# My DVR Expander - Anyone's shipped yet?



## b0rg (Jan 30, 2003)

I ordered early on Tuesday morning. The website then said 1 day to ship. Since then it has changed to 2-3 days.

I called today, and TiVo has no clue why my order has not shipped. They are trying to contact the distribution manager to find out when it might go out.

Has anyone's shipped yet?

Also, I no longer see the drive for sale on WD's site - or maybe I'm looking at the wrong place. (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=334)


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## myyours (Aug 28, 2007)

I ordered mine on Tuesday morning, as well. 2 day delivery no less...and it appears that it hasn't even shipped yet.


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## Tallguy001 (Sep 5, 2003)

Just to add another data point. Ordered on Tuesday, still showing as "Order Placed" with an option to "Cancel Order."


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## TommyMac (Jan 26, 2007)

Same here.

Ordered Tuesday night, still not shipped.


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## singletb (May 12, 2004)

Same story for me.


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## Speed RacerX (Jan 30, 2004)

I ordered mine from Best Buy on Monday and it shipped Tuesday afternoon. I didn't have it rushed to me, so it'll arrive here on the 30th (UPS Ground shipping).


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## Bsteenson (Jul 30, 2000)

Ordered through TiVo on Tuesday. Hasn't shipped yet. Thinking of seeing that that "cancel" link does and looking elsewhere, perhaps for an internal solution.

BS


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## b0rg (Jan 30, 2003)

Here's a quick update as I just got off the phone with TiVo again. 

At first the woman that was helping me said that they were probably on back-order and would not ship out for at least a couple of more days. After checking and seeing that I had ordered early on Tuesday morning, she asked me if I wanted her to "double check." Which of course I did. 

So after checking, the official answer is that orders are packed and ready to ship out today. She said that people should be receiving their tracking confirmations no later than tomorrow morning, otherwise to call in and check again. 

I didn't realize that BB had these drives available. I was going to order one directly from WD, but the shipping availability was 1-2 weeks. Now it seems they don't even let you purchase them directly.


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## b0rg (Jan 30, 2003)

I found model # WDG1S5000VN at Best Buy - the one that TiVo is selling is WDG1S5000

Same? Different?


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## rdrrepair (Nov 24, 2006)

No love here. I ordered on Tuesday too and I paid extra for 2 day shipping so I could have it for Friday.


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## mwwilliams10 (Aug 22, 2007)

b0rg said:


> I found model # WDG1S5000VN at Best Buy - the one that TiVo is selling is WDG1S5000
> 
> Same? Different?


From all preliminary reports, they are different. The one from Best Buy may not work because it is not "Tivo Verified". Apparently there is something that Tivo does to "verify" a drive and non-verified drives will not work (unless kickstarted on an S3 before 9.2).


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## kirk1701 (Feb 5, 2007)

rdrrepair said:


> No love here. I ordered on Tuesday too and I paid extra for 2 day shipping so I could have it for Friday.


OH LOOK LMAO!!!!
Check the tivo web site, now saying and I quote



> Usually ships in 2-3 days


Tuesday it was 24 hours


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## b0rg (Jan 30, 2003)

Looks like TiVo is starting to process the orders.

My order status changed to "Processing Order"


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## jeffshome (Jan 4, 2002)

mwwilliams10 said:


> From all preliminary reports, they are different. The one from Best Buy may not work because it is not "Tivo Verified". Apparently there is something that Tivo does to "verify" a drive and non-verified drives will not work (unless kickstarted on an S3 before 9.2).


I canceled my TiVo order and went to BB.

The WD 500 GB MY DVR Expander (WDG1S5000VN) from BB is the same. The box says "TiVo Verified. Compatible with TiVo Series3 HD and TiVo HD DVRs."

I plugged it in and it initialized just fine.


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## tivochiguy (Feb 16, 2004)

My order status changed to "Processing Order" today. Ordered within one hour of drives going on sale.


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## rdrrepair (Nov 24, 2006)

kirk1701 said:


> Tuesday it was 24 hours


Yep, 24 hours is what it said, I placed the order Tuesday AM. I followed up later that afternoon and was told it was "in-stock" and ready to ship. Now it says 2-3 days and it still hasn't been processed. :down:

---I clicked on the link that said 24 hrs and it said---Copy and pasted for your preview---

https://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/instock-message-ajax.html

We always ship your item as soon as possible. Unless noted otherwise for a specific item:

Orders placed Monday through Friday before 11 AM PST will be shipped same day.
Orders placed after 11 AM PST will be shipped by the following business day.
Orders placed on Saturday and Sunday will ship the following business day.
Holidays are not considered a business day


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## nhaigh (Jul 16, 2001)

Same here - order is processing. Does his not remind you of the S3 release last year?


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## kirk1701 (Feb 5, 2007)

Mine is processing now also :up: 

However, no big rush on my end, still have not got the 9.2 update and because of bugs I have not had the cablecards put in yet so I'm taking it slow and one step at a time.


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## gweempose (Mar 23, 2003)

mwwilliams10 said:


> Apparently there is something that Tivo does to "verify" a drive and non-verified drives will not work (unless kickstarted on an S3 before 9.2).


So once you have 9.2, the kickstart method will no longer work? Very interesting. In this case, I'm glad I added the extra storage to both my S3's before they got 9.2. I really like the MX-1/DB35 combo.

Edit: I now realize after reading the official eSATA drive expansion FAQ that all S3's will retain the ability to add "non supported" external drives. This is cool, and possibly a strong selling point for the S3 if someone is interested in upgrading it with the largest external drive possible. I realize that you can always use the WinMFS hack, but many people have no desire to open up their machine and void the warranty..


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## biosehnsucht (Feb 23, 2005)

So I hope someone is going to image the tivo blessed drive when they get it right, and see if dumping it to a normal drive will work ?


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## cjchaps (Oct 8, 2007)

Same here with the TiVo store. Order placed on Tue morning and when I checked today it said "order processing". If you look at their FAQ you are supposed to contact them after 3 days if you haven't received a tracking number.


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## Ralph Wiggum (Jul 30, 2007)

biosehnsucht said:


> So I hope someone is going to image the tivo blessed drive when they get it right, and see if dumping it to a normal drive will work ?


Wouldn't the limitation be on the hardware/controller side of the drive? If not, reformatting the drive would render it useless for the Tivo.


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## mchief (Sep 10, 2005)

Regarding shipping. Sitting on 20 minutes of hold waiting for Tivo to answer the phone. Ordered Tues morning which was supposedly same day shipping????

Web site still says 'order processing' And the cancel order is gone

Got a live person after 25 minutes and she took my order info, put me on hold for a few minutes and never returned. 20 minutes later she returned to tell me 4 to 6 business days, because they were having problems in the warehouse and stuff.  

Wish the cancel order button was still there :down:


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## kirk1701 (Feb 5, 2007)

We'll, just got an e-mail

Good news! Your TiVo® order has shipped and is on its way.

Your order number is: # XXXXX
Your tracking number for this shipment is: 1ZXXXXXXXXXXXX

To view or track the progress of your order, sign in to www.tivo.com/manage and choose "View Order History".

If you have additional questions, check with UPS or USPS. If your tracking number begins with 1Z, go to www.ups.com or if it begins with 91, go to www.usps.com and enter your tracking number.

Shipment Information

Also ordered Tuesday


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## mwwilliams10 (Aug 22, 2007)

Mine shipped also!


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## samaritan66 (Dec 19, 2006)

I ordered last night around midnight, CST. Shipped this afternoon as well.


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## Tallguy001 (Sep 5, 2003)

Ordered Tuesday and I also got shipping confirmation.


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## mroeseler (Oct 2, 2007)

I ordered mine on Wed 10/24 and just got an email saying it shipped!!!!


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## rrman (Mar 6, 2005)

Arghh! I waited a bit too long to order. Now, TiVo, Best Buy, and Western Digital are all out of stock.


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## limiter (Oct 8, 2007)

I ordered mine last Wednesday (it listed 2-3 days to ship) and it shipped Friday.


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## tivoknucklehead (Dec 12, 2002)

bought one ( the official WD drive ) at Best Buy Saturday after the clueless clerk in the PC dept. said "they don't carry it". Found it in the Tivo area.

minor install problem, but 2nd reboot fixed that and it works fine. very easy to install


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## rkleim (Nov 29, 2002)

ordered last week from tivo, got it today (Mon) 2 day. Works great, but after the reboot that initialized the drive, one of my tuners was dark. Another reboot seems to have solved that. 

When starting tivo the first time after adding the drive, it took a couple of minutes to start the init routine even tho the sys info screen showed the drive. You can push it from one of the menu options, but I just waited 2 minutes or so. You will then need to rebot again to init the drive. Give it 30 min or so.

I'm happy now.


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## EVizzle (Feb 13, 2005)

Not sure if I will get this, I don't know if I have a spot to put it in my entertainment center... I just started to transfer stuff from my S3 to an external HDD attached to my computer and that works great right now. I am glad Tivo did this, but I like MRV and TTG more.


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## thxman (Oct 13, 2007)

If I were you guys I wouldn't pay anything extra for shipping in order to try and get these drives faster. Most S3 units are not getting 9.2 right away. I have tried several times and even called Tivo after using the priority request form last week and they had no answer for me. My unit is stuck at 9.1

I could use kickstart but I would rather wait for the official route at this point.


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## gilbreen (Sep 5, 2007)

Saw that our local BB had one on the shelf. Though priced $20 higher than the Tivo website. The clerk that did the price check said he didn't even know they carried it.


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## kirk1701 (Feb 5, 2007)

thxman said:


> If I were you guys I wouldn't pay anything extra for shipping in order to try and get these drives faster. Most S3 units are not getting 9.2 right away. I have tried several times and even called Tivo after using the priority request form last week and they had no answer for me. My unit is stuck at 9.1
> 
> I could use kickstart but I would rather wait for the official route at this point.


Just got 9.2 tonight, was starting to wonder if I was going to get it as it was almost a week since I requested, so last night I requested it again through the priority page and got it tonight.

Maybe something weird was going on the first time you requested so re enter your info in the priority page again :up:


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

thxman said:


> If I were you guys I wouldn't pay anything extra for shipping in order to try and get these drives faster. Most S3 units are not getting 9.2 right away. I have tried several times and even called Tivo after using the priority request form last week and they had no answer for me. My unit is stuck at 9.1
> 
> I could use kickstart but I would rather wait for the official route at this point.


See my answer to your other post regarding v9.2.j here.


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## mulscully (May 31, 2003)

ordered wednesday, shipped friday should arrive wednesday....


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## samaritan66 (Dec 19, 2006)

mulscully said:


> ordered wednesday, shipped friday should arrive wednesday....


Arrives Wednesday for me as well.


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## pjhartman (Jan 21, 2002)

gilbreen said:


> Saw that our local BB had one on the shelf. Though priced $20 higher than the Tivo website.


Not surprising. Best Buy, in my experience, is anything but.


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## mwwilliams10 (Aug 22, 2007)

Here's an odd question: my expander comes today (yippee!). I have a SIIG eSATA cable - should I use this instead of the one that comes with the expander or was that only an issue for people who used the cables that came with the MX-1?


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

mwwilliams10 said:


> Here's an odd question: my expander comes today (yippee!). I have a SIIG eSATA cable - should I use this instead of the one that comes with the expander or was that only an issue for people who used the cables that came with the MX-1?


The SIIG eSATA cables proved to be as good or better than the OEM cables that came with various drives...and were recommended for drives that didn't come with a cable at all.

IMO you could use your SIIG eSATA cable with complete peace of mind. But, if you don't mind being a guinea pig it would be good to determine the quality of the WD supplied eSATA cables.


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## mwwilliams10 (Aug 22, 2007)

Just got my expander delivered by UPS. I have to say, Tivo did the WORST packing job I've ever seen (four of the six sides of the drive's package were in direct contact with the outside of the box without any padding). It's a 50/50 shot as to whether the drive was damaged.


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## theguru1974 (Apr 9, 2002)

Currently sold out at the Tivo store. 

Eric


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

It appears as if TiVo was caught with their pants down on this one!  Not sure if we should blame them or WD but I suspect that TiVo rushed everything based on their announcement that the eSATA feature was available and one or both companies obviously didn't properly forecast the demand.


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## singletb (May 12, 2004)

mwwilliams10 said:


> Just got my expander delivered by UPS. I have to say, Tivo did the WORST packing job I've ever seen (four of the six sides of the drive's package were in direct contact with the outside of the box without any padding). It's a 50/50 shot as to whether the drive was damaged.


Really? Mine came in an absurdley huge box.


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

richsadams said:


> IMO you could use your SIIG eSATA cable with complete peace of mind. But, if you don't mind being a guinea pig it would be good to determine the quality of the WD supplied eSATA cables.


The cable supplied with the Western Digital My DVR Expander works, but it doesn't fit as "snugly" as the SIIG, so it is more prone to come lose if you are reaching around (or moving) your equipment.


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## CharlesH (Aug 29, 2002)

Anybody notice that the list of "Compatible DVRs" for the MyDVR expander includes (along with the Tivo) the Scientific-Atlanta Explorer 8300 series?


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## CharlesH (Aug 29, 2002)

singletb said:


> Really? Mine came in an absurdley huge box.


Yes, but for me the box containing the drive was sitting at the bottom corner of the huge box with the "air bags" tossed on top and around it. No real protection from the outer box being vibrated (like on a truck)


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

CharlesH said:


> Yes, but for me the box containing the drive was sitting at the bottom corner of the huge box with the "air bags" tossed on top and around it. No real protection from the outer box being vibrated (like on a truck)


Until the drive is powered up the read/write heads are usually in a locked position away from the platters so there shouldn't be too much to worry about. But it's sure annoying when things are packed by amateurs.


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## mwwilliams10 (Aug 22, 2007)

CharlesH said:


> Yes, but for me the box containing the drive was sitting at the bottom corner of the huge box with the "air bags" tossed on top and around it. No real protection from the outer box being vibrated (like on a truck)


Good to know it wasn't just me


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## George Cifranci (Jan 30, 2003)

CharlesH said:


> Anybody notice that the list of "Compatible DVRs" for the MyDVR expander includes (along with the Tivo) the Scientific-Atlanta Explorer 8300 series?


Not surprising. SA probably doesn't have any sort of officially sanctioned drives like Tivo does. I know Weaknees has been selling Maxtor Quickview sSata drives for almost a year now.

http://www.weaknees.com/maxtor-quickview-expander-qvx.php


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## CharlesH (Aug 29, 2002)

richsadams said:


> It appears as if TiVo was caught with their pants down on this one!  Not sure if we should blame them or WD but I suspect that TiVo rushed everything based on their announcement that the eSATA feature was available and one or both companies obviously didn't properly forecast the demand.


I think 9.2 was rushed out to fix critical problems, such as SA cable cards going offline, causing recordings to be lost. The eSATA support came along with the bug fixes, before they were expecting to make it available.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

CharlesH said:


> I think 9.2 was rushed out to fix critical problems, such as SA cable cards going offline, causing recordings to be lost. The eSATA support came along with the bug fixes, before they were expecting to make it available.


Makes perfect sense. :up:


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## nhaigh (Jul 16, 2001)

CharlesH said:


> Yes, but for me the box containing the drive was sitting at the bottom corner of the huge box with the "air bags" tossed on top and around it. No real protection from the outer box being vibrated (like on a truck)


Mine arrived today and was equally badly packed. The box was half open and there was only a few airbags, not enough to support the internal box.

I plugged it in and the TiVo failed to see the drive so I swapped the cable with a Seagate one I have on a server and all started to work. The WD one works on my server so I guess its just not OK with a TiVo. Nice irony there seeing I paid the extra to get the TiVo verified drive !!!!


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## edrock200 (Feb 7, 2002)

gilbreen said:


> Saw that our local BB had one on the shelf. Though priced $20 higher than the Tivo website. The clerk that did the price check said he didn't even know they carried it.


I'm surprised they are selling it above MSRP. I would take a print ad in from Tivo or WD's site and have them price match it.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

edrock200 said:


> I'm surprised they are selling it above MSRP. I would take a print ad in from Tivo or WD's site and have them price match it.


BB's $219 price for the approved WD eSATA drive has been the same since day one...in fact before it was made public by WD or TiVo.

WD My Book DVR Expander @ Best Buy (original ad).

WD My Book DVR Expander @ Best Buy (current ad).

There's nothing new about BB charging top dollar I don't think.


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## richsadams (Jan 4, 2003)

FWIW, Both TiVo and BB are showing the WD DVR Expander back in stock again.

TiVo: http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/domore/storage/index.html

Best Buy ($20 more but shows free shipping): http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ander&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1185271084416

Others have posted that they have seen them in BB, but none of the stores in our area have them.


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## F8ster (May 26, 2002)

jeffshome said:


> I plugged it in and it initialized just fine.


How's the noise? I'm interested in getting one, but it's going in the bedroom and probably won't pass the Wife test unless it's dead silent.


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## andrews777 (Aug 23, 2007)

Will Best Buy price match Tivo's site? I might check out some local stores if they would do so. 

Though hearing of troubles with the drives makes me wary since ALL recordings will be lost if the drive is gone. 

Brad


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## kirk1701 (Feb 5, 2007)

F8ster said:


> How's the noise? I'm interested in getting one, but it's going in the bedroom and probably won't pass the Wife test unless it's dead silent.


YES! Still awaiting answer on this question myself


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## plasticphilosoph (Aug 23, 2006)

kirk1701 said:


> YES! Still awaiting answer on this question myself


I don't think mine was noisy, but it was sitting on the same shelf as an xbox 360, which would have drowned it out completey even if it sounded like a jet.

Oh, and when they die, they're totally silent.


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## jtseltmann (May 23, 2005)

nhaigh said:


> Mine arrived today and was equally badly packed. The box was half open and there was only a few airbags, not enough to support the internal box.
> 
> I plugged it in and the TiVo failed to see the drive so I swapped the cable with a Seagate one I have on a server and all started to work. The WD one works on my server so I guess its just not OK with a TiVo. Nice irony there seeing I paid the extra to get the TiVo verified drive !!!!


Mine came yesterday with the same lackluster packing...I'm very surprised at that. But, once unboxed and hooked up the THD found it no problem and it is installed and working ok. Haven't tested any recordings but I will today around 1:30...

What's with the GIANT AC plug? Damn...I barely had room on the back of the Panamax for that beast...and the cord they give you to run from the THD to the WD is less than adequate in length. It fit for me but I can see that being a problem for some.


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## hkancyr (Jan 20, 2002)

Mine seems to louder than the THD which is pretty much silent, but I can definitely hear it, if I listen for it. Not as bad as it would be if it had a fan. 
If you have it in a bedroom I would think that you would hear it anytime there is activity on it.


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## kirk1701 (Feb 5, 2007)

hkancyr said:


> Mine seems to louder than the THD which is pretty much silent, but I can definitely hear it, if I listen for it. Not as bad as it would be if it had a fan.
> If you have it in a bedroom I would think that you would hear it anytime there is activity on it.


Thanks hkancyr :up:


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## Speed RacerX (Jan 30, 2004)

My Expander is in a cabinet with the TiVo HD and I can't hear either of them.

It was simple to set up and works like a champ!


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## kirk1701 (Feb 5, 2007)

Speed RacerX said:


> My Expander is in a cabinet with the TiVo HD and I can't hear either of them.
> 
> It was simple to set up and works like a champ!


We'll, I've heard enough 

Heard enough to know I'm not going to hear the drive so think I'll open the box tomorrow and give it the install it deserves :up:


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