# Attempting Install of WD 1.5TB EADS in Series3 TiVo



## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

Well, I'm not naming names, but some... individual... out there is recommending the Western Digital EADS 1.5TB Caviar Green drives for upgrading Series 3 TiVo. The worst part about this is that there are idiots out there (e.g., me), who ordered the drive with grand plans for a DVR upgrade. Thanks to this community, I at least know the day before it arrives that I shouldn't expect it to work. (Search on "soft reboot" for plenty more details. TiVoHD owners, I'm told you're fine.)

So, does anyone know where I should go to report misleading information on the Internet? 

Anyway, all is not lost. I have a 1TB Hitachi Ultrastar in my desktop for use with pyTivo, iTunes, and the like. So, I can always move that one to the DVR, and drop the 1.5TB into what amounts to my media server. So, I'm good, but enough about me.

I figured that I would take a crack at using the WD 1.5TB in the TiVo anyway. Head, meet Wall. Bang Away. Before I do this, (probably this weekend), I thought I would give the community which provided the awesome FAQ the opportunity to either talk me out of it or egg me on. I didn't explicitly see anyone say the 1.5TB failed, just the 1TB, so I should be fine, right? 

Thanks again to those people who did the trailblazing with this nightmare of an issue. You would have saved me a lot of trouble this weekend if I weren't the curious, stubborn type. BaBloop out.


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## robomeister (Feb 4, 2005)

Are you referring to the Series3 TiVo (with the OLED and controls on the faceplate and 250GB drive) or the TiVoHD (with the 160GB drive)?

If you have the Series3, do NOT do this. You will suffer from the "soft boot" problem. This is when you reboot the TiVo from the menus, or if the TiVo reboots itself after a software upgrade. Your TiVo will be stuck trying to reboot. You will have to unplug the power and plug it back in to get a successful boot.

If you have a TiVoHD, this drive will work, but you will not get to use the full amount of the drive (see next paragraph).

In either case, due to a programming limitation in the TiVo software, only partitions of 1TiB or less can be correctly addressed by the software. When you upgrade using WinMFS, it will limit you to the 1TiB partition. This means you will only use about 1.16 TB on the TiVoHD and 1.25TB on the Series3 vs 1.5TB. Please refer to the www.mfslive.org website for full details. There is a thread on the mfslive forums.

Good luck on your upgrade.
robomeister


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## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

Thanks for the warnings. (I do have the Series3, and not the TiVoHD.) I had already gathered this from the FAQ, and I was holding out some hope that a later revision of the EADS drive might work.

I then found some specific, recent examples of this not working, and therefore gave up hope. So like I said, I've got a Hitachi Ultrastar that can go in the TiVo, and I've got a new 1.5TB drive for me and pyTivo to play with. And as a bonus, I get to use all the space on both drives.

Hopefully, sound won't be an issue, but I sit a good long ways away, and noise hasn't been an issue that I've noticed with the drive under my desk.

Thanks again. And to repeat the warning to everyone else out there (that I'm not going to independently verify) the WD EADS drives DO NOT WORK in Series3 TiVos, but they do work in TiVoHDs.


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## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

So, I've successfully installed a Hitachi Ultrastar (manfactured Dec 2006) into my S3 TiVo. 143 HD hours. Yea for me!

Two things:

I tried to use the Hitachi "features" software, but it didn't have any reference to AAM in it. Do older Hitachi drives not support this? Anyone know? The drive is tad bit louder than I'm used to.

Second, I sent an email to the person who had the "buy the EADS 1.5TB drive for S3" suggestion on his website. He was very helpful, and swears up and down that this drive worked in his S3. I had him do a soft reboot, and it worked. (All of this is what he says, but why would he lie?) I asked him to confirm that he has the S3, and not an HD, and he sent me a picture.

So I may have to try this yet. The one thing he did different from spike and other who complained is that he did not use WinMFS. (Which I thought was awesome, by the way.)

That's my update. Any thoughts?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

You need to use the WinMFS "Supersize' feature. Then it will show 157HD hours.


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## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

I did use Supersize (after mfscopy and the automated mfsadd), and I was told it was successful...

Any chance I did something wrong? Any other way to check to see if it worked?


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## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

If I were a betting man, I'd wager that I did the mfsSuperSize option on the original 250GB drive, and not the 1GB drive was adding...

Well, I'll get to try this all out later, since I'm getting at least one report of a WD 1.5TB EADS drive working.


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## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

Well, score one for the unnamed someone I unfairly bashed in the original post!

I just did a restore from a truncated backup using WinMFS from a Series3 250GB drive to a WD15EADS drive (manufactured Dec 21, 2008) and it worked perfectly. The "Soft Reboot" issue was not there.

Repeat: I have an S3, a WD15EADS drive, and The Soft Reboot Issue did not occur for me!

So, I'm not sure why it worked when it didn't for so many others, and I don't have the skillz to properly determine why this is. (I only tried because someone else also get theirs to work.) But I'd be happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability, if anyone has any, if only to repay the FAQ, which helped me out so much.

Thanks again, and for other folks other there, I personally don't have any reason to not recommend this drive for an S3.


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## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

Oh, and 213 hours HD, more than 2 months SD.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Karmavore said:


> Well, score one for the unnamed someone I unfairly bashed in the original post!
> 
> I just did a restore from a truncated backup using WinMFS from a Series3 250GB drive to a WD15EADS drive (manufactured Dec 21, 2008) and it worked perfectly. The "Soft Reboot" issue was not there.
> 
> ...


Version 11c Software on your TiVo may have fixed the problem or WD is using new firmware on the newer drives.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Karmavore said:


> Well, score one for the unnamed someone I unfairly bashed in the original post!
> 
> I just did a restore from a truncated backup using WinMFS from a Series3 250GB drive to a WD15EADS drive (manufactured Dec 21, 2008) and it worked perfectly. The "Soft Reboot" issue was not there.
> 
> ...


I just picked up several of those 1.5TB WD drives from Newegg that were made on Dec. 21st.
I guess I'll need to try one out in one of my TiVos.


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## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

I got mine from the same place... Give it a shot.


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## shaown (Jul 1, 2002)

So can someone confirm, are the latest 1.5GB EADS working with Series 3 (original)
-Shaown


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I haven't had time to try one of my drives yet.


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## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

shaown said:


> So can someone confirm, are the latest 1.5GB EADS working with Series 3 (original)
> -Shaown


Like I said, it worked in mine, and I'm told one worked in the S3 from another individual I found at a different TiVo-oriented mini-site.

It's quiet, it's huge, it's still not deleting existing shows or even the TiVo suggestions yet.  Best of all, I manually soft-reboot my TiVo hassle-free whenever I want.  (Not really all that bad an issue, even if you aren't so lucky.)

Of course, YMMV, since we don't know why these weren't working before, nor why a couple seem to be working now.


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## bizzy (Jan 20, 2004)

How's the WD15EADS working out for you? I recently replaced the stock drive in my Series 3 with a Seagate Barracuda LP ST31500541AS 1.5TB drive; but am not happy with the drive noise. It is not terrible, but there is an audible low-frequency thumping seek noise. And due to some stupid patent dispute, Seagate doesn't allow end-users to tweak the acoustic management.

The WD15EADS looks like the only other decent choice on Newegg; unless I drop down to 1 TB, where I could get a Hitachi drive instead.

So, I'm tempted to roll the dice on the drive, and hope that it is quieter than the Seagate. My suspicion is that the firmware issues with the EADS series disks have probably been resolved; but then again, I have terrible luck with these things.

Oh, one other thing; is anyone able to verify that the utility that sets the AAM values works with USB to SATA adapters?

thanks!


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I never did try out my 1.5TB drives in the TiVos. I thought I read where it wouldn't use the full capacity of it. So I put them to use in something else and just kept 1TB drives in all my units.


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## Karmavore (Nov 20, 2006)

The WD15EADS is working out great. I'd say the drive is just slightly louder than the stock drive, and it can't be heard if the TV is on at any reasonable volume.

I did have some problem with crashing, which suspiciously occurred shortly after the latest software updated rolled out, but that problem resolved itself after a day and a half.

aaronwt is right, you'll only be able to use 1.35TB of the 1.5TB drive. With all that space, the Tivo still hasn't auto-deleted the oldest show, recorded 5/31. That exclamation point has been up a while.


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## entropy (Apr 1, 2002)

Grr, newegg doesn't seem to stock this drive any longer. But mwave will sell me one for $112 + $8-12 shipping. Did you come across any reports of other 1.5T drives working? I really want to max out my S3... and that extra 1/3 T is worth the trouble IMO.


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## ChargersRule (Sep 15, 2007)

Try CompUSA/Circuit City/Tiger Direct (same place). I just picked one up from them for $109.99. I have a local CompUSA store, so I'm not sure what they are charging for shipping....


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