Copy a dtivo into from one to another?

[sam7931]

I cancelled my directv service entirely a while back and have just been using my old rca series 2 unit as a media box since. Its running 6.2, and I can upload home videos to it using tivo server, do photo slide shows, music off my network drive, its handy. I have another old directv unit kicking around that I'd like to hack to have the same functionality.

Its been a few years since I modded this one though and honestly the easiest thing to do sounds like just cloning the drive of this unit to the drive of the 2nd unit. Will that work (and if so what tool works best) or does it lock itself to the access card number or unit's serial or something?

If that isn't a good plan, whats the best way for me to hack a unit I don't intend to use for tv service anymore?

Thanks :D

[mr.unnatural]

You could copy the image from one DTivo drive to the other but you'll have to perform a clear & delete everything and then rerun guided setup on the 2nd DTivo. You could also install and run the 51killer.tcl script to get around this if the original unit has been hacked. All of the hacks will carry over to the 2nd DTivo and the 51killer.tcl script will get rid of the hardware error #51 without having to do the C&DE and rerunning guided setup.

[sam7931]

Thanks, a clear and delete will be no problem at all. I already have /tivotools/51killer.tcl on my unit so should be good to go too!

Any imaging software thats recommended or will the run of mill stuff do the trick?

[halfempty]

I've used the mfs live (http://www.mfslive.org/) utilities a few times with great results. It's made for Tivo drives and available in both Linux boot CD and Windows executable versions.

[sam7931]

Hmmm I gave it a try today with the mfs live disk and am having some problems. The boot cd worked fine, the data copied, the partitions show up properly on the new drive and everything. I slapped the new drive in the new tivo and get "Welcome! Powering up" then a brief delay, then a grey screen.

Is there some sort of compatibility issue between the units? The original unit and source of the hacked image is a hughes hdvr2. The destination unit is a directv r10. From googling it looks like the r10 might be the lemon of the dtivo series? Who is a good source of cheap proms? I'm not afraid of the soldering iron. I wonder if the price is where its better just to buy a less labor intensive unit off ebay.

[spook45]

From my very limited understanding, the R10 is not hackable unless a PROM is replaced on the motherboard.

bob

[whitepelican]

From my very limited understanding, the R10 is not hackable unless a PROM is replaced on the motherboard.

bob

Correct. And it also was never able to run version 6.2 of the Tivo software. His plan would have worked perfectly with any other Series 2 DirecTivo except the R10 or the HR10-250.

[sam7931]

Figures :D

Any of the units that are a better choice than the others or just buy whatevers cheap that day, especially since the HD is getting yanked out?