Backing up Tivo Image to DVD

[NG]Owner · 03-06-2007, 03:44 PM

Got four questions:

Background: Several weeks ago, I upgraded my 40GB Series 2 using two brand new surplus 80GB HDs. I still have the original TiVo 40 GB HD sitting on a shelf in my basement.

1) Is there an easy way to take the Tivo's OS (not the recordings) off the original HD and burn it to a DVD? I'm a WXP user.

2) Does TiVo's OS even fit on a DVD (4.7G)?

3) If I can get TiVo's OS onto a DVD, can I still use (some variation of) the Hinsdale or Weaknees guides to image and expand it to new HD(s) down the road?

4) Does it make sense to archive the TiVo OS on a DVD, or should I just leave well enough alone and simply store the HD? Am I looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist?

[NG]Owner

HomeUser · 03-06-2007, 04:17 PM

1) Yes, you need a FAT 32 formatted drive to transfer the image to see the WeaKnees interactive instructions or MFSLive Interactive Command Generator for instructions on making a backup without recordings.

2) Yes, without recordings several will fit on a CD.

3) Yes, Not sure about direct accessing a DVD you can mount a CD or transfer to an intermediated drive to restore from.

4) Well to a CD anyway I backup to both. It is quick and easy yo test a failed TiVo by just plugging in the original drive and nice to have a second source if something does not well.

blindlemon · 03-07-2007, 02:33 AM

Your best bet is to use the mfsbackup command to make an uncompressed backup to a FAT32 drive (or partition). It should be around 1.4GB without recordings. Don't use the compression parameter in mfsbackup as it is buggy and your backup may not work when you need it

You can then copy that from your FAT32 drive to your main drive and burn it to DVD, or compress it with something like winzip (to around 350mb) and burn it to a CD

captain_video · 03-08-2007, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Don't use the compression parameter in mfsbackup as it is buggy and your backup may not work when you need it

Not true. I've been making compressed backup images from Tivos for almost 7 years and never had one that wouldn't work after restoring it to a drive. OTOH, I haven't had 100% success with restoring images, but it was always a result of other factors and not the backup or restore process itself. Usually a reboot of my PC allowed me to restore the image successfully.

blindlemon · 03-09-2007, 05:31 AM

You have been lucky then.

There are numerous examples on this forum of people having problems restoring from a compressed backup and IIRC Tiger himself admitted that the compression routines are not 100% reliable.

Anyway, why take the chance? If you have enough space on the FAT32 drive for an uncompressed backup then you can always compress it later with winzip or gzip etc..

102161 · 03-10-2007, 11:05 PM

I just replaced my 80 gig hard drive with a 500 gig hard drive in my Directv TiVo DVR R10 with no problems. But what I would like to do is copy all my recordings from the 80 gig drive to the 500 gig drive. What is the command in Linux to do a complete drive backup? This is my first post so I hope that I did it right.