# Move Hard Drive from one Roamio to another Roamio?



## A2JetGuy (Jan 24, 2013)

Roamio #1 (monthly) has a 2TB hard drive that I installed when I bought the Roamio over a year ago, so there are lots of shows recorded on it. I just bought Roamio #2 with a lifetime subscription, but I haven't received it yet therefore it has not yet been activated. 

I'd like to retire Roamio #1 along with its monthly fees making Roamio #2 my primary.

Is it possible to remove the 2TB hard drive from Roamio #1 and install it in Roamio #2 and preserve the shows already recorded on it?

I looked, but I couldn't find the answer in any other threads. 
I apologize if I missed it.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

A2JetGuy said:


> Is it possible to remove the 2TB hard drive from Roamio #1 and install it in Roamio #2 and preserve the shows already recorded on it?


No, the most you can do it to transfer any non copy-protected recordings to the new box.

All recordings are encrypted using the unique serial number on that motherboard.


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## WO312 (Jan 24, 2003)

I assume you could retire the old Roamio but leave it on and watch the shows that are on it. You just couldn't record anything new. Or has that changed with Roamio??


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## A2JetGuy (Jan 24, 2013)

Thanks for the answers!
Just thought I'd check before I ordered a new hard drive. 
Thanks again.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

WO312 said:


> I assume you could retire the old Roamio but leave it on and watch the shows that are on it. You just couldn't record anything new. Or has that changed with Roamio??


I believe the source Roamio has to be in service in order to stream or transfer from it, so if you are still paying monthly or have lifetime then yes, you can watch everything on the old Roamio. Things that can't be transferred can almost always be streamed instead.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

ej42137 said:


> I believe the source Roamio has to be in service in order to stream or transfer from it,...


Can anybody confirm or deny this?

I could swear I could still transfer from my out of service HD. I know I couldn't record. Perhaps it's changed with the Roamio.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

waynomo said:


> Can anybody confirm or deny this?
> 
> I could swear I could still transfer from my out of service HD. I know I couldn't record. Perhaps it's changed with the Roamio.


Nope, no service means no network features of which transferring is one of the big ones... it's been this way from S2 to Roamio.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

You can also use a PC and TiVo Desktop/KMTTG to transfer the recordings to. Then you can transfer while the old TiVo is in service and when you get the new TiVo you can transfer the shows from the PC to the TiVo.


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## Pnyklr (Aug 4, 2015)

I was going to start a new thread but this is close enough for my question.

I bought a Plus a couple of months back and swapped the drive for a 3GB drive.

My question is can I use the drive I took out of the Plus and use it in the new Basic 4 tuner Roamio I just bought?


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## thefisch (Jul 25, 2015)

yes you can.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

thefisch said:


> yes you can.


With one caveat - If the drive was ever booted in the Plus you will still have to run Clear & Delete Everything to "marry" it to the motherboard. You could also hook it up to a computer and wipe the first few sectors before putting it in the basic. That will force it to rebuild the drive from scratch, which only takes about 3-4 minutes as opposed to hours for C&DE.


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## Pnyklr (Aug 4, 2015)

ggieseke said:


> With one caveat - If the drive was ever booted in the Plus you will still have to run Clear & Delete Everything to "marry" it to the motherboard. You could also hook it up to a computer and wipe the first few sectors before putting it in the basic. That will force it to rebuild the drive from scratch, which only takes about 3-4 minutes as opposed to hours for C&DE.


And with that I now have a plan.

Yes the drive from the plus was booted in the TiVo box before I swapped in the 3GB drive. I'll just drop it into my PC and take care of it before use.

Thanks!


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

ggieseke said:


> With one caveat - If the drive was ever booted in the Plus you will still have to run Clear & Delete Everything to "marry" it to the motherboard. You could also hook it up to a computer and *wipe the first few sectors* before putting it in the basic. That will force it to rebuild the drive from scratch, which only takes about 3-4 minutes as opposed to hours for C&DE.


Would a 'diskpart clean' be sufficient?


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

I think it would, but I haven't tested it. Anything that wipes the first sector on the disk will work. I usually use the write zeros test in the WD diagnostics. One of the options is to just wipe the first and last million sectors, which runs in a few minutes.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

ggieseke said:


> I usually use the write zeros test in the WD diagnostics. One of the options is to just wipe the first and last million sectors, which runs in a few minutes.


Ah, Ok, I'll check that out. I wasn't aware of that option and feared aborting a write zero operation on the whole disk. Thanks.


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## lumpy1977 (Feb 10, 2015)

ggieseke said:


> With one caveat - If the drive was ever booted in the Plus you will still have to run Clear & Delete Everything to "marry" it to the motherboard. You could also hook it up to a computer and wipe the first few sectors before putting it in the basic. That will force it to rebuild the drive from scratch, which only takes about 3-4 minutes as opposed to hours for C&DE.


I know this is an old thread but I just moved a 3TB from a plus to a roamio OTA and failed to do the clear and delete everything. Not sure why I didn't search first, I thought tivos automatically did the clear and delete anytime a new drive was installed. Hoping the clear and delete will fix my problems.


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