How long should it take for my hard drive to format on a new setup?
How big a hard drive?
Lite reading:
Mine is an 8TB WD Elements. I just switched out the old 2TB MyBook a half hour ago. The Tablo App isn’t telling me anything about formatting the new drive. The lights are on & blinking, both the Tablo & HDD, but there’s no indication other than an orange dot indicator and “Storage Temporarily Unavailable” showing in the SETTINGS page. It does identify the new drive properly.
I put the 2TB back on my Channel Master, and it only took about 3 minutes to format the drive again. The WD Elements has been formatting(?) 40 minutes now at the Tablo, and it’s not finished yet. I’ll watch, and let you know when it’s done.
(Hours:Minutes)
1:45 - not yet…
2:10 - not yet…
5:00 - Time to try something else.
I took the drive to my Windows PC. It was formatted as NTFS. I had Windows format the drive as ‘ext’.
That didn’t work - I still get the “Storage Temporarily Unavailable”
I hit the reset button on the tablo - didn’t help.
I uninstalled Tablo, and again hit the reset on the Tablo. Then I downloaded the Tablo program again (using the Chrome browser on the PC). It came back up exactly like it was before I uninstalled it. It instantly recognized the name I had given it originally (Tablo Lite 1), and had the list of shows I had recorded.
I also tried my Android phone, Amazon Fire tablet, and a windows laptop (all wireless) Apps, but no help there. The Tablo is hard wired.
Bed time - I’ll try again tomorrow, but at the moment, can’t think of what else to try. At least the Channel Master is working again, so I’m not missing out recording the PBS Country Music history by Ken Burns. Awesome!
Which device/app are you using to connect to your tablo? It’s been suggested to use the web app my.tablotv.com or maybe android, for best results.
Have you followed the directions for adding a new hard drive?
As @djk44883 stated, not all playback devices can handle formatting the hard drive. If you have an android phone or tablet I would suggest using it to format your new hard drive. The last time I formatted a 5TB drive, I think it took less than 5 minutes to complete. The important part is that you must type in the word FORMAT exactly as directed when you receive the prompt.
This is where I have trouble finding a definitive answer. Roku, for example can’t be used for initial setup, ie) format drive. I understand it can perform a channel scan… where can I reference - don’t use Roku [other device] to format new drive. (if that is the case)
Users with a vast range of understanding may think they need to do a “first time setup” all over again - seriously.
You’ve seen some questions from some struggling users here, I’ve read some elsewhere suggesting they may be in over their head.
[It’s been suggested to use the web app my.tablotv.com]
“A connection to your Tablo could not be established. Please check your internet connection.”
I bit the bullet this morning. I decided to just factory reset my stubborn Tablo. I had saved all my recorded shows on my PC (using Tablo Ripper), and there were only 4 or 5 days worth that wouldn’t be on the reformatted drive.
I pushed the blue and held the button in on the Tablo for about five seconds. The indicator light flashed slow for a few seconds, then fast for a few seconds, then back to slow. That’s when I released the button.
Back at the Tablo app on my PC, after seeing and answering the “FORMAT” request, I got the spinning blue arrows telling me my new drive was actually formatting. I went and looked at the drive after a half hour, and yes, that white indicator was flashing semi-fast. I was wondering, because the formatting had been going for about a half hour.
Back at the PC, it was 45 minutes before the formatting was finished. Ta-dah!!!
None of the Tablo screens had changed. It still had my assigned name, the channel list, my recording schedule, and even the “recorded list”. That’s a bit of a problem, since none of those files are on the new hard drive - and I don’t know how to clear that list. When I clicked on one of those “recorded” shows - tablo told me there was a problem, check my network.
I thought that the 5-second “factory reset” would reset everything, but apparently what I did was just allowed the Tablo software to allow me to format the hard drive. Maybe a full factory reset requires a longer blue button or some other tricky sequence.
Thanks to all of you for the helpful hints - I learned a lot from them. If I knew how to do a happy face imoji here, or a thumbs up, I would.
For search purposes: Format changed hard drive. Upsizing Hard Drive. Changing Hard Drives.
Your Tablo should do maintenance on the database overnight. Hopefully that will remove all of those missing recordings. If not, contact Tablo Support and they should be able to help you get everything cleared up.
That’s somewhat where this started…
Just the beginning will tell about how to get/find forum tutorial… then we just kind went off in all directions, and then some.
Just the first day or so - get licensed.
I have read that this may or may not actually be a thing. Any idea if there’s any documentation or @TabloTV posting about it for confirmation?
The one kind of sad thing was that during the “Troubles”, my Tablo wasn’t able to record the first episode of the new Ken Burns series COUNTRY MUSIC on PBS in HD. The good aspect to that scramble was that my old Channel Master DVR was back on line. I’ve watched the 1st episode twice already, once with beer, and once without. It was great either way… it is definitely ‘a keeper’.
Since nightly maintenance has been happening on your tablo since it’s been setup, why is documentation on the “thing” important?
All I know is it updates guide data - does it really do anything more?
It’s unclear weather it uses a “check-in” NTP server, and how often it updates its clock, or what it may be doing. :scared:
I know it’s hard but if you search you can find some of the answers.
Other then that adjust your meds.
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searching isn’t hard or difficult, do it quite often. Finding specific answers… now that’s a struggling challenge at times.
As for my meds, I’m not going to arbitrarily adjust them myself, self medicating can be fun - but it can be fatal if done improperly.