# List of drives that don't boot under TE4 21.x on Bolt



## multiple

I thought I'd start a list of drives that get stuck at the "Starting up" screen under Bolt TE4 21.x software release. This issue is now known to also apply to Edge (confirmed with WD40NPZZ & 7.68TB Micron SSD failing on Edge).

Micron 5210 Ion 7.68TB SSD, but other sizes probably fail
Micron 1100 2TB SSD, but other sizes probably fail
WD40NPZZ, the only 2.5" 4TB WD rust drive
WD20SPZX another 2.5" 2TB WD rust drive.
 WD208PZX - reported in another thread. Probably same as as WD20SPZX
Possibly 3TB Toshiba MQ03ABB300
Seagate 2TB BarraCuda STL2000LM015
Seagate 1TB BarraCuda 2.5" ST1000LM048

Crucial SSD (no model number mentioned)
WD60EMAZ
Samsung MZ-76E2T0B/AM - 2TB 860 EVO SSD
Samsung QVO SSD 8TB
All SSD fail (no known SSD works)
These drives work under TE3 20.x software, but as soon as you upgrade to TE4 the Tivo will no longer boot. You will see the screen stuck on the "Starting up" screen. It is possible to revert the TiVo back to TE3 with another drive and reuse the "failing" drive under TE3, but you will likely lose all recordings in the process if you wish to go back to the prior drive.

Sometime late 2018, over several software upgrades, some drives began to exhibit this boot up issue. I first saw this issue with my Micron 1100 drive, then within 2 months all the WD40NPZZ drives refused to boot. Others saw the same issue with the WD20SPZX, which I also confirmed.

Please add to this list if you find other drives that get stuck at the "Starting up" screen under TE4. If possible, please confirm the drive works under TE3.

Drives still known to work without issues under TE3 or TE4:

Toshiba MQ03ABB200 2TB 2.5"

Seagate Barracuda ST5000LM000 5 TB 2.5" (SMR)
Seagate FireCuda 2TB ST2000LX001
Seagate Firecuda ST1000LX015
Many 3.5" drives work, but you must use an external closure to supply the 12V rail needed by 3.5" drives.
2.5" 2TB & 3TB CMR Drives (thanks tommage1)

[Update] The startup drive drive issue occurs with TE4. So the issue is found on both Bolt and Edge. I'm not sure if this would be found on older devices, but I don't expect anyone would try to run any of these 2.5" drives on the older Tivo models.


----------



## Mikeguy

I guess that I'd also find it informative, what 2.5" hard drives seem to be_ fine_ with TE4.


----------



## David B Gregory

multiple said:


> I thought I'd start a list of drives that get stuck at the "Starting up" screen under Bolt TE4 21.x software release.
> 
> Micron 5210 Ion 7.68TB SSD, but other sizes probably fail
> Micron 1100 2TB SSD, but other sizes probably fail
> WD40NPZZ, the only 2.5" 4TB WD rust drive
> WD20SPZX another 2.5" 2TB WD rust drive
> These drives work under TE3 20.x software, but as soon as you upgrade to TE4 the Tivo will no longer boot. You will see the screen stuck on the "Starting up" screen. It is possible to revert the TiVo back to TE3 with another drive, but you will likely loose all recordings in the process if you wish to go back to the prior drive.
> 
> Sometime late 2018, over several software upgrades, some drives began to exhibit this boot up issue. I first saw this issue with my Micron 1100 drive, then within 2 months all the WD40NPZZ drives refused to boot. Others saw the same issue with the WD200SPZX, which I also confirmed.
> 
> Please add to this list if you find other drives that get stuck at the "Starting up" screen under TE4.


Toshiba 3TB MQ03ABB300


----------



## multiple

I believe I have one Bolt that I upgraded 2 years ago with a Toshiba MQ03ABB300 which is still working to this day under TE4. I'll need to double check it was not replaced with one of the WD40 TB drives that has this issue which was replaced with another drive. If this Bolt still has the Toshiba drive, I hope it won't fail in an upcoming SW update.

David, was that a recent fail after a software update or while installing it as a new drive?


----------



## David B Gregory

multiple said:


> I believe I have one Bolt that I upgraded 2 years ago with a Toshiba MQ03ABB300 which is still working to this day under TE4. I'll need to double check it was not replaced with one of the WD40 TB drives that has this issue which was replaced with another drive. If this Bolt still has the Toshiba drive, I hope it won't fail in an upcoming SW update.
> 
> David, was that a recent fail after a software update or while installing it as a new drive?


My original 500gb was starting to fail so I purchased the 3rb new and did a clean install which failed


----------



## multiple

It looks like I upgraded the 3TB Toshiba MQ03ABB300 to a 5TB Seagate drive at some point. I don't have a spare Bolt to test the Toshiba drive out, but I suspect if the Toshiba drive is failing many people will start complaining. It was one of the first recommended drives and many people upgraded to this drive.


----------



## multiple

Tivo Bolt stuck on the "starting up" screen after hard drive replacement.

Bolt HDD Upgrade Issue

Link to a couple of threads with more drives which get stuck at the "Starting up" screen

Added the Seagate drive to the list. Crucial SSD also mentioned as failing.


----------



## Phasers

Mikeguy said:


> I guess that I'd also find it informative, what 2.5" hard drives seem to be_ fine_ with TE4.


Toshiba MQ03ABB200 2TB drive is working on TE4 Bolt Vox.


----------



## tommage1

multiple said:


> It looks like I upgraded the 3TB Toshiba MQ03ABB300 to a 5TB Seagate drive at some point. I don't have a spare Bolt to test the Toshiba drive out, but I suspect if the Toshiba drive is failing many people will start complaining. It was one of the first recommended drives and many people upgraded to this drive.


Is the 5TB a 2.5"? If so, was it shucked from an Easystore 5TB external? I've only seen pictures of the Easystore 5TB, from the size of it looks like it holds a 2.5" drive. Until that I had never heard of a 2.5" 5TB if indeed it is.

There is a good chance SMR drives can fail or not work with TE4 (or TE3, SMR not recommended for 24/7 video applications). If a drive supports TRIM (yes some platter drives support trim) it is an SMR drive. PMR drives do not support TRIM. However it does not work the other way, if a drive does NOT support TRIM that does not mean it is definitely PMR, it could still be SMR. What I am saying here I read in groups that discuss HDs, mostly NAS groups. And WD themselves say their SMR type externals support TRIM.

I thought I read the Edge uses a "video rated" SMR drive. If so I will be interested to see how it holds up over time...........


----------



## multiple

tommage1 said:


> Is the 5TB a 2.5"? If so, was it shucked from an Easystore 5TB external? I've only seen pictures of the Easystore 5TB, from the size of it looks like it holds a 2.5" drive. Until that I had never heard of a 2.5" 5TB if indeed it is.


I posted where I purchased the 5TB Seagate up in the first thread. I have it in a 4 tuner Bolt (previous 500GB). I don't think a 4 tuner Bolt puts the SMR drive under a lot of pressure @ 9.6MB/s write max. Many newer SMR drives are better than the earlier versions of SMR. I have had it installed for at least 10 months without any issues and I always set power savings to max to put the drive to sleep whenever possible. Others have had this drive in for well over a year without issues.


----------



## tommage1

multiple said:


> I posted where I purchased the 5TB Seagate up in the first thread. I have it in a 4 tuner Bolt (previous 500GB). I don't think a 4 tuner Bolt puts the SMR drive under a lot of pressure @ 9.6MB/s write max. Many newer SMR drives are better than the earlier versions of SMR. I have had it installed for at least 10 months without any issues and I always set power savings to max to put the drive to sleep whenever possible. Others have had this drive in for well over a year without issues.


Ah I see, missed the bottom of the post, I see the info about the 5TB was actually a link. Also, yeah since Seagate it could not have come out of a WD Easystore external  I do wonder what is in the Easystore 5TB external. At least some of the WD 2.5" drives in external enclosures do not have a Sata connection, strictly USB on the board, not a Sata to USB adapter that can be removed like Seagates.

I have heard newer SMR drives might be better than in the past. I suppose only time will tell, I like my drives to last over 3 years at least. The fact that this 5TB has withstood TE4 software "upgrades" is good. Many people do like to use a drive that will fit in the Bolt, I myself still prefer an external enclosure with 3.5" drive (for a Bolt). Can get 8TB 3.5 PMR drives for around $100-120, 3-4TB 3.5 PMR for $30-70. Bolts in general are a pain for upgrades and backups, can lose everything when swapping drives around. Even worse with TE4 since transferring back and forth doesn't really work. If I have a choice it will always be a good 3.5" PMR drive over ANY 2.5" drive. Cheaper, more reliable and larger sizes available.


----------



## jaelaeit

Perhaps my issue is related to the list of drives that do not boot. I have a Tivo Bolt that has been working fine since I purchased it with the original 500GB WD drive. This week it stopped working tcd849500 model number. It kept hanging at the "Please wait" screen indefinitely (1 hour + it was stuck there). I looked into this and thought perhaps the drive so I replaced it and locally there are not many options for 2.5" internal drives but I found a WD 2TB WD20SPZX that I thought would work fine since other threads seem to confirm it. However, it also hangs at the please wait after it seems to try formatting it. I can never get passed that screen and after seeing this post where the TE4 is the culprit I believe that's my problem. Unfortunately since the old drive has failed I cannot roll back to TE3.

Any recommendations here? I know it could be something other than the drive as my issue, but that seems the common issue. Do I simply look for the Toshiba 2TB drive most seem to recommend and order online? I am trying to avoid having to replace the entire Tivo since I have lifetime subscription on this.


----------



## kpeters59

Try the KickStart Codes.

And start your own thread...

-KP


----------



## tommage1

jaelaeit said:


> Unfortunately since the old drive has failed I cannot roll back to TE3.


Well right now you've got a Bolt on TE4. You have a bad 500GB drive so can't use that one. You have another drive that should work on TE3 but cannot sidegrade to TE3 since the Bolt is on TE4 and it won't boot/format. But if you have another drive sitting around, 2.5 or 3.5 you should be able to use it temporarily, just to get the Bolt to TE3. If 3.5 you'd have to make sure it has enough power to boot, not sure if the Bolt itself would supply enough power to boot a 3.5. Once you get the Bolt to TE3 then you should be able to use your WD 2TB. Not sure if you can just flip it in and the Bolt would format it to TE3 since the Bolt is now on TE3 (maybe do not have it connected to the internet so it would have to use what is currently on the flash drive) or if you'd have to use MFST to do some sort of copy of the temporary drive on TE3 to the WD 2 TB. There are probably people here who would know exactly what to do at that point (maybe JMBach, the programmer of MFST). But getting the Bolt to TE3 should be possible if you have a 3rd drive that you can use temporarily.


----------



## Agebt6ee

I have an addition: 
WD60EMAZ from a WD Elements

Shucked 6TB "White label"


----------



## RegGuheert

I have an addition to drives which stick at "STARTING UP":

- Samsung MZ-76E2T0B/AM - 2TB 860 EVO SSD


----------



## oscarfish

RegGuheert said:


> I have an addition to drives which stick at "STARTING UP":
> 
> - Samsung MZ-76E2T0B/AM - 2TB 860 EVO SSD


Is it my imagination, or is that drive of yours way to nice to put into a Tivo?  Don't get me wrong, my Tivos are some of my most prized possessions, I just gotta think it can be done for significantly less than $280ish. I guess if you are lucky enough to just have one laying around.

I only commented because I'm just about to buy the 1TB version of that drive to upgrade (speed upgrade) an old laptop and I've been watching the price on Amazon. It'll be replacing a 2TB Seagate.


----------



## RegGuheert

oscarfish said:


> Is it my imagination, or is that drive of yours way to nice to put into a Tivo?


It seems my TiVo and my wife agree with you!

BTW, have you priced the first drive in OP's post that started this thread?


oscarfish said:


> Don't get me wrong, my Tivos are some of my most prized possessions, I just gotta think it can be done for significantly less than $280ish. I guess if you are lucky enough to just have one laying around.
> 
> I only commented because I'm just about to buy the 1TB version of that drive to upgrade (speed upgrade) an old laptop and I've been watching the price on Amazon. It'll be replacing a 2TB Seagate.


In order to reduce how much of my life I spend cleaning up the mess that results from hard drive crashes, I'm at the tail end of divesting myself of spinning drives. I've settled on the Samsung 860 EVOs for most of my family's computer needs. It has taken about two years to work through the process and prices have come down steadily during that time. Like you, I chose the 1TB 860 EVOs for the old laptops my wife and I use. Recently I've bought the 1TBs from Geek Squad on eBay for $110 each and open box 2TB 860 EVOs for $220 each. I even picked up a few used 2TB 850 EVOs for $170 each for a couple of computers which didn't need the endurance of the 860s.


----------



## jonbatlanta

I have a bolt 500GB where I replaced the drive with a 2 TB Seagate Barracuda but never actually booted up after the replacement. I’m ready to sell it and obviously need to make sure it works, but I’m afraid to boot it up out of fear it will automatically upgrade to TE4. Is there a way to stop that from happening?


----------



## multiple

jonbatlanta said:


> Im afraid to boot it up out of fear it will automatically upgrade to TE4. Is there a way to stop that from happening?


The boot code is stored on FLASH and not on the drive. You can only update to TE4 when connected to the internet. So once TE4 is installed, you would have to downgrade to TE3 with a working drive. Only trouble I've found, if you bought the Vox version w/ Vox remote, then just pressing the Vox button initiates a request to upgrade TE3 to TE4. Because I have young kids and TE4 upgrade can be initiated accidentally, I'm sticking to TE4.

The first thing I've always done when getting a new TiVO is to remove the original drive and upgrade to a new drive immediately, and store the original somewhere safe. That way I should always be able to restore my TiVos.


----------



## jonbatlanta

Thanks for the response. So, for now, I’ll boot to the startup screen and leave it at that. 

And, Yes, I thought I had put the original drive back in the box or in one other safe spot, but apparently I did not. I will continue to search...

UPDATE: Just located the original HD.


----------



## danpritts

Another non-working drive with TE4:
Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 2.5". 
PN E27172-501 
Model ST1000LM048 
Amazon B07H28QRKN

Wish I'd thought to read the forums before I ordered the drive. Sigh. I did find my original 500GB so i'm back up & running on that.


----------



## xylker

I'm curious if anyone has investigated the "why?"
I suspect that the WD spinning rust drives use SMR, which seems to be particularly poor for TiVo utilization. However, why are the SSDs non-functional? Although that's (in my opinion) another poor use case with TiVos. 

I am stuck with a 2TB 20SPZX that I purchased last year for the Bolt.


----------



## multiple

xylker said:


> I'm curious if anyone has investigated the "why?"
> I suspect that the WD spinning rust drives use SMR, which seems to be particularly poor for TiVo utilization. However, why are the SSDs non-functional? Although that's (in my opinion) another poor use case with TiVos.
> 
> I am stuck with a 2TB 20SPZX that I purchased last year for the Bolt.


It appears most drives no longer work except 3.5" drives and select few 2.5" drives. Most of those that have issues are CMR based. Some drives are by the same manufacturer like the WD 2TB drives, where one works and the other does not. Someone tried to dump the drive configuration data from each drive to determine if there was something about the working and non-working drives that could cause such a failure, but nothing much came out of that. @jmbach was looking into it for a while, but I don't think he has made much headway.

Based on the issues I've seen, before TE4 disabled these drives, a hardware fault causes the SATA port to electrically malfunction, rendering the Bolt non-functional to any drive. That is, before TE4 disabled these drives, during cold boot, restart, or shutdown, something would cause the SATA port to electrically fry. I had this happen to 3 or 4 Bolts soon after the initial TE4 release. I think all of my hardware failures were with SSDs and my rust drives continued to work without issue until TE4 disabled them.


----------



## tommage1

multiple said:


> It appears most drives no longer work except 3.5" drives and select few 2.5" drives. Most of those that have issues are CMR based. Some drives are by the same manufacturer like the WD 2TB drives, where one works and the other does not. Someone tried to dump the drive configuration data from each drive to determine if there was something about the working and non-working drives that could cause such a failure, but nothing much came out of that. @jmbach was looking into it for a while, but I don't think he has made much headway.


I think you mean most drives with issues are SMR based, not CMR. Some SMR work, some don't. I have yet to find a CMR that does not work.


----------



## multiple

tommage1 said:


> I think you mean most drives with issues are SMR based, not CMR. Some SMR work, some don't. I have yet to find a CMR that does not work.


I expect most of the CMR drives will be 2TB or less nowadays. I didn't have anyone else reply if their drives work other than the 5TB SMR drive, the 2TB WD CMR drive, the 2TB Toshiba drive, and any of the original TiVo drives under TE4.


----------



## tommage1

multiple said:


> I expect most of the CMR drives will be 2TB or less nowadays. I didn't have anyone else reply if their drives work other than the 5TB SMR drive, the 2TB WD CMR drive, and any of the original TiVo drives under TE4.


If you mean 2.5 drives yes, very few CMR current model drives. Largest I know, current model, is the WD "Red Plus" 1TB (new naming policy for Reds). 3.5 there are still plenty of CMR choices available. But also many SMR so have to make sure you know what you are getting.

I am looking forward to updates on how the 5TB SMR Seagate holds up for you. Hope a long time


----------



## multiple

Now that I have an Edge, I can confirm the drive issue is in TE4 and also occurs on an Edge.


----------



## hoyty

multiple said:


> It appears most drives no longer work except 3.5" drives and select few 2.5" drives. Most of those that have issues are CMR based. Some drives are by the same manufacturer like the WD 2TB drives, where one works and the other does not. Someone tried to dump the drive configuration data from each drive to determine if there was something about the working and non-working drives that could cause such a failure, but nothing much came out of that. @jmbach was looking into it for a while, but I don't think he has made much headway.
> 
> Based on the issues I've seen, before TE4 disabled these drives, a hardware fault causes the SATA port to electrically malfunction, rendering the Bolt non-functional to any drive. That is, before TE4 disabled these drives, during cold boot, restart, or shutdown, something would cause the SATA port to electrically fry. I had this happen to 3 or 4 Bolts soon after the initial TE4 release. I think all of my hardware failures were with SSDs and my rust drives continued to work without issue until TE4 disabled them.


Wow, I may have just done this to my Edge. I didn't read this thread and ordered the Seagate ST2000LM015. Going back to original drive doesn't work either now. How can a drive fry the SATA port? Ugh. Any chance of getting this fixed under warranty or will the cut stickers sink me?


----------



## hoyty

hoyty said:


> Wow, I may have just done this to my Edge. I didn't read this thread and ordered the Seagate ST2000LM015. Going back to original drive doesn't work either now. How can a drive fry the SATA port? Ugh. Any chance of getting this fixed under warranty or will the cut stickers sink me?


Well luckily I didn't break my Edge Antenna it seems. I just wasn't being patient enough with original drive and booting. I can re-confirm that the Seagate ST2000LM015 doesn't work and gets stuck at Starting Up screen. It is interesting that it seems the 5 TB version in this line does work? I will also add that I did have success with the Seagate FireCuda 2TB ST2000LX001. I had it left over as a an external drive I no longer use for Xbox One. Definitely not cheap so probably not the best choice.


----------



## Dan Mohn

Seagate Firecuda ST1000LX015 is working in my Bolt.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H2549QS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=17


----------



## multiple

Possible good news. My TE4 Bolt boots with an SSD attached to the external eSATA port. TiVo asked to format the SSD but indicated it was not a supported drive as expected. I'm taking this as a good sign that TE4 is not checking the external drive during the boot sequence that normally hangs the firmware at the startup screen.

Next step I'll need to pair the internal drive with the external SSD. If this works, I can have a Bolt with 13TB of storage. I think I can also get the SDD to fit inside the case by cutting small notch to feed the external cables attached to the USB port and eSATA port back into the case. So it just might be possible to get up to 13TB of internal storage in a Bolt even with TE4 software.


----------



## jmbach

multiple said:


> Possible good news. My TE4 Bolt boots with an SSD attached to the external eSATA port. TiVo asked to format the SSD but indicated it was not a supported drive as expected. I'm taking this as a good sign that TE4 is not checking the external drive during the boot sequence that normally hangs the firmware at the startup screen.
> 
> Next step I'll need to pair the internal drive with the external SSD. If this works, I can have a Bolt with 13TB of storage. I think I can also get the SDD to fit inside the case by cutting small notch to feed the external cables attached to the USB port and eSATA port back into the case. So it just might be possible to get up to 13TB of internal storage in a Bolt even with TE4 software.


You should be able to use MFSTools to marry the external drive to the internal drive. My bolt+ is currently set up this way. My Bolt+ is on TE3 and so I have never tried it with TE4. The issue is show to format the external drive. In TE3 you have to limit the added partitions to 2 TB, not sure if TE4 will allow larger partitions on external drives.


----------



## DavidLB

Surveillance or AV drives are always the best to use for writing recordings to as they have firmware that is specifically designed for continuous writings. Desktop drives are designed for random I/O and retries. NAS drives are designed for random I/O and no retries. Surveillance drives are designed for multiple sequential reads and writes of gigabyte+ files. The firmware is quite different between the three drives. Spinning hard drives will potentially allow for infinite writes, with a lifetime of about 4 years based on failure data from Backblaze (Backblaze Hard Drive Stats for 2020). ALL SSDs have a limited number of writes, typically about 100,000 per cell, so the more cells, i.e., the larger the SSD, the longer the lifetime. All modern SSDs do wear-leveling so it will degrade evenly, but continuously writing to the SSD as DVRs do, will kill it faster than in a computer. They're just not very cost effective yet and you would really only see any benefit at bootup time. An AV drive can easily handle simultaneously writing 6 steams while reading another 6.


----------



## multiple

The write requirements of a TiVo is actually pretty small, so long as you set power savings to maximum. These larger SDDs are usually quad level and support only 100 to 200 writes per page. Even so, any SDD about 2TB or larger should last nearly as long as a rust drive in a TiVo given the r/w requirements of the TiVo. An 8TB SSD should last about 4 times longer than a 2TB SSD assuming the same FLASH technology. So, an 8TB SSD drive should easily last as long, if not longer than a rust drive. Even w/o power saving enabled, an 8TB SSD should last as long as a rust drive.

The main reason why I don't want an external drive is due to aesthetics. I'm willing to pay a bit more for an SSD to get significantly more internal storage. The prices are still high but not as high as some think... you can pick up the 7.68TB Micron 5210 for bit over $500 and the prices are still continuing to drop rapidly.


----------



## jamesnet

My Bolt drive died again, I went back to buy the same one I had put in it before the 2tb barracuda, no dice as others have posted. it WAS working on TE4 for quite a while. Ended up with the firecuda 2TB working after trying about 10 drives I had laying around. SSD/Spinning 2.5/3.5 Nothing worked.


----------



## blobly

Need to replace my OEM bolt 3TB hard drive - read all the posts and I am confused.
Is there one I can buy and just plug and play without any formatting?
Is the 2tb Toshiba the way to go?

Amazon.com: Toshiba MQ03ABB200 2TB 5400RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 2.5in Hard Drive (15mm Thickness for TiVo or MiniPC only, not for Laptop) - 3 Year Warranty: Computers & Accessories


----------



## avpman3

Is this Seagate still a viable option? I got bit by the dead 3tb drive and tried two other 2.5 1&2 TB that get stuck at "Starting Up"


----------



## gabrielstern

avpman3 said:


> Is this Seagate still a viable option? I got bit by the dead 3tb drive and tried two other 2.5 1&2 TB that get stuck at "Starting Up"


I found a fix for this if the power sata port fries out on a tivo running hydra, that I tested on my 500 gig bolt which occurred when I removed my old 6tb red drive from it to upgrade to an 8tb purple drive

What happened was is after I removed it and plugged in my 3tb downgrade drive the downgrade drive would not power on.

So I plugged the stock drive back in and completed the downgrade but after that the port completely fried out becoming useless.

It's not the drives from what I observed but an issue with hydra system itself. And how it interacts with the tivo.

Anyway after a week of frustration and not bieng able to complete my downgrade on my 500 gig bolt. I purchased a Vantec ide/sata to usb 3.0 adapter and plugged the power sata cable into an electrical outlet and plugged it into my 8tb drive purple drive I mounted externally. And used a small data sata cable and plugged it into first into the data sata port in the tivo bolt.

And then plugged the other end into my purple drive itself.

And got the drive to power up. And then my tovo bolt booted up.

But with desktop size drives you have to mount a 120 m by 25m case fan on top and use book shelf brackets to mount the fan on top.
And that is to keep the tivo from getting the tivo had to shut down due to getting too hot error each time you try to restart it. Which will now happen thanks to the frying out of the internal power sata port inside the tivo

The usb method I mentioned above should
work With laptop size drives mounted inside the bolts and edge tivos.

But not sure if the same issue would occur at each restart and update with the tivo had to shut down due to overheating error.

At start up where you basically have to unplug the tivo for an hour and a half first and then it will boot up properly.

As with the laptop size drives mounted internally their would be no room to affix a fan on too of the drive as an intake fan.

I hope this helps. but if possible unless jm.bach can test a laptop size drive inside a bolt or edge powering it the way I mentioned above.

And testing to make sure the overheat error does not occur.

The best approach is to mount a desktop size drive externally on an edge or bolt running hydra. And use the method I mentioned above.

Including a second Vantec kit and pwm management kit to plug a case fan into to power to keep drive cool and prevent the overheat error at start up. Message.

I hope this info helps.

I am attaching a picture below of the bolt I have referenced which is working fine now safely with te3.

To illustrate my setup. And how I solved that issue.

Also I used the short red data sata cable that comes in the Vantec usb kit box.to plug into the hard drive and the internal data sata port.


----------



## gabrielstern

gabrielstern said:


> I found a fix for this if the power sata port fries out on a tivo running hydra, that I tested on my 500 gig bolt which occurred when I removed my old 6tb red drive from it to upgrade to an 8tb purple drive
> 
> What happened was is after I removed it and plugged in my 3tb downgrade drive the downgrade drive would not power on.
> 
> So I plugged the stock drive back in and completed the downgrade but after that the port completely fried out becoming useless.
> 
> It's not the drives from what I observed but an issue with hydra system itself. And how it interacts with the tivo.
> 
> Anyway after a week of frustration and not bieng able to complete my downgrade on my 500 gig bolt. I purchased a Vantec ide/sata to usb 3.0 adapter and plugged the power sata cable into an electrical outlet and plugged it into my 8tb drive purple drive I mounted externally. And used a small data sata cable and plugged it into first into the data sata port in the tivo bolt.
> 
> And then plugged the other end into my purple drive itself.
> 
> And got the drive to power up. And then my tovo bolt booted up.
> 
> But with desktop size drives you have to mount a 120 m by 25m case fan on top and use book shelf brackets to mount the fan on top.
> And that is to keep the tivo from getting the tivo had to shut down due to getting too hot error each time you try to restart it. Which will now happen thanks to the frying out of the internal power sata port inside the tivo
> 
> The usb method I mentioned above should
> work With laptop size drives mounted inside the bolts and edge tivos.
> 
> But not sure if the same issue would occur at each restart and update with the tivo had to shut down due to overheating error.
> 
> At start up where you basically have to unplug the tivo for an hour and a half first and then it will boot up properly.
> 
> As with the laptop size drives mounted internally their would be no room to affix a fan on too of the drive as an intake fan.
> 
> I hope this helps. but if possible unless jm.bach can test a laptop size drive inside a bolt or edge powering it the way I mentioned above.
> 
> And testing to make sure the overheat error does not occur.
> 
> The best approach is to mount a desktop size drive externally on an edge or bolt running hydra. And use the method I mentioned above.
> 
> Including a second Vantec kit and pwm management kit to plug a case fan into to power to keep drive cool and prevent the overheat error at start up. Message.
> 
> I hope this info helps.
> 
> I am attaching a picture below of the bolt I have referenced which is working fine now safely with te3.
> 
> To illustrate my setup. And how I solved that issue.
> 
> Also I used the short red data sata cable that comes in the Vantec usb kit box.to plug into the hard drive and the internal data sata port.


I apologize but I am getting an error when I try to upload the picture saying the file is too large.

I will try to upload the photo later on.

And my pwm switch is a Silverstone one that costs 24 dollars.

Very inexpensive and the case fan I used is a bitspower touch aqua which is very inexpensive at 14 dollars and is 53 cfm.

While not great for a computer, it is plenty to keep a hard drive mounted externally with book shelf brackets to affix the fan too and velcro cool.


----------



## avpman3

During the time I was cycling through drives to test to see which ones would work, TiVio offered me a replacement for the unit for $100. Too late though, I had already landed on a replacement drive that would work. Albeit smaller. But of no concern, because I'm not recording much any longer.
IMHO - TiVo is getting eaten up by streaming/on-demand services. I'm finding less and less need for the TiVo and I'm not interested in giving them any more money.


----------



## gabrielstern

avpman3 said:


> During the time I was cycling through drives to test to see which ones would work, TiVio offered me a replacement for the unit for $100. Too late though, I had already landed on a replacement drive that would work. Albeit smaller. But of no concern, because I'm not recording much any longer.
> IMHO - TiVo is getting eaten up by streaming/on-demand services. I'm finding less and less need for the TiVo and I'm not interested in giving them any more money.


I Understand that I don't own an edge tivo.

But until this past January I was running a bolt plus, a romio and my 500 gig bolt on hydra but not using the stock drives.

It's a hydra issue.

As for tivo I too would not give them a penny.

I also since hydra came out will not buy any brand new tivo's.

Thankfully all my tivos are downgraded now.
Back to te3.

I only encountered this issue with my 500 gig bolt.

The only thing I can think of for those running tivos in hydra is to power those drives externally like I mentioned above.

Using the Vantec usb kit.

One of these days maybe I will purchase a refurbished bolt from weakneez and go through upgrading it into hydra.

And then removing the stock wd blue laptop drive and installing a Seagate barracuda 2 or 3tb drive and if it won't power up try powering it the same way I did with my 500 gig bolt.

And check for the overheat error.

what's stopping me from doing that now is the issue with bolts and edges and the internal flash memory which If you remove a drive and plug another drive in causes it to lose all settings on both drives.

I don't want to try it on my romio.

Because I don't want to risk that port getting fried out.

Unless that is an issue that only applies to bolts and edges.

Than I would gladly dump a dumby 3 tb drive into it upgrade to hydra temporarily then test a 2.5 barracuda drive on it in hydra and see if it works.

But again the romio tivos are very different and was like a hybrid between the old school series 4 dvrs and the bolts.

The only other thing I could think of to try and get around the drive check is to copy the original drive and settings using MFFS tools 3.2 to one of those laptop size drives such as the Seagate barracuda 2.5 drive.

And see if that Stops the dreaded drive check in te4 with the bolts and edge tivo dvrs.

With the internal power sata ports frying out.

When you remove 
the stock hard Drive.

From a bolt or edge dvr.

But again jmbach is the MFFS.TOOLS .3.2

Expert compared to me.

I just can go by how I solved the issue with my one tivo.

Also the issue with finding suitable drives for tivos is not unique to the bolts and edges.

But also now with the 3.5 size drives.

I do know that the barracuda in a 3.5 size drive works fine for the bigger sizes in a series 4 and romio device running te3.

And the same with an iron wolf up to 6tbs

The issue is western digital green drives were discontinued continued in 2016 or early 2017.

And those were the stock drives on the tivos before the bolts.


----------

