Another TiVo question... Replace the hard drive?

Thank everyone for your advice on my question on service contracts for my TiVo. Now, that I have lifetime service, I was curious if anyone has replaced the hard drive inside their TiVo's? The rep told me today the 140 hour TiVo I have has about a 140GB hard drive inside. I know there are plenty of higher capacity hard drives out there, but I'm hesitant to replace it. I'm well aware replacing the hard drive will void my warranty.

So, has anyone replaced their hard drives in their TiVo? Is it as simple as swapping it out? Any need to pre-format the drive? Any other considerations or complications? Thanks again.

I have a friend that has done it. The drives are formatted in some proprietary linux format. There are utilities on the web that allow you to format a new drive in your PC and copy your operating system over. I think on most you can also buy kits that allow you to add a second drive for more storage.

Check out the Tivo Community underground upgrades forum, as there is alot of info there.

There is also a company that sells diy kits available that I have heard about called ptvupgrade although I have not actually used them, I have seen several recommendations about them on the tivo forum

Re: Another TiVo question... Replace the hard driv

Not sure, but I think you can simply add a second drive without replacing the first. The Tivo community would definately be the place to checkout.

Re: Another TiVo question... Replace the hard driv

I've upgraded about a dozen of the Satellite/TiVo combo boxes. It's not hard to do, but there is a learning curve involved. If you can install a HD and can follow instructions (explicitly) you should be able to do it.

I have 160 GB HDs in all three of my boxes now, but the DTV TiVo's Linux kernel can only "see" (and use) 137GB of the drive. That works out to 120 hours of recording time with the Satellite Tivos. The software revision used on the SA TiVo may be able to use all of a replacement drive, but I'm not sure because I've never upgraded a standalone unit.

www.Tivocommunity.com is where you will want to start. All the info you need is there, as well as cool new "interactive" TiVo upgrade instructions.

Peter

Re: Another TiVo question... Replace the hard driv

A little off topic. LitFuse, do you know how to get the files off the TiVo onto a computer? I have a series 2 with the USB ports in the back, but aparently you need some programs to activate those ports?

Im totally lost about getting the files off the TiVo. Ive been encoding them using a tuner card, but it is time consuming and the quality isnt the best it could be.

Re: Another TiVo question... Replace the hard driv

from the various places linked to on the tivo community board you can buy hard disks already loaded up with the appropriate software for the version of TiVO you have. You can add a second one, replace the first one, or both (but once you marry a second drive to the first, you can't replace the first without replacing or reformatting the second also, so decide if you are going to do both, or if just adding a second isn't going to be enough for you)

Do yourself a favor and buy one that is already ready. unless low level formatting and image restores is on your list of things you'd like to do for a weekend trying to get it to work right /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I LOVE my TiVO's

Re: Another TiVo question... Replace the hard driv

Digital extraction from the TiVo is not supported, and is considered a no-no. It can be done with some hacking, but that's all I know about it. This site is where you would want to go to look into this.

Peter