Recovering recording off internal drive after switching to external drive due to overheating issues on internal drive

[MonkeyMom]

Hey there!! So my Tablo had a freak-fest last night. After a solid 9-months or so of almost issue free use, the Tablo seriously over-heated and corrupted every recording for the 9pm last night (3 programs) None of the programs are watchable and it is clearly not an antenna issue. I unplugged the unit last night and let it cool. This morning the 9pm recordings were unwatchable, but my older recordings are fine. The unit is very hot, so I opted to just pull the internal drive. I have 2 issues I’m looking to resolve:

1. Can I at some point pop the old internal drive back in and recover the good recordings? Or should I just assume the drive has been utterly destroyed and it isn’t just a few recordings that were affected?

2. I have added an external drive (so hopefully I will eliminate the overheating issue. But, in my recordings sections, all my old recordings are still showing up there. I’m assuming this is on a small native drive that holds the basic information and points to the hard drive (which, obviously, is no longer there). Is there a way to remove all those shortcuts or do I need to manually remove them? I don’t really want to do a factory reset if I can avoid doing that.

My tech grammar is rated at kindergarten - so if I have used incorrect terminology, please forgive me. I am trying to learn, but am by no means any sort of an expert.

Thanks so much.

[djk44883]

@MonkeyMom

Can I at some point pop the old internal drive back in and recover the good recordings? Or should I just assume the drive has been utterly destroyed and it isn’t just a few recordings that were affected?

Based on what… the drive is utterly destroyed? Some shows are unwatchable while others are fine? If older recordings are fine, the assumption of utter destruction may be premature.

Me, I’d put the internal dive back and see, if you already think it may be lost… it’s not like you can make it worse than destroyed.

@MonkeyMom

I have added an external drive (so hopefully I will eliminate the overheating issue. But, in my recordings sections, all my old recordings are still showing up there. I’m assuming this is on a small native drive that holds the basic information and points to the hard drive (which, obviously, is no longer there). Is there a way to remove all those shortcuts or do I need to manually remove them? I don’t really want to do a factory reset if I can avoid doing that.

The DB info is stored internally on the tablo. Nightly maintenance mode should clean this up… if you want to put the first drive back – do not leave you tablo powered up overnight and loose this info!! Once you loose this, you’ll have a real PITA to recover your good recordings.

There is hope. One thing you really may want to consider – Ask the Tablo Team | Over The Air (OTA) DVR | Tablo contact tech support and get personal 1:1 real-time support (yea, their hours are pathetic) if possible.

For some users, the heat is a perceived issues as there are several post from tablotv and tablo support units do get hot and it’s “ok”, or it will shut down.

Tablo Lite running very hot all the time @ 105F even when idle all night

Unless your Tablo is sitting on or under something that generates heat, or stuck in an enclosed space, it should be just fine. We can actually check to see if your Tablo is running within safe operating temperatures, so if you have a concern please touch base with our support team: www.tablotv.com/ask-tablo (One additional note - both Tablo DUAL and Tablo DUAL LITE have internal sensors that will turn the device off if temperatures exceed the safe operating range if - for example - your cat de…

Tablo Quad runs HOT!

Actually it was more like… ENGINEERS: We don’t think we’ll need a fan and moving parts = bad news, but just in case we do need it let’s put a spot in the plastic mould to include one. WEEKS OF TESTING LATER ENGINEERS: Turns out we don’t need a fan. Everything is well within spec even with an internal drive. We even put in a thermal sensor just in case someone covers their Tablo with a sweater so there’s no risk at all to the parts or the drive. MARKETING: Cool. When can we sell this thing? …

[MonkeyMom]

I’m going think about your suggestion of reinstalling the internal drive. The Tablo last night and then again this morning was hot - like you can’t even touch it hot with that internal drive in it. With the external drive attached it is warm - like a cozy heating pad warm, nothing like it was last night. I think the internal drive itself is salvable. But I think reinstalling it into the Tablo might cause that super heating again and definitely destroy the drive. So thank you for giving me the suggestions. I might try the drive again tonight and if it starts warming up, I’ll just pull it right out.

[djk44883]

Thought to ponder, there are inexpensive SATA to USB adapters, you could use to clone or copy your internal drive to an external drive.

If you search on various terms you should find several very helpful topics.