[wizzle]

So I've seen this question asked various ways, but I'm looking for an answer specific to my scenario.

I (finally) bit on an upgrade to replace my nearly 10-yr-old tivo hd box. In choosing a Roamio w/ lifetime, I will have no time constraints in getting recordings transferred.

Thing is...I'm torn as to the method in getting the recordings transferred. Tivo's method seems OK as the copyrighted shows aren't that big an issue.

I've twice replaced the HDD in the tivo hd. First one was to get expand to 1TB. All recordings from my series 2 TiVo transferred wonderfully. Likewise, when the 1TB had a number of years service and began making crude noise, I MFS copied to a 2TB drive with success.

Now what happens in scenario of MFS copy series 3 and booting it up in the Roamio? Will it boot and magically perform a software upgrade to the latest available or can I expect trouble?

Alternatively, is there an option w/ MFS tools to ONLY transfer the recordings to a drive and not bother the TiVo image otherwise?

This attempt, I'm going with a 3TB drive in the 'new' Roamio so. All else fails, I'll just do their connect option and transfer everything I can directly between the two.

Thanks to all of you who put the work giving customers the power to upgrade/maintain functional HDDs in every generation of TiVo made. TiVo has to realize as well that this gives them a much bigger customer base where they aren't on the hook to support the drive replacement process.

 

[ThAbtO]

The only way to get recordings off is to transfer from the original Tivo that recorded it. You cannot just copy the drive (totally encrypted to that Tivo) and just pop it into another.

Both Tivos that you are going to use to transfer needs full active Tivo service or it will not work. Series 3 and older models need lifetime already active because monthly and yearly gets deactivated when they expire and will never be activated again.

 

[mattack]

yeah, to be specific, you'd have to use something like kmttg to get the _uncopyprotected_ shows off to a computer drive, then transfer back to another Tivo..

 

[mattack]

or of course you could copy directly from one tivo to the other, as long as they're on the same acct & network.. That's "more work" overall, but you can do it a few shows at a time for example.. and you're (AFAIK) guaranteed to have full copies.. whereas if you download to a computer, the transfer will _stop_ when there are glitches in the recording, so you'll have to check them...