How-to: Use your TiVo Series3 eSATA port to add an external drive

Ever wish you could use that friggin eSATA port TiVo taunts you with on the back of your Series3? If so your moment has finally arrived -- and not a moment too soon for many a DVR-loving TV fans whose drives are filled to the brim with HD programming. Best of all: you don't even have to crack open your box or nothin'. Ready to get it going on? Let's upgrade that TiVo.

Before we get started, be forewarned that this hack supposedly only works on unmodified TiVo Series3 units. Not that we have any idea how the machine knows whether it's been upgraded (we had a how-to for upgrading your internal drive, too), but supposedly if you upgraded your internal drive, this isn't going to work. (If you want to try anyway, let us know in comments how you fared.)

Equipment

• TiVo Series3 (and remote, duh) running 8.1.1 software
  and...
• eSATA enclosure + drive with eSATA cable
  or...
• SATA drive with external power source and eSATA to SATA cable

Directions
This is a fairly easy procedure, so we'll run through the steps.

Power down your TiVo.

Connect your eSATA gear. If you're going to use a straight up bare drive (which we don't suggest), make sure you've got some kind of power source for it.

Turn on your drive, and while you're powering on your TiVo, hold down the pause button. Make sure you keep your remote aimed at your TiVo the whole time!

Keep holding it. The front panel lights turn off, then the orange LED will light up. Now you can go ahead and let go of the pause button; then punch in "62" on your remote. (Apparently this maneuver is called "kickstart 62".)

You'll then reboot, and some bidness starts happening.

Did it work? If so you'll get the screen above. (Sorry about the overscan that cut off the text.)

Boom, now you've got more space! More friggin space, just like that! It's a TiVo miracle. For reference, we took this virgin 250GB Series3 unit up to 370GB with a 120GB 2.5-inch laptop drive in an eSATA enclosure (see above). Besides going to your TiVo's system info, you won't be able to see that you got more space or have a second drive running.

Other bits

If you pull the drive while the unit is still on you'll get the lengthy error message above. Basically you have to either turn the TiVo off, reconnect the drive, and turn it back on, or continue on in single-drive mode, as you were before.

Be forewarned, though! It looks like the Series3 may record simultaneously to both drives (drive-pooling), so if your drive dies or gets pulled, the error states you may lose shows. In other words, don't pull the drive if you don't absolutely have to!

Apparently this technique has been verified up to 1TB total storage -- anyone with a massive eSATA array want to take the plunge and see if we can get a few terabytes of TiVo going on up in here? Leave it in comments.

We didn't have a chance to run some tests on the programs stored on the secondary drive, but let us know if you see anything worthwhile.

Finally, big ups to spike2k5 on TiVo Community who pioneered this technique. Now go forth and expand.

[Rob @ May 4th 2007 10:58PM]

Nice... I guess no one cards 'cause no one has a series three?

[horngreen @ May 4th 2007 11:07PM]

A hack that records to both drives...please.

[jrepetti @ May 4th 2007 11:29PM]

Great beard of Zeus, it worked! 98 HD hours, 927 SD hours with my 500gb external seagate.

[Diane @ May 4th 2007 11:38PM]

this completely and totally rocks, I have a 500GB SATA drive I cna use and there's an eSata case on the way for Monday.

This made my weekend, thanks guys!

[Ryan Block @ May 4th 2007 11:52PM]

Our pleasure!

[Sneezy @ May 5th 2007 12:10AM]

Now, can somebody tell me where to get a Series 3 TiVO for less that $200 legally with no subscription costs or at it's current pricing that allows me to something as simple as word processing on it?

[Brandon Humphries @ May 5th 2007 12:11AM]

I think I peed a little when I read this. How awesome it is that you don't have to open the case or use any MFStools stuff. Back when I had a Series1, I accidently formated my Windows HD that had all my music, movies, photo's, and documents on it when I was trying to bless a drive for use with the tivo. I was a linux noob who got his hda and hdb's mixed up, plus i was an idiot for not backing up (don't worry, i learned my lesson).

[Randolph Lee @ May 5th 2007 1:44AM]

Any experts out there that can help me get High Def shows off of my 2 HDirecTiVos? HR-10-250 model or of of the hard drive on my Cable box DCT6412 III motorola type provided by Adelipha but now being leased from Time Warner Cable the new owners they all seem to have the needed USB2 or firewire ports but with no way to use them(and I am hearing rumors that if I want the promised extra HD content on DirecTiVo I will have to junk my HR10-250s for a new non TiVo DVR (Heck I use the Motorola DCT6412III about 5% of the time as it as I hate the interface on it so much... but with it i only pay a low monthly rental fee the DirecTiVo HD units the first cost me almost $1000!! (Yes I live at the bleeding edge of technology)and the otheron a bargan at $500 and now after 3 years they are junk? and I am to shell out again... well which ever comes through with the High Def shows and stations T I want to watch I hope it will be so I can dump the other provider... it costs a small forturn each year to have all these systems to see the best selection of shows... and where are the history HD stations? oh dear my RANT button got pushed again

I have 3 HD DVRs and I can not do anything with them I would love to be able to take the shows off of them all on to the 4 X500 gig raid 5 drives on my quad 3ghz MacPro 2 gig ram (can get more if needed and x1900 video card so the shows can be redistrubited about the home via ny new 802.11 N Apple TV

So far I have not found anything to do this job... and my faith in the Tivo hacker comunity is being shaken

[Geoffrey Sperl @ May 5th 2007 10:34AM]

This is really off-topic for here, but here's the scoop: Nothing will help you because the shows are already recorded and encrypted. If you were to hack your recorders today (which would require losing all of the old recorded material unless you get really in-depth and figure out how to slice in the hacks as opposed to formating the drive and going from there), and turn off the encryption (an easily done maneuver once the hacking is finished) and then add in the downloading tools you could grab any subsequent recordings.

It's not rocket science, but it's not easy. Google is your friend. As are numerous forums.

[xr @ May 5th 2007 6:31AM]

Thank you for eSATA.

-Randolph Lee

Take a look at these links:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040426151111599

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=386740

http://dvr2mac2dvd.blogspot.com/2007/04/this-is-how-i-did-it.html

[Primate @ May 5th 2007 12:47PM]

Ok here is the question can you remove the drive inside of the tivo completely and have it just record directly and use the drives for the tivo linux os ?

[eric f. @ May 5th 2007 10:58AM]

SO Awesome. I can't wait to get an eSata enclosure to add more HD storage!

This will be great for recording current full seasons of shows like Rome that I discovered late and haven't caught up to yet on DVD.

[eric f. @ May 5th 2007 1:30PM]

I found my eSATA enclosure. OWC Mercury Elite-AL "Quad Interface" eSATA, FireWire 400/800+USB2 Combo Drive Enclosure for SATA Hard Drives $109.99. It's for 3.5" drives, so you can even buy a new, huge 500GB drive for cheap. I'm gonna take a slower 200GB SATA drive out of my G5 for the Tivo and get a faster, larger drive for the computer.

If anyone finds a cheaper/better solution, please post it

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW924AL1K/

[Craig @ May 5th 2007 5:06PM]

I'd just do this unless you can find a 500gb drive for less than $80. That is, if you're wanting to use a $500gb drive instead of your old one.

http://www.buy.com/prod/western-digital-my-book-premium-es-edition-hard-drive-500gb-7200rpm/q/loc/101/204143282.html

[BiG� @ May 5th 2007 2:57PM]

Anyone know if upgrading to 8.3 breaks this? I'd hate to get it all set up, only for a system upgrade to disable it.

[carlos @ May 5th 2007 3:12PM]

It works in 8.3. Read here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=51

[richsadams @ May 5th 2007 4:00PM]

Waiting for confirmation that this works on V8.3x and that it still works when originally installed on V8.1x. Can't wait!

[Yeechang Lee @ May 5th 2007 4:04PM]

My MythTV box and its three high-definition inputs recording to 8TB in dedicated RAID storage laughs at you.

[John Campos @ May 5th 2007 5:09PM]

Weird, how all the screens involving the external sata drive use a serif font; whereas TiVo pretty much always uses a sans serif font. Weird.

[LukeA @ May 5th 2007 5:50PM]

Finally TiVo users have all the features I've had for over a year on my Scientific Atlanta box. Only I didn't have to hack.

[Telk19 @ May 5th 2007 6:18PM]

wait, can really add eSATA drives to SA DVRs? I've got an 8300HD with TWC and would love some extra space - anyone got a link on how to do this?

[LukeA @ May 5th 2007 6:53PM]

Mine has a SATA (not eSATA) port on the back and the Adelphia/Comcast firmware supports it.

[Kevin Fox @ May 6th 2007 1:17AM]

Do I have to repeat the process whenever the TiVo restarts, or is the pairing permanent?

[Ralph Moore @ Jun 2nd 2009 11:32AM]

Can't get past the "Almost there." Screen

[L'Emmerdeur @ May 6th 2007 11:40AM]

Along with a HUGE "Thank you!" for this, I'd like to know: what was it about Friday that made so many of your posts email-worthy? I found myself forwarding post after post to friends - the Spanish solar power tower, buyshifting, this post, the space glove. Usually, I forward maybe one post per week.

[Ryan Block @ May 6th 2007 1:03PM]

No clue! Some days we have a lot of interesting news, some days there's just not a lot going on.

[JeffB @ May 7th 2007 7:03AM]

Has anyone tried this with a Series 3 that has been upgraded? I replaced my original drive with a 500gig drive that I bought on Ebay. I have 65 hours of HD recording possible now. I have 8.1.1 software. Not being as computer literate as others, will the external drive that I once used for my Scientific Atlantic box from Comcast work with the TIVO. I am not sure what the difference is between SATA and eSATA (as people have written) or which one I would have used with the Comcast box. Thank you in advance.

[Ceralor @ May 11th 2007 12:26PM]

eSATA is merely external SATA. It's essentially having a SATA drive but connecting it externally, kinda like using Firewire or USB, but it's as fast as SATA and only usable for storage. Great idea since SATA is hotpluggable.

[curiousj @ May 7th 2007 12:59PM]

Do any of the drives need to be formatted first? If so, with what?

[Randy Stevens @ May 7th 2007 1:59PM]

Anyone know how to do this to a Verizon FIOS DVR?

[jmorgan750 @ May 8th 2007 9:59PM]

This works great. Thanks for sharing this. I'm surprised tivo hasn't offered this. I had a power outage today and the tivo rebooted both drives without any problems. A battery backup is next.
Thanks

[ptivo @ May 8th 2007 10:28PM]

Zoinks! Can it be that easy?! Thanks to the backdoor coders. Double glad to have lifetime on the S3.

[theothereye @ May 11th 2007 12:59PM]

Nice trick, thank you !

--
http://www.otherworldvision.com

[Thomas @ May 15th 2007 6:35PM]

found some external 500GB drives that work. Comes with the eSATA cable for $199.

http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10811

[Nathan @ May 16th 2007 5:18AM]

That is helpful. Thank you. Here is a page with a whole bunch of TiVo and DVR mods and hacks that are cool too.
http://www.satellitesweeper.com/hacking-tivo-and-dvr.htm

[eghm @ Jun 8th 2007 5:27PM]

Thank you so much! 131 HD hours, or 1244 SD hours thanks to you,a Seagate 750G, and a stock series 3 300HD

[Jason Fowler @ Jun 26th 2007 6:16PM]

I have just installed and tested a "budget friently" 1TB do-it-yourself eSATA solution with my Series 3 Tivo and can confirm that it works beautifully

Total Price = $347 + shipping

I used:
A Thecus N2050 eSATA Raid 0 enclosure which holds 2 drives ($129 and a high quality eSATA II cable included)
found here: http://www.xpcgear.com/n2050ud.html

and 2 500GB Maxtor QuickView drives @ $109/ea (rebranded Seagate DB35) which are certified for 24/7 operation and DVR optimized
found here: http://www.computergiants.com/items/one_item.asp?part=120805&cat=5&subsubcat=1568

Total Price to add 1TB of additional storage to your Series 3 Tivo: $347 + shipping

[mark @ Jul 4th 2007 10:16AM]

did anyone post if you have to format the drive or can you just attach it and go?
wilhouse

[Jason Fowler @ Jul 4th 2007 6:44PM]

Mark, don't format or partition the drive. I think that confuses the tivo (if I remember correctly). It's critical that you use raw, unformatted drives only.

[Pat LaPointe @ Aug 31st 2007 5:08PM]

Jason

I recently bought two Series 3 TIVO units and want to add more recording time. I see that you bought a enclosure that handles two harddrives. Can I place two 750tb drives or two 1tb drives in it and will it work?

Hello from Saint Helens Oregon

[e-mail]

[Jason Fowler @ Sep 1st 2007 11:05PM]

Hello Pat =)
Unfortunately, that will not work. The Tivo series 3 can only handle 1TB of esata external storage. If you did make an external drive with 1.5 or 2 TB the tivo just won't recognize it. However, you might check the prices for the 1TB single drives. They might be cheaper than 2 drives and a raid enclosure now. I only used two 500GB drives because they were cheaper back then. By the way, I haven't had to delete a thing in 3 months. I have literally thousands of shows... more than I can ever watch. Anyway, good luck pat. remember not to format the drives as it will confuse the tivo and cause it not to recognize them =) Let me know if I can offer any more advice.

[Jamie @ Jul 7th 2007 3:07PM]

The laugh is on you if you want to watch any premium content. If you just watch Dr. Phil and Lost, then you're all set with MythTv. What an appropriate name, BTW. :-)

[TerabyteTivo @ Jul 15th 2007 10:14PM]

I just added a 750gb Seagate FreeAgent Pro to my Series 3 Tivo. What I did was:

powered down the Tivo (which is running 8.3)

plugged connected the Tivo to the FreeAgent Pro with an esata cable

Powered up the FreeAgent Pro

Powered up the Tivo while holding the pause button (as instructed by Spike2k5 - Thank you!)

When the lights went off I keyed in 62 on the remote

The behavior under 8.3 is a little different than described.

It sits on the "Almost there" screen for a couple of minutes then reboots itself at which point the "Your second drive" screen comes up.

Then it finishes booting and that's it.

Showing 131 hours HD and 1,243 hours standard on the system info screen.

The 750gb FreeAgent external esata drive is $239 at Frys (at least, that's what it was at the Woodridge Illinois store, today).

[Bubba @ Jul 27th 2007 8:42PM]

Cool! version 8.3.1 TiVo HD

Up to 85 HD hours or 800 SD hours.

300GB SATA drive and eSATA enclosure for $80.

[DH @ Jul 29th 2007 4:28PM]

Purchased the Tivo Series 3 HD DVR (TCD652160) yesterday at Circuit City. Works beautifully with dual cable cards. I tried to expand the capacity beyond the 20-hour HD capacity using the instructions above, but without success.

Used an eSATA cable, with Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB drive (ST307504FPA1E2-RK).

Any suggestions on how to get this rig working would be appreciated.

Any suggestions?

[SW @ Jul 30th 2007 2:35PM]

Just got the $299 Tivo Series 3 at Circuit City, Has anyone succeeded at installing an external esata drive........I'm also having problems, blank screen, when trying to get to online features like Yahoo Pictures and Yahoo Weather.

[brett @ Jul 31st 2007 6:31PM]

Hi! Just wanted to thank TerabyteTivo for the explaination on the TIMING of when to type "62". I have been banging my head against the wall for 2 hours trying to figure this one out.

Here are the problems I went thru trying to get my FreeAgentPro 750 attached (it is now attached and working fine).

The first and most obvious is that it does not come with the proper cable. I ordered this from NewEgg.

Definitely had to trim it down. it was a LinkDepot e-sata round blue cable. Just shy of making the connections. I had to trim it on both ends, but this was easy using a serrated kitchen knife.

I knew I had a good connection, because during the "installation" process for the kickstart 62, I had MANY false installations. When I powered down the Tivo, the yellow light on the seagate would go dim.

Long story short, what drove me mad was the timing process in the tivo software version 8.3, and how it differs from the original 8.1 instructions.

Here is how it goes:

Hold down the Pause, and keep holding it until all of the lights go out, except for the orange. Keep holding pause for 2-3 more seconds just to make sure. Next hit 62. The unit will continue to load, but then will restart around the same time it would typically say "ready.set.tivo" on the front. This is a good thing.

Next you will wait about 3 minutes during the power-up process before you get the HD screen. It took about another 3 minutes on this screen and everything was fine, with heaps of storage.

I hope this helps at least SOMEONE from pulling out their hair for 2.5 hours like me. Thank goodness I had patience, and my wife was away at class so she didn't hear my creative swearing.

Take care, and thanks again TerabyteTivo.

Best,

Brett

[Beno @ Aug 30th 2007 8:31PM]

Thanks, Brett!! The time you spent writing your note saved me two or more hours of sore forehead and sore throat!

Same setup, version 8.3.1, Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750Gb, same cable too.

First two times TiVo acted like nothing was different. Then I shaved the ends of my cable using a Buck knife, tried again, twice, same deal. Swearing, etc. Then I *finished* reading your entry and timed the entering of 62. For whatever reason, that didn't work first time around but it did the second time around, thank GOD!

So thanks again for the post! Yay 132 hours of HD!

Now we just need a way to use our Series 3s with either cable or satellite...

[Rohit Khare @ Sep 20th 2007 2:05AM]

Hey, I also lost 2+ hours, but I think in the end it was that I disconnected the *ethernet* cable at boot! Brett's problem was otherwise getting too familiar... :(

[Dan @ Aug 5th 2007 6:43PM]

I appreciate Brett's comments. I still have not been able to get this to work. I am beginning to feel sad... No, that's not true. I am feeling sad.

The process goes fine as far as I can tell clear up to the point where I enter 62. 45 seconds later it restarts but I never see the "added hard drive" screen.

Here's what I've done:
I've held the pause button for an extra couple of seconds once the amber light is the only one on.
I have been sure to not hesitate between pressing the 6 and the 2.
I have fresh batteries in the remote.
I have moved my drive as far away from the other electronic gear as its 3 foot length will allow. I have connected the FAP drive to my laptop and seen it come up (NTFS).
I have pushed the cables into their receivers as hard as they'll go and they feel snug. I am using a Tripp Lite cable as recommended on one of these discussion boards.
I have tried two different drives.
-a Seagate 750GB in a coolgear enclosure
-a Seagate FAP 750
I am on my fourth esata cable.

I have settled on this combo of hardware:
FAP750
Tripp Lite esata cable (# P950-36I)
My S3 TiVo running 8.3.1

Two things haunt me...
1) Should I reformat the FAP drive? (I suspect it doesn't matter since the Tivo reportedly formats the drive automatically)
2) I *did* get the coolgear hardware to work briefly but with many crashes. I ultimately quit using that set up in favor of the FAP. Do I need to go back to using that enclosure instead of the FAP750?

Any thoughts? Am I just a jinxed user?

Despairingly,
Dan