Adding 2nd Disk to a Zippered HR10-250

[smu1997]

I added a second 500GB hardrive to my tivo. I used the PTV Upgrade LBA48 Boot Disk to boot my PC. I then ran the command mfsadd -r 4 -x /dev/hda /dev/hdb. I saw after a couple of minutes the new hours that I had added. After that I reinstalled my Disks in the tivo and booted the tivo. The tivo did not recognize the new hours. After strugleing for several days I gave up.

Today I succesfully zipper my tivo. I have access to the tivo through telnet. Is there away to increase the size. Through a telnet session. Below is my tivo File System Disk Information.

Thanks In Advance,

smu1997

File System Disk Information
/dev/hda4 ext2 248M 61M 174M 26% /
/dev/hda9 ext2 124M 1.3M 116M 1% /var

/dev/hda:
multcount = 16 (on)
I/O support = 0 (default 16-bit)
using_dma = 1 (on)
readahead = 8 (on)
geometry = 30401/255/63, sectors = 488397168, start = 0
drive state is: active/idle

Device: WDC WD2500BB-55GUA0 Supports ATA Version 6
Check S.M.A.R.T. Passed

/dev/hdb:
multcount = 16 (on)
I/O support = 0 (default 16-bit)
using_dma = 1 (on)
readahead = 8 (on)
geometry = 60801/255/63, sectors = 976773168, start = 0
drive state is: active/idle

Device: ST3500641A Supports ATA Version 7
Check S.M.A.R.T. Passed

[mr.unnatural]

I don't know if the Zipper program gives you the option to specify a 2nd drive when you use it to install the backup image. If you used the Zipper to restore the image to your current drive then you have already expanded the partitions once. You cannot expand them a second time to add a new B drive.

I prefer to perform the restore process manually to both drives simultaneously. You will probably have to reinstall the backup image. If you restore it to just the one drive and plan on using mfsadd later for the new B drive then leave out the -x option when using mfsrestore. Otherwise, use the full set of commands and specify the location of both the A and B drives when restoring the image. You should now see the full capacity of the drives in the system information screen.

Once you're restored the image to both drives you can run the Zipper to install networking and the killhdinitrd'd kernel. You can then run the tweak program in the Tivo as before to install the rest of the hacks.

[wscannell]

If you used the Zipper to restore the image to your current drive then you have already expanded the partitions once. You cannot expand them a second time to add a new B drive.
I do not believe this is true. You cannot expand the A drive again, but that should not prevent you from adding a B drive. The A drive is out of partitions for expansion, but the B drive has partitions available.

Someone had a similar problem to the OP recently, but I do not remember the resolution.

[hpfanatic]

I just went through this. Here is a link to the post with solution. You need to have both drives on different ide channels.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=321922

[smu1997]

So would I run the mfsadd -r 4 -x /dev/hda /dev/hdb inside of a telent session. Or would I just run mfsadd /dev/hdb

[wscannell]

You need to take the drives out of the TiVo and move them to the PC. Make sure that you put one drive on the Primary IDE and one on the Secondary IDE. Then boot the ptvupgrade boot CD. Then run the mfsadd command. Make sure that you specify the correct device names.

Put the drives back in the TiVo and you should have all the space available.

[mr.unnatural]

I do not believe this is true. You cannot expand the A drive again, but that should not prevent you from adding a B drive. The A drive is out of partitions for expansion, but the B drive has partitions available.
This is basic Tivo 101 stuff. Once you've used mfsadd to expand your partitions you're pretty much done with any future expansion using the mfsadd utility. The Tivo sees both drives as one unit and it has a limited number of partitions it can use. If all partitions have already been assigned then you're SOL. There have been numerous posts on this topic when trying to expand large drives in an HDTivo. Check the link posted by hpfanatic for a solution to the problem.

[rbautch]

This is basic Tivo 101 stuff. Once you've used mfsadd to expand your partitions you're pretty much done with any future expansion using the mfsadd utility. The Tivo sees both drives as one unit and it has a limited number of partitions it can use. If all partitions have already been assigned then you're SOL. There have been numerous posts on this topic when trying to expand large drives in an HDTivo. Check the link posted by hpfanatic for a solution to the problem.
Not true. As wscannell said, there's a partition limit per disk, and an overall mfs partition limit. You can expand a disk once, and then expand it again, but only if you're adding a second drive.

[mr.unnatural]

OK, I'll have to agree to that now that I've had time to reflect. I must have been having a senior moment when I replied earlier. That being said, there are countless reports of failures to expand the partitions to a 2nd drive on the HR10-250 once you have expanded them on the A drive. The only workarounds I have found to work are to restore and expand the image across both drives at the same time or restore the image without expanding and then use mfsadd to expand and add the 2nd drive. The one other option is to use BlessTiVo when adding the 2nd drive.

[wscannell]

For some reason, mfsadd requires the TiVo A and B drives to be on separate IDE controllers. This is most likely the solution to some of the previously reported issues.

[smu1997]

I can't believe it. Wasting all that time trying to expand the hard drive and all I had to do is put the drives on seperate controlers. Put the drives on different controllers like it was sugested and it works.
FYI I ran the following command:
mfsadd -r 4 -x /dev/hde /dev/hdh

Thanks for all of your help. :)