# New Bolt -- what should I check before upgrading?



## frendli (Jul 6, 2006)

Just got my Bolt 500GB. I'm going to upgrade it right away, but I wondered if anyone has suggestions for how to test to make sure it works properly before I void the warranty and upgrade it?

Thanks in advance!


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

I would set it up and let it record a few shows. Really just the basics. Once you're happy plop in the new drive.


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## danjb (Mar 17, 2016)

waynomo said:


> I would set it up and let it record a few shows. Really just the basics. Once you're happy plop in the new drive.


I assume when you replace the drive you will need to re-initialize the Tivo as if it were brand new. There is no issue with registering it twice / activating the cablecard twice is there?


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

danjb said:


> I assume when you replace the drive you will need to re-initialize the Tivo as if it were brand new. There is no issue with registering it twice / activating the cablecard twice is there?


Yes, need to re-initialize (guided setup)

When you connect to TiVo it should pickup your original registration. Only need to do that once.

I forget the details with the Cablecard. I think you don't need to pair it again. However, it shouldn't be a problem if you do. If you're worried, get a second Cablecard and return one when you're done.


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## frendli (Jul 6, 2006)

I'm not worried about the setup etc., just apprehensive about making sure it's not a lemon before upgrading! 

(So much so that I sent the first Bolt back to amazon because the seals were broken on the box.)

Cheers


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## Sounders/Seahawk (Apr 10, 2016)

Hi guys; I'm new to Tivo, but already upgraded from OTA to Bolt due to the fact that the OTA does not support cable. So here I am awaiting Xfinity service after cutting the ridiculous $148/month Directv bill. Regarding storage, I'm not the "hoarder" type - recording stuff and forgetting about it. My concern is performance and reliability. As I noticed, the system writes endlessly which will trigger unwanted HDD usage in time. Also losing power can bring harm to a traditional HDD (happened to me not only once). Now, for my PC I'm using a backup power source, but I find it ridiculous to do the same with my DVR.
My question is plain and simple:
How does an SSD drive perform compared to the existing one in a TIVO Bolt?
Thanks!


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## unknownpa (Feb 23, 2016)

Sounders/Seahawk said:


> Hi guys; I'm new to Tivo, but already upgraded from OTA to Bolt due to the fact that the OTA does not support cable. So here I am awaiting Xfinity service after cutting the ridiculous $148/month Directv bill. Regarding storage, I'm not the "hoarder" type - recording stuff and forgetting about it. My concern is performance and reliability. As I noticed, the system writes endlessly which will trigger unwanted HDD usage in time. Also losing power can bring harm to a traditional HDD (happened to me not only once). Now, for my PC I'm using a backup power source, but I find it ridiculous to do the same with my DVR.
> My question is plain and simple:
> How does an SSD drive perform compared to the existing one in a TIVO Bolt?
> Thanks!


Don't do it. SSDs are a horrible choice due to the limited amount of writes SSDs allow. Your SSD will die prematurely compared to the HDD because the Bolt saves a buffer of live TV too so you can rewind (it's constantly writing). And the unwanted HDD usage doesn't matter. TiVos have worked this way for ages and many people love them - even with the stock HDD.


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## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

unknownpa said:


> Don't do it. SSDs are a horrible choice due to the limited amount of writes SSDs allow. Your SSD will die prematurely compared to the HDD because the Bolt saves a buffer of live TV too so you can rewind (it's constantly writing). And the unwanted HDD usage doesn't matter. TiVos have worked this way for ages and many people love them - even with the stock HDD.


Not so sure modern SSD drives are a worse choice than the 2.5" drives which have been used in Canada with such a high failure rate over the last 3 years. Neither will most likely last as long as a 3.5" drive.


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## Sounders/Seahawk (Apr 10, 2016)

Sounders/Seahawk said:


> Hi guys; I'm new to Tivo, but already upgraded from OTA to Bolt due to the fact that the OTA does not support cable. So here I am awaiting Xfinity service after cutting the ridiculous $148/month Directv bill. Regarding storage, I'm not the "hoarder" type - recording stuff and forgetting about it. My concern is performance and reliability. As I noticed, the system writes endlessly which will trigger unwanted HDD usage in time. Also losing power can bring harm to a traditional HDD (happened to me not only once). Now, for my PC I'm using a backup power source, but I find it ridiculous to do the same with my DVR.
> My question is plain and simple:
> How does an SSD drive perform compared to the existing one in a TIVO Bolt?
> Thanks!


The drive was delivered At 7:35 PM (considering its Sunday, kind of great!!!) at my door with Ontrack; it was ordered yesterday with one day (FREE) delivery from Amazon. It took me 11 min from the first screw to the last screw. The entire preparation session until my first channel was up and running was 8 min compared to about 40 min ten days ago when I got the Bolt. (Internet: FIOS 150Mbps up and down). I did this because of performance, heat and the fear to have the traditional HDD die on me during a power loss which is not so uncommon in the Pacific Northwest. (Happened to me twice before I got a backup power source).
I went with the Samsung 850 EVO at 500GB which is rated by the manufacturer to start showing weakness after 150TB of writing. In terms of HD content, the math is very simple: 500GB equal 70 hours of HD content; 150TB is 500 GB times 300 which equals with 70 hours times 300 = 21.000 hours. It also comes with a 5 year manufacturer warranty.
I know it will write basically everything I watch and removes that path, but still, it only writes as much as I watch and 21 k hours mean 2.4 years of continuous TV watching (24/7). Since my usage is below 2h/day average (considering game day), I believe to be good for 28 years .
I intend to use the original drive as an external one and keep on it the stuff meant to be consumed on weekends. Like I stated in my first post, Im not the accumulating type of person. 
First feeling with the SSD in my Bolt is speed; its snappy The original was not bad either but I can feel the difference. Also jumping forward 30 sec or recording some content and going back to that show is faster. The temperature is drastically lower now and my two TiVo Mini are also better served. All in all, Im very happy with my result. $149 for the 500GB Samsung 850 Evo drive is a small price to pay.
Here are the specs of the drive:
http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...ads/document/Samsung_SSD_850_EVO_Brochure.pdf
Youtube speed test:


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

Sounders/Seahawk said:


> The drive was delivered At 7:35 PM (considering its Sunday, kind of great!!!) at my door with Ontrack; it was ordered yesterday with one day (FREE) delivery from Amazon. It took me 11 min from the first screw to the last screw. The entire preparation session until my first channel was up and running was 8 min compared to about 40 min ten days ago when I got the Bolt. (Internet: FIOS 150Mbps up and down). I did this because of performance, heat and the fear to have the traditional HDD die on me during a power loss which is not so uncommon in the Pacific Northwest. (Happened to me twice before I got a backup power source).
> I went with the Samsung 850 EVO at 500GB which is rated by the manufacturer to start showing weakness after 150TB of writing. In terms of HD content, the math is very simple: 500GB equal 70 hours of HD content; 150TB is 500 GB times 300 which equals with 70 hours times 300 = 21.000 hours. It also comes with a 5 year manufacturer warranty.
> I know it will write basically everything I watch and removes that path, but still, it only writes as much as I watch and 21 k hours mean 2.4 years of continuous TV watching (24/7). Since my usage is below 2h/day average (considering game day), I believe to be good for 28 years .
> I intend to use the original drive as an external one and keep on it the stuff meant to be consumed on weekends. Like I stated in my first post, Im not the accumulating type of person.
> ...


Good luck with the original drive as a external, from what I have read all over the forum the only drives that work as an external are the old (Western Digital My Book AV DVR Expander 1TB) that are not even being made any more.
As far as the SSd's go in my opinion were never designed to be run 24/7 much
less being written to none stop but I guess only time will tell good luck, just my 2 cents.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Sounders/Seahawk said:


> The temperature is drastically lower now and my two TiVo Mini are also better served. All in all, Im very happy with my result. $149 for the 500GB Samsung 850 Evo drive is a small price to pay.


Could you look at System Information and post the value for MBT:? Thanks.

That's a good warranty. I hope you don't need it. While I can't prove it, I feel my basic Roamio makes a static 3GB buffer for trick play and other storage. Since this buffer has a fixed position it will be the first location to show problems.


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> Could you look at System Information and post the value for MBT:? Thanks.


I believe on the bolt it is ODT not MBT.


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## Sounders/Seahawk (Apr 10, 2016)

JoeKustra said:


> Could you look at System Information and post the value for MBT:? Thanks.
> 
> That's a good warranty. I hope you don't need it. While I can't prove it, I feel my basic Roamio makes a static 3GB buffer for trick play and other storage. Since this buffer has a fixed position it will be the first location to show problems.


I attached a photo as requested. One thing needs to be noted; the temperature for this reading is measured at the processor and the sensor is typically between the chip and the heat-shrink, which in my scenario can only prove a little bit cooler processor. The major gain (fall of temp.) is actually in the vicinity of the drive and you can feel the housing to be way cooler.
For the skeptical ones and in response to some sarcasm, I am good for 5 years no matter what; the device performs better and I'm happy. Just checked my projector hours: 398 since Jan 12 2016 - 95% Netflix, HULU and Amazon Prime... It will outlive anyone on this forum, trust me guys. As far as using the internal drive as an external one, I actually don't care if it works or not; I will test it and get back with info. I'm only recording a game if I'm not home and the news of my choice; skip commercials while watching and delete the content afterwards. No movies for me related to TIVO. I'm perfectly fine with what I got.
P.S. I almost forgot; the value you get to read for temperature is expressed in C not in F!!! After replacing the drive with an SSD one of the same capacity the temperature on the housing dropped 20F


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Sounders/Seahawk said:


> I attached a photo as requested. One thing needs to be noted; the temperature for this reading is measured at the processor and the sensor is typically between the chip and the heat-shrink, which in my scenario can only prove a little bit cooler processor. The major gain (fall of temp.) is actually in the vicinity of the drive and you can feel the housing to be way cooler.
> P.S. I almost forgot; the value you get to read for temperature is expressed in C not in F!!! After replacing the drive with an SSD one of the same capacity the temperature on the housing dropped 20F


Wow. That's awesome. Thanks for checking.


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

The ODT on my Bolt with the stock 1Tb drive is only 61.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

Anecdotal at best, but TiVos on a UPS seem to fare better in the long run. This is based on my experience plus many others here.


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## Sounders/Seahawk (Apr 10, 2016)

mark1958 said:


> The ODT on my Bolt with the stock 1Tb drive is only 61.


Like I said, the sensor is NOT exposed to the temperature in the enclosure, but measures accurately the processor, while the housing gets warm. It does NOT measure the temperature as it is felt by a touch of a hand on the unit. The difference between 58C to 61C is 5.4F; Not much but it shows that the processor is better served due to working less hard.


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

Sounders/Seahawk said:


> Like I said, the sensor is NOT exposed to the temperature in the enclosure, but measures accurately the processor, while the housing gets warm. It does NOT measure the temperature as it is felt by a touch of a hand on the unit. The difference between 58C to 61C is 5.4F; Not much but it shows that the processor is better served due to working less hard.


I know were the sensor's are as I have been building computers for over twenty years, I actually thought there were others that would like to know 
what a stock unit was running!


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## Sounders/Seahawk (Apr 10, 2016)

waynomo said:


> Anecdotal at best, but TiVos on a UPS seem to fare better in the long run. This is based on my experience plus many others here.


I do not disagree; this was my point of going with SSD instead of getting a UPS.
Traditional HDD takes harm if power drops and this happened to me twice. I since no longer have in my environment (PC, Laptop) traditional HDDs. If this SSD will not last 5years, it will be replaced under the manufacturer warranty. If it does hold as long that will probably be at a point in time at which I already got whatever new toy will be out there. I like to keep up with modern technologies; it's just like with the mobile phones... The new model comes out... You probably know the thrill. I will repeat myself in saying that overall the SSD brings better performance; is it for less than 5 years? Well than it will be replaced at no cost. That would be the unique inconvenience.


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## Sounders/Seahawk (Apr 10, 2016)

mark1958 said:


> I know were the sensor's are as I have been building computers for over twenty years, I actually thought there were others that would like to what a stock unit was running!


Mark, please don't bother telling me about your PC experience; I'm the wrong person to show-off with such. "Sounders/Seahawk" means Seattle/Redmond Bellevue... I'm in IT... Do a search and look for where the bits come from!
Let's talk about your grammar, than let's about facts:
Grammar: The plural of sensor is "SENSORS", not "sensor's" - that much about education
Facts: Samsung SSD 850 EVO sells for $149 at 500GB; internal WD AV 500 sells for $70. 
TIVO with SSD runns better and cooler; TIVO with standard HDD runs slower and warmer.
This particular SSD comes with a 5 year warranty, while the whole TIVO comes with 90 days of manufacturer warranty. Do I need to say more? Really?
I came here to ask about performance BEFORE installing my SSD drive which was on it's way... There was no helpful answer because the ones who did the move did not respond. There was sarcasm, and negativity, but no one was talking from a personal experience. So far I was the only one to provide info here; I attached a photo of the actual temperature and I described my personal feeling about the performance. 
Mark, what you are doing is called "TROLLING" and I do appreciate it at all, regardless if I joined the TIVBO community a second ago or years ago. 
Please be noted: The ONLY useful information in this thread comes from me! YES, you can install an SSD; YES, the performance is improved; YES it runs colder; YES it will boot faster - like 5 times faster at first run!
All the best!


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

Sounders/Seahawk said:


> Mark, please don't bother telling me about your PC experience; I'm the wrong person to show-off with such. "Sounders/Seahawk" means Seattle/Redmond Bellevue... I'm in IT... Do a search and look for where the bits come from!
> Let's talk about your grammar, than let's about facts:
> Grammar: The plural of sensor is "SENSORS", not "sensor's" - that much about education
> Facts: Samsung SSD 850 EVO sells for $149 at 500GB; internal WD AV 500 sells for $70.
> ...


And no I was not TROLLING, I was only trying to contribute being you didn't even know the drive you removed will not work as an external I thought I was helping, as far as SSd's in Tivo's go I still stand by my previous post
they weren't made for 24/7/365 use period. But from what I read from your post you are pretty fast at installing those dives so that's a plus in this case!
I know SSd's run faster and cooler but unlike you I read the forums and have seen posts from other members in regards to SSd's.
And just for the record you might want to proof read your own Grammar and spelling before you post, because your glass house just shattered!!!  just my two cents.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

This thread has gotten amusing. 

So a Bolt cost $232 of which $150 is one year service, so the actually cost of the hardware is $82. If comes with a 90 day no cost replacement warranty after that it costs $50 for a replacement for as long as you continue to pay for annual or monthly service. 

So someone decides to spend $149 to on a SSD to end up with the same storage size and potentially voids all future TiVo warranties. And what did they get for that? A temp reduction to 58 degrees. For the record the temp of my 1TB Bolt 2 min ago was 59 degrees.

If any of the above makes sense to someone fine, it sure doesn't to me. For that same $149 you could have bought a really good UPS that would have done a great job of protecting the whole TiVo and not potentially affected the warranty. 

And just for the record, posting info or disagree with someone's opinion isn't trolling.


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

atmuscarella said:


> This thread has gotten amusing.
> 
> So a Bolt cost $232 of which $150 is one year service, so the actually cost of the hardware is $82. If comes with a 90 day no cost replacement warranty after that it costs $50 for a replacement for as long as you continue to pay for annual or monthly service.
> 
> ...


I couldn't agree more, there are more than a few posts out there were Tivo has refused support on a unit that's been modified, just yesterday I read were a guy with a Roamio and a HD upgrade that was refused support for one of his Mini's for that exact reason. I also read a post were a person wondered if it was worth getting the 1Tb unit over the 500Gb one, with the price difference of around 70.00 it's a no brainier if you can afford it in my opinion. And don't get me wrong SSd's are great for laptops and desktop computers that aren't running 24/7, but to install in a Tivo that is writing four tuners worth of data every minute it runs is asking for a failure to occur.
And even if it has a five year warranty you still have to go thru a bunch of RMA crap and wait for a replacement, that most certainly be a refurbished drive. All for 3-5 degrees centigrade lower running temperature and a faster boot up time (which is not an issue if you don't turn it off) Not worth the headache in my opinion.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

atmuscarella said:


> This thread has gotten amusing.
> 
> A temp reduction to 58 degrees. For the record the temp of my 1TB Bolt 2 min ago was 59 degrees.


I'm not sure if amusing is the word I would use. But let's be nice.

I wonder if TiVo put that temp sensor in a useful location. If the 59 is F, then you would need to have your Bolt inside a fridge or perhaps outside in some locations. If 59 is C, then it must be really close to something hot. But since 59C is not out of range for most electronics, I would not worry. I am sorry I asked.

I have everything except my lights on a UPS with a pure sine wave inverter for backup. Down side is that stuff lasts so long I never get to replace things. I have to wait until they wear out. It's not much fun since I love to buy new stuff.


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## Sounders/Seahawk (Apr 10, 2016)

JoeKustra said:


> I'm not sure if amusing is the word I would use. But let's be nice.
> 
> I wonder if TiVo put that temp sensor in a useful location. If the 59 is F, then you would need to have your Bolt inside a fridge or perhaps outside in some locations. If 59 is C, then it must be really close to something hot. But since 59C is not out of range for most electronics, I would not worry. I am sorry I asked.
> 
> I have everything except my lights on a UPS with a pure sine wave inverter for backup. Down side is that stuff lasts so long I never get to replace things. I have to wait until they wear out. It's not much fun since I love to buy new stuff.


For those who believe that the few degrees of lower drive temperature were targeted in this UPGRADE, I inform you guys that that was a benefit on top of the REAL goal, namely making the device performing better, which it does! I don't understand how replacing with a larger HDD does not void the warranty and how replacing it with an SSD, does... On the other hand if the unit would go bad, the original HDD can still be placed back since it contains the untouched image 
Also, I never "urged" anyone to follow my steps, nor did I "urge" anyone to do anything; I simply asked for an opinion from someone who HAS SSD in place and of all the people who posted, no one has such. I did the change and now all of you know FROM ME the following:
1.) It works flawlessly
2.) It booth in no time
3.) It runs cooler
4.) It performs better
5.) Wake-up time went down to 8 sec from 40 sec on the manufacturer's spec sheet
6.) First boot in 8 min compared to over 35 min and so on...
Are these facts worth my own $149??? They absolutely do! Also for the skeptical ones, be noted that a failed SSD needs to be reported on the Bolt, before you make assumptions! My SSD is good for 2.4 years at 24/7 usage and for about 30 years at a 2hor/day usage. Also for those who don't know, the SSD internal management of the drive writes in spots it did not before and keeps track of the previous used space so it will never write in the same spot before it did not cycle the whole writing capacity; also where bits are erased it auto formats the empty space.
Good luck to all of you regardless if you appreciate how I spend my money or not!


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

Not sounding good for folks looking for support after unit modifications here is the link: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=539296&highlight=best+ota+tuners


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

A wise person saves their old drive "in case".


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> A wise person saves their old drive "in case".


You are so right Joe, and make sure you reinstall it before calling in with any issuse so as it does not show up as modified.


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## unknownpa (Feb 23, 2016)

mark1958 said:


> Good luck with the original drive as a external, from what I have read all over the forum the only drives that work as an external are the old (Western Digital My Book AV DVR Expander 1TB) that are not even being made any more.
> As far as the SSd's go in my opinion were never designed to be run 24/7 much
> less being written to none stop but I guess only time will tell good luck, just my 2 cents.


What do you mean they're not being made anymore? You can buy them right now on the TiVo website.


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

unknownpa said:


> What do you mean they're not being made anymore? You can buy them right now on the TiVo website.


From my understand western digital no longer makes them for Tivo, and yes Tivo still sells them but their the only seller, other than Weakness
I can rember when you could purchase them from a lot of other outlets besides TiVo.
https://www.tivo.com/shop/detail/westerndigital

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-bolt-tcd849000.php


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## primaryforce (Oct 15, 2015)

I wonder if it would be possible to replace the 3.5 inch hard in this WD Expander with a larger drive. Using this specific device seems to be the only viable ESATA method to increase my Tivo Bolt 500gb storage capacity. My original hack to replace the internal 500GB with an extracted 4GB Seagate 2.5" was not reliable and resulted in frequent reboots. My thought would be to buy the Expander from Tivo for $129 and replace the drive with a 4GB or 6GB WD red.


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

primaryforce said:


> I wonder if it would be possible to replace the 3.5 inch hard in this WD Expander with a larger drive. Using this specific device seems to be the only viable ESATA method to increase my Tivo Bolt 500gb storage capacity. My original hack to replace the internal 500GB with an extracted 4GB Seagate 2.5" was not reliable and resulted in frequent reboots. My thought would be to buy the Expander from Tivo for $129 and replace the drive with a 4GB or 6GB WD red.


I have not heard of anyone that has been able to replace the Expander drive
and get it to work with the bolt unless it would be with a weaKness drive.
I think you mean TB not GB, but weaKness has a few options for esata : http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-bolt-tcd849000.php

But I did see a thread were the member bpunc went and installed a 6TB 3.5" drive in a External enclosure and drilled a hole in the back of the Bolt and connected it directly to the internal sata port of the Bolt's motherboard with success here is a link: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=536782 
Hope this might help or maybe give you some alternatives.


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## npoore (Sep 28, 2005)

Sounders/Seahawk said:


> For those who believe that the few degrees of lower drive temperature were targeted in this UPGRADE, I inform you guys that that was a benefit on top of the REAL goal, namely making the device performing better, which it does! I don't understand how replacing with a larger HDD does not void the warranty and how replacing it with an SSD, does... On the other hand if the unit would go bad, the original HDD can still be placed back since it contains the untouched image
> Also, I never "urged" anyone to follow my steps, nor did I "urge" anyone to do anything; I simply asked for an opinion from someone who HAS SSD in place and of all the people who posted, no one has such. I did the change and now all of you know FROM ME the following:
> 1.) It works flawlessly
> 2.) It booth in no time
> ...


Hey Sounders. 
Firstly, I'd like to give you a thumbs up for installing an SSD in your Tivo. There is a lot of theory out there, and sometimes a good practical test is the best answer.

In your post you describe the "garbage collection" that the internal disk management uses on the SSD. Since we have no knowledge if the TivoOS supports TRIM, so garbage collection is certainly a good thing to have. However the articles on it say that it could lead to premature wear on a drive vs TRIM support in the OS.
Wiki on TRIM

I think that the Samsung 850 EVO drives are great, and have installed quite a few myself. Of note is that the warranty is not simply 5 years, but "5 Years Limited Warranty or 150TBW Limited Warranty". As I'm sure you're aware, the drive keeps track of how much data gets written. The samsung drive in my daily PC has written about 1TB of data in the past 6 months since I installed it, so this is not normally an issue.

My "theoretical" concerns on the SSD would be as follows.
*Issue One.* If the drive is kept "full" with stored recordings, then the amount of free space on the drive would be minimal. As such the "always on" recording of the 4 tuners would result in a very small amount of the disk getting written to a lot. This could result in a very uneven wear on the "free" portion of the drive leading to early failure. This is why "over-provisioning" is an option when you are using the Samsung Magician tools on a PC.
I don't know how you use the Tivo, but I tend to not delete shows, and let the auto-housekeeping delete old shows. It's lazy on my part, I know, but as a result my Tivo is generally about 90% full.
*Issue Two.* I believe that the Tivo is always on. I honestly do not know if this is true or not. If the Tivo is always on, and is always recording the last 30 minutes, then it is always writing data. Again using assumptions, let's say the Tivo is recording two HD and two SD shows at all times, again let's say that that equates to 5Mbps of data. This could add up to a lot, so I did some math. 5Mbps (assumption) is 2.2 GBytes per hour, which is 52 GBytes per day, ~1500 GBytes per month, which is 19 TBytes per year.
If this is true, then you are quite safe for the 150TBW warranty - with about 8 years of life in the drive.

As I said at the beginning, the theory states that you could have an issue (I suspect Issue One would be an issue before Issue Two) but I for one am looking forward to hearing your results.

I would love it if you could take the drive out in a couple of months, and connect it to a PC running the Samsung Magician tool that could tell us how much data has been written to the drive in that time period. I made a lot of assumptions in my math above, and would love to see some real world data.

I do not agree with anyone who states that these drives are not designed for 24/7 operation. Every DVR I've owned comes with a non-24/7 drive from the manufacturer. Western Digital have their "RED" drives for NAS and CameraDVR's, but I've never seen one of these in a Tivo or DirecTV DVR, they always use drives that are marked as "desktop" drives.

As the drives come down in price, I'm really, really tempted to install a 2TB SSD. It is complete overkill, but like you, I like upgrading my stuff with faster, better products.

I look forward to hearing from you, and seeing if we can get some long-term test data.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I wouldn't worry about 19TB per year or even 50TB per year. The Samsung SSDs, in testing, last some outrageous amount of time before failures. They would write several times the amount of data the warranty was for before issues would crop up.

I use several Samsung SSDs in my PCs. With one in my Blue IRIS PC which is constantly reading and writing from my twelve IP cameras. Although that uses a 1TB 840EVO which has been in use with my IP cameras for around 1.5 years now. While my more recent SSDs are 850 EVOs

I put 4TB drives in my Bolt because storage was my main concern. With the stock drives or even the 4TB drives the Bolts are already rather snappy.

As far as the reported temp by the Bolt, I've owned five Bolts and the temps all varied between them. Although the two I use now showed a lower ODT than the first three with the stock drives.


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## mark1958 (Feb 13, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> As far as the reported temp by the Bolt, I've owned five Bolts and the temps all varied between them. Although the two I use now showed a lower ODT than the first three with the stock drives.


As far as the temp variations go, I do think the quality of the thermal compound application as well as the compound it's self could account for the variations in temps for sure.
And the quality of the machining of the heat sink (how smooth and flat on chip set side) could also be a contributing factor in the temperature variations.

Any time I build a computer for a client the first thing I do is remove the motherboard chip set heat sinks and remove all the thermal compound and apply Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound, as well i take the heat sinks to my steel bench with some emery cloth to get a smooth flat contact point.
That has always given me lower more stable temps, and a side note I also use the same compound and heat sink process on the CPU.


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