now that we are going to be charged for cloud storage I have decided to add an external hard drive. Is there a way to do that and not lose existing unseen cloud programs? If so what is the procedure. If not what is the best way to add the external drive? Simply plug it in or somehow use the reset button?
According to the excerpt from the blog post below, you have until June 30, 2019 to watch all the shows you have recorded in the cloud. So my recommendation is you have a USB HDD sooner rather than later.
“On that date, all unpaid Cloud DVR accounts will enter a 30-day grace period wherein customers can continue to watch existing recordings but will no longer be able to record new shows.
If a current customer chooses to add a hard drive instead of continuing with the Cloud DVR service, new recordings will be sent to the hard drive and playback of existing cloud-based recordings will be available until June 30th.”
Your other option is to rip the shows off your Tablo using apps such as Tablo Exporter, Tablo Ripper, ota2GO, SurLaTablo, etc.
See section of the forum below for all these unofficial user made apps.
https://community.tablotv.com/c/tablo-apps/third-party-apps-plex
Good info. Thx. Now how do I install the external drive? Just plug it in or is there some procedure I have to follow?
Should be able to hook it up and it should prompt you to format the drive.
Yep.
@rwlade Just connect it to the USB port and hit the blue reboot button.
When you connect to your Tablo the next time (via web or mobile app) it should prompt you to format the drive.
As we get closer to the transition date for cloud we’ll be emailing everyone who’s using cloud today with more details, options, and instructions.
That worked. Thanks! FYI I needed to use the app on my phone. The ROKU app could not do the HD formating. All is well now!