Drive Expansion and Drive Upgrade FAQ

[VodkaStr8Up]

Is checking what TiVoHD reports the only way to see if winmfs supersize worked? I saved the Mfsinfo data for both the previous 1TB drive and the current 1TB I will be installing into a second TiVoHD. I turned supersize ON for the recent drive but the following numbers are the same for both drives. The previous drives Mfsinfo data was saved over six months ago.

Total SA SD Hours: 1040
Total DTV SD Hours: 908
100% Free

Regardless of the supersize setting, these numbers are significantly below expected hours with a 1TB drive. I'm wondering if winmfs and TiVo calculate expected hours differently. Maybe the recording quality used in the calculations explain the difference.

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by VodkaStr8Up

Is checking what TiVoHD reports the only way to see if winmfs supersize worked? I saved the Mfsinfo data for both the previous 1TB drive and the current 1TB I will be installing into a second TiVoHD. I turned supersize ON for the recent drive but the following numbers are the same for both drives. The previous drives Mfsinfo data was saved over six months ago.

Total SA SD Hours: 1040
Total DTV SD Hours: 908
100% Free

Regardless of the supersize setting, these numbers are significantly below expected hours with a 1TB drive. I'm wondering if winmfs and TiVo calculate expected hours differently. Maybe the recording quality used in the calculations explain the difference.

As you point out, there is no way of knowing the exact data content for any recording so all of the numbers are estimates. As you probably know TiVo's System Information screen should read "Variable, up to 157 HD hours or 1367 SD hours" if Supersize is turned on.

[budf15]

If this is already answered somewhere, I apologize. I couldn't find the answer. My recently upgraded Tivo HD has worked flawlessly for a few weeks but has recently started to freeze/lock up fairly frequently. I'm assuming it's a HD problem but seems strange since it was brand new and worked flawlessly for almost a month. It's a WD 10EVDS manufactured in Oct 09. Doesn't have the soft reboot problem but for some reason, it'll just freeze during playback or while watching live TV and then that's all she wrote. Have to unplug and hard reboot to get it back. Usually works for an hour or so than locks up again. Wife is not impressed. How do I test the drive to look for errors? I've heard of the kickstart options but should I take the drive out and test it from the computer?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by budf15

IMy recently upgraded Tivo HD has worked flawlessly for a few weeks but has recently started to freeze/lock up fairly frequently.

Sorry to hear that your TiVo is acting up. Assuming everything is connected securely it would be worth checking the hard drive temperature on the System Information screen. Anything above 54c or so can cause problems. Odds are it's fine as long as you have some decent ventilation though. If so, it's probably worth running TiVo's built in diagnostic and repair programs called "Kickstarts":

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...23&postcount=2

If that doesn't help, or it passes the KS54 diagnostic the next step would be to pull the drive and run a full diagnostic like WD's Lifeguard:

http://support.wdc.com/download/

The reason it may have worked without any issues is that data being written to the drive hadn't hit any bad sectors. Once it tries to write to bad sectors it can lock up. It's also possible the the I/O error correction is failing for some reason (and would be more apparent on HD's high-data throughput).

Unfortunately even new drives can fail. Fortunately your drive has a three-year warranty. (Info on RMA's is in the KS post.)

Hope that helps and let us know how it goes.

BTW: It's been my experience that most wives are rarely impressed with anything that doesn't work and even less-so with something that you've "turbo-charged"...and then doesn't work. YMMV of course.

[rocko]

Originally Posted by richsadams

BTW: It's been my experience that most wives are rarely impressed with anything that doesn't work and even less-so with something that you've "turbo-charged"...and then doesn't work. YMMV of course.

My wife's been completely unimpressed since I stopped working

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by rocko

My wife's been completely unimpressed since I stopped working

I'll bet she's more than happy with all of the "honey-do's" you've been able to take of for her though...right?

[rocko]

Originally Posted by richsadams

I'll bet she's more than happy with all of the "honey-do's" you've been able to take of for her though...right?

taptaptap ... hello? is this thing on?

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by rocko

taptaptap ... hello? is this thing on?

[ThAbtO]

Originally Posted by rocko

taptaptap ... hello? is this thing on?

You forgot to charge the batteries again!

[VodkaStr8Up]

Originally Posted by richsadams

As you probably know TiVo's System Information screen should read "Variable, up to 157 HD hours or 1367 SD hours" if Supersize is turned on.

Our first TiVoHD; currently without MfsSuperSize shows, "Variable, up to 142 HD hours or 1241 SD hours". After setting up our second TiVoHD today with a MfsSuperSize 1TB drive shows, "Variable, up to 144 HD hours or 1367 SD hours". Any ideas why it's not showing ~157 HD hours? Thanks!

[bkdtv]

Originally Posted by VodkaStr8Up

Our first TiVoHD; currently without MfsSuperSize shows, "Variable, up to 142 HD hours or 1241 SD hours". After setting up our second TiVoHD today with a MfsSuperSize 1TB drive shows, "Variable, up to 144 HD hours or 1367 SD hours". Any ideas why it's not showing ~157 HD hours? Thanks!

It sounds like you skipped a step. If you don't follow the steps exactly as written, the MfsSuperSize option won't be applied.

Note step #16 under TiVo Internal Upgrade Instructions: Preserves Settings and Recordings. If you skip that step and just select Tools -> MfsSupersize -> On, it won't work.

Note also that you won't see 157 HD hours unless your TiVo has the 11.0 software. TiVo changed the way it estimated capacity between 9.x and 11.x.

[bmal1]

Just wanted to report on the success I had upgrading my Tivo HD. I bought a WD10EVDS, a sata to USB adapter, torx screwdrivers and downloaded WinMFS. I followed the upgrade instructions in the FAQ exactly. The upgrade took about 45 minutes. Tivo booted up and everything worked. 157 hours of HD and the drive is quiet.

My total cost was around $130 which is about what the 1TB My DVR Expander goes for on amazon.

The drive was dated Oct 10 2009. There was no softboot issue and so wdidle3 was not needed.

I just wanted to thank those who created the FAQ for such great information and those who have posted on this thread for sharing thier experiences. Without the information provided here I never would have dared to open my Tivo.

I will give updates to any issues I encounter but after 9 hours, so far so good.

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by bmal1

Just wanted to report on the success I had upgrading my Tivo HD.

Well done...and welcome to the club!

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by VodkaStr8Up

Our first TiVoHD; currently without MfsSuperSize shows, "Variable, up to 142 HD hours or 1241 SD hours". After setting up our second TiVoHD today with a MfsSuperSize 1TB drive shows, "Variable, up to 144 HD hours or 1367 SD hours". Any ideas why it's not showing ~157 HD hours? Thanks!

If you have the current software (v11.0d) you can simply reattach your TiVo drive to your computer, run winMFS and turn on the Supersize option and that will do it. BTW, doing it now (or later) won't have any impact on any recordings or anything else.

[richsadams]

If anyone is in the market for a SATA to USB adapter, mwave.com has them on sale for a very reasonable $9.99 w/free shipping:

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch...iteria=AA51890

Although I connect drives directly to the MB now, I've used this exact model for upgrades in the past and it worked perfectly. (I've also ordered from mwave and can recommend them.)

[rocko]

Originally Posted by richsadams

If anyone is in the market for a SATA to USB adapter, mwave.com has them on sale for a very reasonable $9.99 w/free shipping:

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch...iteria=AA51890

Although I connect drives directly to the MB now, I've used this exact model for upgrades in the past and it worked perfectly. (I've also ordered from mwave and can recommend them.)

That seems to be the going price from any number of eBsy sellers. They do work great. I forgot to supersize one of my newly upgraded drives so I used one of those little babies instead of cracking open one of my many cases

[S3-2501]

Originally Posted by bkdtv

It sounds like you skipped a step. If you don't follow the steps exactly as written, the MfsSuperSize option won't be applied.

Note step #16 under TiVo Internal Upgrade Instructions: Preserves Settings and Recordings. If you skip that step and just select Tools -> MfsSupersize -> On, it won't work.

Note also that you won't see 157 HD hours unless your TiVo has the 11.0 software. TiVo changed the way it estimated capacity between 9.x and 11.x.

Man am I glad I checked this thread today! When I did my upgrade I used the WinMFS quick start instructions, which don't mention needing to do the supersize option after using mfscopy. I thought that was only for drives larger than 1TB. Thanks to this post I successfully retroactively supersized my upgrade tuoday.

Since people are sharing which SATA/USB adapers they're using, FWIW this is the one I used. The box arrived in bad shape, but it has worked fine and I like the versatility of it for use with different drive types.

[rocko]

Originally Posted by S3-2501

Man am I glad I checked this thread today! When I did my upgrade I used the WinMFS quick start instructions, which don't mention needing to do the supersize option after using mfscopy. I thought that was only for drives larger than 1TB. Thanks to this post I successfully retroactively supersized my upgrade tuoday.

Since people are sharing which SATA/USB adapers they're using, FWIW this is the one I used. The box arrived in bad shape, but it has worked fine and I like the versatility of it for use with different drive types.

$10.05 - Free shipping

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-To-SATA-...%3D3%26ps%3D63

[chrishicks]

I've been searching this topic for what seems like days(about the same as trying to get my new drive working) and I haven't spotted my answer so I'm just going to ask.

I have InstantCake(for the S3) and I've been trying to get the new drive to take the image. I have 3 PCs(2 desktops and 1 laptop) and I can't get this to work on any of them.

Desktop 1: all SATA connections. I tried every connection avail. to get the drives setup correctly and no matter what I tried I could never get the cd drive to mount.

Desktop 2: standard IDE connections. Played around removing drives(has a DVD -Rom + CD-R) removed HDDs, flipped cables around, played with the BIOS and nothing, drive won't mount.

Laptop: Old Emachines laptop. Had to connect HDD via USB(using an Antec-MX1 case). I get the CD drive to mount right away. However when I get passed that I have issues. I have tried multiple times to get the right drive for my USB drive but it just kicks back "unable to open /dev/hdX to write" and then says press enter to continue. After I hit enter I get a page telling me about cable cards, SPs and so on. Then I get a "your drive has been baked" message a few seconds after.

Is there an easier way of trying to remount the HDD? because at the moment I have to shut down and reboot after each try. Another thing, I can't leave the USB connected during the reboot because the laptop just hangs which means I can't enter the BIOS with the drive attached.

I did notice that IC reports the HDD is "sda" when it runs the commands but I can only enter "hdX" when I get to that part. I'm thinking at this point I'm stuck and I'll have to spend the extra money for a preconfigured drive as I don't have access to any other PCs(everyone I know has brand new Windows 7 computers and there is no way they'll let me crack one open to mess with this) but I figured I'd turn to the experts here first.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

EDIT: I tried using SATA settings for the USB drive and it appears to have worked. I'm hoping everything is fine as I don't think it even took 10 minutes to complete after.

[VodkaStr8Up]

Originally Posted by bkdtv

Note also that you won't see 157 HD hours unless your TiVo has the 11.0 software. TiVo changed the way it estimated capacity between 9.x and 11.x.

Viewing the System Info through TiVoHD today now shows 157 HD hours so my dvr must have taken the newer software version since Saturday; all is great now!

[chrishicks]

Well something didn't work right working with IC. I received no errors but with the new drive installed I get stuck on "Welcome...". I let it sit for a good 20min. at least and nothing. I tried redoing IC and again everything reports as going just fine. Not a single error. I put the drive in the S3 and won't go past Welcome. I also notice USB doesn't work with the new drive either. I can feel the drive running(left cover off on the 2nd install to see) but nothing is happening.

I'm not sure what my next move is here to be honest. Can someone point me in the right direction?

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by chrishicks

Well something didn't work right working with IC. I received no errors but with the new drive installed I get stuck on "Welcome...". I let it sit for a good 20min. at least and nothing. I tried redoing IC and again everything reports as going just fine. Not a single error. I put the drive in the S3 and won't go past Welcome. I also notice USB doesn't work with the new drive either. I can feel the drive running(left cover off on the 2nd install to see) but nothing is happening.

I'm not sure what my next move is here to be honest. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Unless someone here can sort it out I'd head over to DVRUpgrade and post your question/problem. (The site has some troubleshooting tips as well.) Although IC doesn't come with any support Lou is generally very good at quickly assessing a situation and advising what to do. He drops by here once in a while, but I'd see if you can get some help from his forum in the meantime. Post as much info about your TiVo, IC, etc. over thee as you can...and of course what you're running into.

Best of luck!

[chrishicks]

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to head over there soon unless my current attempt works. I downloaded WinMFS and am currently trying that out as I type this. If that doesn't work I'm off to DVRUpgrade.


EDIT: I'm starting to think either a bad drive or one image not overwriting the other or something. WinMFS reported a good transfer with no errors and I still can't get past "Welcome". Is there a way I can completely wipe whatever image that may be on this drive and start over from scratch or does WinMFS do that already?

For now I'm running just the stock drive to make sure everything is still fine with it since I dropped the DVR Extender which seemed to be causing all the issues.

[dswallow]

I see the drive list in the first page of the FAQ thread has been pruned... but what was pruned doesn't seem to be anywhere I can find. Does anyone still have the info that used to be there?

I find the noise "estimates" on that current list very disappointing and was going to see what the other drivers were like to see if it's worth hunting one down and dealing with the Intellipark issue.

[SAH2]

I am about to replace the original drive in my S3 with a new 1TB drive. (I have been getting many reboots and the green screen for a couple of days now)

I currently have an external 750GB FAP drive as well that was added during the initial discovery of the kickstart feature.

From what I understand, once I upgrade the original drive, I will not be able to add a new external drive unless I open the Tivo again.

Is there a way to "prepare" the new internal drive for an external drive while doing the upgrade? I have an Antec enclosure with 1TB drive, but did not want to attach it until I need the space. (Also wanted to make sure the new internal drive was working for awhile first)

The FAQ's have grown so much since I added the first external drive, I want to make sure I am doing this the right way.
Thanks

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by dswallow

I see the drive list in the first page of the FAQ thread has been pruned... but what was pruned doesn't seem to be anywhere I can find. Does anyone still have the info that used to be there?

I find the noise "estimates" on that current list very disappointing and was going to see what the other drivers were like to see if it's worth hunting one down and dealing with the Intellipark issue.

IIRC the only drives that have been removed are the various WD GP drives due to the Intellipark "feature". They were/are among the quietest drives available. If you're willing to run the wdidle program mentioned in the first post you should be in good shape using what was the top recommendation, the WD10EVVS. I haven't used the program myself but I understand that it's pretty easy and a number of folks have had success doing it.

Otherwise the Hitachi HD31000 is really pretty quiet out of the box (I have two running in a NAS) plus the AAM can be tuned down even lower. The Seagate Pipeline series are dedicated A/V drives and are reportedly very quiet as well.

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by SAH2

From what I understand, once I upgrade the original drive, I will not be able to add a new external drive unless I open the Tivo again.

Correct.

Originally Posted by SAH2

Is there a way to "prepare" the new internal drive for an external drive while doing the upgrade? I have an Antec enclosure with 1TB drive, but did not want to attach it until I need the space. (Also wanted to make sure the new internal drive was working for awhile first)

Unfortunately not. Both drives have to be connected to the computer at the same time to perform the "marriage ceremony". You could do that now, but I'm almost certain that when you boot up TiVo would be looking for the external drive and if it wasn't there you'd end up having to go through the divorce procedure.

Happy upgrading!

[chrishicks]

Well I did more messing around and I currently have the drive running in an MX-1 case connected via eSATA and as of now it seems fine. Strange that this same drive wouldn't work for either IC or WinMFS for me. Of course I'll be monitoring this for signs of a bad drive just in case.

With the drive attached I'm currently seeing 197 HD and 1720 SD so if this holds until the summer I'll take another stab at going for internal only even if I lose some recording capacity which isn't that big of a deal as in comparison to having the stock only setup.

[dswallow]

Originally Posted by richsadams

IIRC the only drives that have been removed are the various WD GP drives due to the Intellipark "feature". They were/are among the quietest drives available. If you're willing to run the wdidle program mentioned in the first post you should be in good shape using what was the top recommendation, the WD10EVVS. I haven't used the program myself but I understand that it's pretty easy and a number of folks have had success doing it.

Otherwise the Hitachi HD31000 is really pretty quiet out of the box (I have two running in a NAS) plus the AAM can be tuned down even lower. The Seagate Pipeline series are dedicated A/V drives and are reportedly very quiet as well.

Where did the noise estimates on the list come from? I'll probably stick with the EVDS drives since I used that on another unit and found it quite good. I had the impression some people weren't able to get the Intellipark feature turned off and instead had to live with setting it to a high value. But if that's not really the case, I've got no problem running a utility on a dirve, if necessary.

Historically I find Seagate drives to be just not particularly reliably quiet from even the same model drive to drive and their refusal to pay AAM licensing fees just makes me avoid them completely for any quiet-area application. Clackity clackety click all the time was just not fun. If you didn't actually make the heads reverse direction is was quiet, though.

[richsadams]

Originally Posted by dswallow

Where did the noise estimates on the list come from? I'll probably stick with the EVDS drives since I used that on another unit and found it quite good. I had the impression some people weren't able to get the Intellipark feature turned off and instead had to live with setting it to a high value. But if that's not really the case, I've got no problem running a utility on a dirve, if necessary.

I think bkdtv picked up the acoustic specs from the manufacturer's websites. In my experience the manufacturers understate the actual noise levels. But most drives rated at >28dBA seem to be quiet enough for a TiVo. IIRC most of the WD GP drive's seek noise is rated around 26dB. Several that I have running were very quiet stock. I couldn't tell much difference once I tuned the AAM down to 128 but it probably helped a little.

The WD10EVDS should do just fine. Looks like they're going for about $90 which isn't too bad. I'm not sure if it's that particular model, but some WD GP drives apparently don't allow Intelisync to be turned off. But as you mention, they can have the idle time increased to the point where it won't affect soft reboots.

Happy upgrading!