# BOLT VOX Hard Drive dead



## Kevinfl (4 mo ago)

I have a Tivo VOX 1TB (TCD849000V) and the hard drive failed. I am trying to replace it with a WD 2.5 inch 2TB Blue hard drive (WD20SPZX) but will not boot to Guided Setup. I used MFS Reformatter to try to expand the HD size; however, I am getting an error message "This drive would have 1 media regions, which isn't supported at this time." I am not trying to save/transfer any old inform from previous hard drive. I am just trying to get a 2TB hard drive to work in this Tivo. If I need to order a different hard drive, please let me know one I can purchase or any other steps that I may have missed in order to get the WD Blue 2TB working. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. I believe that the WD Blue maybe SMR and not CMR, so I may need to return the hard drive and order a CMR HD drive. What would one recommend (max 2TB)?


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

Kevinfl said:


> I have a Tivo VOX 1TB (TCD849000V) and the hard drive failed. I am trying to replace it with a WD 2.5 inch 2TB Blue hard drive (WD20SPZX) but will not boot to Guided Setup. I used MFS Reformatter to try to expand the HD size; however, I am getting an error message "This drive would have 1 media regions, which isn't supported at this time." I am not trying to save/transfer any old inform from previous hard drive. I am just trying to get a 2TB hard drive to work in this Tivo. If I need to order a different hard drive, please let me know one I can purchase or any other steps that I may have missed in order to get the WD Blue 2TB working. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. I believe that the WD Blue maybe SMR and not CMR, so I may need to return the hard drive and order a CMR HD drive. What would one recommend (max 2TB)?


There are no current model 2.5" CMR drives over 1TB. Discontinued models that can be found, Toshiba 2 and 3 TB, and a Samsung/Seagate 2TB. But have to get the SPECIFIC model numbers. Don't know off the top of my head but someone will probably chime in. The Toshibas are pretty "famous" for Tivo upgrade/replacements. 

I checked, the 3TB Toshiba is *MQ03ABB300. About $90 at Amazon I think. The Seagate/Samsung 2TB is ST2000LM003. That one tougher to find. You want new/old stock, forget refurbs, perhaps used if they run a SMART test and show you the hours and make sure no errors. Again must be the specific model numbers.*


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

Oh, if starting fresh you don't need to use any software to expand or anything. The Bolt will format itself, up to 3TB if running TE3 OS, pretty much any size if running TE4/Hydra. Just make sure the drive is blank before putting in, maybe a quick format in computer, full format if you like but would take awhile.

The Toshiba 2TB is MQ03ABB200.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

Finally you are sure the drive failed? Sometimes it's the power supply/AC adapter.


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## MrDell (Jul 8, 2012)

Kevinfl said:


> I have a Tivo VOX 1TB (TCD849000V) and the hard drive failed. I am trying to replace it with a WD 2.5 inch 2TB Blue hard drive (WD20SPZX) but will not boot to Guided Setup. I used MFS Reformatter to try to expand the HD size; however, I am getting an error message "This drive would have 1 media regions, which isn't supported at this time." I am not trying to save/transfer any old inform from previous hard drive. I am just trying to get a 2TB hard drive to work in this Tivo. If I need to order a different hard drive, please let me know one I can purchase or any other steps that I may have missed in order to get the WD Blue 2TB working. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. I believe that the WD Blue maybe SMR and not CMR, so I may need to return the hard drive and order a CMR HD drive. What would one recommend (max 2TB)?


A few reviews mentioned this one works for TiVo https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-5400RPM-Cache-Notebook-MQ01ABD100V/dp/B07NGTZWWZ I know other Toshiba Hard drives work well… never tried this model but I have tried another one and it was great!


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

MrDell said:


> A few reviews mentioned this one works for TiVo https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-5400RPM-Cache-Notebook-MQ01ABD100V/dp/B07NGTZWWZ I know other Toshiba Hard drives work well… never tried this model but I have tried another one and it was great!


Yeah, that's a CMR drive. Not sure but this looks like same one for $3 cheaper, just different sellers?









Amazon.com: Toshiba 1TB 5400RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5 inch PS3/PS4 Hard Drive - 3 Year Warranty : Electronics


Amazon.com: Toshiba 1TB 5400RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5 inch PS3/PS4 Hard Drive - 3 Year Warranty : Electronics



www.amazon.com


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## CWSpangler (Dec 25, 2018)

tommage1 said:


> Yeah, that's a CMR drive. Not sure but this looks like same one for $3 cheaper, just different sellers?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This one says "Works for PS3 / PS4 Game Console HDD replacement / upgrade - PS3 / PS4 Hard Drive installation & Playstation firmware download instruction included".
This one says 3 year warranty, the other one shows 1 year warranty. Both say "Warranty from Reseller". Check the reviews, some people had problems.
(Both have illustrations of a drive with the same serial number, presumably Toshiba-provided images.)


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

CWSpangler said:


> This one says "Works for PS3 / PS4 Game Console HDD replacement / upgrade - PS3 / PS4 Hard Drive installation & Playstation firmware download instruction included".
> This one says 3 year warranty, the other one shows 1 year warranty. Both say "Warranty from Reseller". Check the reviews, some people had problems.
> (Both have illustrations of a drive with the same serial number, presumably Toshiba-provided images.)


It is also the drive that Verizon Fios is using in their DVRs.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

CWSpangler said:


> This one says "Works for PS3 / PS4 Game Console HDD replacement / upgrade - PS3 / PS4 Hard Drive installation & Playstation firmware download instruction included".
> This one says 3 year warranty, the other one shows 1 year warranty. Both say "Warranty from Reseller". Check the reviews, some people had problems.
> (Both have illustrations of a drive with the same serial number, presumably Toshiba-provided images.)


Warranty from reseller could be good (depending on reseller), Toshiba's HD warranty is garbage, read the terms. As for description, just marketing, seems to be the exact same drive. So take the less expensive with the 3 year? Gohardrive is pretty reliable if they are one of the resellers, could most likely count on them to honor the 3 years.


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## Kevinfl (4 mo ago)

tommage1 said:


> Finally you are sure the drive failed? Sometimes it's the power supply/AC adapter.


When I boot the original WD 1.0 TB HD (WD10JUCT) I get the four blinking light and no HDMI signal. 
When I boot the WD 2.0 TB Blue HD it gets to the STARTING UP screen and just sits there even after waiting over 30 minutes and nothing changed. Not sure why Tivo will not get passed this screen. The only I can think of is that this HD is SMR, but not sure if this is the reason or not.

When I put the WD 2.0TB HD into a PC it shows unallocated and then when I went to do a quick format it asked either MBR, which I know is not correct or GPT which I am unsure if Tivo will be able to read this format or do I need to download and install a different Linux program. If so, which program would you recommend? Currently, I did not reformat HD. 

I thank you for suggesting the 1TB HD but looking to upgrade to either 2TB or 3TB. Not sure why so difficult to find a CMR HD and/or a 2.5" HD with will support video. Going to see if I can find a bigger HD and if not will order the 1TB.

Thank you again


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Kevinfl said:


> When I put the WD 2.0TB HD into a PC it shows unallocated and then when I went to do a quick format it asked either MBR, which I know is not correct or GPT which I am unsure if Tivo will be able to read this format or do I need to download and install a different Linux program. If so, which program would you recommend? Currently, I did not reformat HD.
> 
> I thank you for suggesting the 1TB HD but looking to upgrade to either 2TB or 3TB. *Not sure why so difficult to find a CMR HD and/or a 2.5" HD with will support video. *Going to see if I can find a bigger HD and if not will order the 1TB.


2 items, 
#1 make sure there are no, I repeat NO partitions or data on the replacement drive, if you put it in a PC do not let it assign a drive letter, and do not format it, this is the recommended way to prepare a drive for use in a Tivo
#2 All you need is a 2TB CMR drive, the 3TB CMR drives are almost impossible to find nowadays, there's nothing to "support video" it's simply a CMR 2.5" drive.
#2a the above is if you're running the classic TE3 old style operating system with blue backgrounds, if you're running TE4 with the black backgrounds it is far more picky about acceptable drives.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

Kevinfl said:


> When I boot the original WD 1.0 TB HD (WD10JUCT) I get the four blinking light and no HDMI signal.
> When I boot the WD 2.0 TB Blue HD it gets to the STARTING UP screen and just sits there even after waiting over 30 minutes and nothing changed. Not sure why Tivo will not get passed this screen. The only I can think of is that this HD is SMR, but not sure if this is the reason or not.


It is because it is SMR. Well 99%. I gave you 3 drives you can use, two are 2TB, one 3TB. That's about it, no current models over 1TB that are CMR, it's getting tougher to find the 3 models I mentioned though.

MQ03ABB300 3TB
ST2000LM003 2TB
MQ03ABB200 2TB

Or go external with 3.5 CMR drive. I won't get into details on that here, there are posts on how to do that.


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## Mike Davis (Mar 29, 2021)

Kevinfl said:


> I have a Tivo VOX 1TB (TCD849000V) and the hard drive failed. I am trying to replace it with a WD 2.5 inch 2TB Blue hard drive (WD20SPZX) but will not boot to Guided Setup. I used MFS Reformatter to try to expand the HD size; however, I am getting an error message "This drive would have 1 media regions, which isn't supported at this time." I am not trying to save/transfer any old inform from previous hard drive. I am just trying to get a 2TB hard drive to work in this Tivo. If I need to order a different hard drive, please let me know one I can purchase or any other steps that I may have missed in order to get the WD Blue 2TB working. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. I believe that the WD Blue maybe SMR and not CMR, so I may need to return the hard drive and order a CMR HD drive. What would one recommend (max 2TB)?


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## Mike Davis (Mar 29, 2021)

I wouldn't waste my time putting a new 3TB drive in a Bolt or a Vox again. I had three 3TB Tivo/Weaknees supplied drives fail in less than three years. I went with a Weaknee's external 3TB drive as a replacement. Friends with 500GB and 1TB Bolts seem to be OK, but I think the 3TB drives just get too hot in the Bolts and Voxs. Weaknees wonders why TIVO went to less reliable 2.5" drives in a non portable device. The Weaknees external drive is a 3.5". Others recently are trying laptop coolers under their Bolt/Voxs, which might be a bit less clutter, but it's not clear how much cooler the TIVOs will run.


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## Kevinfl (4 mo ago)

Update on Tivo Bolt VOX. I have successfully replaced the hard drive with a Toshiba 2TB (MQ04ABD200) 5400 RPM 16MB cache 9.5mm 2.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s with no issue for the past week. Did not have to do any prep to this hard drive just plug it in and it booted up to the Tivo O/S. Hopefully this may help someone in the future who needs to replace a Tivo Bolt hard drive. Was able to find hard drive at goharddrive.com. 

Just wondering has anyone gotten external storage with the Tivo Bolt in conjunction with the internal hard drive? If so, which hardware did you use and any special setup or just plug eSata?

Thank you.


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## SprintDrive (11 mo ago)

Kevinfl said:


> Update on Tivo Bolt VOX. I have successfully replaced the hard drive with a Toshiba 2TB (MQ04ABD200) 5400 RPM 16MB cache 9.5mm 2.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s with no issue for the past week. Did not have to do any prep to this hard drive just plug it in and it booted up to the Tivo O/S. Hopefully this may help someone in the future who needs to replace a Tivo Bolt hard drive. Was able to find hard drive at goharddrive.com.
> 
> Just wondering has anyone gotten external storage with the Tivo Bolt in conjunction with the internal hard drive? If so, which hardware did you use and any special setup or just plug eSata?
> 
> Thank you.


I think the consensus on this forum is that you should not marry internal and external storage because it adds an extra point of failure since the tivo will consolidate the drives and stripe the data across both drives, so that if one drive fails, you lose all of your data. With the previous models of Tivo, you could install 3.5" drive internally and achieve a large capacity anyway.


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