Series 2 - Migrate from 2 extended drives to 1 new drive

[lanierbl]

Here's my scenario - I have a Tivo Series 2 (original 80 hour) unit that I upgraded with (2) Seagate 120 gig drives a couple of years ago. One of the drives is starting to go out so I decided to consolidate both drives to a new Seagate DB35 250 gig HD. The new drive is almost identical in space to the combination of the two oiriginal drives (with a 10 gig difference). I want to move BOTH drives to the new one, preserving my recordings. I really don't "care" if I lose the additinal 10 gigs so I'm fine with moving the current partitions as is without extending the new drive to gain the extra 10 gig.

How can I do this with MFSTools? I've ran through every possible scenario of backup/restore commands and keep getting the error "Backup Target not large enough for entire backup by itself"

ALSO - When I take the new (bare) drive out of the box, what state should it be in for MFSTools to see it? Should if have any previous partitions on it? Should it be formatted with anything? I've done some searching but can't find an answer to that....

Thanks!
Brent

[classicsat]

Do a piped backup/restore from two drives to one

MFStools doesn't care about the state of the new drive, except it be unlocked.


Oh, and you probably need that new beta MFStools. The old one cannot do what you want. Or trasnfer the recordings you want to keep somewhere, then transfer them back.

[lanierbl]

I tried this but it doesn't work - I keep getting the error. I have read somewhere that since I already migrated my original 80 gig to a 120 gig, and then added an additional 120 gig, I'm SOL. Can anyone verify this?

[spike2k5]

I tried this but it doesn't work - I keep getting the error. I have read somewhere that since I already migrated my original 80 gig to a 120 gig, and then added an additional 120 gig, I'm SOL. Can anyone verify this?

If you have dual upgraded drives, my bootcd wont' work either.
It can be done, but I have to change backup format and that breaks compatibility w/ older backup format.

[mr.unnatural]

You shouldn't have a problem just doing a straight drive copy since you're not trying to re-expand the partitions. Chances are your two 120GB drives are actually larger than the 250GB drive when viewed by Linux. The size listed on the box is usually only a ballpark estimate and not an exact accounting of the actual drive size. I'd recommend trying another 250GB drive or getting a 300GB model. Your best bet would be to watch all the shows you have on the existing drives, if possible, and then restore a backup image to the new drive. If you don't have a backup image then invest $20 and get an Instantcake image from PtvUpgrade.

[spike2k5]

You shouldn't have a problem just doing a straight drive copy since you're not trying to re-expand the partitions. Chances are your two 120GB drives are actually larger than the 250GB drive when viewed by Linux.

Partition count from two expanded drives = 17 and tivo only allows 16.
That's the problem.