# HD replace on my Roamio Pro without loosing Cable Card pairing



## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

I have a Roamio Pro running TE3, a little over 5 years old. I bought it from TiVo with factory 3TB green drive, which has always been enough storage space for me. I was thinking about replacing the drive soon with another 3TB, and holding on to the original as a backup. I will probably get the recommended WD Red. I've read different opinions whether I will loose my cable card pairing. I really don't want to loose the pairing. I don't care about loosing my recorded shows and such, just not the pairing.
Can I just pop it in, or do I need to use MFS Tools 3.2?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

You can just pop it in. You will lose cable card pairing.

If you still receive all the channels you watch, you can wait for a snowy day to re-pair the card. If you have premium channels then you need pairing to get them back. I waited a year before pairing after changing my hard drive.

Is there a reason you are doing all this work?


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> You can just pop it in. You will lose cable card pairing.
> 
> If you still receive all the channels you watch, you can wait for a snowy day to re-pair the card. If you have premium channels then you need pairing to get them back. I waited a year before pairing after changing my hard drive.
> 
> Is there a reason you are doing all this work?


Just to keep my Roamio Pro going strong, I guess maintenance. I replaced the fan, run a UPS, and keep it cool and clean inside.
Maybe I should wait on the HD until I really need it. Pairing it was not fun with calling Comcast.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

Make a Backup of your OnePasses, Thumbs and Channels with KMTTG.

Then, it's easy to get back up and running, especially if you don't care about your shows.

Re-pairing your CableCard isn't that big of a deal...

-KP


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

kpeters59 said:


> Make a Backup of your OnePasses, Thumbs and Channels with KMTTG.
> 
> Then, it's easy to get back up and running, especially if you don't care about your shows.
> 
> ...


I do use KMTTG, but have only used it to permanently delete my deleted shows. I'll check it out for backup

I'm glad re-pairing is better now. I still have to call my cable provider, right?


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## DougJohnson (Dec 12, 2006)

Finalrinse said:


> Just to keep my Roamio Pro going strong, I guess maintenance. I replaced the fan, run a UPS, and keep it cool and clean inside.
> Maybe I should wait on the HD until I really need it. Pairing it was not fun with calling Comcast.


If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Today's hard drives claim MTBF times of a million hours or so. About 125 years. I'm not sure I believe that, but the hard drive in my TiVo has been spinning for over 7 years and the ones in my NAS for over 5 years. -- Doug


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

DougJohnson said:


> If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Today's hard drives claim MTBF times of a million hours or so. About 125 years. I'm not sure I believe that, but the hard drive in my TiVo has been spinning for over 7 years and the ones in my NAS for over 5 years. -- Doug


I agree, that's what I'll do


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

*Comcast*

CableCARD Activation Line:1-877-405-2298
Support Site
Self-Install Guide


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

Finalrinse said:


> Pairing it was not fun with calling Comcast.


I'm not on Comcast, but I've heard that Comcast has an automated CableCARD pairing website that works pretty well, so you usually don't have to call them to pair a card.


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

tarheelblue32 said:


> I'm not on Comcast, but I've heard that Comcast has an automated CableCARD pairing website that works pretty well, so you usually don't have to call them to pair a card.


Interesting, I'll have to search for that


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

ThAbtO said:


> *Comcast*
> 
> CableCARD Activation Line:1-877-405-2298
> Support Site
> Self-Install Guide


Thanks


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## Wigohwt (Jun 9, 2019)

Finalrinse said:


> Thanks


Note, sometimes the online site doesn't work for re-pairing.

Why not just buy a WD Red 4TB and use MFS Tools to copy and expand in one step. No losses of any kind. Then delete what recordings you don't want either manually or with kmttg.


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

Wigohwt said:


> Note, sometimes the online site doesn't work for re-pairing.
> 
> Why not just buy a WD Red 4TB and use MFS Tools to copy and expand in one step. No losses of any kind. Then delete what recordings you don't want either manually or with kmttg.


Does this include pairing?


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## Wigohwt (Jun 9, 2019)

Finalrinse said:


> Does this include pairing?


Yes, everything. Pairing, recordings, thumbs, one-passes, selected channels, TDL, everything...


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## Wigohwt (Jun 9, 2019)

As per MFS Tools thread for Roamio:

Identify your sdX and sdY
*lsblk -o name,size,vendor*

Make copy up to 4TB (includes expand)
Where sdX is the source (old) drive and sdY is the target (new) drive.
*mfscopy -a /dev/sdX /dev/sdY
*
Your TiVo system information should show a recording capacity over 600 HD hours.


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

Wigohwt said:


> Yes, everything. Pairing, recordings, thumbs, one-passes, selected channels, TDL, everything...


Thanks!


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## Finalrinse (Jan 13, 2005)

Wigohwt said:


> As per MFS Tools thread for Roamio:
> 
> Identify your sdX and sdY
> *lsblk -o name,size,vendor*
> ...


Thanks!


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## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

If you really want to go wild, check out DIY 10TB Roamio
12TB and 14TB may also be possible.


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## Wigohwt (Jun 9, 2019)

snerd said:


> If you really want to go wild, check out DIY 10TB Roamio
> 12TB and 14TB may also be possible.


The OP stated they believed the 3TB was enough, so that's why I suggested the more practical to buy and upgrade 4TB. Of course, this doesn't stop them from going up to 10TB in the future.

I always wondered if one could bless an 8TB, use mfsr, get the Roamio working, clone to a 14TB, and use MFS Tools to expand 3 times. Do you know if this has been done and it works? Just curious. I don't see myself actually doing this.


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## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

Wigohwt said:


> I always wondered if one could bless an 8TB, use mfsr, get the Roamio working, clone to a 14TB, and use MFS Tools to expand 3 times. Do you know if this has been done and it works? Just curious. I don't see myself actually doing this.


I'm not completely up to speed on the subtleties of going beyond 10TB. I believe there are some extra hoops beyond just using MFS Tools. Something about manual manipulation of the APM, but I haven't seen a full description of what that involves.


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## spiderpumpkin (Dec 1, 2017)

I recently bought a cheap Roamio Plus with only a year or two of use on eBay, and then I upgraded to an old 3TB WD30EZRX I had on hand. The upgrade and Comcast cablecard pairing was easy and all was well. 

Then today, I decided I would shuck an 8TB WD Easystore I've had for a while and use that drive in the Roamio. I installed the new drive following the MSFR instructions and the Roamio was now 8TB. However, the drive upgrade changed my device's cablecard data number and the pairing was messed up with a bad validation. 

I was able to unpair and pair the cablecard eventually using the Comcast cablecard activation site but it took a lot of trial and error. I found that you need to pair the cablecard until the data number matches the most current and then it's still not valid. In order to get it to work you need to then unpair the card from the Roamio by entering a host id and data number from a previous Tivo you paired in the past and still have the numbers. Once you pair the card to that old Tivo it unpairs the invalid pairing of the Roamio and then the next time you enter the Roamio host id and data it will pair and by valid.


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## gree0276 (Aug 18, 2006)

spiderpumpkin, confirmed! There are some odd issues with the web site when it comes to unpairing and re-pairing. Your process did get me up and running again!


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## susandennis (Dec 10, 2001)

I logged on here just now to ask about replacing my Roamio drive. My unit is 4 years old. The other night, for the first time ever, it spontaneously rebooted 3 times in an hour and a half. The last two times the reboot was prefaced by some serious pixelation which I also have not seen before on this unit. So I'm thinking hard drive replacement. I bought one from Weakknees and, Murphy's Law, it has not rebooted or in any way acted up since. 

So... replace anyway? Or wait until it dies? 

I get the ain't broke don't fix it thots, but, now is also a perfect time to replace. I've got no programming I am attached to on the current drive and all the One Pass info saved on my other TiVo. Are there factors I'm not considering?

Also, if I do replace and something happens, is my current drive a viable backup? Just slap it back in?


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

I'd make a copy of my OnePasses and Channels List with KMTTG and then use that drive until it can't be used.

You may want to download any Shows you're 'archiving' in case they get lost.

-KP


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## susandennis (Dec 10, 2001)

I did replace the hard drive with the one from Weaknees. It did NOT require me to do anything with the cable card. I do not have Comcast. I have Wave Broadband. I also did not use KMTTG. I didn't have any shows to save. I used Online TiVo to save my OnePasses to my other TiVo and ported them back after. My channel choices were simple enough to do by hand. 

I set up my first TiVo in 2000 and my recollection was that it took nearly 10 hours from start to finish. Granted I did skip the card pairing but from unplug to finish set up was under 2 hours.


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