# Looking for 750 gig IDE hard drive for Series 2 upgrade



## Malcontent (Sep 5, 2004)

I'm looking for a 750 gig ide hard drive for a series 2 upgrade. Newegg is out of stock. Can't find one for a decent price. Anyone have an idea where I can find one?


----------



## Southcross (Nov 28, 2008)

I always shop Micro Center


----------



## radavis3 (Nov 25, 2008)

CDW has the Seagate DB35 Series 750GB drive for under $155


----------



## AStar617 (Feb 13, 2003)

Are EIDE/SATA adapters out of the question?They cost less than $5 shipped on eBay and would allow your money to go much further (1TB for about half that price if you look hard).

Weighing upgrade options on my own S2s and not thrilled with the native EIDE options right now.


----------



## Malcontent (Sep 5, 2004)

AStar617 said:


> Are EIDE/SATA adapters out of the question?They cost less than $5 shipped on eBay and would allow your money to go much further (1TB for about half that price if you look hard).
> 
> Weighing upgrade options on my own S2s and not thrilled with the native EIDE options right now.


Has any used these kind of adapters to run a SATA hard drive in a Series 2? How reliable are these adaptors?


----------



## RhoXS (Mar 27, 2006)

Southcross said:


> I always shop Micro Center


For whatever its worth, check out Micro Center's 4.29 rating on Resellerratings.com. IMO, Resellerratings.com has proven to be an excellent resource for determining what to expect from on-line retailers.


----------



## Southcross (Nov 28, 2008)

RhoXS said:


> For whatever its worth, check out Micro Center's 4.29 rating on Resellerratings.com. IMO, Resellerratings.com has proven to be an excellent resource for determining what to expect from on-line retailers.


well.. I guess I'm the "a-typical" consumer... I know what I want, I know what I need, I buy inside the store, I troubleshoot my own ****, and I go to the manufacturer for any problems/research/troubleshooting...

*shrug* I've never had a "bad experience" in 10 years with Microcenter


----------



## Soapm (May 9, 2007)

Malcontent said:


> Has any used these kind of adapters to run a SATA hard drive in a Series 2? How reliable are these adaptors?


I am using an adapter with a 1TB on a 649DT. Works fine.


----------



## Soapm (May 9, 2007)

Southcross said:


> well.. I guess I'm the "a-typical" consumer... I know what I want, I know what I need, I buy inside the store, I troubleshoot my own ****, and I go to the manufacturer for any problems/research/troubleshooting...
> 
> *shrug* I've never had a "bad experience" in 10 years with Microcenter


You must live in the Denver area. I shop there in person also and never had trouble even when returning an item.


----------



## Malcontent (Sep 5, 2004)

Soapm said:


> I am using an adapter with a 1TB on a 649DT. Works fine.


What brand and model number adapter are you using?

Also, what 1 TB drive are you using?

Thanks.


----------



## Soapm (May 9, 2007)

Malcontent said:


> What brand and model number adapter are you using?
> 
> Also, what 1 TB drive are you using?
> 
> Thanks.


Here was the adapter....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812206001

Drive is Device: ST31000340AS Supports ATA Version 8


----------



## granoff (Jul 9, 2001)

Soapm said:


> Here was the adapter....
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812206001
> 
> Drive is Device: ST31000340AS Supports ATA Version 8


I am in need of a replacement drive as well. The Seagate DB35 drives are scarce, and I have a hard time paying weaKnees $189 for a 500GB drive.

Now, really: What is the advisability of using a SATA-to-IDE adapter in a Series2 TiVo? Anyone asked say, weaKnees about this (as they seem to be experts on what works and what does not)?

By the way, I had my oldest Series2 repaired by weaKnees last month. I needed a new power supply, and the cost to repair was way less than to replace the unit AND its lifetime service. Very happy with weaKnees.

So today I called them to ask why my TiVo was still occasionally freezing and once (so far) spontaneously rebooted. They said that 98% of the time this is caused by the drive. Now, my 500GB drive is new (10/2008), but it is NOT an "AV" drive, which was a new term for me today.

So, I am in the market to get an AV drive (either a Seagate DB35 drive or a Western Digital drive). The WD's seem like a better deal, but they are all SATA. So that brings me back to my original question: Can anyone suggest why using an SATA-to-IDE adapter in a Series2 would be a bad thing to do?

It strikes me that such an adpater might introduce some latency or something that would interfere with or negate the benefits of a so-called "AV" drive.

Thanks for your thoughts!

-Mark


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

granoff said:


> So, I am in the market to get an AV drive (either a Seagate DB35 drive or a Western Digital drive). The WD's seem like a better deal, but they are all SATA. So that brings me back to my original question: Can anyone suggest why using an SATA-to-IDE adapter in a Series2 would be a bad thing to do?


No reason you can't use an IDE-SATA adapter in your Series2. We still have plenty of PATA DB35 750GB drives, but we also sell the adapter that can be used with the newer SATA drives, as well (so does Weaknees).

I can't tell you about the specific adapter you are considering, but there is another post in the forums somewhere where folks that are chiming in about the ones they are using and whether they work for them.

Also keep in mind that Seagate recommended this approach to us when they announced they would be discontinuing the DB35 drives some time ago. It is a sound approach.

Hope that helps,

Lou


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

ciper said:


> http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=416883
> 
> Don't waste your money on the AV rated drives. They only differences between some of them and the standard unit are settings regarding head speed, cache management and 24x7 rated mtbf. You should not notice any speed difference between a 8mb buffer 5400 laptop drive and a 7200rpm AV drive.
> 
> ...


My only problem with that drive isn't the drive itself, it's that comes from Newegg. If you are getting a hard drive from them, be careful.

Lou


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

tivoupgrade said:


> but there is another post in the forums somewhere where folks that are chiming in about the ones they are using and whether they work for them.


http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=416883



granoff said:


> So, I am in the market to get an AV drive (either a Seagate DB35 drive or a Western Digital drive). The WD's seem like a better deal,


Don't waste your money on the AV rated drives. They only differences between some of them and the standard unit are settings regarding head speed, cache management and 24x7 rated mtbf. You should not notice any speed difference between a 8mb buffer 5400 laptop drive and a 7200rpm AV drive.

Just to note the current top of the line TiVo HD XL uses the wd10evvs.

You can still buy the 500gb PATA drive for less than 80$ if you look around. For example 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136111


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

Ok, how is it that I was able to reply to and quote ciper's last post, yet my post shows up before it? That is weird...

Lou


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

I was trying to edit it because the 8mb cache comment was wrong.

Here are a few other popular suppliers
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010086
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3318103&CatId=134


----------



## granoff (Jul 9, 2001)

Ok, so now I don't know what to do. 

My current 500GB drive is a Maxtor drive. Could simply my choice of drive be my issue? Would swapping in a Western Digital drive (AV or otherwise) "solve" my freeze/spontaneous reboot issue??

Fwiw, my other TiVo, also a Series2 (540 series) has a 200GB Maxtor drive and it's working just fine.

-Mark


----------



## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

granoff said:


> Ok, so now I don't know what to do.
> 
> My current 500GB drive is a Maxtor drive. Could simply my choice of drive be my issue? Would swapping in a Western Digital drive (AV or otherwise) "solve" my freeze/spontaneous reboot issue??
> 
> ...


It's not the TYPE of drive that is the problem. BUT, there could be a problem with your specific drive. If you haven't run diagnostics on it, that would be the first step towards isolating the problem (see the link below). Chances are, that is the problem, but until you rule that out, you won't know for sure.

Lou


----------



## Soapm (May 9, 2007)

tivoupgrade said:


> Ok, how is it that I was able to reply to and quote ciper's last post, yet my post shows up before it? That is weird...
> 
> Lou


Wow, that was close. I thought it was the drugs... :up:


----------



## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

granoff said:


> Could simply my choice of drive be my issue? Would swapping in a Western Digital drive (AV or otherwise) "solve" my freeze/spontaneous reboot issue??


My first guess would be bad sector cancer. If that is the case swapping in any new drive would solve the problem.

When the drive times out too long trying to reread/rewrite the same area it eventually gets pissed off to the point that it reboots. If you could grab a copy of your kernel log we could confirm it.

I've only heard once where a TiVo rebooted on it's own and that was bad power. All other reboots are "planned" by the OS.


----------



## granoff (Jul 9, 2001)

I appreciate everyone's comments here.

Well, it seems like I have to open the box to do anything -- test the drive I have or replace it. It would seem more than likely that, in fact, there is something wrong with the drive, despite it being relatively new.

So, it seems like the best course of action is to get a replacement drive (I'm leaning towards a SATA Western Digital with a SATA-to-IDE adapter) and test it thoroughly first. THEN, copy my existing Maxtor drive to the new drive (assuming the new drives tests OK). THEN test my existing Maxtor drive for errors. If it turns out OK (or pretty OK, even) I can use it in an external enclosure for something else (non-TiVo related).

-Mark


----------

