# Tivo Bolt hard drive replacement video



## najenagold

Uploaded a how-to video on the hard drive replacement process for the Tivo Bolt to our YouTube channel.

I installed a Toshiba 3.0TB MQ03ABB300 Hard Disk Drive.

Here's the hard drive install video link: 



Here's the unboxing video:


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## aaronwt

Sweet!!! Thanks!!!:up::up:

EDIT: when you say to put the clips to the far right of the drive(with a 15mm high drive) is that the side toward the outside or inside?


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## jfh3

A lot more of a pain to get that case open ...


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## Jrr6415sun

where did you get that toshiba drive? i can't find it on amazon

that looks like a lot of work to take apart, was the roamio this many screws?


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## najenagold

aaronwt said:


> Sweet!!! Thanks!!!:up::up:
> 
> EDIT: when you say to put the clips to the far right of the drive(with a 15mm high drive) is that the side toward the outside or inside?


Towards the inside. They have to fit under the long white cover, they can't go under the smaller white cover that I take off.


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## najenagold

Jrr6415sun said:


> where did you get that toshiba drive? i can't find it on amazon
> 
> that looks like a lot of work to take apart, was the roamio this many screws?


http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Toshiba/MQ03ABB300

Paid with Paypal, had it the next day!



jfh3 said:


> A lot more of a pain to get that case open ...


If I didn't have to do it on camera and not try to look like an idiot, I'd have it done in 5 minutes.


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## georgeorwell86

Great video, very helpful...thanks!


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## najenagold

georgeorwell86 said:


> Great video, very helpful...thanks!


Glad I could help.


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## markjrenna

Excellent video! Thank you. 

I guess any 2 TB or 3 TB drive works. I'm not sure why TiVo uses an AV drive then. If there is no difference than why use it?


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## beezerSD

It seems like any 2.5 inch drive will work, but I think using an AV drive would be better. I don't know much about drive mechanics, but I do know that AV drives deal with read/write errors differently than other types of drives. There may be other differences as well. 

What was the make and model of the drive you took out of the Bolt?


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## aaronwt

The 500GB in my Bolt was a WD5000LUCT. Manufactured July 29, 2015.


Only time will tell how the 4TB drive holds up. But I had the Bolt recording four HD programs, watching a fifth HD program, transferring from a PC, streaming to another TiVo, and streaming to a tablet and it worked without any hiccups. I'll need to test it again but with more streams to other TiVos to see how it does. I think the Romaio Pro could handle 12 or so concurrent HD streams. And this was only 8 concurrent HD streams with the Bolt..


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## krkaufman

Jrr6415sun said:


> that looks like a lot of work to take apart, was the roamio this many screws?


Base Roamio and OTA model have only a single screw that needs to be removed, and then use of a spudger, credit card, guitar picks, etc around the top of the case to remove it from the base.


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## colo_artist

Thanks for the excellent info and video.

I was considering the Bolt, but I wanted to be able to keep the same capacity as my 3TB upgraded Roamio Basic. After seeing your video I ordered a 500GB Bolt and the same 3TB drive from OWC.

The drive swap was simple and the new Bolt booted right up. No pre-formatting needed.

Currently transferring recorded shows from the Roamio to the Bolt.


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## oldclyde

Is there no need for conditioning/formatting/whatever for a new larger drive in a Bolt. Just stick a larger drive in and the Bolt does the rest?


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## wscottcross

oldclyde said:


> Is there no need for conditioning/formatting/whatever for a new larger drive in a Bolt. Just stick a larger drive in and the Bolt does the rest?


That's correct for drives up to 3TB. Larger drives will end up being formatted at 2TB unless you prepare them first.


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## GoodSpike

oldclyde said:


> Is there no need for conditioning/formatting/whatever for a new larger drive in a Bolt. Just stick a larger drive in and the Bolt does the rest?





wscottcross said:


> That's correct for drives up to 3TB. Larger drives will end up being formatted at 2TB unless you prepare them first.


So there's no need to backup the drive? Great!


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## Robbo1

Followed the video and upgraded my hard drive to 2TB. Thanks!

Took about 30 minutes. Much of it on the last step of putting the case back on flush.

One thing of note-- the screw on the back of my Bolt (above the HDMI port) was actually a T8, all of the others were T10. Maybe that's new?

I ordered a set of spludgers from Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/Leegoal-Tools...1449720099&sr=8-1&keywords=Leegoal+10+Pcs+Pry ) which helped in popping the case off.


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## aaronwt

I just rip the case off. The first time i spent a lot time trying to gingerly take it off. But then i realized I could use much more force and it would still be fine.


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## iXod

GoodSpike said:


> So there's no need to backup the drive? Great!


If not I think you will lose your recordings from the old drive.

Q to all: how to save recordings before upgrading?


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## aaronwt

iXod said:


> If not I think you will lose your recordings from the old drive.
> 
> Q to all: how to save recordings before upgrading?


If the recordings are not restricted, then you can transfer them to another TiVo. Or you can transfer them to a PC using TiVo Desktop or KMTTG or Archivo. And transfer them back using TiVo Desktop or pyTiVo.


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## sangs

najenagold said:


> Uploaded a how-to video on the hard drive replacement process for the Tivo Bolt to our YouTube channel.
> 
> I installed a Toshiba 3.0TB MQ03ABB300 Hard Disk Drive.
> 
> Here's the hard drive install video link:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's the unboxing video:


Just wondering how that 3TB Toshiba drive is working after several months?


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## sm4194

Any updates from folks who upgraded using the 3TB Toshiba drive. It appears it is the only 3TB 2.5" drive on the market. I was also considering a 2TB 2.5" drive but was unsure if I needed any specific drive. Does greater cache (32MB vs 16MB) or faster read speed (7200rpm vs 5400rpm) make a difference in performance if I will be hooking up 5 minis.

Thanks.


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## aaronwt

sm4194 said:


> Any updates from folks who upgraded using the 3TB Toshiba drive. It appears it is the only 3TB 2.5" drive on the market. I was also considering a 2TB 2.5" drive but was unsure if I needed any specific drive. Does greater cache (32MB vs 16MB) or faster read speed (7200rpm vs 5400rpm) make a difference in performance if I will be hooking up 5 minis.
> 
> Thanks.


A 5400 rpm drive is more than capable of handling those streams. The WD drives are only 5400 rpm. I have the 4TB seagate in both of my Bolts. They have zero issues with at least a dozen concurrent read/write streams with the Bolt.


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## sm4194

Aside from the 3TB Toshiba drive I am also considering this 2TB Seagate drive.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MPWYLHO/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

The Toshiba is 15 mm tall and the Seagate is 9.5 mm tall. Should either drive fit easily into the Bolt? Is there any reason I should select a different drive than the Seagate if I am OK with 2TB? Thanks.


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## sangs

sm4194 said:


> Any updates from folks who upgraded using the 3TB Toshiba drive. It appears it is the only 3TB 2.5" drive on the market. I was also considering a 2TB 2.5" drive but was unsure if I needed any specific drive. Does greater cache (32MB vs 16MB) or faster read speed (7200rpm vs 5400rpm) make a difference in performance if I will be hooking up 5 minis.
> 
> Thanks.


Have been using a pair of the Toshiba drives for a couple weeks now with no issues (knock wood).


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## JTHOJNICKI

The 15mm Toshiba fits fine as long as you don't replace the little cable guides back on top of the drive. I didn't even use them - I just routed the cable away from the fan.


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## sm4194

If you initially set up a Bolt (download updates, go through setup process, get cable card activated, etc.) and later replace the hard drive, do you need to go through the whole setup process again or is that info stored separately from the hard drive. I know all recorded shows will be deleted but wasn't sure about rest of the setup info.


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## Robbo1

sm4194 said:


> If you initially set up a Bolt (download updates, go through setup process, get cable card activated, etc.) and later replace the hard drive, do you need to go through the whole setup process again or is that info stored separately from the hard drive. I know all recorded shows will be deleted but wasn't sure about rest of the setup info.


You will definitely need to re-pair the cable card. Not sure about teh erst of teh set-up process.


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## Melencio

Robbo1 said:


> You will definitely need to re-pair the cable card. Not sure about teh erst of teh set-up process.


Is this true? That I need to re-pair the cable card if I replace the HD? Can anyone please validate this?
Thank you!


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## aaronwt

Melencio said:


> Is this true? That I need to re-pair the cable card if I replace the HD? Can anyone please validate this?
> Thank you!


I have needed to re-pair for every time I've put a drive in a Bolt. Which I think has been six times now.


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## don911

wscottcross said:


> That's correct for drives up to 3TB. Larger drives will end up being formatted at 2TB unless you prepare them first.


If I put a 3TB drive in the Bolt, will it be able to use 3TB or is there a 2TB limit?


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## ggieseke

don911 said:


> If I put a 3TB drive in the Bolt, will it be able to use 3TB or is there a 2TB limit?


It will use all of a 3TB drive.


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## nyceis

Just to be clear; people have put in the 3TB without needing to do the MFSR process described in RossWalker's tutorial? He says anything over 2TB needs the extra process to use all the space....

Debating between the Toshiba 3TB and the Seagate 2TB for my new Bolt.


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## ggieseke

nyceis said:


> Just to be clear; people have put in the 3TB without needing to do the MFSR process described in RossWalker's tutorial? He says anything over 2TB needs the extra process to use all the space....
> 
> Debating between the Toshiba 3TB and the Seagate 2TB for my new Bolt.


Unless they have changed something very recently the built-in auto format on Roamios and Bolts works fine on 3TB drives. I can test it again for Roamios in about a week with 20.5.9 and post the results.


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## aaronwt

nyceis said:


> Just to be clear; people have put in the 3TB without needing to do the MFSR process described in RossWalker's tutorial? He says anything over 2TB needs the extra process to use all the space....
> 
> Debating between the Toshiba 3TB and the Seagate 2TB for my new Bolt.


Even if only using a 3TB drive(the smallest mfsr works with)

mfsr " 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."

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10501028#post10501028


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## grimacedface

Has anybody tried using an SSD drive?


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## JoeKustra

grimacedface said:


> Has anybody tried using an SSD drive?


http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=539933


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## grimacedface

JoeKustra said:


> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=539933


I actually just read that. Was hoping there'd be more people that have done it.


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## tommiet

Does not seem to be too many choices for large 2.5 hard drives. Can someone validate that a 15mm drive would fit in my BOLT.

If you have a link to a 3+GB drive for a decent price, could you please share?


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## aaronwt

tommiet said:


> Does not seem to be too many choices for large 2.5 hard drives. Can someone validate that a 15mm drive would fit in my BOLT.
> 
> If you have a link to a 3+GB drive for a decent price, could you please share?


diachun posted this link in another thread for the 3TB
Toshiba


diachun said:


> ......................
> For others in this situation, I looked long and hard for someplace to buy the elusive Toshiba 3TB Toshiba MQ03ABB300 2.5-inch disk. Nowhere to be found at Amazon or the usual places. I found the following link from another post, and made the purchase here:
> https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Toshiba/MQ03ABB300/
> 
> I placed the order on Saturday with FedEx Next Day shipping. Which actually was, "next business day". I got confirmation late Sunday night the order was processed, with a tracking number. It actually shipped out Monday and arrived Tuesday afternoon.
> 
> The 3TB Toshiba worked great first try. I had to do a full Tivo setup from scratch. Certainly hoping it is reliable and lasts forever.
> ...........................
> Hope this helps others...
> 
> --Justin


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## JCN

aaronwt said:


> diachun posted this link in another thread for the 3TB
> Toshiba


And I believe you are recommending running MFSR.


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## kd6icz

Does anyone know what drive Weaknees is using when he upgrades the Bolt to 2TB?

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk


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## poppagene

aaronwt said:


> I just rip the case off. The first time i spent a lot time trying to gingerly take it off. But then i realized I could use much more force and it would still be fine.


Broke 2 clips and one screw hole. Doesn't make any difference in usability or appearance.


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## aaronwt

I broke a clip trying to get the cover on once. But never when taking it off.


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## MikeC19808

najenagold said:


> Uploaded a how-to video on the hard drive replacement process for the Tivo Bolt to our YouTube channel.
> 
> I installed a Toshiba 3.0TB MQ03ABB300 Hard Disk Drive.
> 
> Here's the hard drive install video link: Tivo Bolt hard drive replacement & install by Intellibeam.com
> Here's the unboxing video: TiVo BOLT 4K DVR unboxing by Intellibeam.com


I'm sorry if this question has been answered already but I'm having trouble. I bought the seagate 3tb drive bc my TiVo kept rebooting and I couldn't do anything. Literally rapid fire. Once I physically install the new drive, is there any software loading or something I also have to do or so I just connect the wires and turn the power on?

Thanks, mike


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## atmuscarella

MikeC19808 said:


> I'm sorry if this question has been answered already but I'm having trouble. I bought the seagate 3tb drive bc my TiVo kept rebooting and I couldn't do anything. Literally rapid fire. Once I physically install the new drive, is there any software loading or something I also have to do or so I just connect the wires and turn the power on?
> 
> Thanks, mike


Assuming you have a Bolt, for hard drives 3TB and smaller there is nothing to do but plug the new drive in and boot up your Bolt. If your Bolt keeps rebooting likely there is something wrong with the drive, especially if your Bolt works correctly when you re-install the original drive.


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## MikeC19808

I replaced my hd because my TiVo kept rebooting itself. I mean non-stop back to back. I put in a new hard drive and I'm having a similar issue. The problem is TiVo won't replace it because I opened it now. Anyone else have similar issue who may have advice? Could the cable wire, Ethernet wire or hdmi cause an issue?


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## bootman_head_fi

MikeC19808 said:


> I replaced my hd because my TiVo kept rebooting itself. I mean non-stop back to back. I put in a new hard drive and I'm having a similar issue. The problem is TiVo won't replace it because I opened it now. Anyone else have similar issue who may have advice? Could the cable wire, Ethernet wire or hdmi cause an issue?


Unlikely but you can check this by just unpluging everything and firing the unit up.
Does it keep rebooting?
If so, its the unit.


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## tivoboy

aaronwt said:


> I broke a clip trying to get the cover on once. But never when taking it off.


I purposely broke one of the clips on the top small cover. Actually, I just clipped it down a bit when I put in the 3TB drive. that clip seemed to be right ontop of the SATA cable and put pressure on it - making it very hard to close the small top cover. I figured the constant pressure on the SATA cable probably wasn't in the best interest of the running of the drive.


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## MikeC19808

bootman_head_fi said:


> Unlikely but you can check this by just unpluging everything and firing the unit up.
> Does it keep rebooting?
> If so, its the unit.


So i took your advice and began unplugging everything one by one. I also remembered the cable card screen kept popping up so i took cable card out. Once i took card out, all was well. I could watch netflix and everything with no problem. I run to comcast and swap card and once it is paired, i mean literally a second after the cable signal came in, it kept resetting. once i take cable card out, it works fine but no tv. It is odd i had the card in and unpaired with no problem. once it is paired is when the problem begins. any thoughts? I am getting desperate at this point...


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## MikeC19808

Saw an old thread about th power supply causing a reboot cycle with exact same issues i ws having on tivo 3's. Swapped power chord and I am having no problems!


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## cpm0813

So what is the current 2TB recommended drive for a Bolt? Thanks.


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## compnurd

I just installed a ST2000LM007. No issues so far


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## cpm0813

compnurd said:


> I just installed a ST2000LM007. No issues so far


Amazon says the ST2000LM015 is the replacement for that drive. Anyone know the difference(s) between the drives?


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## compnurd

From what I understand that drives uses a newer technology that has not been tested yet for DVR usage. Someone was going to test one but never heard back


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## compnurd

What would be some symptoms of the Tivo not liking the drive i put in? I am not sure if it was because of remote issues.. But I am getting random blue spinning circles and a lag on button presses


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## compnurd

Well the circle hasn't returned Recording good so far


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## compnurd

So I am not sure if this drive is an issue still.... It records fine.. no issues there fast forwards fine.. I did some transfers between the Bolts last night and they topped out at 160mbps.. Which seemed low.. I just tried to do some transfers between each bolt and my desktop and the stock bolt was running around 250mbps and this bolt around 160... so i am not sure if it is the drive or what Nothing was recording on either drive at the moment


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## aaronwt

That is slow. Transferring between two BOlts, with no tuners buffering and no recordings taking place, will reach 500Mb/s average transfer rates. Even with four recordings taking place it should easily be over half that speed. If not around 350Mb/s.


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## compnurd

would probably help if i wasn't a moron.. So the Moca transfer speed was 170 with both boxes buffering tuners.. switched the other to ethernet and it jumped to 375 buffering as well


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## imrf

compnurd said:


> I just installed a ST2000LM007. No issues so far


According to this review, Seagate Begins to Ship 2.5-Inch, 7mm Thick 2 TB Mobile Hard Drives with SMR , that's an SMR drive and most here don't recommend using them in Bolts. Seems our options are really limited to that Toshiba, kinda sucks as I was wanting to snag a drive under $100 preferable 2TB.


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## GMonitor

Thanks for the great video. I watched it and was able to replace my TiVo's Bolt's 500 GB with a 2 TB Seagate (STBD2000102) last night. It's supposed to be a PMR drive so I hope I won't have any trouble with it. I haven't tested it because it was late when I finally installed the hard drive and will test it out when I get home from work tonight. The video was really helpful and it wasn't that hard to install but I still am annoyed at TiVo for creating such a weird case and making it harder to upgrade than it should be.

Oh, before I forget, my plan for tonight is to take out my cable card (from Comcast) from my TiVo HD and put it into my new TiVo Bolt. So, I'm hoping for the following:

1) It will be easy to repair the old cable card with my new Bolt. I remember reading that Comcast now allows you to do this online.

2) I will be able to watch the old recorded videos from my TiVo HD without the cable card before it will be retired into storage.


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## GMonitor

Well, it seems like the upgrade of my TiVo 500 GB Bolt with a 2 TB Seagate (STBD2000102) went well. It's reporting back about 317 HD hours and it seems to be functioning well. Time will only tell if this is a good hard drive to use. Swapping out my cable card from my TiVo HD and repairing it with my new Bolt also went smoothly. I really like the small size and light weight of the Bolt compared to my old TiVo HD. And I love the new remote's use of Bluetooth instead of IR so I don't have to have line of sight for the remote to work anymore. And the Bolt feels really zippy compare to my old TiVo HD and Premiere.


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## tivoboy

aaronwt said:


> That is slow. Transferring between two BOlts, with no tuners buffering and no recordings taking place, will reach 500Mb/s average transfer rates. Even with four recordings taking place it should easily be over half that speed. If not around 350Mb/s.


Using what connection would give this type of speed? Seems the moca really only gives a 225mb connection?


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## aaronwt

tivoboy said:


> Using what connection would give this type of speed? Seems the moca really only gives a 225mb connection?


Using MoCA results in about a 20% reduction in speed. At least in the tests i did with my setup.
So instead of the 500Mb/s max transfer rates I got over GigE, I got around 400Mb/s max transfer rates over MoCA.

I used a very large HD recording that took around 10 minutes to transfer and got the speed results from what was reported in the TiVo Transfer History screen. To get the max transfer speeds though it needed to be in standby with power saving mode on so no tuners were buffering. And nothing was being recorded.


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## global_dev

GMonitor said:


> Well, it seems like the upgrade of my TiVo 500 GB Bolt with a 2 TB Seagate (STBD2000102) went well. It's reporting back about 317 HD hours and it seems to be functioning well. Time will only tell if this is a good hard drive to use. Swapping out my cable card from my TiVo HD and repairing it with my new Bolt also went smoothly. I really like the small size and light weight of the Bolt compared to my old TiVo HD. And I love the new remote's use of Bluetooth instead of IR so I don't have to have line of sight for the remote to work anymore. And the Bolt feels really zippy compare to my old TiVo HD and Premiere.


i need to upgrade my 1TB bolt, thanks for the link
as an aside, the remotes aren't BT (not sure BT is even turned on), i think it's RF/IR

https://support.tivo.com/articles/Features_Use/TiVo-Remotes-RF-Pairing-Instructions


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## compnurd

imrf said:


> According to this review, Seagate Begins to Ship 2.5-Inch, 7mm Thick 2 TB Mobile Hard Drives with SMR , that's an SMR drive and most here don't recommend using them in Bolts. Seems our options are really limited to that Toshiba, kinda sucks as I was wanting to snag a drive under $100 preferable 2TB.


The model I had was PMR. It was two generations old


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## HerronScott

GMonitor said:


> Oh, before I forget, my plan for tonight is to take out my cable card (from Comcast) from my TiVo HD and put it into my new TiVo Bolt. So, I'm hoping for the following:
> 
> 1) It will be easy to repair the old cable card with my new Bolt. I remember reading that Comcast now allows you to do this online.
> 
> 2) I will be able to watch the old recorded videos from my TiVo HD without the cable card before it will be retired into storage.


The online tool apparently only works for new issued CableCARDS and not in the case of repairing it with a different device from what users have posted here. I had no problems getting a CableCARD repaired when I moved it from our S3 OLED to our Roamio Pro last October calling the Comcast CableCARD activation number.

And yes you will be able to either watch shows on your HD without the CableCARD or transfer them to the Bolt to watch them. I've got the same scenario here.

Scott


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## fis

New Tivo user here. This community is a godsend!

I am a longtime FiOS customer and was convinced by my trusted IT guy to ditch the cable boxes and move to a Tivo Bolt and a Mini. I think I'll learn to love it but he definitely misrepresented things. For example, he told me that the Bolt had ESATA and USB connections for adding your own expanded storage, which was key to the decision because I had been using that function on my FiOS DVR.

You know the rest. I bought the 500GB Bolt expecting to be able to expand the storage, only to find out that Tivo doesn't support my big ESATA drive. I need more space, and I'm not keen on invalidating my warranty, but the math is hard to ignore. I paid $155 for my Tivo Bolt. I could replace it two times over for the cost of one 3TB Bolt Plus and have cash to spare. Besides, you folks make upgrading the storage look pretty plug & play.

MY QUESTIONS:
Theoretically, since my Bolt is inside a cabinet, I don't actually have to replace the cover, right? Could I just leave the cover off and run the SATA cable to a 3.5" A/V-rated hard drive? Seems it would help with ventilation, too.


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## c293716

compnurd said:


> The model I had was PMR. It was two generations old


Anybody have any idea how to know if a drive is PMR or SMR? I just bought a bolt with the lifetime transfer discount and was looking to upgrade. I was intrigued by the STBD2000102, but it sounds like you don't have any way to know which version of the drive you will get.


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## sodakar

c293716 said:


> Anybody have any idea how to know if a drive is PMR or SMR? I just bought a bolt with the lifetime transfer discount and was looking to upgrade. I was intrigued by the STBD2000102, but it sounds like you don't have any way to know which version of the drive you will get.


I'm in the same boat, fellow series 2/3/XL/HD XL person... 

So far, I am just finding a 3TB or higher drive, googling spec and market pdf's, finding it uses SMR, sighing, and repeating...

It seems like the Toshiba mentioned at the top of the thread is non-SMR, so I'm going with that for now.


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## c293716

sodakar said:


> I'm in the same boat, fellow series 2/3/XL/HD XL person...
> 
> So far, I am just finding a 3TB or higher drive, googling spec and market pdf's, finding it uses SMR, sighing, and repeating...
> 
> It seems like the Toshiba mentioned at the top of the thread is non-SMR, so I'm going with that for now.


Thanks...I really don't need 3 TB and I'm also not thrilled about the 15mm height, but I guess I have no choice since it appears there is no way to get the STBD2000102 in PMR anymore.


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## tivoboy

c293716 said:


> Thanks...I really don't need 3 TB and I'm also not thrilled about the 15mm height, but I guess I have no choice since it appears there is no way to get the STBD2000102 in PMR anymore.


what is wrong with the height, makes no difference in the bolt?


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## c293716

tivoboy said:


> what is wrong with the height, makes no difference in the bolt?


I've read in a few places (including on this forum) that the 15mm height causes issues closing the case and potential overheating.


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## tivoboy

c293716 said:


> I've read in a few places (including on this forum) that the 15mm height causes issues closing the case and potential overheating.


hmm, overheating I've not heard nor seen in a couple bolts, as for size it fits fine one DOES have to over the wifi wires about half a cm towards the center of the unit and depending on your layout the center snap (there are three on the top) can make it sit up about 1-2MM, a quick trim of same of the snap corrects it though and makes it sit flush. But, I wouldn't really consider either of these fit problems brought about by the 15mm size of the drive.


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## Mikeguy

What I had seen recommended is simply placing the wire holders over a bit when installing the new drive, to prevent any closure issue. Easy-peasy.


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## aaronwt

c293716 said:


> I've read in a few places (including on this forum) that the 15mm height causes issues closing the case and potential overheating.


I've had zero issues with the 15mm height drives. I've had two, 4TB, 15mm height drives in a total of five Bolts and they all had no problem closing the cover and no heat issues.


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## fusiondynamics

What drive options do we have so far?


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## kkoh

3TB Toshiba drive referenced many times in this thread on Amazon:
*TOSHIBA MQ03ABB300 2.5 3TB*


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## skaggs

Just replaced to 500GB drive in my Bolt with the recommended Toshiba 3TB drive.

The build date on my Bolt is 01-APR-17 and the T10 Torx bit would not fit any of the screws.

I used a T9 Torx bit.

While watching the video, it took me 12 minutes from start to end.


----------



## Quaro

Are the little white cable guides on the harddrive for the wireless cable really necessary? Why are they there? Is it to keep the wire away from heat?

I just put in the Toshiba and it's a pain to get them to fit -- can I just skip those cable guides?


----------



## idksmy

My guess is they are there to keep the fine wire from moving and getting caught on something, getting close to something hot, etc.when the Tivo is moved. I was under the impression that if they were placed close to the edge of the drive (towards the interior of the Tivo) they did not interfere.


----------



## c293716

idksmy said:


> My guess is they are there to keep the fine wire from moving and getting caught on something, getting close to something hot, etc.when the Tivo is moved. I was under the impression that if they were placed close to the edge of the drive (towards the interior of the Tivo) they did not interfere.


Yeah, I actually could not remove the clips without the adhesive sticking to the original drive, so I couldn't reuse the wire clips anyway. I just made sure the wire wasn't interfering with anything when I closed the case and it seems to be working fine. I broke a couple of the case clips though as part of the disassembly process, but it still works, so that's that.


----------



## aaronwt

c293716 said:


> Yeah, I actually could not remove the clips without the adhesive sticking to the original drive, so I couldn't reuse the wire clips anyway. I just made sure the wire wasn't interfering with anything when I closed the case and it seems to be working fine. I broke a couple of the case clips though as part of the disassembly process, but it still works, so that's that.


I used Command Strips(well a piece of them) to reattach the clips. And once the Command Strip is on them, I can easily remove the clips and reattach them. Since the Command strip will stay attached to clip.


----------



## c293716

aaronwt said:


> I used Command Strips(well a piece of them) to reattach the clips. And once the Command Strip is on them, I can easily remove the clips and reattach them. Since the Command strip will stay attached to clip.


Good idea. I'm sure not planning on ever opening that thing again though, especially not for this.


----------



## aaronwt

c293716 said:


> Good idea. I'm sure not planning on ever opening that thing again though, especially not for this.


I didn't plan on opening them again either. Back when I first installed them in OCtober 2015. But now my two 4TB drives have been in seven Bolts. Plus I added the quieter fan to the two Bolts I got from the $99 transfer deal.


----------



## c293716

aaronwt said:


> I didn't plan on opening them again either. Back when I first installed them in OCtober 2015. But now my two 4TB drives have been in seven Bolts. Plus I added the quieter fan to the two Bolts I got from the $99 transfer deal.


Which fan? I have noticed it is much louder than my old HD, which surprised me.


----------



## aaronwt

c293716 said:


> Which fan? I have noticed it is much louder than my old HD, which surprised me.


Check out this thread
sounds like a JET engine taking off!!!

I used the Noiseblocker BlackSilentFan XS-2

Amazon.com: Noiseblocker BlackSilentFan XS-2: Computers & Accessories


----------



## tluxon

c293716 said:


> I broke a couple of the case clips though as part of the disassembly process, but it still works, so that's that.


I've done two Bolts so far and broke one of those vertical clips each time. It's really tough to lift both corners evenly on that partial cover.


----------



## aaronwt

tluxon said:


> I've done two Bolts so far and broke one of those vertical clips each time. It's really tough to lift both corners evenly on that partial cover.


You don't need to lift them evenly. You just have to make sure you lift straight up. The only time I've broken them is when I didn't lift straight up and pulled an angle. I've never lifted each side up evenly though.


----------



## V7Goose

My new Bolt received last week needed a T9 bit for the outside case screws, but I still had to have the T10 for the screws holding down the drive. I chose not to move the clips to the new drive, as that wire is very stiff and does not move around. I do suspect that the real purpose of the clips is to hold that antenna wire up off the metal drive for better wireless network performance, but I do not use the wireless function, so I do not care. Another benefit of not moving the clips is on the slight chance I ever have to send that box back to TiVo - when I put the original drive back in, the clips will still be just where they originally were installed.


----------



## Redlog

najenagold said:


> Uploaded a how-to video on the hard drive replacement process for the Tivo Bolt to our YouTube channel.
> 
> I installed a Toshiba 3.0TB MQ03ABB300 Hard Disk Drive.
> 
> Here's the hard drive install video link:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's the unboxing video:


I recently received my new Bolt and installed the Toshiba 3tb drive. The install was easy, had no issues with screws, clips, etc. l'm getting a perfect picture when watching live tv and the signal tests above 90 for all channels. However, when watching paused or recorded tv there are frequent pauses and breakup of the picture, with concurrent loss of sound. Since this felt like a hard drive issue to me, I called tech support at Other World Computing, the on line vendor. There opinion is that there is nothing wrong with the drive, but that a 5400 rpm drive is never fast enough for video. They are happy to take a return, so they aren't blowing me off. If this is the case, it seems strange that no once else has raised this issue. Any other similar experiences?


----------



## Mikeguy

Redlog said:


> There opinion is that there is nothing wrong with the drive, but that a 5400 rpm drive is never fast enough for video.


Simply put and based on years of posts here, no way. 5400 rpm drives (first, Western Digital green drives, now Western Digital reds) have been the drives of choice for Roamio boxes. And, if I recall correctly, isn't that what TiVo itself originally installs?


----------



## Steve-O

Redlog said:


> I recently received my new Bolt and installed the Toshiba 3tb drive. The install was easy, had no issues with screws, clips, etc. l'm getting a perfect picture when watching live tv and the signal tests above 90 for all channels. However, when watching paused or recorded tv there are frequent pauses and breakup of the picture, with concurrent loss of sound. Since this felt like a hard drive issue to me, I called tech support at Other World Computing, the on line vendor. There opinion is that there is nothing wrong with the drive, but that a 5400 rpm drive is never fast enough for video.


The stock drive in the Bolt is a WD5000LUCT (a/k/a WD AV-25) which runs at 5,400 rpm.

I am about to crack mine open... 

Edit - Done within 1/2 an hour, with plenty of distractions. The video was handy!

The white wire clips glued to the hard drive had no adhesive left on them when I took them off the drive.


----------



## Redoctobyr

I haven't installed my 3TB Toshiba yet, or even opened its package. But many people report using it with success. I'd be more inclined to suspect something being wrong with your individual drive, vs all of them being too slow.

Could you pull it out and connect it to a PC, to maybe check the SMART data? Or depending on if you were willing to lose your settings and recordings, you could format it with a PC, and run something to check if the drive is working properly.

Given that the 3TB Toshiba seems to work well for many people, my inclination would be to ask them about an exchange for a replacement, vs a return.

Edit- I just hooked mine up to a PC to start formatting it. I'm planning to do a full-format, then hopefully be able to run something that will test it by reading & writing the entire disk. Just as a way to do at least basic testing for problems.

It sounds like I'll lose everything when I replace the stock drive. I assumed I'd be able to copy the recordings off first. But I set up my Bolt last night, and even recordings of SD, broadcast-network channels are reported as copy-protected, and kmttg won't transfer them. That seems a bit heavy-handed to me for Comcast, but I guess it means I won't be able to preserve any recordings that I make before installing the new drive.


----------



## daveyo

aaronwt said:


> I used Command Strips(well a piece of them) to reattach the clips. And once the Command Strip is on them, I can easily remove the clips and reattach them. Since the Command strip will stay attached to clip.


I just ran the wire under the drive. There is a channel already there.


----------



## Redlog

Mikeguy said:


> Simply put and based on years of posts here, no way. 5400 rpm drives (first, Western Digital green drives, now Western Digital reds) have been the drives of choice for Roamio boxes. And, if I recall correctly, isn't that what TiVo itself originally installs?


Had I checked out the WD standard drive in the Bolt I would have realized that the folks at Other World are apparently in another world. I will assume that the drive is faulty and order a replacement, unless anyone has another possible explanation for the behavior that I describe. Thanks for the quick responses, this group has been a great resource!


----------



## idksmy

I installed the Toshiba 3TB drive that I bought from OWC, since Amazon was out of stock at the time. So far, no problems. As a Mac owner, I've bought many other hardware items from OWC, also without problems.


----------



## aaronwt

daveyo said:


> View attachment 28974
> 
> 
> I just ran the wire under the drive. There is a channel already there.


I wonder why TiVo never used that to route the wire?

EDIT: I just looked at the two Ebay Scam Bolts I have from 2015. That channel for the wire is not there.
No idea if the two Bolts I got last month from the transfer deal have it. I never noticed it but I also wasn't looking for it.


----------



## daveyo

aaronwt said:


> I wonder why TiVo never used that to route the wire?
> 
> EDIT: I just looked at the two Ebay Scam Bolts I have from 2015. That channel for the wire is not there.
> No idea if the two Bolts I got last month from the transfer deal have it. I never noticed it but I also wasn't looking for it.


I wonder if the 3tb Bolt uses it?


----------



## edwinyuen

I will chime in here a little. I didn't get one from OWC, I got mine from Global Silicon Electronics, but my drive Toshiba 3TB died 6 days in my Bolt. I removed the 500GB the moment I got the Tivo, replaced the drive, and did initial set up with the 3TB. On the 6th day, I had the flashing flights/no boot issue talked about in the other drive thread. I couldn't get the Toshiba back alive, even with an external enclosure. I ended up putting the 500GB drive back into my Bolt. Now, I don't know if it's because the 500GB was never "used" during initial set up but once I put the 500GB back in, I had to redo initial set up, had to re-pair the cable card, and I lost all my onepass subscriptions.


----------



## V7Goose

aaronwt said:


> I wonder why TiVo never used that to route the wire?
> 
> EDIT: I just looked at the two Ebay Scam Bolts I have from 2015. That channel for the wire is not there.
> No idea if the two Bolts I got last month from the transfer deal have it. I never noticed it but I also wasn't looking for it.


I have seen one other post somewhere in these forums (maybe in the Upgrade threads?) that stated the Bolt+ does route the wire under the drive through those fins. I'm kinda guessing that it was a new invention when the boxes with the bigger drives started production - one case to fit them all, but for some reason they didn't decide to change the build process for the ones with the thinner drives.

There have clearly been other minor changes slip-streamed into the builds on these boxes - my new 500 GB boxes clearly have dimmer and less distinct front LED lights than my August 2016 1TB Bolt does.


----------



## Redoctobyr

I just replaced my 500GB with the 3TB Toshiba. I used the stock drive for 2 days. I had to redo Guided Setup, which was expected, and did have to call to re-pair the CableCARD. Recordings, etc, were also gone. 

I formatted the 3TB in a PC first, doing a full format (~8 hours). Ran it overnight, then did a full read test on it with WD Data Lifeguard (another 8 hours). Formatted it in the Bolt, then pulled it again and ran MFSReformatter on it, to finish the process, and align the disk (I don't understand the details of this). 

Installed the Noiseblocker XS-2 fan as well. I hope my Toshiba works reliably. So far, with the fan swap, my temps are cooler than stock. I was getting 68-71C stock, and 58-62C after swapping the drive and fan. Albeit, not a lot of data to compare, so far. 

I wish I'd run the 3TB on a PC for a week or so while waiting for my Bolt to arrive, to better screen for infant mortality.


----------



## Steve-O

Gee, I just threw mine in and crossed my fingers! :grimacing:


----------



## Redoctobyr

And that's probably totally fine. I just wanted to feel a little better about the integrity of my drive before "investing" in it, with recordings, transferred shows from my old TiVos, etc. It mainly provided peace of mind.


----------



## fyodor

I've had this same issue, but it seems limited to (A) just the CW and (B) certain shows on the CW. I had to reset my cablecard when I rebooted so I'm hoping that its a signal issue rather than the hard drive, which I really really do not want to re-replace. Has anyone else had this issue?



Redlog said:


> I recently received my new Bolt and installed the Toshiba 3tb drive. The install was easy, had no issues with screws, clips, etc. l'm getting a perfect picture when watching live tv and the signal tests above 90 for all channels. However, when watching paused or recorded tv there are frequent pauses and breakup of the picture, with concurrent loss of sound. Since this felt like a hard drive issue to me, I called tech support at Other World Computing, the on line vendor. There opinion is that there is nothing wrong with the drive, but that a 5400 rpm drive is never fast enough for video. They are happy to take a return, so they aren't blowing me off. If this is the case, it seems strange that no once else has raised this issue. Any other similar experiences?


----------



## aaronwt

Redlog said:


> I recently received my new Bolt and installed the Toshiba 3tb drive. The install was easy, had no issues with screws, clips, etc. l'm getting a perfect picture when watching live tv and the signal tests above 90 for all channels. However, when watching paused or recorded tv there are frequent pauses and breakup of the picture, with concurrent loss of sound. Since this felt like a hard drive issue to me, I called tech support at Other World Computing, the on line vendor. There opinion is that there is nothing wrong with the drive, but that a 5400 rpm drive is never fast enough for video. They are happy to take a return, so they aren't blowing me off. If this is the case, it seems strange that no once else has raised this issue. Any other similar experiences?


A 5400 rpm drive is never fast enough for video??

What the heck are they smoking? Even my 5400 rpm drives back in 2001 had no problem feeding multiple HD streams. The 5400 rpm drive in my Bolt has zero problems handling at least twelve concurrent read/write HD streams. I've tested it several times with high numbers of concurrent read/write HD streams.


----------



## jespring

kkoh said:


> 3TB Toshiba drive referenced many times in this thread on Amazon:
> *TOSHIBA MQ03ABB300 2.5 3TB*


This drive is out of stock at Amazon and Newegg, seemingly indefinitely. They do sell the BB200 for $120. Does anyone know the difference? I saw that it still appears to be available at Macsales, so that's always an option...

What's the second choice for 3TB drives if the Toshiba is unavailable? I'm wary of the Seagate drives based on other posts in this thread, though this one is a good deal:

Amazon.com: Seagate 2TB BarraCuda SATA 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 2.5-Inch 7mm Internal Hard Drive (ST2000LM015): Computers & Accessories

I've used WD drives to upgrade my Tivos in the past; this one looks promising, if somewhat expensive relative to the Seagate and Toshiba drives. Has anyone tried it who can report back?

Amazon.com: WD New Blue 15mm Internal Hard Drive for TiVo Bolt/Server/mini-ITX/Desktop/Machine 2.5-inches Model WD20NPVZ: Computers & Accessories


----------



## Microman66

Toshiba MQ03ABB300 3.0TB 2.5-inch 15.0mm... in stock at MacSales.com

Just bought one Yesterday, will be here Monday.

This link seems to bring up a intermediary link, trying to get you somewhere else, but if you click on continue to macsales, you will see the drive.


----------



## JoeTaxpayer

skaggs said:


> Just replaced to 500GB drive in my Bolt with the recommended Toshiba 3TB drive.
> 
> The build date on my Bolt is 01-APR-17 and the T10 Torx bit would not fit any of the screws.
> 
> I used a T9 Torx bit.
> 
> While watching the video, it took me 12 minutes from start to end.


Great. Sorry I didn't read this before ordering a T10 on line. Ordering the 9 now...


----------



## aaronwt

Yes. When I got mine back then I noticed the screw heads had changed.

So I swapped out those screws with the ones from my two Ebay Scam Bolts, from 2015, that are worthless.


----------



## V7Goose

JoeTaxpayer said:


> Great. Sorry I didn't read this before ordering a T10 on line. Ordering the 9 now...


As I noted in post #91 of this thread, you will need both a T9 and a T10 for this job.


----------



## Microman66

Help, I replaced the 500 Gig with a 3 TB, but in plugging in the SATA cable the Wireless cable (White Wire) that goes across the HD, came loose at the mother board. Thought it would be an easy plug back in, but can't seem to figure out why when I gently push, it doesn't seem to go on. Is there a trick?


----------



## A J Ricaud

It takes more than a gentle push. Make sure it's lined up right and push down until you hear a click.


----------



## HerronScott

JoeTaxpayer said:


> Great. Sorry I didn't read this before ordering a T10 on line. Ordering the 9 now...


You could buy one of these screwdriver sets at Walmart for $7 instead. 










Scott


----------



## Lou_d

fyodor said:


> I've had this same issue, but it seems limited to (A) just the CW and (B) certain shows on the CW. I had to reset my cablecard when I rebooted so I'm hoping that its a signal issue rather than the hard drive, which I really really do not want to re-replace. Has anyone else had this issue?


I'm having a like issue. Just got my OTA TiVo Bolt. Order the 3tb drive from the mac store. Formatted it in the pc, clean the drive. put it in the Tivo. But live playbalk is fine. but if I record shows or rewind and play. about 80% of the time it pauses, and skips.

I low level formatted it again, checked it with a couple diag programs I could find on the pc. no issues reports, diskparted and cleaned everything. let the TiVo software load but same issue.

I tried to load up the MFS program, but get invalid apple partition and exits.. Could my drive layout still be configured wrong from the apple formatted drive? I loaded up diskpart and some other utilities but cant find any apple partition.

thank you for any advice.


----------



## ggieseke

Lou_d said:


> I'm having a like issue. Just got my OTA TiVo Bolt. Order the 3tb drive from the mac store. Formatted it in the pc, clean the drive. put it in the Tivo. But live playbalk is fine. but if I record shows or rewind and play. about 80% of the time it pauses, and skips.
> 
> I low level formatted it again, checked it with a couple diag programs I could find on the pc. no issues reports, diskparted and cleaned everything. let the TiVo software load but same issue.
> 
> I tried to load up the MFS program, but get invalid apple partition and exits.. Could my drive layout still be configured wrong from the apple formatted drive? I loaded up diskpart and some other utilities but cant find any apple partition.
> 
> thank you for any advice.


If you zero the first few sectors and put it in the Bolt, it should be fine. I like the short "write zeros" test in WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for that because it shows me the drive model and serial number, but a diskpart "clean" command should work as well if you know what you're doing. Just be sure that you select the right drive or your entire OS could go bye-bye.

On all new drives, I run the full write zeros test followed by the long read test before even THINKING about using it anywhere else. I even do that at work when rebuilding PCs even though it annoys the hell out of my boss.


----------



## piusg

I found this thread when my August 2016 TiVo 500GB started flaking out and boot-looping. I'm hoping it's just the drive, and not something more sinister. I popped in a 5400rpm Western Digital Blue 1tb I had lying around. I couldn't care less about saving my shows; I'm watching less and less broadcast TV and far more on-demand.

I'm running through the guided setup as I write this, but I'm glad I stumbled across this thread. I'm pretty impressed at how drama-free the swap was.

I just hope it solves my problem. :grimacing:


----------



## MikeC19808

piusg said:


> I found this thread when my August 2016 TiVo 500GB started flaking out and boot-looping. I'm hoping it's just the drive, and not something more sinister. I popped in a 5400rpm Western Digital Blue 1tb I had lying around. I couldn't care less about saving my shows; I'm watching less and less broadcast TV and far more on-demand.
> 
> I'm running through the guided setup as I write this, but I'm glad I stumbled across this thread. I'm pretty impressed at how drama-free the swap was.
> 
> I just hope it solves my problem. :grimacing:


I had issue where mine kept rebooting non-stop and tivo said it must be the hardrive. Once I replaced it I had same issue. If yours is just rebooting itself, try swapping the power chord with another. I saw a thread from 2009 about it and fixed my issue for over a year now. Tivo even sent me one for free so I'm guessing they know about it but don't want to admit it.


----------



## piusg

MikeC19808 said:


> I had issue where mine kept rebooting non-stop and tivo said it must be the hardrive. Once I replaced it...


Man, I hope it isn't the power supply. Well, I wanted a 1tb drive in the TiVo anyway, and now I have one. Fingers crossed...


----------



## deadhead5573

my 1000gb bolt just did the whole rebooting mess and wish I read this thread before calling tivo. they said it's the hard drive and charged me 49 bucks for an exchange and they paid shipping both ways. if I read the thread I would have tried the power cord. my question is , do they send a new power cord with the replacement bolt? if not I better get one ordered now, lol


----------



## MikeC19808

deadhead5573 said:


> my 1000gb bolt just did the whole rebooting mess and wish I read this thread before calling tivo. they said it's the hard drive and charged me 49 bucks for an exchange and they paid shipping both ways. if I read the thread I would have tried the power cord. my question is , do they send a new power cord with the replacement bolt? if not I better get one ordered now, lol


In my situation I was out of warranty and they wanted $150 to send me a refurbished unit.

Once I found a old threat from a tivo 2 or 3, quotes that thread having the EXACT identical issue, they seemed to know what I was talking about and just said they will send me new chord free. Now I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat claiming a conspiracy, but it was like I stumbled upon some hidden secret and once I quoted a prior thread and problem they happily sent chord. I would say call them and mention that this is a issue others have had and a power chord fixed it.


----------



## deadhead5573

MikeC19808 said:


> In my situation I was out of warranty and they wanted $150 to send me a refurbished unit.
> 
> Once I found a old threat from a tivo 2 or 3, quotes that thread having the EXACT identical issue, they seemed to know what I was talking about and just said they will send me new chord free. Now I'm not wearing a tinfoil hat claiming a conspiracy, but it was like I stumbled upon some hidden secret and once I quoted a prior thread and problem they happily sent chord. I would say call them and mention that this is a issue others have had and a power chord fixed it.


My replacement is supposed to be delivered today. As soon as i plug it in with the old cord and if it does the same thing. I will definitely call them. they only charged me 49 bucks since it was only 122 days old. They said once it goes past a year they charge 150. I also found the power cords online for 15 bucks as well and ordered one for a spare!


----------



## zangetsu

deadhead5573 said:


> My replacement is supposed to be delivered today. As soon as i plug it in with the old cord and if it does the same thing. I will definitely call them. they only charged me 49 bucks since it was only 122 days old. They said once it goes past a year they charge 150. I also found the power cords online for 15 bucks as well and ordered one for a spare!


please let us know how things turned out for you.

i am also experiencing the same problems and would be interested to know if a new power supply and cord fixes this.


----------



## MikeC19808

deadhead5573 said:


> My replacement is supposed to be delivered today. As soon as i plug it in with the old cord and if it does the same thing. I will definitely call them. they only charged me 49 bucks since it was only 122 days old. They said once it goes past a year they charge 150. I also found the power cords online for 15 bucks as well and ordered one for a spare!





zangetsu said:


> please let us know how things turned out for you.
> 
> i am also experiencing the same problems and would be interested to know if a new power supply and cord fixes this.


Once I put a new chord tonit, the problem stopped. I found an external hard five that had a similar power supply plug and tested with that first. Immediately the problem ceased. So I'd suggest scrounging around your stuff and see if you can find one that matches and use it and see what happens. Be careful about volt and watt and all that electro-stuff to make sure it matches. I don't know anything about how current works but I'd be concerned if it doesn't match up you could cause a big problem.


----------



## zangetsu

MikeC19808 said:


> Once I put a new chord tonit, the problem stopped. I found an external hard five that had a similar power supply plug and tested with that first. Immediately the problem ceased. So I'd suggest scrounging around your stuff and see if you can find one that matches and use it and see what happens. Be careful about volt and watt and all that electro-stuff to make sure it matches. I don't know anything about how current works but I'd be concerned if it doesn't match up you could cause a big problem.


thank you !

i will try this.


----------



## colo_artist

FYI...Not many differences replacing the drive in a Bolt and a Bolt VOX.

I bought a new Bolt VOX 500GB and installed a Toshiba 3TB MQ03ABB300 purchased from OWC.

The Bolt VOX came apart just like my Bolt except for two things...The VOX uses T9 screw heads, the old Bolt uses T10 heads. Also the white wire is now under the drive and it's stick on wire holders are gone. The wire on the VOX is held in place by notches cut into the base.


----------



## wingclip

82% of my original drive of my TiVo Bolt has been filled with recordings. I just recieved my Seagate 2TB upgrade drive and I want to save the recordings before I make the switch. Surely there must be a way to do that using my USB 3.0 hardrive dock, the new drive, and one of the connection ports on the unit, or even via the TV's ports, no?

I've already experienced that Disney ride of using the TiVo.com 'wireless transfer'. I had, (and still have) a TiVo Premier XLR and attempted to move all my recordings from that Premier to the new Bolt back when I first got it. I used the procedure as instructed on line and keep in mind, that this can only be done when the two Tivos were still under an active service contract.

I have a 200mb/ps ethernet connection and tried to transfer the entire Premier recordings to the Bolt, (at least 85% or more were permitted to be transfered). All the lights on the Bolt turned on as the TiVo instructions said they would. About an hour or two later, I noticed the transfer indicator lights were off.

I find that approximately, 7 or 8, 1/2-hour shows were transfered from the Premier to the Bolt and of those that were, almost 50% of them had at least one duplicate copy. In other words, I only had 4 of the 8 programs transfered and each was a duplicate of the other. I tried this again but instead of selecting the entire Premier drive, I picked 4 or 5 particular 1/2-hour shows and tried again. Everything acted like it was going correctly but an hour or so later, I had 2 programs transfered, each with two or three duplictaes!

I messed with that for two days before the Premier's service account ended. I still have the TiVo Premier and it's connected to the Tv via a splitter. I can watch anything I had saved on the Premier when I want to but without a service account, I can't transfer them via the "TivoOnline.com". Frankly, that didn't work well at all so it's not a great loss.

There must be a way to transfer the recodings on that drive, or the Bolt's drive, to another HDD or SSD. What about just for the Bolt? Is there a way to transfer the saved recordings and all other info to something, (like another drive that's placed in an external drive dock, just long enough to make the HDD switch-out and then return the recordings to the new drive w/o losing the formatting or any of the One Pass settings, no?

If anyone knows a way, please let me know. Thank you.


----------



## HerronScott

wingclip said:


> There must be a way to transfer the recodings on that drive, or the Bolt's drive, to another HDD or SSD. What about just for the Bolt? Is there a way to transfer the saved recordings and all other info to something, (like another drive that's placed in an external drive dock, just long enough to make the HDD switch-out and then return the recordings to the new drive w/o losing the formatting or any of the One Pass settings, no?


You could add service back to the Premiere for a month, transfer the shows off to it and then back to the Bolt after install the new drive (and then cancel the service). Or you could transfer the shows off the Bolt to your PC with pyTivo Desktop. Finally, you could check with jmbach as he has a beta version of MFStools 3.2 that is supposed to work with Bolts.

MFS Tools 3.2

Oh and you can use kmttg to save your 1P.

Scott


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## wingclip

Thank you Scott! The TiVo Bolt manual has an eSata port that is labeled "External Storage e-Sata", which sounds just like what I can use to play the shows I've already recorded from the drive I intend to replace. What's stopping me is that it seems so obvious of a solution, yet not one website has anyone who's mentioned it.

There must be something wrong with that idea because it's sooooo much easier than anything else I've read as a solution. Are you aware of that eSata port in the Bolt?
Thanks again for the suggestions. I'm guessing that I'll be going with a 30-day connection, but I prefer to do this by hard wire.
Rich


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## HerronScott

wingclip said:


> Thank you Scott! The TiVo Bolt manual has an eSata port that is labeled "External Storage e-Sata", which sounds just like what I can use to play the shows I've already recorded from the drive I intend to replace. What's stopping me is that it seems so obvious of a solution, yet not one website has anyone who's mentioned it.
> 
> There must be something wrong with that idea because it's sooooo much easier than anything else I've read as a solution. Are you aware of that eSata port in the Bolt?
> Thanks again for the suggestions. I'm guessing that I'll be going with a 30-day connection, but I prefer to do this by hard wire.


The eSata port on the TiVo only supports a specific WD model external drive (which is no longer made) and it only adds storage to the existing internal drive so anything written to it is encrypted, tied to that Bolt and married to the existing internal drive so no way to recover shows from the external even if you could find the correct WD external drive.

Scott


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## wingclip

Once again, Thank you Scott! You saved me a lot of time because I was going to continue researching that idea. A few days back, I downloaded the latest version of "pyTivo" for Windows. I began to install it tonight but I wasn't thrilled about not having any UI panel and installation instructions. It's freeware, I know, and it's supposed to be good, but as I began the installation, I changed my mind. I got to the dialog box that had two options 'ticked'. The one that said to leave it ticked if you don't have Tivo Desktop installed, made me stop.

I looked into Tivo Desktop several days ago and based on what I found, I was under the impression that it isn't available anymore. Then the "pyTivo" was what seemed to be the best choice for my needs but I don't like the fact that there doesn't seem to be an instructional for a straight forward installation procedure or a user's manual, (even a short 'How-to' example would be better than nothing).

Now you've mentioned this "MFSTools 3.2" but I haven't yet checked on what that one is all about. If you're familiar with "pyTivo" and you're obviously familiar with "MFSTools 3.2", which would you say is the easiest to use?

Keep in mind that I just need to save the recordings on the present Bolt's HDD long enough to replace it with my new HDD. Then I want to return the recordings, (and whatever One Pass settings I may be able to save), back to the newly, installed HDD.

In fact, I really don't care if I lose the One Pass settings so long as I can just save the recordings.
Once again, "thanks again",
Rich


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## najenagold

My Tivo Bolt with 3TB Toshiba, from the original video on page 1, is still running strong after 3 years =)


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## aaronwt

And my 4TB Seagate is still running running fine in a Bolt after 37 months of use.

Although the other 4TB drive I had, in another Bolt, crapped out last year sometime.


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## Sparky1234

aaronwt said:


> And my 4TB Seagate is still running running fine in a Bolt after 37 months of use.
> 
> Although the other 4TB drive I had, in another Bolt, crapped out last year sometime.


That's Seagate quality control, 50% reliability, not good.


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## JimWall

I just received a 500 GB Bolt Vox. Used the deal to migrate the lifetime from my series 3.
I replaced hard drive with Toshiba 2TB L200 before I turned it on.
It ran through setup and then said it needed to restart to apply a system update.
It then got into a reboot loop for an hour. I put original drive back in and same issues.
Tivo chat support only suggested pulling power for 10 seconds and plugging back in. Made no difference. Was told to call support.
I called and after some checking Tivo support said the update can take up to 24 hours to apply. Will keep rebooting during that time.
By morning Tivo was waiting at setup screen.
I put the Toshibas 2 TB back in. After a couple reboots to also stopped at the setup screen.
Went through steps and all its good
Used tivo online to copy season passes over.
System information estimates 315 HD hours free.
Not how to get old recordings off old series 3.


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