# Upgrading HD question



## marspinball (Feb 20, 2006)

Hi

I just found this site during my search for knowlegde on how to upgrade my TIVO HD. I'm going to use the instructions on the "Interactive Tivo Upgrade" site and had one question that could not be answered.

I have a late model series 2 with a 40GB HD and just purchased a 250GB to replace it.

My question is does the HD have to be formatted first before attempting the upgrade. I know the backup drive has to be FAT32 but not sure if the new drive has to be or if it is done during the upgrade process. My computer runs on XP with NTFS.

Thanks, Martin


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## Maxnl (Jan 7, 2006)

You don't have to format it at all, just put it in and follow the directions... 
And don't forgot that running windows with your tivo drive connected will make the tivo drive non-bootable. 
If you want to make a backup of the 40g then you need another hard drive with fat32. 
If you just are doing a drive to drive copy with no backup I would disconnect the windows drives completely.


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## mick66 (Oct 15, 2004)

marspinball said:


> I know it has to be FAT32


No, you don't know. It doesn't have to be FAT32 at all. When the copy is made it still won't be FAT32.


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## marspinball (Feb 20, 2006)

Maxnl said:


> You don't have to format it at all, just put it in and follow the directions...
> And don't forgot that running windows with your tivo drive connected will make the tivo drive non-bootable.
> If you want to make a backup of the 40g then you need another hard drive with fat32.
> If you just are doing a drive to drive copy with no backup I would disconnect the windows drives completely.


Any reason to make a back-up since I'm going to keep the original 40gb intact once it is removed.

Will a drive to drive copy retain all the recorded programming? I'm not interested in keeping any programming. What would be the best way to just move what is necessary for tivo to work without the recorded shows. Should every program be deleted before the upgrade?


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## Maxnl (Jan 7, 2006)

If your not going to change anything about the original drive like formatting it for other use, and its not failing, then you really don't need a backup.
If you don't need your recordings, you can choose the ignore recordings choice on the instruction site, and it will copy over your SP's and your to-do list along with any settings. The NP list will still appear to be full but none of your recording will play, so it doesn't matter if you delete them before or after the copy. Copying programs will make the copy much longer.


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## marspinball (Feb 20, 2006)

One more question:

Without doing a backup or moving programs over how much time should it take the new HD to be ready to use. I have seen on other threads that it can take hours with moving the programming/shows over to the new drive but I just want to upgrade to a larger HD.


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## mick66 (Oct 15, 2004)

Just a couple of minutes.


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## tommage (Feb 24, 2006)

marspinball said:


> One more question:
> 
> Without doing a backup or moving programs over how much time should it take the new HD to be ready to use. I have seen on other threads that it can take hours with moving the programming/shows over to the new drive but I just want to upgrade to a larger HD.


Well I had 77GB of recordings on mine (80GB cap), did full copy to 200GB. Took about 20 hours. Yes 20 hours (that is just the copying itself, not including taking out/hooking up drives), computer AMD 2400 with 1GB ram. Was worth it though. I used the "Weaknees" boot CD with computer hard drive disconnected completely. I did notice at Hinsdale they say if doing a complete copy the best way could be Linux dd copy whatever that is (I know nothing about Linux). Was actually going to ask myself if that method is any faster? Do be careful entering the commands, kind of reminds me of old DOS (typing in commands). If you make a mistake with a drive letter/designation or something you could copy to the wrong drive (ie from the new drive to the old drive). Does not appear to give much of a warning, assumes you know what you are doing.


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

Another trick to speed up the copy is make sure the source and destination drives are on separate IDE channels (cables).


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## marspinball (Feb 20, 2006)

I did the upgrade successfully on two Tivos, upgraded both to 250gb. I used the following command:

mfsbackup -f 9999 -so - /dev/hdX | mfsrestore -s 127 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hdZ 

Took very little time and both worked!!

I have another question regarding the swap file. Will the 127 SF size be adequate for a 250gb drive??

Thanks


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

Yes, 127M swap is perfect for a single 250G drive


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