Upsize V6 hard drive

[Remluf]

Can one replace the existing hard drive in a V6 box with a larger one? I believe they contain a 1TB drive. Replacing it with a larger one would allow many more recordings, especaially with 20TB drives now available. I would love to record everything in HD, but on a 1TB drive HD gobbles up the space. 100 hours doesn't go far. If it can be done, will the box format it automatically or would it need to be done from the settings menu?

[Ernie_C]

You are not allowed to make any changes to Virgin Media’s equipment.

[nodrogd]

The internal drives are hard coded to the box they are installed in at the factory. This is why boxes with hard drive faults have to be swapped out & are not repaired on site.

Also bear in mind that the box is rented & remains Virgin property, so if you make it unusable by tampering with it they will charge you to replace it.

[Molly_T]

Hi Remluf 👋 welcome back to community! Thank you for posting. 

As the community have already correctly advised, we would not recommend tampering with your equipment as it is property of VM. If you are concerned you have a fault with it that we can support with, please let us know. 

There is some handy information regarding managing your recordings that can be found here 👉 Virgin Media - Your recordings. 

It may be worth just checking things like your series links as they can clear out a-lot of space all in one go. Many streaming apps also now have the options for HD 👉 Virgin TV 4K UHD | Virgin Media so you may be able to enjoy some of your favourites without the need of saving them to the hard-drive. 

Hope this helps! Wishing you all the best. 🌞

[nodrogd]

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@Molly_T wrote:

There is some handy information regarding managing your recordings that can be found here 👉 Virgin Media - Your recordings. 

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A nice link. But a bit out of date, “record three channels at once while watching a forth” relates to the older TiVO boxes that are now not being replaced. The V6 has six tuners, so can record six channels.

[Remluf]

Can Virgin put a larger hard drive in my box or supply such a box? A 20TB drive would give me 10000 hours SD or 2000 hours HD. I want all my recordings in HD as I have a super dooper TV and it seems pointless recording in SD. 100 hours with the current box isn 't enough.

[nodrogd]

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@Remluf wrote:
Can Virgin put a larger hard drive in my box or supply such a box? A 20TB drive would give me 10000 hours SD or 2000 hours HD. I want all my recordings in HD as I have a super dooper TV and it seems pointless recording in SD. 100 hours with the current box isn 't enough.

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How much capacity do you really want for “time shifting” of recordings?

If you look at Virgin’s terms & conditions, recording is permitted “to allow you to view a programme at a more convenient time”. This is a restriction imposed by the broadcasters, who insist the recordings are temporary in nature. I suspect you are wanting to archive these recordings & use the box like a personal server, which is not what Virgin PVRs are provided for. If your box breaks you lose the lot anyway, as broadcasters will not allow recordings to be transferred between boxes.

[Roger_Gooner]

The only box that allows unencrypted recordings to be made to external devices is the TiVo, and that's only in SD as the SCART socket must be used. No TiVo boxes are sent to new customers and all later boxes provide no facility to record to external devices. If you want a collection of TV shows and films you can buy the discs, rip them to a NAS (best) and play them back with a suitable media player on your LAN. I've done this but it takes a lot of time.

[arrgee1991]

Pre-HD and UHD, the disc capacity wasn't an issue, but I find that recording something like snooker and Wimbledon tennis on it's way can take a lot of recording space.  Also the nature of these events is that you have to add 3 hours to the recording as they often overrun, and sometimes even record another channel should it switch between BBC 1,2 & 4.  And there isn't and SD version of BBC on Virgin (is there?)  I get around this with ITV/Channel 4 by recording +1

Also with four people in the house with different tastes, there isn't much capacity.

[japitts]

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@arrgee1991 wrote:

Also with four people in the house with different tastes, there isn't much capacity.

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Multiroom - with additional hard drive - would seem a viable solution for you.