# Expanding Tivo with external hard drive



## Robcameron (Jul 8, 2014)

Hey, I know there is a tivo.com recommendation for expanding the storage space by using a wd external esata hard drive. 

Is there anything that works from Amazon? Will any esata drive work?


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

You need the official WD Tivo DVR Expander, it's the only model that will work with your Premiere.

However it adds a 2nd failure point and if it fails you will lose access to all recordings made after it was installed, for this reason and the fact that there are plenty of easy to use tools available via the Upgrade forum, the standard recommendation is to just replace the internal drive with a larger one.


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## PCurry57 (Feb 27, 2012)

Robcameron said:


> Hey, I know there is a tivo.com recommendation for expanding the storage space by using a wd external esata hard drive.
> 
> Is there anything that works from Amazon? Will any esata drive work?


I've added a WD 1TB DVR expander to both of my TiVo premieres. They operate flawlessly one of the issues in the past with third party DVR Expander's was the low grade eSata cables being used. The WD DVR Expander comes with a quality cable. Previous iterations for earlier TiVo's were USB based not eSata big difference in connector durability.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

PCurry57 said:


> one of the issues in the past with third party DVR Expander's was the low grade eSata cables being used. The WD DVR Expander comes with a quality cable.


There has never been a 3rd party expander that was supported in a Tivo, the OLED S3 had non-official eSATA support enabled before release and was grandfathered in but it's considered unsupported. All supported Expanders are from WDC, and some of them did indeed have connector/cable issues.



PCurry57 said:


> Previous iterations for earlier TiVo's were USB based not eSata big difference in connector durability.


No, there were never USB DVR Expanders for Tivo and if anything the eSATA connector is more troublesome than USB.


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## jakerock (Dec 9, 2002)

There are lots of people who have had no issues with the expanders. There have also been a lot that have had problems. Given that they are more expensive than an internal expansion and present the greater possibility of a problem, the general recommendation is to avoid them.

My WD DVR Expander worked great, up until the day it died.


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## boyet_m (May 26, 2014)

jakerock said:


> There are lots of people who have had no issues with the expanders. There have also been a lot that have had problems. Given that they are more expensive than an internal expansion and present the greater possibility of a problem, the general recommendation is to avoid them.
> 
> My WD DVR Expander worked great, up until the day it died.


mine had been running flawlessly for almost 3 years now. i am a happy camper.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

jakerock said:


> There are lots of people who have had no issues with the expanders. There have also been a lot that have had problems. Given that they are more expensive than an internal expansion and present the greater possibility of a problem, the general recommendation is to avoid them.
> 
> My WD DVR Expander worked great, up until the day it died.


Put me in the camp as one who will NEVER again use an external drive (the "approved" TiVo drive). All it takes is one failure to convince you (me) to never again try it...


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## chewy2314 (Sep 11, 2003)

boyet_m said:


> mine had been running flawlessly for almost 3 years now. i am a happy camper.


Same here. In 8 days, my WD Expander will be 4 years old. Probably helps that i have the TiVo and Expander on a UPS.


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## advocate2 (Jan 25, 2008)

I have several WD eSata My Book drives. They look just like the DVR Expander and worked fine with my Directv dvr's. Has anyone tested these WD drives which are so similar to the DVR Expander?


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

advocate2 said:


> I have several WD eSata My Book drives. They look just like the DVR Expander and worked fine with my Directv dvr's. Has anyone tested these WD drives which are so similar to the DVR Expander?


The Tivo units look at the drive ID to verify they're approved, others that are not "official" will not work.


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## JWhites (May 15, 2013)

chewy2314 said:


> Same here. In 8 days, my WD Expander will be 4 years old. Probably helps that i have the TiVo and Expander on a UPS.


Agreed.


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## JWhites (May 15, 2013)

I've been buying and installing those My Book AV expanders since 2011. I checked my records and I've bought and installed 4,142 for my customers since then and as I said in the Roamio thread it's the same one I use myself, even my mother uses one. Haven't had a problem with not one of them, so that's saying a lot for quality control. There's always going to be a lemon once in awhile leading to bad experiences, so an informed decision is key. As a smart guy from the forum said,


danm628 said:


> ... my TiVo is just a TV. I want it to work but when it occasionally dies it isn't the end of the world.
> 
> - Dan


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## JWhites (May 15, 2013)

Robcameron said:


> Hey, I know there is a tivo.com recommendation for expanding the storage space by using a wd external esata hard drive.
> 
> Is there anything that works from Amazon? Will any esata drive work?


Check out this thread, you'll find some more info to your query  http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=509074


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