# Series 3 hard drive replacement



## buscuitboy (Aug 8, 2005)

I have a Series 3 (OLED) that needs a new hard drive. This unit will be used in a basement rec room and not heavily used. Therefore, I just want to get an inexpensive replacement. Another 250GB drive would be fine with me. I also have a Series 3 image. I have used it for another Series 3 I have (along with WinMFS) to restore it to working condition. It worked great so I can prepare this one myself as well.

Trying to find a CURRENT list of good replacement drives to pick from. My initial research seems to indicate that I should go with a Western Digital 3.0Gb/s SATA "Blue" Caviar brand/model. Does this sound about right? I realize its probably gonna be hard to find a NEW 250GB SATA drive as this size is probably not really made anymore so can go with something larger if needed (320GB or 500GB) & the price is right. Been looking at Newegg.com, Amazon and TigerDirect. I'm wondering if this about the best I'm gonna be able to do:

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360592130&sr=8-1&keywords=western+digital+SATA+3.5+3.0

Again, I'm not looking to spend a lot, but also wanted to find a CURRENT list of good hard drive replacement brands (if available).


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

I know you're shopping based on price, but you can get a 500 GB Western Digital drive designed for DVR use for about seven more bucks: WD5000AVDS.


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## buscuitboy (Aug 8, 2005)

looks good to me and that will work. Looks like it might be the best way to go anyway & more suited for a TiVO application. Thanks


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## Thos19 (Dec 31, 2002)

Biscuitboy,

If you haven't bought a replacement drive for your Series 3OLED, I have the original 250GB drive from my Series 3 OLED (I sold the unit recently with a 1TB upgrade drive).

If you're interested, I'm sure we could come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. 

Thos.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

You should have grabbed a WD20EURS when they were $100 last week.

Now they're $108

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0042AG9V8

Best GB/$ ratio, made specifically for AV use, 3 year warranty, and apparently if you're running 11.0k you can use WinMFS to expand into all of the drive.


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## MapleLeaf (Oct 12, 2007)

unitron said:


> You should have grabbed a WD20EURS when they were $100 last week.
> 
> Now they're $108
> 
> ...


Actually, it was Newegg that dropped their price to $100 last week, and it should still be good for another few hours (I think until 11:59PST on 2/13/2013). You even started the thread, Unitron: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=500679

I've checked Amazon several times since your initial post, and it seems like they never bothered to match the price (perhaps because their pricing engine couldn't properly reconcile the required promo code?).


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## buscuitboy (Aug 8, 2005)

I actually JUST got an older DELL desktop from a family friend. While I have reformatted it & reinstalled XP, its not gonna be a heavily used PC and is now simply in the same basement area. However, I just realized and wonder if I could pull its hard drive and put it in this Series 3 TiVo.

I went to XP's disk management area and checked out the properties of this drive. It looks like its a 500GB Samsung HD501LJ SATA 3.0 hard drive. Would this brand/model work in the Series 3 OLED unit? Or is not really suited for DVR applications and most likely will burn up over time?

Here is a link to its description:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152052


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

buscuitboy said:


> I actually JUST got an older DELL desktop from a family friend. While I have reformatted it & reinstalled XP, its not gonna be a heavily used PC and is now simply in the same basement area. However, I just realized and wonder if I could pull its hard drive and put it in this Series 3 TiVo.
> 
> I went to XP's disk management area and checked out the properties of this drive. It looks like its a 500GB Samsung HD501LJ SATA 3.0 hard drive. Would this brand/model work in the Series 3 OLED unit? Or is not really suited for DVR applications and most likely will burn up over time?
> 
> ...


That's from back when Samsungs were Samsungs, before Seagate got hold of them.

If I could get my choice of hard drives for free I'd put a slower spinning cooler running drive in that S3, but I'm running a similar 1TB, an HD103SJ, in an S2 without problem, so I wouldn't hesitate to use that one of yours in the S3.

Just put the unit where it gets plenty of air, maybe add rubber feet to give it more intake area underneath.


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