# Weaknees Upgrades



## Robert Simandl (Jan 16, 2004)

Any idea why Weaknees sells self-upgrade hard drive kits for people that want to REPLACE their current hard drives, but requires sending your Bolt in for professional installation whan all you want to do is ADD to your existing storage with just an external drive?

Thanks!


----------



## sfhub (Jan 6, 2007)

Robert Simandl said:


> Any idea why Weaknees sells self-upgrade hard drive kits for people that want to REPLACE their current hard drives, but requires sending your Bolt in for professional installation whan all you want to do is ADD to your existing storage with just an external drive?


I think adding storage using non tivo approved hardware is a more complex marrying process.

Upgrading the drive with a new one just involves physically removing the old drive and connecting the new drive.

It is similar (not exactly the same) to buying a new computer yourself and plugging in the monitor vs preserving the data from your old machine and moving it seemlessly to new machine. One is very simple, the other is more involved.


----------



## Robert Simandl (Jan 16, 2004)

Thanks.

Also kinda surprised Weaknees only offers 3TB replacement drives when I see YouTube videos show 4TB drives being installed.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Robert Simandl said:


> Also kinda surprised Weaknees only offers 3TB replacement drives when I see YouTube videos show 4TB drives being installed.


They *do* offer drive replacements > 3TB, just not for the BOLT models -- likely owing to a dearth of compatible 2.5" drives at the larger capacities.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Regarding the Weaknees 2 drive upgrades. They have to have the actual TiVo the hard drives will be attached to, to marry the drives together and to that specific unit. Needless to say that means the owner can not upgrade, change, or replace either drive without loosing the 2 drive setup. To do any future upgrades, change, or replacement and retain the 2 drive setup will require the unit be sent back to Weaknees and that they do it. 

Regarding the one drive units, how valuable they are depends on which TiVo you have. For Series 2, 3, & 4 TiVos the drives come with the required software loaded and ready to go, that is a big plus especially if you do not have a good image available. For Series 5 (Roamios) TiVo's they do the needed prep for drives over 3TB, which has some value, but is pretty easy to do oneself. For Series 6 (Bolts) there really is no reason to buy the drive from Weaknees, as far as I know they are just plan old drives.


----------



## Millionaire2K (Jun 16, 2008)

atmuscarella said:


> Regarding the Weaknees 2 drive upgrades. They have to have the actual TiVo the hard drives will be attached to, to marry the drives together and to that specific unit. Needless to say that means the owner can not upgrade, change, or replace either drive without loosing the 2 drive setup. To do any future upgrades, change, or replacement and retain the 2 drive setup will require the unit be sent back to Weaknees and that they do it.
> 
> Regarding the one drive units, how valuable they are depends on which TiVo you have. For Series 2, 3, & 4 TiVos the drives come with the required software loaded and ready to go, that is a big plus especially if you do not have a good image available. For Series 5 (Roamios) TiVo's they do the needed prep for drives over 3TB, which has some value, but is pretty easy to do oneself. For Series 6 (Bolts) there really is no reason to buy the drive from Weaknees, as far as I know they are just plan old drives.


For series 2,3 & 4 they provide a good service. For the Roamio and the Bolt single drive upgrades, Weaknees is overcharging. Anyone willing to swap a single drive has the skill to do it w/o Weaknees.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Millionaire2K said:


> For the Roamio and the Bolt upgrades ... anyone willing to swap drives is has the skill to do it w/o Weaknees.


Even the dual-drive upgrades? (Personally, that's too much data to risk losing for me, so I wouldn't try it, but I didn't realize there was a published process for a DIY dual-drive setup for those larger capacities.)


----------



## Millionaire2K (Jun 16, 2008)

krkaufman said:


> Even the dual-drive upgrades? (Personally, that's too much data to risk losing for me, so I wouldn't try it, but I didn't realize there was a published process for a DIY dual-drive setup for those larger capacities.)


Just referring to the overpriced single drive upgrades. Sorry I was not more clear, but I'm sure you knew that before replying.

P.S.- My OP has been updated.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Millionaire2K said:


> ... but I'm sure you knew that before replying.


Nope, thus the query for clarification. Drive upgrades aren't my thing and so only have a cursory knowledge of what's possible.


----------



## Millionaire2K (Jun 16, 2008)

krkaufman said:


> Nope, thus the query for clarification. Drive upgrades aren't my thing and so only have a cursory knowledge of what's possible.


Ic. Well with a series 5-6 it's literally just buy a good bare drive up to 3tb and swap it, done. If you want over 3tb its still easy, just a few extra steps. Weaknees premium is ridiculous for a simple task.

Example: *Single 10 TB Drive $599.99 - You can buy a bare 10 TB drive for $399.99. 
*
So they are charging $200 for:
1. 2 screwdrivers
2. For them to hook the HDD up to a Tivo, disconnect it, run a 1min program task.
3. Printed instructions
4. Support
5. Shipping

Seems a little pricey.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Millionaire2K said:


> Ic. Well with a series 5-6 it's literally just buy a good bare drive up to 3tb and swap it, done. If you want over 3tb its still easy, just a few extra steps. Weaknees premium is ridiculous for a simple task.


Ok, sorry. Yeah, I'm familiar with the basic Roamio and later single drive upgrades and mfsr; just not pre-Roamio upgrades or any advanced upgrades using MFS Tools. It's been a while since I used MFS Tools for upgrading my DirecTiVo HDVR2 drives. I'd assumed your earlier post was based on some advanced MFS Tools (or other Linux command line) functionality that would allow a layman to do a high capacity dual-drive upgrade.


----------



## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

I think you can use MFSTools 3.2 to add an external drive to a Roamio or Bolt, but that's jmbach's area of expertise.


----------



## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Millionaire2K said:


> So they are charging $200 for:
> 1. 2 screwdrivers
> 2. For them to hook the HDD up to a Tivo, disconnect it, run a 1min program task.
> 3. Printed instructions
> ...


You failed to mention development effort and costs (which nobody here has figured out) and seem to woefully under estimate the efforts of support (maintaining the service offering, warranty costs, hosting this website, etc). Plus, it's clearly a premium service, and these costs must be born by the very few users who want this.


----------



## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

Millionaire2K said:


> Ic. Well with a series 5-6 it's literally just buy a good bare drive up to 3tb and swap it, done. If you want over 3tb its still easy, just a few extra steps. Weaknees premium is ridiculous for a simple task.
> 
> Example: *Single 10 TB Drive $599.99 - You can buy a bare 10 TB drive for $399.99.
> *
> ...


What jrtroo said above. Also...

Maybe for those that feel comfortable with doing all that it's overpriced. However, there are many non-technical users that aren't. For them the $200 markup is a good deal.


----------



## idksmy (Jul 16, 2016)

Millionaire2K said:


> Seems a little pricey.


They give people choices. If you, or others, find it pricey, don't buy from them.


----------



## Millionaire2K (Jun 16, 2008)

idksmy said:


> They give people choices. If you, or others, find it pricey, don't buy from them.


I won't. It would be stupid to pay their prices so they can afford a website so they can make a profit.

And it's NOT just their HDDs that are inflated. There is not a single product on their site that Tivo sells today that they sell at a better price. Normally companies would get a wholesale price and sell at least at the msrp price. Nope, not here.

More examples:

$99.99 for a _Factory Refurbished TiVo network adaptor when TiVo.com sells it for $59.99.
$29.99 for a Bolt power plug when Tivo.com sells the same thing for $7.99
$39.99 for Bolt or Roamio remotes that Tivo.com sells for $29.99

_


----------



## idksmy (Jul 16, 2016)

Millionaire2K said:


> I won't. It would be stupid to pay their prices so they can afford a website so they can make a profit.


These darn companies who need to make a profit. What's the world coming to?


----------



## Millionaire2K (Jun 16, 2008)

idksmy said:


> These darn companies who need to make a profit. What's the world coming to?


Um that's not what I'm saying. NORMALLY a company would acquire products at wholesale and sell for a profit at msrp prices. All they are doing is buying full price (or wholesale who knows) from Tivo like anyone can do, and selling above msrp price.

If it works for them good. But it's just dumb to buy some products they offer.


----------

