# Rescue programming from bad drive to new drive same Series 2 TiVo ?



## sh77 (Jan 25, 2010)

Hi all,

Hope this is the right place. Sorry for a long post. I don't speak Linux, but probably have done enough self-taught tech stuff in other areas to be dangerous with consumer electronics if I tried.

A while back desperately hardware/device cloned my brother's dying corrupted TiVo (Basic) Series 2 drive just before it failed completely. Don't know how complete the dup was, but clone didn't work either. There were many hours of unseen shows "lost" but the unit worked fine when I put in a commercial TiVo-upgrade drive for him. (A similarly made clone of that works.) Just before setting the bad clone aside, curiosity got some Linux boot disk image for a PC and was able to see some directories and files on it.

Recently found that clone of the bad drive when cleaning. I recalled reading that TiVo somehow ties saved recordings to the mobo of each particular unit, and since that unit is still alive, was wondering if surviving program files can be easily identified (by MB-GB size or location?) and transferred. Are they self-contained and can be simply copied to the right directory on a newer working drive and be recognized? Or maybe less straightforward, can some set of working TiVo system files replace whatever corrupted files kept the original drive and its clone from booting (I don't recall whether it reached Welcome Powering or Almost There). Googled and looked around here, but didn't see any procedure like this. Maybe my search terms are poor, or maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree.

I respect those who have taken the time to master Linux/TiVo hacking, but I don't have that much free time right now and I don't have a TiVo myself to play with - but I'm not afraid to ask a dumb question or two if it could solve a problem. 

Thanks for any info.


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