[hantousha]

I have Tivo Series 2 (40GB) need to upgrade to 400GB. Is there a clear instruction of how to go about it? Will it increase my capacity? I have Ver 7.1 of the software. will it automatically detect the extra space and increase my capacity i.e. does it have the limitation in the previous version of only 130GB LBA issue.

Will a Hitachi 400 GB work better or a Seagate 400 GB. Any help or links I can refere to will help. I read through the posts and could not find anything straight to the point.

Thanks.

 

[litzdog911]

Well, you won't find any instructions much clearer than Weaknee's step-by-step instructions (see their thread at the top of this forum). You don't need to worry about the LBA48 limitations as long as you use that latest LBA48-capable version of MFS Tools.

I think that either the Hitachi or Seagate will be fine.

 

[AnotherWin95]

I agree - I used Weaknesses instructions and did a 120GB upgrade and it went smoothly.

Now viewing 136 hour basic capacity on my TiVo.

 

[1283]

The largest partition you can create with MFSTools is 275GB, so you can use only 40GB+275GB=315GB of the drive. You need to get the 140-hour image (120GB) in order to maximize the usage of the 400GB drive.

 

[wscannell]

You should be able to use the whole 400GB drive by adding a -r 4 switch to the restore operation. This increases the allocation size for the drive allowing a larger than 274GB partition. The instructions may not show this switch, but it can be added.

 

[jsouthavalon05]

Yes... the -r 4 switch made it works. I tried to put 350GB+250GB the backup, the restore went o.k but wouldn't boot up. Once I put -r 4 in place it works

 

[mplotsker]

i too would like to upgrade to a 400gb drive in my series 2 tivo. my tivo service number starts with 540-0001. is this a "TiVo TCD540XXX model" mentioned in the hindsdale howto that has larger drive support? what is the largest drive i can put in my tivo.
is it possible to use symantec ghost to ghost the original tivo drive to a new one? one can expand the swap and data partitions using ghost i think.

thanks
m

 

[wscannell]

Ghost does not understand the mfs partitions that TiVo uses. mfstools is the best tool. Follow the Hinsdale instructions and you should be ok.

You TiVo should be ok for larger drives (software version 5.0 and later).

 

[hantousha]

I used MFStool 2.0 and it only gave me 147hours for a 400 gb drive? Is there a more recent version of the MFStools 2.0 that supports LBA48?

 

[weaknees]

hantousha-

You are likely booting into Linux with an older kernel that supports only 137 GB of a drive.

Michael

 

[weaknees]

mplotsker-

This model does have large drive support - but be aware of the issues surrounding partitions greater than 256 GB.

Michael

 

[hantousha]

Where can I get a bootable CD image for MFStool with the latest Linux kernel that would support drives larger than 137GB?

 

[wscannell]

Both weaknees and PTV upgrade have them available on their web sites. See ads at top of page.

 

[shifty]

mplotsker-

This model does have large drive support - but be aware of the issues surrounding partitions greater than 256 GB.

Michael

What are thes issues or where can I read more? The hindsdale guide mentions that TCD540XXX models aren't limited to 274GB (256GiB) partitions.

I'm digging around on this old topic (I'm newer member, using search) because I just ordered a 400GB and 300GB Seagate IDE drive and I'm wondering if I should just using MFSTools to partition out the 300 to 256GB or if I should just go for the gusto and partition out the full 400 for use ...I'm swapping out the drive.

hindsdale's guide makes it sound like the TCD540XXX can use any sized drive with no limitations.

I understand that the TCD540XXX, which is what I have, requires a specialized Mfs tools boot CD. Is this what you're referencing?

 

[atmuscarella]

If you follow the instructions from this site exactly:

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/index.php

Including downloading the software needed from their links (ISO image & MaxBlast), you shouldn't have any problems with larger drives.

Good Luck

atmuscarella

 

[classicsat]

What are thes issues or where can I read more?

The issue is block allocation size (I am not sure if it is a function of mfstools itself, or the mfs system in general.) Without the -r4 extension
The blocks are smaller, which means an up to 274 GB (256 GiB) partition. The -r4 option increases block size, allowing for the same amout of allocation units, only larger ones.

The theory is (using possibly hypothetical numbers.):

You can allocate only 262,144 allocation units per partition..

The default setting would set up 1 MiB blocks, which would mean up to a 256 GiB.
-r4 would allocate 4 GiB blocks, which means up to a 1024 Gib partition.

 

[shifty]

thanks guys.

this was a stupidly easy upgrade. it only took about 30 minutes once the stuff was collected. i got one of the new 400GB Seagate drives (they're quiet and 5yr warranty, beats the crap out of maxtor, WD and the others). i zipped through the upgrade (one disk replacement). it's as easy as setting up the drives correctly on the computer and typing one single command. granted, i know linux, but if you can follow a simple instruction and type a single command you're good to go.

i hear the TiVo crunching away. it says i now have up to 456 hours of record time. not bad. i'm happy

thanks for link atmuscarella, it helped a lot...and thanks for the heads-up classicsat.

i'll hafta hitup the weaKnees site and pick up a fan upgrade and some other stuff later this week. when these 400GB drives drop below $175, I'm going to upgrade to 800GB dual. i got this drive from Compuvest 's store with no rebates @ $220. Not sure what other mods might be helpful in this situation.

even though i know Seeagate has one of the most acoustically quiet drives on the market, the thing is still pretty noisy acoustically. it really made a mess of racket for the first 20 minutes after booting up. not sure why though.

 

[1283]

even though i know Seagate has one of the most acoustically quiet drives on the market

No, Seagate doesn't. Rotational noise is generally no longer an issue with FDB motor. However, current Seagates do not support acoustic management, so their seek noise is louder than Maxtor/WD/Hitachi/Samsung (with AAM set to quiet).

 

[2004raptor]

Question on upgrading.
I have a Maxtor ide 250GB hard drive I have been using in my pc for a year or two now. I don't know the model # but it does have fluid bearings in it. It's not my main drive just something I store video,backups, music, etc. on.
My motherboard supports SATA (my main drive is a WD Raptor) so I was considering just buying a ~250GB SATA to replace the 250GB ide and using it (the ide) in my tivo.
Any issues since this drive has been used for a while in windows.

Also, when I take the plung I'd like to upgrade two tivos (mine and someone else's). So can I do everything at home on my pc/tivo and just go over to the other persons house with the drive and just simply open the case, remove the 40GB, and put the new one in. Or is there more to configuring it after the new drive is in?

 

[Lannister80]

thanks guys.
i'll hafta hitup the weaKnees site and pick up a fan upgrade and some other stuff later this week. when these 400GB drives drop below $175, I'm going to upgrade to 800GB dual. i got this drive from Compuvest 's store with no rebates @ $220. Not sure what other mods might be helpful in this situation.

I hate to say it, but I got a pair of WD3200JB (320GB WD Caviar line, quiet, cool, 3 year warranty) drives for $122 each, so after the $30 WeaKnees kit (bracket, powertrip, etc), I have a 733 hr TiVo for a grand total cost of $303, plus a spare 80GB original drive (which I plan on keeping just in case).

$179 TiVo (540080) - $150 TiVo rebate + $244 for new drives + $30 WeaKnees kit.