Extending Drive Life

Are the hard drives any less active/stressed when a Tivo is tuned to the
music channels?

If so, can one reduce hard drive wear and tear by tuning to music channels,
and/or putting the unit on standby?

Getting tired of having drives die...

"David" wrote in message ...
Are the hard drives any less active/stressed when a Tivo is tuned to the
music channels?

If so, can one reduce hard drive wear and tear by tuning to music channels,
and/or putting the unit on standby?

Getting tired of having drives die...



No. While a music channel is selected buffering still occurs,
but the "trick play" features are unavailable.

Putting a DirecTV DVR in standby stops the live buffers, but there is no
evidence that doing this will extend the life of the disk drive.
The standalone TiVo continues to use the live buffer while in standby.

"Jack Ak" wrote in message
m...

"David" wrote in message
...
Are the hard drives any less active/stressed when a Tivo is tuned to the
music channels?

If so, can one reduce hard drive wear and tear by tuning to music
channels,
and/or putting the unit on standby?

Getting tired of having drives die...

No. While a music channel is selected buffering still occurs,
but the "trick play" features are unavailable.

Putting a DirecTV DVR in standby stops the live buffers, but there is no
evidence that doing this will extend the life of the disk drive.
The standalone TiVo continues to use the live buffer while in standby.


Thks for the reply!

Sooooo... would it be any easier on a hidef Tivo's drives to leave the
unit
tuned to non-HD channels when not using it?

I wish the darned things had some kind of a real hibernate feature, short of
pulling the plug..

BTW, I have a HR 10-250 Hidef Directivo and an RCA DVR80 SD DirectTivo.

In article ,
"David" wrote:

Are the hard drives any less active/stressed when a Tivo is tuned to the
music channels?

If so, can one reduce hard drive wear and tear by tuning to music channels,
and/or putting the unit on standby?

Getting tired of having drives die...

Make sure the unit is well ventilated, so the internal temperature is
down to or below 40 degrees C may help.

Thks for the reply!

Sooooo... would it be any easier on a hidef Tivo's drives to leave the
unit
tuned to non-HD channels when not using it?

I wish the darned things had some kind of a real hibernate feature, short of
pulling the plug..

BTW, I have a HR 10-250 Hidef Directivo and an RCA DVR80 SD DirectTivo.

Don't worry about it, it's not worth it. We can argue till next century
over whether power cycles are more or less damaging to a drive than
leaving it running all the time, but either is likely not much better
than the other. Better to just let the unit run the way it is designed.

If you are losing a lot of drives it's most likely due to some other
factor. The two biggest hard drive killers are heat and vibration.
Make sure you have good ventilation and your fan is unblocked and
turning easily in order to keep the temp in your Tivo from getting too
high. Avoid moving your Tivo while it is on as much as possible to
avoid vibration, and don't let it experience any large shocks (like
dropping it), even if it's off. And don't run it while it's set on top
of your subwoofer ;-).

Think of it like a light bulb. A light bulb that stays cool and isn't
dropped is likely to last much longer than one mishandled and run at
excessive voltage, but there is no guarantee.

Randy S.

Jack Zwick wrote:
In article ,
"David" wrote:

Are the hard drives any less active/stressed when a Tivo is tuned to the
music channels?

If so, can one reduce hard drive wear and tear by tuning to music channels,
and/or putting the unit on standby?

Getting tired of having drives die...

Make sure the unit is well ventilated, so the internal temperature is
down to or below 40 degrees C may help.

Now you have me worried. Today I moved my DirecTivo inside a typical VCR /
Receiver cabinet. The glass front does not shut tightly and has the usual port
holes for wires in back. The reported temperature is 51 C. But says "normal". I
may put a fan on the cabinet. I'm wondering what other folks are reporting for
the internal temperature?

My series 1 runs at about 31C, my series 2 runs at 33C. No cabinet, just
sitting on top of a rarely used VCR. 51C may be in the normal range, but
I think I'd much rather see it closer to 40C or less if possible.

DanR wrote:


Now you have me worried. Today I moved my DirecTivo inside a typical VCR /
Receiver cabinet. The glass front does not shut tightly and has the usual port
holes for wires in back. The reported temperature is 51 C. But says "normal". I
may put a fan on the cabinet. I'm wondering what other folks are reporting for
the internal temperature?

In article ,
"DanR" wrote:



Jack Zwick wrote:
In article ,
"David" wrote:

Are the hard drives any less active/stressed when a Tivo is tuned to the
music channels?

If so, can one reduce hard drive wear and tear by tuning to music
channels,
and/or putting the unit on standby?

Getting tired of having drives die...

Make sure the unit is well ventilated, so the internal temperature is
down to or below 40 degrees C may help.

Now you have me worried. Today I moved my DirecTivo inside a typical VCR /
Receiver cabinet. The glass front does not shut tightly and has the usual
port
holes for wires in back. The reported temperature is 51 C. But says "normal".
I
may put a fan on the cabinet. I'm wondering what other folks are reporting
for
the internal temperature?

Yup 51 degrees is high. I run 39 to 41 with 2 160 Gig drives and the
Weaknees cooling kit, but the original OEM fan in back.

Now you have me worried. Today I moved my DirecTivo inside a typical VCR /
Receiver cabinet. The glass front does not shut tightly and has the usual
port
holes for wires in back. The reported temperature is 51 C. But says
"normal". I
may put a fan on the cabinet. I'm wondering what other folks are reporting
for
the internal temperature?

Yeowch, 51C? Mine runs at 36C. Arrange better ventilation. ASAP.

One trick would be to put a temperature operated fan on the cabinet so it
automatically runs if things get too hot. Another would be to move the unit
to another part of the cabinet and/or arrange more free space around it. As
in, don't put it on top of something hot like the amplifier/receiver. It
doesn't help to have the fan pulling already heated air into the Tivo. That
and if other things are stacked on top of it you lose some of the convection
flow. Move it to the bottom of the stack and space other things away from
the top a bit.

Make sure the cabinet's not in direct sunlight. No amount of ventilation
will help if it's baking in the sun.

Start by running it in the current location with the cabinet doors
completely open or removed. Let it run all night this way and then check
the temp. Then move it in the cabinet to better avoid heat (bottom of the
stack, for example) and likewise check the temp. Find the coolest location
and THEN try it with the doors closed or back on the cabinet. If that
significantly raises the temp then you'd want to arrange to vent the cabinet
better. Or get a different cabinet.

Heat is the single worst enemy of hard drive components after vibration,
followed third by thermal shock (rapid temp changes). If you keep the drive
as cool as possible it will most certainly last longer. Heat will kill it
sooner. How soon is always debatable but it's like changing the oil in your
car. If you only intend to own the car for 20k miles then who cares about
the oil! If, however, you want the engine to last you'd be foolish not to
maintain it. Heat and computer drives are likewise vulnerable. Yes, you
can push your car's engine to longer oil change intervals but doing it more
frequently will generally make it last longer. Yes, you can run your Tivo
at 51C but letting it run cooler will generally make it last longer as well.

-Bill Kearney

David seemed to utter in :

Are the hard drives any less active/stressed when a Tivo is tuned to
the music channels?

If so, can one reduce hard drive wear and tear by tuning to music
channels, and/or putting the unit on standby?

Getting tired of having drives die...

Please... not this thread again.

-- TRW
_______________________________________
t r w 7
at
i x dot n e t c o m dot c o m
_______________________________________