Looking for a hard drive for a Tivo Series 3

Mr Tony

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Nov 17, 2003
1,980
7,901
Mankato, MN
My Tivo Series 3 (the one without the OLED display) is on the fritz...rebooting at random times. Figured out its the hard drive that is going.

I have the Roamio OTA but where I live ABC is on a low powered analog translator and the Roamio is digital only. So I use the Series 3 for mainly ABC. ;)

Anybody got a stock (160GB) hard drive for a series 3 they are willing to part with cheap?? If so PM me or post here. Thanks!
 
Here's one for $22, or "Make Offer" <--snip-->
I know I could go the fleabay route but I threw it out here thinking someone might have one that they dont use and would part with it
In the FTA area we did that a few times as a "pay it forward" type thing ;)
 
Can you use bigger? Im certain I have a couple of 250 or 320s laying around. Does it have to be a certain brand? Or does it have to specifically be a certain Tivo drive?
 
Can you use bigger? Im certain I have a couple of 250 or 320s laying around. Does it have to be a certain brand? Or does it have to specifically be a certain Tivo drive?
The ones that are in the Tivo's are Westen Digital. I did some looking and there are 2 different Series 3 models. One with a OLED display and one without (*the one without is commonly referred to as Tivo HD). I saw a couple on Ebayt but they will only work with the OLED one, NOT the HD. I even tried seeing if the one in my old Tivo Series 2 would work but that has different connectors.

Like as example there is a 1TB drive that says in the description
This upgrade is intended for the TiVo Series 3 (aka TiVo HD) model TCD652160 and will not work in any other model
which is the model I have

The connection looks like what is in this pic
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TiVo-Series...ern-Digital-/151688113923?hash=item235150ef03

Maybe later I'll take a pic of what mine looks like for the connectors.
 
Thats just a standard SATA connection. It appears you can use any size hard drive, but you need to be able to image the boot partition of the original drive.
 
I'm not a computer person so its all greek to me. If I get a bigger drive I know over at tivocommunity they have the instructions on setting it up.
 
Will either of these work for you? The WD seems to be in a bit better shape than the Seagate.

Code:
-------------------------------------------------------------
         DFT-Win HGST HDD Diagnostic TEST
         Copyright (C) 2012 HGST
-------------------------------------------------------------
      DATE       :  09/27/2015 13:20:32

DRIVE INFORMATION
        Serial Number     : WD-WMAT14093940
        Model             : WDC WD3200AAKS-75B3A0
        Firmware Rev.     : 01.03A01
        Capacity          : 298GB
        SMART Status      : Healthy

Test Log
        ReadErrStat       : Done
        Result            : Pass
        Date/Time         : 09/27/2015 13:19:50

        SMART QT          : Done
        Result            : Pass
        Date/Time         : 09/27/2015 13:19:50
     

HD Tune: WDC     WD3200AAKS-75B3A Health
     
ID                               Current  Worst    ThresholdData     Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate         200      200      51       22       Ok    
(03) Spin Up Time                156      154      21       3191     Ok    
(04) Start/Stop Count            100      100      0        152      Ok    
(05) Reallocated Sector Count    200      200      140      0        Ok    
(07) Seek Error Rate             200      200      0        0        Ok    
(09) Power On Hours Count        64       64       0        26727    Ok    
(0A) Spin Retry Count            100      100      0        0        Ok    
(0B) Calibration Retry Count     100      100      0        0        Ok    
(0C) Power Cycle Count           100      100      0        151      Ok    
(C0) Power Off Retract Count     200      200      0        84       Ok    
(C1) Load Cycle Count            200      200      0        152      Ok    
(C2) Temperature                 110      93       0        33       Ok    
(C4) Reallocated Event Count     200      200      0        0        Ok    
(C5) Current Pending Sector      200      200      0        0        Ok    
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable       200      200      0        0        Ok    
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count   200      200      0        0        Ok    
(C8) Write Error Rate            200      200      0        0        Ok    
(F0) Head Flying Hours           100      253      0        0        Ok    
(F1) (unknown attribute)         100      253      0        0        Ok    
(F2) (unknown attribute)         100      253      0        0        Ok    

Power On Time         : 26727
Health Status         : Ok



-------------------------------------------------------------
         DFT-Win HGST HDD Diagnostic TEST
         Copyright (C) 2012 HGST
-------------------------------------------------------------
      DATE       :  09/27/2015 13:30:22

DRIVE INFORMATION
        Serial Number     : 9ND1B5ZG
        Model             : ST3250824AS
        Firmware Rev.     : 3.ADJ
        Capacity          : 232GB
        SMART Status      : Healthy

Test Log
        ReadErrStat       : Done
        Result            : Pass
        Date/Time         : 09/27/2015 13:30:18

        SMART QT          : Done
        Result            : Pass
        Date/Time         : 09/27/2015 13:30:18


HD Tune:         ST3250824AS Health

ID                               Current  Worst    ThresholdData       Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate         117      78       6        123376922  Ok    
(03) Spin Up Time                90       90       0        0          Ok    
(04) Start/Stop Count            97       97       20       3389       Ok    
(05) Reallocated Sector Count    100      100      36       8          Ok    
(07) Seek Error Rate             68       60       30       850641738  Ok    
(09) Power On Hours Count        43       43       0        49949      Ok    
(0A) Spin Retry Count            100      100      97       0          Ok    
(0C) Power Cycle Count           100      100      20       281        Ok    
(BB) (unknown attribute)         100      100      0        0          Ok    
(BD) (unknown attribute)         100      100      0        0          Ok    
(BE) Airflow Temperature         69       53       45       521535519  Ok    
(C2) Temperature                 31       47       0        31         Ok    
(C3) Hardware ECC Recovered      70       46       0        184380272  Ok    
(C5) Current Pending Sector      100      100      0        0          Ok    
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable       100      100      0        0          Ok    
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count   200      200      0        0          Ok    
(C8) Write Error Rate            100      253      0        0          Ok    
(CA) TA Counter Increased        100      253      0        0          Ok    

Power On Time         : 49949
Health Status         : Ok
 
The western digital one is pretty much what TivoCommunity recommends (except they show a 500GB) so yeah that would work.

Its yours. Send me a PM where to send it. I need to make sure its wiped well, so it will be Tuesday before I send it out.
 
When I was into the Tivo stuff I used to have a cloned backup drive ready to go. It was easy on the earlier series models with WinMFS. No Linux required. I lost track as the models got newer about the utilities and tools. It was always a good idea to have the image copied before the drive failed to boot the machine.
 
My desktop computer is running Vista. I think I'll try that! :)
I just powered off the computer and used the cables from the DVD drive. When I booted up the computer it gave me a screen that showed 2 drives hooked up and the 2nd one was "failing" (the Tivo Drive). I hit F2 to continue and the computer booted up fine. When I copied the Tivo stuff over and plugged in the new drive I didnt get that message
 
  • Like
Reactions: eurosport
Hey Iceberg, I have been looking at the TIVO boxes. If I get one for the man cave, what would you recommend? I have an external hard drive hooked up my vip211k and use dish. The locals just give times but no programs so I don't know what's on ME channel and few others. I seen you use TIVO! Never used these before. I'll have to google what a TIVO Series 3 is? Thanks!
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)