Install Dvr Expander Tivo
Design
ESATA drives identified by manufacturers as “DVR Expander” or “DVR Compatible” that do not have standby or sleep modes such as: Western Digital My Book DVR Expander; iOmega DVR Expander; Apricorn DVR Expander. Installation/Setup Motorola. Disconnect power from DVR; Connect eSATA cable from eSATA drive.
Western Digital sure loves its MyBook design. We've seen too many different flavours of the MyBook design with slightly different interfaces, capabilities and colours to adequately list all of them within the space constraints of a review. The My DVR Expander looks pretty much identical to any and all of them; it's a black, vaguely bookish (but only bookish in the way that those terrible false boxes that are meant to look like books in a bookshelf do) shaped external drive enclosure with a shiny orange power/status button on the front of the drive. The My DVR Expander connects via SATA only, and requires a power plug as well — which we'll get back to shortly.
The MyBook design isn't one that we'd say was innately lounge room friendly. Its black plastic style won't look out of place next to a lot of AV equipment, but at the same time it's not particularly small, and the 1m SATA cable provided could prove a challenge to integrate into some home theatre cabinet set-ups, depending on where your TiVo actually is.
Features
One key thing to make clear in the features is that when Western Digital say 'My DVR Expander', what the company really mean is 'My TiVo Expander'. It's so far the only device to get TiVo accreditation in the Australian marketplace, and all the documentation presumes you're going to plug it into the Australian model TiVo. From a storage viewpoint, the drive has 1TB of data capacity, which rather dwarfs the native 160GB of on-board storage on a TiVO PVR. That's good for around 200 hours of additional HD TV recording, or 400 hours of SD if that's to your taste.
Performance
One thing we can't fault with the My DVR Expander is the relative ease of installation, slightly short SATA cables notwithstanding. We plugged the drive into a TiVo, which detected it and popped a message up asking us if we wanted to install it. From there, the system rebooted itself, and after the typical five-minute wait that you get every time the TiVo reboots, we were good to go. The TiVo reported the drive and our expanded recording capacity, and we quickly found the extra space being filled with additional programming suggestions as the TiVo realised it had additional space to fill.
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Install Dvr Expander Tivoli
- 1 Use a Hard Disk for a Samsung DVR
- 2 Play DVR Files on a PC
- 3 Rename a Western Digital External Hard Drive
- 4 Use an Apple Component AV Cable
The Western Digital My Book AV DVR Expander enables you to record more hours of video from a digital video recorder, television, DVD media or even VCR tapes, with the right hardware. This can help you consolidate training videos and other media needed during the course of business. As of June 2012, current model My Book AV DVR Expanders ship with 1TB hard drives. However, older models often have smaller drive sizes of 250GB to 500GB. If you want to add more storage space to the My Book AV DVR Expander, simply replace the internal hard drive yourself. You can purchase a 1TB or 2TB replacement drive for much less than the price of a new DVR Expander.
1.
Disconnect the eSATA cable for the DVR Expander from the DVR or computer if you haven't already done so. Unplug the AC adapter from the unit.
2.
Position the DVR Expander so that you can access the bottom of the case. Locate the four rubber grommets in each corner on the bottom of the base. Use an awl or small flathead screwdriver to pry out the rubber grommets gently. Set the grommets aside in a safe place for later.
3.
Use the Phillips screwdriver to remove the four retaining screws on the bottom of the DVR Expander.
4.
Use the awl or flathead screwdriver to separate the base of the DVR from the bottom of the shell casing. There are plastic tabs along the edge of the base and the bottom of the shell casing that you must disengage before the base will release. The base of the DVR expander contains the hard drive tray and main circuit board. After you disengage the plastic tabs with the awl or flathead screwdriver, slide the base out of the outer shell casing until you can access the ribbon cable that leads from the control panel buttons on the top of the DVR Expander to the main circuit board.
5.
Disconnect the ribbon cable from the main circuit board and pull the base completely out of the outer shell casing.
6.
Remove the four Phillips screws that secure the hard drive inside the hard drive tray of the base. Slide the hard drive forward and away from the main circuit board until the pin receptacle on the rear of the hard drive separates from the pins on the main circuit board. Set the old hard drive aside.
7.
Insert the new hard drive into the hard drive tray. Slide the hard drive to the rear of the tray until the receptacle seats securely onto the pins on the main circuit board. Reinsert the retaining screws from the old hard drive into the holes on the side of the tray. Tighten the retaining screws with the Phillips screwdriver.
8.
Reinsert the base into the outer shell casing of the DVR Expander. Slide the base into the shell casing until you can connect the ribbon cable from the control panel. Connect the ribbon cable to the main circuit board on the DVR Expander. Push the base the rest of the way into the casing until the plastic tabs engage and lock.
9.
Reinsert the retaining screws in the bottom of the DVR expander and tighten them with the Phillips screwdriver. Reinsert the rubber grommets into their holes and push firmly on them until fully seated.
10.
Reconnect the AC power adapter to the DVR expander. Connect the eSATA to the DVR expander and the eSATA port on the rear of the computer. Wait a few seconds for Windows to recognize the device and display a pop-up window prompting you to format the drive. Click the “Format” button, and then wait a few minutes for Windows to format and initialize the drive inside the DVR expander.
11.
Use the DVR expander as an expansion drive in Windows or connect the device to your DVR and use as you normally would.
Things Needed
- Phillips No. 2 screwdriver
- Awl or small-tip flathead screwdriver
Warning
- Most DVRs recognize the drive in the DVR expander even after upgrading it. However, if you change the drive in the DVR expander and own a TiVo Premiere or Series 3 recording device, the DVR wont' recognize the new drive. This is because TiVo DVR's recognize only certain Western Digital drive model numbers inside the DVR Expander device. Consequently, if you upgrade the internal drive with a larger capacity unit, the model number changes and the device will no longer work with a TiVo Premiere or Series 3 DVR.
References (5)
About the Author
Jeff Grundy has been writing computer-related articles and tutorials since 1995. Since that time, Grundy has written many guides to using various applications that are published on numerous how-to and tutorial sites. Born and raised in South Georgia, Grundy holds a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Photo Credits
- Chad Baker/Digital Vision/Getty Images