# Just bought a Roamio from TiVo...



## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

TiVo offered me a recertified Roamio for $99 and let me transfer my existing $6.95/month service plan onto the new unit. It will be here on Thursday.

I'm debating sticking a larger hard drive into the unit before I even turn it on. Any recommended brands on internal drives to put in this thing?


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## foghorn2 (May 4, 2004)

My recommend:

Use the system as is for a day or 2.
Make sure it works 100%

If you are not technical and want no hassles with warranty:
Use it till it fills up and if you dont want to erase anything then get this and plug it in:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MVZ60S

you will add 1TB to what you already have
if this drive fails, any recordings on this drive will be lost
the recordings on the main HDD before this drive is added will remain.

If you are technical, not worried about warranty, or open this thing and mask it was ever tampered with and still try to use warranty:

Install one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Desktop-Hard-Disk-Drive/dp/B008JJLZ7G

or

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Desktop-Hard-Disk-Drive/dp/B008JJLW4M

If this drive fails, you will loose all recordings except for any unflagged recordings backed up to a server. If you put the original unmodified HDD back in, it will work as it did before the swap and Tivo may or may not honor the warranty.

There are some other options, but these are my recommendations.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

I would at least make sure it works before you crack it open and void the warranty.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

plazman30 said:


> TiVo offered me a recertified Roamio for $99 and let me transfer my existing $6.95/month service plan onto the new unit. It will be here on Thursday.
> 
> I'm debating sticking a larger hard drive into the unit before I even turn it on. Any recommended brands on internal drives to put in this thing?


I'd go with a WD green AV drive, the same that TiVo uses. When I got a Roamio, I just went ahead and put a larger drive in right away. Why go to the bother of setting up all the wiring, etc. only to have to do it again.

If there is a problem with the TiVo after you set it up and it needs to be shipped back, just put the old drive back in. I don't think there has ever been a report of TiVo not honoring a warrantee over this.

I would not recommend using a second HDD as the post above lists as an option. Much better to just drop in a larger drive.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

UCLABB said:


> I'd go with a WD green AV drive, the same that TiVo uses. When I got a Roamio, I just went ahead and put a larger drive in right away. Why go to the bother of setting up all the wiring, etc. only to have to do it again.
> 
> If there is a problem with the TiVo after you set it up and it needs to be shipped back, just put the old drive back in. I don't think there has ever been a report of TiVo not honoring a warrantee over this.
> 
> I would not recommend using a second HDD as the post above lists as an option. Much better to just drop in a larger drive.


+1 on this advice, especially not adding an external drive.

Here is the gory detail on upgrade drives in case you missed it:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=507695


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

I absolutely would not use an external drive on the thing.

I am very technical and have no issues disassembling a TiVo. The Roamios make it even easier, since you don't have to clone you existing drive. The #1 point of failure on a any DVR is the hard drive anyway. So sticking a new HD in a "renewed" unit is probably good practice anyway, if you know what you're doing. The again, TiVo may have a stuck a new hard drive in it to "renew" it.

I'm thinking of going with a 3 TB NAS drive. NAS drives are designed to spin all the time and come with a longer warranty usually.


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## 59er (Mar 27, 2008)

The information that if the external drive fails you'll still have your original shows is NOT true.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

plazman30 said:


> I'm thinking of going with a 3 TB NAS drive. NAS drives are designed to spin all the time and come with a longer warranty usually.


Why stop at 3?

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=528428


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Why stop at 3?
> 
> http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=528428


Price.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

krkaufman said:


> Why stop at 3?





plazman30 said:


> Price.


Plus, 3TB is just a drop-in. To use MFSR, its drop, pull, reformat, drop. The reformat requires a Windows computer, right? (If I'm wrong, please correct me). Also a way to connect the drive to the computer. For those without an open bay with a SATA port, it means a USB/SATA adapter, which is another $20 or so.

At the moment, it seems 3TB is the sweet spot for TB/$, although 4TB isn't much more. 5 and 6 it ramps up more.

Personally, now that my Roamio Plus warranty is up, I'm thinking about upgrading, and would go with 3 or 4. Upgrading now, with a full drive, means copying 1TB of shows, plus my Season Passes and Thumbs to my server. I'd probably leave 'em there (the shows), seeing as it runs pyTivo. I wish I had upgraded to 3TB when I first got my Roamio. Less work. Now I guess I'd go with 4TB.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

justen_m said:


> Plus, 3TB is just a drop-in. To use MFSR, its drop, pull, reformat, drop. The reformat requires a Windows computer, right? (If I'm wrong, please correct me). Also a way to connect the drive to the computer. For those without an open bay with a SATA port, it means a USB/SATA adapter, which is another $20 or so.
> 
> At the moment, it seems 3TB is the sweet spot for TB/$, although 4TB isn't much more. 5 and 6 it ramps up more.
> 
> Personally, now that my Roamio Plus warranty is up, I'm thinking about upgrading, and would go with 3 or 4. Upgrading now, with a full drive, means copying 1TB of shows, plus my Season Passes and Thumbs to my server. I'd probably leave 'em there (the shows), seeing as it runs pyTivo. I wish I had upgraded to 3TB when I first got my Roamio. Less work. Now I guess I'd go with 4TB.


Using Mfsr on a 3TB drive still has advantages. I just used MFSR on a 3TB green drive in a Roamio Basic.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

justen_m said:


> Plus, 3TB is just a drop-in. To use MFSR, its drop, pull, reformat, drop. The reformat requires a Windows computer, right? (If I'm wrong, please correct me). Also a way to connect the drive to the computer.


Right, but those wouldn't be impediments to someone who considers themselves "technical"; might even be an incentive, to some.


plazman30 said:


> I am very technical and have no issues disassembling a TiVo.



Just wanted to make sure the OP was aware of the possibility of going bigger than 3TB; seems they were all over it, already.



justen_m said:


> At the moment, it seems 3TB is the sweet spot for TB/$, although 4TB isn't much more. 5 and 6 it ramps up more.


Sweetspot, schmeetspot, 3TB is just too tiny!!  I'm willing to pay the $/TB premium to upgrade our CableCARD'd 3TB Roamio to 6TB in the next week or so, so that I can hopefully stop having to manage recording space quite so much.

I'm semi-regretful for not just having gone 6TB from the beginning, since it would have allowed me to keep our premium content recordings, and I'd been hoping that a migration tool would come along to allow a direct upgrade, but it looks like that won't happen in the necessary timeframe. C'est...



justen_m said:


> Personally, now that my Roamio Plus warranty is up, I'm thinking about upgrading, and would go with 3 or 4. Upgrading now, with a full drive, means copying 1TB of shows, plus my Season Passes and Thumbs to my server. I'd probably leave 'em there (the shows), seeing as it runs pyTivo. I wish I had upgraded to 3TB when I first got my Roamio. Less work. Now I guess I'd go with 4TB.


One advantage of sticking w/ the 3-4TB range is that you might be able to use MFS Tools 3.2 to migrate to a new drive, rather than having to start from scratch and do the whole backup/recover thing.


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Right, but those wouldn't be impediments to someone who considers themselves "technical"; might even be an incentive, to some.
> ​
> Just wanted to make sure the OP was aware of the possibility of going bigger than 3TB; seems they were all over it, already.
> 
> ...


3 TB is just too tiny? I have a 320 GB Premiere and have never filled the thing up. How much stuff do you record?


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

plazman30 said:


> 3 TB is just too tiny? I have a 320 GB Premiere and have never filled the thing up. How much stuff do you record?


Lots, to satisfy 4+ viewers, and we tend to not delete anything, allowing the "keep max episodes" to control number of recordings. We're also in a Comcast cable region that has yet to shifted to MPEG4.


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## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Family of 4 here too and 3TB hard drive. We watch and delete, suggestions are off. Stays at a pretty consistent 85% free. Before Tivo we also had a 3TB system and a huge number of recordings. Even then we rarely used more than 50% of the space.

So I think it comes down to whether you try to keep everything forever or not.


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## Saturn_V (Jun 2, 2007)

plazman30 said:


> I'm debating sticking a larger hard drive into the unit before I even turn it on. Any recommended brands on internal drives to put in this thing?


WD 3TB AV-GP is what I have on my two Roamios. 3TB = 475 HD hours. I've been running with 3TB for two years, seldom delete, and still only at 65% capacity. If you buy the HDD from Amazon, 30 days to return. If the re-certified Roamio goes belly up in that time, you can send the HDD back.

Concur with other posters- don't go external HDD.


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## snerd (Jun 6, 2008)

plazman30 said:


> 3 TB is just too tiny? I have a 320 GB Premiere and have never filled the thing up. How much stuff do you record?


I only had a 320GB Premiere until I got a Roamio Plus from the summer sale, immediately dropped in a 3TB drive, and moved the 1TB drive to the Premiere. We rarely recorded anything in HD, despite having a new 70" TV, so we lived within the 320GB budget. Now we record mostly in HD, and we're using 15% - 20% on the 3TB drive. My daughter uses the Premiere now, and we added a Mini for our bedroom. I think what I like best about the Roamio is having 6 tuners so that we don't miss any shows that we care about. Sending back all the Comcast equipment is a close second.

Skipmode will become my favorite Roamio feature, if/when it is released everywhere.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

snerd said:


> I only had a 320GB Premiere until I got a Roamio Plus from the summer sale, immediately dropped in a 3TB drive, and moved the 1TB drive to the Premiere. We rarely recorded anything in HD, despite having a new 70" TV, so we lived within the 320GB budget. Now we record mostly in HD, and we're using 15% - 20% on the 3TB drive. My daughter uses the Premiere now, and we added a Mini for our bedroom. I think what I like best about the Roamio is having 6 tuners so that we don't miss any shows that we care about. Sending back all the Comcast equipment is a close second.
> 
> Skipmode will become my favorite Roamio feature, if/when it is released everywhere.


Excellent point, snerd. The 6 tuners and the Whole-Home solution boosts the storage needs for the DVR -- at least for our use-case.

That said, your post reminded me that we're already 200+GB over 3TB of used storage... since we've moved our CW and PBS recordings to an OTA-connected basic Roamio (upgraded to 3TB). And we're only over by that much because I culled several HBO/Showtime series on the CableCARD DVR knowing that they'd soon be getting snuffed by the 6TB upgrade.


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## andyw715 (Jul 31, 2007)

59er said:


> The information that if the external drive fails you'll still have your original shows is NOT true.


Similar to the FUD about external drives. 
For every one failure there are 100+ that have been humming along for 6,7,8 years.

True if it or the internal dies you lose recordings. But that is the same truth with a single drive.


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

andyw715 said:


> Similar to the FUD about external drives.
> For every one failure there are 100+ that have been humming along for 6,7,8 years.
> 
> True if it or the internal dies you lose recordings. But that is the same truth with a single drive.


Prior to the Roamio, if you lost the internal drive, you were buying a copy of InstantCake. With the Roamio, that is no longer necessary. Drive dies, smack a new one in and boot up. Yes, you lose all your recordings, but at least you can get a functioning TiVo without the need to buy specialized software.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

plazman30 said:


> Prior to the Roamio, if you lost the internal drive, you were buying a copy of InstantCake. With the Roamio, that is no longer necessary. Drive dies, smack a new one in and boot up. Yes, you lose all your recordings, but at least you can get a functioning TiVo without the need to buy specialized software.


This is no less true for the 2-drive situation, is it? No special add-ons required, aside from the external drive?



andyw715 said:


> True if it or the internal dies you lose recordings. But that is the same truth with a single drive.


True, but it's the doubling of the failure probability, based only on the probability of physical drive failures, compounded with the possibility of some accidental disconnect of the external that could cause corruption/failure that makes the external drive solution a higher level of risk than many want to assume.


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> This is no less true for the 2-drive situation, is it? No special add-ons required, aside from the external drive?
> 
> True, but it's the doubling of the failure probability, based only on the probability of physical drive failures, compounded with the possibility of some accidental disconnect of the external that could cause corruption/failure that makes the external drive solution a higher level of risk than many want to assume.


Whether you have one drive or two, it doesn't matter. Bit what happens when the external drive fails? Do you get to keep your internal recordings, or do you start over?

The biggest problem, for me, with the external drive is that it's another thing I have to plug in, something else the cats might be able to disconnect or knock over. The DVR extender looks like a MyBook. It's easy to knock over, and you don't want to lay it on its side. It can't vent properly that way.

I understand the convenience and simplicity of using an external drive. But for those of us not afraid to crack a TiVo open, I think a large internal drive is a better option.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## gespears (Aug 10, 2007)

plazman30 said:


> I think a large internal drive is a better option.


I love, love my 6TB red. No issues, Lots and Lots of storage. Won't have to worry about it for years.


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

Roamio came in the mail today. Just plugged it in and it won't turn on. Hard drive doesn't spin up, no lights come on. TiVo phone support has a 20 minute wait time. Chat support refuses to connect.

Sigh....


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

plazman30 said:


> Roamio came in the mail today. Just plugged it in and it won't turn on. Hard drive doesn't spin up, no lights come on. TiVo phone support has a 20 minute wait time. Chat support refuses to connect.


Is it maybe a switched wall socket? Try another outlet?


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Is it maybe a switched wall socket? Try another outlet?


Tried two different outlets. Also plugged it into a UPS. No go.


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## delgadobb (Mar 6, 2004)

In what part of the country do you live? 

This time of year things tend to get cold on a delivery truck or on the doorstep if you're in most parts of the country. Did you try to start it up as soon as you brought it inside & unboxed it? I hope not. Thought I'd mention it in case that's a possibility. 

No matter what happened in this situation, suggestion for anyone reading this thread: Always give electronics a few hours to acclimate to room temperature & local conditions to optimize performance & minimize problems. I've seen too many family members brick electronics this way. It's always exciting when something new arrives & we want to use it; it's even more frustrating when we rush to do so & it doesn't work.


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## danorum (Nov 25, 2015)

aaronwt said:


> Using Mfsr on a 3TB drive still has advantages. I just used MFSR on a 3TB green drive in a Roamio Basic.


What are the advantages of using MSFR on a 3TB on a roamio basic vs. dropping in the 3TB drive?

Dan


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## boyet_m (May 26, 2014)

Saturn_V said:


> WD 3TB AV-GP is what I have on my two Roamios. 3TB = 475 HD hours. I've been running with 3TB for two years, seldom delete, and still only at 65% capacity. If you buy the HDD from Amazon, 30 days to return. If the re-certified Roamio goes belly up in that time, you can send the HDD back.
> 
> Concur with other posters- don't go external HDD.


Very good info. Thanks


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

delgadobb said:


> In what part of the country do you live?
> 
> This time of year things tend to get cold on a delivery truck or on the doorstep if you're in most parts of the country. Did you try to start it up as soon as you brought it inside & unboxed it? I hope not. Thought I'd mention it in case that's a possibility.
> 
> No matter what happened in this situation, suggestion for anyone reading this thread: Always give electronics a few hours to acclimate to room temperature & local conditions to optimize performance & minimize problems. I've seen too many family members brick electronics this way. It's always exciting when something new arrives & we want to use it; it's even more frustrating when we rush to do so & it doesn't work.


It sat in my house for about 8 hours before I turned it on.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

TiVo support is exchanging it for another refurbished TiVo. They're assuming it was damaged in transit. I have 90 days to return the old unit to them.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

danorum said:


> What are the advantages of using MSFR on a 3TB on a roamio basic vs. dropping in the 3TB drive?
> 
> Dan


From the MFS Reformatter thread in the Upgrade Center forum.

"It aligns the MFS file (application) and inode "zones" correctly for Advanced Format (4K) drives. That should improve performance and reduce wear & tear on the drive. This is something that I don't think has ever been addressed before."

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=528428

Scott


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

Second Roamio came in. Plain box, only the Roamio. No power brick or remote.

And....

It's dead Jim.

So I call TiVo back and the guy offers to send me a third Roamio. I stop him and say, "If the same power brick won't power two different Roamios, what do you think the current problem is?"

And the guys says "Right... We'll send you out a new power brick."

But they would not expedite it. It's not going to get here till Thursday.

Which is bad, because I only have today or tomorrow to set this thing up, and transfer the season passes and recordings. Which means I am not going to get to the thing till after the New Year. 3 weeks to get a working TiVo and these guys couldn't speed up the delivery process.

So, I'm trying to find some alternative power adapters.

Amazon has this one that looks like it's a 12V, 2 amp with the same adapter and I can get it by tomorrow:

http://www.amazon.com/RockBirds-12V-Switching-Supply-Adapter/dp/B00VM292AO

I'm debating giving it a try. This taking way too long.


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

New power adapter came in from Amazon and the Roamio fired right up! Now to put the 3 TB drive in it.

Wish me luck!


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

plazman30 said:


> New power adapter came in from Amazon and the Roamio fired right up! Now to put the 3 TB drive in it.
> 
> Wish me luck!


One day with Sunday delivery. Must be nice. 

Glad it fixed your issue and surprised they did not send a power adapter with the replacement given your reported issue!

Scott


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

HerronScott said:


> One day with Sunday delivery. Must be nice.
> 
> Glad it fixed your issue and surprised they did not send a power adapter with the replacement given your reported issue!
> 
> Scott


Amazon Prime. Gotta love it.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

plazman30 said:


> Amazon Prime. Gotta love it.


Well Amazon Prime in the large city that has that option. 

I'm pretty sure that our small town won't be getting that any time soon unfortunately!

Scott


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

HerronScott said:


> Well Amazon Prime in the large city that has that option.
> 
> I'm pretty sure that our small town won't be getting that any time soon unfortunately!
> 
> Scott


Well that's true. I live in a Philadelphia suburb. I'm so close I can walk into the city if I wanted to.

Now if only the damn TiVo would boot after I ran MFS reformatter on the 3 TB drive! It's just sitting at "Welcome! Starting Up..."


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## OrangeTurtle (Jul 17, 2015)

Out of curiosity, why would you not just plug in an external hard drive to add more storage space? I have a 500gb drive and could use extra space. My drive is pretty much full- so if I replaced the one inside it would require losing a lot of stuff (plus buying a new drive). I have a 320 gb external drive just laying around, would be easy to connect that.

By doing so would is affect the functionality of the player? Is there a good reason to avoid doing something like this?

Thanks!


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## OrangeTurtle (Jul 17, 2015)

Can anyone elaborate on the question posted above? What's the negative side of doing this? Will it cause harm or work at all if I just plug in an external HD into the back?

Thanks!


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

$6.95/month. with life time now at $599.99 it will take over 7 years to break even

$6.95 is a great deal.

WeaKnees has the correct drives for upgrades.



plazman30 said:


> TiVo offered me a recertified Roamio for $99 and let me transfer my existing $6.95/month service plan onto the new unit. It will be here on Thursday.
> 
> I'm debating sticking a larger hard drive into the unit before I even turn it on. Any recommended brands on internal drives to put in this thing?


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

OrangeTurtle said:


> Out of curiosity, why would you not just plug in an external hard drive to add more storage space? I have a 500gb drive and could use extra space. My drive is pretty much full- so if I replaced the one inside it would require losing a lot of stuff (plus buying a new drive). I have a 320 gb external drive just laying around, would be easy to connect that.
> 
> By doing so would is affect the functionality of the player? Is there a good reason to avoid doing something like this?
> 
> Thanks!





OrangeTurtle said:


> Can anyone elaborate on the question posted above? What's the negative side of doing this? Will it cause harm or work at all if I just plug in an external HD into the back?
> 
> Thanks!


One pretty severe downside is that it doesn't work. After the Series 3, only external drives on TiVo's "white list" can be used to extend the storage space without software shenanigans, and none of those drives are available any more.

A less severe issue is that an external drive is more prone to failure than an internal drive, and due to the way TiVos store recordings, anything recorded after an expansion was added is lost once the expansion drive is no longer available. Also, eSATA connectors are notorious for being unreliable. Personally I wouldn't touch an external expansion drive for a TiVo with a ten foot pole.


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