Looks like external SATA (eSATA) port on TiVo S3 can be activated.
Method 1: Using kickstart 62.
Update: Oct 19, 2007
With the software 9.2, Kickstart 62 method is disabled on Tivo S3.
However, you can just plug and Play method to add an eSATA drive.
Instruction can be found
here.
Instructions with pictures go
here.
More technical info
here
It works only on unmodified original capacity "A" drive (250GB).
So, if you have upgraded your TiVo drive already, the following procedure won't work. You will need to try method 2.
Here is how you can add eSATA drive to TiVo S3:
Things you will need:
S3 TiVo,
eSATA drive and eSATA II cable or (SATA drive and eSATA II -> SATA cable)
TiVo remote
- Poweroff your Tivo if it's on
- connect eSATA drive to eSATA port on the back of S3.
It uses eSATA connector (I) so normal SATA 1 or 2 cables won't work.
If your external SATA drive has only SATA 1 port, you can get a cable known as eSATA->sATA cable
- Power on eSATA device.
- Power on TiVo
- Point TiVo remote to S3 tivo with pause (yellow) button pressed
- keep on pressing pause button until, all the lights go out on the front panel.
or
if you don't feel like holding the pause button, wait unitl 2 red LED lights on the front left panel goes out then press pause button. (thx. to
sfhub)
- Shortly after that, you will see single orange LED light on the front panel.
- Release pause button, and type "62" while pointing remote to Tivo
- If you did everything correctly, TiVo will reboot and after a minute or so, and you will see
"Your second hard drive has been activated" screen.
- Let it finish booting up and you are done.
- Go to system information screen and check # of hours.
Method 2: You can get new mfstools from mfslive.org.
This method is the most flexable and has no restrictions but will require some computer skills and you'll need to pull your drive out of TiVo.
It's reported to be working on
Internal 1TB + 1TB eSATA of total 265HD or 2513 SD hours.
(Maximum size: A + eSATA = 2TiB or 2.2 TB or 2^32 * 512 B)
Software versions tested: 8.0.1b(factory), 8.1.1 and 8.3.1
Make sure eSATA is on and connected to TiVo at all times.
If it's missing, bad things will happen (reboot) and you will see a divorce screen.
You will loose recordings if you divorce so be careful.
Try to Select an eSATA device that will power on w/o user interaction after power loss.
Otherwise, your TiVo will be stuck at divorce screen and will miss scheduled recordings if power loss occurs.
What eSATA drive to get:
I would stick with an eSATA enclosure, a bare drive combo and stay away from preassembled eSATA drives.
From what I've seen, preassembled drives are not packaged well so might get damaged during shipping process.
Also, some drives may not work on S3 due to the way on/off buttons are implemented.
Stay away from Seagate FreeAgent Pro which seem to have a serious problem with eSATA port. I tried two and both worked well on USB port connected to a computer but won't work using eSATA port. I get "bus error" and "soft resets" every now and then. I tried with different cables and nothing helps.
For the best result try:
Antec MX1 (active cooling) + Seagate DB35.3 SATA drive (ST3
500830SCE, ST3
750840SCE)
Having problem?:
Check this post out.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=351824
Update: June-01-2007
Mfslive Boot CD v1.2 is released that supports eSATA drive.
Update: May-29-2007
There is a bug in TiVo built-in divorce process so if you divorced your eSATA, you won't be able to use mfstools.
I'm not sure what kind of impact this bug will have on the way TiVo works but it appears to be just cosmetic at this point but
I would divorce it cleanly by pulling the drive and running a utility called fixdivorce.
I don't know who to contact to report this kind of bug so if anyone knows, let me know as well.
