No. You may be able to expand the internal drive using MFS_Tools or Win_MFS, or DVR_Dude can transfer them for you to a larger hard drive, but transferring copy protected shows off an unmodified TiVo is not possible.
External storage for copy protected shows
I asked something similar on the HD Tivo forum, but I thought that more people may visit this forum. Most of my shows are copy protected. Can those shows be transferred to the external storage drives with backup featured on Weaknees? I need more space on my HD Tivo and I want to be sure to not lose any in case of a drive failure.
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wont the copy protected media needs codecs to play the video like on the web.
I don't know what you are asking, here. Copy protected shows (e.g. CCI > 0x00) cannot be transferred at all from an unmodified TiVo. From a hacked TiVo, it's a different matter, but then hacking a TiVo is a whole different matter, as well.wont the copy protected media needs codecs to play the video like on the web.
If one does transfer the content from a hacked TiVo, then no, one needs nothing more than tivodecode or VideoRedo.
If you attach an external eSATA drive you can expand the storage in your TiVo without effecting anything that's already on it.
Dan
Dan
If your goal is to store copy protected shows in external storage you are better off going the route of the pirate...
True, but that won't help her if her primary drive fails, which I believe is her concern, at least in part.If you attach an external eSATA drive you can expand the storage in your TiVo without effecting anything that's already on it.
If that's the case then there is nothing she can do. There is no way to backup encrypted shows without hacking.
If she really needs a backup of the shows then she's better off just downloading them from Bittorrent and backing them up on a PC.
Dan
If she really needs a backup of the shows then she's better off just downloading them from Bittorrent and backing them up on a PC.
Dan
The only other option is to upgrade the internal drive with a full drive copy to the new drive and sit the old drive on the shelf. It doesn't help with any recordings after the upgrade, though. (It's not encrypted programs that are the problem, BTW, it is shows marked with CCI > 0x00. Even with encryption shut off, one still cannot transfer videos via the normal TTG and MRV mechanisms if the CCI byte is set.)
That, or hack the TiVo, and if she has a Premier, that is not an option at this point.
That, or hack the TiVo, and if she has a Premier, that is not an option at this point.
If just backup in case of a failed drive is the concern, then perhaps attaching a 2 drive eSATA RAID system with a mirrored drive (RAID 1) would be a solution. This doesn't add any space available with the 2nd drive, but guarantees one drive has all of the shows if the other goes belly up. Pretty techie solution, and the internal drive would have to be mirrored also - perhaps by removing it and bringing the SATA cable out to another hardware mirrored RAID box.
If one is going to go to the trouble of doing a RAID solution, there seems little point in applying it to the secondary drive target. I don't know about the Premier, but on the THD swapping the primary and secondary drive is trivial. There are two main issues, though. First, whatever the spindle topology, the selected RAID system is going to have to look like a single, large drive target to the TiVo. It can't announce itself as what it really is; a RAID volume mounted on several physical block devices. Secondly, unless one wants both a blind array - not good in the event of a spindle failure - and a management nightmare, the array will need to be able to talk to the network via Ethernet. I have no doubt there are some RAID chassis out there that fit the bill on both counts, but the requirements severely limit the available choices.If just backup in case of a failed drive is the concern, then perhaps attaching a 2 drive eSATA RAID system with a mirrored drive (RAID 1) would be a solution. This doesn't add any space available with the 2nd drive, but guarantees one drive has all of the shows if the other goes belly up. Pretty techie solution, and the internal drive would have to be mirrored also - perhaps by removing it and bringing the SATA cable out to another hardware mirrored RAID box.
The main issue, however, is that RAID is NOT a backup solution. RAID failures are commonplace. I will admit, an embedded application like the Tivo suffers from far, far fewer failure modes than a general purpose PC, but I still hesitate to recommend it. That said, if the user is really adamant about implementing a RAID system, I would definitely recommend either RAID6, or a 3-way RAID1 mirror. A 4 spindle RAID6 array wth 3T members will offer the user 6T of storage. A 3 spindle RAID1 array offers triple redundancy with a very healthy 3T of storage.
I think you may be able to replace the internal drive with a RAID. But of course, as lrhorer points out, your solution must present itself to the TiVo as a single drive.If just backup in case of a failed drive is the concern, then perhaps attaching a 2 drive eSATA RAID system with a mirrored drive (RAID 1) would be a solution. This doesn't add any space available with the 2nd drive, but guarantees one drive has all of the shows if the other goes belly up. Pretty techie solution, and the internal drive would have to be mirrored also - perhaps by removing it and bringing the SATA cable out to another hardware mirrored RAID box.
However, I don't think that works with an external drive connected to the eSATA of a TiVo HD or a TiVo Premiere. I believe that both those boxes will only work with very specific model numbers of external drives. The acceptable drives correspond to whatever WDC was using in their expander boxes. So generic drives just won't work.
Still, as lrhorer also points out, you should be able to swap the SATA ports on the box, thereby convincing the TiVo that the external is really an internal (and thus subject to less rigid validity checks).
Finally, I think the original Series 3 will work with any brand drive plugged into the external interface. So you may be able to fake that one out with an external RAID.
nope.. an original S3 that is UNMODIFIED will accept most eSata devices and not complain, however if it has a modified primary drive you will need to use WinMFS or similar to marry them. There are also a number or Seagate Free Agent drives that the S3 will not accept because there were conflicts with them operating properly.Finally, I think the original Series 3 will work with any brand drive plugged into the external interface. So you may be able to fake that one out with an external RAID.
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