# Somewhat confused



## rogerbar (Nov 10, 2008)

I want to replace my DRT800, 80Gb hard drive with a new 160Gb hard drive.

Some posts on the web make it sound like all I need to do is pull the old drive out and insert the new drive and boot it up.

Also, there are sites out there that want me to buy software that will 'prepare' my new hard drive for TiVo service.

What is the right approach?


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

You can purchase a new drive that is pre Tivo ready or you can Tivo ready a blank drive yourself with specific software. Either way the replacement drive needs to be setup as a Tivo drive, so can't just pop in a blank drive and expect it to work.


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## jbernardis (Oct 22, 2003)

for a pre-tivo ready drive, see weaknees.com or dvrupgrade.com. This is the route I took, and it couldn't be any easier. I never built my own drive from scratch, but there are people on this forum who can give you pointers. I believe you need a piece of software called instantcake, the version of which varies based on the type of unit you have.


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## a4wanman (Jun 21, 2005)

read up on WinMFS. You can copy your existing recordings/setups to a larger drive. WinMFS will expand the necessary partitions.

The InstantCake CD/image is used for installing a "base" tivo image on a blank drive.


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

jbernardis said:


> for a pre-tivo ready drive, see weaknees.com or dvrupgrade.com. This is the route I took, and it couldn't be any easier.


You can also purchase the same Tivo ready drives on ebay for much less.


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