WeaKnees Interactive Online TiVo Upgrade Instructions

[weaknees]

We're pleased to announce the release of a new set of TiVo Upgrade Instructions for the do-it-yourselfer who would prefer not to buy a "plug and play" hard drive.

The interactive website will create an individualized set of upgrade instructions based on the specifics of your upgrade (including your specific TiVo model, whether you want to back up your drive, whether you are adding or replacing a drive, and so on).

Our interactive site can and should be used in conjunction with the other upgrade tools and resources (including Hinsdale's guide), and we hope this will prove to be a useful addition to the upgrade resources already out there.

Here's the link:

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com

Enjoy--and good luck!

Michael

[litzdog911]

Very nice! Thanks, Michael!

[Tiger]

Well I just told it to do an upgrade to a DSR6k, replacing both drives, yes backup, no FAT, yes XP/2k, CD, ignore recordings, and not older than 2.5 and I got an error on step 4.

[weaknees]

Tiger-

Thanks for checking out the site. We've fixed the problem you came upon - if you find more, please post again or email us so that we can keep tuning the site.

We're looking for comments like this so that we can make it a complete, streamlined site.

Michael

[boxster99t]

I set the following parameters:

Sony SAT T-60
Replace with Two Drives
Backup yes
Fat Partition on C yes
Windows XP yes
Boot CD
Save Recordings
Older than 2.5 no

It goes through how to verify the drive sizes, and then how to reinstall the drives in the Tivo without any of the intervening steps to make the back up and pipe the recordings over to the new drive set.

It is very nice, however, on configurations that work. Great tool.

Now, if someone would make one for large hard drives, that would be impressive :D

Went through that one on Sunday, flipping back and forth between Todd Miller's instructions, Das Monkey's instructions and Hinsdale. Phew!!!

[weaknees]

boxster99t -

I've tried this several times and I do get the pipe backup and restore. Are you sure those are the option you used? That does create steps to do the backup first (since you are choosing that option) but later shows the backup|restore step.

Michael

[boxster99t]

very strange, it does work now as you said, but it sure didn't when I wrote my post. And I had to go back and re-selected the parameters when I wrote it. Go figure--it is very nice in any case.

[weaknees]

OK - thanks for checking again. I have made some minor changes in places, but I'm pretty sure nothing would have affected that. In any event, glad to hear that it works correctly now, and thanks again for taking the time to troubleshoot and report back.

Michael

[boxster99t]

Originally posted by boxster99t
very strange, it does work now as you said, but it sure didn't when I wrote my post. And I had to go back and re-selected the parameters when I wrote it. Go figure--it is very nice in any case.

Actually, I take back what I just wrote, but I think it must be something with our server/firewall blocking some of the content. The instructions initially appear, all in grey boxes, but after leaving the window minimized on my desktop, something happens because it displays just like I said in my original post--it now has none of the instructions for performing the backup or piping the content to the new drive set.

I actually tried to save it so I could email you the page, but the version of IE we use won't let you save that page as html. Anyway the problem looks like something on my end.

'D00, DOO, DOO, DOO' welcome to the twilight zone ;)

[weaknees]

Weird. What version of IE and OS are you using?

Michael

[ebonovic]

Here is what I just tried:

GXCEBOT -
Single Large Drive
ect....

I didn't get an option to tell the site, that this is already an UPGRADE DUAL drive system, and I wanted to go back to a SINGLE Larger Drive.

I have the stock 40 and an additional 60 in my DTivo1

I would like to go back to one single drive.

According to Hinsdale, I can do this, but only if I don't keep my recordings.

Great site though.

One recommendation... If there is a way you can give an option to generate a PDF file. This way "in a pinch" if I lose a page of the instructions after computer A is down, I can take that PDF file to another unit and print it out. Or have it in my Handheld unit, vs paper.

Just an idea, as we are converting a lot of our web based reports to PDF files for archiving purposes.

[weaknees]

ebonovic -

Interesting idea on the PDF. Of course you can always print the page or select the text and email it to your pager, I guess.

On the issue of a non-stock TiVo, that's right, this site only works for stock TiVos. I'll make that clear on the first page.

Michael

[vanelin]

I'm new here so you'll have to bear with me on this one.

I've gone through your steps weakness and got down to the mfsbackup and mfs restore command but I am running into a problem.

My setup on my computer is
c: (ME) - aka hda
d: destination drive - aka hdb
e: cddrive -aka hdc

I've successfully made a backup.bak drive which resides on my c: drive, but I'm not sure I'm gettting the complete command to restore correctly.

I've tried all variations of:
mfsbackup - Tao - /dev/hdX | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdZ

but I keep on getting error messages that I have the source wrong (sorry) i'm on a different OS right now and don't remember the exact message).

What should the hdX and the hdZ be in the above command?

I'm basically taking my original drive and replacing it with a new one.

Thanks in advance,
Vanelin

[weaknees]

vanelin-

What drive is your original TiVo boot drive?

Michael

[vanelin]

I took the original tivo drive out, it was the hdb. Should that be left in? I assumed (which might be bad on my part) that I could do a restore from the .bak file on my hda drive directly to the hdb drive.

When I first started my setup was:
c: (ME) - aka hda
b: Original Tivo drive - aka hdb
c: CD rom - aka hdc

When I got to the restore, my setup is now:
c: (me) - aka hda
b: new hard drive - aka hdb
c: cd rom - aka hdc

Thanks,
Vanelin

[weaknees]

You can do the restore, but not with recordings. If you want to save your recordings (you chose that option on the site) then you need to leave the original drive in the TiVo. If you don't need the recordings, just re-run the site with "ignore" chosen and you can pick up where you left off. Otherwise, you need both old and new drives in the PC (but not the ME drive now that you've made the backup).

Michael

[vanelin]

So the .bak file is just an image for safe keeping then?

So in the command that I'm having trouble with, I can set my machine up to be:

c: Tivo original - aka hda
d: Tivo new drive - aka hdb
e: cdrom - aka hdc

so the command would be:
mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hda | mfsrestore - s 172 -xzpi - /dev/hdb

and this would mean that I'm moving the data from the hda to hdb is this correct?

Thanks,
Vanelin

[weaknees]

Yes, the .bak file is for safekeeping, and yes, that's the right command given the configuration.

Michael

[walters]

So far so good. I decided to get the backup out of the way while I wait for the drive and bracket to be delivered.

One suggestion: You give the impression that the progress indicator will come up almost immediately on mfsbackup, but mine stood at "Scanning source drive" for several minutes. Might make some people nervous.

BTW, you don't need to ask about version 2.5 with HDVR2 and similar. No such version.

[amgqmp1]

absolutely gorgeous! two big thumbs up to the weakness folks!

[weaknees]

walters -

I made the change - good catch.

Michael

[vanelin]

weakness,

After your help, everything is now working fine with approx 105 hrs of recording time :)

Now on to my other unit

Thanks for your help!!! I must say damn you were fast.

Vanelin

ps sorry I posted so late on the results, had to let the copy go overnight and I just got home to test

thanks again

[weaknees]

vanelin -

Glad to hear it!

Is the other unit going to be the same upgrade path?

Michael

[vanelin]

Yes, the other unit should go the same path.

I've got to quiet down the hard drive (WD 120GB 8MB Caviar) I put in today though before I upgrade the next one since it is a bit too noisy with the drive seeks, so I'm looking for something about that on the forums.

Thanks

[weaknees]

vanelin -

We haven't used WD drives for years, but be careful. At one point, the trade-off for quieter drive acoustics was hotter drives - never a good thing.

Michael

[walters]

Another thing I noticed about the instructions was that it didn't have testing the backup as a step, not even an optional step. Honestly, I have no idea what the consensus is on this (I'm in the process of my first upgrade--waiting on hardware). Is it that if the backup produced no errors that you're good to go?

[boxster99t]

Originally posted by weaknees
Weird. What version of IE and OS are you using?

Michael

We're running Win98 and a modified version of IE 6.0

[rnordvik]

Michael,

The guide looks great. However, there is a scenario that I am facing now, that is not covered. That is: replacing a bad 'B' drive (in a Sony T60) with a new drive of similar capacity, while saving recordings. If you added that, then I would consider your guide to be about perfect!

-Rob

[weaknees]

[B}Another thing I noticed about the instructions was that it didn't have testing the backup as a step, not even an optional step.[/B]
On the list of things to add... hopefully early next week. Good catch!

The guide looks great. However, there is a scenario that I am facing now, that is not covered. That is: replacing a bad 'B' drive (in a Sony T60) with a new drive of similar capacity, while saving recordings. If you added that, then I would consider your guide to be about perfect!
Well, for the most part, if one of your drives is bad, making a backup is not likely to product much success. You're probably more likely to be successful if the B drive is bad than if the A drive is bad.

At any rate, one of the assumptions we're making with the upgrade site (you'll see this on the home page) is that you're starting with a factory TiVo. We are hoping to add more complexity to the site down the road, but for now, to get the site launched, we omitted the complexities involved if you already have an upgraded TiVo and want to modify the configuration.

As you'll notice, this more complex subject is covered in Hinsdale's guide, which is one reason why our guide is not a complete substitute for Hinsdale's work. We do think, however, that the interactive guide should be included as an additional "go to" resource for first-time upgraders.

Michael

[weaknees]

Added support for Hughes SD-DVR40, Hughes SD-DVR120, and Samsung SIR-S4120R.

Michael

[Z'Loth]

Perhaps at the beginning, you need to start off with "Are you using a standalone TiVo or a DirecTV DVR with TiVo?"

Also, don't all series 2 DVRs have software that is later than 2.5, making that option useless?

[weaknees]

Second note first - good point. I'll add that to the list.

As far as the first idea - why do that, just to pare down the list of models a bit?

Michael

[walters]

Just completed a flawless HDVR2 upgrade with these instructions (and your bracket). Thanks! :up:

[weaknees]

OK - among other changes, I added instructions (similar to Robert S's plan) to include making a FAT partition temporarily on your new drive and using that to house a backup file. This is in lieu of adding a FAT partition to an NTFS drive - which is a waste of space.

Also - I removed the older software question for newer units where it can't apply.

Michael

[ObviousMan]

Wow! I wish something like this existed when close to 3 years ago I got steal of a deal on 30GB Maxtor (just $80 AC/AR :) ) and replaced the original disk in my 112 unit.
Nice job! Major cudos!

OM

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by ObviousMan
Wow! I wish something like this existed when close to 3 years ago I got steal of a deal on 30GB Maxtor (just $80 AC/AR :) ) and replaced the original disk in my 112 unit.
Nice job! Major cudos!

OM

Actually, it did... It was called: The unofficial TiVo Hackers Site

aka: http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/

[ObviousMan]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
Actually, it did... It was called: The unofficial TiVo Hackers Site

aka:

I meant the total dummy oriented, simple as they come, type of interactive instructions...
OM

[ObviousMan]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
Actually, it did... It was called: The unofficial TiVo Hackers Site

aka:
I meant the total dummy oriented, simple as they come, type of interactive instructions...
OM

[ObviousMan]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
Actually, it did... It was called: The unofficial TiVo Hackers Site

aka:
I meant the total dummy oriented, simple as they come, type of interactive instructions...
OM

[curiousgeorge]

The Pioneer and Toshiba TiVo/DVD units aren't in the guide yet. Is that coming soon?

[curiousgeorge]

The Pioneer and Toshiba TiVo/DVD units aren't in the guide yet. Is that coming soon?

[missamo80]

I'm not sure if I'm sleepy and missing something, but I think I found a problem with the HDVR2 "add a drive" instructions. It goes in to great detail about how to attach the existing drive to my computer, but doesn't seem to talk at all about attaching the second, new drive.

Neil

[weaknees]

missamo80-

Right - that was missing - good catch. Fixed now!

Michael

[weaknees]

OK - we've added to the list of options the ability to get customized instructions to restore from a backup file. So if you have a backup file on your hard drive that you made, a CD-ROM, or you've downloaded one from the internet, you can now get customized instructions on how to load that back on to one or two new drives.

Michael

[weaknees]

FYI - Western Digital seems to have pulled "dlgchk" from their site. We now host it on our upgrade instructions site. Once you pull up your customized instructions, you'll get a link to the file in case you need it. If you want direct access to it, it's here:

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/downloads/dlgchk.zip

Michael

[Dan the TiVo Man]

Weaknees,
I like the idea of interactive instructions but I have some questions on your linux commands listed for a "replace with one drive" procedure for a SA HDR112 with >2.5 software:

I noticed that the mount command is listed as:
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt

But the Hinsdale instructions show it as:
mkdir /mnt/dos
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/dos

Are both correct? Is there a reason to use one over the other?
I noticed that there was no umount command during the procedure, is that correct?
_______________________________________________
Also, the interactive instructions list the backup command as:
mfsbackup -f 9999 -6so /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc
(Hinsdale shows this command for series 2 tivos)

But the Hinsdale instructions list it as: (for series 1 SA's)
mfsbackup -6so /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc

What is the purpose of "-f 9999" and are these commands interchangable? Is one preferrable over the other?
_______________________________________________________

I would like to recommend that you include a warning where ever you mention qunlock telling people that it can hose up their hard drives if used incorrectly. I believe the warning is included in the Hinsdale instructions but just in case the upgrader doesn't see it there you might save them some grief...( I am still wondering why anyone still uses qunlock when dlgchk.exe is easier, and as far as I know it will never hose up a hard drive? Does qunlock do something that dlgchk doesn't do?)

(dlgchk.exe is included on the western digital floppies that come with new hard drives but they call it bios check.)

[Robert S]

Hinsdale creates a new directory to use as a mount point and then mounts on it, weaknees just mounts on the existing /mnt directory. As long as the path to the backup file is correct (ie, no /dos in the weaknees version), the effect is the same. Some of the original TiVo upgrade procedures required you to have a TiVo partition and a DOS partition mounted simultaneously. Even though that's no longer required, Hinsdale hasn't changed his command lines.

Failing to umount before you switch off the PC could seriously damage your C: drive! If you shutdown with Ctrl-Alt-Del and wait for the PC to reboot, Linux should unmount everything for you.

The backup commands are different for the Series 1 and 2 TiVoes. If you forget -f 9999 on a Series 2 your backup will not include the backgrounds for the menu screens.

qunlock is sufficiently ubiquitous that people need to know how to use it safely. It's easier to use than dlgchk, but a lot more dangerous. Ideally we'd get Frey's patch rewritten to unlock the Maxtor drives and get Tiger to make a new MFS Tools 2.0 with that on it. That doesn't seem very likely at the moment, and until that happens, people are still going to blow up their drives with qunlock, whatever we say here.

[weaknees]

We've rewritten our notes to stress that DLGCHK is the preferred option over qunlock.

Michael

[weaknees]

Added support for the new Philips DSR704 and DSR708. If you have one of those units, they are basically identical inside to the Hughes HDVR2, Philips DSR7000 and the other units. Some of these new units have the warranty stickers.

Cosmetically, the fronts of these units are different (busier?) but they do have access doors for the cards, like the HDVR2 and SD-DVR units.

Final note: these units have a new service number, so other software shouldn't be used on them.

Michael

[tchapin]

Should there be a question in this process like:

Have you previously upgraded your TiVo?

If yes, what have you done:

- replaced the original single A drive with a larger one
- added a second drive
- etc...

That would address problems / questions like this one:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=147201

which is unclear to me if the current upgrade instructions presented here do.

Todd

[Jim M]

WHEN DO YOU START CHARGING FOR THIS "SERVICE" ?

I cannot thank you enough for this.......... I had really thought of re-writing the Hinsdale How-To to make it more specific to DirecTV TiVo units. Of course, I printed out the mega page Hinsdale document, downloaded all the files, got a highlighter and finally marked the sections important to me.

I'll go run and try this with my SDVR40 and DSR7000 soon after things look like they are bug free and fee free.

Many thanks to Weaknees and Hinsdale and everyone else involved.

Would this be ok to post at DBSForums.com in the PVR forums?

Thanks!

-= jim

[weaknees]

Jim M -

I assume your first question was in jest - but we intend this to remain free.

And you should absolutely post the link wherever you'd like (it's even preformatted on the home page (http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com)). We pretty much focus our forum efforts here, but we're happy to have you spread the word!

Michael

[Big-bill3]

It looks really useful but I can't find any reference to the Thomson models in the UK

[weaknees]

We've taken the site status from "Beta" to final. Thanks to everyone for all of the comments here and the emails. We believe we have ironed out all of the issues, but as always, some probably remain and we'll keep combing.

In addition, software and best practices do change, and we'll continually update this site for these reasons, as new TiVos come out, and as we can add features. We'll try to update this thread with those notes.

As always, please feel free to contact us here or through the email on the site or at tivo@weaknees.com with other issues or questions.

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by Big-bill3
It looks really useful but I can't find any reference to the Thomson models in the UK

Working on it. Can anyone give us a link to a site that has pictures of the inside of those units? We'd like to get detailed hardware installation instructions and we just don't have access to those units.

Michael

[DCIFRTHS]

Hi Guys,

Any chance you'll be adding instructions for the new Pioneer units? The 57H is the one i'm interested in?

Thanks!

[Big-bill3]

I can take some photos while the lid's off and e-mail them.

Let me know asap what shots you need

[weaknees]

Big-bill3,

Sorry for the delay (just trying to keep up with orders here).

If you still have yet to open the unit, a photo of just the inside would probably do the trick. Email it to feedback@upgrade-instructions.com and we'll go from there.

Thanks,

Michael

[MrBigglesworth]

This guide is SWEET! I just scored a free 40GB upgrade, and was poking around here to see if there was any condensed instructions for simply adding a 40GB secondary drive. I love it!

[Len McRiddles]

ßump

[su_A_ve]

Ok,

After doing the OfficeMax deal, I upgraded my HDVR2 with a WD 120 Gb ($25 AR/AC)

Mostly used the Interactive Tivo Upgrade instructions, but was not too clear about one section, so ended up double checking with Hindsale's.

I used the "HDVR2 Replace ONE drive" and all YES options (BK, FAT32, XP, CD, Save Recs).

The problem is after making the backup, the instructions say:

The software will scan your drive for a few moments. You should see a progress indicator as the backup proceeds. Once the backup is successful, shut down the PC if your destination drive isn't connected by using CTRL-ALT-DELETE and waiting until the Linux has halted. Then boot again as before with the destination drive connected, and enter the following with hdX as your destination drive:

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt

Then:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdX (/dev/hdY) | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdZ (/dev/hdZZ)

What's confusing is that it says you should 'enter the following with hdX as your destination drive'

Well, if you do that, YOU'LL MIGHT HOSE the TIVO DRIVE !!! In fact, why do you want to mount the FAT 32 partition ? In this scenario, we'll be copying everything from the old drive to the new...

The WD seems a tad louder, but I guess it needs getting used to.

My .02..

[weaknees]

su_A_ve -

Sorry for the delay, but we fixed the wording to make this more clear.

Thanks for posting!

Michael

[weaknees]

Based on a few notes in various places here on the forums by Robert S, we conducted some informal tests of various backup compression levels comparing both times and resulting backup sizes. Robert S was, again, right on the money here.

The table with the results is posted on the Upgrade Instructions blog here:

http://tivo-upgrade.blogspot.com

So, as mentioned there, we've changed all of the compression levels from -9 on the site to -1, since that's really the best number in all respects.

Michael

[Rcrew]

Just a thanks for all your hard work, and keeping this guide free. It's a great tool.

Are there plans to include 2nd upgrade instructions, IE: going from A & B drive units back to A only? Or are there just too many variables. I can see myself eventually desiring to change my GXCEB0T from 40gb A and 80gb B to a single 160gb A.

I've been doing a few free upgrades for forum members in my area, using the Hinsdale guide. It's still slightly intimidating, although a great reference.

Your tool is right on!

[weaknees]

OK - two more changes:

-changed recommended Maxtor drive unlocking software to DiskUtil

-added a "Clear and delete everything" step for situations that need it (based on a question)

Michael

[Kylep]

I just added two drives to the Hughes SD-DVR40 using these instructions. While it may seem obvious, I didn't realize you HAD to keep your C drive hooked up in order to do the upgrade. The instructions stress that you need to keep the CD hooked up if you want to boot to it but didn't really say anything about the hard drive.

Since it was easier not to have it hooked up (no moving of jumpers, easier cable access) I was trying to run the commands without it. Needless to say I had problems.

Of course, logic dictates you would need to be storing the backup somewhere, but not everyone subscribes to this whole logic thing. (I actually thought it was either the floppy or in memory)

Perhaps it's not a crucial point, but I thought i'd make the observation.

Thanks Weaknees!

[MighTiVo]

Just wanted to say THANKS for giving back to the community!
A DIY information service like this really makes it easy to do bunsiness with you even if all I buy is the breeze.

[Joey P]

Just added an 80gb b drive to my 60 hour series 2 and was only slightly toubled at one point. Like someone else said I wasn't totally sure if I had to keep my C drive in (and if I wasn't going to make a backup, I would have unhooked it, just to eliminate the chance of messing it up), anyways, I hooked my TiVo drive and the new drive as secondary master and slave. I booted the computer from the disk I made (the *.iso image on the CD-Rom wouldn't work for me). It went through it's thing and came to the prompt, I looked for several minutes back and forth and couldn't find the lines you were talking about. I was thinking about just going on anyways, but I thought, that there was a chance I had the drives backwards. I turned off the computer, switched the cable and flipped it back on. As it was booting I saw the lines you mentioned, and the drive sizes were correct. BUT when it came to the prompt and I scrolled back up to look at them again I couldn't find them at all. Strange. Other then that it went fairly smoothly, the only trouble I had was the drive variables you used were a little confusing at times but I figured it all out (this may have to do with the fact that I know NOTHING whatsoever about Linux, so what's confusing to me, maybe something pointless like back in the days of DOS when my dad would copy directions word for word of the installation book, so at the a:\prompt he would type "a:\setup.exe <enter>" ...(No dad just the "setup.exe" part, really))

[tomlouie]

Originally posted by Joey P
... I looked for several minutes back and forth and couldn't find the lines you were talking about. ... As it was booting I saw the lines you mentioned, and the drive sizes were correct. BUT when it came to the prompt and I scrolled back up to look at them again I couldn't find them at all. Strange.

I had the same experience. As the machine was booting up, the lines (hda, hdb, etc) would tell you the capacity of the disk, but after the bootup has completed and you scroll back, the lines only tell you the make & model of the hd.

I noticed one problem with the instructions for:

AT&T 230040
Replace with One Drive
Do not want a backup
Do not have FAT
Am using XP or 2k
Using boot floppy
Save recordings
Not older than 2.5
Not moving software

The instructions say to type:
mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdX (/dev/hdY) | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdZ (/dev/hdZZ)

However, it doesn't make clear that /dev/hdX is the old TiVo drive, and /dev/hdZ is the new one. While it could be figured out in the context, nervous newbies need explanation & confirmation. :)

That said, the instructions were great! My 40GB took 5 hours to copy all the recordings, but it all went fine!

Thank you thank you thank you!

Tom

[weaknees]

OK - I've changed all of the drive attributions to follow this logic:

hdW=FAT 32 drive
hdX=Original TiVo drive
hdY=Second Original TiVo drive (B drive) in two-drive units
hdZ=Target (New) TiVo A drive
hdZZ=Second Target (New) TiVo drive (B drive) in two-drive upgrades

I'll try to color code these also when I get a chance . . .

Michael

[tomlouie]

Michael, I looked at the new instructions, it looks great. Thank you!

Tom

[Tempest]

Great guide, upgrade from single 80gig to a single 160gig and worked great. Saving my original hd in case of failure. Probably add another 120 gig drive down the road.

[Dirac]

I noticed no Samsung SIR-S4040R upgrade instructions option. I would guess the instructions would be identical to the SIR-S4120R, with the possible exception of the drive size affecting the backup options (i.e. replacement A must be at least as large as original A). I have never upgraded a Series 2 so I just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

[weaknees]

Yes, they are identical. We'll try to add them soon.

Michael

[mattn2]

Something is amiss -
TiVo 140060
Replace w/ 2 drives
NO Backup
NO FAT
NO XP
CD
Ignore recordings
Newer 2.5
No Move

It goes into ... issue backup and restore commands
... backup command to a FAT mount point.
(what??? I want no backup - No FAT)
Then the "restore" is not a pipe - but from the NON-existant FAT mount.

(edit) The pipe command shows up if I choose "to 1 drive"

(edit) same problem appears for all Series 2 SA TiVo's

# Matt

[weaknees]

OK - that problem is now fixed.

In addition, I added the Samsung S4040R to the matrix.

Michael

[Tivo_60]

Michael.....I plan on relacing the orig hdd in my Hughes HDVR2. In reading your instructions f/this model, there is one statement that confuses me :

"Remove the power cable and gray IDE ribbon cable from the hard drive. Also, remove the ribbon cable from the motherboard. You may not re-use this cable, but you should keep it either way"

Further down, towards the end of the instructions, it states:

"Install drive onto bracket with the four T-15 screws. Connect the IDE/power cables to the drive on the bracket".

Why can't you reuse the ribbon cable and what do you replace it with?
Am I missing something here? TIA

[weaknees]

We mean "may" as in: in some cases you do, and in some cases you don't. In your case, you will.

Sorry for the confusion.

Michael

[Tivo_60]

OK thanks Michael. I read it as "you may not reuse this cable!" A little too literal I guess and I do want to do this carefully so that I get it right the first time. Great instructions BTW.

[weaknees]

Yeah, I'll try to re-word that. It's on the list!

Michael

[BlueXanaX]

An added post.

:up:

[bustergonad]

Hey thanks weaknees,
I finally got around to upgrading my SVR2000 yesterday, the upgrade went relativity smoothly after I finally got started. I'm now the proud owner of a 144hr SVR2000.

BTW why does the MFSTools disk not support the cyrix 6x86 chips? I tried to do the upgrade on an old PC I had laying around but I got a Kernel Panic message saying I needed a Pentium chip to run the upgrade.
It was quite a pain to unhook my wife's Pentium 3 PC to do the upgrade.

Again many thanks :)

Roy

[dstroot]

PLease update this tool for the HR10-250 HD DirecTivo.

[weaknees]

Working on it - but we don't have the full set of answers for that unit yet. When we do, we'll update this.

Michael

[JANVideo]

I am in the middle of replacing my 2 drive Phillips HDR612 with a single drive of 160 gigs. The machine freezes up every two to three days so I will replace the drives to see if that fixes it. Anyway, I am going the backup route, and I am leaving the new drive off the PC for now and just trying to backup the TiVo OS, no stored video, just the OS.

I had to unlock both drives and that went OK.

Now, when I try to mount the hda volume to receive the backup, it comes back with:

FAT:Bogus logical sector size 64543
VFS:Can't find a valid fat filesystem on dev 03:00
MOUNT:you must specify the filesystem type.

I rebooted into windows XP and the properties window shows the disk as FAT32. It's a 40gig drive with a C: and D: partition. There is about 19gigs free space between both partitions. Am I doing something wrong? Where will the backup file actually reside?

Also, just for your info, as Linux is booting up, there is a lot of stuff appearing on the screen, and the info about the Tivo drives is there as it's comming up, but when it's all done booting, that info about the size of the tivo disk is NOT in the pageable file that your directions indicate. Using shift pgup or down, that info is nowhere to be found. That might be confusing as it's not available at that time (at least on my system).

So, can you help with the mount problem?
Thanks very much,
Joel

[weaknees]

I haven't dealt with DOS drives with multiple partitions for a while, so I'm a little rusty here, but try this:

mount /dev/hda2 /mnt

and also try that with 3 and 4 and see if that helps Linux find your FAT partitions.

Michael

[JANVideo]

Thanks for the reply, Michael. I think I tried 2, and that also failed. I'll try 3 and 4 to see what happens.

If this keeps failing, then I'll have to go ahead without the backup and just dump the OS to the new disk.

My new disk is brand new, never been powered up. Do I need to do anything to the new disk or will the software take care of it automatically?

Thanks,
Joel

[weaknees]

You don't need to prepare the new disk in any way other than that specified in the instructions.

Michael

[Robert S]

Actually your D: drive is probably hda5.

[jeff125va]

Before I give up trying to use this guide, can someone tell me if there's a way to use it on a previously upgraded SAT-T60? I'm replacing two 120GB drives,that seem to be on the verge of failing, with two new 120GB drives.

[weaknees]

That'll work - just add the second drive designation into the backup strings, assuming you aren't trying to save recordings. If you are, you should look at the other guide for more detailed info on recovering from failing drives.

Michael

[JANVideo]

Thanks for the suggestions, Michael, it turns out that I was able to use hda5 as the mount point. Then the backup and restore went fine. I ended up with 165 hours on the machine with one drive. I powered it up and it seems to be fine as I was able to go to the messages and now playing menus. I'll check out the recording functions and everything else later.

Again, thanks for the help, your instructions are superb! As well as the software system.

Joel

[weaknees]

Thanks! Glad to hear it's working.

Michael

[JANVideo]

Thanks to Robert S. for the hda5 suggestion as well. It seems that the backup file did appear on the D: partition of the hda disk (as seen by Linux).
Useful info in case anyone else does a backup on the C: drive that has multiple partitions.
Joel

[dwfletcher]

I currently have an RCA DVR40 and will be removing the 40 GB drive and adding either and 80 GB or 120 GB drive. Any recommendations on a make and model of drive to achive maximum performance?

Thanks,
Dave

[weaknees]

You will see comments all over the forums about people with one drive preference or another. We use and recommend Maxtor QuickView drives and have been extremely pleased. We have used desktop drives in the past, and have found that failure rates have dropped significantly since we moved to the QuickViews.

[Jettaboy954]

Will this work if my original hd is dead? I have a maxtor 160 gig drive that I was using for the secondary drive in tivo. Can I switch it to a single drive using just the second drive or do I still need to find a new image file for the drive?

[weaknees]

You would need to reformat the drive as a single-drive replacement. We can help you with this if you'd like or you can find folks here who will provide you with an image.

[Jettaboy954]

Will IstantCake provide me with the proper image? I have no problem paying for the image or disc. The only problem with instantcake is it take a week to get the disc.

I have been without Tivo for almost 24 hours and I am getting the shakes bad!!!! Now I know what Addicts go through, going cold turkey!

Is there anywhere to download the cd for instantcake. I have a fast broadband connection, so large files are no problem?

Thanks for you knowledge!

[widget]

Hi, I'm having a problem I haven't seen here. I've tried the Hinsdale instructions and I've tried the weaknees wizard, and I get the same error.

I have an HDVR2 which I had previously upgraded with two 120GB drives. One died the other night, and the 240GB capacity made Tivo very slow, so I figure I'll go back to just the one 120GB drive. So I pull them both, toss the dead one, and figure I'll find an HDVR image somewhere I can put on the remaining drive.

I get an HDVR image, and change the filename from HDVR***.mfs to tivo.bak, just so I'm following instructions literally. I put the Tivo drive on the secondary slave connection, with my C drive (WinXP) on the primary master. Using weaknees' instructions, here's what happens:

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt seems to go fine because the dir /mnt command in linux shows a bunch of directories and files that for the most part actually can be seen in my c: root.

Then:

mfrsrestore -a 127 -zxpi /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdd

-- No such file or directory.

Same error with the Hinsdale instructions. I know tivo.bak is at c: root.

MFStools is reading both my disks at the correct size. I don't know what could be wrong here. Any thoughts? I'm 72 hours without Tivo now, so step lively please ;) Thanks!

[weaknees]

If you did the filename change in XP, are you sure that it didn't add some extension to it (like tivo.bak.dat) or something like that?

[Robert S]

mfrsrestore -a 127 -zxpi /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdd

The name of the command is mfsrestore (or "mfstool restore", if you prefer). I think it's more likely that the problem is that you mistyped the name of the command than the name of the backup file.

[Britlion]

Hmm.

THe guides look nice, but don't help me much! Need the instructions for the pioneer DVD recorders. I can't use the series two setups, especially since I read that these boxes are capable of working with >137Gb drives.

I have a nice shiny 200GB drive.

Sadly, the cd images configured for large drives seem to have gone missing lately.

[cl44]

Just another thanks for the tut It was very easy to follow and as a result my series 2 now has a brand spanking new 137 gig ~157 hours, yeah

[such]

Wondering when the guide for the HR10-250 HD DirecTivo might be available. I've ordered the new Weaknees bracket and just want to be ready when all the pieces arrive. Thanks.

[mjcmjc]

For those of you considering an upgrade for the first time,

Hacking your own Tivo is fun and a cool learing experience, but you'll have to learn a new vocabulary to understand a few techy things. Hinsdale's HowTo is a reliable and well written bible. I used it to add a hard drive to my Series 1 Sony 2000. Then, I used it again to pull out the factory drive so that I could have two big drives. I ended up with around 270 hours of recording time.

The Sony drives finally crashed. Since I had purchased the lifetime subscription, I decided to buy a new drive for it. Because I'm using a mac at home now, I didn't feel like doing it all on my own. I bought a Weaknees drive. Man, did that make life easier. if you can turn a screwdriver, you can upgrade your Tivo. Not quite the learning experience, but really fast and easy.

Thanks to the Weaknees crew.
mjc

[whodat1]

My weaknees Interactive upgrade instuctions for adding a B drive to an existing A drive have me doing a MFSBACKUP and a MFSADD. Nowhere do I see a MFSRESTORE. Isn't the restore command where the swap file is set to 127Mb? Do I need to do this to add a 120Gb B drive to an existing 40Gb A drive?

I noticed the same thing in the Hinsdale upgrade instructions using option #1 (adding a larger second drive to an existing single drive unit).

Also, I noticed that the Weaknees instructions have the argument -9so in the MFSBACKUP command, while Hindale & the MFS TOOLS guide use -6so.

This is for a Phillips DSR40 (DirecTivo) single drive (40Gb) image.

[weaknees]

I thought I caught all instances of -9so and changed them to -1so which is faster and uses just a bit more space. That's the best number to use.

To add swap, you do need to do a restore. The mfsadd command adds the space without adding swap, but for a 40 + 120 configuration, you aren't at the point where it's an issue (assuming you have a Series 2 unit).

Michael

[whodat1]

Thank You very much. Thats the info I was looking for. At what point (size) does the swap file become an issue? I thought I had read on this board that 140Gb was the point where you need more swap file space.

And yes, I assume that I do have a series 2 Tivo since I just purchased it about 2 weeks ago.

BTW; I just received my Twinbreeze bracket & cooling unit from you. Very timely delivery and everything is there and ready to go. Thanks Much!

[weaknees]

Thanks for the note!

Swap space gets to be a potential (but rare) problem above the 180 GB mark on your box. So there is no way to get there by simply adding a drive - the 137 GB space limit precludes that possibility.

Michael

[whodat1]

Thanks for the advice (and for your website). My upgrade went very well. Less than an hour from unplugging unit to firing it back up. :up:

[mitchsb]

I am trying to put in a new b drive into my tivo. I used the how-to guide provided, but when I do the mfsadd command, it says:

mfs_load_volume_header: mfsvol_read_data: Invalid argument
Unable to open MFS drives.

[Robert S]

A 'new' B drive? Is there an existing B drive?

[mitchsb]

It's a drive I am taking out of my computer to put into the tivo. And, it is a single drive unit.

[Robert S]

Can mfsinfo read the A drive?

[DropIt]

I plan on simply adding a new drive to my TiVo, but I don't know which drive is optimal to serve as the A drive.

In other words, I just bought a 7200 120GB seagate drive with 8 MB cache. Would this drive serve as a better A drive than the drive that came stock with my model TiVo 140060?

I didn't know if the performance of the system as a whole would be better by the new drive being the A drive.

Along the same lines, my existing drive is a 60 gig drive, and my new drive is a 120 gig drive, making the total 180 gigs. This puts me on the hairy edge of the swap space right?

Is making additional swap a requirement, and second if I did do it would it make the system performance increase?

thanks
-DropIt!

PS nice guide weakness

[DropIt]

Additional question here, I have a drive that I want to add as drive B (using MFSADD). It was previously drive A and have the file system in tact.

Should I format the drive before performing MFSADD to drive A? If so what should I use to format the drive?

-DropIt

[DropIt]

Ok, I managed to answer my own question:

WARNING: IF A "B" DRIVE IS BEING ADDED WITH MFSADD -x OPTION, ALL EXISTING PARTITIONS WILL BE WIPED.

so the -x will take care of clearing eveything for me.,

Sweet

-DropIt

[bomberjim]

Probably a stupid question, but before I attempt this I just want to be sure. In the WeaKnees instructions it says "shut down by using CTRL-ALT-DELETE and waiting until the Linux has halted" and in another place it says "hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE, wait for the shutdown sequence to finish, ..."

My question is, CTRL-ALT-DELETE doesn't "shutdown" it just reboots the CD/Floppy. So am I correct in assuming that I'm supposed to wait until it reboots and then power down the PC?

Thanks,
Jim L

[weaknees]

That's exactly right - once the reboot begins, you can shut the power to the PC off. You just want the shutdown sequence to complete first to flush all caches to disk and have the drives properly unmounted.

Michael

[coldtoes]

Is this an error (or just demonstrating my lack of Linux knowledge)?

Using the following parameters:
TiVo 240040
Add drive
Backup: Yes
FAT partition: No
XP: Yes
Boot: CD
Recordings: Ignore
Older than 2.5: No
Move SW: No

I get the following command in step 4:At the prompt, issue the following command:

mount /dev/hdW1 /mnt

Where hdC is the location of the drive that has a temporary FAT partition.I assume that shouldf be either /dev/hdC1 or /dev/hdC, not W?

[weaknees]

Right - the "W" is meant as a variable for your "c:" drive. The fact that Windows calls your boot drive a "c:" drive and that Linux calls the secondary master "hdc" can be confusing, so we put variables in.

Michael

[coldtoes]

I get it that W is a variable - I thought you meant to use the variable consistently, saying "Where hdW is the location of the drive that has a temporary FAT partition," not "where hdC," which implies the drive has to be in the hdc secondary master position. But maybe you do mean the latter.

(My earlier post assumed "C" was the variable, but obviously you wouldn't want to use C as a variable since "hdc" has specific meaning. I'm sorry that made my post unclear.)

I apologize if I'm still not understanding your intent. I'm not trying to get free help, but if there is a typo in the instructions I wanted to point it out.

[weaknees]

I think we're in agreement here - you substitute a, b, c, or d for the W based on where your FAT partition is, and what that correlates to in the chart in step 4.

Michael

[subspace100]

Originally posted by such
Wondering when the guide for the HR10-250 HD DirecTivo might be available. I've ordered the new Weaknees bracket and just want to be ready when all the pieces arrive. Thanks.

Just tought I'd second such's question... any estimate of when an interactive guide for the HR10-250 will be available?

[Markman07]

Hi. I think I found a typo under the Windows XP notes:

Windows 2000 and XP Notes
-----------------------------------------
Booting into Windows 2000 or XP with a TiVo drive connected to your PC will overwrite key information on the TiVo drive. The TiVo drive wont, then, work in a TiVo. If you do run into this problem, you may be able to fix the drive using software called MakeTiVoBootable.
-----------------
ERROR : The TiVo drive wont, then, work

[bomberjim]

I just did a drive replacement today using the following parameters:

240040 TiVo - replacement drive
Backup: yes
FAT: no
XP: yes
Use Floppy
Ignore Recordings
2.5: no
Move software: no

I ran into a small problem after creating the backup. I disconnected the original Tivo drive, rebooted into windows, and copied the backup onto my C: drive. The next instructions were:

"Then, you'll need to reboot in Windows. To do to this, be sure to disconnect the TiVo drive, then remove the CD or floppy, and reboot in Windows. Copy the backup.bak file from the new drive over to your c: drive. Then shut down, reattach the TiVo destination drive, and reboot off your CD or floppy.

Then enter the following with hdZ as your destination drive:

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt"

Why do the instructions say "reattach the TiVo destination drive" isn't that drive what I just copied the backup to my c: drive from, and is obviously still attached? At least I took it to mean the destination of the restore command and therefore didn't reattach anything, just rebooted MFSTools.

The next section says "mount /dev/hda1 /mnt" but hda is my C: drive, it's NTFS and won't mount.

I'm probably just missing the intent here, but what I ended up doing was burning my backup to my CDRW drive (secondary master) and then sending the command "mount /dev/hdc /mnt". I then restored the backup and so far the new drive is working fine.

But... I'd really like to know what I was misinterpreting. What does "reattach the TiVo destination drive" mean? Is there really a way to mount hda1 given it's my XP/NTFS drive? Just curious.

Thanks for the instructions. Having them custom tailored really convinced me to try an upgrade - great effort.

Jim L

[weaknees]

Originally posted by Markman07
Hi. I think I found a typo under the Windows XP notes:

Windows 2000 and XP Notes
-----------------------------------------
Booting into Windows 2000 or XP with a TiVo drive connected to your PC will overwrite key information on the TiVo drive. The TiVo drive wont, then, work in a TiVo. If you do run into this problem, you may be able to fix the drive using software called MakeTiVoBootable.
-----------------
ERROR : The TiVo drive wont, then, work

Reworded for clarity - thanks!

[such]

Any update on when we might see the instructions for the HR10-250? I've got the bracket and drive, but given I'm both a Tivo and Linus novice, I'm a little timid trying this using instructions from another unit.

[weaknees]

You can look here for more info on the HR10-250:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=171445

It's still a bit complicated, but as we get it more data on it, we'll try to add it here.

Michael

[such]

Have been following that thread, however, as an upgrade rookie it's a bit intimidating trying to piece the info together the procedure. Just looking for the simple way to add a second drive (no backup or swapping of the original for me).

[otsp]

I downloaded an image file named Philips_DSR6k.310c_30G.mfs from StanSimmons and extracted it to the root of my C: drive (not in any folders), then renamed it tivo.bak. Then I followed the directions that I thought would allow me to restore that image to my existing TiVo drive that I want to start completely anew with. But I got a "No such file or directory" error message. Here's exactly what I did...

Booted PC from CD with MFSTool 2.0, clicked Enter at boot options.

Typed the following to mount the C: drive:

mkdir /mnt/dos
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/dos

Typed the following to restore to TiVo drive:

mfsrestore -zpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdd

Then got the following message:

/mnt/dos/tivo.bak: No such file or directory!

Any ideas why? Please remember I know nothing about Linux, so I wouldn't know how to check directories, etc. But I do know that file is at that location. Thanks in advance for suggestions!

[weaknees]

Maybe you have multiple partitions on your c: drive and you are getting the wrong one. You should be able to do this to see what's there:

cd /mnt/dos
ls

By the way, we don't feel that you need to make the /mnt/dos directory.

So if you don't find the file, try a different partition on the c: drive:

mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/dos

Michael

[otsp]

Problem solved! I did not know that there was more than one partition on my C: drive. When I substituted hda2 for hda1, the restore worked! And now my TiVo works! So to summarize, the drive probably got corrupted by booting to XP during the downgrade to 3.1.0b, restoring an image file courtesy of StanSimmons fixed the drive, and I just needed to look for the image file in a different partition to complete the restore. Sounds so easy - so why did it take me a whole week??? Thanks, everyone!

[odiej34]

I have a bad a drive and just want to replace it with another maxtor 40 gig drive. Here Is what I chose on the options.

1-If you just need to restore an image file:

Restore from backup to 1 drive

2-Would you like to use a boot CD or floppy: CD Floppy
Set the drive jumpers

When installing your drive(s) in a PC, be sure to confirm that the jumper settings of your drive correspond to "master" or "slave" depending on the location in the PC (hdb, hdc or hdd) in which you plan to connect the drive(s).

Boot the PC from the Linux Media

I pressed enter and got the # promt

Issue restore commands
What are the restore commands?
Granted I am a newbie but I have been reading for three days now and I am still lost. I have figured out how to get an image, make a bootable cd and pull the drive but I am a ways away. Are the restore comands in the directions or are they just info I should allready know?
Thanks for helping.
odie

[Robert S]

It will be something like

mfsrestore -s 127 -xpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc

[dantodd]

I was able to download mfstools and boot into the shell etc. The directions were pretty clear and simple. However I am getting a warning from mfsbackup that my zonemap and backup zonemap are both corrupt.

I am using trying to slavage a failing hard drive on a DSR6000. It is getting stuck in "acquiring information" I suspect that the drive is damaged to the extent that mfs is not able to recreate the data needed to create a new primary drive.

I am totally toast here?

Thanks,
Dan

[weaknees]

Sounds like it. You could try to do a "dd" to completely copy the drive in the hopes that it will be able to read the corrupt info, but it's not very likely at this point.

Michael

[dantodd]

Originally posted by weaknees
Sounds like it. You could try to do a "dd" to completely copy the drive in the hopes that it will be able to read the corrupt info, but it's not very likely at this point.

Thanks Michael,

Well, I tried dd and the new disk hangs exactly like the original so it looks like I'm going to have to try something else.

If you can help I'd really appreciate anything you can do for me.

Thanks,
Dan

[weaknees]

You're really at the point where you have two options:

- get an image online or from a friend with a similar model

or

-buy a drive from a vendor

Michael

[Sir_Jeeves]

No Pioneer support instructions? :)

[weaknees]

Working on updating this - those are a bit tougher . . .

Michael

[edc_k2]

Checking instructions on SD-DVR 40 for adding 1 drive...
Backup Yes
FAT No
Xp/2000 Yes
CD
Save recordings

Excerpt from "Issue backup and expand commands":
----
At the prompt, issue the following command:

mount /dev/hdW1 /mnt

Where hdC is the location of the drive that has a temporary FAT partition.

----

Is that "hdC" supposed to be "hdW1"? Also, is "hdW1" just "hdW" (from the "Substitue Linux Command - Drive Description" table in the insturctions it is "hdW")

Also, whether I select Save or Disregard recordings the instructions seem to be the same. Is that correct?

Thanks! The online guide is a great tool!
Thinking of adding a 160gb Seagate Barracuda drive (Fry's sale $50 AR) with TwinBreeze Complete Bracket Kit from Weaknees.

[weaknees]

Yes on both counts: yes, the hdC should be hdW, and yes, the instructions for saving and disregarding recordings are the same - you'll get them either way, obviously.

I'll edit the site.

Michael

[odiej34]

Are their instructions yet for the RCA DVR80. (70 hour combo) I just ordered one from best buy and have not had a chance to open it.
Thanks.
Odie

[weaknees]

Same as the RCA DVR40 - we'll be updating for new models soon.

Michael

[odiej34]

thanks!

[weaknees]

OK - all of the new SD DirecTV TiVos have been added.

Michael

[coldtoes]

Originally posted by edc_k2
Excerpt from "Issue backup and expand commands":
----
At the prompt, issue the following command:

mount /dev/hdW1 /mnt

Where hdC is the location of the drive that has a temporary FAT partition.
----

Is that "hdC" supposed to be "hdW1"? Also, is "hdW1" just "hdW" (from the "Substitue Linux Command - Drive Description" table in the insturctions it is "hdW") Thanks for saying this more articulately than I was apparently able to in an earlier post. Yes, "hdC" should read "hdW", but you do need the "1". I was confused about this too and wasn't able to get Michael to understand why I thought there was a problem with the instructions, so I'm glad you've cleared it up and he's going to fix it.

Thanks, too, to Weaknees for this great online tool (not to mention the required hardware.) My 40 --> 207 hour upgrade was easy and is going strong. It's awesome!

[weaknees]

Sorry for the earlier confusion. I went through all of the site components yesterday and did a global search for the issue and fixed it (only found one instance). So hopefully this will avoid further confusion. Thanks for the posts!

Michael

[garymarshall]

I have enjoyed reading the messages in this thread and had some questions. I was looking at buying a Tivo 2 TCD540040 and upgrading the hard drive with two new drives. There seems to be some conflicting info on the max size drives that the TIVO would support.

If I understand 128gig is the largest supported size between the 2 drives without some risk taking. Correct?

Secondly I have read an increase in the swap file will allow larger hard drives but with some undesirable risk. Is there a safer answer to have above the 128gig avail?

Third, I think I read the MFS 2.0 post correctly that it allowed for the usage of up to 300 gigs on two drives without an increase in the swap file. What risk are there going to this larger size using this utility?

[weaknees]

That unit can definitely use all of a 300 GB drive. We sell the unit with two - it's almost 700 hours at Basic Quality.

We haven't published a how-to for this unit at this point. It's a bit complicated, and we're working on some ways to smooth out the process. If we can make this palatable for the end-user, we'll post info.

Michael

[DCIFRTHS]

Originally posted by weaknees
That unit can definitely use all of a 300 GB drive. We sell the unit with two - it's almost 700 hours at Basic Quality.

We haven't published a how-to for this unit at this point. It's a bit complicated, and we're working on some ways to smooth out the process. If we can make this palatable for the end-user, we'll post info.

Michael

Any plans to add the Pioneer burners to the instruction list?

[weaknees]

Yes - those too. They pose their own sets of problems, but they're definitely on the list.

Michael

[edc_k2]

While doing my backup
hda = existing 40gb TiVo drive
hdb = new add 160gb Seagate drive (I formatted as 160gb FAT32 with MaxBlast)

command used:
mfsbackup -f 9999 -9so /mnt/backup.bak /dev/hda

After scanning my TiVo drive it reported 40 hours, reported size of uncompressed backup it will do, then the backup started. After about 5%, it did this...

---
hdb: status timeout: statues=0xd0 { Busy }
hdb: no DRQ ater issuing WRITE
ide0: reset: success
---

Then it continued to backup (right now it is at 54%)

Is that OK?

[weaknees]

Might be - try it out when it's done. Your new drive might have an issue.

[edc_k2]

uh oh.

I seem to be in a loop. After the backup succeeded. I went about follow instructions to do the add command. My PC reported the increased size and 196 hours (add 155 hours or something like that).

I made the existing Tivo Drive Master jumper, removed the jumper from the Seagate (slave).

Then I installed th hds to the twin breeze, the bracket to the TiVo, the IDE cables, the power cables, the bracket fan...

Now when I plug in Tivo I get the "Welcome powering up..." then after about 40sec to 1 min I get the "Almost there. Please wait a few more seconds please..." then the screen flashes and the loop starts over... ugh. Am I screwed. What can I do to recover if so? =(

Looking direction on what the best next course of action should be. I do have the backup of the existing drive, but you'll note I got that message two posts above when doing the backup.

I'll open myself up to flaming and ridicule (yes I'm stupid) and admit that when screwing the original TiVo hd to the Twin Breeze bracket it slipped and fell about 5 inches to the table. If my original drive is dead. Can I use my new 160gb drive as a replacement A drive? If so, how do I do that?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

[weaknees]

Yes, you can use the new drive as the replacement A drive, assuming your backup is OK. But I think you should test that new drive - errors there would explain all of this. Can you run the Seagate diagnostics on it?

[edc_k2]

I booted with the Seagate Install CD that came with the hd.

hda = seagate 160gb
hdc = CD-ROM drive

The Quick self diagnostic of the drive passed. Now started the Full diagnostic (how long does this take?). It's scanning now for bad sectors and still at 0% (been about 3 minutes).... Ah now it's 1% after 5 minutes.


+++
I started a new thread so as to not highjack this one... Please continue to help at the new thread if you can. Thanks for your suggestions thus far...
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=192226

[chimmyjim]

Originally posted by weaknees
That unit can definitely use all of a 300 GB drive. We sell the unit with two - it's almost 700 hours at Basic Quality.

We haven't published a how-to for this unit at this point. It's a bit complicated, and we're working on some ways to smooth out the process. If we can make this palatable for the end-user, we'll post info.

Michael

I would love to see the instructions for the TCD540xx units. I just had my original series1 die, and bought one of these. Ended up killing the first one trying to upgrade it. :(

:wink: If you don't want to post them publicly my PM is on :wink:

Thanks

[weaknees]

If you aren't using drives larger than 120 GB, then you're ready to go. For the larger drives, we're still working on a good method to post this. Best bet is to use the info here - it'll apply:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=2101784#post2101784

Michael

[MattDing]

Just wanted to say I followed your instructions and my upgrade went flawlessly on my Phillips 704. I copied all my programs from my original drive to a new Seagate 160 and it only took about 2.5 hours total from moving the entertainment center away from the wall to sliding back after completing. Thank you for the wonderful instructions, they are a great asset to all of us TiVo addicts.

I do have one simple question though. Since I was just doing a drive replacement, I didn't perform a backup, since my original TiVo drive is going into safekeeping for emergencies. This is kosher, right? Is there any strong reason to make a backup as well as keeping the drive? Just wondering what other people's opinions are.

Thanks again. Weeknees rocks!

[weaknees]

Keeping the old drive is pretty much just as good - just make sure that the drive is stored well in a good static-free bag, in a dry, cool place.

Glad the instructions worked well for you!

Michael

[Rshnrocket]

I am trying to find somone that can help me.... I keep seeing your name all over the posts.... My name is Rshnrocket Please help if u can. I have several posts in the white ribbon forum & the upgrade forum. Please look to see my problem.... Any help u can give me would be greatly appreciated.
thanx

[weaknees]

Answered here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?postid=2194877#post2194877

Michael

[Iriskitall]

In my PC I'm running Win2k with FAT32 C: drive. (Have 2 others connected as NTFS). When attempting this upgrade: 1) Do I leave C: attached (prim master) and add orig Tivo A drive and "new drive" OR do I remove all my drives and just attach the orig Tivo A drive and the new drive?
2) Do I need to do anything to the new drive (Maxtor160gb) just out of box before configuring it for the Tivo unit?
My machine was built by friend but I'm trying to figure this out....
Thanks.

[bkdtv]

weaknees,

When will the new silver Tivos (TCD540040, TCD540080, etc) be added to your interactive Tivo upgrade page?

[weaknees]

Originally posted by bkdtv
weaknees,

When will the new silver Tivos (TCD540040, TCD540080, etc) be added to your interactive Tivo upgrade page?

We're working on it, but for now, you just need to boot into a newer kernel (2.4.20 or newer) and use the instructions as on the pages for 24004A. If your new drive(s) are 120 GB or smaller, you don't need to boot into a newer kernel.

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by Iriskitall
In my PC I'm running Win2k with FAT32 C: drive. (Have 2 others connected as NTFS). When attempting this upgrade: 1) Do I leave C: attached (prim master) and add orig Tivo A drive and "new drive" OR do I remove all my drives and just attach the orig Tivo A drive and the new drive?
2) Do I need to do anything to the new drive (Maxtor160gb) just out of box before configuring it for the Tivo unit?
My machine was built by friend but I'm trying to figure this out....
Thanks.

You need the FAT32 drive is you are making a backup. Otherwise, you can disconnect it. You can disconnect the others (and should, so you don't format them by accident).

The new drive needs no formatting other than the mfstools work.

[Thaed]

Will the new 250 GB Maxtor SATA drives work in the new 540 series TiVos? I was told there was an adapter, but has anyone done this? CompUSA is having a sale on them. I think I'm only going to buy one for now, but I'm really tempted to buy two. :)

[weaknees]

We don't know of anyone trying a SATA drive with an adapter yet - but considering the nature of streaming video, we have our doubts.

Michael

[LarryInAz]

Originally posted by Thaed
Will the new 250 GB Maxtor SATA drives work in the new 540 series TiVos? I was told there was an adapter, but has anyone done this? CompUSA is having a sale on them. I think I'm only going to buy one for now, but I'm really tempted to buy two. :)

If you live near a Fry's Electronics they also have the Maxtor 250gb IDE w/ 8meg cache on sale for $119 and no rebate hassle.

[Thaed]

CompUSA had 200 GB HDs on sale for 100 bucks with the old interface. I bought 2! :) I have the 5x software so I am going to try to bridge them tonight in my new TiVo.

[Thaed]

Originally posted by weaknees
We're working on it, but for now, you just need to boot into a newer kernel (2.4.20 or newer) and use the instructions as on the pages for 24004A. If your new drive(s) are 120 GB or smaller, you don't need to boot into a newer kernel.
Michael

I just downloaded the MFS 2.0 boot disk and burned it and it uses kernel 2.4.4. Hmmm. How do I get an MFS 2.0 boot disk that uses 2.4.20 or later?

[Thaed]

D'oh! Answering my own question:

The large HD MFS Tools 2.0 is here. (http://www.ptvupgrade.com/support/bigdisk/index.html)

[verve]

The instructions for the backup file uses the name "backup.bak" . Is there anything special about this name? Could I name it anything I want to, for instance, differentiate between different tivo backup files on the same disk (one for my direct tivo, one for my SA tivo)?

[weaknees]

Any name you want should work.

[ruc2827]

Originally posted by bomberjim
I just did a drive replacement today using the following parameters:

240040 TiVo - replacement drive
Backup: yes
FAT: no
XP: yes
Use Floppy
Ignore Recordings
2.5: no
Move software: no

I ran into a small problem after creating the backup. I disconnected the original Tivo drive, rebooted into windows, and copied the backup onto my C: drive. The next instructions were:

"Then, you'll need to reboot in Windows. To do to this, be sure to disconnect the TiVo drive, then remove the CD or floppy, and reboot in Windows. Copy the backup.bak file from the new drive over to your c: drive. Then shut down, reattach the TiVo destination drive, and reboot off your CD or floppy.

Then enter the following with hdZ as your destination drive:

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt"

Why do the instructions say "reattach the TiVo destination drive" isn't that drive what I just copied the backup to my c: drive from, and is obviously still attached? At least I took it to mean the destination of the restore command and therefore didn't reattach anything, just rebooted MFSTools.

The next section says "mount /dev/hda1 /mnt" but hda is my C: drive, it's NTFS and won't mount.

I'm probably just missing the intent here, but what I ended up doing was burning my backup to my CDRW drive (secondary master) and then sending the command "mount /dev/hdc /mnt". I then restored the backup and so far the new drive is working fine.

But... I'd really like to know what I was misinterpreting. What does "reattach the TiVo destination drive" mean? Is there really a way to mount hda1 given it's my XP/NTFS drive? Just curious.

Thanks for the instructions. Having them custom tailored really convinced me to try an upgrade - great effort.

Jim L Weaknees, can you respond to this? This is very confusing. This is for the situation where you don't have a FAT32 partition so you use your destination drive to backup your TiVo drive, boot to Windows (presumably with the destination drive attached which is not specified), and copy the backup to your NTFS drive. The instrutions that follow this are confusing. Can you mount a NTFS partition and restore from it? Also, wouldn't booting to Windows with your destination drive corrupt it? I guess not, but this is in contrast to the Windows XP warning. Does this only affect disks that have already had an image restore to them?

Thanks

[weaknees]

You are both right - the destination drive is already attached (it temporarily housed the backup) and doesn't need to be reconnected. But you CAN restore from NTFS - you just can't backup to it. NTFS is mounted as read-only.

Michael

[Mr Pieces]

2 part question.

I am adding a 250gb drive to my HR10-250 and want to do it with BlessTiVo.

Q1:

Where can I get BlessTiVo (Is it in MFSTools?)

Q2:

What is the command line assuming the drive I'm adding is on Secondary Master?

Thanks.

[weaknees]

BlessTiVo is here:

http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/tivoboot_v3.zip

You just need to boot in a kernel with support for drives that size. The command would be:

BlessTiVo /dev/hdc

Capitalization is important.

Michael

[Mr Pieces]

Michael,

I just downloaded the file and went to unzip it and there are no files showing up inside. Can I unzip it in Windows?

Is it better to use BlessTiVo to add a drive to a HR10-250 or mfsadd?

Thanks again.

[weaknees]

It's a binary on that disk image.

But the real answer depends on the size of disk. For a 250, either way is fine.

[LarryInAz]

I have used BlessTiVo on 2 recent HD TiVo upgrades successfully. I recently added one of the new 540040 standalone TiVo's to my arsenal. I first upgraded the 540040 by pulling the original 40gb drive and replacing it with a 250gb jumping from 40 to 283 hours.

Prices on 250gb drives are so reasonable I wanted to add a 2nd 250, I installed the Twinbreeze rack with the 2nd drive which I ran BlessTiVo on but when I booted up the TiVo it shows the same 283 hours. I know both drives and the fans are powering up. Why is the 2nd drive not being seen?
The drives are jumpered correctly Master and Slave and not as CS.

:confused:

[weaknees]

BlessTiVo can only be used to add a drive to an original factory drive, or any drive with an *un-expanded* image. Once you've expanded an A drive, you can't put a "blessed" drive in there and have it get recognized. In this case, you need to use mfsadd.

Michael

[LarryInAz]

If I pull the two drives and run mfsadd am I going to lose everything that's recorded? Or will it be ok to put the two drives in my pc and run mfsadd line and I'll have the extra space and my recordings? :confused:

[weaknees]

You'll keep everything - you'll just get the new space. You aren't restoring from a backup, just adding partitions and updating the table.

Michael

[Mr Pieces]

Will the BlessTiVo on the : Kazymyr's Boot Cd v2.6i (8.7MB) work?

For a 250GB drive going in a HR10-250

[LarryInAz]

Yes it will - I had the same "invisible" zipped file problem in XP also after downloading the blesstivo.zip file.

BTW, keep in mind the BlessTiVo command line is case sensitive.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by Mr Pieces
Will the BlessTiVo on the : Kazymyr's Boot Cd v2.6i (8.7MB) work?

For a 250GB drive going in a HR10-250

To be more specific, the BlessTiVo app will work, but for a 250 GB drive, you shouldn't boot off of that CD because then you'll only gain 137 GB of it. More info is over in this thread:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=171445

Michael

[Mr Pieces]

The drive shows up at 251GB in the bios but when I blessed it it came back at 127GB. It is a MAxtor ATA133 250GB drive (7200 rpm) if that makes a difference. Help please.

[Mr Pieces]

Any idea how to see the files in the BlessTiVo linked above under Windows XP? When I try and open the zip nothing is in it.

[weaknees]

Right - you are booting in a kernel that's too old. You need a Linux kernel version 2.4.20 or newer. In the meantime, DON'T add the drive to your HD TiVo. See the other thread for more details.

[Mr Pieces]

Think I got it unzipped. I had to use a regular zip program instead of Windows XP. I am trying now with the floppy version. Believe me, I won't be putting a drive back in the TiVo until I see the correct drive size.

[LarryInAz]

Originally posted by weaknees
You'll keep everything - you'll just get the new space. You aren't restoring from a backup, just adding partitions and updating the table.

Michael

Thanks again for the assist Michael - the standalone is back up and cooking with 574 hours and all intact. :D

[Mr Pieces]

OK, I got a bookdisk created from the link you provided. The Bios when I boot the PC reports the drive as 251GB yet when I boot into the BlessTiVo floppy it has the drive down as 137GB. I tried to bless it just for kicks and it came back 127GB. Obviously I won't install it in my HD TiVo until I get the correct size reported.

[weaknees]

Right - look at the other thread for ways to find a boot disk that has larger kernel support. We're working on one to simplify all of this.

[Mr Pieces]

Blessed it with the lba48 cd and it came back 233GB. Sounds right to me. Now I just need to install it and keep my fingers crossed. I have upgraded about 10 regular TiVo's over the years but this was my first time with this $1000 baby and wanted to be 100% before starting. Thanks for all the help!

BTW, I love this Weaknees bracket for the HR10-250. Sweet!

[weaknees]

Thanks for the bracket note - we put a lot of time (and money) into it and we've had only good experiences with it.

233GB sounds right.

Michael

[Mr Pieces]

JUst booted up the TiVo and it has 63 Hours of record time in HD! Hopefully that will help with some of the season pass issues I was having due to space.

Thanks for all your help.

[garymarshall]

Ok - I completed the updgrade and added 2x200 Seagate drives ($89.00 5 year warranty at CompUSA) to a TCD5400XXX drive without a hitch on a series 2. Everything went fine and the extra space is great. I am now ready to buy the bracket - is the extra fan and the delayed start on one of the drives worth the extra money - does it actually cool anything down or just blow around the hot air - Does the delay start actually benefit the power supply.

Im anxious to put the new bracket in and make my strapped in drive a little more professional.

The second question I have is now that I am upgraded, where can I find the procedures to add ftp and telnet to the new drives. I have read a variety of threads and it seems I need a special FTP to the series 2, Correct?

[weaknees]

As far as the bracket, fan, and PowerTrip: we think they all are pretty important. The unit has a 38W power supply, so it can use the help to lessen the load for the PowerTrip. The fan definitely reduces the temperature inside the unit, and it needs the bracket as a mounting spot.

Michael

[garymarshall]

great, I will order the bracket/fan/delayed start. Can you give me some pointers on which progam to use for the s2 ftp/telnet and where to find them?

[Carioca_FL]

I thought one couldn't use a >120GB HDD on a Series2 Tivo due to the LBA addressing size issue, where only the first 137GB would be seen.

Is there a (easy) way to use a 250GB HDD on a Series2?

[LarryInAz]

Originally posted by Carioca_FL
I thought one couldn't use a >120GB HDD on a Series2 Tivo due to the LBA addressing size issue, where only the first 137GB would be seen.

Is there a (easy) way to use a 250GB HDD on a Series2?

The "new Series 2" 5400xx series TiVo's have a newer Linux Kernel and it will recognize the larger hard drives. Be certain you use the "large drive TiVo" image.

[Carioca_FL]

I wish I knew this before... I received two 160GB HDDs to replace the two 120GB HDDs that I had in my server just to put them in the Tivo.

Say, am I looking at too much difference between a 120GB and 160GB, hours-wise?

Thanks for the info, btw!

[LarryInAz]

Originally posted by Carioca_FL
I wish I knew this before... I received two 160GB HDDs to replace the two 120GB HDDs that I had in my server just to put them in the Tivo.

Say, am I looking at too much difference between a 120GB and 160GB, hours-wise?

Thanks for the info, btw!

the 80gb difference would be nice but if you've already done the upgrade IMHO it's not worth changing. However if you get a good price on some 250gb drives it would be worth it.

250gb drives are the "sweet spot" price wise on large hard drives.

If you live near a Fry's Electornics they've been as cheap as $79.95 [after MIR] for Hitachi and $119.95 2 weeks ago on Maxtor drives - no rebate hassles.

Just my .02 ;)

[Carioca_FL]

Yeah, no Fry's here in SoFla, and I've already got the two 160GBs in the server and RAIDed them, so I don't think I'm pulling them out...

I guess I'll content myself with 2x120GB. Heck, that's a whole lot more than the original 40hrs I get now.

Say, would you be able to give me a ballpark of how many hours (on medium, high, whathaveyou) I would get with 2x120GBs HDDs?

Thanks again!

[weaknees]

FWIW, outpost.com is under the same ownership as Fry's and sometimes has similar specials.

Dual 120 GB screenshot:
http://www.weaknees.com/details2/rd120t544.php

Dual 160 GB screenshot:
http://www.weaknees.com/details2/rd160t544.php

Michael

[Carioca_FL]

The two 160GB HDDs I got were from Outpost ($50 after MIR). Thanks for the screenies, btw!
I don't have a FAT32 partition on any of my machines, and I don' t plan on doing a backup of my Tivo HDD (I don't really mind losing shows).

But what if disaster strikes? Is there a way to get a hold of a Tivo image or is the image tied to my specific Tivo unit?

[weaknees]

The image can be moved between similar units. So you could use any image from a TCD540XXX TiVo.

[RoscoeH]

I spent a few hours over the weekend upgrading my TIVO Phillips 212 from two 75G IBM deskstar drive to a pair of WD 120G drives. I used the interactive link. DUH? Too simple for words. OUTSTANDING job!

I also noticed someone remarked that the Western Digital drives run hot. Any one reported any failures?

Finally, I order the DirecTV 'special' deal for $99. But, I don't know what the model of the TIVO unit is. Has anyone else bought into the deal? Any 'gotchas'?

[weaknees]

You'll get one of four units from them: RCA DVR40, Philips DSR704, Hughes SD-DVR40, or Samsung S4040R. All are really fine.

Michael

[RoscoeH]

Can these units be upgraded with 250g dirves. I'm considering an upgrade after the warranty expires.

Roscoe

[weaknees]

Many newer units can be. We're working on updating the instructions to that effect. What model do you have?

[ruc2827]

My TiVo was freezing up during playback and on the menus, requiring a reboot, so I assumed the hard drive was bad. I replaced the hard drive per weaknees instructions, restored the old drive to the new one, and TiVo kept freezing up on the menus with the new hard drive. I assumed the image itself was corrupt, thus causing problems, so I backed up a healthy TiVo and restored it. Same problems with the new drive and the good image. It has frozen up on the menus again. Has anyone heard of TiVo freezing up with good hard drives? Is this problem possibly caused by something else (faulty memory, processsor, etc)? Any ideas?

[weaknees]

Pretty strange - what model TiVo? Have you tried a new IDE cable?

[ruc2827]

Originally posted by weaknees
Pretty strange - what model TiVo? Have you tried a new IDE cable? TiVo Series 2 240080. I haven't tried a new cable. I'll try that. It is wierd. I was convinced it was a bad HD. It used to stutter during playback and occasionally freeze and spontaneously reboot on the menus. With the new HD and new image it freezes and spontaneously reboots or hangs on the menus like it going out of style. So, I figure its hardware related.

[weaknees]

You might also just have another bad HD - chances are low, but it happens.

[ruc2827]

I was getting the following error when attempting to restore an image to a drive of identical size:
Restore failed: Backup target not large enough for entire backup by itself.

Since the drive is the original size of the backup drive, you have to remove the "-s 127" and x parameters. Weaknees, please update your instructions with the following note:

"Note: Remove the "-s 127" and "x" from the following command line if restoring image to a drive the same size as the original (otherwise the image will not fit)"

I found this answer by looking at the Hinsdale instructions. The correct command when restoring an image to a drive of the exact same size is:

mfsrestore -zpi /mnt/backup.bak /dev/hdZ

[weaknees]

Thanks - I'll try to put that in.

[Marconi]

Originally posted by weaknees
We're pleased to announce the release of a new set of TiVo Upgrade Instructions for the do-it-yourselfer who would prefer not to buy a "plug and play" hard drive.

...
Here's the link:

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com

Michael

When will these instructions be updated to include (what I believe are) the newest TiVo models, including the one I just ordered, which I believe to be a 540040?

Is it safe to just use the 240040 selection instead?

[weaknees]

I'm actually working on that now - you can use the 240040 instructions as long as your drive is a 120 or smaller. Otherwise, I should have the site updated within a few days.

[jimbop99]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I just wanted to thank Weaknees for the instructions. I finally got up the courage to upgrade the hard drive on my Hughes D*Tivo. Went from 35 hours to 105 hours with out a hitch. I've had the hard drive sitting in the basement for almost six months and decided it was time to give it a try, especially since if I somehow screwed it up, a new replacement unit can now be had for as little as $50. Thanks again!

[weaknees]

We've updated the site to reflect now ALL of the TiVos that can be currently upgraded (the only exclusion being the Toshiba SD-H400). The new models added are:

TiVo 240140
TiVo 540040
TiVo 540080
TiVo 540140

Pioneer 810H
Pioneer 57H

Hughes HD HR10-250

Humax T800
Humax T2500

Samsung SIR - 4080R

In order to support large drives for the units that can handle them:

-we have a CD available for download with mfstools and BlessTiVo on it
-we have some instructions for the new units to work around the 256 GB limitation in mfstools

Good luck upgrading!

Michael

[roar15]

Hi weaknees,

noob here,

I've looked around abit and I'm not sure if I found the answer to my question or not....

I've got a Hughes HDVR2 with a failing drive. It was freezing up, so I tried it's (tivo's) reset and delete everything option, and could never get past the startup screen. Took the drive out and ran powermax on it ant it reported back that the drive was failing.

SO here is my question...... Are there any utilities available to or is it even possible to just get my new Maxtor 80gb drive setup as a replacement A drive with out having to try and get an image off of my failing original 40gb drive?

Thanks in advance.

[weaknees]

You can ask around for an image file (dig around in this forum) then use these instructions to restore the image file to the new drive.

[roar15]

Thank you for the info.

[Marconi]

Originally posted by weaknees
We've updated the site to reflect now ALL of the TiVos that can be currently upgraded (the only exclusion being the Toshiba SD-H400). The new models added are:

TiVo 240140
TiVo 540040
TiVo 540080
TiVo 540140

...
In order to support large drives for the units that can handle them:

-we have a CD available for download with mfstools and BlessTiVo on it
-we have some instructions for the new units to work around the 256 GB limitation in mfstools

Good luck upgrading!

Michael

The config setup asks: "Are you using drives larger than 250 GB?"

Does that mean: "Is any drive larger than 250 GB?" or does it mean: "Do your drives total more than 250 GB?"

[weaknees]

It means "any one drive" in your upgrade.

Michael

[kimsan]

Michael,

Great job on the instructions and continuing support.

And *major* praise for the TwinBreeze kit for the HR10-250. Great instructions and illustrations, beautifully designed bracket, all the parts needed (less disks), and the required Torx drivers to boot! That'll save me running to the Jeep for my multi-drive set in the future.

Shame the -Tao copy/expand took ~32 hrs from a full 250gb to a new pair or 250s, but it was well worth the time. Flawless.

Big thanks for your continuing efforts.

[weaknees]

Glad to hear it - if it took 32 hours, the TiVo must have been pretty full, and you clearly need the space!

Michael

[kimsan]

Originally posted by weaknees
Glad to hear it - if it took 32 hours, the TiVo must have been pretty full, and you clearly need the space!

Michael

Very full. Stuff was ready to "age off" without having been viewed. Haven't had that happen since I did an upgrade to my original DSR6000 several years ago.

I wondered if that was a reasonable amount of time on a P4 2.8ghz/1gb RAM system, but since it *did* complete successfully I have to assume it's normal.

If it should have to happen again, it'll be image restore for me. The recordings are just gonna have to take it tough :)

Thanks again.

[weaknees]

It certainly seems like a long time, but not unheard of. If you didn't have DMA on, then it can slow down a lot.

Michael

[mondoz]

Hi

I just wanted to thank you for writing this guide. It was extremely well written, and really useful. (Fedex says I have a pair of bracket/fan kits on the way here, too.) :)

I have a question about my recent upgrade experiences.
I added a 120 gb drive to a new 540040 and an older 24008A over the weekend.
The 540040 was new, with no recordings on it. When I backed it up, the backup file was about 600mb.

The upgrade went well, (except when I booted the additional drive into W2k to erase the backup I made to it after mfsadding the drive. Oops. I was able to recover, though.)
When I upgraded the older TiVo, however, the backup was only about 300mb. I told the instruction wizard that I wanted to save the recordings, and used the backup command I was given, but I'm thinking it didn't actually backup the shows.

Fortunately, I didn't need to use the backup file, and everything went well on the second upgrade, but I'm wondering what went wrong with the backup.


Thanks again

[weaknees]

Those backup file sizes could certainly be right for each unit. Our instructions allow you to copy recordings, but no configuration on this site will give you info for backing up your recordings to a file, although it is possible.

Michael

[mondoz]

Originally posted by weaknees
Those backup file sizes could certainly be right for each unit. Our instructions allow you to copy recordings, but no configuration on this site will give you info for backing up your recordings to a file, although it is possible.

Michael

Ahh.. I see.

I was under the impression that you could include the recordings into the backup.

Thanks again.

[Global]

Thank you weaknees,

I was pretty nervous to upgrade my Tivo but your clear instructions made the upgrade a breeze!

Keep up the great work, it is highly appreciated!

[SteveCA]

I have a Hughes HDVR2 that I upgraded from 30 hours to 105 hours (120 GB) many months ago. "Piece of cake." I am now in the process of adding a second 120GB drive. I would like to preserve my recordings.

It appears that in the Hinsdale instructions Configuration #1 (and Weaknees interactive) that all I need to do is run the "mfsadd..." command. However, since I am past the 180GB barrier, the Hinsdale instructions suggest I need to do either Configuration #2 or #3 to increase the swap space. Obviously #3 saves my recordings, but it assumes TWO NEW drives -- not adding a drive as in #1.

Is there a safe way to add 120Gb to a 120 Gb system and save the recordings?

SteveCA


I think I found the answer to my question. I found my notes from my previous upgrade. I had used the "-s 127" parameter when I had previously increased the size of the "A" drive. Thus I just used the "mfadd" command this time to add another drive.

[mike3k]

I notice your upgrade instructions seem to require Windows. I only have a PC running Linux and several Macs.

[weaknees]

Generally, you don't need Windows at all. What you need is Linux. Try getting the complete steps and you'll see what's needed for your situation.

Michael

[bkdtv]

Can we expect a guide for the SD-H400 anytime soon?

[yapaul]

Hi Weaknees,

I'm using your most awesome upgrade instructions and am a bit confussed on one section. I have a 540040 (Series 2, 40 hours) and want to change it to a 2 drive configuration. I plan on setting up the drives in my computer in this manner:

Prim. master: boot CD or Windows 2000 harddrive
Prim. slave: original Tivo drive
Sec. master: new Tivo drive 1
Sec. Slave: new Tivo drive 2

From the upgrade instructions, I boot with CD and backup the Tivo drive onto new Tivo drive 1. Then I will swap the boot CD with my Windows 2000 drive, remove the Tivo drive and copy the backup image from the new Tivo drive 1 to Windows 2000 drive. (Is this correct so far?)
Now here is the confusion. The upgrade instructions says to swap back the CD, attach the Tivo drive and do the mfsrestore. But isn't the backup image on the Windows 2000 drive? Shouldn't I attach my Windows 2000 drive instead of my Tivo drive?

Thanks again for your great ugrade instructions!

[weaknees]

Yes - you should. I'll have to visit the instructions to see how you found that path. What model is this for?

[yapaul]

1 -> Series 2 - TiVo 540040.
2 -> Replace with two drives.
3 -> Backup - yes
FAT partition - no
Windows 2000 - yes
Recording - ignor
Moving software - no
> 250GB - no

The line is:

Then, you'll need to reboot in Windows. To do to this, be sure to disconnect the TiVo drive, then remove the CD or floppy, and reboot in Windows. Copy the backup.bak file from the new drive over to your c: drive. Then shut down, reattach the TiVo drive, and reboot off your CD or floppy with the destination drives connected, and enter the following with hdX and hdY as your destination drives:

The part about reattaching the Tivo drive is confusing. Shouldnt it be the Windows 2000 drive with the backup image? Would the mount command with a Windows 2000 disk work?

[weaknees]

Well, either way will work. Once you've made the backup file and moved it to the Win2K drive, you can either restore from it, or you can again copy off the old TiVo drive, and then restore directly to the new drives with no intervening file, and I'm pretty sure that's the way this has you going. If the resulting command line has both "mfsbackup" and "mfsrestore" in it, then you DO need the old TiVo drive to make that work. If it has only "mfsrestore" in it (which I doubt) then you need the Win2K drive.

Michael

[yapaul]

Do you have the command for copying from the original Tivo drive to the new drives without an intervening file? Thanks again for your help!

[weaknees]

Just run the instructions and for "backup" choose "no."

[yapaul]

Got it! Thanks for your patience! I have ordered your bracket and fans and will try out the procedure once they arrive. I can't wait! I won't have to use the basic record level (pretty grainy).

[weaknees]

Just added support for the Humax DRT800 upgrade.