Question about external drives and the 4th gen 4-tuner Tablo. If I use an external drive to record shows, can I later install the same external drive on a replacement Tablo and watch the old recordings?
Just to be clear I have no interest of watching recordings on non-Tablo devices. In other words Tablo #1 records all the shows. Tablo #1 breaks and I get a replacement. Can I install the external drive on Tablo #2 and watch previously recorded shows?
Currently I don’t believe that it is possible to transfer a harddrive from one 4th Gen to another 4th Gen.
https://support.tablotv.com/hc/en-us/articles/213345486-Moving-your-recordings-to-a-new-Tablo
Thanks for the info. That is one less reason to invest in an external drive.
Read the article for expanding the recording storage. Is there a noticeable performance improvement after adding the external drive?
No, I don’t think you can, certainly not easily. When you connect an External Drive to a Tablo it somehow ‘pairs’ with the Tablo. I think it may be that the file directory is stored on the internal memory, so if you move the drive to another device it can’t find that directory.
That being said, I think that an external drive is well worth the expense. The included internal memory will store up to 50 hours of programming. That really goes quicker than you might think. If you mostly record higher resolution Over-The-Air programming, you won’t get 50 hours out of it. Further, the Tablo converts it to MPeg4, which takes some time and internal resources. If you use a good quality external drive, it stores in the show’s native format, which is often better resolution MPeg2. It will take up to 8TB, but most users don’t need nearly that much. I like the Western Digital Elements series. You can get a 2TB for less than $70.00.
Agreed. Very happy with my WD 8TB storage since upgrading last week. There is always a risk with storage, both internal and external, but it’s better than losing all of your recordings when you have a day full of NCAA, HOCKEY, NBA And SNL.
No complaints so far!
From the Tablo support site (link above)
NOTE: It is not possible to:
I had a Tablo S4 die at a year old. I had a 4tb external drive on it and several shows that I have not watched as of yet. When adding the replacement Tablo it did not ask for access to my network and saw the external drive on power up. I did not have to reformat it. As I have a couple series on it that I have not watched as of yet, I am disappointed that they are gone. There needs to be a way to recover these shows. I will not reformat the drive in the event that these may be recovered in the future. (here’s hoping)
I have not connected the external drive from my 4th generation Tablo to my computer, so I do not know what it might look like. However, if it is similar to the old Tablo, it might be possible to recover the recordings. See this message for more information: My Tablo has died 🪦 - #12 by jwhitlow