# My TiVo HD Drive Upgrade Worked!



## bobat (Dec 4, 2007)

I waded through the many posts here and gathered enough information to upgrade my new TiVo HD to a 750G internal drive - many thanks to all who shared their experiences! I though I'd add a bit about mine...

I didn't have a Torx tool, so I picked one up at Lowe's for $5.95. Good thing, because I read that I needed a T-10 - turns out the four screws that secure the drive to the drive bracket are T-15's (the six on the back are T-10, as are the four that secure the bracket itself to the TiVo frame.)

I bought a Western Digital 750G (WD7500AAKS) from newegg for $154.99 with free shipping. I didn't do anything with acoustic management (wouldn't know how anyway.) My computer has two SATA optical drives, so I simply unplugged the power and data cables from them and hooked them up to the 160G TiVo drive and the new drive at the same time, just sitting on a couple of boxes outside the computer case. Windows (XP Pro SP2) gave me the 'found new hardware' blurbs in the systray, but I didn't do anything else with them in Windows.

I started WinMFS and selected "Tools | Mfscopy." The window that opened made it very clear which drive was which (just looked at the drive size of each.) When the copy operation finished (about a half hour for a few saved shows) a prompt popped up offering to 'supersize' the drive. I said 'yes' and it finished immediately. I didn't do anything else, like backup the original drive or anything... just gonna put the original drive on a shelf in case I need to reinstall it some day.

After installing the new drive, the TiVo booted up normally, and there was my new capacity of 96 HD hours!

The new drive got pretty warm while the copy operation was going on, but according to TiVo it's running at 34&#176;C (as opposed to 41&#176;C with the original drive.) It's very quiet, too - I can hear it if I get on my knees and put my face up to the TiVo unit, but I can't hear it at all from more than a couple of feet away. I do feel some vibration on the side of the unit (don't recall it that was there before) and I might, if I feel inclined, go back in later and put some silicone grommets on the screws that hold the drive bracket to the unit.

All in all, a very easy and worthwhile upgrade! 

edit - I checked the temperature again while it was recording and replaying - it was 42&#176;C. Just a degree higher than before the upgrade.


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## Deanq4 (Sep 30, 2005)

I used the same drive you did, only thing I did different to the drive was to set the AAM to 128db. It made a difference (the vibrating stopped). It is pretty easy to do. I had issues since I used a USB > SATA cable. If you find theftool then you can do it by simply burning the cd, then booting into you CD drive (with the cd in)(3.5 floppy is an option too, but I don't have one of those any more). It will run and there is a drive setting for it. You decide weather it is worth it, I set mine while it was still mounted in the TiVoHD.

Also, I used the supersize option. I know that at 96 hours you really don't need more, but that brought me up to 98 hours. You might try it if you go to change the AAM, add that to the list if you feel like it.

Glad to hear that someone else had a good experience with the drive too.

Good Luck!


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## bobat (Dec 4, 2007)

Thanks for that info, Deanq4. :up: I had heard that this drive already came with AAM set to 128. It is very, very quiet, and the vibration is minimal, but I would like to tweak it if the option is there... I'll give it a try next week some time and let you know how it went!


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## bobat (Dec 4, 2007)

OK - I used the Hitachi tool to reduce the acoustic level to 128 (it shipped with the default 'disabled') and i _think_ it might be a tad quieter. If anything, the head seek chatter might be just a little less apparent than before, and I _think_ there's a tad less vibration. But, as I posted earlier, it's a very, very quiet drive anyway, and I can't hear a thing beyond a foot or so.

Thanks again for the info on the Hitachi tool!


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## allyn (Dec 21, 2001)

are there any known problems using this drive (WD7500AAKS) inside a series 3 tivo?

thanks.


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## dwit (May 5, 2004)

Have you done an internal drive upgrade?(click here)


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## allyn (Dec 21, 2001)

thanks for the pointer. i could swear i searched the S3 forum for WD7500AAKS but i guess i did not.


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## dwit (May 5, 2004)

While the wd7500aaks is mentioned several times in that thread, seemingly all are with the Tivo HD. In the first post about it, it's not clear.

Even so, I believe the only drive that has been almost conclusively proven problematic with any model is the WD10EACS(00ZJB) in the Tivo S3.

Besides that, any SATA drive will work, knowing that, in general, some drives may be more suitable/designed/marketed for dvr use than others.


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## allyn (Dec 21, 2001)

thanks again. i noticed that nobody in the other thread had mentioned a WD7500AAKS inside a S3 and i was doing some more research before posting again.

somebody posted in a review at newegg that they used a WD7500AAKS inside an S3 so i think i will go ahead (unless i decide to spring for a WD10EVCS which is quite a bit more money per GB).


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## Slider10 (Aug 5, 2003)

bobat, would you be able to post your exact process for doing this? I'm thinking of upgrading my TiVo HD very soon. Thanks!


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## allyn (Dec 21, 2001)

i went ahead and tried it. i can now confirm that the WD7500AAKS works fine as an internal replacement drive in a series 3 tivo.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

Slider10 said:


> bobat, would you be able to post your exact process for doing this? I'm thinking of upgrading my TiVo HD very soon. Thanks!


Everything you need to know is included in the first post of the sticky Official eSATA Drive Expansion: FAQ + Discussion...specifically Section III, #30. "_What if I just want to upgrade the internal drive in my TiVo?_".

It should probably have it's own sticky, but it doesn't.


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## Ziggy86 (Jun 23, 2004)

Can an external drive be used on the Tivo HD? I was thinking of getting the Tivo HD but wanted to know if this can be done before I do so.

Thanks,

Steven


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## dwit (May 5, 2004)

Ziggy86 said:


> Can an external drive be used on the Tivo HD? I was thinking of getting the Tivo HD but wanted to know if this can be done before I do so.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Steven


Yes. Read post immediately befor your's. It has a link to all the info you need on internal or external upgrades.


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