# 2 Internal Drives - Tivo HD?



## shieldsa (Feb 2, 2003)

Going with the great guide with the Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ 

Can a Tivo HD have two internal drives? 

I see an internal/external scenario, but is there room for two internal drives, like the series 1?


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## GapGrin (Jul 18, 2009)

Yes, I just finished my upgrade at 3:30 this morning. If you bolt the drives side-by-side (above the cable cards), it nicely fits at the front of the unit without impeding airflow. In fact I think it may help as it baffles the air across the heatsink on the CPU.

See message #3094 in the main upgrade FAQ. It's post 7348722 . (Sorry, I haven't posted enough to embed links).

While Ckought had an ingenious method of using a de-headed 6-32 screw to screw the drives together, I found that I had to improvise as my drive didn't allow me to get the second screw in. I just made a bracket to serve as a shelf for the new drive, works great. (My writeup and pics are in post 7534012).


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## GapGrin (Jul 18, 2009)

Just thought I'd provide a long overdue update on the performance of this 2nd internal drive hack done last year.

It's been 13 months, and the dual internal drive setup in the HD S3 is still running like a champ. I've only just now started to saturate the 2TB of storage (138 episodes of Star Trek TNG will help do that ), but no issues.

The drive noise is quiet, only noticeable if I'm sitting next to it, and there have been no heat problems, even in my non-air-conditioned house this summer. (We had a few days over 100.)

Because I mounted the supplementary drive internally, redirecting the connector for the external SATA to an internal connector, and splitting the power with a pigtail, I have no problems of the secondary drive getting unmarried through not being being powered up when the main unit fires up.

And the load of the extra drive on the PS has been a non-issue. Because I used the Eco-Green, that might help, but I think I can safely say this is a very reliable upgrade.

Now when I get my 80 year-old mother a Premiere, I can try the experiment again on new hardware. 

Thanks again to everyone on this board who provided confidence/support/inspiration to bump my Tivo above the 2 TB internal mark. :up:


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