# Use a Premiere 500GB HD in a 320GB Premiere?



## jrw77 (Apr 17, 2011)

I have a Tivo Premiere TCD746320 (320GB HD) with a lifetime subscription. Can I take the hard drive out of a Tivo Premiere model TCD746500 (500GB HD) and use it in my unit? I am looking at this as an alternative to buying a blank hard drive and going thru the software copy/transfer routine. 
--thanks--


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

You would have to run Clear & Delete Everything. Everything is encoded to a specific Tivo and you would lose the recordings by swapping.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

jrw77 said:


> I have a Tivo Premiere TCD746320 (320GB HD) with a lifetime subscription. Can I take the hard drive out of a Tivo Premiere model TCD746500 (500GB HD) and use it in my unit? I am looking at this as an alternative to buying a blank hard drive and going thru the software copy/transfer routine.
> --thanks--


Before you do anything to that 500GB drive, what's the story on that TCD746500?

And using jmfs to copy your 320GB drive to a bigger one and expand into the rest of the space really isn't all that onerous a chore.


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## jrw77 (Apr 17, 2011)

unitron said:


> Before you do anything to that 500GB drive, what's the story on that TCD746500?
> 
> And using jmfs to copy your 320GB drive to a bigger one and expand into the rest of the space really isn't all that onerous a chore.


I currently don't have a TCD746500. I was thinking that I might be able to buy one on eBay and (after selling off the remote which I don't need) it might end up costing me about the same as a blank hard drive. Thus, for about the same price I could get a new hard drive that is already formatted.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

The Premieres seem to be surprisingly forgiving between models (I'm running my XL on an image from an XL4 right now). As already noted, you'll have to run C&DE.

Depending on the current OS version of the donor drive you might also have to run Kickstart 52 to force it to download and install the correct software for your 746320. Version 20.3.7 just came out, so it's likely that anything you buy will be out of date and that will happen automatically.


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## jrw77 (Apr 17, 2011)

If the donor drive is from a brand new/unused unit, would I still need to do a CD&E on it?
(Out of curiosity, when a CD&E is done does it restore the HD to the original software version that was on the HD or does it keep the current version & just delete everything else?).


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

jrw77 said:


> I currently don't have a TCD746500. I was thinking that I might be able to buy one on eBay and (after selling off the remote which I don't need) it might end up costing me about the same as a blank hard drive. Thus, for about the same price I could get a new hard drive that is already formatted.


By the time you pay shipping on that thing, you're approaching the cost of finding the WD20EURS at newegg or Amazon for under $100 with free shipping.

If you're going to increase storage space, get enough extra to make it worth the effort.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

jrw77 said:


> If the donor drive is from a brand new/unused unit, would I still need to do a CD&E on it?
> (Out of curiosity, when a CD&E is done does it restore the HD to the original software version that was on the HD or does it keep the current version & just delete everything else?).


C&DE keeps the current OS. If the donor drive is absolutely virgin you might get by without running it. You'll know fairly quickly either way. If it spits out error 51 messages and won't record, run C&DE.

Unitron's advice is solid (as always). Copying your existing drive to a new 2TB and expanding it with jmfs will probably be quicker than taking a factory drive though Guided Setup, downloading guide data, updating from 14.5 to 20.3.7, etc.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

ggieseke said:


> C&DE keeps the current OS. If the donor drive is absolutely virgin you might get by without running it. You'll know fairly quickly either way. If it spits out error 51 messages and won't record, run C&DE.
> 
> Unitron's advice is solid (as always). Copying your existing drive to a new 2TB and expanding it with jmfs will probably be quicker than taking a factory drive though Guided Setup, downloading guide data, updating from 14.5 to 20.3.7, etc.


Not to mention all that extra 1.5TB of lovely room.


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