TiVo Community Forums Archives - which Replacement HD

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which Replacement HD
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Posted by: TorontoSVR

ok please don't shoot me for asking a stupid question I tried searching the forums for about which hard drive I should get and I only saw one post about a guy doing an add on and some one recommended a Samsung they didn't say why they just recommended it

I was wondering if you guys could give me a few suggestions about which harddrive I should get for a replacement in my SVR-2000 I am looking to spend under $100 my current drive is very jerky and I want to just go ahead and replace it because its about 3 years old

thanks for your help

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

Samsung still a good choice, though a tad more than $100 for the 120G. goroyalpc.com still has them listed.

PROS
5400rpm == less heat
quiet drive

Posted by: tdamon

Just installed an 120gb 7200 IBM deskstar in my SVR 2000....ultra quiet...dont even know that its on.

Posted by: weaknees

Glad to hear that the IBM Deskstar worked well for you, but in general, many people on the board have reported problems with IBM drives in TiVos - and we've seen a few problems too.

We currently use Samsung, but we've used Maxtor and WD in the past and those three are the most popular out there for TiVos.

Michael

Posted by: tdamon

hmmmm......any idea what kind of problems people have been having with desktars?? Ive always had good luck with them....maybe the amount of heat that is generated by Tivo???

Posted by: TorontoSVR

ok I went a head and ordered a 120 Samsung and I was wondering are their any special tools that I will need I guess I will need a torx wrench but anything else like power cords or fans I was looking at the kits from weaknees but most of them looked like they were for 2 drives and I am only swapping out my current one

Posted by: alansh

The Deskstars used to be good, but once they decided to sell their hard drive business to Hitachi, they took a nosedive in quality.

Posted by: tdamon

Thats interesting......when hitachi took over IBM's storage unit they also purchased their patent rights to manufacture the drives to IBM's specs....

Posted by: Lord Nimon

I also recommend the Samsung 120GB. I'm thinking about installing another one.

Posted by: Puwaha

How about using a Seagate Barracuda? They are probably *the quietest drive on the market. And they are specifically recommended by places like EndPCNoise.com

You can get an 80GB drive from MWave.com for $76. Sure, the Barracudas are 7200RPM, but they run at a scant 25db at idle, and only 33db in performance-seeking. The 60GB drive is a little more quiet, as it only has one platter (21/30db!)

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

quote:
Originally posted by TorontoSVR
ok I went a head and ordered a 120 Samsung and I was wondering are their any special tools that I will need I guess I will need a torx wrench but anything else like power cords or fans I was looking at the kits from weaknees but most of them looked like they were for 2 drives and I am only swapping out my current one

The torx should be all you need for a single-drive swap out. (I bought one of these which has both sizes you may need (I believe the series 2 may only need one size, but the old 1's used to need two sizes).

If you want to save your old HD as a backup, save the new one's packaging to store it in (maybe even the silica gel).

Posted by: DScheidle

Sorry to sound off like a novice, but how many hours can be recorded on a 120GB drive?

What's the usage rate per Gig?

Thanks,

Darrin

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

120G is about 140 hours basic. Here's specifics, at least how mine came out (they vary a bit depending on several factors). It's about 1.18Hr Basic/Gig or 0.33Hr Best/Gig.

code:

           107G        27G        120G
           hrs         hrs        hrs
Best        35           9         39
Good        57          14         73
Medium      75          19         83
Basic      128          32        140

107 = orig 27 + 80 (A&B drives)

edit: Aha! It's a code tag I needed to line up the columns...

Posted by: Webguideguy

I've never understood why so many people promote the samsung drives on this board - I have NEVER seen one that I could buy locally and probably the majority of tivo hackers use WD or Maxtor drives.

Maybe the samsungs are cheaper before rebates, I'm not sure, but you can almost always find a rebate on a WD or Maxtor to put it below the $100 Samsung.

I have 2 120 gigs a maxtor and a WD. Both run great both are quiet and I have no heat problems. (but my tivo is in a cool basement)

I'd get what ever is cheapest. Right now you can get a 120 gig maxtor at best buy for $129 LESS a $70 rebate!

Now that's a DEAL! Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.

Posted by: Brazos

My pc had two IBM 75 (?) gig hd's. Both have been replaced under IBM's warranty. Both had cooling fans blowing over them. I remember the pc forums ripping IBM for the bad designs.

Posted by: Rwood

There were stories and discussions a year or so ago about IBM drives not being rated for continuous duty (where the drive is always spinning as it is in the TIVO). In PC applications the drive will usually be "spun down" after a period of inactivity.

I used the Samsung 120 drives in an effort to keep the heat in the box down. I don't have air conditioning and it can get very warm in my TV room.

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

They ARE cheaper pre-rebate, even with shipping (which is usually 0). And I hate rebates.

And I buy most of what I need online--don't need it close by unless I'm in a rush.

A $20-40 price difference isn't worth using a drive I've heard people report problems with (WD, IBM).

I used Maxtor in my oldest upgrade, and it's still doing fine.

quote:
Originally posted by Webguideguy
I've never understood why so many people promote the samsung drives on this board - I have NEVER seen one that I could buy locally and probably the majority of tivo hackers use WD or Maxtor drives.

Maybe the samsungs are cheaper before rebates, I'm not sure, but you can almost always find a rebate on a WD or Maxtor to put it below the $100 Samsung.

I have 2 120 gigs a maxtor and a WD. Both run great both are quiet and I have no heat problems. (but my tivo is in a cool basement)

I'd get what ever is cheapest. Right now you can get a 120 gig maxtor at best buy for $129 LESS a $70 rebate!

Now that's a DEAL! Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.

Posted by: boberonicus

I sense we are entering into a religious argument. I can say that Samsung customer service rocks. No "your call is very important to us" delays, and when I did have a problem, they sent me an advanced replacement drive. I faxed the RMA to them on Monday 3pm, they got the drive out the SAME DAY, via 2nd day air. It arrived today (Wednesday). No charge.

The 120GB samsung drive is noticeably quieter than the original 40GB drive that came with my DSR6000. I bought it on the advice of weaknees, who does enough of these replacements to be considered an authority. If he says the IBM drives are a problem in a TIVO box, anyone who ignores his advice is tempting fate.

Posted by: Mr. Funny Pants

I just added my second 120GB drive to my SAT-60. I've got one WD, one Maxtor. The WD has been in since late last year and has worked flawlessly. It also had barely any effect on the temperature, perhaps raising it a degree or two at the most (usually ran from 47-49 degrees). Disk noise was negligible; if the room was completely quiet, you could hear it a bit, but if you weren't listening for it you might not notice it.

Today I dropped the Maxtor in to replace the original 40GB drive. So far it has worked perfectly, except... It's noticeably louder than the previous configuration. I have no idea if it's just the new Maxtor I'm hearing, or if it's the combined noise of both, but if the room is quiet, the noise is very noticeable, whether you are trying to hear it or not. Again though, it is not noticeable when watching a show or even with normal conversation in the room. Also, the temperature ran up to 51 degrees. Again, I can't fairly blame the Maxtor, as it could be the combination of the two rather than it alone. Luckily, I stumbled upon the rolled up paper trick, and the last time I checked, it's running at 47 degrees, which is actually as cool as it's ever run. I might still drop in a Thermaflow to replace the stock fan, but it's probably not necessary.

My advice would be to look for the cheapest deal. I got the WD for $100 after rebates, and the new Maxtor recently for $60 after rebates.

Posted by: obi1

I upgraded my T60 using a Seagate Baracuda 120 gig. Chose because it was the most quiet but was expensive. About 160 dollars 6 months ago.

Upgraded my series 2 Hughes with a WD 120 gig at 80 dollars after rebates. It is quite noisy and somewhat bothersome. The T60 with the Seagate is almost dead silent. Both are 7200 rpm drives.

Posted by: Joe Schmuck

Hum, As far as I know the Samsung drives don't have rebates at all. They do seem to have a very good reputation for being reliable and quiet. I've heard about problems with other drives made by WD, Maxtor, Seagate, and IBM. Yes, I've had my fair share of problems too BUT...

The couples of Samsung drives I own run quiet and are reliable. I too cannot find them on the shelves in the stores unless I go to a dedicated computer store and they carry them or the monthly computer show which is good too. As for the price, $99.00 to my door for the SP1203N is a good price to pay. This is my third drive which I received 2 days ago. I will be installing it in a few days. This will replace my original TiVo drive which is noisy.

Webguideguy, save all the money you want but for 20 to 30 bucks more and I don't have to wait for my rebate (6 to 8 weeks later) and I didn't pay any sales tax, the Samsung drives are worth the mail order. I will only buy a hard drive from a local store if there is urgency in replacing a drive, like my computers hard drive. That needs to be up and running daily so I'll pop for the extra bucks.

Joe

quote:
Originally posted by Webguideguy
I've never understood why so many people promote the samsung drives on this board - I have NEVER seen one that I could buy locally and probably the majority of tivo hackers use WD or Maxtor drives.

Maybe the samsungs are cheaper before rebates, I'm not sure, but you can almost always find a rebate on a WD or Maxtor to put it below the $100 Samsung.

I have 2 120 gigs a maxtor and a WD. Both run great both are quiet and I have no heat problems. (but my tivo is in a cool basement)

I'd get what ever is cheapest. Right now you can get a 120 gig maxtor at best buy for $129 LESS a $70 rebate!

Now that's a DEAL! Anyhow, that's my 2 cents.

Posted by: TorontoSVR

ok got the harddrive today and was working through the upgrade process but for some reason my tivo only shows me as having a 32 GB hd even though my bios shows it as being 120 GB I did a mfsinfo on the drive and it shows this

the MFS volume set contains 4 partitions
/dev/hdc10
MFS partition Size: 512MiB
/dev/hdc11
MFS Partition Size: 27661MiB
/dev/hdc12
MFS Partition Size: 0MiB
/dev/hdc13
MFS partition Size: 3560Mib
Total MFS volume size: 31734MiB
Estimated hours in a standalone Tivo: 33
This MFS volume may be expanded 4 more times

Which I know this is wrong what can I do to fix it the drive is reading correctly in the bios so I must just be typing something wrong
Which is wrong