# Guided Setup then External Storage Missing



## dnorth12 (Feb 10, 2005)

Woke up to the dreaded guided setup screen this morning, then a software update, then the even more dreaded external storage missing message.

Have a power light on the dvr expander, went through the steps to disconnect and reconnect the dvr expander. Still have the external storage missing message.

It seems my only option here is to press CLEAR.

All those recordings lost. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

I ordered the dvr expander on Nov 4, 2105. Not sure what the warranty terms are. Can't find that on the TiVo site.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

I would pull your Bolts power plug and then the external drive power plug. Re-seat the eSata cable on both ends, plug the external drive back in, plug the Bolt back in and see what happens. 

I had/have and external drive on my Series 3 and it always takes several tries to find the drive. 

Good Luck,


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## dnorth12 (Feb 10, 2005)

atmuscarella said:


> I would pull your Bolts power plug and then the external drive power plug. Re-seat the eSata cable on both ends, plug the external drive back in, plug the Bolt back in and see what happens.
> 
> I had/have and external drive on my Series 3 and it always takes several tries to find the drive.
> 
> Good Luck,


Thanks for the suggestion, but no luck.

I have a support request in with TiVo. So I will wait until I hear back from them before going to the CLEAR button.

In the meantime, I will have to pull the comcast cable and plug it into the tv to watch anything.

Thanks again....


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## dnorth12 (Feb 10, 2005)

The one thing that bugs me about this is TiVo forcing those who want an expansion drive to use the Western Digital product. Why not support an expansion product that has a chance to last as least as long as the TiVo product?

This WD drive barely made it 6 1/2 months.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

I had the WD extender on my Premium for about six months. Then it failed. I was ready to get a Roamio, so I pulled the 1TB drive out (WD10EURX). After a year I found recordings were getting blocking errors. Last week I changed the drive for another WD10EURX. So far no problems. Two curious facts. The MBT dropped from 41 to 37. The serial number on the new drive is 2 million higher than the old drive. It takes 15 minutes to change drives. It takes over an hour to redo setup.


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## jwort93 (Dec 18, 2015)

JoeKustra said:


> I had the WD extender on my Premium for about six months. Then it failed. I was ready to get a Roamio, so I pulled the 1TB drive out (WD10EURX). After a year I found recordings were getting blocking errors. Last week I changed the drive for another WD10EURX. So far no problems. Two curious facts. The MBT dropped from 41 to 37. The serial number on the new drive is 2 million higher than the old drive. It takes 15 minutes to change drives. It takes over an hour to redo setup.


Would buying a WD10EURX by itself and putting it in a Non-WD eSata enclosure work with a Roamio/Bolt?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

jwort93 said:


> Would buying a WD10EURX by itself and putting it in a Non-WD eSata enclosure work with a Roamio/Bolt?


Sorry if I wasn't clear.
Step 1 - buy the expander from TiVo and use it on a basic Premiere.
Step 2 - have it die.
Step 3 - buy a basic Roamio, put drive from expander into it.
Step 4 - have problems with drive.
Step 5 - replace drive in Roamio with new one, problems stop (so far).

BTW, the original 500GB drive is in an USB3 enclosure and used for backup on my PC. Never know when I might need to put it back to get support.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Having 2 drives in a Tivo can be problematic because recordings are spread across the 2 drives (pieces on 1 drive, pieces on the other). Whenever either drive fails, you lose your recordings. Its why most recommend using a large single drive as shows only has to be stored on that drive and more easily recoverable.

You are limited to a max of 1 TB for the Tivo expander drives, but you can use as much (or more) of a 4 TB drive for just the internal.


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## dnorth12 (Feb 10, 2005)

Before I took off for work this morning I decided to sever the connection to the expander. After I did that the tivo box said that there was another update. I did not have time to wait around for it to see the result, so I went off to work. It is currently now at 20.6.1.RC14-USC-11-849.

Heard back from TiVo support via email while at work with a trouble shooting procedure. Basically pull all the cables including power, except the dvr expander and let the tivo sit for at least an hour. And then reboot.

So when I got home from work, not having done the trouble shooting procedure, turn on the tv and see a message the tivo has detected the dvr expander. But it really doesn't matter as every recording is gone. I did connect it and it appears to be working.

I am not sure but I suspect this had to do with the update I just received. Something went wrong overnight with it and it screwed everything up. It was asking to do a guided setup first thing this morning which is not necessary for an update.

Only seven out of 53 one pass items remain. Hopefully I can get those back via the online, which was not working earlier when I tried to log on via the web. All channels are now showing which means I have remove those I don't watch and I have to call Comcast to hit the cable card for the premium channels as if this were a new box.

All my preferences are gone as is all the guide data.

My moca still remains.

Not sure a large drive serves any better other than longevity as if it goes bad then you still lost everything. Not ready to break into my Bolt for that at this point. Still to new.

Maybe more later. Got to call comcrap.

EDIT:

One pass online is only showing seven items as well. But the to do list is still active out to the 16th of June without the one pass items that they are related to.

Also 30 second skip is still active.

This is just too weird.


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## foghorn2 (May 4, 2004)

If you are using the WD esata cable, it may be barely connecting in the bolt. Call Tivo and get the new cable for the bolt.


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