# Would this hard drive upgrade work?



## Guphanti (Sep 18, 2019)

I threw caution to the wind when I bought my Tivo Bolt VOX, and upgraded the hard drive to a 2.5 inch 3 TB Seagate. Low and behold a few weeks later my recordings are all garbled and streaming/downloading recordings doesn't work. I researched it and discovered the distinction between PMR and SMR drives, and that only certain PMR drives work. So now I need to find a PMR drive to upgrade to as I understand it. The problem is, it seems like everyone on here that's asked this has been referred to older threads discussing this issue, in which people recommend drives that are all discontinued now. The most recent thread, from last month, mentioned a Toshiba that has since been discontinued.

So what available hard drives would work?

All I can find is upgrading the 500GB Bolt to 1TB by buying the WD10JUCT drive that's still for sale and is the exact drive included with the 1TB Bolt.

As far as an upgrade to 2TB or 3TB, as of right now, are there any drives for sale (other than the $500 ones from Weaknees) that are PMR and would work with the TiVo Bolt Vox?

Thanks.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

Guphanti said:


> I threw caution to the wind when I bought my Tivo Bolt VOX, and upgraded the hard drive to a 2.5 inch 3 TB Seagate. Low and behold a few weeks later my recordings are all garbled and streaming/downloading recordings doesn't work. I researched it and discovered the distinction between PMR and SMR drives, and that only certain PMR drives work. So now I need to find a PMR drive to upgrade to as I understand it. The problem is, it seems like everyone on here that's asked this has been referred to older threads discussing this issue, in which people recommend drives that are all discontinued now. The most recent thread, from last month, mentioned a Toshiba that has since been discontinued.
> 
> So what available hard drives would work?
> 
> ...


I've been using this drive in a white bolt for 26 months.

Seagate 3TB Laptop HDD SATA 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 2.5-Inch 15 mm Height Internal Hard Drive (ST3000LM016)

I've been using a 2TB WD20NPVX for my Bolt Vox for 9 months, which might be a better compromise.


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## Guphanti (Sep 18, 2019)

shwru980r said:


> I've been using this drive in a white bolt for 26 months.
> 
> Seagate 3TB Laptop HDD SATA 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 2.5-Inch 15 mm Height Internal Hard Drive (ST3000LM016)
> 
> I've been using a 2TB WD20NPVX for my Bolt Vox for 9 months, which might be a better compromise.


The drive that was in there is a Seagate...it might even be that exact one. It turns out it's an SMR Drive and now it's cooked.

The WD20NPVX you mentioned is the one that's mentioned in other threads, but it's been discontinued for some time and is no longer available anywhere. So the question is-what drive, currently on the market, would work? The only solution I can find is to upgrade the stock 500GB Western Digital drive with the 1TB one from the same series-the same one that comes with the 1TB Bolt.


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## barnabas1969 (Aug 22, 2013)

You could put the 500GB back in the Bolt and do what I did....

Use the eSATA port with an external drive (up to 8TB DVR Expander) - simple method!


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## Guphanti (Sep 18, 2019)

barnabas1969 said:


> You could put the 500GB back in the Bolt and do what I did....
> 
> Use the eSATA port with an external drive (up to 8TB DVR Expander) - simple method!


What PMR 3.5" hard drive did you use? Are those as hard to find/nonexistent as the 2.5" PMR drives?


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## JSearfoss (Nov 17, 2008)

I just got a 2TB from Weakness to replace my Bolts 3TB WD . It was $199 and they give a $50 credit if you return the original bad WD 3TB from the Bolt. The drive they sent me was a Seagate Skyhawk ST2000LV000. I checked the warranty on the drive from the Seagate web site and it showed a 3yr warranty.


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## Guphanti (Sep 18, 2019)

JSearfoss said:


> I just got a 2TB from Weakness to replace my Bolts 3TB WD . It was $199 and they give a $50 credit if you return the original bad WD 3TB from the Bolt. The drive they sent me was a Seagate Skyhawk ST2000LV000. I checked the warranty on the drive from the Seagate web site and it showed a 3yr warranty.


That one is also discontinued and not available


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Guphanti said:


> That one is also discontinued and not available


Found it at servers4less.com, $162.24 with free ship, _altho a refurb._  ST2000LV000 Seagate Skyhawk Mini 2TB SATA 2.5-inch Internal Hard Drive The webpage says that you can contact them to see if a new one is available.

This is not good to hear.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

For whatever it's worth, also found it for sale as a refurb. on eBay, at $62.99 (with free shipping). Seagate SkyHawk 2TB 2.5" SATA HDD ST2000LV000 Sealed | eBay

Don't the hard drive companies think that people want higher capacities?


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

This was the recommended drive I bought August 1st and have been using since.
Toshiba MQ03ABB300 3.0TB 2.5-inch 15.0mm SATA... at MacSales.com


> Item: 3.0TB Toshiba MQ03ABB300 2.5-inch 15.0mm SATA 6.0Gb/s (3.0Gb/s and 1.5Gb/s backwards compatible) 5400RPM Hard Drive with 16MB Cache. *Important Note - Apple Laptops and Most PC Laptops utilize 9.5mm HDD or slimmer!*; Toshiba 3 Year Limited Warranty. (TOSMQ03ABB300)


Doesn't look like that is available anymore. Maybe this 2TB one would work? I have no experience with the new 2TB one. Toshiba MQ04ABD200 2.0TB MQ04AB Series 2.5" Laptop... at MacSales.com


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Mikeguy said:


> Don't the hard drive companies think that people want higher capacities?


It's a size thing. With 2.5" drives <=9.5mm in height, required to fit in most laptops, 2TB seems to be the limit. If your device can accommodate 15mm (Bolts can, probably some slimline desktops too), you can get 3, 4, or 5TB 2.5" drives (more?).

I've seen 8TB 2.5" internal drives, but they are SSDs, and cost almost as much as economy cars. An 8TB 3.5" HDD internal drive, OTOH, is like $150, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-Internal-Hard-Drive/dp/B07H289S7C/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

[rant on]The decision to use a 2.5" drive instead of 3.5" on the Bolts was as stupid as the curved case.[/rant off]


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

justen_m said:


> It's a size thing. With 2.5" drives <=9.5mm in height, required to fit in most laptops, 2TB seems to be the limit. If your device can accommodate 15mm (Bolts can, probably some slimline desktops too), you can get 3, 4, or 5TB 2.5" drives (more?).
> 
> I've seen 8TB 2.5" internal drives, but they are SSDs, and cost almost as much as economy cars. An 8TB 3.5" HDD internal drive, OTOH, is like $150, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-Internal-Hard-Drive/dp/B07H289S7C/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
> 
> [rant on]The decision to use a 2.5" drive instead of 3.5" on the Bolts was as stupid as the curved case.[/rant off]


But the 2.5" 3TB drives that already exist seem to have been EOL'ed, with no replacements in sight.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

Guphanti said:


> I threw caution to the wind when I bought my Tivo Bolt VOX, and upgraded the hard drive to a 2.5 inch 3 TB Seagate. Low and behold a few weeks later my recordings are all garbled and streaming/downloading recordings doesn't work. I researched it and discovered the distinction between PMR and SMR drives, and that only certain PMR drives work. So now I need to find a PMR drive to upgrade to as I understand it. The problem is, it seems like everyone on here that's asked this has been referred to older threads discussing this issue, in which people recommend drives that are all discontinued now. The most recent thread, from last month, mentioned a Toshiba that has since been discontinued.
> 
> So what available hard drives would work?
> 
> ...


Very hard to find a for sure PMR 2.5" drive. I'd go with a 3.5 in an external enclosure hooked up directly to the Sata port on the motherboard. And use the power in the external enclosure. You still need to find a 3.5 PMR drive, if you stick with NAS or Video or Enterprise models should be ok. Most current model archive and desktop are SMR, even 3.5s. If you want to stick with a 2.5" drive see if you can find a WD Black 1TB. Don't think they manufacture them anymore but might be able to find a new one around somewhere. The Black was WDs best 2.5 drive, had a 5 year warranty. 1TB 2.5 was as big as it got with the Black.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

Mikeguy said:


> But the 2.5" 3TB drives that already exist seem to have been EOL'ed, with no replacements in sight.


I know, that's a bummer. I went with 3TB drives in my Bolt and Roamio Plus (both TE3) because of the simple plug-n-play. It was so simple compared to upgrading the drives in my S2DT and TiVoHD, which required hooking 'em up to a PC, etc, etc. With gigabit networking, transferring to my server, playing back via pyTivo or Plex, is viable too. [rant on]Much prefer the former, hence still on TE3.[/rant off]


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

justen_m said:


> I know, that's a bummer. I went with 3TB drives in my Bolt and Roamio Plus (both TE3) because of the simple plug-n-play. It was so simple compared to upgrading the drives in my S2DT and TiVoHD, which required hooking 'em up to a PC, etc, etc. With gigabit networking, transferring to my server, playing back via pyTivo or Plex, is viable too. [rant on]Much prefer the former, hence still on TE3.[/rant off]


I'm very happy that, after hemming and hawing for years about updating the storage capacity of my Roamio and Bolt boxes (500GB each), I finally put a new 3TB drive in the Bolt box in the Spring--the drive no longer easily being found.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

I did just find the Toshiba 2.5" 3TB hard drive available through UK/Germany seller grooves.land. $126.75 with free ship.  Toshiba - MQ03ABB300 - Festplatte - 3TB - intern - 6,4 cm (2.5") - SATA 6Gb/s - 5400 U/min - Puffer: 16MB (MQ03ABB300) - Toshiba Hardware/Electronic Grooves Inc.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

Guphanti said:


> The drive that was in there is a Seagate...it might even be that exact one. It turns out it's an SMR Drive and now it's cooked.
> 
> The WD20NPVX you mentioned is the one that's mentioned in other threads, but it's been discontinued for some time and is no longer available anywhere. So the question is-what drive, currently on the market, would work? The only solution I can find is to upgrade the stock 500GB Western Digital drive with the 1TB one from the same series-the same one that comes with the 1TB Bolt.


I bought both of my drives used and both were discontinued models. The 3TB drive was from amazon and the 2TB drive was from ebay. If you bought your seagate 3TB a few weeks ago, I don't think it was the one I was using, unless it was a used drive.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Mikeguy said:


> I did just find the Toshiba 2.5" 3TB hard drive available through UK/Germany seller grooves.land. $126.75 with free ship.  Toshiba - MQ03ABB300 - Festplatte - 3TB - intern - 6,4 cm (2.5") - SATA 6Gb/s - 5400 U/min - Puffer: 16MB (MQ03ABB300) - Toshiba Hardware/Electronic Grooves Inc.


Price just went down: it's $126.08 this morning.


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## barnabas1969 (Aug 22, 2013)

Guphanti said:


> What PMR 3.5" hard drive did you use? Are those as hard to find/nonexistent as the 2.5" PMR drives?


It's listed in the first post of my thread...
Use the eSATA port with an external drive (up to 8TB DVR Expander) - simple method!


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## cdub05 (Sep 23, 2019)

I also wanted to upgrade my Bolt 500GB to 2TB, WD20NPVZ. Old drive used from Amazon. How reliable is a used drive since cannot see, don’t know history. Has anybody heard of disctech.com to buy new hdd?


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## Doc Holiday (Dec 31, 2016)

I have been using the Toshiba 2TB MQ03ABB200 for 34 months and it's still going strong. They are still available at several locations online. Cheapest being ebay for a new drive at $76. The MQ04ABD200 mentioned above looks very similar (600,000 hr MTBF, 3 year warranty) and is very widely available for $80.


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Spinpoint-2-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000LM003/dp/B00MPWYLHO

Only 4 left though.


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## Sam L (Jan 12, 2018)

cdub05 said:


> I also wanted to upgrade my Bolt 500GB to 2TB, WD20NPVZ. Old drive used from Amazon. How reliable is a used drive since cannot see, don't know history. Has anybody heard of disctech.com to buy new hdd?


I bought a WD20NPVZ off amazon in july 2019. It was rated A condition and fully tested but has already failed (it died first week in Sept 2019).


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

Sam L said:


> I bought a WD20NPVZ off amazon in july 2019. It was rated A condition and fully tested but has already failed (it died first week in Sept 2019).


You should never buy a used or refurbished hard drive. All they do is get it back, run basic tests on it, then ship it right back out to the next sucker/customer. There are certain kinds of failures that require extensive testing to diagnose, and nobody can be bothered to do those tests. They just ship the drive back out until it fails really badly then handle it as a warranty return because it's cheaper to do it that way.


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## cdub05 (Sep 23, 2019)

Sam L said:


> I bought a WD20NPVZ off amazon in july 2019. It was rated A condition and fully tested but has already failed (it died first week in Sept 2019).


Ouch. Sorry to hear that.


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## cdub05 (Sep 23, 2019)

Was curious if anybody else heard of Disctech.com? They are selling new WD20NPVZ drive $152. Otherwise Weaknees sells 2TB for for $200. Don’t know drive model number weaknees sells?


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## JSearfoss (Nov 17, 2008)

cdub05 said:


> Was curious if anybody else heard of Disctech.com? They are selling new WD20NPVZ drive $152. Otherwise Weaknees sells 2TB for for $200. Don't know drive model number weaknees sells?


The one I just got from Weakness was a 2TB Seagate Skyhawk ST2000LV000.


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## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

BobCamp1 said:


> You should never buy a used or refurbished hard drive. All they do is get it back, run basic tests on it, then ship it right back out to the next sucker/customer. There are certain kinds of failures that require extensive testing to diagnose, and nobody can be bothered to do those tests. They just ship the drive back out until it fails really badly then handle it as a warranty return because it's cheaper to do it that way.


Thanks--it's always been tempting (but I've resisted--the most I've done is to purchase an open-box, never used, new drive from an eBay individual with a good track record--and then, I tested it for weeks before the eBay purchase guarantee period ended).


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## cdub05 (Sep 23, 2019)

JSearfoss said:


> The one I just got from Weakness was a 2TB Seagate Skyhawk ST2000LV000.


Thanks, any word/postings if they are SMR or PMR?
Found some Seagate document about that drive which says "SMR with PMR heads/media"? Using both terms about this drive, therefore which is it?


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

cdub05 said:


> Thanks, any word/postings if they are SMR or PMR?
> Found some Seagate document about that drive which says "SMR with PMR heads/media"? Using both terms about this drive, therefore which is it?


The document I found says it's a PMR drive.
https://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/product-content/skyhawk/en-us/docs/100813751e.pdf

"SMR with PMR heads/media" would be an SMR drive, since all drives currently have their heads perpendicular to the media. PMR is a bad term to describe the older drives because it's too general, but it's what stuck.


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## cdub05 (Sep 23, 2019)

BobCamp1 said:


> The document I found says it's a PMR drive.
> https://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/product-content/skyhawk/en-us/docs/100813751e.pdf
> 
> "SMR with PMR heads/media" would be an SMR drive, since all drives currently have their heads perpendicular to the media. PMR is a bad term to describe the older drives because it's too general, but it's what stuck.


Yeah same document I read, page 6 says "SMR with PMR heads/media", that's why not clear which version this drive is and leads me to believe it is SMR.


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## BobCamp1 (May 15, 2002)

cdub05 said:


> Yeah same document I read, page 6 says "SMR with PMR heads/media", that's why not clear which version this drive is and leads me to believe it is SMR.


You're right. Whoever wrote that datasheet should be fired.


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## V7Goose (May 28, 2005)

Mikeguy said:


> Thanks--it's always been tempting (but I've resisted--the most I've done is to purchase an open-box, never used, new drive from an eBay individual with a good track record--and then, I tested it for weeks before the eBay purchase guarantee period ended).


Yes, the advice to never buy a used or refurb drive is a good one. Anything marked "refurbished" is absolutely guaranteed to have already been found with problems (or why was it "refurbished"?).

And think about it - there is NOTHING that can be done to really "refurbish" a drive - they are not taking it apart and repairing anything. If they do anything at all, it can only be to run software to read the drive surface to find and re-map bad areas. Virtually all drives have some bad sectors, even brand new from the factory. A drive has a limited amount of space reserved for re-mapping a bad sector to a new good spot on the surface of the disk, and those initial bad sectors are re-mapped that way, so the entire drive works fine. During it's life, some additional sectors may develop problems, and they are re-mapped the same way, allowing the drive to continue working.

Now when a drive actually starts going bad, many sectors often begin crapping out, one after another, and each one is re-mapped until all that reserved space is taken up. At this point, the drive is officially "dead". This can happen in a matter of hours, or over a period of months. The point is, if a drive has already been returned because of problems, you already have two strikes against you if you expect it to live a long and healthy life!


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