# External hdd premiere



## Bkh1134 (Feb 8, 2012)

Ok I'm sure this has been asked a million times, and maybe I missed it, but is there a way to take an external hdd and make it work by copying the TiVo drive to it just like the internal upgrade process, however instead of using it as an internal drive, place both drives back in the TiVo and external enclosure? Then use it now as an external drive adding more space?

If so, would this then counteract TiVo from knowing you opened the box? I know that it will show the available storage but how could TiVo know if you opened the box to make that external drive work or just ordered it formatted to work? 

Thank you! And sorry for starting a thread that probably already exsist


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Bkh1134 said:


> Ok I'm sure this has been asked a million times, and maybe I missed it, but is there a way to take an external hdd and make it work by copying the TiVo drive to it just like the internal upgrade process, however instead of using it as an internal drive, place both drives back in the TiVo and external enclosure? Then use it now as an external drive adding more space?
> 
> If so, would this then counteract TiVo from knowing you opened the box? I know that it will show the available storage but how could TiVo know if you opened the box to make that external drive work or just ordered it formatted to work?
> 
> Thank you! And sorry for starting a thread that probably already exsist


The more times I read through your post, the less I understand it.

I can't tell if you want to have the internal drive mounted outside the TiVo, or the external mounted inside it, or both, or if you want both inside or both outside, and I can't figure out what it is you don't want TiVo, Inc. to know and why it matters.

Why don't you tell us what end result you want to acheive and we'll work backwards from there.


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## Bkh1134 (Feb 8, 2012)

basically, instead of taking the drive from the external enclosure, doing the jmfs steps, then putting the external drive into the tivo, which would be an internal hdd upgrade, can you put the tivo drive back into the tivo and the external hdd back into the external case, then use that external drive in the same way as the dvr expander? 

As for why I would not want tivo to know, because an internal upgrade will show that the drive is now 1tb instead of 320gb(or whatever the tivo hdd is) thus telling tivo my warranty is void. However if my question is possible then tivo wouldn't know I placed a new non tivo hdd into the tivo. instead all I have done is make an external drive compatible. Or just purchase a drive that worked with the tivo, which is false, however they would not know that I opened up my particular tivo.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

Bkh1134 said:


> basically, instead of taking the drive from the external enclosure, doing the jmfs steps, then putting the external drive into the tivo, which would be an internal hdd upgrade, can you put the tivo drive back into the tivo and the external hdd back into the external case, then use that external drive in the same way as the dvr expander?
> 
> As for why I would not want tivo to know, because an internal upgrade will show that the drive is now 1tb instead of 320gb(or whatever the tivo hdd is) thus telling tivo my warranty is void. However if my question is possible then tivo wouldn't know I placed a new non tivo hdd into the tivo. instead all I have done is make an external drive compatible. Or just purchase a drive that worked with the tivo, which is false, however they would not know that I opened up my particular tivo.


When I say internal drive, I mean the one connected to the SATA data header on the TiVo motherboard which is intended for the internal drive, and by external I mean the one connected to the SATA header on the TiVo motherboard which is intended to be connected to the eSATA connector on the back panel of the TiVo.

The only external drives you can use with the Premiere are specific models of the 500GB or 1TB Western Digital eSATA MyBook DVR extender (although since the TiVo checks the model number of the actual hard drive inside the external eSATA enclosure, I suppose one might get the drive itself and use a different enclosure).

jmfs is for replacing your Premiere's internal drive with a larger internal drive. Doing so means you can no longer use an external drive, because of whatever loophole jmfs exploits in the TiVo software and way of doing things.

When you do anything that changes the amount of storage space the TiVo sees as available to it, that info is available to be known by TiVo, Inc. the next time, or any time thereafter, that the TiVo contacts the TiVo, Inc. servers for whatever reason.

If you really can't wait until the warranty period for the TiVo expires to add more storage*, then the only way that doesn't technically void the warranty is to use one of the approved external enclosures.

If you can stand to wait until the warranty is up, then skipping using an external and putting in a larger external is the best way to go.

*One non-"warranty violating" method of adding storage is to use the free TiVo Desktop progam on a computer running Windows and copy shows over to a hard drive on the computer where they'll be available to copy back to the TiVo when you're ready to watch them. The catch is that your cable company may have set the no-copy flag on the shows you want to save.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Putting two drives into the small space available in a Premiere could lead to poor cooling for all components. I'm not sure if there is space inside either, as it was not designed for the possibility of two internal drives. Plus, you would need to get the external power into the unit- or risk pulling overtaxing the internal power supply.

If you were to have a problem after upgrading an internal drive, simply replace it before calling TiVo. I have never heard of them failing to address issues if it has been restored to factory hardware. Other than the disc, power supplies fail rarely and motherboards even less.

Or, wait 90 days for the largest part of the warranty to expire then perform your upgrade.


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