Hitachi Feature Tool - Before or After?

[RhoXS]

I am going to upgrade the drive in our new second Tivo HD this weekend to a 1 Gb WD10EADS using WinMFS. I upgraded our family room Tivo HD last fall so I am comfortable with WinMFS. However, the new Tivo HD is going into our bedroom so I want it as quiet as possible. Therefore, I plan to use the Hitachi feature tool to change the AAM setting to 128.

Do I run the Hitachi Feature Tool on the brand new unformatted drive or do I run it after WinMFS transfers the Tivo image to it? Or, does it not matter?

I am really curious if the AAM setting can be changed on an already existing formatted drive without destroying the data on it. We have an old Humax with a 350 MB WD drive loud enough to wake the neighbors. I am tempted to pull the drive out of it and try to quiet it but I would prefer to not have to rebuild it.

[NSX]

You can change it at any time. :up:

[richsadams]

As NSX mentioned, the AAM can be changed at any time and it will not affect the existing drive data.

Also note that the latest version of the Hitachi Feature Tool will not work on WD drives. An earlier version will (v2.11). Refer to Section IV, #31 in the Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5616160#post5616160). Everything else you need to know about upgrading your TiVo HD can be found there as well.

Happy upgrading!

[RhoXS]

Thanks for the advice. I did not know about the WD limitation on versions later than V2.11.