# Edge Hard Drive Upgrade



## mth919 (Aug 20, 2015)

I've been rethinking upgrading my new 2TB Edge with a larger 2.5 drive. I've learned the largest 2.5 CMR drive tops out at 3TB. I wanted to go at least 4TB. So now I'm considering the external drive upgrade option. So now that I have 3.5 options to consider I'd like some opinions/advice/results on if the W-D Purple surveillance drives are good-or even suitable for Tivo duty. I've always used AV-GP green drives in my Premiere and Roamio upgrades but WD has apparently stopped producing that line of drives a few years ago so it's hard to find a new-in-package 6TB-the size I would like to use if I go the external hard drive solution. OK Tivo Community, advise/educate me 🙂 Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

More than about 90% of hard drives today are SMR (shingled media recording) and that is bad for Tivo.

Currently, the drives that work are CMR. WD Red Plus (models ends in EFRX, EFZX) work.

However, the Edge runs on TE4 (Tivo software v21) and it can be picky on what drives work or not.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

mth919 said:


> I've been rethinking upgrading my new 2TB Edge with a larger 2.5 drive. I've learned the largest 2.5 CMR drive tops out at 3TB. I wanted to go at least 4TB. So now I'm considering the external drive upgrade option. So now that I have 3.5 options to consider I'd like some opinions/advice/results on if the W-D Purple surveillance drives are good-or even suitable for Tivo duty. I've always used AV-GP green drives in my Premiere and Roamio upgrades but WD has apparently stopped producing that line of drives a few years ago so it's hard to find a new-in-package 6TB-the size I would like to use if I go the external hard drive solution. OK Tivo Community, advise/educate me 🙂 Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice.


Well the purples have always been CMR drives in the past. However there is a new tech being used in the current 2/4/6TB models. The WD22PURZ, WD42PURZ, and WD63PURZ. Allows them to fit 2TB on one platter. A couple people reported they have/had problems with them in Tivos. One was a Premiere, ended up getting it working. The other a Roamio, never found out if they figured out what the problem was. They ARE CMR. Just not sure if this new CMR tech works well with Tivos. The previous model purples were fine, in fact Weakness uses in at least some of their upgrades. The new tech has 256MB cache, the previous tech 64MB. There is more to the new tech than just the 256MB cache. The new tech MIGHT be ok, have not tested personally. I like purple since they have AV firmware, Red PLUS (NAS firmware) will also work and at this time is not using the new tech. Just those 3 model/size purples. I am interested in finding out if anyone else tries the new tech and it works for them. If you buy locally and it works great, if not could return and/or exchange for a previous model purple or the Red Plus. Or perhaps Seagate if you make sure you get a CMR model. Finally best though not necessary to get 5400RPM drives (or 5900 or that new tech is 5040 I think). 7200 not needed and can run a bit hotter and be a bit noisier than 5400.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

you didn't really need to start a new thread, you should probably just continue the old one.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

dianebrat said:


> you didn't really need to start a new thread, you should probably just continue the old one.


True enough, I followed the original thread since I replied to it, I might not have seen this new thread which is pretty much a continuation of the original.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

tommage1 said:


> a new tech being used in the current 2/4/6TB models. The WD22PURZ, WD42PURZ, and WD63PURZ. Allows them to fit 2TB on one platter. A couple people reported they have/had problems with them in Tivos. One was a Premiere, ended up getting it working. The other a Roamio, never found out if they figured out what the problem was. They ARE CMR. Just not sure if this new CMR tech works well with Tivos.


Note, another user just purchased one of the 2TB 22PURZ to use in a Roamio. And it is working fine. So the new tech MAY be ok for Tivos.


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## Old Roamio 0 (Jul 19, 2020)

I took mines apart - an ota one from Channel Masters. I wasn't successful. The hard drive rests in a small enclosed metal bracket. The Tivo is thin. (At least the OTA one was). You have to angle it down and slide it into the connector socket. And then push the back end down. It is tight, and a larger replacement may not allow the plastic case to close again.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

Old Roamio 0 said:


> I took mines apart - an ota one from Channel Masters. I wasn't successful. The hard drive rests in a small enclosed metal bracket. The Tivo is thin. (At least the OTA one was). You have to angle it down and slide it into the connector socket. And then push the back end down. It is tight, and a larger replacement may not allow the plastic case to close again.


Well do you want a CMR drive, not SMR. If don't want to go external, not a lot of choices. Current model largest would be 1TB WD Red Plus. If you want to hunt down a discontinued model that will fit an Edge try the 2TB HN-M201RAD / ST2000LM003. There are a few older model 2.5" CMR drives (2-3TB) but most are 15mm and would be a tight squeeze. The M003 uses only 3 platters so is 9.5mm, will fit Edge no problem. The hard part will be to find new/new old stock, not really a good idea to get refurb or used with a 2.5".


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## Old Roamio 0 (Jul 19, 2020)

Thank you. It was last year. I had bought a drive on Amazon. Turns out it was not so good a thing to do. So, I put the old smaller original drive back in, and my TiVo worked again. That replacement one fit down in the bracket with the connector, but the metal casing inside couldn't get screwed back down. But the drive problem wasn't just that the one I bought was too large. The replacement drive had stayed on please wait, almost there, forever. Thanks.


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## tivois4me (May 7, 2004)

Great post. I completely agree with tommage1 about keeping the SATA connection; one less failure mode.

Question: I used a DMM and measured the SATA power voltages inside my TiVo Edge. It provides +5V and +12V, but not +3.3V. I noticed the original 2TB TiVo HDD is +5V at 1.0 A maximum current. Most higher performance HDD's use both +5V and +12V. I connected a 3.5" CMR HDD to both the data and power SATA connections in my TiVo. The TiVo booted and started the set-up process, which is great. My HDD power draw is +5V @ 0.6A and +12V @ 0.7A. How can I find out if my TiVo power supply is OK with supplying the additional +12V load? Then all I need is a nice external HDD enclosure without any power supply.


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## tivois4me (May 7, 2004)

tivois4me said:


> Great post. I completely agree with tommage1 about keeping the SATA connection; one less failure mode.
> 
> Question: I used a DMM and measured the SATA power voltages inside my TiVo Edge. It provides +5V and +12V, but not +3.3V. I noticed the original 2TB TiVo HDD is +5V at 1.0 A maximum current. Most higher performance HDD's use both +5V and +12V. I connected a 3.5" CMR HDD to both the data and power SATA connections in my TiVo. The TiVo booted and started the set-up process, which is great. My HDD power draw is +5V @ 0.6A and +12V @ 0.7A. How can I find out if my TiVo power supply is OK with supplying the additional +12V load? Then all I need is a nice external HDD enclosure without any power supply. I'm hoping that TiVo used a standard SATA power supply requirement for their internal design.


I guess the main question is, "Has anyone happened to get schematics for the TiVo Edge 2TB for Antenna?" 😃😃


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## markjrenna (Mar 23, 2006)

What is the drive that comes in Edge from the factory?


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