# Replacement drive



## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I have a Bolt+ 3TB who's HDD died like 6 months ago. I realize I don’t really need TiVo anymore so I haven’t bothered to fix it. But it has lifetime so I'd like to fix it so I could sell it to someone who actually needs it. But I can’t find a 3TB 2.5" drive anywhere. Does anyone have a recommendation for a suitable replacement drive?


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> I have a Bolt+ 3TB who's HDD died like 6 months ago. I realize I don't really need TiVo anymore so I haven't bothered to fix it. But it has lifetime so I'd like to fix it so I could sell it to someone who actually needs it. But I can't find a 3TB 2.5" drive anywhere. Does anyone have a recommendation for a suitable replacement drive?


Since it is extremely difficult to find a 3TB 2.5" drive, I would recommend the Toshiba MQ03ABB200 2TB drive. (TiVo has stopped selling TiVos with 3TB drives and Weaknees is not selling internal 3TB upgrades.) The other option is to go with a 3.5" external WD Red Plus, but obviously that is not aesthetically pleasing.

EDIT: NOTE: Another member purchased this drive and notified me on 12/22/21 that the drive purchased was substituted with a non-usable SMR drive, so it appears the Toshiba MQ03ABB200 2TB drive drive is no longer available at this location.


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## MrDell (Jul 8, 2012)

Dan203 said:


> I have a Bolt+ 3TB who's HDD died like 6 months ago. I realize I don't really need TiVo anymore so I haven't bothered to fix it. But it has lifetime so I'd like to fix it so I could sell it to someone who actually needs it. But I can't find a 3TB 2.5" drive anywhere. Does anyone have a recommendation for a suitable replacement drive?


I have a family member that has installed the same drive that pl1 recommended&#8230;.. it has been doing great without any issues whatsoever&#8230; I bought one also as a backup for my Bolt because sooner or later, even with external cooling, I will probably have to do a replacement :rage:


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Thanks I ordered one of those. 

I would just give my Mom the Bolt but getting the CableCARD paired is always such a PITA I don’t want to make her deal with that again.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

I'm also going to recommend the Toshiba, even as a refurb they rock.


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## bsa5155 (Aug 2, 2007)

I ordered this on Nov 30 from goHardDrive and it still hasn't shipped


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## DFranch (Apr 12, 2002)

Since Weaknees 2TB upgrade costs $200 Does anybody see an issue with this drive? https://smile.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-87...sr_1_3?keywords=3tb+ssd&qid=1639075252&sr=8-3

It is an ssd 2TB and it is only $180 and I can get it delivered by Monday.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

DFranch said:


> Since Weaknees 2TB upgrade costs $200 Does anybody see an issue with this drive? https://smile.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-87...sr_1_3?keywords=3tb+ssd&qid=1639075252&sr=8-3
> 
> It is an ssd 2TB and it is only $180 and I can get it delivered by Monday.


Waste of your money and an SSD that will die sooner because of Tivo use.
Toshiba 2TB drives are under $75 and work fantastically well and are available from multiple sources.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

bsa5155 said:


> I ordered this on Nov 30 from goHardDrive and it still hasn't shipped


I was surprised when I clicked the link and saw it was being sold by GHD through WALMART. GHD has their own website. And sells through Ebay and Amazon also. That model not available at any of their "normal" sales sites. Perhaps they are out of stock but failed to update inventory at Walmart, will be interesting to see if it ships. I'd call them (GHD), if they have a phone number available, see if they actually have any for sale at this time.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

tommage1 said:


> I was surprised when I clicked the link and saw it was being sold by GHD through WALMART. GHD has their own website. And sells through Ebay and Amazon also. That model not available at any of their "normal" sales sites. Perhaps they are out of stock but failed to update inventory at Walmart, will be interesting to see if it ships. I'd call them (GHD), if they have a phone number available, see if they actually have any for sale at this time.


It was a question we had at the end of October and the buyer received theirs from Walmart (GHD). Bolt HDD Upgrades in 2021 But asking if it is available is never a bad idea.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

pl1 said:


> It was a question we had at the end of October and the buyer received theirs from Walmart (GHD). Bolt HDD Upgrades in 2021 But asking if it is available is never a bad idea.


Well the post I was replying to said they ordered Nov 30 and it hasn't shipped yet. That is unlike GHD, they are usually pretty quick. Since Walmart is probably not one of their "main" sales sites perhaps they can be a bit lax updating inventories etc. Who knows, just strange it does not seem to be available at any of GHDs main sales sites.

My suggestion for the call was for the person who ordered Nov 30 though I suppose anyone considering ordering could call also.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

tommage1 said:


> Well the post I was replying to said they ordered Nov 30 and it hasn't shipped yet. That is unlike GHD, they are usually pretty quick. Since Walmart is probably not one of their "main" sales sites perhaps they can be a bit lax updating inventories etc. Who knows, just strange it does not seem to be available at any of GHDs main sales sites.


This was also the case when cwerdna bought from Walmart and received it, so maybe Walmart has an exclusive with GHD.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

pl1 said:


> This was also the case when cwerdna bought from Walmart and received it, so maybe Walmart has an exclusive with GHD.


Could be. What is nice is it seems to be new old stock, does not say refurb which GHD usually mentions. The warranty will be through GHD not Toshiba which is a good thing


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

dianebrat said:


> I'm also going to recommend the Toshiba, even as a refurb they rock.


Well I'd hold out for the new/old stock. A manufacturer refurb, I think they test to make sure no bad sectors etc. But most set the hours back to zero. So you don't know how much use the drive actually has, could be a few thousand hours, could be 60K hours. I bought a Seagate "factory refurb", tested fine (3.5" CMR). They reset the hours to zero. Catastrophic failure after only 10K hours of use by me. Very rare for a 3.5. Since they reset the hours it could have had 60K hours, who knows? And for a 2.5, even a new one usually lasts only 3 years or so in a device like a Tivo. The Toshiba is a good drive, but I'd try for new old stock myself, no idea how many hours use a refurb had before the reset.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Well that was a bust. Now the TiVo doesn't even power on. I use to have this problem occasionally after a power outage or attempted reboot, but usually I'd just leave it unplugged for a few minutes and then plug it back in and it would work. Now it wont power up at all. The red LED flashes for a second when I plug it in but then nothing. New drive and old drive do the same thing. The TiVo is toast and the lifetime subscript has gone with it. 

I don't want to bother returning the drive so I guess I'll just hold on to it incase the HDD in my TiVo Bolt OTA ever dies. (my wife still uses it)


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## cwerdna (Feb 22, 2001)

Do you know if the wall wart for the OTA Bolt is compatible? If so, can you try that?

I bought an extra power supply from Shop TiVo Products | Buy TiVo EDGE, BOLT, Mini and more. to try troubleshoot my dead Bolt+ issue. It didn't help but I wanted to rule that out before plunking down $ on a drive.

After that, I tried out a too small 160 gig 2.5" drive I had lying around (came out of an old laptop) where I didn't need the data on it. Bolt+ was able to boot to guided setup with that, so I at least confirmed the unit could get that far. That's when I decided to order replacement drives.


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## phox_mulder (Feb 23, 2006)

Regular Bolt's wall wart is barely capable of powering a stock unit, add a bigger hard drive and it really struggles, and as it ages, loses its ability to supply enough amps to power everything.
See if you have another power supply, at least 3 amp and see if that fixes things, if so, you can go on Amazon and find one pretty easily, bare minimum is 3amp, but 4-5 is always better.
External hard drive cases often use the same plug, and are often 3amp.


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

Dan203 said:


> Well that was a bust. *Now the TiVo doesn't even power on*. I use to have this problem occasionally after a power outage or attempted reboot, but usually I'd just leave it unplugged for a few minutes and then plug it back in and it would work. Now it wont power up at all. The red LED flashes for a second when I plug it in but then nothing. New drive and old drive do the same thing. The TiVo is toast and the lifetime subscript has gone with it.
> 
> I don't want to bother returning the drive so I guess I'll just hold on to it incase the HDD in my TiVo Bolt OTA ever dies. (my wife still uses it)


Troubleshooting a '_dead_' TiVo unit usually points to either the HDD or the power supply and the power supply is the less expensive alternative to begin with (as @cwerdna , and others, has done).

Based on previous TCF member recommendations, I have the following two (Roamio, Bolt, maybe Edge) power supplies bookmarked for future reference:

*12V 5A Power Adapter, AC100-240V to DC12V Transformers...*
.
*Facmogu DC 12V 3A Power Adapter, 36 Watt AC 100-240V to DC 12V Transformers...*
Best of luck!


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

cwerdna said:


> Do you know if the wall wart for the OTA Bolt is compatible? If so, can you try that?


I tried it, same issue. Probably a bad cap on the TiVo mobo. Oh well. I got like 5 years of good use out of it, so I got my money's worth.

Even if I got it working at this point I wouldn't feel comfortable selling it to someone else. I had actually kind of forgot it had this issue before, or I wouldn't have bothered even trying to fix it. I can't in good faith sell a unit I know has a potential issue like this.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> I tried it, same issue. Probably a bad cap on the TiVo mobo. Oh well. I got like 5 years of good use out of it, so I got my money's worth.
> 
> Even if I got it working at this point I wouldn't feel comfortable selling it to someone else. I had actually kind of forgot it had this issue before, or I wouldn't have bothered even trying to fix it. I can't in good faith sell a unit I know has a potential issue like this.


You can always sell it on Ebay as parts only with a description of the problem. The lifetime is valuable.


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## kazak99 (Feb 10, 2015)

pl1 said:


> Since it is extremely difficult to find a 3TB 2.5" drive, I would recommend the Toshiba MQ03ABB200 2TB drive.


I ordered this HDD for my Tivo Bolt using your link to the Walmart website. The HDD I received is not the same drive displayed on Walmart's website. Walmart's website list the Toshiba MQ03ABB200. The drive I received is the Toshiba MQ04ABD200R (which is an SMR drive - MQ04 Series | Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation | Americas - United States).

The drive is shipped from GoHardDrive, if you look at there website they do not sell the correct Toshiba HDD (MQ03ABB200), they only have the MQ04ABD200 (SMR drive) - goHardDrive.com - Large selection of hard drive, wholesale hard drive, SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Hard Drive, USB 3.0 External Enclosure, Seagate ST31000528AS 1TB 32MB Buffer, Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB 64MB Cache 7200RPM SATA300 Hard Drive, HD Media Player, External Hard Drive, USB Hard Drive, eSATA Hard Drive, Pocket Drive, Hitachi, Samsung, Maxtor, Toshiba, Fujitsu, White Label, Refurbished, New Pull, SATA, PATA, EIDE, SCSI, SAS, USB Hard Drive, eSATA).

It looks like return will be no problem and easy. Just thought I'd share my experience.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

kazak99 said:


> I ordered this HDD for my Tivo Bolt using your link to the Walmart website. The HDD I received is not the same drive displayed on Walmart's website. Walmart's website list the Toshiba MQ03ABB200. The drive I received is the Toshiba MQ04ABD200R (which is an SMR drive .. [Truncated] ..It looks like return will be no problem and easy. Just thought I'd share my experience.


Thanks for sharing, that is a bummer. I thought it might be too good to be true since the MQ03ABB200 is very old now. I'm surprised goharddrive would switch like that. But, the good thing is that Walmart is as good as Amazon when it comes to returns. You might even be able to return it in store.

@Dan203, Any chance you received the same switched drive? If so, that may explain why it wouldn't boot.

EDIT: Never mind, I see you said it wouldn't power on


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