# Tivo Bolt - swapping hard disks



## olimazi (Sep 14, 2012)

I have a Bolt that I want to give away - getting a Tivo Bolt OTA for myself.
I upgraded the hard disk on my current Bolt to a 3TB, which has all my recording on it.
Can I swap the hard disks of the Bolt and Bolt OTA?
or are the Tivo drives formatted to a specific device once set up?
Thank you all for your time.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

No.

You could transfer them from one Bolt to the other, then all the Metadata would be preserved. Or, download them with KMTTG or similar and discard most of the metadata.

Then, you can send me your Bolt!

-KP


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## olimazi (Sep 14, 2012)

KP, transfer from one to the other is a no go, since my current drive (3TB) is much bigger than the new drive (1TB);
I need my old 3TB in the new Bolt - will go the KMTTG route - thanks brother.
Was just wondering if a swap would work, may give it a try anyway.
Cheers


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

It definitely will NOT work and swapping them is more than likely going to render your existing shows unusable.

The Database for the Bolt is stored in the Flash Memory and inserting a different drive will wipe it and then you'll have nothing.

Pick up another 3tb and upgrade the 1tb and then transfer?

Do you need my shipping addy?

-KP


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## olimazi (Sep 14, 2012)

LOL - OK thanks man - yer too much


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

olimazi said:


> Was just wondering if a swap would work, may give it a try anyway.


If you "give it a try anyway" you WILL LOSE ALL RECORDINGS!

If you boot a Boot with any drive except the one that was last active at shutdown, it will wipe the drive. Neither the new Bolt NOR the original Bolt will ever be able to access those recordings again.


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## olimazi (Sep 14, 2012)

V7Goose said:


> If you "give it a try anyway" you WILL LOSE ALL RECORDINGS!
> .


copy that -not sure if I need .tivo or .ts files or both when transferring via kmttg?


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

Go ahead and decrypt the .tivo files to .ts. I do it with the 'on the fly' option, but I can't think of any good reason to keep them encrypted.

It's a fine idea to go ahead and make a backup of your OnePasses and Thumbs with KMTTG, too. You probably don't need the Channel List backed up since you're switching off of cable., but it wouldn't hurt.

-KP


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## jmccorm (Oct 8, 2000)

I've got a stupid but related question.

When my TiVo Bolt's hard drive failed (regular clicks on power-up, doesn't boot), they charged me something just shy of the price of a new unit to exchange it for a refurb. (I won't lie, I kind of feel cheated in that transaction.)

Assuming I had installed an appropriate replacement drive, would the TiVo Bolt have reformatted the fresh new drive and restarted everything from a clean slate? (Or would it have saved my settings and preferences, but not the content?)

EDITED to add RMA specifics: Was in June 2018, just exchanged the main unit itself (no new remotes or cables). Price was $149 plus a $199 deposit to make sure I sent my old unit back. At least they didn't charge me shipping!


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

Maybe...

-KP


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

jmccorm said:


> I've got a stupid but related question.
> 
> When my TiVo Bolt's hard drive failed (regular clicks on power-up, doesn't boot), they charged me something just shy of the price of a new unit to exchange it for a refurb. (I won't lie, I kind of feel cheated in that transaction.)
> 
> ...


 Clean slate.


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## olimazi (Sep 14, 2012)

kpeters59 said:


> Go ahead and decrypt the .tivo files to .ts. I do it with the 'on the fly' option, but I can't think of any good reason to keep them encrypted.
> -KP


KP, when I downloaded my videos from Tivo to PC I had both .tivo and .ts files, which extension to I upload back to the new Tivo drive - or does it not matter? They are both the same size.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

I expect you're going to use PyTivo? Or PyTivo Desktop as the 'server'?

If it can do .tivo files at all, I expect it won't care either way.

-KP


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Be careful. IIRC Bolt Vox OTA comes preloaded with Hydra and can not be downgraded to the old UI. Hydra does not support transferring from PC to TiVo. So you will NOT be able to use pyTivo for this. 

The only way to move shows is to have active service on both units then use the TiVo website to transfer recordings from old Bolt to new one. 

Also if your current Bolt is cable keep in mind that anything that copy protected can not be transferred at all.


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## olimazi (Sep 14, 2012)

Dan203 said:


> Be careful. IIRC Bolt Vox OTA comes preloaded with Hydra and can not be downgraded to the old UI. Hydra does not support transferring from PC to TiVo. So you will NOT be able to use pyTivo for this.
> The only way to move shows is to have active service on both units then use the TiVo website to transfer recordings from old Bolt to new one.
> .


Ouch. Didn't realize Hydra does not support pytivo. Will look into cloning my old drive via WinMFS.


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## kpeters59 (Jun 19, 2007)

kpeters59 said:


> Pick up another 3tb and upgrade the 1tb and then transfer?
> 
> -KP


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

olimazi said:


> Ouch. Didn't realize Hydra does not support pytivo. Will look into cloning my old drive via WinMFS.


The cloned drive from your Giveaway Bolt will not preserve the shows when used in your Bolt OTA. The Bolt OTA will format the drive and all the shows will be lost.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

olimazi said:


> Ouch. Didn't realize Hydra does not support pytivo. Will look into cloning my old drive via WinMFS.


Not possible. With the Roamio and newer the database and OS portion of the "drive" are kept on flash memory inside the machine itself. No way to transfer that to the new TiVo so it'll just treat the drive as blank.

Using the TiVo website, while having active service on both machines, is the only option. And if any of the shows are encrypted you're SOL.

Edit: Just saw your second post. Only option is to buy second 3TB drive for the new Bolt.

Only other option is to transfer them to a PC, decrypt and watch via Plex.


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## olimazi (Sep 14, 2012)

Dan203 said:


> Only other option is to transfer them to a PC, decrypt and watch via Plex.


Dan, thanks - PLEX it is then - didn't even think of going that route.


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

Plex is not necessary. Once the files are decrypted to a normal video format, many other devices can play them directly, such as a modern Samsung TV.

My 2017 Samsung reads and plays all video files just fine, either directly from a USB hard drive or from my NAS. The user experience is FAR superior to suffering with Plex!


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Plex is the only way to watch on a TiVo. If you have other devices there are lots of options


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