Several Newbie Questions

[foible123]

I have an S2 240xxx 80gb which I just purchased. The box makes a constant humming sound that varies slightly in pitch. Is that normal? Is there a way to tell if it's the fan or the hard drive? Is there any way to reduce the noise? It's not overwhelming, but I can definitely tell the TIVO is running.

When upgrading the hard drive, will the performance of the Tivo be affected by the number of programs stored on the hard drive? Is there a practical limit on how large you can go on the size of the hard drive before it bogs down?

Is there a way to record from a VCR or DVD to the TIVO? I have some exercise programs which I play repeatedly and it would be nice to have them on the TIVO.

Thanks for any help.

[classicsat]

It is likely the fan. You can replace that.

I have a 200GB drive in my TiVo and it is just fine. People have much bigger TiVos with no problem.

You can manually copy VHS or a DVD to through the A/V input, with the TiVo set up for cable or satellite box.
If you can get the programs as files on your computer, you can use PyTiVo ot TiVo Desktop to serve them.