# Can I upgrade the Hard Drive on A HR-2X?



## scsiguy72 (Nov 25, 2003)

I have upgraded the Hard Drives on my other Tivos no problem and the ease of upgrading is one of the reasons I love Tivo.

I am going to go HD soon and may hve to go for a HR-20 (or 21)

If I do jump can I still upgrade hard drives?


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

You can install as large an external drive as you want to just by plugging it in. If you want to replace the internal drive is a bit harder to get to but can also be done. You don't even need to format the drive first, just plug it in and the Hr2x will do the rest for you.


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## scsiguy72 (Nov 25, 2003)

Thanks,
So the operating system must live on a chip somewhere inside the unit and it just uses the HD for storage?


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## badmonkey (Apr 8, 2003)

Keep in mind that you will lose any shows recorded prior to the hard drive install (whether internal or external).


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Yes, the external drive is mated to the unit and cannot be used elsewhere.

Also, when an external drive is added, the internal drive is not used so it is not an additive process but a substitute one.


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

And, the shows on the internal will be available when the external is disconnected.


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## incog-neato (Sep 18, 2007)

Any may lose any DirecTV warranty on the box if you open it.


JimSpence said:


> And, the shows on the internal will be available when the external is disconnected.


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## bigpuma (Aug 12, 2003)

incog-neato said:


> Any may lose any DirecTV warranty on the box if you open it.


 What does that have to do with anything. Jimspence was pointing out that if you add an external eSata drive it replaces the internal but when you remove the external drive you can still watch the shows previously recorded on that drive. No opening of the box required therefore no warranty problems.


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

Well, the OP did imply upgrading the internal drive since he did that with his other DVRs. The poster just wanted to let people know that the warranty would be void if you open the HR2x.


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## badmonkey (Apr 8, 2003)

JimSpence said:


> And, the shows on the internal will be available when the external is disconnected.


Hmmm... I didn't know that! I assumed that internal drive was reformatted once the unit went to use it again... I guess I should have tried removing my externals before commenting!

Thanks for the info!


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## bigpuma (Aug 12, 2003)

JimSpence said:


> Well, the OP did imply upgrading the internal drive since he did that with his other DVRs. The poster just wanted to let people know that the warranty would be void if you open the HR2x.


Good point. I got thrown off because he quoted your post.


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## jimb726 (Jan 4, 2007)

badmonkey said:


> Hmmm... I didn't know that! I assumed that internal drive was reformatted once the unit went to use it again... I guess I should have tried removing my externals before commenting!
> 
> Thanks for the info!


All you need to do is power down, yunplug the external and power up. Everything from before will be there.


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## incog-neato (Sep 18, 2007)

- Yea, what Jim said.


bigpuma said:


> What does that have to do with anything. Jimspence was pointing out that if you add an external eSata drive it replaces the internal but when you remove the external drive you can still watch the shows previously recorded on that drive. No opening of the box required therefore no warranty problems.


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## Jon J (Aug 23, 2000)

JimSpence said:


> The poster just wanted to let people know that the warranty would be void if you open the HR2x.


Which is only a possible problem if you lease your receiver. If you own it, crack the lid at your leisure.


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

Jon J said:


> Which is only a possible problem if you lease your receiver. If you own it, crack the lid at your leisure.


Just for the fun of argument, who would ever know you popped the top on it and voided the waranty? If it does die, pop the top again, put the old drive back in and send it away for replacement. It will be 6 months before anyone opens that box and looks inside it. By then they will just assume it has been repaired before or not care at all.


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## rminsk (Jun 4, 2002)

HiDefGator said:


> Just for the fun of argument, who would ever know you popped the top on it and voided the waranty?


There is a tamper tape seal on the back of the unit. With enough solvent those can mysteriously become unattached


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## Marino13 (Jan 17, 2007)

rminsk said:


> There is a tamper tape seal on the back of the unit. With enough solvent those can mysteriously become unattached


I have four HR20's. Only one of them has a tamper proof seal. The other three do not have anything on them.


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## scsiguy72 (Nov 25, 2003)

Marino13 said:


> I have four HR20's. Only one of them has a tamper proof seal. The other three do not have anything on them.


Anymore?


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## Marino13 (Jan 17, 2007)

scsiguy72 said:


> Anymore?


No, they actually came that way. I haven't upgraded the hard drive in any of them but I do not see how they could ever tell if I did.


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## jimb726 (Jan 4, 2007)

Marino13 said:


> No, they actually came that way. I haven't upgraded the hard drive in any of them but I do not see how they could ever tell if I did.


I concur, I have three of the HR20-700 and none of them have seals. Two were brand new when I got them and the third was my replacement when my HR10 dies and it was a refurb. No seals on any of them.


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## rminsk (Jun 4, 2002)

Marino13 said:


> I have four HR20's. Only one of them has a tamper proof seal. The other three do not have anything on them.


All four of mine have taper tape on them.


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

rminsk said:


> All four of mine have taper tape on them.


it still requires the assumption that someone somewhere cares if that tape has been torn or not. that's the part I have trouble believing.


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## Marino13 (Jan 17, 2007)

HiDefGator said:


> it still requires the assumption that someone somewhere cares if that tape has been torn or not. that's the part I have trouble believing.


+1


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## incog-neato (Sep 18, 2007)

What you say is very true.

The "tamperproof tag" on my 3rd replacement (and finally functioning) HR20-700 actually says "RECONDITIONED - Warranty Void if Vemoved"

As it turns out, it works perfectly (as far as no noise or other obvious problems) but whoever owned it before me must have been a heavy smoker and it STINKS. It's been running for about a week and that smoker stinky ashes smell won't go away. Think spraying it with "Fabreeze" would help?  I never could understand how smokers can live with that stink stuck to everything. Bleh.



HiDefGator said:


> it still requires the assumption that someone somewhere cares if that tape has been torn or not. that's the part I have trouble believing.


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## badmonkey (Apr 8, 2003)

incog-neato said:


> What you say is very true.
> 
> The "tamperproof tag" on my 3rd replacement (and finally functioning) HR20-700 actually says "RECONDITIONED - Warranty Void if Vemoved"
> 
> As it turns out, it works perfectly (as far as no noise or other obvious problems) but whoever owned it before me must have been a heavy smoker and it STINKS. It's been running for about a week and that smoker stinky ashes smell won't go away. Think spraying it with "Fabreeze" would help?  I never could understand how smokers can live with that stink stuck to everything. Bleh.


That's horrible! That smell would be reason enough for me to request a replacement. I'd rather deal with missed recordings that the smell of cigarette smoke!

Well, maybe not... But that smell is pretty bad.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

so how does weakness get away selling already upgraded units if you legally arent allowed to pop the top? are they 'owned' vs leased?


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## incog-neato (Sep 18, 2007)

Well, it's relegated to my basement computer monitor anyway because I'm still not ready to move it to my L/R PDP in place of Mr. TiVo (as my wife affectionaly calls it - the HR10 that is) and I don't want to take the chance of getting an HR21. I'm hoping in a few more months it will be "de-ashed" and ready for prime time. 


badmonkey said:


> That's horrible! That smell would be reason enough for me to request a replacement. I'd rather deal with missed recordings that the smell of cigarette smoke!
> 
> Well, maybe not... But that smell is pretty bad.


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## bigpuma (Aug 12, 2003)

newsposter said:


> so how does weakness get away selling already upgraded units if you legally arent allowed to pop the top? are they 'owned' vs leased?


I don't think anyone has suggested it is illegal to pop the top, just that it voids the warranty. Weaknees provides their own warranty to their customers.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

bigpuma said:


> I don't think anyone has suggested it is illegal to pop the top, just that it voids the warranty. Weaknees provides their own warranty to their customers.


ah ok i guess i inferred (but never read the dtv agreeement) that lease means you cant pop the top since you definitely dont own the box.


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## slydog75 (Jul 8, 2004)

Does Incog-neatos practice of putting his response to a quote BEFORE the quote bug the crap out of anyone else? The standard practice is to put the quote first, then respond, but I digress...

If you can swap the internal drive without any formatting or loading of an OS, where is the OS stored?


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

Nope!


slydog75 said:


> Does Incog-neatos practice of putting his response to a quote BEFORE the quote bug the crap out of anyone else? The standard practice is to put the quote first, then respond, but I digress...


What does bug me is people who try to quote another thread and mess it up.


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## RS4 (Sep 2, 2001)

Yeah, it's really hard to pull the slide bar down to read the quote ... takes lots of energy... wears me out!!



slydog75 said:


> Does Incog-neatos practice of putting his response to a quote BEFORE the quote bug the crap out of anyone else? The standard practice is to put the quote first, then respond, but I digress...


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## slydog75 (Jul 8, 2004)

RS4 said:


> Yeah, it's really hard to pull the slide bar down to read the quote ... takes lots of energy... wears me out!!


Ack! Stop! Don't turn this into a trend!


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## scsiguy72 (Nov 25, 2003)

slydog75 said:


> If you can swap the internal drive without any formatting or loading of an OS, where is the OS stored?


The OS would live on an internal Chip, I believe they call it ROMB

(Rom-BEE)

I think it stands for Read Only Memory onBOARD I have a few other devices that do this and the neat thing is, if the Hard drive crashes the unit continues to run, just without any recording capacity. To upgrade the OS you have to flash the chip.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

i knew the os was on the chip but never realize you could still watch live TV if the HR20 drive goes back..impressive

I did know you could just plug in sata and go merrily along and wonder if DTV will ever just start sending out SATA instead of replacement Hr20s


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## rminsk (Jun 4, 2002)

newsposter said:


> i knew the os was on the chip but never realize you could still watch live TV if the HR20 drive goes back..impressive


On the flip side you can not watch recorded programs without a satellite signal during boot.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

bigpuma said:


> I don't think anyone has suggested it is illegal to pop the top, just that it voids the warranty. Weaknees provides their own warranty to their customers.


well i found it is against DTV policy to pop the top on leased receivers (i count popping the top as altering or tampering):

http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=1340282&postcount=8

now maybe weaknees has a deal or maybe they are all owned at that site (given the high prices i'd guess so). But it's pretty clear from that post that it's a no-no for a majority of us to be opening this machine up


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## bigpuma (Aug 12, 2003)

newsposter said:


> well i found it is against DTV policy to pop the top on leased receivers (i count popping the top as altering or tampering):
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=1340282&postcount=8
> 
> now maybe weaknees has a deal or maybe they are all owned at that site (given the high prices i'd guess so). But it's pretty clear from that post that it's a no-no for a majority of us to be opening this machine up


DirecTV policy does not equal the law. That is all I am saying. I understand that it breaks the agreement in regards to leased units but the worst that could happen is DirecTV would charge you $800 or whatever the price of buying the unit is.

As for Weaknees I am sure they are owned units that they are selling and they are also providing the warranty for their units.


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