# Instructions: Adding eSATAp connector to BOLT (tech)



## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

_I wrote this up quick and will go back and edit it later. It's a lot and I didn't have tons of time to write this up..._

It seems most people who run external hard drives on the BOLT just cut a hole in the BOLT's case, pass a SATA to eSATA cable through the hole, connect to the primary SATA port on the BOLT, and then to an external enclosure's eSATA port. I like mark1958 solution of adding another eSATA port to the BOLT, but something in me still doesn't like having a dead SATA port right underneath it. Mark's work is really nice though and his thread can be found here: Tivo Bolt with Esata cable added

That gave me the idea to convert the existing SATA port to connect to the primary internal SATA port instead of it's stock config. I actually did this on one of my test BOLT's and it works fine. All you need do is lift a couple filters or cut some traces and solder a cut SATA cable to the corresponding pins.

However, after all that, I really wanted an external drive that did not need a separate power supply or even an enclosure. So I bought one of these SATA to eSATA converter boards and hoped I could find a way to cram it inside the BOLT.










It would have made life really easy. But such is life, the board is just too large to cleanly mount inside the BOLT.

So instead I decided to make the project as difficult as possible ;-) I removed the original BOLT eSATA port and replaced it with an eSATAp port from the board pictured above. I basically installed an eSATAp port where the original BOLT eSATA port was.

*BOLT eSATA port removed:









*
I cleaned up the eSATA connector later and it is totally reusable.
*








*
Before I go any further it is important to note that there are at least two forms of eSATAp. The most important thing to note is that most eSATAp will only support 2.5" drives because it only has 5 volts which it pulls from a USB connector. If you want to use a 3.5" drive as I did, *you will need to be sure to get an eSATAp port and cable that supports both 5 volts and 12 volts*.

Now, what you need to do is take the eSATAp port and wire it up. There is a discrepancy all over the internet on where the 12 volts goes versus it's ground. I connected my eSATAp cable (like the one below) to the eSATAp connector and then used my multi-meter to figure out the pin-out for myself.

*eSATAp Cable:*










*My pin-out is like the diagram* below (taken form eSATA USB hybrid (EUHP) external connector pinout diagram @ pinoutguide.com):










Now it's not like you can just pop an eSATAp port right in... this took some thought. What I wound up doing was installing the eSATAp connector upside down, and thus had to take extra special care when wiring the SATA and voltage cable.

*eSATAp connector all wired up:*










I didn't solder the SATA data and grounds to their pins because it would have been very crowded with the voltage wires. Instead, I soldered the SATA wires through an opening in the connector as shown above. This also made for easier mounting in the BOLT later.










The eSATAp connector needs to be held well to the BOLT main board, but since I flipped it upside down, the anchoring legs were not an option. Instead, I used long leads that I had cut off some capacitors (from a different project) to the original anchors. I ran them under the BOLT main board as shown below and through the anchor holes. I then soldered them to the BOLT main board and eSATAp connector.










*Anchors soldered to eSATAp connector:*










Before I put the eSATAp connector on the board, I made sure that nothing would cross the solder pads from the original eSATA connector. Depending on the size and geometry of your particular eSATAp connector you may have to make some accommodations.

I started by soldering one back anchor down first, but before I installed the eSATAp connector I put some hot melt glue between the SATA data pins and BOLT main board to hold the wires steady. I then finished the four anchors, and then added more hot melt glue to the top of the SATA data cables and the power cables to pot it and to act a a strain relief. You can of course use epoxy, but then there is no going back. This mod is totally reversible in the case that I need any warranty coverage and hot melt glue is very easy to remove with isopropyl alcohol.

One frustration is that most 90 degree SATA cables bend towards the back of the BOLT. I considered using one like this, but in the end I canalized an OEM TiVo SATA cable for it's data and power connectors. I think it came from either a TiVoHD or Premiere... it was in a drawer.

Another important note... do you know what UDMA CRC errors are? If not Google, but they are typically caused by a bad SATA cable or connection. Before I permanently installed the eSATAp connector I checked the SMART data on my test hard drive and looked at the RAW UDMA CRC error count; the count showed "1." I let the TiVo run through the eSATAp cable overnight tuned to four different stations. In the morning I shut it down and rechecked checked the SMART data for UDMA CRC Errors again to be sure the number had not increased. If UDMA CRC errors had gone up than this would indicate that my SATA data connection was bad.

Finally I made a wonderful discovery. I presumed that I would have to cut the plastic and meta backing of the case to make it slightly taller to accommodate the eSATAp connector because it is just a bit taller. However, serendipity came to the rescue and I discovered that the eSATAp port has just enough clearance to allow the cable to be inserted without altering the case at all 

*eSATAp Cable Plugged Into eSATAp Port:*










More pics in next post...

craigr


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

Best regards,
craigr


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

Thanks, but when my 2.5" craps out again, I'll just hook up a 3.5" drive with a separate power supply. I already have the needed parts. Your set up, while cool, is too complex and too much work for me.

Now that I have my Bolt temp down to the 40's, I hope the drive lasts, but I'm not that hopeful.


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

UCLABB said:


> Thanks, but when my 2.5" craps out again, I'll just hook up a 3.5" drive with a separate power supply. I already have the needed parts. Your set up, while cool, is too complex and too much work for me.
> 
> Now that I have my Bolt temp down to the 40's, I hope the drive lasts, but I'm not that hopeful.


Yeah, I don't really expect many (any) people to try this  But who knows, maybe one or two of you will surprise me!

craigr


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

Man, I really thought by now I'd have loads of folks telling me I'm a crazy nutter 

I'm thinking of applying something like this to my client's TiVo's because I am becoming more and more fearful of the 2.5" drives. In that case I will probably have a mini pc board made just to hold the eSATAp connector with traces to labeled through holes (12v, 5v, A+, A-...) in order to wire the thing up to a PC board instead of rigged like I did directly onto the pins of the connector. Would make the job easier and cleaner.

Does anyone have interest in getting a pc board to try this themselves. If there were enough takers (still doubt it) than I would probably go ahead and order some.

craigr


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## PSU_Sudzi (Jun 4, 2015)

This is a pretty cool project! My biggest concern if I were you would be if TiVo borks your setup as happened to folks with certain hard drives via an update. I doubt TiVo did this deliberately but it seems a side effect of an update to Hydra on Bolts. Not sure if you saw the threads on it or not.


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

PSU_Sudzi said:


> This is a pretty cool project! My biggest concern if I were you would be if TiVo borks your setup as happened to folks with certain hard drives via an update. I doubt TiVo did this deliberately but it seems a side effect of an update to Hydra on Bolts. Not sure if you saw the threads on it or not.


I saw where some 2.5" drives were effected... have any 3.5" drives been burnt?

Thanks,
Craig


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## PSU_Sudzi (Jun 4, 2015)

CIR-Engineering said:


> I saw where some 2.5" drives were effected... have any 3.5" drives been burnt?
> 
> Thanks,
> Craig


Not that I'm aware of but just wanted to mention it.


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

PSU_Sudzi said:


> Not that I'm aware of but just wanted to mention it.


Yeah, the trashing of 2.5" drives really lit a fire under me to get this done. I actually think it will help.

Incidentally, eSATAp is backwards compatible with eSATA. Meaning, you can plug an eSATA cable into this connector and hook up a regular eternal eSATA enclosure. It just makes the eSATA port live on the back of the BOLT.

craigr


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## PSU_Sudzi (Jun 4, 2015)

CIR-Engineering said:


> Yeah, the trashing of 2.5" drives really lit a fire under me to get this done. I actually think it will help.
> 
> Incidentally, eSATAp is backwards compatible with eSATA. Meaning, you can plug an eSATA cable into this connector and hook up a regular eternal eSATA enclosure. It just makes the eSATA port live on the back of the BOLT.
> 
> craigr


I've still got my lifetime Roamio Plus and have not made the jump to a Bolt yet and am waiting for them to offer some transfer of lifetime deals to appear. That hasn't happened yet with Roamios.


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## rdrrepair (Nov 24, 2006)

Love reading your write-ups and the details provided. Although I'd never do this mod please keep posting what you're doing.


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## xbr23 (Mar 29, 2010)

nice work! and we appreciate your write up.


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

xbr23 said:


> nice work! and we appreciate your write up.


Thanks guys!

craigr


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## N2UMK (May 5, 2013)

Very nice work. I'm interested. I would do this mod if needed. This morning I just hooked up my 3rd Bolt+ in less than 6 months. As you and others stated it appears the Bolts are running hot. I had a new Bolt+ fail after about 2.5 months (Sept.). The replacement Bolt+ failed in mid November. Both Bolt+'s just died. No warnings, nothing. The first one I unplugged and upon power-up - nothing. The 2nd one just died on it's own. Green power light went dark. Nothing I did revived either one. Luckily for me both fell under warranty replacement. I received the 3rd new replacement last week and as I stated above hooked it up this morning.
Before I powered up this 3rd one I made some of the "cooling mods" you made. I'll post some pics and what I did in your original thread. Start up ODT was 27C; a few hours later it's @ 31C.
Thanks for your contributions to this site. Much appreciated.


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## global_dev (Mar 15, 2010)

I might be interested in a board. please keep me in the loop on any info. thanks!


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

global_dev said:


> I might be interested in a board. please keep me in the loop on any info. thanks!


A board would be nice. I'll post to the thread if I ever do it. I think if I start losing client 2.5" drives I will probably make the PCB.

craigr


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

Would it be possible to repurpose the Tivo installed eStata port to use for the main hard drive?


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

shwru980r said:


> Would it be possible to repurpose the Tivo installed eStata port to use for the main hard drive?


Yes, very easy compared to installing an eSATAp connector. I did it on one of my parts BOLTS. There are many specific ways to do it...










The easiest way would probably be to lift D605, L52, and L53 (you could probably actually leave D605 in place). Then cut off the end of a SATA cable, insert the plug end into the internal SATA port, and then simply solder the four data wires to their corresponding pins 2, 3, 5, and 6 directly on the eSATA port's pins and pads. You don't need to worry about the grounds because they are already grounded to the same point on both the SATA and eSATA jacks.

This would be fairly easy to reverse if you ever needed warranty work. Frankly, I doubt anyone would even notice if it were sent back without D605, L52, and L53 put back on... nobody is going to look that closely on a port that is never used.

Another way which would best insure good data integrity would be to first remove the eSATA port from the board. Then simply cut the four traces going to data pins 2, 3, 5, and 6 on the board (you can see them in the pic). Put the eSATA port back on the board and solder a data cable as I described above. This would not be reversible, but it would also be invisible because the cut traces would be under the eSATA port.

If you wanted to skip the internal SATA jack all together you could lift inductors L52 and L53 and then run wires of equal length from the internal SATA inductors L50 and L51 to the pads of L52 and L53...

There are probably 100 ways of minute differences that this can be done.

I was strongly considering doing this. If I had, I would have lifted the eSATA port, cut the four traces, and then used a cut SATA cable plugged into the internal SATA port. I like this approach because it would be the easiest to "undo" if the unit ever needs to be sent back and it would also look very clean... a lot cleaner than my eSATAp port 

Best,
craigr


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

I’m curious, did anyone else ever try this or something like it?

Kind regards,
craigr


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

CIR-Engineering said:


> I'm curious, did anyone else ever try this or something like it?
> 
> Kind regards,
> craigr


I had forgotten about this thread. Very impressed with your work, but it is above my expertise. Note I posted back in November that if my hdd failed again, I would go the external route. Sure enough it did. But I took the lazy way out and just cut a hole through the case for the sata cable. I power the bare 3.5" external with its own power supply.


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## Tweak42 (Mar 14, 2007)

CIR-Engineering said:


> I'm curious, did anyone else ever try this or something like it?
> 
> Kind regards,
> craigr


Researching into doing this mod, would this part make it easier to do?

https://www.reichelt.de/esatapd-socket-14-pin-terminal-block-delock-65392-p127466.html


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

Tweak42 said:


> Researching into doing this mod, would this part make it easier to do?
> 
> DELOCK 65392: eSATApd Buchse > Terminalblock 14 Pin bei reichelt elektronik


Wow, sorry just saw your post. Yes, that looks perfect! Almost exactly what I would have made. Anyone could use this as you don't even need to solder in order to use this board. Though I personally would probably remove the terminal block and solder the connections instead.

It looks like it's already on a pad and the pad its self may be double sided adhesive tape. If not, you could use "permanent" double sided tape or hot melt glue to secure, but also keep it removable if necessary.

I'm going to order some I think.

Thanks!
craigr


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

Tweak42 said:


> Researching into doing this mod, would this part make it easier to do?
> 
> https://www.reichelt.de/esatapd-socket-14-pin-terminal-block-delock-65392-p127466.html


Looking at the specs, the connector may be too long to fit at 40 mm. I may still try and order some to try.

craigr


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## WVZR1 (Jul 31, 2008)

CIR-Engineering said:


> Looking at the specs, the connector may be too long to fit at 40 mm. I may still try and order some to try.
> 
> craigr


I saw that connector the other day and thought about it for possibly the enclosure. The connector shouldn't care? You'll be sourcing these from where?


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## CIR-Engineering (Sep 24, 2017)

WVZR1 said:


> I saw that connector the other day and thought about it for possibly the enclosure. The connector shouldn't care? You'll be sourcing these from where?


Yeah I looked online for another source today, but shipping just two is over €30 so not worth it. I didn't check ali yet so that's possible, but I think they are made in Germany.

I looked briefly for an alternative on digikey but didn't find anything.

craigr


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

CIR-Engineering said:


> Another important note... do you know what UDMA CRC errors are? If not Google, but they are typically caused by a bad SATA cable or connection. Before I permanently installed the eSATAp connector I checked the SMART data on my test hard drive and looked at the RAW UDMA CRC error count; the count showed "1." I let the TiVo run through the eSATAp cable overnight tuned to four different stations. In the morning I shut it down and rechecked checked the SMART data for UDMA CRC Errors again to be sure the number had not increased. If UDMA CRC errors had gone up than this would indicate that my SATA data connection was bad.


That is very valuable info, and a good test. I have run into the UDMA CRC errors with external Tivo upgrades. Do they affect the drive itself?


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## Bruc (Oct 16, 2016)

CraigR,
When you converted the eSATA to an eSATAp, you used the internal Hard drive power connector to power the external 3.5 drive. Were you concerned that the 2.5 drive only uses about .5A of 5Volt power, or 2.5 watts, while a 3.5 drive might use about .7A of 5 volt and .5A of 12 volt power, or 9.5 watts total?  I know the Bolt has a 12 Volt, 3A (36 watt) power supply, but I was wondering if any of the Tivo board components that supplied power to the hard drive would be stressed by the additional power requirements of a 3.5" Drive.


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