# Recommended Drives?



## mbo54 (Oct 24, 2007)

I will be replacing my dead drive soon. Any recommendations on which drive I should use for my upgrade? Size for high quality recording? I know the Seagate DB35 is popular, but do other quality manufacturers such as Western Digital make a quality DVR drive?

Thanks


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

mbo54 said:


> I will be replacing my dead drive soon. Any recommendations on which drive I should use for my upgrade? Size for high quality recording? I know the Seagate DB35 is popular, but do other quality manufacturers such as Western Digital make a quality DVR drive?
> 
> Thanks


 Yes they do there is usually a JB after the model such as WD3200JB for the 320 GB drive. They are made to run cooler and their seek speed may be a little slower. Good luck.


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## j0nnyhb (Jul 28, 2007)

I am also going to replace my drive for my series 2 soon. I ordered a 120GB drive off of www.3btech.net ($37) so hopefully I don't get a dud, but the price was right ;o) I'll post my experience when I get it do it. I had a friend recommend 3btech (he has had good luck) but we'll see.


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## mrlumpy (Nov 8, 2007)

Newbie here - I'm about to upgrade/replace my original Series 2 drive. Would the Wetern Digital 320 GB 7200 RPM Caviar SE (WD3200JB) work, or should I splurge for one of the DVR-Specific drives? Is the 8MB buffer too small?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

mrlumpy said:


> Newbie here - I'm about to upgrade/replace my original Series 2 drive. Would the Western Digital 320 GB 7200 RPM Caviar SE (WD3200JB) work, or should I splurge for one of the DVR-Specific drives? Is the 8MB buffer too small?


Yes it would work well, You can use drive tools for Hitachi to set Acoustic management set it to 128 for quietest. The buffer size on the original Tivo hard drive was 2MB on a 5400 rpm drive. It is a great drive for TiVo. I am running that in 4 of mine.


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## mrlumpy (Nov 8, 2007)

rbtravis said:


> Yes it would work well, You can use drive tools for Hitachi to set Acoustic management set it to 128 for quietest. The buffer size on the original Tivo hard drive was 2MB on a 5400 rpm drive. It is a great drive for TiVo. I am running that in 4 of mine.


Thanks for the reply! How do I run the Hitachi Acoustic management software - I must have to do it before I run whichever utility I chose to TiVo-ize the drive, right?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

mrlumpy said:


> Thanks for the reply! How do I run the Hitachi Acoustic management software - I must have to do it before I run whichever utility I chose to TiVo-ize the drive, right?


You boot from the floppy created by the download with the drive attached to the PC
then you reboot the PC with a product such as instantcake and 15 minutes or so later the image is on the hard drive. you put it in the tivo and go through setup on the TiVo all you need to know for setup is your zipcode and your phone number. In less than an hour you should be up and running.


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## mrlumpy (Nov 8, 2007)

Thanks again, rbtravis. I took the plunge for the WD3200JB, and downloaded MFSLive - I'm feeling pretty confident that I can pull this whole thing off.


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## Qwertinsky (Oct 24, 2006)

I used a Seagate ST3120026A 120GB 7200RPM Barracuda a couple years ago and it has been running flawlessly in my old Sony SVR2000. I almost hate to see it go, but I have finally decomissiond the old series 1 Tivo and transfered it's lifetime subscription to an HD-Tivo. Now I just hope I can get at least the same seven plus years out of the new one.

The only drives I would not recommend are Maxtor drives. Because before I bought the Seagate I had installed a Maxtor Diamond-max. 

The Maxtor failed in less than 30 days.

Seagate :up::up::up:

Maxtor :down::down::down:


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

Qwertinsky said:


> I used a Seagate ST3120026A 120GB 7200RPM Barracuda a couple years ago and it has been running flawlessly in my old Sony SVR2000. I almost hate to see it go, but I have finally decomissiond the old series 1 Tivo and transfered it's lifetime subscription to an HD-Tivo. Now I just hope I can get at least the same seven plus years out of the new one.
> 
> The only drives I would not recommend are Maxtor drives. Because before I bought the Seagate I had installed a Maxtor Diamond-max.
> 
> ...


Maxtor is Seagate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagate_Technology#1990s.E2.80.932000s


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## Qwertinsky (Oct 24, 2006)

Enrique said:


> Maxtor is Seagate.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seagate_Technology#1990s.E2.80.932000s


Maybe so (now) but that does not mean Maxtor branded drives are made to the exact standards as Seagate branded drives.

I work for a manufacturing company. We used to take one of our products and put another company brand on it. While these were functionally the same products the calibration specs were looser and the sheet metal was thinner on the branded product.


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## Debbie25 (Dec 9, 2002)

I have a TivoHD that I would like to upgrade the built-in HD in the future.
I have read the instructions at 'WinMFS' so no problem there.

What I'm wondering is....
What is the difference between SATA, SATA II, eSATA and "Green Drive"?

Could any of these be used for the primary HD?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Debbie25 said:


> I have a TivoHD that I would like to upgrade the built-in HD in the future.
> I have read the instructions at 'WinMFS' so no problem there.
> 
> What I'm wondering is....
> ...


SATA and SATA II vary in bandwidth SATA II is faster. eSATA has a 50,000 insertion cable vs 50 insertions SATA. The green drive is not worth the money, it is an advertising ploy and all I have seen so far have FAILED. I would send an Email to TiVo customer support and ask them if they have tested the green drive and would they recommend it for use with TiVo. Be sure to include the model you are working with, the TiVo that is.


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## Debbie25 (Dec 9, 2002)

OK

But when it comes to just the SATA, SATA II, eSATA...

Can you use either of these for the primary HD?

Also you mentioned that the SATA II is faster does that mean it also runs hotter?

Not sure what the 50 to 50,000 insertions mean, so I will stay away from the eSATA then.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

An insertion is when you plug the drive into the back of your tivo. With the technology today either SATA or SATA II will both run at approximately the same tempurature. SATA II is newer and faster so they can charge more that is all. Both use 7200 rpm drives, I recommend Western Digital but not their green drive.


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## Debbie25 (Dec 9, 2002)

Very nice explaining that, thx

I always go with WD
I heard Seagate are noisy

I have a 160gb in the TivoHD now so I would be looking into at least a 250gb or 350gb SATA II.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Sorry posted in Error USB drive


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

rbtravis said:


> Yes they do there is usually a JB after the model such as WD3200JB for the 320 GB drive. They are made to run cooler and their seek speed may be a little slower. Good luck.


"J" means 8MB cache, and "B" means PATA. Nothing to do with DVR/seek/etc.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

rbtravis said:


> The green drive is not worth the money, it is an advertising ploy and all I have seen so far have FAILED.


Sorry to be rude, but you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. The WD GP drives are the best drives for DVR I have seen since I bought my first TiVo. Quiet, low power, low temperature, and low price (1TB). Seagate and Hitachi have no drives with all of these parameters.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

rbtravis said:


> With the technology today either SATA or SATA II will both run at approximately the same tempurature. SATA II is newer and faster so they can charge more that is all. Both use 7200 rpm drives, I recommend Western Digital but not their green drive.


SATA I and II are just the interface. Nothing to do with the temperature and RPM.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

Debbie25 said:


> But when it comes to just the SATA, SATA II, eSATA...
> 
> Can you use either of these for the primary HD?


The difference between SATA I and II is insignificant. Today's 7200rpm drives can use only about half of what SATA I can handle, but most serial ATA drives today are SATA II anyway. eSATA is primarily for external connections.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

Debbie25 said:


> I always go with WD
> I heard Seagate are noisy
> 
> I have a 160gb in the TivoHD now so I would be looking into at least a 250gb or 350gb SATA II.


WD is my current favorite for TiVo, especially the GP line. Seagate DB35 drives are quiet, but not worth the money, in my opinion. If you're going through the trouble of replacing the internal drive, I would recommend at least 500GB (around $100).


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

c3 said:


> Sorry to be rude, but you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. The WD GP drives are the best drives for DVR I have seen since I bought my first TiVo. Quiet, low power, low temperature, and low price (1TB). Seagate and Hitachi have no drives with all of these parameters.


You are not rude as I got my WD green when they first came out at Best Buy for $259 and put 8 of them in 8 HD TiVos for friends and my own HD TiVos (both 648 & 652) and the temp went down about 5 *C. We have had no problems with the drive and it is also low noise. They give 144 hours of HD record time. Another posting has another sale of these drives by Newegg for $250 and free shipping, (you do have to put a code in to get that price the posting gives you the prmo code to use)


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## jerobi (Sep 28, 2000)

Just to update, the 500GB Seagate DB35 I installed last weekend is working great and is much quieter than the 40+160 drive combo that I had in there for years. I was surprised to pay such a low premium for the DB35 DVR-centric model over what I would have paid for a regular (noisy) 500GB unit.

Here's my writeup if anyone is interested. I know I spent of ton of time making my decision, so hopefully this helps the next guy.


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## nethead12 (Jul 17, 2001)

Quick question:

I'm looking at the Seagate PATA 500gb db35.3 drives to update two Directivo Series 1 , both of which have been running with dual Seagate 250s for yrs. (Sony T-60/Hughes). 

Can anyone confirm the Seagate 500 will work in them?

TIA


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

nethead12 said:


> Quick question:
> 
> I'm looking at the Seagate PATA 500gb db35.3 drives to update two Directivo Series 1 , both of which have been running with dual Seagate 250s for yrs. (Sony T-60/Hughes).
> 
> ...


IF you put on LBA48 boot which it looks like you did, then YES


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## nethead12 (Jul 17, 2001)

rbtravis said:


> IF you put on LBA48 boot which it looks like you did, then YES


Great! Thanks! Ordering them now.


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## ThreeSoFar (May 24, 2002)

Always had very good luck with Samsung drives. Very quiet out of the box, only one failure in 15+.

Never had a chance to try the new DB35 drive, though. Well, I did on my recent upgrades but I passed on the opportunity.


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