TiVo Community Forums Archives - How many have had a drive failure?

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How many have had a drive failure?
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Posted by: Bilbrey

I have had two TiVo units (a DSR6000 and a HDR612) both suffer drive failure.

I am not looking for rants or complaints. So please don't respond if that is what you plan to do.

I'm curious if it is a statistical fluke that both of my TiVo's have suffered drive failure, or is this something we will come to expect from PVR's as they age?

Brett

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Experience is the one thing you get, right after you need it.

TiVo doesn't make the content, TiVo makes the content better.
That's my opinion, and I strongly agree with it.

Posted by: cwerdna

Not me. Orig. 30 gig Quantum and IBM 75 gig 75GXP is still fine.

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Sony hacked SA w/124 hours, 2.5.1-01-1-010

Posted by: samo

Probability of the TiVo HD failure is 1 in 34 in any given year. Probability of both of your TiVos to fail in a same year is 1 in 10,000. But as you know some people win the lottery or Lexus with much lesser chance. Just consider yourself unlucky. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

Posted by: Bilbrey

Philips wants $100 to repair the HDR612. It is still in the first year warranty, but out of the 90 day labor. So labor is a flat $100 to 'exchange' the unit.

The HDR612 came up with a screen I doubt that many have seen:

A green screen that starts with:
A severe error has occurred.

And the rest says to leave the receiver plugged in for the next 24 hours while the unit attempts to repair itself.

I had hoped that when the video was freezing that it was a software glitch, but I have come to accept that it is another drive failure.

My second. Guess I will go buy some lottery tickets... http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

Brett
The Happy Lab Rat

------------------
Experience is the one thing you get, right after you need it.

TiVo doesn't make the content, TiVo makes the content better.
That's my opinion, and I strongly agree with it.

Posted by: jackrabbitslimm

We're a three Tivo household (two T60s and one SVR2000) and, knocking on wood, have had no drive problems with any of them.

This does bring up a question I'm curious about, though. If one of my drives craps out, can I make lemonade out of my lemon by hacking in a new drive (maybe a larger drive)?

From my perusal of the Underground forum, the Hinsdale method doesn't require necessarily copying your existing drive.

If one of my T60s craters, could I utilize my other T60 for any file copying required onto a new compatible hard drive? Or is it all available via download from one of the Tivo hack sites?

If my SVR 2000 dies, as I don't have another in house to use as a master, can I download the necessary vitals from a Tivo hack site to a new compatible hard drive I purchase?

Thanks for any feedback-

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-Slimm

Posted by: Shoes4Industry

My Philips 20hr had its HD fail after about six months...I got it replaced under a BB service plan (Philips wanted $100 to replace it under its factory warranty). Since then, no problems.

Posted by: Bilbrey

I did not get the 'store' warranty. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/frown.gif

But looking back, a store warranty may be a good deal as PVR units age...

------------------
Experience is the one thing you get, right after you need it.

TiVo doesn't make the content, TiVo makes the content better.
That's my opinion, and I strongly agree with it.

Posted by: L

My SAT-T60 hard drive started occasionally making really horrific noises, coupled with freezes on-screen, followed by a reboot. The frequency of these noises increased over a short time.

I powered it down, took out the drive, and managed to perform a 1:1 backup onto a new drive without it failing.

Thank goodness I didn't have to send it back to Sony Repair. Oh, wait, this was a drive from Sony Repair.

Posted by: dgh

quote:
Originally posted by samo:
Probability of the TiVo HD failure is 1 in 34 in any given year. Probability of both of your TiVos to fail in a same year is 1 in 10,000.

Why isn't the probabilty of two failing 1 in 34 squared? Did you add a zero or am I not doing this right?

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Dave Hicks
(Just 33 years until I'm allowed to be opinionated too.)

Posted by: GBL

quote:
Originally posted by samo:
Probability of the TiVo HD failure is 1 in 34 in any given year. Probability of both of your TiVos to fail in a same year is 1 in 10,000. But as you know some people win the lottery or Lexus with much lesser chance. Just consider yourself unlucky. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

Samo,

where did you get this "information"? To the best of my knowledge, hard drive failure rate is about .5% per year (Maxtor Product specifications for Quantum LCT20 drive lists an annualized failure rate: < .05%); same failure rate was also mentioned by Jim Barton at one of his speeches.

.5%/year would be 1 in 200, NOT 1 in 34.

Like Jim Barton said, .5% is still too high and they are working on lowering it. But please do not spread misinformation!

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GBL - 1 Sony (75hrs), 2 Philips (60 and 75hrs)
unpaid volunteer, TiVo army

Posted by: jmlonegan

Instead of winning the lotto I've had 3 yes, I typed it in correct, 3 times I've had to ship my TIVO back to be replaced because the drive went bad in less than 1 year. I have not abused the units at all. Nobody touches them and I have the machine and the telephone going through Monster‘s best Home Theater surge suppressor. Actually, TIVO once sent me a 20 hour TIVO instead of the 30 hour unit I sent in to be replaced for a total of 4 times I have had to send TIVOs back to Philips. If I hadn’t already paid for a life time subscription I would have throw it in the trash! At first I was telling everyone about what an incredible product it is but I can’t say that anymore.

Posted by: Dan203

My Dad's TiVo just recently died due to hard drive failure. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/frown.gif However personally I have 3 TiVos which are all over a year old (one is almost two years old) and I have never once had a problem with any of them. My Sister has had her TiVo for a little over a year, and it to has been problem free.

Dan

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Moderator: TiVo Coffee House, Help Center & Happy Hour
3 PHILIPS TiVos running 2.5.1

Posted by: Dilweegie

My SATT60 drive failed after 11 months.

Stuttering, then freezes, then reboots then death.

Took it back to Good Guys, got it back in 5 weeks.

Posted by: mikeb33

Would it then be wise to remove and make a backup of the hard drive as soon as it's purchased? Or as soon as it is out of warranty?

MIKE

Posted by: Wahoo

My 1st TiVo's HD went bad about 2 months after I bought it. I shipped it back and got a replacement (which I'm sure was a refurb) and its HD went bad about 13 months later. I ended up buying a hacked drive from someone off of the forum and replaced it myself. Been about 4 months with no problems yet.

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-Wahoo

Posted by: samo

quote:
Why isn't the probability of two failing 1 in 34 squared?

Because it was late night and I was very tired after completing major section of my code. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif
Correct number is 1 over 34 squared or 1 in 1156. Sorry.

quote:
But please do not spread misinformation!

And I don't. Here http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/For...L/006238-3.html
Tivolutionary states this number and here http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/For...L/006238-4.html
he provides this reference http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5902860.html
and I verify his statement by my own calculations.
As a general rule my posts are accurate and if they are not I always correct the errors.

Posted by: DJRobX

quote:
Would it then be wise to remove and make a backup of the hard drive as soon as it's purchased? Or as soon as it is out of warranty?

No, because you lose your warranty on everything when you do that. If your drive dies on you there *are* things you can do to recover from that situation. If something like a tuner or a decoder chip dies, you either exchange with TiVo or write it off. If you crack open the case, you have virtually no other choice but to write it off.

For me it makes more sense to just open the case and stick a newer, larger drive in if the drive fails. Then I'll get added capacity, along with a three-year warranty on that drive!

One of my $99 DirecTiVos works fine but the drive bearing is a little louder than I'm comfortable with. I have a feeling that I'll just end up upgrading the darn thing.

-- Rob

Posted by: mikeb33

If your hard drive fails out of warranty, can you just add a new one? How will you get the data onto the new drive? I thought you need to copy the data from th eorigional first, or is this info available for download?

Thanks

MIKE

Posted by: GBL

quote:
Originally posted by samo:
Probability of the TiVo HD failure is 1 in 34 in any given year.

quote:
But please do not spread misinformation!

quote:
And I don't. Here http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/For...L/006238-3.html
Tivolutionary states this number and here http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/For...L/006238-4.html
he provides this reference http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5902860.html
[B]and I verify his statement by my own calculations.
As a general rule my posts are accurate and if they are not I always correct the errors.

I beg to differ.

You specifically state Tivo's failure rate as 1 in 34, when Tivolutionary speaks of industry numbers and states that Tivo's numbers are much better:

quote:
Well Mark, I agree that we don't want to give that perception, but this is a very technical forum, not TiVo Marketing. To date we have had much better rates than that, but those are the industry numbers. http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/For...L/006238-4.html

Again, Jim Barton mentioned a less than .5% annual failure rate for Tivo's disk drives which matches Maxtor specification sheet.
That's 1 in 200.

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GBL - 1 Sony (75hrs), 2 Philips (60 and 75hrs)
unpaid volunteer, TiVo army

[edited for readabilty]

[This message has been edited by GBL (edited 12-14-2001).]

Posted by: Damian

My HDR212 had a drive failure after about 6 weeks. Took 9 business days for the warranty replacement to arrive. Been running fine for about 6 months since.

Posted by: Jim Lash

I have a 30 hour unit and a 14. After about 14 months, the drive crashed in the 30. I sent it back for "replacement" because of my lifetime service. The 14 hour unit which is about two years old, is still going strong.

Posted by: Bilbrey

Well I'm sending my unit in for repair. It costs $100 while still under warranty!. And out of warranty is only $140 (for the HDR612).

I'm tempted to open it and see if it is the disk failing, or if a build up of dust is shorting out the unit when the humidity is high... hmm...

I have had electronics where the only thing wrong was they needed cleaning.

Two units failing. Who says I don't have luck? Of course, it is bad luck.

Sigh,
Brett

------------------
Experience is the one thing you get, right after you need it.

TiVo doesn't make the content, TiVo makes the content better.
That's my opinion, and I strongly agree with it.

Posted by: samo

You also may want to try TiVo HD from e-bay. Here is the
link http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listing...y168/index.html
Do search on tivo in this category. You'll find 30 hr TiVo drive (with software) for under $80. And you don't have to ship your TiVo and wait 2 weeks or more for somebody else's lemon.

[This message has been edited by samo (edited 12-16-2001).]

Posted by: bsnelson

I've had a 80GB Maxtor that I added go bad, but other than that (knock on wood), I've been lucky with as many units as I have.

I am, however, convinced that the best way to deal with this issue, particularly when the warranty is over, is to "take matters into your own hands" and manage your own drives (backup, restore, purchase etc.). If you can handle this task, with the exception of SA modems, the units seem pretty bulletproof.

Brad

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(4) Philips DSR6000R (165, 67, 35 and 35 hours),
(2) Philips HDR112 (196 and 45 hours)