# 500GB sinlge drive upgrade not working



## ksheena (Dec 7, 2006)

I'm trying to upgrade my Series 1 UK Tivo to a single 500GB drive.
I did have 2x 120Gb drives but one died so I've rebuilt tivo on the remaining 120GB one and used copykern to add LBA48 support

The backup and restores go fine but when I put the new drive into the Tivo it does nothing. No startup message or anything. The light comes on but nobody is home.

I've just tried using mfslive, WinMFS, hinsdale, mfstools v1.x and v2.x for complete copies and backup and restores, but still not joy. All of the copies, backups and restores go fine, but it still wont boot.
I've looked at InstantCake as well but they don't have a version for the UK.

The new drive is a Western Digital Caviar 500GB U133 16MB - WD5000AAKB

I suppose the first question has to be can a UK Tivo handle a 500GB drive?

Any help would be much appreciated.


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

UK Tivos handle 500Gb drive fine - provided you run copykern and use an LBA aware disc,
however *that particular drive 16MB - WD5000AAKB* has a firmware issue,
which makes the tivo unable to "see it" .. as you've found.


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## mk-donald (Dec 16, 2002)

Yep search on the keyword WD5000AAKB seems to throw up that symptom:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=412211&highlight=WD5000AAKB


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## stock (Jun 1, 2005)

Well I've just acquired a *WD500AACS* also 16mb

Anyone had any success with these or am I likely to suffer the same problem?


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## jdwood37 (Dec 6, 2002)

WD500AACS I think is the 500GB WD Green drive, I have one in my Tivo. Very quiet, very cool, ideal for the job. :up:


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## stock (Jun 1, 2005)

OK thanks, thats a relief  

Now just waiting for one of those sata converters to arrive from Hong Kong


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

stock said:


> Well I've just acquired a *WD500AACS* also 16mb
> 
> Anyone had any success with these or am I likely to suffer the same problem?


These are fine but you will need an IDE-SATA adapter like this which fits on the back of the drive:-










The other type which fits in the IDE socket on the motherboard and attaches to the drive with a SATA cable doesn't seem to work well with this drive (although it seems fine with the 750gb variant).

HTH


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## ksheena (Dec 7, 2006)

Just got a reply from Western Digital.
It's a fob off, they are not interested.

"There is no different firmware available for the drive, it is not supported for anything else than PC or Mac so I'm afraid we cannot support this issue since I cannot be of any help on this"


To quote their website 
"Compatible - We perform tests on hundreds of systems and a multitude of platforms in our FIT Lab&#8482; and Mobile Compatibility Lab to give our customers confidence that our drives will work in their systems"


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## jdwood37 (Dec 6, 2002)

I'd expect WD wouldn't be interested, they work on very small margins, even the retailers do. I wouldn't have thought it worth putting the 'non-green' WD drive into a Tivo anyway given the green one is perfect for the job and very cheap.


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## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

jdwood37 said:


> I wouldn't have thought it worth putting the 'non-green' WD drive into a Tivo anyway given the green one is perfect for the job and very cheap.


I think the Green drives are SATA only, while the OP's WD5000AAKB is available with an EIDE interface, making the non-green drives simpler to fit.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

DX30 said:


> I think the Green drives are SATA only, while the OP's WD5000AAKB is available with an EIDE interface, making the non-green drives simpler to fit.


The WD500AAKB is *not compatible* with the TiVo due to a firmware issue. The 500gb Green Power drives work fine with a suitable converter :up:


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## DX30 (May 22, 2005)

blindlemon said:


> The WD500AAKB is *not compatible* with the TiVo due to a firmware issue. The 500gb Green Power drives work fine with a suitable converter :up:


I know the Green SATA drives work - I have two TiVo's fitted with 1TB Green WD SATA drives. I can however see why people would try an EIDE drive rather than a SATA.

It is a shame that the OP had problems with the newer WD EIDE drive as I understand the older WD drives worked. But even the SATA drives can be tricky if you use the wrong convertor, so it is best to do some research whichever type you use. Or just buy a pre-configured drive


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## ksheena (Dec 7, 2006)

Thanks for all the advice. 
As you suspected I went for the WD500AAKB drive as it had the EIDE interface and should have been compatible with Tivo as it supports ATA-100. I was hoping for an easy clean install rather than have to add other adapters.

I've now ordered a seagate ST3500830ACE, which looks ok from the forums. 
As soon as I've had a chance to try it, I'll reply to the post so others will know if it works or not.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Why not go for a WD Green power drive with a converter? That will be quieter and a damn sight cooler than the Seagate.

Seagate drives also have a reputation for aggravating the "helium sound" problem in Series 1 TiVos so I tend to stay away from them if possible these days.


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## Fred Smith (Oct 5, 2002)

ksheena said:


> I was hoping for an easy clean install rather than have to add other adapters.


It's is an easy install with a suitable SATA adapter, it just plugs onto the back of the drive and the IDE and power cables into it. About 30 seconds longer than a EIDE drive.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

ksheena said:


> I've now ordered a seagate ST3500830ACE, which looks ok from the forums.
> 
> As soon as I've had a chance to try it, I'll reply to the post so others will know if it works or not.


Large Seagate drives seem to have had an alarming variety of problems with their firmware in recent times. One of the symptoms was that two of them would not run together in a Tivo.

See www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/seagate_firmware_fix_breaks_barracudas/

Perhaps yours will be OK though as it is an ACE and not an AS drive variant.


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## jdwood37 (Dec 6, 2002)

Certain Seagate & Maxtor drives had the 'no sound' problem which was never fixed. I have no idea which drives now have the problem but it's the first thing I checked with my 500GB WD Green drive and of it's ok.


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## jdwood37 (Dec 6, 2002)

for info....this is the one I used, did it the hard (risky) way of removing the motherboard middle IDE pin to get the cable to fit!


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## bigbadalex (Mar 7, 2009)

Having the same damn issue with a brand new WD5000AVJB....also from dabs...sigh.
Is there a list somewhere of all the drives that WILL work with a tivo? All this guesswork is frustrating as hell!
I see tivocentral.co.uk use 500Gb WD drives but they don't specify which model....


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

bigbadalex said:


> Having the same damn issue with a brand new WD5000AVJB....also from dabs...sigh.
> Is there a list somewhere of all the drives that WILL work with a tivo? All this guesswork is frustrating as hell!
> I see tivocentral.co.uk use 500Gb WD drives but they don't specify which model....


AFAIK they use the SATA drives like I do.

Honestly, it's easier and cheaper just to get a SATA converter and use a SATA drive these days.


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## bigbadalex (Mar 7, 2009)

Cheers BL, managed to scrounge a SATA drive off a mate, up and running now


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

bigbadalex said:


> I see tivocentral.co.uk use 500Gb WD drives but they don't specify which model....


Yes, I use SATA drives (WD Green Power) for both 500GB and 1000GB upgrades now.
I now only use PATA (IDE) drives for the 160GB upgrades.

Older PATA WD5000AAKB's worked, then WD updated the firmware, and newer ones don't (manufacture date is the only way to tell - its the same model number!)

Whatever incompatibility WD have introduced with the new firmware, they have obviously rolled out to other drives (though not the 160GB drives yet it seems, they work fine)

It does seem to be the best bet to go with a SATA convertor nowadays.

Isn't this why you pay the likes of blindlemon and I to do all the testing for you ?


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

mikerr said:


> Whatever incompatibility WD have introduced with the new firmware, they have obviously rolled out to other drives (though not the 160GB drives yet it seems, they work fine)


Not any longer :down:

I just received a shipment of WD1600AAJB Caviar "Blue" drives with a manufacture date of 11th Feb and they are not recognised by the TiVo 

Anybody want a 160gb IDE drive for their PC?


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