Quick TiVo upgrade question about FAT vs. NTFS

[DSCollica]

I am finally getting around to upgrading my TiVo drive today. I have read (and understand … I think) the upgrade instructions.

BUT, one question that I have is with the location of the FAT drive that is required for the upgrade procedure.

Here is my situation:
I do not have any FAT drives in my PC -- I have only NTFS in my PC. And, if avoidable, I don't want to reformat any of my PC drives to create a FAT partition. Instead, I was planning on using the target (new) TiVo drive as the only FAT drive in the entire upgrade procedure. Is this possible, or not?

Here is how I planned to locate the drives in my PC for the upgrade:
(1) Remove the C drive (primary master) from my PC. [I won't need this system drive because I will be using the boot CD as directed in the TiVo upgrade instructions.]
(2) Install the original TiVo drive as my C drive (primary master). [I shouldn't have to change any jumper settings on this drive since it was set as the master in my TiVo and it will be the primary master while attached to my PC ... correct?]
(3) Install the target (new) TiVo drive as my D drive (primary slave) making sure the jumper settings are set as such. The instructions recommend installing the target TiVo drive as the secondary slave instead of primary slave. Does this matter? If so, why and what are the ramifications?
(4) The target (new) TiVo drive is formatted as FAT and would be my only FAT drive in the entire process. Is this workable? The TiVo upgrade instructions say that the FAT drive is "almost always" the primary master, but in my case it would be the primary slave. Does this matter? If so, why and what are the ramifications? I guess this means that I cannot make a backup of my TiVo operating system (which requires saving on a FAT drive) if my only FAT drive is the target (new) TiVo drive ... correct? [A friend suggested that I could backup the TiVo OS to the target (new) TiVo drive and then copy it one of the NTFS drives that will remain in my PC. But I don't know how to do that without booting up in windows, which I cannot do while the target TiVo drive is attached.]

Then, after the original and target (new) TiVo drives are installed in my PC, here are the steps I plan to follow:
(5) Power up my PC with the boot CD inserted (having already changed the PC's BIOS to set the CD drive as the boot drive).
(6) Enter the following command:
mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hda | mfsrestore -s 127 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hdb
(7) Once the copying is complete, power down my PC.
(8) Remove the target (new) TiVo from my PC and change its jumper setting to master.
(9) Install the target (new) TiVo drive in my TiVo.
(10) Power up my TiVo and my upgrade should be complete.

So, will this work with my target (new) TiVo drive as the only FAT drive in the entire process?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

[JamieP]

...
(3) Install the target (new) TiVo drive as my D drive (primary slave) making sure the jumper settings are set as such. The instructions recommend installing the target TiVo drive as the secondary slave instead of primary slave. Does this matter? If so, why and what are the ramifications?It's just a performance issue. Copying between two drives on the same ide channel tends to be slower than copy between drives on different channels....
(4) The target (new) TiVo drive is formatted as FAT and would be my only FAT drive in the entire process. Is this workable? The TiVo upgrade instructions say that the FAT drive is "almost always" the primary master, but in my case it would be the primary slave. Does this matter? If so, why and what are the ramifications? I guess this means that I cannot make a backup of my TiVo operating system (which requires saving on a FAT drive) if my only FAT drive is the target (new) TiVo drive ... correct?If you aren't making a backup, you don't need a FAT drive. [A friend suggested that I could backup the TiVo OS to the target (new) TiVo drive and then copy it one of the NTFS drives that will remain in my PC. But I don't know how to do that without booting up in windows, which I cannot do while the target TiVo drive is attached.]Your friend is right. Just remove the tivo drive before you boot windows (leaving only the FAT drive) and copy the backup to an NTFS partition. The only issue with this is that you won't be able to test your backup, which you'd normally do by restoring it to your new disk and verifying that it will boot in your tivo. IMHO, an untested backup isn't worth a lot.

It sounds like you don't plan on reusing your original tivo disk. If you just put that on your shelf, it can be your backup.

[DSCollica]

Thanks, Jamie.

You are correct, I am not putting my original TiVo drive to any other use, so I will keep it on a shelf as my backup TiVo OS in case anything ever goes wrong with my new TiVo drive.