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USB Hard Drives?
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Posted by: tivoRalph

Just wondering if it was possible to add a USB 2.0 hard drive to increase your Tivo storage space? Does Tivo have any plans to do that?

Posted by: Robert S

No, it doesn't work like that.

Posted by: tivoRalph

What doesn't work like what? They haven't added the drivers for it yet?
You can have a USB 2.0 hard drive with Linux. And USB 2.0 should be fast enough to stream. If not, they could use it as an archive drive, where things could be saved, and then moved to the "live" drive for viewing. And with a USB hub I could have a 4X200 Hard drive Tivo Dream Machine.

Posted by: maharg18

It's not possible... The way the Tivo file system is setup, it's basically spanned across all the drives.. If you were to remove one of them, then that would crash the system and render the other ones useless.. It would require a total rewrite of the Tivo software and OS to make it feasible, and even then the entertainment industry wouldn't like it too much, since it would make it VERY easy for people to share TV programs.

Posted by: tivoRalph

I don't get it.
OK, maybe you you would have to change the Tivo software (I'm not asking hackers to try this, but Tivo Inc. themselves so it shouldn't be that hard), but not the OS?
And how would this be any easier than sharing video tapes with friends? (Not that I agree with any form of Piracy, even tape sharing).

To the OS, this should be just another hard drive. True, I understand nothing about the Tivo software, but come on. It's just another hard drive. They could do it, if they wanted to. Is piracy the real issue here?

Posted by: maharg18

Technically, I'm sure it could be done.. But it would require major changes to the Tivo software, like I said, so that if you went and unplugged that USB drive, the system would still be able to function... In it's current state, it wouldn't be able to.

As far as show sharing, the entertainment industry is more concerned with the sharing of digital copies of shows/movies, etc than they are with analog ones. Hence the reason why with Tivo's HMO, you can only share shows over your local network, and when Tivo's competitor ReplayTV allowed showsharing over the Internet, they were sued into Bankruptcy, and with their new models, they no longer allow show sharing.

Posted by: HDTiVo

If TiVo limited it to not allowing the drive to be unplugged once used it wouldn't be that hard. It would probably make customer support a harder issue.

Recordings are apparently tagged in some way by the TiVo that recorded them, so it could be limited to using the drive on the recording TiVo only.

With more effort, this could be made much better...protecting your user info (SPs, etal.) and expanding storage...

TiVo seems to deem extending your TiVo's life bad for the company, so I doubt they would add USB support.

Posted by: tivoRalph

OK. I still don't buy the pirating issue though (digital copies). Especially since the best Christmas gift this year is one of the Tivo / DVD burner combos. That makes copying and taking to a friends too easy. It's already in DVD format! A USB hard drive would at least have the files encoded in Tivo's format.
that's my 3cents - and probably 2 too many!
tR

Posted by: HDTiVo

I would pay $49 for a software upgrade to enable USB drives, even if shows recorded on one TiVo could only be played on that TiVo.

I would want the user and system data to be redundant so if any drive failed the TiVo would still operate without a hitch...only the shows on the failed drive would be lost.

Posted by: tivoRalph

I would too!
Imagine: you could have a USB Hard drive Library.

On security.
They are tivo files, so only tivo can play them. This is much more "Hollywood Friendly" than the new Tivos that have DVD write capability. Those can be played anywere (with or without a Tivo!).
And right now, Hard drive space is much cheaper than DVDs!