# will I lose my shows if I...?



## MASONCOOL (Mar 28, 2014)

I have Tivo Roamio Pro. The original 3TB Hard drive is about 75% full. I want to remove that drive, install a new 3TB to record shows everyday again.

Someday, later on I may want to re-install the original 75% full hard drive again to watch some Concerts I recorded on that first drive.

Can I re-install that original Hard Drive, after I've had another one in there since and expect those shows to be there like they were before I took out this original Hard Drive? Or once I remove it, can I expect the Tivo to Re-Format my 75% full Hard Drive and will Lose all my recordings, just Because I took it out?

any thoughts? advice?
Thanks.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

Tivo is not a good device for long term storage. If something goes wrong with the drive, everything is lost. Everything on the Tivo is encoded so you cannot just copy drive-to-drive directly.

Did you know you can copy those shows to your PC/Mac and later put them back on the Tivo when you want to watch them? See PyTivo, KMTTG programs.

This way, you have a backup of the shows.

Basically, if you were to swap out for another drive, you would have to start over, re-run Guided Setup, Cablecard need to be re-paired, etc. Except for any copy-protected shows that your CableCo decides to protect them.


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## MASONCOOL (Mar 28, 2014)

The shows I want to keep are copy protected, which is why I don't want to erase them from the original drive.

I was hoping that I could pull the drive out for now, and someday put it back in, and still have every show on it as the day I took it out.


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## ThAbtO (Apr 6, 2000)

You can, but you have to re-pair the cable card every time.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

MASONCOOL said:


> I was hoping that I could pull the drive out for now, and someday put it back in, and still have every show on it as the day I took it out.


A few users have reported the original drive getting reformatted but users that originally tested this didn't seem to have any problems so YMMV.

Scott


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

ThAbtO said:


> You can, but you have to re-pair the cable card every time.


You should be able to avoid that if all you want to do is watch shows that are already recorded on the old drive. Once you have the new drive set up and paired correctly to the cable card, just remember to always keep them together. If you take out the new drive, take out the cable card at the same time. When you put the new drive back in, put the cable card back in. If it ever boots up with the cable card installed and the wrong drive, then you lose the pairing.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

The OP could use MFSTools 3.2 to copy the CableCARD pairing over to the new drive without the recordings then he would not need to remove the card each time.


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

ThAbtO said:


> *Tivo is not a good device for long term storage*. If something goes wrong with the drive, everything is lost. Everything on the Tivo is encoded so you cannot just copy drive-to-drive directly.
> 
> Did you know you can copy those shows to your PC/Mac and later put them back on the Tivo when you want to watch them? See PyTivo, KMTTG programs.
> 
> ...






ThAbtO said:


> You can, but *you have to re-pair the cable card every time*.






ggieseke said:


> You should be able to avoid that if all you want to do is watch shows that are already recorded on the old drive. *Once you have the new drive set up and paired correctly to the cable card, just remember to always keep them together. If you take out the new drive, take out the cable card at the same time. When you put the new drive back in, put the cable card back in*. If it ever boots up with the cable card installed and the wrong drive, then you lose the pairing.






jmbach said:


> *The OP could use MFSTools 3.2 to copy the CableCARD pairing over to the new drive without the recordings then he would not need to remove the card each time*.






MASONCOOL said:


> I have Tivo Roamio Pro. The original 3TB Hard drive is about 75% full. *I want to remove that drive, install a new 3TB to record shows everyday again.
> 
> Someday, later on I may want to re-install the original 75% full hard drive again to watch some Concerts I recorded on that first drive.
> 
> ...




Absolutely true.
.
Are you sure of this?
.
If all he's swapping is the HDD, according to the TCF User in the MFS Tools 3.2 thread, this SHOULDN'T be a problem.
.
OR a 'Cloning Dock', like the MediaSonic.
.

@ MASONCOOL,

I'm confused by (most of the) replies from the 'Experienced Old-Timers' - there is a fellow, over on the MFS Tools 3.2 thread, who ROUTINELY pulls the HDD in his TiVO, pops it into a MediaSonic Dual-Bay Cloning Dock, makes an overnight copy and then installs the copy back in his TiVo to "evenly distribute the wear" between TWO physical HDDs. While, at this time, this seems to be TOO MUCH WORK for me, it has been working for him for quite some time, so I don't understand the misgivings of the "Pros" here.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Copying the existing drive with MFSTools 3.2 or cloning it will usually preserve the cable card pairing. The OP asked about installing a new drive, and TiVo assigns a globally unique identifier to each drive during the format process. That GUID (along with other hardware info) is used as a unique key in the cable card pairing process. In some cases it has been reported that even a byte-for-byte cloned drive broke the pairing, so I can only assume that the cable provider in those cases is also looking at the drive's serial number. I stand by my advice to always keep the drive and the cable card together.

There have also been a few recent posts where people put the original drive back in their Roamio or Bolt and it was immediately reformatted. That's probably due to differences between the OS version on the flash memory and the OS version on the drive, but that's just a guess. If the OP can't stand the thought of ever losing those recordings, my advice would be to jump on the summer meltdown sale the ends today and buy another Pro (mine should arrive this afternoon).


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