# WD Expander



## brbakr (Feb 12, 2012)

My first post here, so hello to everyone.
My wife wanted a way to record TV shows, so I bought her a Tivo for Christmas.
I finally got around to installing it this past Monday. Now that I have, I wish I didn't wait so long.
Anyway I was in Best Buy yesterday and they had the WD dvr expander on clearance, they had one left and I picked it up.

I came here, and on the internet to read up on it and I read somewhere that they are not being produced any longer.
If this is true what are the options for the 2 year warranty in case something happens to it in the future? if any.
Also, given this is it still a decent buy at half the regular price?

Thanks for your time and input
Bruce


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## arizon (Apr 16, 2010)

brbakr said:


> My first post here, so hello to everyone.
> My wife wanted a way to record TV shows, so I bought her a Tivo for Christmas.
> I finally got around to installing it this past Monday. Now that I have, I wish I didn't wait so long.
> Anyway I was in Best Buy yesterday and they had the WD dvr expander on clearance, they had one left and I picked it up.
> ...


I got my first TPXL in April 2010 and installed a WD expander at the same time. I have not had any problems with the expander itself. However, I have had issues with older 14.x software not always recognizing the expander, requiring multiple reboots. Since the 20.2 software was released, I have not experienced that problem so far.

--Arizon


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

There are two different sizes, which did you get? The 500 GB unit is no longer produced, but as far as I know the the 1 TB unit was not stopped from production. I don't see it on the tivo site, so I'm wondering if it is simply a short term victim of the hard drive shortage.

Half price of of what?


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## brbakr (Feb 12, 2012)

I'm sorry, I got the 1TB and I paid $69.00

Bruce


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## mrsean (May 15, 2006)

brbakr said:


> If this is true what are the options for the 2 year warranty in case something happens to it in the future? if any.


I'm, pretty sure that you will still be covered the entire two years. WD is very good when it comes to warranties based on my past experience with them. Here's the real question -Is the warranty two years from the date of manufacture or the sale date?

I would think that it would be the date of sale just as long as you pre-registered the Expander or if you could produce a valid sales receipt at the time of repair.

You could probably could get clarification on this from WD's website or by shooting them an email.


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## arizon (Apr 16, 2010)

brbakr said:


> I'm sorry, I got the 1TB and I paid $69.00
> 
> Bruce


At that price and the current disk drive shortage due to the Thailand flooding, I would bet that a lot of them are being bought for just the drive itself. 

--Arizon


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## CoxInPHX (Jan 14, 2011)

From the WD Warranty registration site:
By default, the warranty date is calculated from the manufacture date. However, if you have proof of purchase, we can update the warranty to calculate it from the purchase date. If you feel that the warranty date needs to be updated from the purchase date, please follow the instructions below.

1. Send us an email from this link: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php
2. Put in "Update warranty" in the subject line.
3. Attach a picture or a scanned copy of your purchase receipt (jpg, jpeg, or gif formats only, max 500KB)
4. Send the email.

Once we receive the email, we will verify the information and update the warranty accordingly. You will receive a response from us about the status of your email.

WD Warranty Check for End User
http://websupport.wdc.com/warranty/...455&custtype=end&requesttype=warranty&lang=en


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

brbakr said:


> I'm sorry, I got the 1TB and I paid $69.00
> 
> Bruce


You made out like a bandit.

However, let me suggest that you use that thing connected to a computer for storage instead and upgrade the internal drive in the TiVo to something bigger.

If you have one drive in the TiVo and it fails you lose the recordings on it, but...

When you attach an external drive to the TiVo, in order to keep the content providers happy, it splits up each recording across both drives, so the failure of either means the loss of the recording.

Adding a second drive means the chance of a drive failing doubles.

Also, those external drives are notorious for having problems with the data cable that connects them to the TiVo, even though the cable is just sitting there, not moving around, and this often leads to corruption of the drives from which it's not always possible to recover and a hassle to do so even if it is.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

I agree with Unitron here on all counts. I may need to stop by my local best buy to look for this, a fantastic deal even before the hard drive shortage.


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## LDLDL (Jan 12, 2002)

unitron said:


> You made out like a bandit.
> 
> However, let me suggest that you use that thing connected to a computer for storage instead and upgrade the internal drive in the TiVo to something bigger.
> 
> ...


Oh thanks so much for this information as I thought my external hard drive went. The 1TB drive isn't even six months old and as of last night, it wasn't recognized. Lost a lot of shows, but this was the bedroom DVR and not the main one. I'm going to disconnect the cable from the other DVR and see if it will work. That way I will know if it is the cable. Will post after I find out.


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## DocNo (Oct 10, 2001)

LDLDL said:


> I'm going to disconnect the cable from the other DVR and see if it will work. That way I will know if it is the cable.


I wouldn't mess with a working Tivo/HD setup! Before you do that, just try unplugging and plugging in the cable on the misbehaving hard drive/DVR combo (with both powered off of course!) a few times, then power up the external HD and then the Tivo and see how it goes.

Also, your eSATA cable should go in almost a good half an inch - I had to trim the plastic around the end that went into the Tivo for the first cable I had. There was an obvious difference from the cable plugging into the external drive to the back of the Tivo, and I had a few lockups and issues until I trimmed the cable so it would seat better into the Tivo. A few minutes with a sharp razor blade to carefully remove some extra plastic (from the cable, not the Tivo!) made all the difference in the world - the cable seats much deeper and it's noticeably more stable.


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## LDLDL (Jan 12, 2002)

It's not the cable!!! However, I've noticed that the new software is acting very odd. When Tivo reboots, I don't get the cartoon in the beginning, the menus are transparent. In other words, when I go to settings, I can see the program that is on. When I'm on a station and hit rewind, the Tivo emblem on the left is missing. I guess I will call Tivo this evening.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

LDLDL said:


> It's not the cable!!! However, I've noticed that the new software is acting very odd. When Tivo reboots, I don't get the cartoon in the beginning, the menus are transparent. In other words, when I go to settings, I can see the program that is on. When I'm on a station and hit rewind, the Tivo emblem on the left is missing. I guess I will call Tivo this evening.


No, it's usually the connectors on the ends of the cable.

As for the lack of backgrounds (which is something I'd like to be able to toggle on or off), I've seen that on S1s and S2s, and sometimes it's temporary, like the TiVo couldn't find it in time to put it up and decided not to bother with it.


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## logicman (Sep 14, 2005)

It appears WD discontinued the My DVR Expander and replaced it with the My Book AV. Although the product page doesn't specifically mention compatibility with TiVo units it states: My Book AV has both USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces so your drive is compatible with most DVRs and other AV devices.

The WD web site says the My Book AV is out of stock, but clicking the Where to buy link lists a number of internet stores that claim to have it in stock.


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## socrplyr (Jul 19, 2006)

logicman said:


> It appears WD discontinued the My DVR Expander and replaced it with the My Book AV. Although the product page doesn't specifically mention compatibility with TiVo units it states: My Book AV has both USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces so your drive is compatible with most DVRs and other AV devices.
> 
> The WD web site says the My Book AV is out of stock, but clicking the Where to buy link lists a number of internet stores that claim to have it in stock.


The product card for the WDBABT0010HBK (My Book AV) shows a Tivo Verified logo on it.

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/AAG/ENG/4178-705115.pdf


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## socrplyr (Jul 19, 2006)

The box on Newegg's site also clearly (well maybe fuzzily) shows Tivo on the front for the My Book AV.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136602

Also, Tivo's site calls it the My Book AV.
http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/howto/getconnected/howto_add_recording_capacity.html

So it looks like the My DVR Expander has been replaced.


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## LDLDL (Jan 12, 2002)

unitron said:


> You made out like a bandit.
> 
> However, let me suggest that you use that thing connected to a computer for storage instead and upgrade the internal drive in the TiVo to something bigger.
> 
> ...


Technical Support for Tivo is not my friend at this moment.... They couldn't explain why I am getting transparent menus. I go to my to do list, and I see what is playing on the tuner! The tech I spoke with had no clue. Now, my thoughts are to return my box to Amazon for another one. Or, keep what I have and upgrade the drive to a 2TB. That way I can use the expander for an external drive on my computers. Your thoughts would be appreciated.


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

LDLDL said:


> Technical Support for Tivo is not my friend at this moment.... They couldn't explain why I am getting transparent menus. I go to my to do list, and I see what is playing on the tuner! The tech I spoke with had no clue. Now, my thoughts are to return my box to Amazon for another one. Or, keep what I have and upgrade the drive to a 2TB. That way I can use the expander for an external drive on my computers. Your thoughts would be appreciated.


You need to find out what's wrong before you consider upgrading the box. I can't imagine how your "transparent menus" problem could be related to an external hard drive. It would surely be caused by a defect in the TiVo hardware or (conceivably, depending on how they handle video feeds) by a glitch in the TiVo software. Does anybody know whether the software could cause this problem?


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## LDLDL (Jan 12, 2002)

L David Matheny said:


> You need to find out what's wrong before you consider upgrading the box. I can't imagine how your "transparent menus" problem could be related to an external hard drive. It would surely be caused by a defect in the TiVo hardware or (conceivably, depending on how they handle video feeds) by a glitch in the TiVo software. Does anybody know whether the software could cause this problem?


The tech knew nothing. I'm figuring that it has to be the software. Why would all of a sudden Tivo would stop recognizing the expander. It's new and I bought it the same time I got the Premier (October 2011). You know what? It has a USB port. I'm going to take it and connect it up to my computer and see if it is recognized. I'll post back. Meanwhile, I did start a new post about the transparent menu as this is driving me crazy and can't understand why the Tivo people don't know why it's happening. They better get their act together or else I WILL stop capitalizing their name!!!! In the future I will mention.... tivo ....


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## LDLDL (Jan 12, 2002)

LDLDL said:


> The tech knew nothing. I'm figuring that it has to be the software. Why would all of a sudden Tivo would stop recognizing the expander. It's new and I bought it the same time I got the Premier (October 2011). You know what? It has a USB port. I'm going to take it and connect it up to my computer and see if it is recognized. I'll post back. Meanwhile, I did start a new post about the transparent menu as this is driving me crazy and can't understand why the Tivo people don't know why it's happening. They better get their act together or else I WILL stop capitalizing their name!!!! In the future I will mention.... tivo ....


Well the Tivo techs did get something right.... it's the expander!!!!! My computer won't recognize it! I guess I have to send it back, only this time it will be used as an external drive on my computer for movies!!!!!


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

LDLDL said:


> Well the Tivo techs did get something right.... it's the expander!!!!! My computer won't recognize it! I guess I have to send it back, only this time it will be used as an external drive on my computer for movies!!!!!


But are you saying that the "transparent menus" problem remains even after you disconnected the expander (and rebooted)? If it only occurs while the expander is connected, I missed that the first time around. I still can't imagine how the expander could cause such a video problem.


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## LDLDL (Jan 12, 2002)

L David Matheny said:


> But are you saying that the "transparent menus" problem remains even after you disconnected the expander (and rebooted)?


Yeah... still have the transparent menus! Everything works fine! Time to go to DVR Dude!!!!

Of course I get sooooooo excited when I'm spending my money!!!!!


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

LDLDL said:


> Yeah... still have the transparent menus! Everything works fine! Time to go to DVR Dude!!!!
> 
> Of course I get sooooooo excited when I'm spending my money!!!!!


Having had that happen to me temporarily on S1s or S2s (or maybe it was both), I'd actually prefer it that way most of the time.

That way I could do stuff and still hear the sound and sort of see the picture.

All of those backgrounds should have been stored on the main drive.

If they're spanning stuff other than recorded shows across both drives, that's a receipe for support line disaster.

The TiVo is supposed to be able to survive the failure of the external. The shows don't, but the TiVo itself is supposed to be able to.

By the way, next time start your own thread about your own problem in whatever's the most appropriate forum, so we can keep the details mentally separated when responding.

And don't threadjack and then start your own thread about the same problem.


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## LDLDL (Jan 12, 2002)

unitron said:


> Having had that happen to me temporarily on S1s or S2s (or maybe it was both), I'd actually prefer it that way most of the time.
> 
> That way I could do stuff and still hear the sound and sort of see the picture.
> 
> ...


Thank you, will do! I sort of thought about not doing the new thread, but I wanted some answers and since Tivo couldn't provide anything that would satisfy me, I posted another thread. Only because I felt that I would get more of a response from my "Transparent Menu" thread than the thread I was replying on. And I thought I had already explained that!


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

LDLDL said:


> Thank you, will do! I sort of thought about not doing the new thread, but I wanted some answers and since Tivo couldn't provide anything that would satisfy me, I posted another thread. Only because I felt that I would get more of a response from my "Transparent Menu" thread than the thread I was replying on. And I thought I had already explained that!


Then meet me over there.


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## Dr_Diablo (Nov 24, 2003)

brbakr said:


> I'm sorry, I got the 1TB and I paid $69.00
> 
> Bruce


great price, wish I could find one that cheap...

allow your internal drive to get nearly full before you add the Expander drive


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## brbakr (Feb 12, 2012)

unitron said:


> Having had that happen to me temporarily on S1s or S2s (or maybe it was both), I'd actually prefer it that way most of the time.
> 
> That way I could do stuff and still hear the sound and sort of see the picture.
> 
> ...


Thanks for addressing the threadjacking, I was like what gives.
Anyway thanks to CoxInPHX for pointing out the steps to take in getting the warranty corrected, when I registered it with WD, the warranty expires in October of this year. MY bad the full name of the drive is, My Book AV DVR Expander, so yeah, it is the same as being sold on other sites, they are probably sold out because of the flooding issue, not from discontinuing production.
Thanks to everyone for the helpful replies.
Bruce


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

Dr_Diablo said:


> ...
> 
> allow your internal drive to get nearly full before you add the Expander drive


what's the rationale?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

MichaelK said:


> what's the rationale?


When the external fails and has to be divorced, you lose all of the shows recorded after it was connected, because each show is spanned across both drives.

Filling up the internal first won't change that, but you'll have more stuff that survives the failure of the external that you can still watch.

The best external drive is probably a bigger internal one.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

unitron said:


> When the external fails and has to be divorced, you lose all of the shows recorded after it was connected, because each show is spanned across both drives.
> 
> Filling up the internal first won't change that, but you'll have more stuff that survives the failure of the external that you can still watch.
> ....


true but unless you have something you keeps for years then eventually just about everything has spanned the drives.



unitron said:


> ...
> 
> The best external drive is probably a bigger internal one.


For some folks, but for plenty of people an external drive is just fine.

To many it's just not worth the time to dig out the torx screwdriver, download and read up on the tools, and then get an adapter or stick the drives into a pc someplace to prep the new drive. For many the simpler steps of plug in an external drive, reboot the tivo, and wait 5-10 minutes cuts the mustard. You still get support from tivo if something goes south in the future and you haven't (technically) voided your warranty. If the external drive dies you just unplug it and the tivo still works and you can stick a fresh drive on there. You lose (most likely) all your recordings but the fix is simple and doesn't take all the time as above to redo a new drive.

I had 2 S3's that i bought when they came out. One I added a freeagent 750gb drive to right around when external drives got supported. The free agents were somewhat problematic so i had to ditch it, but i bought a new external one and slapped it right on and that box worked like a charm since (it's still buzzing along in my kids playroom). The second box i bought the "official" 1TB external drive when those came along and it worked like a charm until a couple weeks ago when i got premiers. I took that off the S3 and slapped in on a premier- even though the external drive is years old at this point I trust it enough to use it.

Before the S3's I went the internal route (with replacement or additional internal drives) with a Philips 14hr S1, and ATT S2, and S2Dt, about 3 directivo's, and a couple HDirectivos. I also helped my sister in law and then her father increase the storage on their units internally. So I'm not averse to opening up the hood if need be. But to me, it's no longer worth the time to be bothered. If the external drive didn't meet my needs then I'd go internal route but so far so good.

People should know all the pro's and con's. Some will pick internal but for many the external is the way to go.


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## pawnslinger (Feb 17, 2012)

socrplyr said:


> The box on Newegg's site also clearly (well maybe fuzzily) shows Tivo on the front for the My Book AV.
> ...
> 
> Also, Tivo's site calls it the My Book AV.
> ...


It is out-of-stock at newegg. So, I am not sure where to find it. Last I looked even the Tivo site was out-of-stock. It is a shame that Tivo doesn't easily allow an alternative source (besides WD).

I had to remove the url's from your message, because the forum rules wouldn't allow me to post a url!!


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

i can't find anyplace with them instock. I ordered one from a place that claims to have me on a list and will drop ship from manufacturer.

I get tivo's got a deal with WD but they should update their software to allow ANY hard drive from WD that is ESATA and give us some options.


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## superhalo (Jun 23, 2008)

If anyone knows of a suitable replacement external drive that would be awesome. Would any external e-sata drive work? I don't want to change the internal drive in my premiere because I'm still under warranty.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

superhalo said:


> If anyone knows of a suitable replacement external drive that would be awesome. Would any external e-sata drive work? I don't want to change the internal drive in my premiere because I'm still under warranty.


The TiVos newer than the original S3 (TCD648250) look for specific WD model numbers by querying the external drive's firmware (the drive, not the enclosure) and if the response isn't one of those numbers, no dice.


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## mdm08033 (Apr 23, 2007)

Are the DVR expanders an abandoned product? If so I guess it is off to eBay or Craigslist.


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## logicman (Sep 14, 2005)

mdm08033 said:


> Are the DVR expanders an abandoned product? If so I guess it is off to eBay or Craigslist.


The original My DVR Expander was superseded by the My Book AV. Drive shortages are probably affecting availability but I doubt it's been abandoned.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

logicman said:


> The original My DVR Expander was superseded by the My Book AV. Drive shortages are probably affecting availability but I doubt it's been abandoned.


the my book AV is still current just affected by the drive shortages like everyone else.

I ordered one about 2 weeks ago. I was given a march 2 ship date from WD.

there's refurbs to be found online with shorter warrenties but seems you have to place an order and get on a backorder list for a new one.


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## Bsuall2 (Mar 18, 2012)

brbakr said:


> My first post here, so hello to everyone.
> My wife wanted a way to record TV shows, so I bought her a Tivo for Christmas.
> I finally got around to installing it this past Monday. Now that I have, I wish I didn't wait so long.
> Anyway I was in Best Buy yesterday and they had the WD dvr expander on clearance, they had one left and I picked it up.
> ...


I have 5 tivos and they all have dvr expanders and they have never given me one bit of problem. I got a new elite and managed to get a my book av dvr expander from cometsupply.com ordered it on 2/8/12 and just got it today. YIPPEE!!!


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## Bsuall2 (Mar 18, 2012)

pawnslinger said:


> It is out-of-stock at newegg. So, I am not sure where to find it. Last I looked even the Tivo site was out-of-stock. It is a shame that Tivo doesn't easily allow an alternative source (besides WD).
> 
> I had to remove the url's from your message, because the forum rules wouldn't allow me to post a url!!


ordered one from cometsupply.com on 2/8/12 jsut got it today. I am very relieved.


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## MichaelK (Jan 10, 2002)

amazon has them back in stock for anyone looking.


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