Series 1 TIVO - To upgrade or not

Yes, it's tedious, but not difficult to put in a new hard drive. My SVR-2000, an open-box unit, showed signs of stuttering very early on. We put in a new drive and haven't seen any problems except when the drive gets VERY full.

Since my husband swaps drives in and out all the time and knows Linux, we followed the Hinsdale instructions and did our own upgrade. The main problem we had is that our computer was too old and its BIOS would not recognize a TiVo-sized drive, so we had to set up a different computer to perform the backup and upgrade. If we had used that computer from the get-go, the process would have taken us about 2 hours.

If you don't want to deal with getting your own new drive and copying your old one, there are drop-in replacements available from third-party vendors (however, by doing this you will lose your recordings and settings).

In either case, check out the Upgrade forum for details on what options are currently available.

I love my SVR-2000 -- as far as I am concerned, it is totally worth it to fix if it, especially if it is a Lifetimed unit.

Good luck!

Jan

 

I repaired a S1 by replacing the hard drive, which experienced a head crash. Set it in a tightly sealed wrapper in the freezer overnight, took it out in the AM and let it sit at room temperature for a couple of hours before I hooked it up and ran the restore to the new drive. I've also upgraded several TiVos.

Question is, how comfortable are you opening a computer case, connecting and setting jumpers on hard drives, being able to read and execute instructions, and asking for help if necessary? Even if you're not, but you're willing to learn, you should pull through.

If you want to avoid that experience, there are forum sponsors who can send you a replacement upgrade drive that you can pop in the TiVo. You have options. Head over to the Upgrade Forum and see what you can find.

 

If you're comfortable with PC hardware, the Series1 is no big deal. Just be careful, the power supply in it is unshielded and can give you a nasty shock if you're not careful.

 

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And if you copy your drive yourself, don't boot into Windows with your TiVo drive attached to your computer.

Jan

 

Do a search of other threads in TCF. If I am not mistaken, a Series 1 w/lifetime and purchased prior to 2001 may have a one-time grandfathered transfer. The wording of the lifetime agreement back then was not explicit and could be interpreted to mean the life of the owner, not the unit.

If that is the case for you, buy a new dual tuner unit and transfer the lifetime instead of upgrading. If you have broadband Internet service, the S2 features are superior to the S1.

 

The magic date is Jan. 20, 2000.

 

Look to get a Series 2 unit, you should be able to transfer the lifetime to it, just talk to the right CSR at Tivo.

Upgrading the Series 1 will work, but the cost and time is not worth it, because later on done the Road you will ned to upgrade.

Hope this helps

 

You can get a big HDD now to upgrade the Series 1. If that doesn't pan out, you can use it in the Series 2.

Or you can upgrade to a Series 3, if that floats your boat.

 

Classicsat, you missed the part where the OP wants to keep the S1 because it has Lifetime Service.

 

i had the same issue. same unit, but my harddrive was making a lot of noise. i recently upgraded with a new drive from dvrupgrade.com. works great, however i am currently having a problem with it not automatically retrieving the programming data every 2 weeks. i have to manually do it.

on a similar note, anyone know how to upgrade a svr 2000 with a network card?

 

I just did it with my Series 1. I purchased the Turbonet card from 9th Tee and found installation instructions at: http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/installation_instructions/standalone-turbonet.pdf

It was very easy and absolutely trouble free. Just remember to plug into your network prior to changing the dial-in prefix. Also your router will assign an I.P. address to the TiVo so make sure it does not conflict with other devices that may have fixed I.P. addresses you previously may have assigned. It your router assigns all I.P. addresses automatically, then you will not have any problems.