# External drive for Bolt



## cyclone23 (Jul 3, 2016)

I asked this question on another forum. I think it just got lost in the shuffle.

Has anybody tried disconnecting the internal drive and hooking up an external drive to the external port? 

Sometimes a procedure like that can fool the system into accepting the new drive and format it, since it's now the only drive in the system.


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## ggieseke (May 30, 2008)

Doesn't work.


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## cyclone23 (Jul 3, 2016)

Thanks.


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## drrich0216 (Aug 29, 2016)

If you are brave enough to open the TiVo, you can simply unplug the internal hard drive from the motherboard and plug the external hard drive in, and as long as its 3TB or smaller, the external hard drive will format itself and work.


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## cyclone23 (Jul 3, 2016)

Thanks DRRICH0216, but that wasn't the original question. I was talking about unplugging the internal drive and plugging the new drive into the external port to see if the Bolt firmware could be fooled into recognizing the external device with no other drive in the system.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

cyclone23 said:


> Thanks DRRICH0216, but that wasn't the original question. I was talking about unplugging the internal drive and plugging the new drive into the external port to see if the Bolt firmware could be fooled into recognizing the external device with no other drive in the system.


Correct anmd you were given the answer very clearly by ggieseke, drrich2015 simply wanted to give you an additional option since your approach doesn't work.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

drrich0216 said:


> If you are brave enough to open the TiVo, you can simply unplug the internal hard drive from the motherboard and plug the external hard drive in, and as long as its 3TB or smaller, the external hard drive will format itself and work.


Well that looks interesting. You came out of the top instead of the back. Was there any particular reason you went out of the top?

Although now that I think about it, if I were to ever modify any of my Bolts, I would probably need to do the same thing. Since I have two extra covers from these Ebay Scam Bolts I got last year. So the cover would be easy to replace, if I ever sold it in the future, and put an internal drive back in.


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## cyclone23 (Jul 3, 2016)

dianebrat said:


> Correct anmd you were given the answer very clearly by ggieseke, drrich2015 simply wanted to give you an additional option since your approach doesn't work.


Yes - i was aware of that and I thanked him for responding. Now I'm sure to remember it since I've been advised twice.


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## UncleJeff (Dec 4, 2016)

Hi, just got a Bolt, and this is the most-recent thread about ext storage solutions...

If the Bolt will format a drive that is plugged into its internal SATA port, then what would happen if you put the original internal drive back in and attached a now-formatted drive externally? Might the bolt then be coaxed into seeing it and using it as extra storage space?

If that doesn't work, then my stop-gap workaround will be to use TiVo desktop app to pull some programs across my LAN to my PC for long-term storage.

My PC does not have TiVo's limitations on HD model or size. That'll be helpful if I can store movies there and later view them from (or return them to) the Bolt when needed.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

UncleJeff said:


> Hi, just got a Bolt, and this is the most-recent thread about ext storage solutions...
> 
> If the Bolt will format a drive that is plugged into its internal SATA port, then what would happen if you put the original internal drive back in and attached a now-formatted drive externally? Might the bolt then be coaxed into seeing it and using it as extra storage space?
> 
> ...


No, what you're suggesting will not work, there's only 1 current model 1TB WD drive that will work as an external, if you reread this thread from the beginning and the many other drive expansion threads that should help you understand a bit better what is and isn't possible, the Roamio and Bolt line all handle the drives with the same logic.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

UncleJeff said:


> If that doesn't work, then my stop-gap workaround will be to use TiVo desktop app to pull some programs across my LAN to my PC for long-term storage.


That's the best plan. If. If you can allocate 8GB per hour of HD MPEG-2. And if you can be sure that your TiVo will return the program when you need it. Test it. And, BTW, check Skipmode too. On the brighter side, a PC with the right CODEC, you can watch the .TiVo file. I have a problem with my computer and TiVo: only programs under 2GB can be brought back reliably.


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