# Is 2T the limit for a Tivo Premier XL ?



## I_am_not_randy (Oct 30, 2010)

I own a TIVO premier XL and want to add more capacity. I want to either replace the stock 1T with a 2T, or add the 1T external WD expander.

As per the TIVO HD XL section of the first comment of this thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784), it looks like these are my two main options other than adding an unsupported external hard drive, which I dont want to do. I also dont want to send my unit to Weeknees.

Since the thread seems kinda old, I just wanted to confirm that these are my only options, and that I cant easily get above 2T with a Premere XL.

If it is accurate to say that there is a 2T limit on the Premier XL's, is this some fundemental limitations of the architecture, or is there any chatter about this potentially being addressed in a future software upgrade?

Thanks.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

You mean 2T, not 2G, right?

For "self service", it appears there has not been any technical work done to get beyond those limits. However, the site sponsor, weakknees, has off the shelf and other retail offerings you may want to investigate. 

Many of us here resort to offloading, so long as the shows are not blocked from transferring. That also allows for backing up, something you cannot do naively with a tivo. 

Internal upgrades are slightly more reliable, and are certainly more convenient, than the expander. It also allows instant recovery if the drive goes bad- keep the old one on the shelf and ready to go.

You don't need to bother reviewing the old S-3 threads, they don't apply to the premieres. You are better off reviewing the threads in this forum.


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## I_am_not_randy (Oct 30, 2010)

Yes, for some reason I was mentally saying gig instead ot tera. I corrected it. Thanks for the feedback.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

jrtroo said:


> For "self service", it appears there has not been any technical work done to get beyond those limits. However, the site sponsor, weakknees, has off the shelf and other retail offerings you may want to investigate.


He said he didn't want to send it to weakNees. The only way to avoid that if you want to go beyond 2TB is to buy two new 2TB drives (one internal and one external) from weaKnees. Current price is $549.99.


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## SullyND (Dec 30, 2004)

Doesn't DVR Dude on ebay also do the external 4T drive thing?


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

SullyND said:


> Doesn't DVR Dude on ebay also do the external 4T drive thing?


I don't recall, but I don't think so. In any case, if you can even get to his store currently, you're doing better than I am.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

I_am_not_randy said:


> I own a TIVO premier XL and want to add more capacity. I want to either replace the stock 1T with a 2T, or add the 1T external WD expander.
> 
> As per the TIVO HD XL section of the first comment of this thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784), it looks like these are my two main options other than adding an unsupported external hard drive, which I dont want to do. I also dont want to send my unit to Weeknees.
> 
> ...


As far as is known, there is a 2TB limit on any one drive for S3s and S4s.

The easy way to do things in your situation is get a 2TB known to work with TiVos, like a WD20EURS ($120 from Amazon), burn yourself a copy of the jmfs v1.04 cd, and use it to copy the factory 1TB to the 2TB and then expand it by adding a single MFS media partition.

It's fairly simple and semi-automated.

As for an external, TiVos newer than the original S3 have a very short list of WD model numbers--the number of the actual 500GB or 1TB drive itself, regardless of enclosure, and if the drive inside your external isn't on that list, the TiVo will refuse to use it.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

unitron said:


> As far as is known, there is a 2TB limit on any one drive for S3s and S4s.


AFAICT, a stock TiVo has a 2TB _*total recording space*_ limit. The *only* known way to exceed that limit is through weaKnees.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

lpwcomp said:


> AFAICT, a stock TiVo has a 2TB _*total recording space*_ limit. The *only* known way to exceed that limit is through weaKnees.


That doesn't mean you can stick a drive larger than 2TB in a TiVo and only use the first 2TB of it.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

unitron said:


> That doesn't mean you can stick a drive larger than 2TB in a TiVo and only use the first 2TB of it.


There is nothing in my posts in this thread that implied that you could. The OP wants to know if there is any way to exceed 2TB. I was just pointing out that you cannot exceed 2TB _*at all*_ except through weaKnees. For instance, you cannot add an external to a stock Premiere XL4.

BTW, I am in no way recommending weaKnees. While I used them a couple of times many years ago, I wouldn't go anywhere near them now if I could avoid it. Their current prices are ridiculous.


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## retiredqwest (Sep 7, 2010)

lpwcomp said:


> I don't recall, but I don't think so. In any case, if you can even get to his store currently, you're doing better than I am.


DVR_Dude doesn't seem to have any offerings on Ebay or on his web site.

www.dvrstore.com


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

lpwcomp said:


> There is nothing in my posts in this thread that implied that you could. The OP wants to know if there is any way to exceed 2TB. I was just pointing out that you cannot exceed 2TB _*at all*_ except through weaKnees. For instance, you cannot add an external to a stock Premiere XL4.
> 
> BTW, I am in no way recommending weaKnees. While I used them a couple of times many years ago, I wouldn't go anywhere near them now if I could avoid it. Their current prices are ridiculous.


You failed to make it clear to the novice reader that what you said was in addition to, rather than instead of, what I said.


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## retiredqwest (Sep 7, 2010)

lpwcomp said:


> For instance, you cannot add an external to a stock Premiere XL4.


FYI:

The 1TB WD Expander from Tivo works on my THD, TP, and XL4:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=9257421#post9257421


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

retiredqwest said:


> FYI:
> 
> The 1TB WD Expander from Tivo works on my THD, TP, and XL4:
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=9257421#post9257421


You hooked it up and it was recognized. Did you actually run with it in place? Have you actually run with it in a configuration where you had more than 2TB of total space?


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## retiredqwest (Sep 7, 2010)

lpwcomp said:


> You hooked it up and it was recognized. Did you actually run with it in place? Have you actually run with it in a configuration where you had more than 2TB of total space?


There isn't enough content on TV that I would even come close to filling a 2TB yet alone larger scheme. My TP is at 28% and the XL4 is 3%. I only used the expander on the THD before I found JMFS. JMFS makes the expander an unnecessary piece of hardware, at least for me.

Several others on here have added the expander to the XL4. Just search for expander in the Premiere forum.

Believe it or not, I could care less.


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## lpwcomp (May 6, 2002)

retiredqwest said:


> There isn't enough content on TV that I would even come close to filling a 2TB yet alone larger scheme. My TP is at 28% and the XL4 is 3%. I only used the expander on the THD before I found JMFS. JMFS makes the expander an unnecessary piece of hardware, at least for me.
> 
> Several others on here have added the expander to the XL4. Just search for expander in the Premiere forum.
> 
> Believe it or not, I could care less.


My mistake. I assumed that since weaKnees had do option to add a regular 1TB expander to an XL4, that it couldn't be done. Serves me right for trusting them. For some reason, they don't have this option for _*any*_ Premiere.

Personally, I could_*n't*_ care less either. Adding an external is just asking for trouble.


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