Do tivos benefit from regular reformatting - like a Windows OS?

[dgrrr]

You know how Microsoft Windows gets old after a while -- accumulates cruft, viruses, junk data -- and becomes less efficient over time?

Dunno if I'm describing it correctly -- but you know how Windows will usually run faster after it's been reimaged (after the OS gets re-written onto a clean partition?) and that's EVEN after the data and programs have been reinstalled?

Well -- is something analagous true for Tivos? They are basically computers, right? So do they benefit from a similar operation?

E.G. - my mother's old sony series 1 tivo is starting to hang -- in that she'll input several commands with the remote, and nothing will happen for several seconds, and then suddenly all the commands will execute one after another. This happens in Windows too, when commands get stuck in a bottleneck of intense cpu usage. I'm wondering if the Tivo OS is getting old, needs a facelift...

[funtoupgrade]

In the normal course of a day any TiVo defragments several times each day. The hard drive is working 24/7, and all hard drives wear out. You can go ahead and reimage the drive but it is unlikely to make much difference. Replacing the hard drive would probably be more in order.

[TydalForce]

Windows degrades over time

Most other OSes like Linux (which TiVo users) and other Unix flavours don't degrade like that.

TiVo doesn't really at all, since there's little new software installed. Other OSes degrade a little but not quite like Windows.

[dgrrr]

Thanks you guys. Good to know, esp about Linux.

[wscannell]

The delays responding to the remote are usually caused by errors on the hard drive. The TiVo retries the read from the hard drive and ignores everything else. This causes the delay and usually means that a new hard drive will be needed shortly.

[juanian]

. . .
TiVo doesn't really at all, since there's little new software installed. Other OSes degrade a little but not quite like Windows. . .
True, software updates are few and far between, but large guide data updates occur daily. (I have always wondered if a 'full' TiVo can slowly build into having a serious fragmentation problem.)

[juanian]

The delays responding to the remote are usually caused by errors on the hard drive. The TiVo retries the read from the hard drive and ignores everything else. This causes the delay and usually means that a new hard drive will be needed shortly.It has been so long since I've used a Series 1, I don't recall how much caching/swapping occurs on it. But with current Series 2s, delays initially executing some actions may occur if the remote hasn't been used for a while, but re-executing the commands will usually occur quicker. For example, if no actions (using the remote) have been performed for, say, an hour, then pressing the TiVo button might have a delay of 3-5 seconds for the TiVo Central screen to initially appear. But, going to a different screen and then pressing the TiVo button, the TiVo Central screen should appear in less than a second. (Other factors can also cause a slow response, such as the TiVo processing a program guide download, or (for a Series 2) doing any MRV or TiVoToGo actions or burning a DVD.)

But I agree with wscannell -- barring any of the things I mentioned above, if a TiVo repeatedly just 'pauses' for a few seconds during playback or simple remote actions, an imminent hard drive failure is probable.

[juanian]

But, I still wonder about drive fragmentation. Is there a Linux utility to indicate the amount of drive fragmentation? How fragmented do TiVo drives get? (Obviously, the only way to run the utility is to pop out the drive and check it on a Linux system, or to run it on a hacked TiVo.)

[ForrestB]

FYI don't use a Linux file system, they MFS which is based on the Apple File System.