Two drives to one new drive

[mikes2]

I'm trying to upgrade a twin drive Tivo (120 + 40) to a single drive 400 Gb.

Using the mfslive.org iso and the instructions on that site:

To copy everything from dual Tivo drives to bigger single drive and expand capacity (you won't be able to boot this drive w/o hacking if you use drives bigger than 137GB):

backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdc | restore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdd

Is the above command correct?

I don't quite understand the
you won't be able to boot this drive w/o hacking

Having completed the process do I just plug the new 400 Gb drive into the master IDE channel on the TIVO?

I want to preserve recordings.

Thanks

[blindlemon]

If the 40gb drive was your original and the 120gb drive was added as the "B" drive in one step then you should be able to preserve recordings as there should only be 2 MFS partitions in use so far.

The hacking reference means you have to run copykern from the normal LBA48 boot CD to install the LBA48 kernel and initialise the swapfile which, BTW, shold be at last 200 (not 127) mb for a 400gb drive.

AFAIK there's no advantage in using the mfslive CD unless you already have 3 partition pairs used and wish to add another on a single drive using the -f option from the "unreleased" version.

[Pete77]

The hacking reference means you have to run copykern from the normal LBA48 boot CD to install the LBA48 kernel and initialis

Translation - blindlemon means you should have -s 200 instead of -s 127. However normally he would be recommending a swap file value more like 300MB (-s 300) for a 400Gb drive.

[mikes2]

Thanks for the translation.

Yes it was an original 40 Gb two disc (25+15 - I think )model to which a 120 was added - although I'm sure I ended up with the 120 Gb as the primary disc to which I added the 25 ( divorcing/pairing mullarkey - it was so long ago.....)

Therefore the instruction should be

backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdc | restore -s 200 -xzpi - /dev/hdd

Will this work, if I get the hda, hdb etc etc stuff right, and preserve the recordings?

Not a Linux expert, so want to do it an simply as possible. Execute the above command and replace the two discs with the new one.

Thanks for all your help - responses in English would be useful.

[blindlemon]

Есть право в том случае, если у вас есть только 2 MFS partition, но, учитывая историю Ваших дополнений, Звучит она, как вы, возможно, уже до удара против 3 MFS partitions предел, В этом случае вам придется попробовать опцию -f с mfslive "бета" версии.

:p

[Pete77]

Есть право в том случае, если у вас есть только 2 MFS partition, но, учитывая историю Ваших дополнений, Звучит она, как вы, возможно, уже до удара против 3 MFS partitions предел, В этом случае вам придется попробовать опцию -f с mfslive "бета" версии.

What have you been drinking this weekend Mr Lemon. ;) :D

[blindlemon]

Vodka ;) (http://www.google.co.uk/language_tools?hl=en)

[Pete77]

Vodka;) (http://www.google.co.uk/language_tools?hl=en)

That would certainly go with your choice of language. ;) :D

[Pete77]

Есть право в том случае, если у вас есть только 2 MFS partition, но, учитывая историю Ваших дополнений, Звучит она, как вы, возможно, уже до удара против 3 MFS partitions предел, В этом случае вам придется попробовать опцию -f с mfslive "бета" версии.:p

All Google's translator got out of that was:-

2 MFS partition
3 MFS partitions
-f с mfslive

It didn't manage to translate anything else. Are they just jumbled Russian characters and not real Russian words then? :confused:

[blindlemon]

You need the "Russian to English BETA" (http://translate.google.com/translate_t) (Came out pretty understandable when I tried it)

[Pete77]

You need the "Russian to English BETA" (http://translate.google.com/translate_t) (Came out pretty understandable when I tried it)

Only translates to the following when I try it:-

Есть право в том случае, если у вас есть только 2 MFS partition, но, учитывая историю Ваших дополнений, Звучит она, как вы, возможно, уже до удара против 3 MFS partitions предел, В этом случае вам придется попробовать опцию -f с mfslive "бета" версии.

i.e. it doesn't understand most of it. :(

[blindlemon]

That's odd. What browser are you using? I get this (in firefox):-There is a right if you have only two MFS partition, but, given the history of your additions That is, as you may have to strike against three MFS partitions limit In this case, you will have to try-f mfslive the "beta" version. which I find pretty impressive really, as it was translated from English to Russian and back again :up:

[Pete77]

That's odd. What browser are you using? I get this (in firefox)

Using Firefox 2.0.0.1 here. Perhaps you have some additional language plug ins that I don't have then?

[mikes2]

Most useful. However what I'm trying to do:

1) Take out two drives from TIVO

2) Plug three drives into PC ( two old, one new)

3) Execute a command (it is this I am searching for)

4) Put on kettle

5) Plug one drive back into TIVO (preserving recordings if possible)

Job done

[blindlemon]

OK, in English:-

The command you have is right if you have only two MFS partitions, but, given the history of your upgrades, you may have already hit the three MFS partitions limit. In this case, you will have to try the -f option from the mfslive "beta" version.

If you only have two partitions (ie. the command works) then you won't need the -r4 option to mfsrestore as your new additional partition will be < 274gb. However, if you have three partitions and can't get hold of the "beta" version of the mfslive CD or the -f option doesn't work, then you will have to start again from a divorced backup, in which case you will need the -r4.

[blindlemon]

Perhaps you have some additional language plug ins that I don't have then?It's getting converted to plain text somehow as you copy-paste it.

[mikes2]

Many thanks

[yungee]

backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdc | restore -s 200 -xzpi - /dev/hdd

Going to a 400Gb drive you need to change to large blocks (at a guess the reason is that the Tivo will run out of inodes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inode) with smaller blocks on a huge drive), so your command should be:

backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdc | restore -r 4 -s 200 -xzpi - /dev/hdd

I'd bump up the swap size too. I made mine 500Mb on a 320Gb disk.

A couple of hundred megs is only going to drop your capacity by 15 minutes or so, and I know I'd rather be 100% confident that the dreaded green screen won't run out of swap!

[Pete77]

I'd bump up the swap size too. I made mine 500Mb on a 320Gb disk.

Could be overkill I suspect.

Running 2 x 250Gb with 300Mb swap here and never had any green screens or other disk corruption issues in 20 months.

[yungee]

What I mean is that if you DO get a green screen and it runs out of swap, you end up in a reboot cycle. I've never had one either in 2 Tivos and 6 years.

My Tivo drives have always been kind enough to completely die without even trying the GSOD recovery! :D

For me, losing a relatively tiny amount of programme recording space is worth the tradeoff "just in case".

However, YMMV, IANAL etc. etc. ;)