Tivo immage with Ghost 2003

[walterman]

Can you tell me if a reliable image of my Toshiba SD-H400 TIVO HDD
software version 7.2.1 can be made with Ghost 2003. If yes let me
know how. I'm new in this field :confused:

Thanks

[Narf54321]

Yes its possible to create an image with Ghost, but the various switches, varying version numbers, and non-standard partition types on your Tivo make using Ghost difficult. You'd need to do a bit-by-bit copy including the boot record (and don't let it "mark the drive" or such nonsense).

You're better off with one of the Tivo-aware boot CDs and mfstools2.0. Read through Hinsdale's guide to know what you're doing.

[xnevergiveinx]

i've tried this before with no success, like narf said, it would involve something with a serious amount of switches.

i'd rather just use the lba48 cd and online instructions.
http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/step1.php

or hinsdales's how to guide (slightly dated, but still works)
http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/index9.html

i haven't used the first one, because i've had success with the second one...and i'm not totally sure of what all the switches mean. i get conflicting commands between the 2 guides...

[captain_video]

Ghost WILL NOT WORK with Tivo drives so don't even bother with it. While you may be able to create a backup image it won't boot in your Tivo. Just use MFS Tools since it's the only proven software to work with Tivo drives and it's free.

[xnevergiveinx]

if someone created an interactive lba48 cd with menus...or even one with command line, but with prompts that help you along, it would get many more people upgrading on they're own

[lafos]

i've tried this before with no success, like narf said, it would involve something with a serious amount of switches.

i'd rather just use the lba48 cd and online instructions.
http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/step1.php

or hinsdales's how to guide (slightly dated, but still works)
http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/index9.html

i haven't used the first one, because i've had success with the second one...and i'm not totally sure of what all the switches mean. i get conflicting commands between the 2 guides...

I've tried both of these paths on a TiVo with 7.2.2. I can copy the software image using the commands in the guides, but when I try to copy the shows, too, mfsrestore states that the target (300GB) is too small to copy the source (160GB). I got this with both weaknees and ptvupgrade kernels. Anyone have success with 7.2.2?

[Redscott]

I would love to use Ghost in Boot CD mode a USB 3.5 Enclosure and a Notebook.

I am away from home on Contract and just have my Tivo and my notebook with me.

[xnevergiveinx]

I've tried both of these paths on a TiVo with 7.2.2. I can copy the software image using the commands in the guides, but when I try to copy the shows, too, mfsrestore states that the target (300GB) is too small to copy the source (160GB). I got this with both weaknees and ptvupgrade kernels. Anyone have success with 7.2.2?

what does linux report the drive size as? you should hold shift and hit page up untill it lists the hda, hdb, hdc, hdd. it might be locked, so it might report 0-8 MB

[lafos]

I did do that. Sorry for not mentioning it. The drives showed as the correct sizes during the boot. I'm wondering if it has something to do with these being the second upgrades on each machine and/or an issue with 7.2.

I ended up MRVing shows around to keep the ones I wanted, and letting a few bite the dust.

[Narf54321]

I've tried both of these paths on a TiVo with 7.2.2. I can copy the software image using the commands in the guides, but when I try to copy the shows, too, mfsrestore states that the target (300GB) is too small to copy the source (160GB). I got this with both weaknees and ptvupgrade kernels. Anyone have success with 7.2.2?


Are you sure you're using an LBA48 boot CD? This sounds like the kind of problem you might encounter if the machine isn't recognising the whole drive.

ALso, if you can get both drives in the computer at once, just try the standard linux dd tool. As in:
dd if=/dev/hdX of=/dev/hdY

Then you can use mfsadd to increase the recording space.

[lafos]

Are you sure you're using an LBA48 boot CD? This sounds like the kind of problem you might encounter if the machine isn't recognising the whole drive.

ALso, if you can get both drives in the computer at once, just try the standard linux dd tool. As in:
dd if=/dev/hdX of=/dev/hdY

Then you can use mfsadd to increase the recording space.

Yes, I'm using LBA48 image, as I can backup/restore using the -s switch and sacrificing the recordings. I haven't tried dd with mfsadd yet, but started reading about it.

According to info scattered in the threads, it appears that my problem is a second expansion issue, as this is the second drive upgrade. I started at 80, moved to 160, and now to 300GB. So even though the thread near the top of the forum suggests that multiple expansions can be made, this is apparently not true.

But if I use dd and mfsadd, can I increase the size of my swap file to be greater than the 127MB in the old drive? Don't I have to create the image with MFSTools 2.0?

[c3]

According to info scattered in the threads, it appears that my problem is a second expansion issue, as this is the second drive upgrade. I started at 80, moved to 160, and now to 300GB. So even though the thread near the top of the forum suggests that multiple expansions can be made, this is apparently not true.

You cannot expand Series2 drive A more than once, not even with dd/mfsadd.

[lafos]

Thanks for that. I was tempted to pull the new drive and try again. Now I'll live with the few recordings I coudn't fit on my other TiVo's.

[ocntscha]

Ghost WILL NOT WORK with Tivo drives so don't even bother with it. While you may be able to create a backup image it won't boot in your Tivo. Just use MFS Tools since it's the only proven software to work with Tivo drives and it's free.captain_video can type in caps all he wants but the fact is Ghost's forensic mode will make a useable Tivo backup.

[c3]

captain_video can type in caps all he wants but the fact is Ghost's forensic mode will make a useable Tivo backup.

Anybody using Ghost for TiVo backup is missing the point.