OK, thanks for all of the advice from you OG Tablo-ers. I just ordered a refurbished QUAD directly from my former countrymen in Ontario. (I was an original Ontario-an from 1945 to 1956). I’m wondering if the Tablo offices are located close to the Elsinore Brewery (and Insane Asylum). That’s a reference for you Strange Brew fans.
As for the hard drive, I have an 8TB WD Elements currently connected to the QUAD Lite, and another 8TB WD Elements connected to my desktop for the TABLO RIPPER to save copies to. I suppose I’ll buy a 4TB or 6TB WD for the DUAL LITE (I’ve not been happy with the Seagate externals over the years).
I’m not concerned about losing what I already have on the LITE’s HD, since I already have copies, but it would be nice if I could just plug the 8TB into the new QUAD, and keep everything there. Is there a trick to renaming the HD before I move it to the new QUAD? It is currently known as “Tablo Lite 1”. (Clunky name, but what did I know about Tablo six weeks ago?)
If not, will the Tablo Ripper “Sync” function allow me to repopulate the QUAD 8TB from the PC’s 8TB external HD?
You can move your HDD from the Dual Lite to the “new” Quad. See the link below. Make sure the Quad is factory reseted before you start the process below.
I have a tool https://community.tablotv.com/t/apl-tablo-client
That allows you to manage your shows across your tablos pretty seamlessly, it still recognizes the different tablos and allows you to schedule series and such, but when you come up with a conflict, it’s just two clicks, mark the conflict to not record and mark it to record on another tablo, all on the same screen.
This has been scary, adding the new QUAD, and moving the big 8TB HDD from the Dual Lite over to the QUAD. I followed every step, to the letter (although several “letters” were missing). It wasn’t working. I could see the new Quad in my network map program, and the LITE as well, but that QUAD’s blue light just kept pulsing for hours. I gave it a blue button reset.
I plugged the new 6TB HDD into the LITE, and the TABLO App saw it, but won’t let me format it. It shows up as “UNAVAILABLE”, with an orange dot graphic, even though TABLO knows it’s there. There is no FORMAT command in the TABLO App.
I have Named the QUAD “QUAD A”, and the 8TB hard drive appropriately shows up as 25% full in the Tablo App, and apparently the file database from “DUAL LITE 1” is now working on the QUAD drive.
So back at the DUAL LITE Tablo, it is showing the same database as always, but if I click on a file in it I get the expected “Unavailable” spinning doughnut. Yeah, the 6TB HDD hasn’t been formatted yet, and I can’t find a Tablo App “button” to do that.
So frustrating, that I’ve broken open, and am charging full speed into a 12-pack of Heinekens.
If any of you very smart and experienced users are still awake, could you help me find the “FORMAT” button/procedure for the DUAL LITE’s new hard drive?
I’ve recently added a second tablo. Maybe there’s a “learning curve”. It’s kind of a PITA, swapping devices and keeping schedules organized. I can open separate firefox containers tabs and that helps.
I use APL Tablo… now I have a long list of redundancy. Well, I sort by device and that provides some organization, the app has great flexibility for personal customization. It’s not necessarily a one-size-fits-all from that perspective! It’s still in early active development.
I know the Roku won’t work for the initial setup, and may not for subsequent new drive as well.
It’s usually recommended elsewhere to use a PC and go to my.tablotv.com or an android device. I don’t have a roku, so I can’t say it won’t work, but I do know the other options do. Also, if format isn’t available at first, let your tablo power up - then plug in the drive (works for me).
Well the original 8TB, now connected to the Quad, seems quite happy to be there, even under the new name “QUAD A”. It shows that the drive is about 25% full which is right with 2,000 files… and it is apparently being accepted under the “QUAD A” name. It’s all there when I tell the TABLO App on my desktop computer to look at “QUAD A”
When I tell the TABLO App to look at “DUAL Lite 1”, I get the "unavailable, unformatted 6TB drive notice. It knows there is a 6TB HDD attached (and not the 8TB which is now connected to the “QUAD A” TABLO.
Thank you Zippy for any further help. I love this user site, there being so many helpful contributors. Geeky Talking, especially on a Friday beer night, can be so very difficult!
My plan, perhaps ignorant as a newbie with Tablo, was to get a Quad to reduce the TV recording conflicts on my Dual Lite.
Right off the bat, with my Dual Lite, I ran into scheduling conflicts, especially with trying to add in some old classic movies along with the classic old TV series. Seemingly every movie I tried to schedule brought up conflicts.
So my current plan, still being a newbie with Tablo (OG with ChannelMaster), is to use the Quad just for TV, reducing scheduling conflicts with TV shows, and only use the DUAL Lite for movies… at least for the time being.
Ultimately, I’ll be PLEXing with my widely dispersed family, my old-timey library.
“DUAL Lite 1” became DUALLY, and was it hard to get going again! It either didn’t ‘see’ the new 6TB hard drive, or when it did, I couldn’t find a way to format it. Somewhere in the VooDoo, rebooting, & Sailor Talk routines I tried, I did get it running again.
How nice it is now - the Quad only doing TV, and the Dually just doing movies.
Figuring out the ROKU trick to switch between the two was also frustrating, so when I gave up, that’s when I found the trick. “Exit or Disconnect”. Click Disconnect, then the choice of the two Tablos is offered.
Others seem to have your issue, you weren’t alone - not sure exactly what. I recently swapped drives, let the tablo power up, “go” to the setting screen via PC then connect the drive - wants to format drive. Quick start guide says to connect everything then turn it all on at once, didn’t work… but maybe it does for others.
Friendly pet names are cute, at least they’re not Geek Talk inconsistent
I’m hoping it’s a “learning curve”. Not sure it’s a trick as much as that’s just how it works, I agree it’s kind of a PITA. If you want to do some conflict resolution between the two I suggest (I use my.tablotv.com in different browsers) using 2 different apps/devices.
Generally, scheduling one “type” or channels between the two doesn’t seem overly complex. I also incorporate 3rd party app APL Tablo Client which lets me see both at the same time.
Thanks again for all of the tips & suggestions “TJK”. BTW, “pet names?”, TJK…? Your’s is hard to remember.
Now that everything is running full speed, on six “cylinders” with nary a conflict, “I’m gonna need a bigger boat, Captain” (target drive for the ripper).
I made a new folder on the 8TB ripper target drive, labeled “Tablo Movies”, as a new place to store the Dually’s catch of the day.
I noticed in the Tablo Ripper, that when I switch between the two Tablos, the Target Drive doesn’t change. I’ll have to watch that. I was expecting the Ripper to remember which target to associate with which Tablo.
Tablo Ripper does place movies in one folder and TV shows in another folder. So, they are separated, but if you want them to be on separate drives, you will have to change the settings manually or periodically move files from one drive to the other drive. .
If your - long term plan is to “off store” your shows via Tablo RIpper, you really didn’t need massive drives on the tablos… for short term storage. I store mine on a PC drive labeled dvr for watch and delete shows and another labeled VideoLibrary - with a link VidLib, for things I wan to keep, for various length of times.
I took the 500B from the tablo(1) since it seldom has 100gb on it. Now it has a 320gb with only some 25gb in use.
I have tablo1 and tablo2 192.168.1.11 and 192.168.1.21 I just know which is 1 and which is 2 (if it would matter, physically they are at different ends of the house)
So far, Tablo Ripper has been putting them all together. I should look at the options better. In fact, I should probably look at the “manual”. I just downloaded the program and stumbled through to do the basics, and don’t know what the various option do.
I wish I had known this when I recently upgraded my drive on my dual. I finally resorted to the factory reset method… not the right or approved method, but it has the luxury of working.
just kind of a Geek Talk thing like observation.
