# Moving ESATA drive from TiVo HD to Bolt not recognized.



## jpierce237 (Oct 19, 2007)

Hey guys, using an ESATA external I set up to use with my TiVO HD, just decommissioned it in favor of a Bolt, but the drive isn't being recognized at all by the Bolt. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Jim


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## Robbo1 (Oct 31, 2015)

Call TiVo and have them send you a new eSatA cable (free). Apparently the old cable doesn't seat right on the Bolt.


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## rsnaider (Apr 25, 2002)

As stated above, I have the free cable but also took my Dremel and shaved part of the cable back to expose more of the metal rectangle.

Old cable works fine if you are willing to do that as the ESata port is recessed further on the Bolt.


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## EcoEric (Dec 14, 2008)

I'm confused. I noticed my old eSATA cable doesn't fit well in the Bolt because of the recessed port. Will TiVo send me a free eSATA cable that will work in the Bolt or does it still need to be modified?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

rsnaider said:


> As stated above, I have the free cable but also took my Dremel and shaved part of the cable back to expose more of the metal rectangle.
> 
> Old cable works fine if you are willing to do that as the ESata port is recessed further on the Bolt.


That's the nice thing about standards--there are so many.


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## rsnaider (Apr 25, 2002)

EcoEric said:


> I'm confused. I noticed my old eSATA cable doesn't fit well in the Bolt because of the recessed port. Will TiVo send me a free eSATA cable that will work in the Bolt or does it still need to be modified?


It will be free and they are aware of the issue. You need to call but I was impatient and found a solution and their free cable is sitting in a drawer now.


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## jpierce237 (Oct 19, 2007)

TiVo sent me a new esata cable and the Bolt sees it. But something must have changed as it reports it as an incompatible media expander. Did they make some big changes on the format of the disk since the TiVo HD? Looks like I might either have to see if there's an updated method of creating the proper configuration or worst case buy an actual approved Media Expander, who's isn't the way I'd like to go. Any thoughts? Thanks again for the help thus far!

Jim


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## Ade194 (Nov 22, 2015)

I had the same issue. I left the external drive plugged in and tried adding again in the settings a Few days later and it recognized it. It has been working fine since. No idea why it suddenly started being recognized.


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## jpierce237 (Oct 19, 2007)

I'm jealous, no matter how many times it recognizes the drive, it just tells me it's not compatible when I try to marry it. TiVo seems to think it should work as it was previously married to the HD, but since they don't seem to know their product very well, I'm not surprised that they're wrong. In the old days there was a method to format the drive to the specs necessary but I can't find anything to do that anymore....even if it would still work from the HD to the Bolt, I'm sure something's changed.


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## TeamPace (Oct 23, 2013)

jpierce237 said:


> Hey guys, using an ESATA external I set up to use with my TiVO HD, just decommissioned it in favor of a Bolt, but the drive isn't being recognized at all by the Bolt. Any suggestions?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jim


Had the same issue with transferring an external drive from a TiVo HD to a TiVo Roamio OTA. I just left the external drive connected and a few days later the Roamio came up with a message that a new drive was found and did I want to use it. It has worked fine since.


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