Add a Second Hard Drive to Your TiVo

Tired of having to erase old shows from your TiVo's puny hard drive? Hack your Tivo by slapping on a massive external drive.

By Zack Stern, PCWorld

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Remove the Internal Drive

Disconnect the SATA data-and-power cable from the internal hard drive. With a Torx-10 screwdriver, remove the four screws that hold the drive cage to the case. (The screws near the front bezel are difficult to reach.) Lift the cage out of the box.

Remove the Case

First, turn off and unplug the TiVo HD. Use a Torx-10 screwdriver to remove the six screws on the back of the DVR's case, and remove the top cover. Always keep your fingers well away from the capacitors on the back left, near where the unit's power cord connects. These can carry a dangerous electrical charge, even when the TiVo is unplugged.

Remove the Internal Drive

Format the Drives With a PC

I recommend that you back up the original drive to another SATA drive. Connect both drives to a PC, and run WinMFS as an administrator by launching it with a right-click and choosing 'Run as administrator'. Be sure to select the TiVo-formatted drive as 'A' and '1', and click Tools, Mfscopy. Select the destination drive in the following screen with the drop-down menu so that only Source A and Destination A are chosen. Be patient; the software takes about an hour to complete the backup process, and at times it may appear as though it has stalled or crashed.

Turn off your computer, and replace the old backup drive with your new SATA drive. Run WinMFS as an administrator again. After clicking File, Select Drive, choose the original drive as 'A'. The software will identify it as TiVo-formatted. Click the check box for the 'B' drive, and choose the new hard drive. Verify that its size matches your expectation. Click Select, and choose Tools, Mfsadd.

Reinstall the Internal Drive

Reinstall the original ('A') drive inside the TiVo, and then install the new ('B') drive in the external case.

Connect the External Drive

With everything powered off, connect the external drive; afterward, turn on the TiVo and the drive. The TiVo should boot to its home screen after about 5 minutes. You'll have to keep the external drive powered up and connected from this point forward--if you remove it, you'll lose any new recordings made since the upgrade, just as you would with an official TiVo upgrade.

Enjoy Hundreds of Hours of Recorded Programs

Once your new, external drive is connected, you should have ample capacity for hundreds (or thousands, if you connected a terabyte drive) of hours of standard-def programs, and more than a hundred hours of high-def recordings.

For more entertainment hacks, check out "5 Cool Hacks for Your Entertainment Gadgets."