Thanks for reading this far!

 

[ThAbtO]

I would not even recommend a Bolt.

 

[neophyte]

I would not even recommend a Bolt.

That thought has crossed my mind. Over the last 2 weeks, I purchased a Bolt and a Roamio - both dirt cheap and just to experiment with. I like the Roamio just fine and would be pretty happy to continue down that path. Is that what you would do? My reasons for going with the Bolt:
1. Future proofing. I've come to believe the Bolt is a better bet for any new features/programs that may come along Not a huge deal to me.
2. Network speeds. I very rarely transfer shows around between Tivos, but if/when I do, gigabyte speeds would be a pretty huge improvement. Admittedly, this is most useful in a situation like I'm in right now, where I'm transferring all my old content from my Premiere box to the new Roamio and Bolt.
With all that said, would you go with Roamio and 3.5 " drives? If so, do you have recommendation on a 4TB drive?
Thanks

 

[ThAbtO]

I have a Roamio (Basic capable of OTA or cable) with a 6TB drive. (See sig.) I also transfer between PC to/from Tivo.

 

[jmbach]

I understand the frustration some of the veterans have with noobs asking questions before putting in any effort to find the answer first. I've spent hours trying to get clear advice on which HDD to buy for my upgrade. I've seen about 98 other posts with this similar question, BUT most all the advice I've seen is at least 3-4 years old and I know a lot can change in that time.

I'm looking to upgrade a Bolt (which I have yet to purchase from eBay or Facebook). I think I'd like about 4TB. 2TB seems like a lot, but I've recently pushed it toward 90%. 4TB seems like overkill (just for me - I know this varies for everyone), but still reasonable for my situation.

I've seen the discussions about SMR and PMR. I understand the terms, but it looks to be a chore to know which drives are SMR and which are not. I think I understand SMR is a bad idea for my upgrade.

I saw a great YouTube video of a guy who took a 2.5" 4TB drive out of a Seagate portable drive and he appeared to have good results. SOO, I went out and bought a 4TB Seagate portable drive. BUT now I realize that video is old. Who knows if I tear into this brand new portable drive, if the form factor and connections are even right for me? Furthermore, I'm seeing a bunch of bad posts about Seagate here in these forums.

Long story short - can anyone point me to the best, most recent suggestions for 4TB drives that work with Tivo? I think I want 2.5". (I googled reliability of 2.5 vs 3.5 and convinced myself the 2.5s are a safe bet, but that is another thread.) I'm not against drilling or modifying to accomodate 3.5" if that would be better.
Thanks for reading this far!

It will depend on if you want TE3 or TE4 UI on your Bolt. The list of 2.5" drives that work with TE4 is short and most are no longer manufactured. I am still trying to figure out why. If it was not for the fact that every 3.5" drive I tested worked, I would think TiVo was whitelisting drives. (They do that for external drives. Using MFSTools you can circumvent that)

That thought has crossed my mind. Over the last 2 weeks, I purchased a Bolt and a Roamio - both dirt cheap and just to experiment with. I like the Roamio just fine and would be pretty happy to continue down that path. Is that what you would do? My reasons for going with the Bolt:
1. Future proofing. I've come to believe the Bolt is a better bet for any new features/programs that may come along Not a huge deal to me.
2. Network speeds. I very rarely transfer shows around between Tivos, but if/when I do, gigabyte speeds would be a pretty huge improvement. Admittedly, this is most useful in a situation like I'm in right now, where I'm transferring all my old content from my Premiere box to the new Roamio and Bolt.
With all that said, would you go with Roamio and 3.5 " drives? If so, do you have recommendation on a 4TB drive?
Thanks

One consideration as you previously mentioned would be to hook a 3.5" drive to the internal port of the Bolt. There are several people who have done that with a slight modification to the Bolt case.

My preference is WD Red Plus drives
Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

 

[neophyte]

It will depend on if you want TE3 or TE4 UI on your Bolt. The list of 2.5" drives that work with TE4 is short and most are no longer manufactured. I am still trying to figure out why. If it was not for the fact that every 3.5" drive I tested worked, I would think TiVo was whitelisting drives. (They do that for external drives. Using MFSTools you can circumvent that)One consideration as you previously mentioned would be to hook a 3.5" drive to the internal port of the Bolt. There are several people who have done that with a slight modification to the Bolt case.

My preference is WD Red Plus drives
Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

Thank you jmbach! I have not actually tried Hydra (TE4, right?), but from the little I've seen about it, I am not interested. I've been very happy with the traditional interface (TE3, right?) and have no desire to change.

With all that said, you'd recommend sticking with Bolt and using a 2.5" WD Red? I have this feeling in my gut that I should stick with Roamio (which I have only been using for about two weeks now) and enjoy the ability to keep 3.5" drives. After reading about how each additional tuner adds wear and tear to the HDD, I also think I'm happy with 4 tuners as opposed to 6. Up until 2 weeks ago, I've enjoyed my 2 tuner Tivos for about 20 years. I do love having 4 tuners, but it sounds like I should expect shorter HDD lifespan as a result.

 

[ThAbtO]

6 tuner models are cable only.
4 tuner models are either OTA only or can be used with cable.

My previous Roamio drive lasted about 7 years and it was a 4TB.

 

[ClearToLand]

I understand the frustration some of the veterans have with noobs asking questions before putting in any effort to find the answer first. I've spent hours trying to get clear advice on which HDD to buy for my upgrade. I've seen about 98 other posts with this similar question, BUT most all the advice I've seen is at least 3-4 years old and I know a lot can change in that time...

Thank you! :handok:

...I'm looking to upgrade a Bolt (which I have yet to purchase from eBay or Facebook). I think I'd like about 4TB. 2TB seems like a lot, but I've recently pushed it toward 90%. 4TB seems like overkill (just for me - I know this varies for everyone), but still reasonable for my situation...

I addressed this subject in my 'hour-to-compose' reply to your early post. Short answer: DON'T DO IT!

...I've seen the discussions about SMR and PMR. I understand the terms, but it looks to be a chore to know which drives are SMR and which are not. I think I understand SMR is a bad idea for my upgrade...

You're lucky you weren't buying a HDD pre April 2020 when the manufacturers still hadn't revealed that SMR HDDs even existed. You can SEARCH TCF for a recent post I made discussing this subject.

...I saw a great YouTube video of a guy who took a 2.5" 4TB drive out of a Seagate portable drive and he appeared to have good results. SOO, I went out and bought a 4TB Seagate portable drive. BUT now I realize that video is old. Who knows if I tear into this brand new portable drive, if the form factor and connections are even right for me? Furthermore, I'm seeing a bunch of bad posts about Seagate here in these forums...

First, 4TB 2½" HDD - NG. Manufacturers aren't even making 2½" HDDs bigger than 2TB any more (from what I've read here on TCF; and finding one to buy is like finding hen's teeth ). Backing up a bit, I've always wanted to try out a Bolt (faster CPU, built-in Stream, better Plex client) but the HDD failures, tuner failures, weird un-stackable case always scared me away. Maybe if I find a *cheap* one with Lifetime I still might try, seeing as TiVo's popularity is fading more and more...

...Long story short - can anyone point me to the best, most recent suggestions for 4TB drives that work with Tivo? I think I want 2.5". (I googled reliability of 2.5 vs 3.5 and convinced myself the 2.5s are a safe bet, but that is another thread.) I'm not against drilling or modifying to accommodate 3.5" if that would be better...

4TB 2½" HDD - NG. Bolt - NSG (Not So Good). But, if you already have one, put a nice, stable 3½" CMR NAS HDD on it (WD Red Plus) in an External case with its own power supply and fan. Again, I posted this info recently in another thread.

...Thanks for reading this far!

I read, AND REPLIED TO, both of your threads, with THOROUGH useful and detailed information. Your turn!

 

[ClearToLand]

...With all that said, you'd recommend sticking with Bolt and using a 2.5" WD Red? ...

While there are some VERY knowledgeable folks on TCF, I find that their SHORT replies (Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk), while understandable by 'experienced technical folks', can sometimes be misinterpreted by 'inexperienced non-technical folks'.

I interpreted @jmbach 's reply as recommending WD 3½" Red Plus HDDs, *NOT* WD 2½" Red HDDs! (*BIG* difference! )

...I have this feeling in my gut that I should stick with Roamio (which I have only been using for about two weeks now) and enjoy the ability to keep 3.5" drives...

I agree (and have done so myself; *BEST* machine TiVo has ever made, to-date )

...After reading about how each additional tuner adds wear and tear to the HDD,...

Huh? LINK please...

...I also think I'm happy with 4 tuners as opposed to 6. Up until 2 weeks ago, I've enjoyed my 2 tuner Tivos for about 20 years. I do love having 4 tuners, but it sounds like I should expect shorter HDD lifespan as a result.

6 tuners means CABLE ONLY and CABLE means CABLECARD and the FCC recently relaxed restrictions that ISPs *MUST* support CableCards, so... Read behind the lines here.

Personally I'd buy ONLY dual-use TiVo units (Cable and OTA), like my first purchase. But TiVo *NEVER* had another sale on Roamio Basic units with Lifetime, only Roamio OTA so... (The *ONLY* difference is the cablecard bracket and I bought a used, non-Lifetime Roamio Basic just for that purpose - scavenge its bracket. )

I bought a nice new outdoor antenna back in 2017 (my ~1978 outdoor antenna was pretty bent up from the weather back in ~2000 when I had vinyl siding installed so I had them remove it, and its 'side-of-the-garage' mount, which had to come off anyway for the siding to be installed) for the time when FiOS no longer supports cablecards and I lose access. Let's see how ATSC 3.0 works out...

 

[neophyte]

As for your link request - sorry that was so many posts ago, I can't find it. It was here on tivo community. But it does make sense - if you have six tuners each writing a 30 minute buffer 24/7/365, that is a lot more wear and tear on the hard drive than 2 tuners writing a 30 minute buffer as I've had so far in my (20 year?) Tivo experience.
I appreciate your advice on sticking with Roamio. I just bought one for $20 to play with and bought a month's service for $15 bucks. I think I'll start shopping for a used Roamio with Lifetime (maybe $200 on eBay or Facebook), then upgrade the HDD and enjoy Tivo for another few years, I hope!
I have been learning about the cable cards - looks like their years (days?) are numbered. That will be a sad day for me. I've had a Roku for many months now. I'm just not into much streaming content and I'm definitely not much into OTA. If they kill my cable card, I may have to re-assess everything! Thanks again for all your input. Goodnight.

 

[ThAbtO]

You would be better off with lifetime (All-IN) service. (Pay it once and get it over with.)

The previous models (Premiere, series 4) were considered 'out-of-date' and unsupported by Tivo and would no longer activate them, but any active service would remain operational. Eventually they will move to the Roamio next...