# which hard drive and why. for older Roamio



## jvnsuffolk (Jun 14, 2015)

I have had this for about 4 years. I believe its only a 500 gig hhd. I want to replace it. 1 or 2 terrabytes is good enough for me as I do not save shows. I watch them and delete them. can you tell me what is the best hhd. I have read WD's are what should be used. So I have to ask What happens if you use a seagate or another brand. and Also should I use a 7200 rpm or is the 54 sufficient. One more thing. I have seen vids were all you have to do is swap out the hhd and the tivo will write the software on it and your good to go. I don't have anything to keep on there so I can just go with the flow. 
Thanx


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

jvnsuffolk said:


> I have had this for about 4 years. I believe its only a 500 gig hhd. I want to replace it. 1 or 2 terrabytes is good enough for me as I do not save shows. I watch them and delete them. can you tell me what is the best hhd. I have read WD's are what should be used. So I have to ask What happens if you use a seagate or another brand. and Also should I use a 7200 rpm or is the 54 sufficient. One more thing. I have seen vids were all you have to do is swap out the hhd and the tivo will write the software on it and your good to go. I don't have anything to keep on there so I can just go with the flow.
> Thanx


There are several threads about changing hard drives.

TiVo Roamio Hard Drive Upgrade, PART 1
Roamio OTA Hard Drive Upgrade
Best 3TB drive for Roamio

Those are just 2018.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

A lot of newer Seagate drives use SMR (shingled) technology, which is a bad choice for TiVos. The WD Reds (not the Red Pro) are the current recommendation. WD10EFRX, WD20EFRX, etc.

5400 RPM drives are more than sufficient. All a higher RPM drive will get you is more heat and vibration.

Anything up to 3TB is a simple swap. You might want to use kmttg to back up your One Passes and channel list first - it's a lot easier to restore then after the new drives goes through Guided Setup than re-entering them by hand.


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## jvnsuffolk (Jun 14, 2015)

ggieseke said:


> A lot of newer Seagate drives use SMR (shingled) technology, which is a bad choice for TiVos. The WD Reds (not the Red Pro) are the current recommendation. WD10EFRX, WD20EFRX, etc.
> 
> 5400 RPM drives are more than sufficient. All a higher RPM drive will get you is more heat and vibration.
> 
> Anything up to 3TB is a simple swap. You might want to use kmttg to back up your One Passes and channel list first - it's a lot easier to restore then after the new drives goes through Guided Setup than re-entering them by hand.


Great answer. Simple and to the point. thanx


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

ggieseke said:


> 5400 RPM drives are more than sufficient. All a higher RPM drive will get you is more heat and vibration.


I can't argue with that for 3.5" drives, but I'm changing the 2.5" Seagate drive in my laptop with a 7200rpm drive. it uses less power too. But I don't have the models handy.


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## skypros (May 19, 2015)

I will throw my 4¢ into this.
I just upgraded my roamio plus from a 1 tb to a 3 tb...... and the physical swap was really easy.

I also watch and immediately delete 98% of my recordings........ The one thing I do - do is HORD shows.
IE: I will record a whole season (like better call saul) and then binge watch..... So my 1 tb hard drive was really starting to be a challenge.
Also here is something to consider when upgrading a tivo hard drive...... lets say some channel has a "marathon" on some show you would like to see (Like the complete walking dead that AMC just aired) where there are 100+ episodes.... You will appreciate the larger hard drive

Western Digital Red on Amazon 10.7.18
WD10EFRX $65 - 1TB
WD20EFRX $85 - 2TB
WD30EFRX $108 -3TB

There is about $20 between them..... I would just go with the 3TB and be done with it..... That said, if you are thinking a 1TB is perfect...... Then I would definitely go for the 2TB hard drive..... $20 more is easy.... Spending $65 for a 1TB, and finding out you really need more space is allot more expensive.

The hardest part of the whole process was trying to figure out how the Heck KMTTG worked..... because I sure didn't want to load all these one passes back into the system.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Max hard drive size


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## OrangeCrush (Feb 18, 2016)

skypros said:


> There is about $20 between them..... I would just go with the 3TB and be done with it..... That said, if you are thinking a 1TB is perfect...... Then I would definitely go for the 2TB hard drive..... $20 more is easy.... Spending $65 for a 1TB, and finding out you really need more space is allot more expensive.


I say if you're going to do the surgery, then go big or go home. Because more is more!


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## Frank Hickman (Oct 15, 2018)

Yep, A lot is good, more is better, and too much is just right.


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