So you still have the original hard drive in there?I have a Series 3 Tivo (w/ lifetime) that has been running great for the most part. Occasional lockups occurred, but a total power down (pulling the plug) has always helped solved it.
Well, today I was transferring a video file over my home network (totally wired) with PyTivo and it stopped in the middle of the transferred and locked up the unit. I unplugged it, waited a few seconds and plugged it back in, but it got hung up on the welcome screen for over 20mins. Unplugged it again, waited and plugged back in. Hung up yet again on the welcome screen.
Decided to unplug it and let it sit for a while. Came back about 2hrs later and plugged it back in. This time it appeared to boot up normally & it got back into all the channels. I thought all was good, but about 15mins into watching an HD channel, I started getting occasional audio & video breakup a bit. Changed it to a SD channel and wasn't having any issues. Haven't tried transferring another video with PyTivo yet either.
I'm not sure if there is anything to really worry about here & maybe I am overeacting, but bottom line is I'm wondering if the hard drive might be failing. If so, I decided I need to maybe look into and learn as much as I can about installing a new hard drive in this S3 if needed.
I feel pretty comfortable about doing it myself since I have custom built desktop PCs on my own and installed hard drives in computers MANY times. From what I have learned so far from here, I can basically use WinMFS (http://www.mfslive.org/winmfs/) and then have to have a TiVo ISO image of some kind.
Is this correct? Or is there an easier way? Or can someone maybe point me to a better place that will lay out how to change/upgrade a TiVo drive?
Also, what are some better brand of hard drives for putting in this Series 3? Seagate, WD, Hitachi, etc?
Or you can get a pre-imaged plug-in HDD from DVR_DUDE on eBAY, which doesn't cost a lot more than buying a bare drive plus Instant Cake -- and is a lot less trouble.........
3. Do it ASAP. If you lose your HD, you will be forced to spend $40 on InstantCake.
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What you have uses a SATA drive.Yea, hard drive is still in there & its a S3 TCD648250B (HD with front clock and LEDs). Not sure if this matters, but it has the original drive in it too & hasn't been upgraded at all.
Now, about 30 mins after I wrote that last post (after a 2+hr cool down period), it locked up again. Was responding slow to the remote just before it totally froze up (& all lights on the front lit up). Therefore, I am now really thinking its the hard drive that is going. Or could it be something else? I would think if its a power supply, then the unit would not have any power going to it (& I wouldn't have seen all the front lights come on), right? Maybe not though.
I unplugged it again and let it sit over night. Plugged it back in this morning and all apears to be working fine (for now), but I probably need to do something here.
I think I do have some extra hard drives laying around that can be spared so I can essentially practice on one here and prep it to be put in as needed. Get the hang of what needs to be done.
What kind of drive does this unit take? IDE or SATA? I have more spare IDEs laying around, but do also have some SATA ones that can be spared as well. A 500GB Western Digital (SATA) that will probably be the best since its not currently full of much right now.
Where should I then begin & get info on how to prep an original S3 TiVo drive?
Option 1 is also do-able with the MFS Live cd v1.4OK, this S3 unit wound up freezing up on me again shortly after my last post so I am gonna go the full route of replacing the hard drive. When it froze, I simply unplugged it, pulled it out of my entertainment center and set it aside so its not running at all right now.
For now & since I had a lot of family members coming in for the holidays, I just went to my local Comcast office and picked up a HD box to use for now. I will have to take care of this S3 unit when things calm down a bit in our household.
From what I have read and understand it, I essentially have 3 options for hard drive replacement in this S3:
option #1 = use my spare 500GB WD drive along with WinMFS to essentially make a clone of the current drive. Requires BOTH drives be put in a PC and the cost is free
option #2 = Use InstaCake and basically build a new TiVo drive from scratch onto my 500GB WD drive. Only requires the one drive in a PC and cost $40.
option #3 = Buy a preformatted hard drive from the guy on ebay (DVR_dude) that is prepped and ready to simply be swapped out with what is in there now. Cost varies depending on drive size.
Are these assessments about right? I will probably start with option #1 for now and hope I can get through the process (& the drive isn't too bad to actually be able to do it). If unable, I'll have to move to either option #2 or 3.
If I do purchase InstaCake, is it useable for any TiVo? I ask cause I have a Series 2 DT that is working perfectly fine, but I might like to upgrade it in the future (or if/when the S2 drive might fail as well) & was hoping one purchase of InstaCake will cover both my TiVos (& maybe even if I get a Premiere down the road)
Not necessarily the case. It depends on your cable company. I just replaced my series 3 HD with a brand new drive from weakness and I didn't have to call comcast - all channels worked fine upon startup.aymanme said:One more item, if you can image / backup your current drive to the new drive -AND- have it work, it will save you the hassle of dealing with the cable company. If you create a new drive, you will lose the cable card pairing information (which is on your current drive). If you can salvage it, it might save you some time.
also, pm sent.
Possibly true and maybe things have changed, but I thought from some time ago OP was in Atlanta, and as I recall, they offer self install but you must call to do the authorization.Not necessarily the case. It depends on your cable company. I just replaced my series 3 HD with a brand new drive from weakness and I didn't have to call comcast - all channels worked fine upon startup.
Funny you mention this. I was gonna generate a different forum post concerning this matter & wasn't sure if I would be affected or not. Recently, I was having some billing issues concerning my 2 S-cards from Comcast. Its a long story, but basically, a person in my local Comcast office suggested I bring in and swap my two S-cards for two M-cards.One more item, if you can image / backup your current drive to the new drive -AND- have it work, it will save you the hassle of dealing with the cable company. If you create a new drive, you will lose the cable card pairing information (which is on your current drive). If you can salvage it, it might save you some time.
Well, I am not familiar with Linux at all so that concerns me a little. I've seen some mention good things about 'DVR_Dude' on ebay and I guess that could be an option too.-- it works if you know a bit about your way around Linux.
This sticky at the top of the forum is pretty good. WD Green drives are pretty much the standard to use and the same drives that TiVo uses in their devices.Which 1TB drive models are currently available that will work in a Series 3?
Seems like the approved list is way out of date, but the upgrade services have drives, so something reliable must be out there.
I did see that. I thought the newer WD Green drives don't work. Then I saw that the intellipark feature can be disabled.sticky at the top of the forum is pretty good. WD Green drives are pretty much the standard to use and the same drives that TiVo uses in their devices.
