Question on MFS backup

Prozium · 01-18-2006, 12:47 AM

I'm about to upgrade my series 2 tivo again. The first time I added a 60gb B drive to go to a total of 120gb. This was when the tivo was running the 4.x software and I made a backup with MFS tools. This time around I'm going to swap out the 2 60gb drives for a single 250gb. Just as a test I restored the backup to the 250gb drive but it only showed 162 hours of recording time.

Is it possible to just make a MFS backup of the currently running 2x60gb tivo with the 7.2.x software and restore it to the 250gb drive and still have partitions left to expand the additional space to? If not, is there any way to use the full capacity of the 250gb drive with the original backup?

Dan Collins · 01-18-2006, 08:20 AM

Did you use a LBA48 boot CD when you did the restore to the 250GB drive?

ronsch · 01-18-2006, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prozium

Is it possible to just make a MFS backup of the currently running 2x60gb tivo with the 7.2.x software and restore it to the 250gb drive and still have partitions left to expand the additional space to? If not, is there any way to use the full capacity of the 250gb drive with the original backup?

As Dan says, yes, but you have to use the LBA48 version of mfstools. You also cannot keep your current recordings. Follow the Hinsdale instructions for backing up a two-drive TiVo and restoring to a single large drive. You definitely want to use your current image instead of the original so you'll have the LBA48 support when you restore to the 250GB drive.

KiNeL · 02-13-2006, 02:41 AM

I'm new to TiVo and also Linux so apologies if my questions sound dumb, I do learn though!.

I have just bought a UK 6023 TiVo which is fully loaded with Cachecard, 160gb Samsung, TiVoWeb etc. etc. etc. and from long experience with Windowz I am an ardent believer in imaging so I would like to image my TiVo drive asap and certainly before I start seriously playing with it.

My question is then, does mfstools create a FULL and COMPLETE image of the drive which is restorable to exactly "as was".

If not what other steps must I take to ensure I can restore should the fateful day arrive?

I have tried with both Ghost and Acronis BTW but neither would recognise the drive for imaging purposes.

blindlemon · 02-13-2006, 05:09 AM

Yes, a backup created with MFSTools will include everything you need to recreate your setup - minus the actual recordings.

For a UK machine you need to use the -l32 switch, and I would also recommend leaving off the compression (ie. use -so instead of -6so) as the compression library is buggy and can result in a bad backup. An uncompressed backup file will be around 1.4gb but can be compressed with Winzip for archival purposes.