# Where is the 1TB My DVR Expander?



## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

I bought two TiVo HD boxes in the spring and have been waiting patiently for the 1TB version of the My DVR Expander from Western Digital. I'm *this* close to opening up my TiVos and putting in my own drives, but I want to avoid doing that if a 1TB model is coming out soon. Has anyone heard any rumors about this?


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## eric_n_dfw (Jul 15, 2003)

I'm with you - hope to hear something soon as the long Olympic HD recordings are eating my new TivoHD alive! (switched from a 240GB upgraded S2 DirecTivo so I'm not used to such low storage space)


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

Yeah, I had a pair of DTiVos upgraded with an extra 160GB each. Tons of space to record anything I wanted. The Olympics killed me too. I'm not used to having to worry about running out of space, and with the meager hard drive size in the TiVo HD it just fills up way too easily. I'll never understand why TiVo would sell an box intended to record HD and only put a tiny 160GB drive in it. They are begging to have people crack the box open and put in their own drive....


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

BTW, is the TiVoHD as straightforward to upgrade as the old DTiVos? I'm talking about putting in an internal drive of course, not the My DVR Expander (which I understand is very straightforward to add via the external SATA port). Are there recommended 1TB drives if I was to go this route?


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## Jasper (Sep 4, 2001)

Using WinMFS upgrading the HD Tivo is actually easier than upgrading the old way. No boot disc etc. you can do everything in the Windows enviroment.
http://www.mfslive.org/


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

What happens to existing seasons passes and recorded shows?


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

I've been reading the mfslive site and I'm unclear on one point. I had assumed that the only way to expand the TiVoHD if you decide not the get the My DVR Expander was by using an internal drive. Can I add my own *external* eSATA drive and not have to stuff a second drive inside the TiVoHD? I will have to open the TiVoHD up to back up the original drive though; that part can't be avoided...


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## Jasper (Sep 4, 2001)

You can add your own External drive to your TivoHD via mfslive. I believe it is just a case of marrying the external drive to your internal drive. You would still have to "crack the case" of the TivoHd, so you might as well do the internal upgrade. Just my opinion... But it seems like the external drive is more of a hassle to build( buy drive + external drive enclosure+ plug it in somewhere) and I would worry about accidentally unplugging it. I also like having a backup image in case my drive fails, that way I don't have to send the whole thing in for replacement.....


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

So I take it you just replace the internal 160GB drive with a 1TB drive? When I upgraded by old DTiVo I actually added a second drive. Replacing the original though and keeping it around as a backup isn't a bad idea...


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## Jasper (Sep 4, 2001)

Yep, as a matter of fact, I just re-upgraded to a 1TB drive from a 500GB drive. I used WinMFS and it was pretty simple. I still have my original drive in a box, though I did hook it up while I was upgrading, so that it would update the software to 9.4. 

I also used the option to add more space via WinMFS thus 144HD hours......


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

One final question: Any recommendations on what 1TB drive to buy? I know any brand/model should in theory work, but I also have heard rumors that some can be problematic....


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

And for that matter, would a 1.5TB drive work?


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## Agent86 (Jan 18, 2002)

Most people seem to recommend the WD10EVCS drive. I read in another thread that they are available from Buy.com for $160 right now.

You should be able to add Seagate's new 1.5TB drive to a TiVoHD, but I've never heard of anyone doing it and its likely a pretty loud drive.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Agent86 said:


> Most people seem to recommend the WD10EVCS drive. I read in another thread that they are available from Buy.com for $160 right now.
> 
> You should be able to add Seagate's new 1.5TB drive to a TiVoHD, but I've never heard of anyone doing it and its likely a pretty loud drive.


I've got one on order from Amazon for my new TiVo HD. (but the drive's not in stock yet)
I'll try to remember to let you know how it works and how loud it is.


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## Jasper (Sep 4, 2001)

I bought this drive for my Tivo and I absolutely love it. Very quiet and much cooler than the 500GB I had before.

http://www.buy.com/prod/western-dig...erial-ata-300-serial/q/loc/101/206827123.html


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

Quiet is very important--nothing worse than hearing a hard drive churn while watching TV...

Incidentally, I contacted Western Digital to see if a 1TB version of the My DVR Expander was going to be released soon and the guy said the would no doubt release one some day but nothing is immediately planned. So no more waiting--I'll do an upgrade myself.

Thanks for all the replies. The rest is up to me...


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## tiassa (Jul 2, 2008)

How difficult would it be to upgrade the drive in the My DVR Expander? That way your Tivo would still be under warranty. I'm just wondering if this makes sense at all.


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

I've read this can't be done. TiVo is very specific about allowing *only* the original 500GB version to work with the TiVo HD. This policy essentially encourages people to hack their TiVos who want more than 500GB of storage. Why TiVo would sell a box that can support 2+ TB of storage but only support one 500GB third party expansion box makes no sense to me. Why they'd sell an HD box with only 160GB in it in the first place is also odd. I wonder why TiVo doesn't sell versions of their TiVo HD unit with different capacities? Maybe they don't want to tread on cottage industry companies like Weaknees?

In any event, my new 1TB drives arrived yesterday. I'll be upgrading my TiVo HDs this weekend...


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

The case is just an enclosure with pass through of the SATA connection from the drive. The TiVo recognzies the drive itself. IF you put a different drive in it, it will not be a MyDVR Expander anymore, as far as TiVo sees.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

classicsat said:


> The case is just an enclosure with pass through of the SATA connection from the drive. The TiVo recognzies the drive itself. IF you put a different drive in it, it will not be a MyDVR Expander anymore, as far as TiVo sees.


Well, I guess the key question is, does it recognize the drive by it model number (as reported by the drive firmware) or by some value pre-loaded onto the drive.

If it's the former any hope of upgrading the myDVR drive seems dead. But if it's the later, it raises the possibility that someone (smarter and more dedicated than I am) might figure out how the apply that value to a blank drive. (Kind of like the old BlessTiVo app for adding 2nd internal hard drives).

One possible method of figuring this out would be to 
1) buy a different 500gb drive
2) do a direct dd copy from a blank myDVR disk to the new disk. 
3) hook the new drive up to an unhacked TiVo and see if it recognizes it.

If it does clearly the TiVo recognizes some data on the drive (that got transfered by the dd copy)
if not then it's probably recognizing the firmware.

Possible method to confirm (at the risk to killing your myDVR)
1) you could zero out the drive (copy zeros to every location) 
2) see if the TiVo still recognized it.

But I've got no idea how it actually recognizes the drive. Maybe is uses some combination of firmware id + pre-loaded data. (Heck, even if you figured out how to copy it, the authorized drive size might be pre-loaded into the TiVo).

Seems like a lot of trouble to go to just not void the TiVo's warrentee.


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

Wouldn't you know it. I've been waiting for a 1TB expansion drive from WD and when it became clear they weren't going to have anything new for a while I go ahead and buy 1TB internal drives. Two days later I get this email from TiVo announcing their own 1TB TiVo HD units!

https://www3.tivo.com/store/boxdetails.do?boxName=tivohdxl&boxsku=R65800

Man, what bad timing!

Anyone interested in a pair of 1TB drives? WD10EVCS of course.

How about a pair of four month old TiVo HD systems? 

I think I just might go ahead and get these new TiVo HD boxes...


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## ManOfSteele (Jul 23, 2003)

I just had a somewhat frustrating call with TiVo. I wanted to buy two of these new TiVo HD XL boxes and transfer my current service plans to them. Apparently there is no way this can be done, not from the TiVo store. I have to buy new service plans for the new TiVos, and cannot transfer my old plans to new boxes. What makes matters worse, since they are prepaid plans I can't even cancel without losing the upfront money. This seems like a very hokey way to have things set up. Why can't I just transfer my existing plans?

The only option is to hack my own boxes to get the extra storage I want, or wait until the boxes are available at some place like Best Buy. If I buy the box from Best Buy, apparently TiVo *will* let you transfer a service plan from an existing box instead of setting up a new one. Why they can do this on a box purchased from Best Buy but not on a box purchased from their own store is beyond me. Regardless, the only problem is that the HD XL boxes are not available yet at retail stores, and the person I spoke to had no idea when they would be available. 

So this really only leaves me with the option of hacking my own box. I really had wanted to avoid doing this since for 1) TiVo doesn't support this and if I have a problem down the road they can refuse to support me, and 2) Installing my own internal 1TB drive makes it impossible to add addition external storage later (or so I've heard).

This is really poor customer service in my opinion, and there is apparently absolutely nothing I can do.


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## LittleXLittle (Sep 8, 2006)

Great Forum Post for TiVo eSATA and Internal Drive Expansion

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784


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