DirecTV HD DVR HR10-250 Upgrade Thread

[chewie1]

I was just trying to make a backup at this point and was going to worry about adding the drive after your testing was stable, so I don't have a 2nd drive as of yet. I guess i'll wait a little longer to see if it's just slow. The fact that both drives are on the same ide controller wouldn't affect it, would it?

[weaknees]

Shouldn't matter if they are on the same bus.

Maybe just wait until you have another drive, and go from there.

Michael

[chewie1]

ok, I guess I'll just throw it back in the unit and worry about it later. Thanks for your help.

[weaknees]

Surprised you could live with the HD box working for this long . . .

Good luck on the next go 'round.

Michael

[Fletch]

Originally posted by weaknees
Yes - just use the "-zi" switch.

Michael
-zi or -xzpi ?

[weaknees]

Just "-zi" is what you want. The "x" in there is basically mfsadd which is what can cause problems here and would also cause a new 300 GB A drive to not see a Blessed B drive. The "p" isn't needed here.

Michael

[Fletch]

Hmm. So will this work with dual 300g drives? I plan to just save the old A drive as my archive.

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -zi - /dev/hda /dev/hdb

[weaknees]

No. If you want to save recordings, you can either do:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -zi - /dev/hda

then bless the second drive in noswap, or "dd" the old to the new A drive, then bless the B drive in "noswap."

Michael

[Fletch]

I get it now. Thanks.

[pmaddock]

I'd like to solicit some advice with the developments here.

If I'm hearing things correctly MFS can do A expansions and BlessTivo can do B drive adds with no worries about drive sizes. So a 300 + 300 HD Tivo seems to be possible now.

I'm sort of stuck on the cost issue. 300GB drives have a hefty price premium - the Quickview drives have an even bigger premium. I really want to back up the original drive and keep it on the shelf in case something goes really bad in the future but $600 or so for 2 300GB drives is more than I can take after $1K for the HD Tivo.

Since nobody is selling the 250GB version of the Quickview what seems to be the best 'normal' 250GB drive that I could use as an A replacement? I'll probably bite the bullet and get the 300 Quickview at Weaknees for the B drive.

[weaknees]

Just to be clear, we don't (yet) have a way to do 300 + 300. The most we have working stably is 250 + 300. We do have some ideas in development for the dual 300s though.

Michael

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by weaknees
Just to be clear, we don't (yet) have a way to do 300 + 300. The most we have working stably is 250 + 300. We do have some ideas in development for the dual 300s though.

Michael

Thanks for the clarification. Since the the 250 Quickview doesn't seem to be on hand out there what would you recommend to use as an A drive replacement?

[barkode]

Successful HR10-250 250GB upgrade (500GB total) - got 63 hours HD / 425 SD.

Screenshot here - http://www.barkode.com/stuff/tivo/hr10_250_upgraded_screenshot.jpg

Started with a complete virgin TiVO (just wanted to get a virgin backup of my own, my preference), never booted the system. Used a WD2500JB (the same drive that's inside, only with 8MB cache instead of 2MB), with the MFS Tools 2.0 LBA48 boot cd. Went off mostly without a hitch - although for some reason on my XP4 mini pc I couldn't run mfsbackup while the drives were on the same IDE channel. The mfsbackup process would actually go dead. I let it sit for six hours. Switched one drive to the other IDE channel and it worked fine.

I also did a full backup/restore, and also an mfsbackup piped into mfsrestore just for testing purposes.

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hda | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdc

...generated a 3137 megabyte piped restore, and that drive booted the TiVO fine into setup.

mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/c/tivo.bak /dev/hda

... gave me a 155MB backup file of a 1486 megabyte image. -6so gave me ~85MB of the same.

mfsadd -x /dev/hda /dev/hdc

... joined the drives, reported 481 total hours.

I *just* finished this and haven't even activated the unit yet, but you'll hear me scream here if it has issues when I start to fill it up.

Will have some documentation and photos up later this week. I'm also going to be installing a rather interesting cooling system (it's currently running with the top off, drives outside the unit) and the 9th Tee mounting bracket in the next two days. The bracket is here, but I need to modify some things to get the cooling system running.

Hope everyone else has positive experiences upgrading their HR10-250s as well. Let's just hope I don't fry it in the next few days fiddling with it. :)

[AbMagFab]

Some folks have posts an issue with noswap. Did you have to specify that somewhere, or did the mfstools 2.0 default to noswap?

(And what's up with the DVR service inactive in your screenshot?)

[barkode]

Originally posted by AbMagFab
Some folks have posts an issue with noswap. Did you have to specify that somewhere, or did the mfstools 2.0 default to noswap?

(And what's up with the DVR service inactive in your screenshot?)

I had no issue with swap, my backup restored properly and booted, I didn't pass any parameters to the kernel or mess with swap at all, other than passing -s 127 into my restore.

As I mentioned, my service was inactive when I took that shot because I had just finished the upgrade 30 seconds earlier and hadn't even activated the unit yet (I knew someone would ask anyway...) On a side note, DirecTV's systems are down until 8AM Eastern for maintenance today, so I'm still not activated. :(

[borghe]

I can report MFSTools problems on the same bus as well.... saw it two different times in particular.

The first was restoring from the FAT32 drive to the new drive to test the backup. Both were on the same bus and it would always lockup around 9%..

The second was restoring to the original A drive (after my failed bash attempt) from CDROM image with the CDROM and Tivo A drive being on the same bus.. again a lockup around 9%..

MFSTools most definitely does have some problems when copying images on the same bus on many computers..

[Graphics]

I have been doing a net search on the WD2500JB drives, found
Source: www.newegg.com Drive info: www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=10&id=748

(Cost factor too much for anything higher i.e.*300 gig) and have boiled it down to about $192.00 ~ has anyone found a source that we all can pounce on or can do a volume buy as a group?...suggestions?

[aejanis]

Originally posted by Graphics
I have been doing a net search on the WD2500JB drives, found
Source: www.newegg.com Drive info: www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=10&id=748

(Cost factor too much for anything higher i.e.*300 gig) and have boiled it down to about $192.00 ~ has anyone found a source that we all can pounce on or can do a volume buy as a group?...suggestions?

FWIW...Compusa had Maxtor 250 drives on sale for $159.99 late last week. I bought 2 of them. The sale (or something similar) might pop up again. You can do better if you wait for a sale.

[edrock200]

CompUSA is selling 7200 250GB hd's for $159 no rebates and 200s for $129 no rebates. Not sure of the brand and model though. Picked up a 250.

*edit* aejanis beat me to it. :)

[aejanis]

They are 179.99 today at Compusa

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=302225&pfp=BROWSE

I am running one as my "A" drive, and will add as "B" drive once I get a bracket for it. (I put the orignal WD on the shelf for now, just incase there are problems with the first software download or something).

[Bill Milford]

Yesterday and Today only:
At DFW area Fry's Electronics: Maxtor Retail 250GB, 7200RPM drive for $139.99
I Picked up one at lunch today. Some of the kits had a ATA133 + SATA card included.

Bill

[aaronwt]

WOW! They have really come down in price! A year and a half ago I paid almost $300 each for several 250GB drives, and they were only 5400rpm.

[pmaddock]

You know I have to wonder why so many Maxtor 250GB drives are being marked down so much. The one at Frys is the same one that Compusa has on special.

[JohnTivo]

They are probably trying to reduce inventory so they can introduce new models... Hitachi is already shipping in low quantities their 400 GB drive. I've read rumors that Maxtor will also be releasing a 400 GB drive....

[Nomarian]

Weaknees,

From your reply, I surmised that as long as you keep the primary drive at 250GB, then you can pretty much add any size drive as the secondary drive? So for instance, I could to a 250GB+300GB or 250GB+400GB and it should work okay?

Thanks.

[pbolya]

Originally posted by aaronwt
WOW! They have really come down in price! A year and a half ago I paid almost $300 each for several 250GB drives, and they were only 5400rpm. aaronwt,
You really have to watch out for sales. In December 2002 I bought a $160GB (8MB 7200 WD) for $150 and 3 200GB's (8MB 7200 WD) for $180 at Fry's (no error on either of them so far). Although The Maxtor 250GB sale at CompUSA ended last Friday I talked the salesperson into honoring it on Sunday. I realize it is Thursday already but it never hurt to try. Just tell them that you saw this advertisement and you can only afford it at that price. Worth thing can happen is that they turn you down (believe me it's not as bad as a turned down marriage proposal).

Regards,
Peter

[weaknees]

Originally posted by Nomarian
Weaknees,

From your reply, I surmised that as long as you keep the primary drive at 250GB, then you can pretty much add any size drive as the secondary drive? So for instance, I could to a 250GB+300GB or 250GB+400GB and it should work okay?

Thanks.

Well, we haven't tested drives over 300 GB, so we can't say for sure, but this seems likely at this point. Smaller drives do work fine.

Michael

[ruckusboy]

Originally posted by barkode
Successful HR10-250 250GB upgrade (500GB total) - got 63 hours HD / 425 SD.

mfsadd -x /dev/hda /dev/hdc

... joined the drives, reported 481 total hours.


I followed your mfsadd that you said was successful in giving you the extra hours. When I run the command it says
'New estimated standalone size: 582 hours (301 more).'
'Done! Estimated standalone gain: 301 hours'
I put the drives in the Tivo and the system info still only shows the 30HD and 200SD.
The jumpers have been set correctly. I think the only thing could be that you had your drives both set as master. One on A and one on C. My PC has no secondary IDE so I have both drives on the same cable. The command I ran was
mfsadd -x /dev/hda /dev/hdb

Am I missing something? Ok, I'm sure I am. Any idea what?

Thanks
--ruckus

[weaknees]

ruckusboy-

Exactly what size drives did you use? Did you restore to the boot drive, or just use it as it came out of the TiVo?

I don't think we've ever seen mfsadd report an expansion and then see the TiVo not see it and yet boot except with the Toshiba SD-H400 and the Pioneer 810H (some).

Michael

[ruckusboy]

Exactly what size drives did you use? Did you restore to the boot drive, or just use it as it came out of the TiVo?

Drive A is the factory drive, drive B is a Maxtor 250. I did not perform a backup/restore yet. I was hoping that I would not have to.

I tried the mfsadd several times. Each time it reported successful but failed to show the expanded space.

Should I try the backup/restore?

Thanks for the help.

[weaknees]

That's pretty odd - we haven't seen exactly that in any test yet. Basically, once you run mfsadd, you shouldn't need (or be able) to run it again. It should say "nothing to add."

The first thing you should do here it to make a backup - that way, no matter what comes, you'll be able to get back to square one.

Next, try blessing the B drive in "noswap" and see what happens. That's pretty likely to work.

Michael

[ruckusboy]

Ok, I'm in the process of backing up the drive.

Next, try blessing the B drive in "noswap" and see what happens. That's pretty likely to work.

Is that a command line flag?

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by ruckusboy
Drive A is the factory drive, drive B is a Maxtor 250. I did not perform a backup/restore yet. I was hoping that I would not have to.

I tried the mfsadd several times. Each time it reported successful but failed to show the expanded space.

Should I try the backup/restore?

Thanks for the help.


You don't have to, but having a backup is a good idea. You can just "Bless" the B drive using BlessTiVo, you know...

[ruckusboy]

You don't have to, but having a backup is a good idea. You can just "Bless" the B drive using BlessTiVo, you know...

That's what I'm trying to do. Is that with mfsadd? Or is there a blessTivo command I'm not aware of?

[aejanis]

Originally posted by ruckusboy
That's what I'm trying to do. Is that with mfsadd? Or is there a blessTivo command I'm not aware of?


Yes...BlessTiVo is a command on the CD. It was the orignal way that people added an extra drive to their TiVo. Before the MFS/Tiger tools.

[weaknees]

Are you booting off a CD or do you have a Linux PC? Either way, BlessTiVo is the way to do this, but you need to be sure you are booted into a "noswap" kernel when you do it. If you don't have BlessTiVo, you can download it here:

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

Michael

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by ruckusboy
That's what I'm trying to do. Is that with mfsadd? Or is there a blessTivo command I'm not aware of?

Yes, here is a simple way to do things:

Get yourself a copy of our LBA48 Boot CD here:

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/support/bigdisk/index.html

Connect your add-on drive to your PC; in this example, we assume it to be connected as the SECONDARY SLAVE (/dev/hdd):

Boot LBA48 CD (just hit return at the boot prompt)

and when its completed, type:

BlessTiVo /dev/hdd

and follow the instructions.

[Graphics]

tivoupgrade ~ weaknees:
How does the "Adding another DRIVE" scenario look to you that I typed up??
(I wish not to touch my original drive in anyway shape or form, other than remove and reinsert power and ribbon cable.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I purchase an additional drive i.e. (WD2500JB), I purchase HR10-250 DirecTiVo Hard Drive Mounting Bracket with Hardware. I have a standard ribbon cable for PC’s that support 2 drives. I have a split “Y” Black/Yellow/White for power to the second drive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a PC running at 2.7gig under XP Pro. I shut off my PC, and disconnect any ribbon cables at the mother board, that feed my present HD set up (i.e.Primary IDE drive controller). I connect a single ribbon cable to the NEW drive for the add-on, and plug in (*for this setup process into the mother board). I boot my PC, and go to BIOS set up and change my boot sequence to CD as primary boot device, I (F10), as to save the BIOS configuration and re-boot the system. I re-boot, with CD (Standard and LBA48 Support, All on one CD) in the CD/DVD reader. I follow the on screen directions. Hopefully all goes well. I shut down the PC, and remove the add-on drive that was just plugged in. I put back the original ribbon cable that has my PC drives connected back to the Primary IDE controller on the mother board. I reboot the PC, and go into BIOS set up, and place boot sequence back to the original set up. I (F10), as to save the BIOS configuration and re-boot the system. If all goes well the PC should be back to the state as before this prepare the TiVo 2nd Drive. (Yes/No?)
I now open the HR10-250 DirecTiVo and as per instructions put in the purchased mounting plate, along with the Add-on Drive that was prepared on the PC, that was stated above. I remove the original ribbon cable that came with the NEW HR10-250, and plug in (the standard ribbon cable for PC’s that support 2 drives.) I also add (split “Y” Black/Yellow/White for power) to feed both hard drives.

Question #1: Does the original drive (leave as is PRIMARY), and the Add-on drive set to (Slave) ~ or your instructions.
When I turn on the HR10-250, and all goes well, and accessing the system info, it should state, doubling my original recording times HD/SD.

How does this instruction summary look to you, for those who wish to just add-on another standard 250 gig, like the original?

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by Graphics
tivoupgrade ~ weaknees:
How does the "Adding another DRIVE" scenario look to you that I typed up??
(I wish not to touch my original drive in anyway shape or form, other than remove and reinsert power and ribbon cable.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I purchase an additional drive i.e. (WD2500JB), I purchase HR10-250 DirecTiVo Hard Drive Mounting Bracket with Hardware. I have a standard ribbon cable for PC’s that support 2 drives. I have a split “Y” Black/Yellow/White for power to the second drive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a PC running at 2.7gig under XP Pro. I shut off my PC, and disconnect any ribbon cables at the mother board, that feed my present HD set up (i.e.Primary IDE drive controller). I connect a single ribbon cable to the NEW drive for the add-on, and plug in (*for this setup process into the mother board). I boot my PC, and go to BIOS set up and change my boot sequence to CD as primary boot device, I (F10), as to save the BIOS configuration and re-boot the system. I re-boot, with CD (Standard and LBA48 Support, All on one CD) in the CD/DVD reader. I follow the on screen directions. Hopefully all goes well. I shut down the PC, and remove the add-on drive that was just plugged in. I put back the original ribbon cable that has my PC drives connected back to the Primary IDE controller on the mother board. I reboot the PC, and go into BIOS set up, and place boot sequence back to the original set up. I (F10), as to save the BIOS configuration and re-boot the system. If all goes well the PC should be back to the state as before this prepare the TiVo 2nd Drive. (Yes/No?)
I now open the HR10-250 DirecTiVo and as per instructions put in the purchased mounting plate, along with the Add-on Drive that was prepared on the PC, that was stated above. I remove the original ribbon cable that came with the NEW HR10-250, and plug in (the standard ribbon cable for PC’s that support 2 drives.) I also add (split “Y” Black/Yellow/White for power) to feed both hard drives.

Question #1: Does the original drive (leave as is PRIMARY), and the Add-on drive set to (Slave) ~ or your instructions.
When I turn on the HR10-250, and all goes well, and accessing the system info, it should state, doubling my original recording times HD/SD.

How does this instruction summary look to you, for those who wish to just add-on another standard 250 gig, like the original?

Keep in mind that you'll need to move the jumper on the "A" drive in your TiVo - the default setting right now is "single or master" and it should be set to "master w/ slave present"

Actually, I haven't tried it by leaving it in the current position "single or master" but I should - always better not to touch things that you don't have to.

One comment: not sure if your 'instructions' are intended to be a step-by-step guide for others - if they are, I would break things up into 'steps' - having things running together like that all in one paragraph is very difficult to follow if you are looking for a cookbook recipe as a reader.

Here are the step-by-step instructions for installing the bracket:

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/installation/pdf/hr10-250-add.pdf

as an example.

[pmaddock]

Any thoughts on the best backup method - DD or MFSBACKUP? What I'm thinking I'd like to do is keep the original drive intact and on the shelf so I imagine an Image (DD) would work better.

If anyone has tried DD vs. MFS - how long did it take to run?

[Graphics]

tivoupgrade
not sure if your 'instructions' are intended to be a step-by-step guide for others No not at all, just trying to summarize in my head how I would do it. Since this unit isn't even a week old yet, I won't be needing that 2nd drive for awhile, but just trying to get my options lined up so to speak as to "WHEN" I do decide ~ as to what the game plan would be. I do think many other owners are also looking into this type of game plan ~
Most likely Ill jump on this when ever a I see a 250 gig drive ON SALE ~ just missed that CompUSA $135.00 deal too. lol
I couldn't for-see any reason to go beyond that capacity...at least for now, you guru's can still tinker some more! ~ thanks for the info:

[weaknees]

Originally posted by pmaddock
Any thoughts on the best backup method - DD or MFSBACKUP? What I'm thinking I'd like to do is keep the original drive intact and on the shelf so I imagine an Image (DD) would work better.

If anyone has tried DD vs. MFS - how long did it take to run?

"dd" would take quite a long time and you'd need a large drive as a destination, where "mfsbackup" would take much, much less time and would make a much, much smaller backup file.

Michael

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by pmaddock
Any thoughts on the best backup method - DD or MFSBACKUP? What I'm thinking I'd like to do is keep the original drive intact and on the shelf so I imagine an Image (DD) would work better.

If anyone has tried DD vs. MFS - how long did it take to run?

MFSbackup really is your best option; shouldn't take you more than 20-30 minutes to backup your hard drive and all the necessary stuff (without your videos, which I assume you are ok losing). If you are going to copy the drive with all the video streams, it will take significantly longer; performance is going to vary based upon the PC you use. DD will work fine, too - its really just a matter of preference.

[mikemav]

Is there a reason I would need to back up my drive "virgin", before I start using the HDTiVo I have coming next week? I will not need to upgrade or hack for a while, but if there is a compelling reason to have a virgin backup I may consider opening her up. I would rather not do that until I decide I need to modify it. My fear is if I ever do hack it, I would want to be able to get back to stock if I mess up. Would I be able to get an ISO at some point of a new HDTiVo so I do not have to open up my own now? Other alternative?

Also, can anyone point me to a thread or place that discusses if it is possible to get TurboNet-like functionality out of these. I know the TurboNet or Cache Card do not plug into a Series 2, but are there alternatives if I want to network my new HD box? Sorry for the newbie questions

[weaknees]

You really don't need to backup the drive until you start working inside the unit, but there have been some HD failures on these units already, so it's not a bad idea. Now is the time to get a stock image if you think you might need to restore it at some point. ISO images are a bit hard to come by at this point - TiVo has (and is) cracking down on the distribution of images.

Michael

[mikengr]

Can you configure the Tivo drive(s) by mounting them in an external USB 2.0 enclosure rather than installing them inside the computer? Seems like it would be much simpler and the USB 2.0 enclosures are selling for only about $30.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by mikengr
Can you configure the Tivo drive(s) by mounting them in an external USB 2.0 enclosure rather than installing them inside the computer? Seems like it would be much simpler and the USB 2.0 enclosures are selling for only about $30.

We've never seen that work - you need pretty low-level access to them to make this all work. In addition, mfstool would need to be totally re-written to talk to USB drivers, which would also need to be included in the Linux OS on most CDs, etc . . .

Michael

[borghe]

I see all this talk about BlessTivo.. should I be worried about running mfsadd on my 250GB?I have have fuilled it up once and have been using it for a week now with no problems... is there anything I should be worried about that I am not realizing? Thanks.

[flapbreaker]

Which hard drives in the 250GB range are being recommended?

[aejanis]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
Which hard drives in the 250GB range are being recommended?

The one that costs least :D

I am a Maxtor fanboy...I have replaced my original A drive with a Maxtor 250 (159.99 @ Compusa last week). It has been running fine for 7 days now.

I also noted a 2 degree decrease in temperature when compared to the factory WD drive. Also it is a little softer....but from my experience noise can change not only by the brand of the drive, but the drive itself...Seems to me that the same brand and model drive can have its own noise "personality".

Oh..I turned on the acoustical stuff to quiet on the Maxtor before I installed it.

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
MFSbackup really is your best option; shouldn't take you more than 20-30 minutes to backup your hard drive and all the necessary stuff (without your videos, which I assume you are ok losing). If you are going to copy the drive with all the video streams, it will take significantly longer; performance is going to vary based upon the PC you use. DD will work fine, too - its really just a matter of preference.

Thanks for the input - I think I'm stuck with DD to get what I want. The unit has been operating for a month now (wanted to wait 30 days before cracking the case) so its no longer 'virgin' by any means. As I'm a little nervous I want to copy the factory drive, put it in a safe place, and then use the copy as the A drive. This approach requires 2 drives but it gives me the ability to swap the drive back if something goes wrong.

Now to figure out how to slip the expense of 2 drives past the wife.... (this one might force me to get 2x250 - the price premium of 250 vs 300 is really getting steep lately).

[weaknees]

Originally posted by pmaddock
Thanks for the input - I think I'm stuck with DD to get what I want. The unit has been operating for a month now (wanted to wait 30 days before cracking the case) so its no longer 'virgin' by any means. As I'm a little nervous I want to copy the factory drive, put it in a safe place, and then use the copy as the A drive. This approach requires 2 drives but it gives me the ability to swap the drive back if something goes wrong.

Now to figure out how to slip the expense of 2 drives past the wife.... (this one might force me to get 2x250 - the price premium of 250 vs 300 is really getting steep lately).

Why are you stuck with 'dd'? Just because you've used it doesn't conflict with mfstools in any way, and with mfstools you'll get a much smaller backup file - so you may not need a whole separate drive just to house this.

Michael

[Nomarian]

Okay,

I seem to be having a problem. I downloaded the ptv-mfstools2-large-disk.iso file and made a bootable CD. I then boot to the CD and hit enter when it comes up to the prompt. I then proceed to just type BlessTivo /dev/hdb at the command prompt and it states "sh: BlessTivo command not found"

What am I doing wrong? Can someone help?

EDIT
I figured it out. I did two things. I went into the bin directory where the command was located and I also guess it is case sensitive. I had to type "BlessTiVo" to get it to run.

[weaknees]

Yup - Linux is case sensitive, and this has been a bit of an issue ever since BlessTiVo was created. Note that mfstool uses all lower case (except for a few switches).

Michael

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by weaknees
Why are you stuck with 'dd'? Just because you've used it doesn't conflict with mfstools in any way, and with mfstools you'll get a much smaller backup file - so you may not need a whole separate drive just to house this.

Michael
Basically I'm cornering myself...

My plan is to keep the factory drive intact and not disturb it in any way - requiring a complete copy unless I want to lose the recordings. I know this is probably being overcautious but I figure if I'm replacing the A drive anyway I should try to leave the original drive undisturbed in case I have to go back.

[weaknees]

OK- then you can do a 'dd' or a "-Tao" backup which will be much faster if your drive isn't full.

Michael

[AbMagFab]

I'm getting ready to upgrade my HD Tivo. Quick questions:

1) Does the LBA48 CD/Linux build recognize NTFS partitions, or will I still need to scrape up a FAT HD to store my backup image?

2) What is the noswap issue, and do I have to actively do or check anything? I'll be using the LBA48 from PTV

3) BlessTivo or mfsadd?

4) Boxers or Briefs?

Thanks!

[bsnelson]

1) There's no write capability for NTFS (well, there sorta is, but not really), so a FAT or ext2 drive is still needed.
2) Shouldn't have to worry about it; mfstools will sort it out
3) If you're adding a second drive, BlessTivo (at the time of this writing). If you're expanding, mfsadd is the only way.
4) Commando

Brad

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by AbMagFab
I'm getting ready to upgrade my HD Tivo. Quick questions:

1) Does the LBA48 CD/Linux build recognize NTFS partitions, or will I still need to scrape up a FAT HD to store my backup image?

2) What is the noswap issue, and do I have to actively do or check anything? I'll be using the LBA48 from PTV

3) BlessTivo or mfsadd?

4) Boxers or Briefs?

Thanks!

1. Has to be a FAT drive - the CD and NTFS don't mix - its Bill's world after all.

2. Look at the following post for noswap info:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=170759&highlight=noswap

3. Assuming you're talking about adding a B drive - I'd say BlessTivo but there seems to be some confusion. Some seem to have made MFSAdd work but weaknees has reported issues with MFSAdd that don't occur with Bless Tivo - I think its related to drives over the 256GB MFS partition limit. Of course the only way to do an A drive expansion is MFSADD.

4. Its a personal choice....

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by AbMagFab
I'm getting ready to upgrade my HD Tivo. Quick questions:

1) Does the LBA48 CD/Linux build recognize NTFS partitions, or will I still need to scrape up a FAT HD to store my backup image?

2) What is the noswap issue, and do I have to actively do or check anything? I'll be using the LBA48 from PTV

3) BlessTivo or mfsadd?

4) Boxers or Briefs?

Thanks!

1) you'll need FAT

2) you won't have an issue if you use our LBA48 CD it will use 'noswap' by default

3) BlessTivo

4) Boxers with little Tivo Guys on them

[weaknees]

Right - mfsadd will work for larger A drives or B drives smaller than a certain size - but we don't know where the line is at this point. We do know that if you want a 300 GB B drive, that's over the line, so you'll need to use an un-expanded A drive with a blessed B drive to get that far. We're testing several more permutations with the standard tools plus our homemade ones, and we'll hopefully get some more answers here soon. We'd like to get dual 300s going, or even larger.

Michael

[aaronwt]

Does anyone still upgrade drives if the drive is sent to them? I see alot are sold ready to install, but there is a premium for the price of the hard drive. A 250Gb drive can be had for $150 on sale. How much does any of the TiVo upgrade companies charge if a drive is sent to them.

[weaknees]

We do - contact us by email (info@weaknees.com).

Michael

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by aaronwt
Does anyone still upgrade drives if the drive is sent to them? I see alot are sold ready to install, but there is a premium for the price of the hard drive. A 250Gb drive can be had for $150 on sale. How much does any of the TiVo upgrade companies charge if a drive is sent to them.

Special services (kit recertification or user-supplied drive certification):

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/services.html

Thx,
Lou

[seanmcgpa]

Have we confirmed that the HD Tivo is upgradable?

I have a 250gig drive waiting for use in my HDTivo to double the capacity... I've done many a Series 1 upgrade so am comfortable with moving stuff around on my IDE chains.

So if it possible, then I'll need a bracket, and what else? The software that is compatible with large drives? And where can I buy the bracket from without buying the entire drive upgrade kit?

Thanks for any tips,

Sean

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by seanmcgpa
Have we confirmed that the HD Tivo is upgradable?

I have a 250gig drive waiting for use in my HDTivo to double the capacity... I've done many a Series 1 upgrade so am comfortable with moving stuff around on my IDE chains.

So if it possible, then I'll need a bracket, and what else? The software that is compatible with large drives? And where can I buy the bracket from without buying the entire drive upgrade kit?

Thanks for any tips,

Sean

You can purchase the bracket from 9thTee here:

http://www.9thtee.com/tivo-dthd.htm

as well as the custom IDE cable which allows you to connect two drives.

You can also download the LBA48 CD here:

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/support/bigdisk/index.html

at no charge, and use BlessTiVo to prepare your secondary drive.

[AbMagFab]

Custom IDE cable, or just a replacement for the 1-drive IDE cable in the HD10-250? I've assumed it uses standard PC IDE cables (I think the DVR40 I upgraded did).

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by AbMagFab
Custom IDE cable, or just a replacement for the 1-drive IDE cable in the HD10-250? I've assumed it uses standard PC IDE cables (I think the DVR40 I upgraded did).

Custom means specially made.

We've been having them made for several years now - the cable is long enough to be used in any Series1 or Series2 unit, and does not have one of the pins blocked on the IDE connector as many standard cables do.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by AbMagFab
Custom IDE cable, or just a replacement for the 1-drive IDE cable in the HD10-250? I've assumed it uses standard PC IDE cables (I think the DVR40 I upgraded did).

You don't need a custom cable, but they can help with air flow. If you look at pictures on our site, you'll see that we have cables specifically sized to fit all of our brackets - they don't fit dual-drive Series 1 standalone machines since we didn't want extra length sitting in all of the other boxes. They are also vented to make sure that they don't block air flow to drives and motherboard components.

Most cables will work, but, again, heat is the enemy of hard drives, so keeping the unit as cool as possible is definitely a good insurance policy.

Michael

[buzzword]

Originally posted by bfdhe
None of them, from what I have read, have seals. Mine didn't.

I am going to let it sit for a few days while I am out of town. Maybe it will work when I get back.

Might be a good idea.

Sometimes they fix themselves. I once upgraded a Sony SAT-T60, I think was putting in a network card, which I've done successfully with an SVR2000.

First of all, the driver install did not go according the sequence of events outlined in the instructions, the supplied script was messed up. It hung on boot, then to compound things, on a retry I messed something up further by accidentally unplugging the unit at a crucial point in the boot up. The machine refused to boot at all afterwards, it came up, got to a certain point and (I think) said something about corruption and hung (it was a long time ago, so I'm definitely not exactly sure of messages or exact sequence of events). Repeated attempts to reboot gave the same result.

That morning I jokingly said to my wife, "guess what I ate for breakfast?, our TiVo!" she was not amused (I tend to relieve stress with humor).

I tried repeatedly to boot it over the next day or two in desparate hope that it would magically start working. I gave up, then on the third day I tried one more time, and this time it acted differently, I got a grey screen that said something like "Dialing in progress for software repair" (it was a year 1/2 ago, so I don't recall exactly), it then spent the hour on the phone and another god knows how many hours trundling away with a grey screen and a message to the effect that repair was in progress. I didn't dare touch it. Hours later I came back , the machine had booted and all was normal and has been ever since.

(has this "self repair" happended to anyone else???)

Needless to say, I was mighty impressed with Tivo, and chose not tempt fate by attempting to reinstall the network card.

This is the same machine that a few weeks earlier earlier I had installed a second hard drive to and forgotten to reinstall the fan (!) noticing a day later when the machine started refusing to dial out. I was sure I had fried the modem chip. It wouldn't dial out for 2 days, then started working again. This Tivo just will not die!

[borghe]

Well, chalk up a loss to mfsadd....

I don't know what happened and I don't know how it happened, but my B drive magically disappeared from my Tivo. I went into System Information (as I do every day to see if an update was sent that will fix a problem I've been having) and happened to glance at my recording capacity... 30 HD hours and 200 SD hours!?!? WTF!? So I checked the drive, it was running fine. hmm.. Well, after all of the talk between Bless Tivo and mfsadd here, I decided (after a couple of reboots) to BlessTivo the second drive. Put it back in and hoped to god my recordings were all there.. they were and the system once again says 63/427.

So, as has already been the consensus of this thread, BlessTivo is the way to go I am guessing.. IF you try mfsadd, be wary of your extra space just disappearing, and heaven help you if you have any recordings spanned to partitions on the B drive when it does.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by borghe
Well, chalk up a loss to mfsadd....

I don't know what happened and I don't know how it happened, but my B drive magically disappeared from my Tivo. I went into System Information (as I do every day to see if an update was sent that will fix a problem I've been having) and happened to glance at my recording capacity... 30 HD hours and 200 SD hours!?!? WTF!? So I checked the drive, it was running fine. hmm.. Well, after all of the talk between Bless Tivo and mfsadd here, I decided (after a couple of reboots) to BlessTivo the second drive. Put it back in and hoped to god my recordings were all there.. they were and the system once again says 63/427.

So, as has already been the consensus of this thread, BlessTivo is the way to go I am guessing.. IF you try mfsadd, be wary of your extra space just disappearing, and heaven help you if you have any recordings spanned to partitions on the B drive when it does.

We've heard a couple of other reports of capacity disappearing, something we've never seen with other units and we can't explain at this point.

Were all of your recordings there when you noticed the new (smaller) size?

Is it possible that the second drive was never working? That you saw the space reported in the PC when you added the second drive, but never in the System Information screen?

Michael

[borghe]

no, the space was showing in the Tivo.. if you recall, I also filled up my Tivo with recordings last weekend to test it out.. everything worked fine. I then messed around with trying to get bash working, blew away my system, restored it, mfsadded the B drive, checked my capacity which was 63/427, then proceeded to use my Tivo as normal. then I noticed it at 30/200 yesterday.

as for recordings, I ran mfsadd, used it as normal (like I said), and when I went back to 30/200, I just blessed the second drive and added it back in and yes, all of my recordings were still there.

all of my capacity times were strictly off of what my System Information screen showed.. I think I am close to having the first drive filled up anyway, so hopefully I will see what happens now sooner rather than later.

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by borghe

So, as has already been the consensus of this thread, BlessTivo is the way to go I am guessing.. IF you try mfsadd, be wary of your extra space just disappearing, and heaven help you if you have any recordings spanned to partitions on the B drive when it does.

BlessTiVo is absolutely the way to go.

[weaknees]

borghe-

Pretty interesting - keep us updated as you proceed.

Michael

[Nomarian]

I finally finished my upgrade with the upgrade bracket by 9thTee. I installed the 2nd drive after using BlessTiVo and system shows 63/427 now. I will let you know if anything else happens, but it is humming along fine right now.

[weaknees]

So you used a 250 GB drive? WD or Maxtor?

What's the temp inside the machine?

Michael

[jb007]

I had difficulty installing the PTVUpgrade bracket because of the tie clip which holds the two coaxial cables running to the OTA tuners. The cables are held in place by a white plastic tie clip that is on a tower. I couldn't remove the tower from the system board, so I've though about just cutting it in half, then running the two black cables under the bracket as I assume they are supposed to be run. Does this sound correct?

TIA.

[9thTee]

If you just bend the clip over to the left or right it will be fine. The easiest way is to remove the cables from the clip, bend the clip over and then seat the cables back in the clip and twist back closed. That will keep the cables together, not that they are going anywhere.

Mark
9thTee.com

[weaknees]

jb007-

No one really knows yet what will happen in situations where people need to pay for repairs for these units, but considering the cost of the unit, just be extremely careful with anything even remotely involving the motherboard.

Sony, for example, will charge an outrageous amount of money for out-of-warranty repairs where they decide that you've tampered with the motherboard, where normal out-of-warranty repairs can be had for a much more reasonsable amount of money.

Michael

[Cheezmo]

Does anyone know how many 512K blocks the stock hard drive is? I just got a Hitachi 250Gb drive from Fry's ($109!). It is 488397168 blocks and I want to know if that is enough to do a 'dd' copy of my stock drive.

[AbMagFab]

So what's the difference between 6s0 and 1s0 on the mfsbackup line? Just level of compression?

What about -f9999?

[weaknees]

Cheezmo-

Not too sure, but be a little wary of Hitachi drives in TiVos - they don't have a great track record historically. They do seem to be quite good in computers, though.

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by AbMagFab
So what's the difference between 6s0 and 1s0 on the mfsbackup line? Just level of compression?

What about -f9999?

First, that's not a 'zero' but an 'o' in the string.

The number is the level of compression. The higher the number (up to 9) the more compression, thus the more time involved, but the less space taken for the image. Robert S made some suggestions a little while ago about compression levels so we did a thorough test to see what the times and sizes look like. Basically, "1" seems to be pretty optimum. It's much faster than higher numbers, compresses to about half of the uncompressed size, and only compresses a small amount less than higher numbers. We put the results up here:

http://tivo-upgrade.blogspot.com/

Finally, the "-f 9999" takes all files up to that size. Without that switch, you'll lose the background animations on newer OS versions.

Michael

[borghe]

question I have for those who have upgraded to a 300GB drive.. does it actually create a partition larger than 256GB? Also, has anyone tested out to see how much recording time you actually get on the drive? I am just wondering if the Tivo is reading the recording hours from the status screen based on the drive size reported in the bios or based on the partition sizes it is seeing on the filesystem.

[weaknees]

It'll always be hard to know if you are getting the full amount of hours - don't forget that DirecTV does variable bit rate encoding. So having, say, 30 hours of space is a max. If you record all action movies, they make take more space - i.e. a 2 hour movie may take more than 1/15 of the hard drive capacity. Don't forget the key term here: variable.

Michael

[borghe]

right, I understand that.. I was just curious as to how the Tivo was figuring out the recording space.. if it was based on available MFS partitions or fuzzy math based on drive sizes reported by the BIOS. I was wondering if BlessTivo was partitioning out the 300GB drive to the full 279GB or if it was only partitioning it to 256GB and simply able to see the 300GB drive and assuming it was able to use the full amount.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by borghe
right, I understand that.. I was just curious as to how the Tivo was figuring out the recording space.. if it was based on available MFS partitions or fuzzy math based on drive sizes reported by the BIOS. I was wondering if BlessTivo was partitioning out the 300GB drive to the full 279GB or if it was only partitioning it to 256GB and simply able to see the 300GB drive and assuming it was able to use the full amount.

Full 279 GB, or so it seems. The partition is 286099 MiB.

Michael

[mikemav]

With easy to use products such as Instant Cake HD offered by one company, or the assistance of the other people out there that help w/ upgrades, is there a reason I need to make a backup copy of my virgin HD before I do anything to it? I am considering having someone I know who is very qualified do some upgrades, but I want to use the TiVo for a few days first to try it out. If I understand InstandCake, it provides an image of a virgin TiVo, so if mine gets messed up, I can get a new 250gb drive and install it w/ Instant Cake and be back to square one? Or probably get the same service from one of the other TiVo upgrade sites? Or am I missing something? I want to make sure I have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. I understand I will be voiding my warranty and not protected from hardware problems, but w/ if I knew I could always reload the factory fresh software should my problem be related to hacks, it would make me feel better.

[weaknees]

We offer the service of preparing your drive for your TiVo. Should it come to that, email us at info@weaknees.com.

Michael

[mikemav]

Originally posted by weaknees
We offer the service of preparing your drive for your TiVo. Should it come to that, email us at info@weaknees.com.

Michael

Thanks for the quick response Michael. So I wouldn't need to scour the internet begging for an image of a (rare) HD TiVo should I mess it up or fry my drive? I can send you a stock Maxtor 250GB and you can make it work, if I understand correctly? How is the TwinBreeze bracket for HD coming along? I like the idea of this over a bracket w/o fans, but was wondering how development was coming?

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by mikemav
With easy to use products such as Instant Cake HD offered by one company, or the assistance of the other people out there that help w/ upgrades, is there a reason I need to make a backup copy of my virgin HD before I do anything to it? I am considering having someone I know who is very qualified do some upgrades, but I want to use the TiVo for a few days first to try it out. If I understand InstandCake, it provides an image of a virgin TiVo, so if mine gets messed up, I can get a new 250gb drive and install it w/ Instant Cake and be back to square one? Or probably get the same service from one of the other TiVo upgrade sites? Or am I missing something? I want to make sure I have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. I understand I will be voiding my warranty and not protected from hardware problems, but w/ if I knew I could always reload the factory fresh software should my problem be related to hacks, it would make me feel better.

It would be a good idea to have a backup, or at least a backup plan. InstantCakeHD is currently not released as a 'standalone' product, but bundled with our add-on drive kits. Not to say that it won't be released as a standalone product, eventually, but we tend not to talk about things, or make any commitments surrounding unreleased products. Worst case is that you can send a drive in for a recertification (software reinstallation) if you have to start over from scratch and don't have a backup.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by mikemav
Thanks for the quick response Michael. So I wouldn't need to scour the internet begging for an image of a (rare) HD TiVo should I mess it up or fry my drive? I can send you a stock Maxtor 250GB and you can make it work, if I understand correctly? How is the TwinBreeze bracket for HD coming along? I like the idea of this over a bracket w/o fans, but was wondering how development was coming?

Right - you don't need to scour, and we frankly doubt that images are out there.

Yes, you send us a stock 250 GB and we can format it for you as requested..

Our bracket designs are in Asia being tooled and produced. We won't really have a timeline update until we get first parts. But, as with the current TwinBreeze, our prototype is showing a substantial temperature decrease. This is due in part to the second fan, and in part to the open design below the drive mounts.

Anyway, the first batch of these brackets will go to our "early adopters" and we will be shipping them from Asia to our warehouse via air. So if you want to be at the top of the list . . .

Michael

[bfdhe]

Originally posted by weaknees
Right - you don't need to scour, and we frankly doubt that images are out there.



There is a virgin HR10-250 image floating around. You don't have to look very hard to find it. Just do a little reading/searching of posts.

[Cheezmo]

I just did the Weaknees 300Gb add-on upgrade (leaving the top off for now). I had a couple of scares. When I first looked at System Information, it sayd "DIRECTV Account Status: Account Closed Call 800-531-5000".

A few minutes later (after doing a system test) it now says my Account is in Good standing again.

My Tivo Suggests list is now empty, even after rethumbing a few things. Hopefully it will straighten itself out tonight.

All my recordings and Season passes (and thumb ratings of non-season pass shows) seem to be intact.

[weaknees]

Both problems are generally just results of the power down/power up and should resolve when the unit gets full info from the satellite. Keep us posted . . .

Michael

[Cheezmo]

I just noticed that it is recording a suggestion, but the Tivo Suggests screen still has the "If your recorder is new..." message.

[weaknees]

Have you dialed back in since the re-boot?

Michael

[RC3105]

Originally posted by weaknees
Right - you don't need to scour, and we frankly doubt that images are out there....
Michael
oh puleeeeeeeeeez! they've been on bittorrent 'n such for ages :rolleyes:

edit: you guys probably haven't seen the 40 gig 3.1.5 images then either ;)

[weaknees]

OK - my mistake. I haven't been looking since I've got plenty, but we have been getting emails from people looking for them suggesting that they can't find them on Google. In any event, you might want to edit the post to remove the location . . .

Michael

[Cheezmo]

OK, my suggestions list is back. On the System Information screen it says that GC and indexing took place 10 minutes ago so I guess that is what we were waiting for.

All is well...

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by Cheezmo
I just did the Weaknees 300Gb add-on upgrade


I thought they only had a 300GB "replacement" drive and not "addon drive". Has that changed now?

[RC3105]

bittorent is a location??? sure, that narrows it down to somewhere on this planet...

a few hints for the clueless:

google doesn't search p2p networks, but there are engines that do

lots of folks host files on more than one network

some of the newer p2p sw hosts & searches across ALL the networks

[weaknees]

We are selling an "early adopter" kit - everything but the bracket ships today, and the bracket ships as soon as we get it in from Asia. This is for people who really want the expansion now, and who want to be the first to get our bracket when they arrive (and the first shipment is coming via air from Asia for them).

Michael

[mikemav]

Originally posted by weaknees
We are selling an "early adopter" kit - everything but the bracket ships today, and the bracket ships as soon as we get it in from Asia. This is for people who really want the expansion now, and who want to be the first to get our bracket when they arrive (and the first shipment is coming via air from Asia for them).

Michael

Michael,
Once it is shipping, will you be selling the bracket solo?

[weaknees]

Absolutely.

[mikemav]

Originally posted by weaknees
Absolutely.

Do you have a price and a way to order that now? I did not see it on the web page.

[weaknees]

Nope - we won't until we're much closer to having them in stock probably.

If there's demand for them, we might be able to do a pre-order, and just get that many more by air.

For now, just sign up on the bracket list.

Michael

[aaronwt]

Any word yet on getting the 250GB quickview drives as a cheaper option than the 300GB quickview. That extra 50GB costs alot on the regular drives. I assume the same would be true with the quickview. $400 is alot for that 300GB drive. Although I see you are $100 less than your competition! At $500 I might as well just buy another HD-TiVo! Of course I am still waiting for my first one.

[jmhays]

Originally posted by weaknees

Anyway, the first batch of these brackets will go to our "early adopters" and we will be shipping them from Asia to our warehouse via air. So if you want to be at the top of the list . . .

Michael

I guess this means I am on the bottom of the top! I see my additional drive has already shipped and I just placed the order at weaknees a few hours ago!! Thanks Michael!

[pentium7]

Was just wondering if anyone has fooled around with the HD Tivo and upgraded with the InstantCakeHD CD. If you have tried this I'd be interested in hearing your experience, please PM me or email me at eqtrader101@hotmail.com

Thanks

[flapbreaker]

So is the process for adding a 250GB drive to the HDTivo the same as for the DirecTivo? If not is there a guide specific to the HDTivo?

[weaknees]

This process will work for DirecTiVos, but isn't really the preferred options for those boxes.

Basically, you just need to get BlessTiVo, and boot in "noswap" and bless the drive, then physically add it to the unit.

The backup process would be the same as for the other boxes.

A download location for the BlessTiVo software and also backup instructions are earlier in this thread.

Michael

[dstroot]

Micheal/Weaknees:

It would be *very* helpful to get a step-by-step guide specific for the HR10-250. I've done it with a Sony SAT-T60 but am a little worried about tackling my brand-new $1k unit.

From what I can tell so far you just get the "tivoboot_v3" zip file with large drive support. Create a boot disk, connect your new additional drive, boot up with the boot disk, bless the drive and slap it into your HD Tivo.

If you're smart you also back up the existing single drive first, but there seems to be multiple ways to do this (or at least multiple command lines I've seen scattered in the thread.)

A real quick step-by-step would be much appreciated.

[oosik77]

Old news....

[weaknees]

I think the issue here is solely TiVo's. The techincal aspects of external storage are trivial since these and other boxes have USB 2.0 ports. But TiVo has to want to do this, and it opens up a raft of issues like what happens when you detach the drive, can you have several, can you detach while recording, can you move it to another machine, etc. It gets pretty murky, and part of the elegance of TiVo is the simplicity of hiding these issues.

Michael

[Gotchaa]

I just got two 250MB drives and I'm having a little issue.
I'm trying to make a complete backup of the HD-TIVO WD drive. So I've got it in my PC as the following:

Primary Master:WDC-250 (HD-TIVO Orginal)
Primary Slave: none
Seondary Master:MAXTOR 205GB (New drive)
Seconday Slave:CD-ROM (w/Msftools 2.0 boot CD)

Bios is set to boot off CD, and I've tried the Auto drive detect and turn it off as well. Both times the Linux Kernal is reporting only seeing 137GB

I know this is a limitation of UDMA33 onboard controller, so is this going to be a problem for me?

When I get to a bash prompt I type the following:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hda | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdc

I get the following error:

mfs_load_volume_header: mfsvol_read_data:Success
mfsbackup: Backup failed to startup. Make sure you specified the right devices, and the drives are not locked.


I then tried the diskutil to unlock and it failed indicating it could not find a locked drive.

What am I missing here, it's been 2 years since I've upgraded my Sat T60

The Maxtor drive hasn't been formatted yet, don't recall if this is necessary?
Also do I need to mount both drives before issuing the backup commands?
I tried mounting the WD250 Tivo drive and it fails with an error of must specify drive type, the Maxtor fails because it's not formatted, so that's pretty straight forward.

Someone point me in the right direction.

Thanks

[pentium7]

You will need a motherboard capable of seeing >137GB drives. Basically most P4 boards. Or alternatively you'll need a controller card that can see 48bit LBA. UDMA33 definately won't see it. This will be required before you can do anything.

[Gotchaa]

that's what i figured, luckily I've got a client's to use. trying again.

[Gotchaa]

looks like I had the wrong boot image too...
doh!

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by Gotchaa
looks like I had the wrong boot image too...
doh!

Link for LBA48 image...

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/support/bigdisk/index.html

[ChromeAce]

Any success in getting the HR10-250 onto a network for daily calls and other hacks?

[Gotchaa]

How long is a complete disk to disk copy suppose to take? usings -Tao and -zxpi, I have it at 22% after 7 hours. It's running off a P4 2Ghz system. I don't recall it taking this long when I upgraded the Sat T60...

[weaknees]

Gotchaa-

This all depends on how much you have recorded on the drive. That does seem a bit slow - maybe DMA is off.

Also, with -zxpi, you likely won't be able t add a large second drive until we figure out a way to solve some issues there. Were you intending to do that? What size drive are you transferring to now?

Michael

[Gotchaa]

Originally posted by weaknees
Gotchaa-

This all depends on how much you have recorded on the drive. That does seem a bit slow - maybe DMA is off.

Also, with -zxpi, you likely won't be able t add a large second drive until we figure out a way to solve some issues there. Were you intending to do that? What size drive are you transferring to now?

Michael

I want to add two new 250GB drives and keep the orginal as a spare. I thought I could use Blesstivo when I'm done with this transfer!

At any rate it's at 44% after 17 hours. I used the ptv mstools 2 large iso and just booted off that, so not sure if the default option is DMA off or on.

Regardless if I have to start over to add the second drive so be it. Do I user dd to copy instead? What about the swap file size.

My intention was to do a complete copy of the drive. The first time I tried it, I ended up seeing that mfsbackup was reporting 281 hours and 199GB to copy with -Tao. So I stoppped the backup, I reattached the orginal drive, booted Tivo up and I went in and deleted all recordings, then did a daily call and shutdown the system, pulled the drive out, started the backup and mfsbackup reported the same size, so I don't know if deleting did anything (perhaps items are marked for deletion and a complete restart purges them?)

The goal is to copy the WD250 orginal drive to the Maxtor 251GB drive, through that in, boot up and see it work, then add a second Maxtor 251GB drive. I was going to use BlessTivo to do that after I verified the new backup/restore image on the Maxtor worked.

Should I be doing this differently? I thought that I need to do the one step backup>restore to set the proper swap size, but if the orginal drive has the swap already set at 127, then perhaps a dd would work faster, or perhaps I just need to attach the second Maxtor now as well and backup/restore to both now? Or maybe use different mfsbackup options?

If I do end up killing the backup, would I need to low level format the Maxtor?

Would this work any faster assuming the following:

Primary Master:WD205GB original
Primary Slave:CD-ROM
Seconday Master: Maxtor 251GB
Secondary Slave: Maxtor 251GB

mfsbackup -f 9999 -so - /dev/hda | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdc /dev/hdd

[Cheezmo]

I used 'dd' on a PowerBook, placing the TiVO drive and backup drive in Firewire enclosures. After watching the transfer speed at various block sizes, I ended up using a large block size like 16K or so. The backup up the entire drive took just over 4 hours. I would expect with a PC not going through Firewire, you should be able to do it at least that fast.

[flapbreaker]

So I want to add a second 250GB drive. Would I be crazy to just use blessTivo and add it without backing up the original? What's the worst that can happen?

[bsnelson]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
What's the worst that can happen? You could lose all of your recordings and setting and have to start over with a newly restored A drive.

Brad

[pbolya]

tivoupgrade, Weaknees,
I know you are really busy with testing that can yield more drive upgrade choices but do you think it would be possible to find the logo file and post a procedure how we could add logos if we are willing to take our drive out and put it into a computer ? I think I will hold of with my upgrade until September (fall season starts). Until then 250GB will be enough but after September I would need way over 500GB. Maybe 400Gb disk will come down in price by then or even the 500GB (fat chance). However I wouldn't mind opening it up though if I could fix the logo issue.

Thanks,
Peter

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by Graphics
I have been doing a net search on the WD2500JB drives, found
Source: www.newegg.com Drive info: www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=10&id=748

(Cost factor too much for anything higher i.e.*300 gig) and have boiled it down to about $192.00 ~ has anyone found a source that we all can pounce on or can do a volume buy as a group?...suggestions?

Just picked one up at Fry's for 149.00

[flapbreaker]

I have a question regarding formating the new addon drive. Does it need to be done? I have not seen any reference to that process. If so should I do a low level format as I think this blocks any bad sectors?

[ChromeAce]

Originally posted by pbolya
tivoupgrade, Weaknees,
I know you are really busy with testing that can yield more drive upgrade choices but do you think it would be possible to find the logo file and post a procedure how we could add logos if we are willing to take our drive out and put it into a computer ? I think I will hold of with my upgrade until September (fall season starts). Until then 250GB will be enough but after September I would need way over 500GB. Maybe 400Gb disk will come down in price by then or even the 500GB (fat chance). However I wouldn't mind opening it up though if I could fix the logo issue.

Thanks,
Peter

Where have you found the 400GB for sale? I can't find it anywhere.

[weaknees]

Gotchaa-

Once you put an "x" in your restore string, you remove the ability of a primary drive to see a secondary drive if it's simply Blessed. Generally, this is no big deal - you just use mfsadd to get the second drive attached. But here mfsadd isn't working with large drives (probably due to partition sizes) so that won't work.

So adding a large B drive likely won't work for you here, unfortunately.

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by pbolya
tivoupgrade, Weaknees,
I know you are really busy with testing that can yield more drive upgrade choices but do you think it would be possible to find the logo file and post a procedure how we could add logos if we are willing to take our drive out and put it into a computer ? I think I will hold of with my upgrade until September (fall season starts). Until then 250GB will be enough but after September I would need way over 500GB. Maybe 400Gb disk will come down in price by then or even the 500GB (fat chance). However I wouldn't mind opening it up though if I could fix the logo issue.

Thanks,
Peter

Peter-

We're authorized DirecTV dealers, so we really don't do that type of hacking. We understand that there's nothing wrong with adding channel logos, but to get into these systems requires something on the order of the monte hack, and that's just not something we do.

Best bet is to just look for an image with logos - and, of course, you'd lose recordings and settings when you do it. You might want to just hold out for an upgraded OS to come down from DTV.

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
I have a question regarding formating the new addon drive. Does it need to be done? I have not seen any reference to that process. If so should I do a low level format as I think this blocks any bad sectors?

You need a boot CD with a newer kernel that supports LBA48 addressing (a few are listed previously in this thread). Then you need to boot in the "noswap" kernel, and run BlessTiVo on the new drive. Then pop it in your TiVo (careful with the jumpers) and go.

Michael

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by weaknees
You need a boot CD with a newer kernel that supports LBA48 addressing (a few are listed previously in this thread). Then you need to boot in the "noswap" kernel, and run BlessTiVo on the new drive. Then pop it in your TiVo (careful with the jumpers) and go.

Michael

Ok so the boot cd that I made with the LBA48 support must do some form a formatting.

Next I downloaded version3 of BlessTivo from what I think is the main website for this file but it won't unzip. Never had a zipped folder do that. Is there some reliable site to get this from?

[weaknees]

First, it's already on some CDs, so check to be sure.

If you don't have it, you can download it here:

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

Michael

[Gotchaa]

Originally posted by weaknees
Gotchaa-

Once you put an "x" in your restore string, you remove the ability of a primary drive to see a secondary drive if it's simply Blessed. Generally, this is no big deal - you just use mfsadd to get the second drive attached. But here mfsadd isn't working with large drives (probably due to partition sizes) so that won't work.

So adding a large B drive likely won't work for you here, unfortunately.

Michael

I've since restarted the copy yesterday at 4 PM:

dd if=/dev/hdb of=/dev/hdc bs=1024k

It's already been 17 hours and its not done yet. DMA is on according to the boot sequence. there is no progress indicator other than the HDD led light blinking.

So when it is done, I will boot the new copied tivo drive up. If all goes well, the next step is to use boot cd with "noswap" and use BlessTivo correct?

Do I need to worry about the swapsize? Or can I assume it is already set at 127MB because of the dd copy?

thanks

[weaknees]

That should do it - just make sure that the reported partition size is around 250 GB. So far, there's no reliable way to increase swap space here, and we haven't seen it be a problem as-is.

Michael

[oosik77]

When you use BlessTivo on a 300 gig drive does it end up making 2 partitions on that drive? If so and you could find a 400 gig drive would you assume that it would be fine there too?

[weaknees]

No - it'll only make one partition, but that seems to work fine. We haven't tried a 400 GB drive.

Michael

[Gotchaa]

in booting off ptv's large disk iso, what's the command you type at the boot prompt for noswap?

[weaknees]

I haven't used that CD, but I assume it's just "noswap" by itself.

It may default to noswap - you can try just hitting return and blessing. Then, if it shows as added space in your TiVo, it was in noswap. If not, it shouldn't hurt, just do it again in "noswap."

Michael

[leftcoastdave]

Originally posted by weaknees
We are selling an "early adopter" kit - everything but the bracket ships today, and the bracket ships as soon as we get it in from Asia. This is for people who really want the expansion now, and who want to be the first to get our bracket when they arrive (and the first shipment is coming via air from Asia for them).

Michael

Michael,

Any update as to when you think the brackets might be available to early adopters?

Thanks,

Dave

[pbolya]

Originally posted by weaknees
Peter-

We're authorized DirecTV dealers, so we really don't do that type of hacking. We understand that there's nothing wrong with adding channel logos, but to get into these systems requires something on the order of the monte hack, and that's just not something we do.

Best bet is to just look for an image with logos - and, of course, you'd lose recordings and settings when you do it. You might want to just hold out for an upgraded OS to come down from DTV.

Michael Thanks Michael,
I understand. It's just that no logos is one of the main reason why I am waiting with the drive upgrade. If the logos do not come down by September I have to replace the unit somehow since I do not want to hack a unit that has problems and 30 hour will not be enough to store one week worth of our show's.

Regards,
Peter

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by pbolya
Thanks Michael,
I understand. It's just that no logos is one of the main reason why I am waiting with the drive upgrade. If the logos do not come down by September I have to replace the unit somehow since I do not want to hack a unit that has problems and 30 hour will not be enough to store one week worth of our show's.

Regards,
Peter

Peter,

Why are you not considering simply adding a drive right now? When channel logos come down, or when the TiVo software is updated, the unit should embrace the changes without issue. Am I not understanding your question/problem?

Lou

[pbolya]

Originally posted by SonyPlanet
Where have you found the 400GB for sale? I can't find it anywhere. SonyPlanet,
The hitachi Deskstar 7K400 (400 GB,8 MB, S-ATA/P-ATA) especially made for PVR's was available in limited quantities but I can not found it anymore either.

Regards,
Peter

[weaknees]

Originally posted by leftcoastdave
Michael,

Any update as to when you think the brackets might be available to early adopters?

Thanks,

Dave

We're past prototypes and into tooling. This should be done soon, and then we'll be waiting on first parts, so we still have several weeks to go here.

Michael

[pbolya]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
Peter,

Why are you not considering simply adding a drive right now? When channel logos come down, or when the TiVo software is updated, the unit should embrace the changes without issue. Am I not understanding your question/problem?

Lou Lou,
Since the TV season is over there is no big rush to upgrade until September. I understand that the upgrade should still come down to my unit regardless I upgrade it or not. However D* can not even acknowledge the fact that the channel logos are a problem. If they upgrade my unit with the logos during the summer I will upgrade the next day (I have a 250GB and a bracket ready to go) but if they don't I will see if I can get them to replace the unit. Logos are very important to me and I just want to be 100% sure that I will get them in case they decide that the no logos are a "feature" and not an error they need to fix.

Of course it is also an added bonus if I can find a 300GB on sale or the 400GB or 500GB drives will be available with <$1/GB (I am not holding my breath).

Regards,
Peter

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by pbolya
Lou,
Since the TV season is over there is no big rush to upgrade until September. I understand that the upgrade should still come down to my unit regardless I upgrade it or not. However D* can not even acknowledge the fact that the channel logos are a problem. If they upgrade my unit with the logos during the summer I will upgrade the next day (I have a 250GB and a bracket ready to go) but if they don't I will see if I can get them to replace the unit. Logos are very important to me and I just want to be 100% sure that I will get them in case they decide that the no logos are a "feature" and not an error they need to fix.

Of course it is also an added bonus if I can find a 300GB on sale or the 400GB or 500GB drives will be available with <$1/GB (I am not holding my breath).

Regards,
Peter

got it - well, doubt very much that even if its a problem (or whether there should even be an expectation that logos should be available at this stage), that it would have anything to do with the unit beyond the revision of the software on the hard drive - historically, logos and their availability, had to do with the proper 'slice data' being loaded into the TiVo database; nothign related to the unit's hardware, itself.

again, not sure what the expectations *should* be, but your approach is probably the best one - wait and see - if you don't need to upgrade it now, might as well wait and keep your options open.

[pbolya]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
got it - well, doubt very much that even if its a problem (or whether there should even be an expectation that logos should be available at this stage), that it would have anything to do with the unit beyond the revision of the software on the hard drive - historically, logos and their availability, had to do with the proper 'slice data' being loaded into the TiVo database; nothign related to the unit's hardware, itself.

again, not sure what the expectations *should* be, but your approach is probably the best one - wait and see - if you don't need to upgrade it now, might as well wait and keep your options open. Lou,
I had the bracket and the 250 GB ready to go before I even had the unit. I wanted to do a lot of testing after the upgrade like for instance recording 400+ hours of SD and see if I will have the same performance problems that I have with the 242 hours of SD on my series 1. But since I do not have an absolutely perfect unit I have to hold off with the upgrade until I do. If I open the box my options are limited to basically fix everything myself. I will not do that until I am forced to do so (September deadline).

Regards,
Peter

[mikemav]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
got it - well, doubt very much that even if its a problem (or whether there should even be an expectation that logos should be available at this stage), that it would have anything to do with the unit beyond the revision of the software on the hard drive - historically, logos and their availability, had to do with the proper 'slice data' being loaded into the TiVo database; nothign related to the unit's hardware, itself.

again, not sure what the expectations *should* be, but your approach is probably the best one - wait and see - if you don't need to upgrade it now, might as well wait and keep your options open.

So if I read this correctly, it is no problem adding a second drive in the future and not losing exsiting recordings? I know to do other hacks (when available) often requires starting over and losing recordings, but I assume this is not the case w/ just expanding to a second drive? If that is the case, I see no reason not to do this later unless I need the space now.

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by mikemav
So if I read this correctly, it is no problem adding a second drive in the future and not losing exsiting recordings? I know to do other hacks (when available) often requires starting over and losing recordings, but I assume this is not the case w/ just expanding to a second drive? If that is the case, I see no reason not to do this later unless I need the space now.

the more things change, the more they stay the same...

adding a second drive can be done while preserving your existing recordings and settings.

you can just run "BlessTivo" on the drive you are adding, and stuff it in your unit - do make sure you use an LBA48-kernel CD, such as the one on our site.

[weaknees]

That's right, and true of TiVos historically. You can add a drive without hurting the existing programming.

Michael

[Tivogre]

Added a second 250gb HD (Maxtor).

BlessTiVo reported 233gb.

Added drive to unit using 9thTee bracket.

Booted cleanly first try; unit reports (up to) 63 hours of HD / 426 hours of SD

Only difficult parts were:

1. Getting the stand-offs in holes 3 and 12 along the left side of the unit properly aligned took a couple of tries.

Hint: use the supplied bracket to align the stand-offs with the holes before tightening down the stand-offs.

2. Contorting an IDE cable to fit properly between Master and new Slave.

Hint: if I were doing this again, I would switch drive locations; put the ORIGINAL drive on the 9thTee bracket, and the new slave drive in place of the original.

Anyway... No issues (in the first hour at least).

Thanks guys!

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by Tivogre
Added a second 250gb HD (Maxtor).

Hint: if I were doing this again, I would switch drive locations; put the ORIGINAL drive on the 9thTee bracket, and the new slave drive in place of the original.

Anyway... No issues (in the first hour at least).

Thanks guys!

Glad you got it working. FYI, we have a new component on order that is going to replace the stand-off/spacer assembly; much easier to install, and less pieces, as well. Also coming is a shorter IDE cable with a neat 'twist' and a new power cable.

Curious - why would you remove the original drive and swap positions? Conventional wisdom is to not touch what you don't have to, if there is no apparent benefit, but there is a good reason to, I'm all ears!

[Tivogre]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
Curious - why would you remove the original drive and swap positions? Conventional wisdom is to not touch what you don't have to, if there is no apparent benefit, but there is a good reason to, I'm all ears!

In my case (and I would hope in most), the original drive was already pulled to make a back-up using mfstools. While it was out, it would have been a simple matter to dismount it and swap to your bracket.

Switching positions of the drives would have mad the IDE cable less "twisty" as the slave would now be closest to the motherboard IDE port (easier access to the middle connector on the ide cable) and the master further out (and just a half twist of the cable).

I found it difficult to "fold" the cable in such a way to get both drives connected to the proper connectors on the IDE cable... but it could have just been me.

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by weaknees
First, it's already on some CDs, so check to be sure.

If you don't have it, you can download it here:

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

Michael


Well it's not on the CD I burned (using the mfstools iso file). and when I download the file from the link you provided it will not unzip. It's the strangest thing. Maybe I'ts a sign. :eek: Not sure where to go from here.

[Gotchaa]

Originally posted by Gotchaa
I've since restarted the copy yesterday at 4 PM:

dd if=/dev/hdb of=/dev/hdc bs=1024k

It's already been 17 hours and its not done yet. DMA is on according to the boot sequence. there is no progress indicator other than the HDD led light blinking.


I am at about 27 hours now and dd is still not done with the copy of the orginal 250MB drive. Unlike msftools there is no indication how much is left, so at this point I am just going to let it go.

1. Anyone else do a complete copy of their original drive?
2. If so, did you use mfstools or dd?
3. How long did it take? (mfstools reported I had 199GB worth of data to copy)
4. Should I kill the backup at this point?

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by Tivogre
In my case (and I would hope in most), the original drive was already pulled to make a back-up using mfstools. While it was out, it would have been a simple matter to dismount it and swap to your bracket.

Switching positions of the drives would have mad the IDE cable less "twisty" as the slave would now be closest to the motherboard IDE port (easier access to the middle connector on the ide cable) and the master further out (and just a half twist of the cable).

I found it difficult to "fold" the cable in such a way to get both drives connected to the proper connectors on the IDE cable... but it could have just been me.

Ok, I understand. If you jumper the drives as 'master' and 'slave' then the positions on the cable won't matter. With that said, it still does require finesse to fold the cable properly; eventually we'll have a new one which addresses that.

Thx for the input.

Lou

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by Gotchaa
in booting off ptv's large disk iso, what's the command you type at the boot prompt for noswap?

Just hit return at the boot prompt; its in 'noswap' mode by default.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by Gotchaa
I am at about 27 hours now and dd is still not done with the copy of the orginal 250MB drive. Unlike msftools there is no indication how much is left, so at this point I am just going to let it go.

1. Anyone else do a complete copy of their original drive?
2. If so, did you use mfstools or dd?
3. How long did it take? (mfstools reported I had 199GB worth of data to copy)
4. Should I kill the backup at this point?

Sure - we've done several complete copies of drives with dd for these units. That's faster (for us) then filling up a new 250 GB drive with content. The copy generally takes us about 2 hours. We've also done it many times with mfstools.

If you have DMA off, then this could be a realistic amount of time. Otherwise, it seems pretty extreme.

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by Tivogre
In my case (and I would hope in most), the original drive was already pulled to make a back-up using mfstools. While it was out, it would have been a simple matter to dismount it and swap to your bracket.

Switching positions of the drives would have mad the IDE cable less "twisty" as the slave would now be closest to the motherboard IDE port (easier access to the middle connector on the ide cable) and the master further out (and just a half twist of the cable).

I found it difficult to "fold" the cable in such a way to get both drives connected to the proper connectors on the IDE cable... but it could have just been me.

We include shorter (and vented) cables with our kits - and you could likely buy one at most computer stores. Just a note about them - they're too short to work on Series 1 standalone units. We didn't want the extra cable hanging in the other boxes touching heat sinks and the like, so we opted to make the custom cables shorter and omit those units from the compatibility list. Those units come with three position cables from the factory.

But you can always put the master in the middle, just so long as you take both drives off "cable select" and jumper them appropriately. The jumper on the factory drive is set as "cable select" in this unit (and pretty much every stock TiVo).

You can also reverse the cable in many cases, and use the motherboard connector on the master drive, with the master connector in the motherboard. This sometimes helps make 18" cables work in situations where the spacing otherwise wouldn't do the trick.

Michael

[TallGuy]

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but searched and didn't find this topic here:

Will it ever be possible to upgrade/improve/replace the OTA tuner in the HR10-250? For the first 3 weeks, I received Fox 21-1 on the HD-TiVo just fine. Now it won't tune it in, except for about 1 time out of every 20, even though the signal strength is around 80! Driving me crazy. My Mitsubishi TV tuner grabs the channel just fine, as did my Samsung SIR-TS160 (though all 3 receivers/tuners have had some weird vertical picture jitter on this one channel, which is 480p...)

I've read about the sensitive tuner in the HR10-250. I've tried an attentuator, and I've tried a SquareShooter antenna outside and a big ugly 6 foot Radio Shack antenna in my attic, to see if multipath was the reason for the problem. No matter what I do for the last 2 weeks, I can't tune in a station with an 80 on the signal strength screen!

If it's not possible to put in a new/better tuner, maybe I have to swap the box. Ugh. That should be fun after having it from VE for more than 30 days. Help please.

[weaknees]

No news on that here - better information is probably in the specific HD forum.

Michael

[Gotchaa]

what is the defalt swap size on the 250MB Tivo drives? Is it 64mb or 127mb?

[pbolya]

Fry's has both the Maxtor and the WD 250 GB drive for $160 (both with 7,200 RPM and 8 MB cash). It also has the 300 GB Maxtor (5,400 RPM and 2MB buffer) for $235.

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by pentium7
You will need a motherboard capable of seeing >137GB drives. Basically most P4 boards. Or alternatively you'll need a controller card that can see 48bit LBA. UDMA33 definately won't see it. This will be required before you can do anything.

I thought that an LBA48 CD would work with >137GB regardless of the PC BIOS? Doesn't the Linux Kernel do the addressing directly?

[weaknees]

Yes - that's right. The BIOS doesn't matter here. Of course, if the PC is a real dinosaur . . .

And if you use a controller card you may have issues where the card isn't seen by your Linux distribution without additional drivers.

Michael

[borghe]

actually as far as I can tell, default swap size is 64MB.. using mfsrestore to the original drive I tried setting it to 127MB and it informed me that the image wouldn't fit on the drive. I also ran pdisk and it showed 64MB swap.

[weaknees]

Just so you know, so far, none of our upgrade kit customers have experienced any problems due to swap space, nor have any of our internal tests showed problems relating to it.

Michael

[k2ue]

I've ordered a new B drive for my HD Tivo, and would like to make two backups of A on 9.1GB IDE's I have plenty of, for safety, then bless and add the new B drive. I'd prefer to have no (bootable) DOS drives connected, to minimize the chance of accidents. So, assuming the boot CDROM is Secondary Slave, what is the recommended hookup and commands for making the safety backups? (I'll do it twice). Must the backup drives be preformatted for DOS (they were in Suns)? Sorry for the newbie questions, but I do this so infrequently there is just no learning curve.

A PM pointer to an HD drive image would also be appreciated (for extra safety).

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by borghe
actually as far as I can tell, default swap size is 64MB.. using mfsrestore to the original drive I tried setting it to 127MB and it informed me that the image wouldn't fit on the drive. I also ran pdisk and it showed 64MB swap.

That's interesting; I will have to check again, but I looked at the partitions with tpip and saw 128 MB and the swap file was that size, as well. -s 127 worked fine for me on the original drives.

[HDLouco]

I am a newbi here and would like a link to a thread that is intended for someone who has never owned a Tivo unit before. I have a Pentium 4 PC running at 3 GHz with 512 MB of 400-MHz DDR ram and plenty of HD space. Do I have to run Linux to format the additional 250-GB drive? How do I do that with a PC that only runs MSDOS and Windows XP PRO? Thanks for any answers and links!

[Cheezmo]

I seem to remember seeing 128MB for the swap partition as well. When I saw 64Mb posted here, I thought maybe I was mis-translating 512-byte blocks or something in the way pdisk reported sizes.

[Cheezmo]

In fact, here is what pdisk reports...


8: Swap Linux swap 262144 @ 269683431 (128.0M)


Looks like 128Mb to me.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by k2ue
I've ordered a new B drive for my HD Tivo, and would like to make two backups of A on 9.1GB IDE's I have plenty of, for safety, then bless and add the new B drive. I'd prefer to have no (bootable) DOS drives connected, to minimize the chance of accidents. So, assuming the boot CDROM is Secondary Slave, what is the recommended hookup and commands for making the safety backups? (I'll do it twice). Must the backup drives be preformatted for DOS (they were in Suns)? Sorry for the newbie questions, but I do this so infrequently there is just no learning curve.

A PM pointer to an HD drive image would also be appreciated (for extra safety).

You do need a formatted drive - if it's FAT32, that's fine.

You can use whatever drive positions you'd like, but let's assume primary slave for the HD TiVo drive and primary master for the DOS/FAT32 drive.

You boot in your CD, mount with:

mount /dev/hda /mnt

Then make the backup with:

mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdb

That should make the file tivo.bak on the DOS drive as a backup.

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by HDLouco
I am a newbi here and would like a link to a thread that is intended for someone who has never owned a Tivo unit before. I have a Pentium 4 PC running at 3 GHz with 512 MB of 400-MHz DDR ram and plenty of HD space. Do I have to run Linux to format the additional 250-GB drive? How do I do that with a PC that only runs MSDOS and Windows XP PRO? Thanks for any answers and links!

You can't do it in DOS or XP, but it's not too complicated to get it working in Linux. Download a CD as listed in this thread, and boot your PC in that. Then run:

BlessTiVo /dev/hdc

replacing hdc with the proper position on your IDE bus.

You should see the software report a drive blessed to a number near the drive size (if you see 137 GB you booted in an early kernel and won't get all of the space on the drive).

You may want to make a backup first as listed in the previous post.

Michael

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by Cheezmo
In fact, here is what pdisk reports...


8: Swap Linux swap 262144 @ 269683431 (128.0M)


Looks like 128Mb to me.

Note that this is just a listing of the PARTITION information, not the size of the swap file that is actually being used; Again, the swap file size can be verified by taking a look at the log file in /var/log/kernel where the actual size is reported. The aforementioned partition reading can be misleading because you CAN actually create a LARGER partition using the LBA48 CD, however the swap file will NOT be created, the kernel on your TiVo will BARF unless you are doing something like that on a Series1 unit with a modified kernel...

... so just a word to the wise -- a large swap partition does not mean a large swap file; in fact, if you try to create a larger than 128MB swap partition on this unit, you will end up with NO swap file.

[k2ue]

When using the 7-second drive spinup delay devices, which works better; delaying the Master or the Slave? I would guess delaying the master, since when it does come up and boot commences the Slave is already good-to-go; but perhaps there are other considerations. . .

[weaknees]

That's exactly right. With most brands of drives (even two different brands) the TiVo boots fine either way - the problematic drives are the Hitachis. Otherwise, we recommend the Master for the reason you mentioned.

Michael

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by k2ue
When using the 7-second drive spinup delay devices, which works better; delaying the Master or the Slave? I would guess delaying the master, since when it does come up and boot commences the Slave is already good-to-go; but perhaps there are other considerations. . .

If you are referring to SmartStart, there is only one way to install it - you need to connect it between the power source and the MASTER drive. It won't work if you plug it into the SLAVE device for the reasons you mentioned.

Installation instructions here (http://www.ptvupgrade.com/installation/pdf/smartstart.pdf)

[Cheezmo]

I have a Hitachi 250G; 7200 RPM; 8 MB Buffer as the MASTER Drive in my HR10-250 (Weaknees 300Gb as the slave). I haven't had any problems. Anything I should be watching out for?

[MichaelK]

not that it makes a bit of difference to me- I plan to slap in a new set of 250's as soon as I can get a couple hours- but I'm curious.

Are you guys with the 2nd drives noticing higher temps in the system info screens?

[Nomarian]

Gotcha,

I am surprised that your DD backup is taking so long. I did the same thing you did two weeks ago. I did a DD copy from the virgin WD drive to a new 250GB Maxtor(A) drive. I enabled DMA and let it run. The copy took about 2 hours.

From there, I put the WD drive in the away for safe keeping. Then installed the new Maxtor(A) drive in my PC and added the 2nd drive and used BlessTiVo to add it. I ordered the bracket from 9thTee and installed the 2nd drive.

I then installed it and turned it on. Everything works and both drives are seen by the unit. I have 63 hours of HD recording available.

The only tool I used was the boot CD that is listed several times on this thread.

As for temp questions, with both Maxtor 250GB 7200RPM 8MB cache drives running during HD content, temp does not get above 44 degrees. I do keep the unit on a shelf in a open area though.

[weaknees]

From our tests with our prototype bracket, we've dropped the temp a few degress with our second fan. We haven't done the extensive testing that we did with the original TwinBreeze yet - we'll wait for first parts before we do that. But so far, good news.

Michael

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by MichaelK
not that it makes a bit of difference to me- I plan to slap in a new set of 250's as soon as I can get a couple hours- but I'm curious.

Are you guys with the 2nd drives noticing higher temps in the system info screens?

2 degrees warmer (Celsius) is what I've seen. The power supply seems to be the warmest part of the unit, and not sure where the thermal sensors that provide the information to the system information screen actually reside.

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by MichaelK
not that it makes a bit of difference to me- I plan to slap in a new set of 250's as soon as I can get a couple hours- but I'm curious.

Are you guys with the 2nd drives noticing higher temps in the system info screens?

2 degrees warmer (Celsius) is what I've seen. The power supply seems to be the warmest part of the unit, and not sure where the thermal sensors that provide the information to the system information screen actually reside.

[pmaddock]

I took the plunge and did the upgrade and all seems well in its first hour of operating. Used the following sequence:

1. Used dd to copy the original drive - took about 5 hours. Then I removed the factory drive in case of disaster.
2. Ran the unit with the dd copy (a Maxtor 250GB) to ensure it was running OK.
3. Added 2nd 250GB (budget kept me from 300 - I was able to get 2 250GB drives for what 300's are going for) using BlessTivo.
4. Started unit - unit is reporting up to 63HD hours (variable). Its been running for an hour now and the temp is 50 C - no signs of stuttering or other problems.

Since the Weaknees bracket isn't out yet I did this with the 9th Tee/PTV upgrade bracket.
Some notes on things that worried me along the way:
1. An older machine using the LBA 48 Linux kernel CAN address drives over 250GB without any problems despite what was indicated on an earilier thread.
2. The twist holder for the 2 OTA lines was really problematic. It took some pressure to get it out of the way. This was one spot where I wish the Weaknees design was available as it seems to work around this item.
3. The IDE cable arrangement gets pretty annoying - you really have to twist the cable around. I hope that 9th Tee gets that new cable out soon.\
4. Removing the Master drive has an added annoyance/danger - you have to slide it towards the power supply to get it out.

[weaknees]

Paul,

Congrats!

Our bracket will allow the post to pass through - with one cable above and one cable below for the OTA tuner. And you can order our cable now from our parts page if you want - it should work fine in this situation. From what another poster described, though, you might be better off switching the drive positions.

Michael

[Tivogre]

Originally posted by weaknees
Paul,

Congrats!

Our bracket will allow the post to pass through - with one cable above and one cable below for the OTA tuner. And you can order our cable now from our parts page if you want - it should work fine in this situation. From what another poster described, though, you might be better off switching the drive positions.

Michael


Hey... that was me!!! :D

I'm famous. :up:

[flapbreaker]

I downloaded the LBA48 boot cd iso from your website. I burned it to cd but I am confused if the BlessTivo program is also on there. Please let me know if it is. Thanks.

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by weaknees
Paul,

Congrats!

Our bracket will allow the post to pass through - with one cable above and one cable below for the OTA tuner. And you can order our cable now from our parts page if you want - it should work fine in this situation. From what another poster described, though, you might be better off switching the drive positions.

Michael

Michael,
I think when your bracket becomes available I'll be ordering both the bracket and cable. If I'm going back in there to relieve the cable tensions I might as well get both taken care of and a little more fan cooling to boot.

I did read Tivogre's post about the cables and actually I took his advice and used the "Master" on the cable on the secondary drive but since the drives were jumpered that didn't matter. Since I had done the "A" drive swap and test I was lazy and decided to leave the new "A" drive in place rather than try to switch them. (besides the A drive is near the power supply area and I really hate that they make you slide the drive toward the power supply to release it)

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
I downloaded the LBA48 boot cd iso from your website. I burned it to cd but I am confused if the BlessTivo program is also on there. Please let me know if it is. Thanks.

Its there but you have to use the right case "BlessTiVo" (uppercase B, T, and V).

[Gotchaa]

Originally posted by Gotchaa
what is the defalt swap size on the 250MB Tivo drives? Is it 64mb or 127mb?

Upgrade is done dd took 43 hours, BlessTiVo went smooth

Total HD recording time is 63 hours.

I looked at the swap size, and it did indeed report 128MB
so short of having another swap file on the second drive I assume all is good

WARNING FOR THOSE ORDERING BRACKET FROM 9TH TEE

Make sure you check that you have all your parts listed in the instructions before you start!

I've been waiting a week for this package only to find I was missing a 1/4 inch spacer, so basically I am on two legs!! OTA coax are supporting the missing hex standoff and plastic spacer.

Hopefully they'll send out the spacer. I've yet to contact them.

[9thTee]

Make sure you check that you have all your parts listed in the instructions before you start!


Actually that is a good idea for anything that has to be assembled! It is always possible to get hardware packs with something missing or just lost out of the pack as well. So, excellent idea!

Now, if you will email us, we can get your problem fixed.

Mark
9thTee

[k2ue]

Originally posted by 9thTee
Actually that is a good idea for anything that has to be assembled! It is always possible to get hardware packs with something missing or just lost out of the pack as well.

The old Heathkit manuals used to begin each section by showing the parts to be used in that section, and asking that you locate and identify each required part before beginning the actual assembly. It remains good advice, as Mark noted.

[HDLouco]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by weaknees
[B]You can't do it in DOS or XP, but it's not too complicated to get it working in Linux. Download a CD as listed in this thread, and boot your PC in that.

Thanks for the prompt repply, Minhael! And, please, forgive me for one additional question: how can I download the CD you indicated? I searched the thread, but could not find it. I would be very grateful to you or anyone else who can help me with this.

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by k2ue
The old Heathkit manuals used to begin each section by showing the parts to be used in that section, and asking that you locate and identify each required part before beginning the actual assembly. It remains good advice, as Mark noted.

I also think its a good idea to give a vendor the opportunity to support you before placing big bold warnings on the forum to everyone else. None of us are perfect, and its how we support our customers when stuff like that happens that really can make the difference. I can only hope that the warning is followed up with an additional posting indicating how the problems was resolved; 9thTee, as our partner, as a great reputation for support, and folks should know that, as well.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by HDLouco
[QUOTE]Originally posted by weaknees
[B]You can't do it in DOS or XP, but it's not too complicated to get it working in Linux. Download a CD as listed in this thread, and boot your PC in that.

Thanks for the prompt repply, Minhael! And, please, forgive me for one additional question: how can I download the CD you indicated? I searched the thread, but could not find it. I would be very grateful to you or anyone else who can help me with this.

Info about various CDs is here:

http://www.courtesan.com/tivo/bigdisk.html

We don't use them since we hve PCs with Linux on the hard drives, so we can't vouch for them. But others seem to use these with success.

Michael

[Gotchaa]

Originally posted by 9thTee
Actually that is a good idea for anything that has to be assembled! It is always possible to get hardware packs with something missing or just lost out of the pack as well. So, excellent idea!

Now, if you will email us, we can get your problem fixed.

Mark
9thTee

9thTee promptly sent out a replacement kit, Excellent customer service.

Thanks Mark!

[dave3]

I would just like to clarify the procdeure since my hdtivo comes tommorow.

I have an additional 250gig drive that I am adding as a b drive. I want to just do a simple mfs backup onto a win98 fat drive, and then blesstivo, marry, the drives.

so if I understand correctly the procedure is as follows

1. install my existing hdtivo drive in secondary master and my new b drive in secondary slave, my fat 32 win98 Hd is primary master, and my cdrom is primary slave.
2. boot up ptv's lb48 cd
3. mount drive using following command

mkdir /mnt/dos

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/dos

4. backup using this command

mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /hd_tivo.bak /dev/hdc

4. Bless tivo? what is this command for my set up? is blesstivo on ptv's lb48 cd?
5. install back in hdtivo and watch tv.

thanks
dave

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by dave3

4. Bless tivo? what is this command for my set up? is blesstivo on ptv's lb48 cd?


thanks
dave

Dave,
BlessTiVo is on the lba48CD use the following command for the setup you described:

BlessTiVo /dev/hdd

Be sure to watch the letter case (the B, T, and V are in Upper Case).

Otherwise I think your procedure should work as outlined.

As a precaution I would advise you start up the Tivo and at least put it through some initial paces before performing the upgrade.
In my case I decided to let it run for a month so there would be no issue with an initial vendor return. The side effect though was that it accumulated some programming. So, I blew some cash and did a complete dd backup of the factory drive, put it on the shelf, and then used the backup and a Blessed B drive. With that arrangement dropping back to the original is very simple.

Good luck!

Edited - forgot to include the "/dev" on the BlessTiVo.

[dave3]

Thanks paul.

pc richard is comming tommorow to install the tivo, they will also activate it, so I will know if it is working at that point.

After I test it for a couple of hours I will then take out the hardrive and then do the backup and marry.

thanks again
dave

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by dave3
I would just like to clarify the procdeure since my hdtivo comes tommorow.

I have an additional 250gig drive that I am adding as a b drive. I want to just do a simple mfs backup onto a win98 fat drive, and then blesstivo, marry, the drives.

so if I understand correctly the procedure is as follows

1. install my existing hdtivo drive in secondary master and my new b drive in secondary slave, my fat 32 win98 Hd is primary master, and my cdrom is primary slave.
2. boot up ptv's lb48 cd
3. mount drive using following command

mkdir /mnt/dos

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/dos

4. backup using this command

mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /hd_tivo.bak /dev/hdc

4. Bless tivo? what is this command for my set up? is blesstivo on ptv's lb48 cd?
5. install back in hdtivo and watch tv.

thanks
dave

Almost right - for your specific situation:

-- mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/dos/hd_tivo.bak /dev/hdc

-- BlessTiVo /dev/hdd


Our CD does have "BlessTivo" on it - just hit <return> at the boot prompt. For what its worth, we use -6 not -1, when backing up. It won't make a big difference either way; -1 is a little faster, -6 will give you a smaller backup size.

As a suggestion - if you are making a backup, you should consider testing it - in which case, do your backup as described above, and then do this:

-- mfsrestore -s 127 -zpi /mnt/dos/hd_tivo.bak /dev/hdd

Then change your jumpers on the 'slave' drive to "master" and boot up your unit to ensure it works. If it does, you'll know you have a good backup; then go back and "Bless" the drive.

Lou

[Gotchaa]

For those of you adding the new Maxtor 7200 RPM drives, the default setting for the drives is performance, and it's seems louder than older gen Maxtors.

If you do not want the sound to be loud, I recommend you set it to quiet with the acoustic management software. This really makes a noticeable difference, do it while you've got the drives attached to your PC for backing up or expanding and save yourself some time.

You can find the utility on Maxtor's website, just go to the support knowledge base and look for amset

[weaknees]

Originally posted by Gotchaa
For those of you adding the new Maxtor 7200 RPM drives, the default setting for the drives is performance, and it's seems louder than older gen Maxtors.

If you do not want the sound to be loud, I recommend you set it to quiet with the acoustic management software. This really makes a noticeable difference, do it while you've got the drives attached to your PC for backing up or expanding and save yourself some time.

You can find the utility on Maxtor's website, just go to the support knowledge base and look for amset

I don't think any 300 GB drives are 7200 RPM at this point - is that what you added?

Michael

[flapbreaker]

Ok. I have seen the mfstools command line shown several different ways.

mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/dos/hd_tivo.bak /dev/hdc
mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/hd_tivo.bak /dev/hdc
mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdb


So in the first case there is a /dos command
the second one doesn't have the /dos command
the third one has /hdb instead of /hdc

I guess I don't know what I should be using?

[weaknees]

The 'dos' directory is just something that Hinsdale recommends. He's having you make a sub-directory on your FAT32 drive. If you intend to use that (or a comparable sub-directory) and you don't have it already, you'll need:

mkdir /mnt/dos

first, to create the directory.

The /dev/hdb or /dev/hdc issue is just pointing to the location of the source drive - the drive you pulled from the TiVo and installed in your PC. Here's the legend:

/dev/hda = primary master (very often your PC's boot drive)
/dev/hdb = primary slave
/dev/hdc = secondary IDE bus master
/dev/hdd = secondary slave

Michael

[CoreyMD]

Ok, I'm not only new to HDTivo, but Tivo in general and have no experience adding a drive (although I have done it for my UTV). I've tried to follow this thread, but at 23 pages there's too much info to digest.

Last I checked the FAQs did not include HR10-250 specific upgrade info, nor did the weaknees 'wizard' type website. Is anything in the works? Or do any of the manufacturers provide concise upgrade instructions with their bracket if buying without a bundled hard drive? I'm lost.

[dave3]

Lou

according to your instructions, I am restoring my mfs backup onto my new b drive, putting it in the tivo testing it and then putting it back in the computer to bless it. When I bless the b drive, will it overwrite the backup os?

thanks
dave

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by CoreyMD
Ok, I'm not only new to HDTivo, but Tivo in general and have no experience adding a drive (although I have done it for my UTV). I've tried to follow this thread, but at 23 pages there's too much info to digest.

Last I checked the FAQs did not include HR10-250 specific upgrade info, nor did the weaknees 'wizard' type website. Is anything in the works? Or do any of the manufacturers provide concise upgrade instructions with their bracket if buying without a bundled hard drive? I'm lost.

Corey -

There's two pieces you need to worry about; software and hardware. If you are going to do-it-yourself, get used to doing the reading and the digging; that is part of the sport. Suffice it to say, this upgrade is fundamentally no different, from a software perspective, than any other Series2 upgrade except for the fact that you need an LBA48 CD to bless your new drive. Beyond that, its the same basic process. We have hardware installation instructions on our site if you are going to use the PTVupgrade/9thTee bracket.

If you are going to do it yourself, you really should wade through this entire thread, and start searching on the forum for the concepts you are not familiar with - its just not that trivial and it is good to go in well-informed if you are going to forge ahead on your own.

But if you are truly lost, then consider hiring a professional.

Lou

Lou

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by dave3
Lou

according to your instructions, I am restoring my mfs backup onto my new b drive, putting it in the tivo testing it and then putting it back in the computer to bless it. When I bless the b drive, will it overwrite the backup os?

thanks
dave

Yes. It will "Bless" the B drive so that you can that add it to your original. But the backup you created is still on your FAT partition - all I am suggesting is that you test your backup before you add the drive to your unit.

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by CoreyMD
Ok, I'm not only new to HDTivo, but Tivo in general and have no experience adding a drive (although I have done it for my UTV). I've tried to follow this thread, but at 23 pages there's too much info to digest.

Last I checked the FAQs did not include HR10-250 specific upgrade info, nor did the weaknees 'wizard' type website. Is anything in the works? Or do any of the manufacturers provide concise upgrade instructions with their bracket if buying without a bundled hard drive? I'm lost.

Corey,
I'll try to encapsulate this but this reflects my approach (moderate technical experience, cautious and budget conscious). As Lou pointed out if you aren't comfortable I have to remind you that this is a $1K box. The risk level is such that if you have any trepidation you really should consider using one of the services. If you do it yourself there are no guarantees and ethically you have no warranty to fall back on. However, the procedure I'm about to outline leaves the factory drive intact so backing out of this is relatively easy - assuming you don't damage the Tivo itself.

The essentials:
1. The really good news is from a software perspective most of the existing Tivo Toolset can be used on the HDTivo. There have been some concerns about using MFSADD so BlessTiVo seems to be the best approach.

2. Only the 9thTee bracket is actually available at this time but the Weaknees bracket is coming. If you want to do this now you'll have to go with 9thTee but I think the Weaknees bracket is worth a look when it comes out. You'll need to get an IDE cable, Y adapter for the Power, Torx driver, and bracket (all available at http://www.9thtee.com/tivo-dthd.htm). Alternately PTV upgrade sells this as a whole kit. Weakness is selling an early adopter kit where they will ship their bracket when its ready.

About the brackets - the 9thTee works but I can't say I was really happy with how you have to contort the OTA wires in the Tivo to get it to fit. On paper the Weaknees bracket works around this issue but it isn't actually ready to ship so if you want to upgrade now you'll have to accept this issue. There is a similar contortion issue around the first IDE cables that were shipped but I think both vendors are now shipping "shredded" cables that work easier.

3. The actual installation procedure I used involved copying the factory drive, putting the factory drive on the shelf for safekeeping, then marrying the copy to a new drive using BlessTiVo. Alternately you can use MFSBackup and spare yourself buying a drive but any recordings will be lost and the recovery procedure will have a few more variables. Since I ran my box for a month before upgrading I did the full backup.
You'll need:
a. 1 250GB drive IF you do a full backup. Otherwise you'll need a FAT32 formatted drive with about 1GB or more free space.
b. A new "B" drive - the "ideal" drive is probably the 300GB Maxtor Quickview that Weaknees sells or you can buy one of the many 250GB drives on sale at Fry's etc. (there are a variety of posts for/against various drive brands, the best "middle of the road" approach I can say here is to get either a WD or Maxtor drive - they seem to be used the most in past Tivo Upgrades).
c. Bracket, Y power adapter, ide cable, Torx driver

The procedure went like this:
a. Setup a relatively new PC with the CD drive on the Primary Slave, remove the factory drive (be careful - its near the power supply) and put it on the Secondary Master, and then if you are using the "full" backup then put a new 250GB drive on the Secondary Slave position. (validate the jumper on your new drive is set to slave). If you are going to use MFSBackup instead of dd put a FAT32 drive with at least 1GB of free space on the Primary Master and put the new "B" drive on the Secondary Slave (make sure the jumpers are set to slave).
b. Download and burn a CD for the LBA48 (http://www.ptvupgrade.com/downloads/ptv-mfstools2-large-disk.iso)
c. Boot the PC off the CD (you may have to change your Bios settings), validate that the drives are showing correctly on the boot screen.

d. Backup the Factory drive:
Method 1: Requires the spare 250GB drive - All recordings will be fully preserved and your factory drive will be unaltered:
dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/hdd bs=1024k

Method 2: Uses space on existing FAT drive - Recordings will not be part of the backup but you don't have to 'waste' a 250GB drive:
mkdir /mnt/dos
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/dos
mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/dos/hd_tivo.bak /dev/hdc
(backs up OS content to your FAT32 drive - you can burn the hd_tivo.bak file to a DVD if you need the drive space later)
mfsrestore -s 127 -zpi /mnt/dos/hd_tivo.bak /dev/hdd
("restores" the backup to the future "B" drive for testing)
e. Shut down the PC - use ctl-alt-del - wait for it to start rebooting and then power it off. If doing a "full" backup put the original factory drive in a static bag and put it in a safe place.
f. Test the backup:
dd method:
Install the new 250GB drive from the dd step into the Tivo where the factory drive sat. Start the Tivo and validate that its operating normally. All recordings, etc. should still be there. If all is well shut down the Tivo. If it isn't then you can swap back to the original drive and come back here for advice.
MFSBackup Method:
Switch the jumpers on the future "B" drive to Master and install the future "B" drive in the factory drive position. Start up the Tivo and validate its operation (note: any recordings will not have been carried over).
g. Put your new B drive on the Secondary Slave on the PC. Make sure its set to slave on the appropriate jumper.
h. Boot the PC from the CD, again validate that the boot screen displays the drives.
i. Use BlessTiVo to "Bless" the new "B" drive - be sure to verify that the size report from BlessTiVo approximates the size of the drive (it won't be an exact match but it should be within 10% or so) The command is (be sure to note the Upper/lower case):
BlessTiVo /dev/hdd
j. ctl-alt-Del to close unix and power down the PC when it starts to reboot.
k. Install the new drive using the bracket and cables per your bracket manufacturer instructions. (the 9th tee instructions are at http://www.9thtee.com/TiVoMtgBracket-hd.htm)
l. Restart the Tivo and validate that its operating properly and showing the new capacity on the system information screen. Note: At this point the drives are "married" - they cannot be separated without using some of the more sophisticated MFS tools and the experience level with those tools and HDTivos is minimal at this time.

Should something horrible happen and you want to go back:
dd Method:
Make sure everything is powered down and simply put the factory drive back in its original position with the original cabling.
Restart the Tivo - unless the Tivo itself was damaged it should be restored to its original state.

MFSbackup method:
Start the PC again with the LBA48CD. The FAT32 drive should be set up as primary master and the A drive should be connected to the Secondary slave.
mkdir /mnt/dos
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/dos
mfsrestore -s 127 -zpi /mnt/dos/hd_tivo.bak /dev/hdc
ctl-alt-del to shut down unix, power down the PC when it starts the reboot cycle
Make sure everything is powered down and put the factory drive back in its original position with the original cabling.
Restart the Tivo - unless the Tivo itself was damaged it should be functioning normally.

Good luck and don't forget to read the subsequent posts - I'm sure this will elicit some opinions.

[tivoupgrade]

A few comments on pmaddock's previous post...

1) contorting the OTA cables is not a requirement; we've done about a dozen of these installs now, and its really quite simple to run one OTA cable under the bracket and one above it. You can easily and safely remove the top OTA cable from the rear of the unit (its a friction fit) when placing the bracket in the unit. the nylon standoff can be pushed aside without much force, or if you are comfortable remove it with a needlenose pliars from beneath the unit, you can do it without damaging it (ie, you can replace it later, if you need to)

2) the Maxtor 300GB drives we provide are QuickView drives; we've found no significant benefit to the standard MaxLine II drives in terms of temperature or reliability

3) we recommend you use mfstools to backup your system drive

Lou

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by weaknees
The 'dos' directory is just something that Hinsdale recommends. He's having you make a sub-directory on your FAT32 drive. If you intend to use that (or a comparable sub-directory) and you don't have it already, you'll need:

mkdir /mnt/dos

first, to create the directory.

The /dev/hdb or /dev/hdc issue is just pointing to the location of the source drive - the drive you pulled from the TiVo and installed in your PC. Here's the legend:

/dev/hda = primary master (very often your PC's boot drive)
/dev/hdb = primary slave
/dev/hdc = secondary IDE bus master
/dev/hdd = secondary slave

Michael

This helps thanks.

Also when you use the mount command prior to the backup command are you basically at that point selecting the drive that you are backing up to?

[weaknees]

pmaddock-

Nice post - sums up most of the information here so far.

One thing we'd add on the topic of sucking up an extra 250 GB drive in the process is that you can just make a backup with:

mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /tivo.bak /dev/hdd

and then test that on the new "add" drive before going forward. If you know it works, then you can just use your factory drive as the A drive, use your new drive as the B drive, and stick the roughly 1 GB file on a DVD or a much smaller hard drive for safekeeping.

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
This helps thanks.

Also when you use the mount command prior to the backup command are you basically at that point selecting the drive that you are backing up to?

Yup - that's exactly it. This will only work with FAT32 partitions if the drive is a Windows drive.

Michael

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by weaknees
Yup - that's exactly it. This will only work with FAT32 partitions if the drive is a Windows drive.

Michael


Thanks for all your help michael. I'll order one of your brackets once it's ready.

One last question. I'll backup my tivo drive to the B drive like you have suggested and test the backup. Once I do that i'll probably burn the backup to dvd. Do I have to re "prepare" the B drive by re-fromatting it before I bless it or just delete the files? Thanks.

[CoreyMD]

I was willing to accept Lou's comment that the HR10-250 upgrade is essentially a Series2 upgrade using LBA48. That gives me a starting point and a rough blueprint to follow in the absence of a FAQ. But Paul gave me exactly what I was looking for.

This info should be added to a FAQ somewhere for the TiVo newbies - so we don't have to bother the experts with tiresome questions (or dig through -- now 24 -- pages to find out how to even start). Thanks a bunch for all the replies.

[weaknees]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
Thanks for all your help michael. I'll order one of your brackets once it's ready.

One last question. I'll backup my tivo drive to the B drive like you have suggested and test the backup. Once I do that i'll probably burn the backup to dvd. Do I have to re "prepare" the B drive by re-fromatting it before I bless it or just delete the files? Thanks.

Don't even bother to delete the files. Just Bless it, and the new partitions will assume that nothing else is there.

Michael

[CoreyMD]

Originally posted by weaknees
One thing we'd add on the topic of sucking up an extra 250 GB drive in the process is that you can just make a backup with:

mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /tivo.bak /dev/hdd

and then test that on the new "add" drive before going forward. If you know it works, then you can just use your factory drive as the A drive, use your new drive as the B drive, and stick the roughly 1 GB file on a DVD or a much smaller hard drive for safekeeping.


Michael,
That's a great suggestion. But can a 1GB backup be made after recordings have been stored? (i.e. can I just delete existing recordings and then do the backup? or are there options to backup only system files and ignore recordings?)

I remember reading that many people were backing up their virgin drives before making any recordings - just want to know if it's possible to back up a 'used' drive.

-Corey

[dstroot]

I created this for myself but thought others might find it useful. I HAVE NOT TESTED the instructions yet. Please let me know if there are obvious problems. Thanks!
--------------------------

Make a Backup First!

You need the original HD Tivo drive and a second drive for the backup. The backup drive needs to be a FAT or FAT32 formatted drive. There's no write capability for NTFS so a FAT or FAT32 drive is needed.

Download a LBA48-kernel CD and boot your PC in that.

You can use whatever drive positions you'd like, but let's assume primary slave for the HD TiVo drive and primary master for the DOS/FAT32 drive. Your CD-ROM can be secondary master – but not really relevant, just make sure you can boot from it.
o You boot from your CD,
o mount the backup drive with: mount /dev/hda /mnt
o Then make the backup with: mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdb
o That should make the file tivo.bak on the DOS drive as a backup. It should take about 2 hours. The backup does not keep your recordings, so it is only about a 1.5GB file. The resulting image is 1486 MB.

Here’s how to test the backup: (or do a restore in the future)

Note that you will be restoring the backup to your new drive, putting it in the HD Tivo, testing it, and then putting it back in the computer to bless it. When you run BlessTiVo it will "Bless" the B drive so that you can that add it to your original. Put another way, BlessTiVo will overwrite the restored drive just like it was a fresh drive. If you are confident in your backup you can skip this whole section.

o Disconnect the original HD Tivo drive (primary slave from above). Leave the FAT drive you backed up on to connected (primary master), and connect the new drive you wish to restore to on primary slave. In this case we are going to use the new 250 gb drive we purchased.
o You boot from your CD again, then type:
o mount the backup drive with: mount /dev/hda /mnt
o Run the restore with: mfsrestore -s 127 -zpi /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdb (use the code for where the drive is located – hdb indicates primary slave)
o Put the new restored drive in your HT Tivo and boot it up (make sure the jumpers are set right). If it runs then the backup and restore was successful and you can now bless the drive (see below) and add it to the original.
o Save the backup in a very safe place. I'm going burn my "tivo.bak" file to a DVD.

Adding a second drive

Adding a second drive can be done while preserving your existing recordings and settings. You just run "BlessTivo" on the drive you are adding, and put it in your unit – again do make sure you use an LBA48-kernel CD.
o Connect your new add-on drive to your PC; make sure jumpers and connections are clear.
o Boot from LBA48 CD (just hit return at the boot prompt) (Note you need to boot in the "noswap" kernel. When booting off ptv's large disk iso just hit return at the boot prompt; it’s in 'noswap' mode by default.)
o At prompt type: root (you may be able to just hit return)
o Type one of the following strings depending on how your drive is hooked up and follow the instructions. Note that Linux is case sensitive, i.e. “blesstivo” won’t work.
- PRIMARY MASTER: BlessTiVo /dev/hda
- PRIMARY SLAVE: BlessTiVo /dev/hdb
- SECONDARY MASTER: BlessTiVo /dev/hdc
- SECONDARY SLAVE: BlessTiVo /dev/hdd
o When complete you should see the software report a drive blessed to a number near the drive size (if you see 137 GB you booted in an early kernel and won't get all of the space on the drive). A 250 gig drive should show about 233 Gb.
o Then pop it in your TiVo (careful with the jumpers) and go.

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
A few comments on pmaddock's previous post...

1) contorting the OTA cables is not a requirement; we've done about a dozen of these installs now, and its really quite simple to run one OTA cable under the bracket and one above it. You can easily and safely remove the top OTA cable from the rear of the unit (its a friction fit) when placing the bracket in the unit. the nylon standoff can be pushed aside without much force, or if you are comfortable remove it with a needlenose pliars from beneath the unit, you can do it without damaging it (ie, you can replace it later, if you need to)

2) the Maxtor 300GB drives we provide are QuickView drives; we've found no significant benefit to the standard MaxLine II drives in terms of temperature or reliability

3) we recommend you use mfstools to backup your system drive

Lou

Lou,
Thanks for the comments. I really should have thought about running the cables above and below the bracket. However, I still wish that your bracket didn't require moving around the factory standoff. I really prefer to leave as much of the Tivo alone as I can with these sorts of things.

Side bar: Can anyone believe that they used fricition fit cables in a $1K box - how cheap.

On MFSbackup - you and Michael are both absolutely right - its probably the better alternative. I've revised the post to include backing up both ways. For me dd was a better fit because the unit had been running for a month. I wanted to keep my recordings and having the factory drive ready to be swapped in felt a lot more comfortable. I guess I'm just overly cautious.

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by CoreyMD
Michael,
That's a great suggestion. But can a 1GB backup be made after recordings have been stored? (i.e. can I just delete existing recordings and then do the backup? or are there options to backup only system files and ignore recordings?)

I remember reading that many people were backing up their virgin drives before making any recordings - just want to know if it's possible to back up a 'used' drive.

-Corey

Corey,
The regular MFSbackup can be made after recording are on the Tivo but the backup won't carry the recordings - only the system files and settings.

If you want to carry recordings on the backup you either have to use -Tao on MFSbackup which will require more space. How much more depends on how much is on the drive. Mine was getting full which is why I went with the dd method.

[ChromeAce]

I paid PTVupgrade for the $399 300GB b-drive kit. It includes HD Instant Cake. The way I understand it, I can just pop in this B-drive into the TiVo and not even do a backup, correct? The backup image is already on the Instant Cake CD, correct? I don't have to use a PC to do the upgrade?

[weaknees]

Originally posted by dstroot
I created this for myself but thought others might find it useful. I HAVE NOT TESTED the instructions yet. Please let me know if there are obvious problems. Thanks!
--------------------------

Make a Backup First!

You need the original HD Tivo drive and a second drive for the backup. The backup drive needs to be a FAT or FAT32 formatted drive. There's no write capability for NTFS so a FAT or FAT32 drive is needed.

Download a LBA48-kernel CD and boot your PC in that.

You can use whatever drive positions you'd like, but let's assume primary slave for the HD TiVo drive and primary master for the DOS/FAT32 drive. Your CD-ROM can be secondary master – but not really relevant, just make sure you can boot from it.
o You boot from your CD,
o mount the backup drive with: mount /dev/hda /mnt
o Then make the backup with: mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdb
o That should make the file tivo.bak on the DOS drive as a backup. It should take about 2 hours. The backup does not keep your recordings, so it is only about a 1.5GB file. The resulting image is 1486 MB.

Here’s how to test the backup: (or do a restore in the future)

Note that you will be restoring the backup to your new drive, putting it in the HD Tivo, testing it, and then putting it back in the computer to bless it. When you run BlessTiVo it will "Bless" the B drive so that you can that add it to your original. Put another way, BlessTiVo will overwrite the restored drive just like it was a fresh drive. If you are confident in your backup you can skip this whole section.

o Disconnect the original HD Tivo drive (primary slave from above). Leave the FAT drive you backed up on to connected (primary master), and connect the new drive you wish to restore to on primary slave. In this case we are going to use the new 250 gb drive we purchased.
o You boot from your CD again, then type:
o mount the backup drive with: mount /dev/hda /mnt
o Run the restore with: mfsrestore -s 127 -zpi /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdb (use the code for where the drive is located – hdb indicates primary slave)
o Put the new restored drive in your HT Tivo and boot it up (make sure the jumpers are set right). If it runs then the backup and restore was successful and you can now bless the drive (see below) and add it to the original.
o Save the backup in a very safe place. I'm going burn my "tivo.bak" file to a DVD.

Adding a second drive

Adding a second drive can be done while preserving your existing recordings and settings. You just run "BlessTivo" on the drive you are adding, and put it in your unit – again do make sure you use an LBA48-kernel CD.
o Connect your new add-on drive to your PC; make sure jumpers and connections are clear.
o Boot from LBA48 CD (just hit return at the boot prompt) (Note you need to boot in the "noswap" kernel. When booting off ptv's large disk iso just hit return at the boot prompt; it’s in 'noswap' mode by default.)
o At prompt type: root (you may be able to just hit return)
o Type one of the following strings depending on how your drive is hooked up and follow the instructions. Note that Linux is case sensitive, i.e. “blesstivo” won’t work.
- PRIMARY MASTER: BlessTiVo /dev/hda
- PRIMARY SLAVE: BlessTiVo /dev/hdb
- SECONDARY MASTER: BlessTiVo /dev/hdc
- SECONDARY SLAVE: BlessTiVo /dev/hdd
o When complete you should see the software report a drive blessed to a number near the drive size (if you see 137 GB you booted in an early kernel and won't get all of the space on the drive). A 250 gig drive should show about 233 Gb.
o Then pop it in your TiVo (careful with the jumpers) and go.

Nice - two comments:

-It shouldn't take anywhere near two hours for the backup. It should take maybe five minutes.

-You mention the jumpers - we highly recommend taking the factory drive off "Cable Select" and setting it to "Master."

Otherwise, this looks good!

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by CoreyMD
Michael,
That's a great suggestion. But can a 1GB backup be made after recordings have been stored? (i.e. can I just delete existing recordings and then do the backup? or are there options to backup only system files and ignore recordings?)

I remember reading that many people were backing up their virgin drives before making any recordings - just want to know if it's possible to back up a 'used' drive.

-Corey

In fact, most backup commands you see specifically disregard all video streams. If you wanted to *include* the recordings, you'd need the "-a" switch, and you'd have a pretty big backup file.

Michael

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by SonyPlanet
I paid PTVupgrade for the $399 300GB b-drive kit. It includes HD Instant Cake. The way I understand it, I can just pop in this B-drive into the TiVo and not even do a backup, correct? The backup image is already on the Instant Cake CD, correct? I don't have to use a PC to do the upgrade?

That's the great thing about buying kits from the vendors - its simpler. As I understand that kit the only time you'll need a PC is in the event of a disaster to use the CD to restore.

[mikemav]

Originally posted by dstroot
I created this for myself but thought others might find it useful. I HAVE NOT TESTED the instructions yet. Please let me know if there are obvious problems. Thanks!
--------------------------

Make a Backup First!


o Then make the backup with: mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdb
o That should make the file tivo.bak on the DOS drive as a backup. It should take about 2 hours. The backup does not keep your recordings, so it is only about a 1.5GB file. The resulting image is 1486 MB.

I am a little confused. Someone game me a backup image from a virgin HD TiVo (please do not ask where, but suffice to say it was from some searching.) Having this, I decided to mess with my HD TiVo without making a backup on my own. The file is called HDTIVO_VIRGIN.BKZ, and it is 153.4 MB. That is WAY different than 1.5GB. What gives? Do I have a viable way to go back if anything should go wrong? I heard I can take this file and restore it to a new 250GB HD should I have problems. If that is the case, why is the tivo.bak file so much larger, and what do I have with the .bkz?

[weaknees]

That might be a backup file with maximum compress ("-9so") but more likely, it's a backup file with out the proper background images and the like (missing "-f 9999"). I wouldn't rely on it at least until you test it.

Michael

[mikemav]

We'll thats why we have vendors like you . I could always send in a blank drive for "re-commissioning" or get a replacement A drive kit!

[weaknees]

Originally posted by mikemav
We'll thats why we have vendors like you . I could always send in a blank drive for "re-commissioning" or get a replacement A drive kit!

We'll be here - but hopefully you won't need that!

Michael

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by SonyPlanet
I paid PTVupgrade for the $399 300GB b-drive kit. It includes HD Instant Cake. The way I understand it, I can just pop in this B-drive into the TiVo and not even do a backup, correct? The backup image is already on the Instant Cake CD, correct? I don't have to use a PC to do the upgrade?

You've got it right; the only reason to involve your PC would be in the case of restoring your original drive, if you should choose to do so. InstantCake acts as your backup.

Naturally, as our customer, we would support you with a GetWell kit; we don't expect you to take matters into your own hands unless you choose to do so...

Thanks again,
Lou

[flapbreaker]

So I am trying to do a backup with the ptv lba iso bootable cd. when I get to the part of the boot cycle that says to press enter to continue I get the following message and am a bit stumped as to what to do


mount: no medium found
cat: /dcrom/.menu/startup: no such file or directory
/#



not sure what it all means. it does detect both the tivo drive and my new drive. I have the HDTivo as the primary master and the new B drive as the primary slave. (I disconnected my system drive so I wouldn't screw it up).

[weaknees]

Originally posted by weaknees
That might be a backup file with maximum compress ("-9so") but more likely, it's a backup file with out the proper background images and the like (missing "-f 9999"). I wouldn't rely on it at least until you test it.

Michael

My mistake - 1.5 GB is roughly the expanded file size. Even with -1so, you'll see an image file under 200 MB.

Michael

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
So I am trying to do a backup with the ptv lba iso bootable cd. when I get to the part of the boot cycle that says to press enter to continue I get the following message and am a bit stumped as to what to do


mount: no medium found
cat: /dcrom/.menu/startup: no such file or directory
/#



not sure what it all means. it does detect both the tivo drive and my new drive. I have the HDTivo as the primary master and the new B drive as the primary slave. (I disconnected my system drive so I wouldn't screw it up).


That is strange - the error you are seeing is a result of the CDROM not being mounted properly - normally it just displays some additional information by dumpeing the contents of the file /cdrom/.menu/startup after mounting the CD.

If you are getting the # prompt, you should still be able to use the CD as all of the utilities are loaded into the RAMDISK created when the CD boots.

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
That is strange - the error you are seeing is a result of the CDROM not being mounted properly - normally it just displays some additional information by dumpeing the contents of the file /cdrom/.menu/startup after mounting the CD.

If you are getting the # prompt, you should still be able to use the CD as all of the utilities are loaded into the RAMDISK created when the CD boots.

ok but if I type the mount command mount /dev/hdb /mnt I received various errors depending on where I put spaces before the slashes. but here is what I get:

mount: you must specify the filesystem type


I can type dir and see a list of directories but I guess I just don't know how to start a backup from here. any more ideas?

[tivoupgrade]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
ok but if I type the mount command mount /dev/hdb/mnt I received various errors depending on where I put spaces before the slashes. Mostly something about not finding a file.

I can type dir and see a list of directories but I guess I just don't know how to start a backup from here. any more ideas?

That is a completely different issue. Your syntax for the mount command should be:

mount -t vfat /dev/hd<x> /<mnt>

where <x> is the filesystem you are mounting, and <mnt> is the "mount point"

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
That is a completely different issue. Your syntax for the mount command should be:

mount -t vfat /dev/hd<x> /<mnt>

where <x> is the filesystem you are mounting, and <mnt> is the "mount point"


well I feel like a complete idiot because I still don't understand the mount command and I have followed this thread from the beginning. This is the first time I have seen the mount command with a -t vfat refference. also am I supposed to litterely type /mnt cause I don't know what a mount point is or what else I should be typing in it's place. Sorry to be such a pain but I really thought all I had to do is use mount /dev/hdd /mnt according to most posts with the only variable is the hda, hdb, ect.

If I type the command line just excatly as you I get the following error

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdb, or too many mounted file systems

[pmaddock]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
well I feel like a complete idiot because I still don't understand the mount command and I have followed this thread from the beginning. This is the first time I have seen the mount command with a -t vfat refference. also am I supposed to litterely type /mnt cause I don't know what a mount point is or what else I should be typing in it's place. Sorry to be such a pain but I really thought all I had to do is use mount /dev/hdd /mnt according to most posts with the only variable is the hda, hdb, ect.

If I type the command line just excatly as you I get the following error

mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/hdb, or too many mounted file systems

Flapbreaker,
Don't be hard on yourself - at least you're taking a backup. These threads are filled with people who just do an MFSAdd or BlessTivo and have something go wrong with no backup to fall back on.

If you're getting the 'too many mounted' error you can try:
umount -f -a -r
to clear the mounts and/or re-booting.

Also as I'm reading through your posts I'm a little confused. You said you've connected the A and B drives but where's your backup destination drive? You need a separate drive (be it your system drive or some other FAT32 drive) to put the backup on or it will get lost when you Bless your new B drive. This may be part of the problem since the
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/dos
command is assuming a FAT32 drive has been put on the primary master (hda).

[flapbreaker]

I am planning on backing up to the drive that will be the B drive and then putting it in the tivo to test it. If it looks like it works then I will put it back in the pc and burn the backup to dvd. Then I will bless the B drive and put it in the tivo with the A drive.

I noticed the you use hda1 and not just hda what is the 1 for?

In my pc I put the HDTivo A drive on the primary master and the fat32 b drive on the primary slave. Maybe this is causing a problem but as long as I use the correct hdb, hda ect. I didn't think there would be a problem.

[tivolovit]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
I noticed the you use hda1 and not just hda what is the 1 for?


The 1 is for partition one, hda specifies primary master (first drive). Basically you are telling it the first partion on the first disk.

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by tivolovit
The 1 is for partition one, hda specifies primary master (first drive). Basically you are telling it the first partion on the first disk.

Thanks for the explanation. If this dang msftools came with a manual it would have helped. I only saw one person using the hda1 command most people that are posting their method seem to leave the 1 off but maybe they are assuming people should know your supposed to do it.

Anyway buy using the mount /dev/hda1 /mnt I seem to have some progress now. It is currently scanning the source drive (I also switched the hdtivo to primary slave and the backup drive to primary master).

by the way, how long does it usually say that's it's scanning the source drive?

[k2ue]

I'm backing up the drive on my HR10-250:

mfsbackup calls it a 281 hour drive, and says the backup will be 1486MB using -1so -- does all this sound kosher?

[flapbreaker]

Well now I am not so sure that things are working correctly.

After I typed "mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdb"

I got the message "scanning source drive. please wait a moment".

but after 1.5 hours it still says that. I thought it was supposed to be no more than 1/2 hour? Should I start over?

[weaknees]

Originally posted by flapbreaker
Well now I am not so sure that things are working correctly.

After I typed "mfsbackup -f 9999 -1so /mnt/tivo.bak /dev/hdb"

I got the message "scanning source drive. please wait a moment".

but after 1.5 hours it still says that. I thought it was supposed to be no more than 1/2 hour? Should I start over?

Something's definitely not right. Can you shift-pgup to see if the drive was recognized at the proper size?

Michael

[weaknees]

Originally posted by k2ue
I'm backing up the drive on my HR10-250:

mfsbackup calls it a 281 hour drive, and says the backup will be 1486MB using -1so -- does all this sound kosher?

That sounds right - the backup will actually likely be less than 200 MB, but it takes 1486 fully expanded.

Michael

[flapbreaker]

Originally posted by weaknees
Something's definitely not right. Can you shift-pgup to see if the drive was recognized at the proper size?

Michael

I paged up to a place that lists hda and hdb it shows them both as being 250059mb after the reported cache there is something that looks like this and might be the problem


chs=30401/255/63 (this is for the new b drive)
chs=484521/16/63 (this is for the original tivo)


This is the only difference and I don't know why the numbers are different. I suppose the new drive that I tried to format as fat32 might be incorrectly formatted but it was displayed correctly in windows.

[k2ue]

OK, 63 hours up and running -- when the 9th Tee Bracket comes tomorrow I can close it up.

Observation on temperature: It runs 49C with the cover OFF, and was 43C with one drive -- so if it only rises a few degrees with two, we should be A-OK.

FYI, I used a WD2500PB "Quiet Drive" for the 2nd disk, and enabled Acoustic Management with "ataac". This is the 8MB cache version of the factory drive.