# Move hard drive from one Roamio to another



## latitudes77 (Jun 18, 2015)

If I move my hard drive from one Roamio basic to another Roamio basic, will I keep my recordings? Or will it reformat?

I just purchased my Roamio (Best Buy), 2TB WD hard drive, and lifetime subscription $499.99 a couple weeks ago. Now they have a reduced price $349.99 for the lifetime subscription, but you only get that discount if you buy the Roamio from TiVo. I would like to move that hard drive to new Roamio but don't want to lose recordings. Perhaps it's not worth jumping through all these hoops just to save $150...


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

No, all recordings will be lost. If the lifetime purchase was very recent, call TiVo to see if you can get the $150 savings.


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## latitudes77 (Jun 18, 2015)

I did call. They said the reduced lifetime price is only if you purchase the Roamio through them with this deal.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

latitudes77 said:


> If I move my hard drive from one Roamio basic to another Roamio basic, will I keep my recordings? Or will it reformat? I just purchased my Roamio (Best Buy), 2TB WD hard drive, and lifetime subscription $499.99 a couple weeks ago. Now they have a reduced price $349.99 for the lifetime subscription, but you only get that discount if you buy the Roamio from TiVo. I would like to move that hard drive to new Roamio but don't want to lose recordings. Perhaps it's not worth jumping through all these hoops just to save $150...


You can use KMTTG or TiVo desktop to move any unprotected shows from your TiVo to your PC, then send them back using TVD or PyTiVo to your new Roamio or just leave them in your PC and stream to Roamio using Streambaby or Plex.

Are you OTA or cable?


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## latitudes77 (Jun 18, 2015)

Thanks for the replies.
I am currently using cable. I'm not familiar with any of those options. Are any of them free?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

latitudes77 said:


> Thanks for the replies. I am currently using cable. I'm not familiar with any of those options. Are any of them free?


Which cable co?

They're all free with the exception of TiVo Desktop Plus ($15 from TiVo store), but there is a slightly more limited free version out there somewhere. I would personally use KMTTG to download to PC, then just use Plex or Streambaby to stream and watch when you want and not bother loading it back into the Roamio.


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## latitudes77 (Jun 18, 2015)

thanks again. time warner


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

HarperVision said:


> You can use KMTTG or TiVo desktop to move any unprotected shows from your TiVo to your PC, then send them back using TVD or PyTiVo to your new Roamio or just leave them in your PC and stream to Roamio using Streambaby or Plex.


They could also copy Season Passes between units, as well, right?

Would KMTTG allow them to backup all their OnePasses so that their original DVR could be returned? And then restore the OnePasses to the new DVR when it arrives?

edit: Time is critical, right, to ensure the original Roamio is deactivated within its first 30 days?


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

latitudes77 said:


> Perhaps it's not worth jumping through all these hoops just to save $150...


That $150 would net you another Mini, or some other less worthwhile purchases.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

latitudes77 said:


> thanks again. time warner


Oh, that could be an issue because TWC copy protects just about everything except network locals. This wouldn't allow most of your recordings to be copied over, unfortunately.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

krkaufman said:


> They could also copy Season Passes between units, as well, right? Would KMTTG allow them to backup all their OnePasses so that their original DVR could be returned? And then restore the OnePasses to the new DVR when it arrives? edit: Time is critical, right, to ensure the original Roamio is deactivated within its first 30 days?


Yes it can do that too.


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## latitudes77 (Jun 18, 2015)

I guess you are right about Time Warner protecting everything. I tried using kmttg for the first time (kind of difficult). When I attempted Auto Transfer it attempted to copy everything on my TiVo and received "Skipping copy protected show" for every item. Even stuff from PBS...

Also, apparently Best Buy has a nearly useless 15 day return policy.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

latitudes77 said:


> Also, apparently Best Buy has a nearly useless 15 day return policy.


Unless you're a Reward Zone member w/ Elite or Elite Plus status, in which case they bump your return window to 30 or 45 days, respectively.


> *What are the details of the My Best Buy Elite and Elite Plus extended return policy?* (link)
> 
> My Best Buy Elite members have 30 days and My Best Buy Elite Plus members have 45 days from the date of the transaction to return or exchange qualifying Best Buy and BestBuy.com purchases.
> 
> You can return or exchange mobile phones and other carrier connectable devices within 14 days for a full refund. This return period also applies if you are a My Best Buy Elite and Elite Plus member.


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## latitudes77 (Jun 18, 2015)

All appears to be working now. Although it was a major pain in the butt getting my 2TB hard drive working in the new Roamio. As someone mentioned in another forum (telemark i believe), a Roamio will reformat a drive UNLESS it is already in a Roamio format. So, because of that I had to go through a bunch of Kickstart codes to get it all working (many many hours later).


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## mtucker (Oct 14, 2005)

latitudes77 said:


> ........So, because of that I had to go through a bunch of Kickstart codes to get it all working (many many hours later).


 Was the process a pain because the hard drive was already in a Tivo format? I ordered a new Roamio OTA with lifetime guide and I will be moving the 3TB from my Roamio (standard) when the OTA comes. If having the HD in a Tivo format already causes problems, I will format it on a PC first so the Tivo does a fresh format/install. I remember the 3TB installation on my Roamio was very smooth when the HD was new.


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## Chuck_IV (Jan 1, 2002)

krkaufman said:


> Unless you're a Reward Zone member w/ Elite or Elite Plus status, in which case they bump your return window to 30 or 45 days, respectively.


It does take spending $1500 for Elite and $3000 for Plus in one calendar year. That's more than many will spend. I have elite plus now, but the only reason I got to Elite Plus status was because last year I had my electric supplier tied to my Best Buy account, so every dollar spent on electric counted towards my Best Buy total. That's over now and I doubt I will even make Elite status this year.



latitudes77 said:


> I guess you are right about Time Warner protecting everything. I tried using kmttg for the first time (kind of difficult). When I attempted Auto Transfer it attempted to copy everything on my TiVo and received "Skipping copy protected show" for every item. Even stuff from PBS...
> 
> Also, apparently Best Buy has a nearly useless 15 day return policy.


Yea that copy protection flag is getting more and more prevalent these days. Definitely annoying and somewhat random. I get copy protected on things like Counting Cars(really?) but not for series like Duck Dynasty or other A&E shows(The History Channel is part of A&E). Makes no sense sometimes.


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## latitudes77 (Jun 18, 2015)

mtucker said:


> Was the process a pain because the hard drive was already in a Tivo format? I ordered a new Roamio OTA with lifetime guide and I will be moving the 3TB from my Roamio (standard) when the OTA comes. If having the HD in a Tivo format already causes problems, I will format it on a PC first so the Tivo does a fresh format/install. I remember the 3TB installation on my Roamio was very smooth when the HD was new.


Yes, it was a pain because it was already in a Roamio format.
Reformatting the drive from a PC prior to putting it in your new Roamio will most likely save you a lot of pain (and time).

But why are you buying a Roamio OTA when you already have a Roamio (standard) that can record OTA and/or cable?


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## mtucker (Oct 14, 2005)

latitudes77 said:


> Yes, it was a pain because it was already in a Roamio format.
> Reformatting the drive from a PC prior to putting it in your new Roamio will most likely save you a lot of pain (and time).
> 
> But why are you buying a Roamio OTA when you already have a Roamio (standard) that can record OTA and/or cable?


 Great. Thanks for the info. I will download my recordings to the PC and then reformat the 3TB.

I bought the OTA because buying a new Roamio was the cheapest way to get the lifetime guide..... $300 for the OTA and lifetime or $500 if I want lifetime for my current Roamio. I'll sell my standard Roamio to get a few bucks back. I don't have cable (can't get it where I live) so the standard Roamio was overkill (I am OTA only besides Netflix/Amazon Prime). So why did I buy the standard Roamio in the first place? Because the VP of Engineering tweeted that the OTA would not support minis (or have lifetime).

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/504023673628422144 I wanted mini support so I bought the standard. Then a few weeks later the OTA came out and did support the mini. Seems like the VP of engineering should have been in the know about that.


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