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View Full Version : Use MFSLive with only one SATA->USB adaptor?

dtphonehome
04-03-2008, 08:36 PM
I've got a laptop and only one SATA-USB enclosure. Is it possible to use MFSLive if I've only got one USB-SATA adaptor? I'd like to make a backup of the original THD disk, and then put the new blank in the enclosure and restore to that...possible?
Da Goon
04-03-2008, 08:57 PM
Sure. You'll just need some other media like a usb stick. Write a backup image to the usb stick, swap hard drives, reboot, and then restore the image from the usb stick to the new drive.
dtphonehome
04-03-2008, 09:03 PM
Sure. You'll just need some other media like a usb stick. Write a backup image to the usb stick, swap hard drives, reboot, and then restore the image from the usb stick to the new drive.

Ah, of course! Any idea what the commands for the backup and restore operations would be?
dwit
04-03-2008, 09:23 PM
You could just use winmfs and let the program do it.
Da Goon
04-03-2008, 09:46 PM
Ah, of course! Any idea what the commands for the backup and restore operations would be?

Not off the top of my head. (http://mfslive.org/softwareguide.htm)
dtphonehome
04-03-2008, 10:27 PM
Not off the top of my head. (http://mfslive.org/softwareguide.htm)

Thanks for the link...I scoured the page and found it, but had to learn a little of the syntax myself. The guide isn't super-thorough.

Anyway, I'm still having trouble, as my biggest flash disk is only 4 GB, and apparently the backup won't fit. I've gotta scrounge up a bigger drive.
dtphonehome
04-03-2008, 10:27 PM
You could just use winmfs and let the program do it.

Wish I could...I'm using MFSLive Boot CD in VMware fusion on my Macbook. Probably the most complicated Tivo upgrade attempt ever.
dtphonehome
04-03-2008, 10:58 PM
Sure. You'll just need some other media like a usb stick. Write a backup image to the usb stick, swap hard drives, reboot, and then restore the image from the usb stick to the new drive.

I appreciate the help so far, but I'm a little bit stuck...I got a larger USB drive for the backup file, but I can't figure out how to specify where the backup file is supposed to be dumped. When I run a generic "backup" command, the process fails as the virtual drive doesn't have enough space. How do I tell the program to put the backup file on the USB drive?
Da Goon
04-03-2008, 10:59 PM
Anyway, I'm still having trouble, as my biggest flash disk is only 4 GB, and apparently the backup won't fit. I've gotta scrounge up a bigger drive.

4 GB? You should DEFINITELY be able to fit an image into that space. I've got images ranging from 68 mb to 400 mb.
Da Goon
04-03-2008, 11:00 PM
Mount your usb stick as /dos. As for the command listed at mfslive.org you're dumping the backup image to /dos/mybackup.bak
dtphonehome
04-03-2008, 11:13 PM
4 GB? You should DEFINITELY be able to fit an image into that space. I've got images ranging from 68 mb to 400 mb.

Then I'm not sure why it's failing...

Mount your usb stick as /dos. As for the command listed at mfslive.org you're dumping the backup image to /dos/mybackup.bak

I ran "mount -t vfat /dev/sdb /dos" but got the error "mounting /dev/sdb on /dos failed" (sda is the SATA drive, sdb is the USB drive). Any ideas? I'm really sorry about all the questions...I haven't felt like such a newb in a really long time!
Tiger
04-04-2008, 01:16 AM
Then I'm not sure why it's failing...



I ran "mount -t vfat /dev/sdb /dos" but got the error "mounting /dev/sdb on /dos failed" (sda is the SATA drive, sdb is the USB drive). Any ideas? I'm really sorry about all the questions...I haven't felt like such a newb in a really long time!

Check /proc/partitions (cat /proc/partitions) and see if there's a sdb1, sdb2, sdb3 or sdb4, and if so use that.

When it fails to mount it should give some details why as well. I'm not sure if the command is available on mfslive, but "dmesg" should give you the most recent messages. Towards the end should be why the mount is failing.
dtphonehome
04-04-2008, 01:52 PM
Check /proc/partitions (cat /proc/partitions) and see if there's a sdb1, sdb2, sdb3 or sdb4, and if so use that.

When it fails to mount it should give some details why as well. I'm not sure if the command is available on mfslive, but "dmesg" should give you the most recent messages. Towards the end should be why the mount is failing.

I get "Out of Memory: Killed process 551 (backup)" after trying to run "backup -f 9999 -6so /dos/mybackup.bak /dev/sda". It runs for a while and then quits.
dtphonehome
04-06-2008, 11:18 PM
Eh, screw all this. I wasted enough time. I'm getting a cheap PC next time one comes up on slickdeals. Need one to tinker with and run my kids' games anyway.
rvmeush
06-06-2009, 09:49 AM
Just to provide another data point on using VMware Fusion to run WinMFS on a Mac - I successfully backed up my Tivo with my Mac Mini. I was using Windows XP as the guest OS to run WinMFS. The backup file was 333Mb and the process took about 10 minutes to copy the file onto my computer. I didn't copy the file onto another drive at this time, but just wanted a backup in case my old drive dies sometime in the future.