# New member - Bolt owner on FIOS and upgrading hard drive



## jasonin951 (Mar 13, 2016)

I just bought my first Tivo a Bolt 500GB. I am planning on upgrading the hard drive from 500GB to 2TB immediately after I receive it next week. I have also purchased 4 Tivo Mini systems to connect to it. This will replace my Verizon FIOS 4 boxes and DVR that I am currently paying $47 a month for. 

My first question is are there any issues I should anticipate activating the CableCARD and/or with the MoCa connection on FIOS?

My second question, are there any stumbling blocks to adding a second hard drive. I have ordered a Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB. I plan on removing the drive from the enclosure and swapping it with the one in the Tivo. I have read elsewhere that you can put it in and it self formats. Is this true?

Thanks in advance for any replies!


----------



## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Welcome to the club.  Be sure to upgrade the hard drive first, or else you'll need to re-pair the cable card a second time and run through setup all over again. Yes, the new drive will auto format and download the latest software.

Activating the new card using the automated website SHOULD be painless in theory, but if it doesn't want to activate @VerizonSupport on twitter is more competent at card activation/pairing than the common phone rep. Just give them the card's Serial Number, Cablecard ID, Host ID, and Data ID. (All of this is found on the cablecard activation screen.)

Assuming you're using the Fios router, and it has a coax connection connected to it, you should be good to go with moca. Super easy.


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

jasonin951 said:


> My second question, are there any stumbling blocks to adding a second hard drive. I have ordered a Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB. I plan on removing the drive from the enclosure and swapping it with the one in the Tivo. I have read elsewhere that you can put it in and it self formats. Is this true?


That would be incorrect, however you just bought a nice portable drive for you PC.

Tivo units will only accept the WD DVR Expander that's listed as Tivo compatible, and it tops out at 1TB, the drive model and firmware are unique and only drives on the approved list will connect. Additionally the expander drive is an additional point of failure and if it dies all recordings made after it was installed are gone if you haven't backed them up.

A better approach would be to just install a 3TB in the Bolt.


----------



## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

dianebrat said:


> That would be incorrect, however you just bought a nice portable drive for you PC.
> 
> Tivo units will only accept the WD DVR Expander that's listed as Tivo compatible, and it tops out at 1TB, the drive model and firmware are unique and only drives on the approved list will connect. Additionally the expander drive is an additional point of failure and if it dies all recordings made after it was installed are gone if you haven't backed them up.
> 
> A better approach would be to just install a 3TB in the Bolt.


I think the OP is going to remove the new drive from the enclosure and replace the internal drive in the Bolt.


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

shwru980r said:


> I think the OP is going to remove the new drive from the enclosure and replace the internal drive in the Bolt.


You saw that part, I saw the "adding a second drive" part, so a bit more clarity from the OP might be helpful.


----------



## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

I answered assuming he meant a swap as well, not literally a second drive. But either way, he's set now.


----------



## jasonin951 (Mar 13, 2016)

Thanks guys. Yeah I didn't mean to write second hard drive. It should have been replacement hard drive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## mb117 (Nov 26, 2009)

jasonin951 said:


> I just bought my first Tivo a Bolt 500GB. I am planning on upgrading the hard drive from 500GB to 2TB immediately after I receive it next week. I have also purchased 4 Tivo Mini systems to connect to it. This will replace my Verizon FIOS 4 boxes and DVR that I am currently paying $47 a month for.
> 
> My first question is are there any issues I should anticipate activating the CableCARD and/or with the MoCa connection on FIOS?
> 
> ...


I'm on Fios and recently installed a Roamio Pro, a Bolt and 6 minis using Ethermet + Moca and have had very little issues. Every once in a while the Moca network is a little unreliable when changing channels on one of the minis, but it usually reconnects itself within a minute after it gets wonky.

As for set up, if you ordered the hardware from Tivo directly everything will be activated and ready to go when you receive the devices. If not, you need to add each of them to your Tivo account on the tivo website and then force several calls home for the Tivo minis to register on your account so they can work on the Moca network. If you bought the minis separately, add them a few days in advance to your account because sometimes it takes a while for them to show as active on your account, and they need to be active to recognize the moca network. Not a hard setup for anything you're doing, but it can be a bit time consuming. Regardless, each mini takes about 20-30 min to set up because it will need to update to the latest software.

As far as activating the cable card goes, I've never gotten a Fios Cable card to work through any of VZ's automated systems - I've always just called 800-verizon and talked to a human being in tech support, not the 888 number that pops up when you install the cable card. 9/10 times you'll get someone competent, and if there's an issue they escalate to a 'network engineer' while you're on the phone. If you happen to get a bad rep, just hang up and call back.

As for your Bolt upgrade, I just upgraded my Bolt to 4TB with no issues whatsoever, using the MFSR software, which worked like a charm. Taking the cover off the Bolt is a bit tricky so watch the Intellibeam Bolt upgrade video on Youtube for a few tricks to not damage it.

Like you, i saved a ton of $$ monthly by getting rid of my VZ boxes. The upfront investment in the Tivo hw will pay off in about 12-13 months, based on my monthly savings. Good luck.


----------



## jasonin951 (Mar 13, 2016)

Thanks everyone for the good advice. The hard drive upgrade went very smoothly. Also the activation of the CableCARD went smoothly as well over the phone. My Bolt is operational and recording. Tonight it's on to the TiVo minis. I have already pre-registered them on the website.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

jasonin951 said:


> Thanks everyone for the good advice. The hard drive upgrade went very smoothly. Also the activation of the CableCARD went smoothly as well over the phone. My Bolt is operational and recording. Tonight it's on to the TiVo minis. I have already pre-registered them on the website. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


You want to do a service call on your bolt before you do guided setup on the minis since you registered them. Go to network settings and connect to the TiVo service now. That will tell the bolt that the minis exist so they can talk when you start the minis.


----------



## jasonin951 (Mar 13, 2016)

The activation of 2 mini devices was successful. I will activate the other 2 tonight. This was a seamless process thanks to the great advice on this forum. Thanks again!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## jasonin951 (Mar 13, 2016)

Ok all 4 TiVo Minis active. Getting rid of 4 cable boxes, 2 Roku LTs, 1 Roku Mini and 1 Amazon Fire HD mini. I love the consolidation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------

