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DIY 10TB Roamio

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10tb diy roamio
74K views 634 replies 73 participants last post by  HoosontheTeevo 
#1 · (Edited)
It is now possible to create a 10 TB 16 TB to 20 TB Roamio from your current Roamio image depending on how the starting image was created. I need to create a tool I have created a tool to make it so one does not have to manually hex edit the hard drive. When Since that is done, I will post have posted the complete instructions. Here are some images.

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#201 ·
If you are starting out with a drive larger than 4TB, you have to clone not copy the drive via a duplicating dock or via software like dd in Linux or HDD Raw copy in Windows.
 
#209 ·
Ok, well most of the instructions here are fairly clear I think. At this point I would say the best two options would be either let the Bolt format a 4TB drive which would then have 3TB, use MFSR to get it to to 4TB, then use MFST 3.32 as outlined in this thread (the copy then 5 adds and addfixes). Or get yourself a cloning dock, clone the 8 to the 14, then do the 3 adds and addfixes. I have not done CLONES with anything but a dock for years (again clones, not copies). The only method I have used MYSELF is cloning 8TB in a dock, to a 10TB and a 12TB, then expanding with MFST. You do have a big advantage, since starting fresh if something goes wrong you can just try again. I've done a lot of experimenting/testing over the years (as a user), sometimes have to try different things until get it done right.

Oh, if going the clone route maybe someone else can help with possible methods software wise. Keep in mind cloning an 8TB in a dock can take 12-14 hours, in a computer maybe twice that.
Hello.

What do you mean by " 5 adds and addfixes" or there being well documentation on how to do this?

Can this " 5 adds and addfixes" be done using any other software other then MFST 3.32?

As far as being " well documented", There is not any youtube walkthough video of someone performing this process or even a website with some screen shots.

It seem like there are hundred of pages of old archived forum with bits and pieces laying around.

I recently used a software called g4l which I created a bootable USB drive.

It gave me options to identify the source drive and identify the target drive and start the cloning process.

I'm not sure if this worked or not but compare this to MFST 3.32 in which are are giving a blinking cursre and expected to basically program comments on how to do this?

The password is "TIVO" for gosh sake.

You would think that it could at least have some options to select on common TIVO hard drive procedures? Like " press 1 to clone dirve" then let you select the Source and target drive.

Thanks.
 
#211 ·
What do you mean by " 5 adds and addfixes" or there being well documentation on how to do this?

Can this " 5 adds and addfixes" be done using any other software other then MFST 3.32?

As far as being " well documented", There is not any youtube walkthough video of someone performing this process or even a website with some screen shots.
As I mentioned I am a USER of these upgrade methods not one of the programmers. The programs themselves are a labor of love really, they are not for sale, no profit being made far as I know. So I myself am just happy they exist. There are instructions and examples IN THIS THREAD. The instructions are in the second post. Some examples of people doing it here also I believe. NOT videos though there are some screen shots. I myself am tired of everything nowadays being a video (well they are good for some physical procedures but not things like news or instructions, I like to READ things, if I want to go back to recheck something I don't want to have to rewind a video and figure out where to rewind to, I just go back and read the part I need to review again or even print it out). Anyway I'm quoting second post in the below, would not worry about the kickstart 58 for now though would be a good idea for later: Note the instructions on LOGIN and PASSWORD, the lsblk command with parameters to identify your drives (source and target), the mfscopy command if you will be using that (ie not cloning) and then instructions on the MFSadd and MFSaddfixes. To me this good documentation/instructions. If not for you maybe just buy an upgrade from Weaknees.

"First download the MFSTools 3.3-devel ISO.

If your drive is 4 TB or larger, clone it to the new drive via your favorite cloning method and skip the mfscopy part of the instructions which I put in italics. If it is less than 4 TB use MFSTools to copy it to the new drive.

Boot the ISO with your drives hooked up to your computer.

Once logged into the ISO using username root with password tivo, determine what the names of your drives are. Easiest way is to type lsblk -o name,size,vendor at the command line.

Here sdX is your source drive and sdY is your target drive.
Run the command mfscopy -am 2000 /dev/sdX /dev/sdY and then patiently wait.

Once that command is finished or the cloning of your drive is finished, put the target drive into the TiVo and make sure it boots up properly and make sure it connects to TiVo successfully.

Once that is done, return the drive to your computer. Your source drive is no longer needed and can to be disconnected from the computer. Will still use sdY for the target drive.

Reverify the target drive name by using the command lsblk -o name,size,vendor.

Next run the command mfsadd -xcm 2040 /dev/sdY.

This will add about 2 TB of recording space and place the partitions in order in case we want to coalesce them later for further expansion. If you have less than 2 TB of space, it will use whatever space you have to add recording time.

Once that runs successfully then run the command mfsaddfix /dev/sdY.
When that command is finished, I recommend that you verify it boots up in your TiVo successfully before repeating the commands to be on the safe side, however, it has worked without doing so.

Each mfsadd command followed by mfsaddfix command adds 2 TB of recording space to the drive and you can do that up to 3 times. So repeat those two command until you have run out of space or have run them 3 times.

If you happen to add more space than is available to add with mfsadd, mfsaddfix will reset the APM to remove the added partitions. Then when you put the drive back into the TiVo, it will ask that you divorce the external drive. Go ahead and do so.

If you are experiencing any issues after the process, run a kickstart 58 on boot up. Some people are experiencing connection issues such that the connection does not complete and this seems to resolve it. I would stay away from kickstart 57 as I invariably get a green screen boot loop. MFSTools can help you recover from this in most circumstances.

There are no warranties or guarantees with these images and I take no responsibility for anything that happens using these images or loss of recordings that could happen by using these tools. You are logged in as root so you could do dangerous things to your system if you are not careful. Be aware that TiVo could change their OS in the future that may cause loss of recordings because of the drive being expanded. If there are any issues with these files let me know and I will see what I can do.

Last edited: Nov 29, 2019
"Delay is preferable to error" - Thomas Jefferson
"I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them" - Carl Friedrich Gauss"
 
#213 ·
As I mentioned I am a USER of these upgrade methods not one of the programmers. The programs themselves are a labor of love really, they are not for sale, no profit being made far as I know. So I myself am just happy they exist. There are instructions and examples IN THIS THREAD. The instructions are in the second post. Some examples of people doing it here also I believe. NOT videos though there are some screen shots. I myself am tired of everything nowadays being a video (well they are good for some physical procedures but not things like news or instructions, I like to READ things, if I want to go back to recheck something I don't want to have to rewind a video and figure out where to rewind to, I just go back and read the part I need to review again or even print it out). Anyway I'm quoting second post in the below, would not worry about the kickstart 58 for now though would be a good idea for later: Note the instructions on LOGIN and PASSWORD, the lsblk command with parameters to identify your drives (source and target), the mfscopy command if you will be using that (ie not cloning) and then instructions on the MFSadd and MFSaddfixes. To me this good documentation/instructions. If not for you maybe just buy an upgrade from Weaknees.

"First download the MFSTools 3.3-devel ISO.

If your drive is 4 TB or larger, clone it to the new drive via your favorite cloning method and skip the mfscopy part of the instructions which I put in italics. If it is less than 4 TB use MFSTools to copy it to the new drive.

Boot the ISO with your drives hooked up to your computer.

Once logged into the ISO using username root with password tivo, determine what the names of your drives are. Easiest way is to type lsblk -o name,size,vendor at the command line.

Here sdX is your source drive and sdY is your target drive.
Run the command mfscopy -am 2000 /dev/sdX /dev/sdY and then patiently wait.

Once that command is finished or the cloning of your drive is finished, put the target drive into the TiVo and make sure it boots up properly and make sure it connects to TiVo successfully.

Once that is done, return the drive to your computer. Your source drive is no longer needed and can to be disconnected from the computer. Will still use sdY for the target drive.

Reverify the target drive name by using the command lsblk -o name,size,vendor.

Next run the command mfsadd -xcm 2040 /dev/sdY.

This will add about 2 TB of recording space and place the partitions in order in case we want to coalesce them later for further expansion. If you have less than 2 TB of space, it will use whatever space you have to add recording time.

Once that runs successfully then run the command mfsaddfix /dev/sdY.
When that command is finished, I recommend that you verify it boots up in your TiVo successfully before repeating the commands to be on the safe side, however, it has worked without doing so.

Each mfsadd command followed by mfsaddfix command adds 2 TB of recording space to the drive and you can do that up to 3 times. So repeat those two command until you have run out of space or have run them 3 times.

If you happen to add more space than is available to add with mfsadd, mfsaddfix will reset the APM to remove the added partitions. Then when you put the drive back into the TiVo, it will ask that you divorce the external drive. Go ahead and do so.

If you are experiencing any issues after the process, run a kickstart 58 on boot up. Some people are experiencing connection issues such that the connection does not complete and this seems to resolve it. I would stay away from kickstart 57 as I invariably get a green screen boot loop. MFSTools can help you recover from this in most circumstances.

There are no warranties or guarantees with these images and I take no responsibility for anything that happens using these images or loss of recordings that could happen by using these tools. You are logged in as root so you could do dangerous things to your system if you are not careful. Be aware that TiVo could change their OS in the future that may cause loss of recordings because of the drive being expanded. If there are any issues with these files let me know and I will see what I can do.

Last edited: Nov 29, 2019
"Delay is preferable to error" - Thomas Jefferson
"I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them" - Carl Friedrich Gauss"
Thank you.

I have saved your post to my computer and printed out a copy to keep by my PC when trying this.

I got as far as my current progress, I get to the point where I run into"

" INTERGER ARGUMENT EXPECTED FOR -M"

I used an 8TB hard drive, initialized it with the TIVO, used MFS 1004 tool on windows to expand the drive.
When I try to clone the drive over to the 14TB drive using those instructions, I get that Interger error as seeon on the screenshot.

Any idea what went wrong or how I can fix?

Thanks.

 
#215 ·
So you created an 8 TB image using an 8TB drive and MFSR.

Did you boot the drive in the TiVo to make sure it worked okay.

I am unable to view the picture you posted.

How are you cloning the 8TB image over to the 14 TB drive.
 
#214 ·
If this was my full time job, then not a problem. However this is not.

It is my goal to someday do something like that when the time avails itself. When that time is, is anybody's guess.
Maybe you can start a Kickerstarter, Gofundme, Indiegogo account and raise some donation money for doing the project?

Alternatively, is there like a place that you can post projects that multiple people can work on it? Kind of like Linux, Open office, Freebsd or other open source projects?

What do you think?

Thanks.
 
#216 ·
What is this talk of 14TB? Do we think that is possible?
I just bought a Roamio Plus, and I'm looking to upgrade it. I'm willing to risk a little money on testing parts if that is helpful. Whether that is buying a 14TB drive, or buying a weaknees one just to take a look at it (has been tempting).

I have time, this unit does not have to be put into immediate service
 
#217 ·
It is possible to make a 14 TB image. Fastest way is with MFSTools on an image without any recordings on it. I do need to upload the latest ISO so that you have the latest mfsaddfix program to make it possible. I'll work on getting a new ISO uploaded this week.
 
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#218 · (Edited)
That sounds great, and with a new box on the way (blank with no recordings), I will be in the perfect condition to test this out

Is 14 TB thought to be the current limit, or can it go higher. I need to know what hard drive to order. On that subject, is there a recommended brand/line to use? I know back in the day it was WD green drives, but I don't think they go that large.
 
#219 ·
So the largest image you can make via MFSTools method only is 20 TB.

Generally you want a drive that does not run hot. This usually is a 5400 rpm drive.
 
#223 ·
Wow. I would do that but for the finding of a drive that size, and while I have a pair of 8TB units, those are not the units slated for upgrade. The Roamio Pro coming in from ebay is the one due the upgrade.
 
#224 ·
If you clone the 8 TB MFSR drive to the new drive you can go up to 24 TB image.
My 8TB drive is in a standard, 4 tuner Roamio. The inbound 14 TB drive is slated for the newly acquired Roamio Plus.

What about the following idea?

Clone 8TB drive to 14 TB drive.
Expand 8TB image to use rest of 14 TB drive
Install cloned, expanded (transplant) drive into Roamio Plus.

I'm aware the recordings are encrypted, and would be lost, most likely requiring a C&DE, but the 8TB mfsr MFS partition structure should survive that. Will this then give me a running 14 TB system, with room for future upgrade to 24 TB?
Since there is no way to preserve recordings, is there a faster way to do this? Is there possibly a mfsbackup/mfsrestore operation which could let me start out at a blank 8TB on this 14TB drive?
 
#226 ·
That may work. The issue is that you need to marry the image to the Roamio. I am not sure how that process is handles by the Roamio. Does it just clear things put or does it reformat the drive. The former is not a problem. The latter is.

I am thinking in all my experimentations in developing the ancillary tools, that it is the former. I remember somehow I did something that lost the added partition information in the MFS system but the partition information was still in the APM. It was then I added the switch to mfsadd to add already described partitions in the single digits back to the MFS.

The way mfsaddfix works is to see what partitions are available in the single digits and move the added partitions there. If the partition has some size to it, then it is not a "placeholder" partition and look for another one. If it cannot find any, erase what was added and let the TiVo fix the issue on reboot. (Which with my testing was about a 50 50) The way mfsadd works is that it creates the partition sizes first and then adds the infor to the MFS. Since the partitions are already described in the APM, we just need to add them back into the MFS.

As I write this I am beginning to recall what I did and that was a C&DE on a MFSR image that was expanded to 10TB. The C&DE took it back to 8 TB but left the moved partition information alone. So I needed mfsadd to add the information back. Thus the need for the new switch in mfsadd to allow it to do that.

All that to say, yes it should work. The steps would be.
1) clone the 8 TB to your new larger drive.
2)since the image is from another Roamio, put the cloned image in the intended Roamio and run a C&DE on itnto marry the image to the intended Roamio.
3)Run the mfsadd followed by mfsaddfix until you run out of space.

The faster way would require ggeseike to modify MFSR so that it would recognize that the drive is over 8TB and limit the image it makes to 8TB. Since that is such a niche usage and he, like everyone else working on MFS related tools have a lot of other things going on, that modification is low on the priority list.

If you are adept at using dd to copy portions of the drive to another drive, then I think there is a way to cut that time down to create the 8 TB image to about 15 minutes. PM if you are interested.
 
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#225 ·
Can you give a recommendation on a duplication dock? I've done this in the past with dd or ddrescue, but I don't want to tie up my computer for a day, or run the risk of a command line parameter error and scrambling the wrong disk.
I've looked at https://www.amazon.com/SATA-Hard-Drive-Duplicator-Eraser/dp/B00G6TG5YE and it looks like it will do what I need.
 
#227 ·
That one would work.

To be truthful, I have an old USB 2.0/eSata Thermaltake BlacX Duet that I have used up to 12TB drives that was only rated at the time for 4TB. I think sometimes the dock ratings are limited to the size of the available drives to test. However YMMV so go with one that is rated for the drive you are working with.
 
#228 ·
Also let me update the ISO to add the new mfsaddfix before you start.
 
#230 ·
Now that the coffee kicks in, the MFSR layout is different than a standard TiVo and we would have to copy at least 2TB of data do it won't be the 15 minutes I said initially. In reality we do not have to copy the whole 2TB, but I do not know how much needs to be copied.
 
#232 ·
You might have to put the remote in IR mode to access the KS portal. Weaknees information should work.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
#233 ·
TY...
After running mfscopy probably 20+ times to different drives, came to conclusion that 14 partitions is the only amount tivo would like?!. Would get 15 or 16 partitions and those invariably failed on tivo in different ways.
Is 14 the magic number?
Anyway, after mfsaddfix etc. would always run: bootsectorfix, mfsck, lsscsi etc to see consistency before installing back in tivo.
Was going to try dd copy, but never got around to that.
 
#234 ·
So I'm picking up a refurbished Roamio 3TB to replace my failing one (not interested in an Edge.) I have a WD EasyStore 10TB that's been sitting around that I'm going to drop in. It sounds like, according to the instructions, that I should clone and expand the 3TB to a spare 4TB drive first, then run this to expand to a full 10TB?

Thanks!
 
#235 ·
That is not what the instructions state. You do not need an intermediary drive.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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#239 ·
im curious if this has ever been attempted.. you go through the steps of formatting a new drive inside the tivo, but then put the original back in and then attach the new formatted one externally by esata.. does the tivo see the externally connected tivo formatted drive, or does it cry its not supported? (or vice versa, put the new one inside the tivo and the old one connected by esata so youd have 2 drives connected)
 
#241 ·
No, it will not work. The external can be added using MFSTools but the internal and external drive have to connected to the computer at the same time. The information on the external drive gets added to the internal drive MFS header.
 
#246 ·
Need some details on your setup. What TiVo unit, current working internal drive, and external drive you are adding. Also what enclosure is the external drive in?
 
#248 ·
You can do it either way. If external, what external enclosure will you be using.
 
#249 ·
its more of an external dock than an enclosure..

so i would bless the 8tb drive in the tivo (up til it gets to the what county setup window), then use the formatter on the pc so all 8 tb are available, then with mfstools and the 2nd drive connected to my pc also, use the command i previously posted so one is marked as the external?
 
#250 ·
No.

Have the internal and external drive connected to the computer and boot MFSTools

The command would be mfsadd -fxm 2040 /dev/sdX /dev/sdY where sdX is the internal drive and sdY is the external drive.
 
#252 ·
Before putting any drive in service for a TiVo, I would recommend a full diagnostic with the manufacturers diagnostic program to include a full read, followed by a full write and another full read.

But a little late for that now.
 
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#254 ·
Yes and yes.

Strongly recommend doing the diagnostic runs stated above prior to putting it in use.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
#255 ·
Wait, so this software would let me transfer over my recordings from my 3tb drive to say a 10tb drive? Are western digital red(not pro) still the go to drive for an upgrade?
Myself, based on my current research, I would recommend the Purple over the Red. The Red has NAS type firmware which assumes there are other drives connected in RAID. The Purple has specific AV type error correction firmware. Both seem to use TLER but the Purple seems to be a better choice for an single drive AV device like a TIVO because of the specific firmware. IMO. Read info on the drives at the WD site, also read up on TLER. I also recommend what jmbach says about running full R/W/R tests on a drive before putting into service, even if a new drive. On really large drives that could take almost a week. But worth it for peace of mine I think, I am getting errors on my large drive upgrades, not sure what is causing them (two different Tivos, 10 and 12TB drives), COULD be drive errors, could be other things, if I had done the R/W/R tests before the upgrades I could most likely eliminate the drive issue possibility.
 
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