Linux n00b

[thejavabuddha]

Ok, I'll admit it. I know as much about linux and I do about foreplay. I need a command line to restore a tivo backup (tivo.BAK) that is on the C drive of my master hard drive using msf tools to my slave hard drive on the same computer.

I've tried the hinsdale command:

mfsrestore -r 4 -s 127 -bzpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdb

varying the /mnt/dos/tivo.BAK to try to find the file, but all I get is "no such file or directory"

Someone please help!

Thanks

P.S. if it matters it's going into a toshiba SD400

Thanks
Bill

[windracer]

Have you actually mounted the proper partition under /mnt/dos? You'll need to use something like:

$ mount -t vfat /dev/hdax /mnt/dos

where x is the partition number on the drive.

[ForrestB]

After you've mounted the DOS partition (as shown in the previous post), type:
ls [enter]
to get a disk directory. If you've mounted the right partition, then tivo.bak should be listed

[thejavabuddha]

Have you actually mounted the proper partition under /mnt/dos? You'll need to use something like:

$ mount -t vfat /dev/hdax /mnt/dos

where x is the partition number on the drive.

I see "vfat" and assume it means something about fat32 file system. I'm using XP with an NTFS file system. Does that change anything?

[thejavabuddha]

Have you actually mounted the proper partition under /mnt/dos? You'll need to use something like:

$ mount -t vfat /dev/hdax /mnt/dos

where x is the partition number on the drive.

I tried this and got the message "mnt point /mnt/dos does not exsist"

[windracer]

I see "vfat" and assume it means something about fat32 file system. I'm using XP with an NTFS file system. Does that change anything?
Absolutely. Try '-v ntfs'. Not all Linux distros support NTFS however (or they might support read-only, which is all you should need in this case). I keep a small FAT32 partition on my disk for TiVo backups just for this reason.

Also, it sounds like /mnt/dos doesn't exist. cd into /mnt and see what's there. You can always create a folder there (i.e., 'mkdir tivo') and use that in the mount command.

[ForrestB]

The version of MFSTool 2 shown on the Hinsdale site can ONLY backup/restore from a FAT32 volume. The mfsbackup and mfsrestore commands do not work with NTFS volume. This is all explained at the bottom of the page at Hinsdale instructions (http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/index9.html)

[thejavabuddha]

OK, ignore all I've said before...I've gotten the hda to mount to /dos and I've gotten the command to find the file. Now my problem is that I only have a 40G hdd (I wanted to test the machine before I went out and bought a larger hdd to make sure that was the source of the problem) and it's saying target drive is not big enough for the entire backup by itself. Is there any way to...no I guess there wouldn't be, would there. If it's too small, it's too small right? I can't make the backup smaller. It's not an original backup (my hdd crashed) it is one I managed to download. Bah, guess I'll have to go and buy a hard drive.

[MungoJerrie]

it's saying target drive is not big enough for the entire backup by itself. Is there any way to...no I guess there wouldn't be, would there. If it's too small, it's too small right? I can't make the backup smaller. It's not an original backup (my hdd crashed) it is one I managed to download. Bah, guess I'll have to go and buy a hard drive.Leave off the -r 4 and -s 127, you'll only need that for the bigger drive, that's why it's too small. Just do:
mfsrestore -bzpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdb

[ForrestB]

Well if you're looking for a good, inexpensive hard drive, www.outpost.com is selling the Seagate 250 GB hard drive with 5 year warranty for $49.99 with no rebates!

[thejavabuddha]

Leave off the -r 4 and -s 127, you'll only need that for the bigger drive, that's why it's too small. Just do:
mfsrestore -bzpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdb
No luck...still said drive (40G) was not big enough. I wonder if it is because it is partitioned. although there are at least 20 gigs on main partition

[thejavabuddha]

I tried it without any options, just "mfsrestore /mnt/tivo.BAK /dev/hdb" and I get a list of options but it doesn't seem to do anything.

[thejavabuddha]

No luck...still said drive (40G) was not big enough. I wonder if it is because it is partitioned. although there are at least 20 gigs on main partition
No luck, I repartitioned the hdd so that now it is one, big, empty fat32 partition. Still not big enough.

[windracer]

How big was the drive that the image (the one you're trying to restore) was made on?

[thejavabuddha]

How big was the drive that the image (the one you're trying to restore) was made on?
I have no idea. My hdd is dead so I couldn't get an image from it. I had to download an image and it is about 141MB. The original hdd that was in the tivo is 80GB. The hdd I'm trying to put it on is 40GB.

Just as an Update: I removed all the partitions so that it is now one empty 40GB fat32 partition. Still says it's too small.

[windracer]

Hmmm ... I've never tried that, but I'm pretty sure you can't restore the MFSTools image of a larger drive to a smaller drive, hence the error message you are seeing. It doesn't matter how many partitions are on the drive or how much free space there is before you restore, mfstools wipes all of that out anyway. The image itself "knows" it's from an 80gb drive, so it won't fit on a 40gb drive. You may need a different image to restore, or a larger drive to restore it to.