# Just got lucky!



## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

Yesterday I got an email from TiVo that the HD in my Bolt+ was failing and offered a free replacement. So last night I transferred all my recording and one passes to my Bolt. Fortunately I had connected my 1TB external drive to that box a few days ago so I had enough room.

Called TiVo and set up the swap. Then just a few moments ago I saw a pending restart on the Bolt+ and did that. Then it started flashing all 4 lights so I guess it really is shot! I was lucky to have done the transfers already.

Only real downside is the protected recordings I lost.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

lparsons21 said:


> Yesterday I got an email from TiVo that the HD in my Bolt+ was failing and offered a free replacement. So last night I transferred all my recording and one passes to my Bolt. Fortunately I had connected my 1TB external drive to that box a few days ago so I had enough room.
> 
> Called TiVo and set up the swap. Then just a few moments ago I saw a pending restart on the Bolt+ and did that. Then it started flashing all 4 lights so I guess it really is shot! I was lucky to have done the transfers already.
> 
> Only real downside is the protected recordings I lost.


Had you contacted TiVo about a possible issue, or did this come out-of-the-blue from TiVo? And how old is your box?


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## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

Mikeguy said:


> Had you contacted TiVo about a possible issue, or did this come out-of-the-blue from TiVo? And how old is your box?


Out of the blue from them. The Bolt+ was from a November sale.

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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

lparsons21 said:


> Out of the blue from them. The Bolt+ was from a November sale.


Wow, that's pretty amazing! Good for you (and the timing was perfect, right?)--I don't recall hearing TiVo coming out-of-the-blue like this before.

I wonder if TiVo got a report of bad hard drives from Western Digital, or otherwise detected a pattern of failures from customer service calls.


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## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

Either is possible. Also possible is they get health reports from the TiVo’s, though I’ve not seen anyone indicate that. I’m just glad thing worked out as well as they seem to have.
Hopefully the recordings I transferred all are ok, the few I’ve played since the transfer have been ok.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

That’s very interesting. I didn’t realize TiVo could tell what’s going on with an hdd. I’m rather surprised that TiVo acted on this proactively. Actually, I’m astounded. 

The drive in my Bolt+ went bad several months ago, but I got a replacement under warranty.


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

I have never heard of this before, but it makes sense - TiVo SHOULD have been doing this monitoring and notification in a proactive way all along. Since the box has to contact the mother ship regularly, why wouldn't it report SMART data or other HDD stats on each contact?

My NAS sends me an eamail any time it detects a problem, so TiVo should be able to at least do that too!


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

I now wonder if TiVo will be contacting me questioning/counseling me about the shows I've been watching, or the volume of my watching.


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## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

Well an interesting turn of events! Tivo charged me for the advanced exchange the day it was set up, and then yesterday charged it again. While I assume one will drop off, I'm not certain enough to just wait and see. I'll call on Monday to get it straightened out. Hopefully the people in billing are not the offshore support that tech support seems to be.
IMO, if these companies are going to cheap out with offshore support, then the support should empathize using chat. With chat there is less chance of misunderstanding and also a record of what transpired.


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