# BOLT 1TB Unsupported External Storage Device



## wordenidw5887 (Oct 1, 2016)

I've a new Bolt 1TB with Tivo-purchased external WD My Book AV. When connected and powered up Tivo offers to expand storage then errors-out with "unsupported external storage device" with error code M125. Tivo support sent me a new eSATA cable which did not alter the situation. The external device shows up in System Information but ... can't ... expand ... Anyone seen this prob?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

wordenidw5887 said:


> I've a new Bolt 1TB with Tivo-purchased external WD My Book AV. When connected and powered up Tivo offers to expand storage then errors-out with "unsupported external storage device" with error code M125. Tivo support sent me a new eSATA cable which did not alter the situation. The external device shows up in System Information but ... can't ... expand ... Anyone seen this prob?


Have you tried the USB port with your computer?


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## wordenidw5887 (Oct 1, 2016)

JoeKustra said:


> Have you tried the USB port with your computer?


no, i have not plugged the WD device into a computer. are you thinking that device is faulty?


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

wordenidw5887 said:


> no, i have not plugged the WD device into a computer. are you thinking that device is faulty?


I would plug it into your PC, format it as NTFS (not quick format), then if it's happy, try the TiVo again. I did this years ago with my first Premiere.


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## wordenidw5887 (Oct 1, 2016)

JoeKustra said:


> I would plug it into your PC, format it as NTFS (not quick format), then if it's happy, try the TiVo again. I did this years ago with my first Premiere.


that was fun but no love.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

That sucks. I'm afraid it's time to call TiVo.


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

When I called today tivo for same issue, they made me do a SMART test (running now), but also told me about some type of outage that TiVo is purportedly working diligently


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

And the TiVo status page indicate everything is fine. http://status.tivo.com/


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

JoeKustra said:


> And the TiVo status page indicate everything is fine. http://status.tivo.com/:mad:


You have to remove the emoji to get that link working, but I get it.

I just reported what they told me on the phone. They may just BS-ing, as they usually do nowadays.


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

wordenidw5887 said:


> I've a new Bolt 1TB with Tivo-purchased external WD My Book AV. When connected and powered up Tivo offers to expand storage then errors-out with "unsupported external storage device" with error code M125. Tivo support sent me a new eSATA cable which did not alter the situation. The external device shows up in System Information but ... can't ... expand ... Anyone seen this prob?


Identical issue with yours.

Picked one from a friend yesterday with the intention of expanding the storage of my Roamio OTA, which is getting full quickly with all these Fall season shows on antenna. I know that it worked with his Premiere as we practically pulled it out of his system, by following all the right steps. Showed on his system information. Turned off both TiVo and expander, Disconnected the expander from TiVo, turned on TiVo which prompted the question "expander not detected, do you want to permanently remove, you will lose recordings....."

When I connected to my Roamio OTA, it does recognize it as soon as Roamio comes on, but then I get the same "unsupported " error message when saying "yes" to do you want to expand question.

I also tried it with my Bolt+, same error.

Called TiVo and they like parrots want to send you a eSata cable, although I multiple times told them this is for Roamio not Bolt, and that cable is for Bolt fix. They claimed that it is for all, and they are pretty sure it is an issue with the cable.

I let them mail it to me, and guess what? The order confirmation says "eSata cable for Bolt". Stupid.

They also made me do a Kickstart 54 on Roamio, that took a few hours, although I told them that there is no point since the expander is not attached to the Roamio. Surprise, surprise... secondary hard drive show "none" and no "fail" or "pass" as there is no secondary HDD attached.

TiVo tech support has gone down the drain. One of the "tech support" people yesterday, could not even recall "eSata" term, and had to put me on hold to find out. When she came back, she couldn't even pronounce it right.

In your case (purchased from TiVo), you should be able to return or replace. I don't have that option, since my friend had purchased it from a local brick & mortar store several years ago.

I'll wait until the eSata cable comes, which I don't think will fix it, and then I'll call them again, see what they offer anything.

I regret not purchasing the 3 TB Roamio OTA from WeaKnees for $500. With broadcasts from antenna, the 1 TB Roamio OTA seems to be filled faster. I gues the less-compressed shows on antenna have bigger size than from cable...


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

Update on this.

There may be an outage with TiVo. For the heck of it, I started a chat with TiVo. Here is copy/paste from chat, removing personal info:

John (10/4/2016, 1:40:14 PM): Thank you for contacting TiVo Support Chat, my name is John and I am happy to assist you. Are you a current TiVo customer (or subscriber)? 
Me (10/4/2016, 1:40:22 PM): Hello John 
John (10/4/2016, 1:40:29 PM): Hello. 
Me (10/4/2016, 1:40:41 PM): Is there any outage with TiVo recognizing perfectly working extenders? 
Me (10/4/2016, 1:41:13 PM): This is the one official TiVo expander, that worked great with my Bolt (before I sold it), and it is not working with my new Roamio OTA. 
Me (10/4/2016, 1:41:55 PM): It recognizes when I first connect it, but then it says "unsupported" when I hit "yes" to "do you want to pair / attach" 
John (10/4/2016, 1:46:29 PM): Alright, It looks like your expander may be a part of an outtage, would you mind if I pulled up your account to tie your expander to this issue? can you please provide the following account information?
-
-
-
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Me (10/4/2016, 1:53:25 PM): So.. .TiVo is a aware of an outage and wide issue with the expanders? 
John (10/4/2016, 1:53:55 PM): Yes, and I have tied your case to this and sent it to our engineers. 
Me (10/4/2016, 1:54:16 PM): Thanks John. ETA? 
John (10/4/2016, 1:55:07 PM): We do not have an ETA but we are already working on this issue. 
Me (10/4/2016, 1:55:45 PM): OK. Thank you very much. Please make a note on my account "support" page as well. 
John (10/4/2016, 1:55:49 PM): Thank you for using TiVo Chat, your reference number for your chat today is *****, and have a great day!


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

thyname said:


> Update on this. There may be an outage with TiVo. For the heck of it, I started a chat with TiVo. Here is copy/paste from chat, removing personal info: John (10/4/2016, 1:40:14 PM): Thank you for contacting TiVo Support Chat, my name is John and I am happy to assist you. Are you a current TiVo customer (or subscriber)? Me (10/4/2016, 1:40:22 PM): Hello John John (10/4/2016, 1:40:29 PM): Hello. Me (10/4/2016, 1:40:41 PM): Is there any outage with TiVo recognizing perfectly working extenders? Me (10/4/2016, 1:41:13 PM): This is the one official TiVo expander, that worked great with my Bolt (before I sold it), and it is not working with my new Roamio OTA. Me (10/4/2016, 1:41:55 PM): It recognizes when I first connect it, but then it says "unsupported" when I hit "yes" to "do you want to pair / attach" John (10/4/2016, 1:46:29 PM): Alright, It looks like your expander may be a part of an outtage, would you mind if I pulled up your account to tie your expander to this issue? can you please provide the following account information? - - - - Me (10/4/2016, 1:53:25 PM): So.. .TiVo is a aware of an outage and wide issue with the expanders? John (10/4/2016, 1:53:55 PM): Yes, and I have tied your case to this and sent it to our engineers. Me (10/4/2016, 1:54:16 PM): Thanks John. ETA? John (10/4/2016, 1:55:07 PM): We do not have an ETA but we are already working on this issue. Me (10/4/2016, 1:55:45 PM): OK. Thank you very much. Please make a note on my account "support" page as well. John (10/4/2016, 1:55:49 PM): Thank you for using TiVo Chat, your reference number for your chat today is *****, and have a great day!


And to reiterate what Joe said:



JoeKustra said:


> And the TiVo status page indicate everything is fine. http://status.tivo.com/


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

HarperVision said:


> And to reiterate what Joe said:


Don't kill the messenger 

Just reporting what TiVo agent told me.


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## JWhites (May 15, 2013)

Here is something funny. A few weeks ago a friend accidentally did a "clear and delete everything" on my Roamio. When I went to put the expander back on, the same one previously attached to the Roamio, I was given the "unsupported" message. I tried six of my other expanders, and every single one gave the same error. I tried different eSATA cables, power supplies, and no success. I ran every S.M.A.R.T. test the TiVo offers with kickstart and every drive passed. I didn't see a thread about this so I thought it was just me.


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

JWhites said:


> Here is something funny. A few weeks ago a friend accidentally did a "clear and delete everything" on my Roamio. When I went to put the expander back on, the same one previously attached to the Roamio, I was given the "unsupported" message. I tried six of my other expanders, and every single one gave the same error. I tried different eSATA cables, power supplies, and no success. I ran every S.M.A.R.T. test the TiVo offers with kickstart and every drive passed. I didn't see a thread about this so I thought it was just me.


There is definitely something fishy going on. The fact that they acknowledged it, means something. Most likely, current software version on all TiVo no long allows pairing / attaching the expander to TiVo box.


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## JWhites (May 15, 2013)

Yeah, I mean my Premiere is still paired to the expander, but I don't wanna back myself in a corner and unpair it just to see if I can pair it again and find I can't.


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

Update:

This has been fixed. All you guys with this problem please try again.

A friend of mine with the same issue told me that his expander paired successfully yesterday. He did nothing different, just tried again.

I tried mine today, and it worked!

Now I have 2 TB for my Roamio OTA . Happy camper!


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## wordenidw5887 (Oct 1, 2016)

I replaced the 1TB HDD in the new Bolt with a 3TB and then took the 1TB WD My Book AV expander and plugged it into my Premier which worked perfectly on first try. badda bing badda boom. Tivo support not informative or efficient or helpful on this matter.


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## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

wordenidw5887 said:


> I replaced the 1TB HDD in the new Bolt with a 3TB and then took the 1TB WD My Book AV expander and plugged it into my Premier which worked perfectly on first try. badda bing badda boom. Tivo support not informative or efficient or helpful on this matter.


Yep. As I said, they may have implemented a fix.

I am guessing you did it the last couple of days. It did not work last week.


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## MarkF2 (Jan 5, 2006)

wordenidw5887 said:


> I replaced the 1TB HDD in the new Bolt with a 3TB and then took the 1TB WD My Book AV expander and plugged it into my Premier which worked perfectly on first try. badda bing badda boom. Tivo support not informative or efficient or helpful on this matter.


Which 3TB did you use?


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