# Tivo Roamio Plus - Dead HDD/Replacement?



## sandi_k (Jan 31, 2009)

So, we purchased a new Tivo Roamio Plus from Best Buy 3 years ago. The hard drive has been making weird noises this week, so we unplugged it, and let it sit overnight.

Now when it's plugged in, the Startup Menu is stuck and won't advance.

This is a model TCD 848000.

We have the lifetime service agreement, so we're loathe to just buy another one. When this happened with our Series One years ago, we went to Fry's and bought a new HDD and installed it ourselves.

1) Is that possible? If so, what would we be looking for?
2) If not, any other suggestions?

TIA,

Sandi


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Easy to replace the drive in the Roamio--there are various Youtube videos showing the process, and multiple threads here on the topic.

The current recommended replacement drive of choice: a Western Digital red drive, 5400 rpm. For a drive 3TB or less, no prep. work needs to be done--simply insert/connect the hard drive in the box and the Roamio will do all that is needed to get the drive up and running, in the guided setup process. Drives over 3TB need to separately be prepped, in addition to/as part of the TiVo guided set-up process--MFS Reformatter will do the necessary work for you.

MFS Reformatter (mfsr)


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Also see:
Tivo Roamio - Dead HDD - Solutions?


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

And, here's one of the original threads here on the topic (all 165 pp. of it!)--but at least the first page shows/explains how simple a process it is.

Hard Drive Upgrade Info

You should be up and running in no time!


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

'*Advanced Format*' is a '_new_' (to some folks who began with cassette tapes for data storage and then chronologically progressed through 8" floppies, 5¼" floppies, their corresponding HDDs, yada, yada, yada up to today's SATA III HDDs) term used '_recently_' (again, consider the author) when describing HDDs greater than ??TB.

Since the proposed replacement HDD is going to be empty anyway, why hasn't anyone mentioned: *MFS Reformatter (mfsr)*?


> ...It aligns the MFS file (application) and inode "zones" correctly for Advanced Format (4K) drives. *That should improve performance and reduce wear & tear on the drive.* This is something that I don't think has ever been addressed before.
> 
> It works on 3TB drives as well. It will not run on 2TB or smaller drives. If there's enough interest in creating smaller drives that are fully AF aligned that can be addressed later.
> 
> It only works on Roamios. If there is enough interest in a version for Premieres that can also be addressed in a later version...


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## sandi_k (Jan 31, 2009)

Mikeguy said:


> Easy to replace the drive in the Roamio--there are various Youtube videos showing the process, and multiple threads here on the topic.
> 
> The current recommended replacement drive of choice: a Western Digital red drive, 5400 rpm. For a drive 3TB or less, no prep. work needs to be done--simply insert/connect the hard drive in the box and the Roamio will do all that is needed to get the drive up and running, in the guided setup process. Drives over 3TB need to separately be prepped, in addition to/as part of the TiVo guided set-up process--MFS Reformatter will do the necessary work for you.
> 
> MFS Reformatter (mfsr)


Thank you! Ordered the WD for $110 from Amazon this afternoon - free delivery by tomorrow.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

sandi_k said:


> Thank you! Ordered the WD for $110 from Amazon this afternoon - free delivery by tomorrow.


Cool! Recommended to check out one of the Youtube videos--helpful to see how to pry the lid off, perhaps the most "complicated" part of the process.


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

sandi_k said:


> Thank you! Ordered the WD for $110 from Amazon this afternoon - free delivery by tomorrow.


[DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER ]

*WD Red 3TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD30EFRX $99.99 w/FS @ Newegg*​


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

Mikeguy said:


> Cool! *Recommended to check out one of the Youtube videos*--helpful to see how to pry the lid off, perhaps the most "complicated" part of the process.


@sandi_k,

I recommend that you run Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostics, both SHORT and EXTENDED tests, on the new HDD *BEFORE* doing anything TiVo-related with it.

You can d/l WD DLG from WD's site or you can d/l the UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD), a *VERY* handy self-booting 'Linux Toolbox' of useful utilities, which includes a few versions of WD DLG. (There's also an EXCELLENT Linux-based HDD diagnostic tool that I use on the UBCD, but I won't go into details unless you're interested - i.e. "You can bring a horse to water but..."  )

Good Luck!


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## sandi_k (Jan 31, 2009)

ClearToLand said:


> @sandi_k,
> 
> I recommend that you run Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostics, both SHORT and EXTENDED tests, on the new HDD *BEFORE* doing anything TiVo-related with it.
> 
> ...


ClearToLand:

We're a Mac household. I assume that makes all the previous recs not applicable?


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## sandi_k (Jan 31, 2009)

ClearToLand said:


> [DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER ]
> 
> *WD Red 3TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD30EFRX $99.99 w/FS @ Newegg*​


Too late!


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

sandi_k said:


> ClearToLand:
> 
> We're a Mac household. I assume that makes all the previous recs not applicable?


Not according to GOOGLE.


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

sandi_k said:


> Too late!


You're welcome.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

The first reply does say this, but just to make it more clear: On a Roamio, you JUST NEED TO PUT IN AN EMPTY HARD DRIVE.. It will automatically be formatted..

AFAIK, only works with 3 or 4 TB drives, but will ALWAYS format to 3 TB.. At least in the past, there was a bug where putting in TOO BIG of a drive made it hung. But at least if you can get a 3 TB drive, just plop it in, and it just works..


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

The auto-format only works correctly on 3TB and smaller drives unless you also use MFSR. It may look okay at first on larger drives, but the usable space will only be a fraction of the available space (not 3TB).


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## firepowr (Jul 28, 2014)

Hi guys. It's been awhile since I've been on the forums. (Busy with newborn baby duties and new job) Anyhow, I replaced my the HD on my Roamio Plus back in June with a 3TB WD drive (the recommended model). I cloned it to keep all our existing recording. It worked great up until this weekend. We got no Channel Guide info. And I kept getting the S03 when I tried to download it (Connect to tivo in Settings). After about a day of rebooting and trying to download the guide I decided to do the "Clear Program Info..." It's been stuck on this for the past 12 hours. I'm sort of fed up, so I think I'm just going to pull the drive out and format it on my Windows desktop, and plop it back into the Tivo and set everything up from scratch.

So my question is there a particular format process for me to format that drive (3TB WD Red Drive)? Or if anyone has a solution to my Tivo being stuck that would be awesome as well


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