Give your DVR a storage boost

Ever since I wrote about Apricorn's DVR Xpander, I've received many e-mails from readers asking about a similar unit for their TiVos. Today I have the answer.

(Credit: Western Digital)

Western Digital announced Wednesday its TiVo-verified My DVR Expander, which offers up to 1TB of storage capacity. The unit is designed to work with TiVo Series 3 and TiVo HD digital video recorders. Apart from TiVo, it has also been tested to work with Scientific Atlanta's Explorer 8300 series DVRs, which includes the 8300, 8300 HD, 8300 MR, and 8300 HD-MR models.

The new expander allows you to instantly and conveniently increase your DVR's recording capacity by attaching the two using the high-speed eSATA connection. One terabyte of storage means about 100 hours of HD recording or about 400 hours of non-HD recording. The actual result, of course, varies depending on the level of compression.

While this is great news, I just wonder why Western Digital doesn't offer more storage space for the unit. The company has been offering 1.5TB and 2TB SATA hard drives for a while now, and just Monday the company announced the availability of a new low-power desktop hard drive.

The My DVR Expander is about the size of the WD My Book World Edition NAS server and comes in 500GB and 1TB versions. Choose carefully as you won't be able to replace the hard drive of the unit by yourself in case you want to increase the amount of storage later.

The new TiVo-verified My DVR Expander is available now and costs $200 for the 1TB version, and $129.99 for the 500GB version.

[coheeed2113]

will this work with Dish DVR?

[ngodong]

I am not sure Coheeed2113. If your DVR has an eSATA connection, chances are it might. I think you'd best ask the provider.

[mjm_0]

do we think that it would work with TiVo series 2?

[funkpod]

i'd like to know this as well. probably doesn't have the right connections, though...

[zlevee]

The series 2 doesn't have eSATA

[paulimusmaximus]

That would be awesome, since my scientific atlanta explorer can only hold about 20 hours of hd. Too bad I'm getting rid of comcast in a week. I think a more important question should be, since hard drives are so cheap, why can't they put a bigger one in the dvr to begin with?

[zlguocius]

The most recent TiVo HD XL has a 1TB internal hard drive, up from 160GB. Of course I think its list price is like $300 more than its 160GB cousin.

[zlevee]

um.... the 500GB version has been out since October 2007.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/tivo/western-digital-confirms-500gb-my-dvr-expander-drive-works-with-tivo-313880.php

[bigmc6000]

Is there any info for DirecTV DVR's? I'm getting close to mine fairly quickly with the number of shows I record and I know it's got jacks in the back - I'm just not sure if they'd understand me plugging in a HD.

Thanks!

[kscottdunn]

I have an HR 22-100 from DirecTV and used an AcomData PureDrive 1 TB USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive. The eSATA cable isn't included. It's worked really well. Just be aware that when you attatch the external drive the DVR will ignore your internal drive and you won't be able to access the shows you already have recorded unless you unplug the external drive. In addition, the programming guide will need to redownload and you'll need to reprogram the shows you want to record. Tedious, but worth it.
Here is a link to it on cnet:
http://reviews.cnet.com/external-hard-drives/acomdata-puredrive-pdhd1000use-72/4505-3190_7-32909131.html?tag=mncol;lst

[hk2000]

I just boguht a HD case for $20 and WD 1TB CaviarGreen for $99.00 out them together and hooked it to SA 8300HD. its been working with no problems for several months now.

[missapple27]

I bought the 500GB DVR Expander for my TiVo and after collecting many episodes of shows I wanted to watch all at once--my TiVo died and I ended up losing about 200GBs of recordings.

I got a replacement TiVo but I have been reluctant to hook up the DVR Expander because in the back of my mind I wonder if that may have been a contributor to my TiVo dying only a couple of months out of warranty. even if it wasn't a contributor, I figure it is better to watch my recordings quicker. if the TiVo dies again, I won't lose as much.

[Wes#1]

And that's the real problem. When these things crash, you don't just loose hardware... you've lost your movies and programs (which are not as easily replaced).