# Series 2 to 1 TB Hard Drive Upgrade



## PhatJD (Aug 8, 2006)

Hopefully a very quick couple questions for you all. I just received the HD Tivo. I am currently using a series 2 Tivo that I upgraded to a 160 GB HD a couple years ago. Today I purchased a 1 TB Hitachi drive to upgrade the HD Tivo. 

My question is this...To get all my shows copied over to the new 1 TB drive do I need to run WinMFS 2 times? One, from the old series 2 (with the original recordings) to the HD Tivo Drive. Two, from the HD tivo Drive to the new 1 TB drive?

Mind you, I haven't even taken the HD Tivo out of the box so could I go from series 2 to the 1 TB or is there some Tivo software on the HD Tivo I need to activate first?

Thanks a lot.


----------



## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

You only need run WinMFS once; to copy from the original TiVo HD drive to the replacement. You don't need to activate TiVo service on it first.

You cannot copy across TiVos with WinMFS (or any other drive copying scheme), you must do that with MRV over the network.


If you are going to transfer the TiVo service from the Series 2 to the TiVo HD, you can set up the TiVo HD with the 1GB drive (but not activate), and set up the original TiVo HD as a PC drive, and T2G transfer the Series 2 recordings to it, transferring them to the TiVoHD after you transfer service to it.

Another option to keep recordings is to just watch them from the Series 2; you can always do that if the sub is dropped or transferred to another box.


----------



## PhatJD (Aug 8, 2006)

Can I copy the files from series 2 to 1 TB HD using the Mfscopy option in WinMFS?

I am planning on transferring the tivo service to the new HD Tivo. So do i need to activate the tivo with the 160 GB drive that came with it or can I copy everything from the series 2 to the 1 TB and then activate with that? Totally bypassing the 160Gb drive altogether?

Thanks


----------



## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

You can not copy the recordings from a Series2's hard drive to a THD's (TiVo HD) hard drive using MFSLive or any other program that is known about here. (more accuracy recordings that will actually play)

If I understand correctly, you want to replace the hard drive in the THD with a 1TB Drive and transfer the recordings from the old S2 to the new THD.

1: Replace the hard drive in the THD with the 1TB Drive using MFSLive or WinMFS.

2: Setup and Copy the recordings using a network and MRV (Multi Room Viewing) TiVo to TiVoHD or with TiVo Desktop TiVo -> TiVoDesktop -> TiVoHD

You can activate the THD either before or after replacing the hard drive the subscription is tied to the TiVo's Mother Board. Remember opening the TiVo can void the warranty.

If you do not want overlapping subscriptions then you will have to upload the recordings to a PC over a network using TiVo Desktop before canceling the subscription on the Series2.


----------



## PhatJD (Aug 8, 2006)

Thanks for the info. 

I just opened the box and it says the HD Tivo is preactivated. Does this affect anything or should I still go from Series 2 hard drive to 1 TB hard drive?


----------



## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

The Series2 hard drive and anything on it will **NOT** work in the TiVo HD.

Connect up the THD to the network and use your wireless connection on the Series2 to copy the recordings to the THD using MRV. You can transfer the programs before or after replacing the hard drive in the THD. I suggest you upgrade the drive in the THD before loading a bunch of stuff on it.


----------



## PhatJD (Aug 8, 2006)

I was planning on transferring service to the new HD tivo. Not going with the multi room viewing. Other than that there is no way to get the shows off the series 2 to the new 1 TB HD?

I haven't found anything else regarding this in the forums so is it just a matter of the series 2 not being compatible with the series 3?


----------



## dwit (May 5, 2004)

PhatJD said:


> I was planning on transferring service to the new HD tivo. Not going with the multi room viewing. Other than that there is no way to get the shows off the series 2 to the new 1 TB HD?
> 
> I haven't found anything else regarding this in the forums so is it just a matter of the series 2 not being compatible with the series 3?


For the final time, *except MRV transfer, there is no way to copy shows from one Tivo unit to another*. Doesn't matter if it's Series 2, Series 3, etc.

Even if it's the exact same model, shows cannot be copied from one hard drive to another(to be placed in a different Tivo unit), except if it is done by "mrv" transfer.

You can however use the Tivo to Go program to transfer shows to PC. Then from the PC, shows can be transferred to another Tivo unit,


----------



## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

You cannot copy individual or groups of recordings directly from the HDD, especially to another DVR's drive. 

It is that there is no PC based software to pull recordings, directly from the drive, and the recordings are encrypted to the particular DVR, not to mention doing so is considered extraction, which is a forbidden topic on this forum.

You can only copy the whole drive, which doesn't work across DVRs, because of encryption and in your case, they are very different models.

You can only transfer them over the network. Stop.


----------



## PhatJD (Aug 8, 2006)

I think we're all a little confused here. I don't mean to copy and individual show from one drive to another. I mean to upgrade or clone or copy or whatever term you want to use the capacity of the entire drive (original series 2) including the shows that are on there (to a 1 TB drive). 

this quote from one of the earlier topics explains what I want to do ...

"If you want to backup your recordings too,then you need to choose the MFSCopy option in WinMFS which requires that the original Tivo drive and new drive be connected at the same time -- in which case you may want 2x SATA -> USB adapters."


Can this be done from a series 2 to an HD Tivo or new 1 TB drive?


----------



## dwit (May 5, 2004)

You keep asking, and we keep telling you...NO.


----------



## PhatJD (Aug 8, 2006)

Is it because I'd be going from an IDE HD to a SATA? 

When i upgraded my original Series 2 to a 160 GB I didn't lose any of my recordings.

Thanks for bearing with me.


----------



## dwit (May 5, 2004)

PhatJD said:


> Is it because I'd be going from an IDE HD to a SATA?
> 
> When i upgraded my original Series 2 to a 160 GB I didn't lose any of my recordings.
> 
> Thanks for bearing with me.


No. It's because shows just cannot be copied, cloned, etc., from one drive to another, unless the drive is going to be put back in the same tivo unit. That's the way Tivo is designed.

There is a chip on the Tivo motherboard that knows whether or not it recorded a show. It will not, cannot, play a show it didn't record itself.


----------



## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

PhatJD said:


> Is it because I'd be going from an IDE HD to a SATA?
> 
> When i upgraded my original Series 2 to a 160 GB I didn't lose any of my recordings.
> 
> Thanks for bearing with me.


No! it is not the drive, it is that the TiVo's store the files in different formats.

From your posts in other threads I know you have your Series2 connected to your home network using a wireless adapter. The only way to transfer recordings between TiVos is with MRV or TiVo Desktop.

If you do not want an overlap of service it is possible to use the PC (with TiVo Desktop) to store your recordings from the Series2. Then activate the THD and get the recordings from the PC again through the network.

If you do not have enough storage on the PC consider using the 1TB drive in the PC then upgrading the THD later after you have transfered the recordings off the PC to the THD from TiVo Desktop over the network.


----------



## PhatJD (Aug 8, 2006)

That makes sense. I think I'll go the tivo desktop route for now. Thanks for all the help.


----------

