# Upgrade hard drive, keep programs and settings



## glen4cindy (Jul 18, 2003)

Hope this question is not an off-limits question.

My DirecTivo is getting old. Going on 5 years. Starting to see occasional glitches when watching Live TV.

In any case, I'd like more room than the 67 hours my unit currently has.

What is the best upgarde option to keep all my recordings, Season Passes, Wish Lists, settings, and everything PLUS have alot more space?

I'm somewhat familiar with a 137 GB limit, but, I was wanting to go to at least 160 GB if I'm going to crack the case and get my hands "dirty".

I am very comfortable with cracking my case on the DirecTivo, so that isn't a problem. I also have a "workbench" PC that I can use the secondary IDE cable to connect the original Tivo drive and the new higher capacity drive. I have read some and know that I will need some sort of Linux Boot CD to accomplish this, but, I'm not sure where to buy or download this CD image and get the instructions.

I plan to put my current drive on a shelf and just have it in case something happens so I will have an image to fall back on should something go haywire on the new drive.

I'm not interested in adding any "hacks" to my DTivo, just want to have more space and retain my programs and settings.

Thanks in advance!


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## John T Smith (Jun 17, 2004)

Use WinMFS to clone and expand into a larger drive... I've done it with several 80gig originals to 320gig replacements

http://mfslive.org/winmfs/
http://mfslive.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=11


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## Rainy Dave (Nov 11, 2001)

John T Smith said:


> Use WinMFS to clone and expand into a larger drive... I've done it with several 80gig originals to 320gig replacements
> 
> http://mfslive.org/winmfs/
> http://mfslive.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=11


I'll second the WinMFS recommendation. It is a great way to expand your DVR.


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## glen4cindy (Jul 18, 2003)

John T Smith said:


> Use WinMFS to clone and expand into a larger drive... I've done it with several 80gig originals to 320gig replacements
> 
> http://mfslive.org/winmfs/
> http://mfslive.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=11


From what I read on your first link, WinMFS does not back up my recordings which is one thing I don't want to lose.

I want to keep everything and just have a bigger drive.

Thanks.


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## AlphaDelta (Jan 9, 2007)

WinMFS _will_ copy your recordings. Used it myself. Its terminology could be better.
MFSBackup = make a backup of TiVO OS.
MFSCopy = Copy OS and recordings.


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## glen4cindy (Jul 18, 2003)

Yes, thank you .

I did some more in-depth reading and saw that it will indeed copy my recordings.

I am very leary of connecting Tivo hard drives to a windows system, but, I see that there is a proven track record with doing so, as they will not be mounted in Disk Management.

Now, I just have to find a hard drive. I have been on several sites but, seems that the Seagate DB35 series hard drives are the best to use in a DVR.

Where is a good source to find these, or will any Seagate or good manufacturer's hard drive be sufficient?

Thanks again. I think I am well setteled on using the WinMFS for this operation because of it's track record and because I am not interested in applying any hacks or going back to 6.2 and taking chances that something will go wrong!


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## John T Smith (Jun 17, 2004)

If you have two USB adapters/connections, you run no risk that I know of in connecting your drives to a Windoze computer

I used Western Digital 320gig drives from Newegg (about $60, as I remember) and they work great

WinMFS copied everything from old to new and then, at the very end, asked if I wanted to use the extra space... I said yes, and my time went from 70 hours to 275


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## glen4cindy (Jul 18, 2003)

Awesome.

Thanks.

Would this be suitable?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136199

Now I'm getting excited!


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## seedcar (Aug 8, 2005)

That one will work. If it were me, I would probably spend $5.00 more and get the 320Gb:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136109


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## John T Smith (Jun 17, 2004)

I agree with seedcar... get the 320


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## glen4cindy (Jul 18, 2003)

Awesome. 

Thanks.


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## bengalfreak (Oct 20, 2002)

You can get 750GB for around $70.00. Do what I did and go to the Seagate outlet center sale and order the Maxtor OT3 750GB external USB drive. Use coupon code outletfreeship to get free shipping. Once the drive arrives, take a screwdriver and remove the outer case. Just a couple of Phillips head screws. Inside you will find a Seagate model # ST3750640A 750GB IDE drive. You'll void the warranty on the USB enclosure, but if you look the bare drive up on the Seagate web site, you'll find that it is warranted for five years. I did this on my DirecTivo and its working great. 750GB space for $70 with a five year warranty, can't beat that deal with a stick.


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## glen4cindy (Jul 18, 2003)

AlphaDelta said:


> WinMFS _will_ copy your recordings. Used it myself. Its terminology could be better.
> MFSBackup = make a backup of TiVO OS.
> MFSCopy = Copy OS and recordings.


Okay, I'm in the middle of this operation right now.

The one question I have is this.

Way back when, with tools link Hinsdale, they told us to NEVER boot a Tivo drive in a Windows PC, to always boot with a boot CD.

Well, I'm using MFS, so, I did boot my old Tivo and new Tivo drives in a Windows PC.

What prevented Windows from overwriting the Tivo Boot section like it would in the past? I've seen MANY posts from users who thought they were booting a linux CD only to have Windows boot and mess up the boot section of the Tivo drive.

This is the only point that worries me!

Like I said, I'm not done yet, so I don't know if this is no longer a problem, or, if there is some step in the MFSCopy that takes care of the Tivo boot thing.

Thanks!


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

glen4cindy said:


> Okay, I'm in the middle of this operation right now.
> 
> The one question I have is this.
> 
> ...


IIRC Windows 2000, XP pre-SP1 were the main offenders. They'd blindly write windows boot info onto any hard disk they saw.

Later service packs of XP, and I think Vista, are much better behaved and won't do that unless you actually open up windows disk manager program. (Also, winmfs has a menu option to re-built the tivo boot info which you can use if it accidentally gets overwritten)


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## glen4cindy (Jul 18, 2003)

Yes, I finally found that after I posted the question.

Everything is working great.

I didn't see the recommendation to buy the 750 GB for a bit more, and for now will be happy with the 320 GB. You never know, I might do this again and opt for the 750 GB or bigger. I've lived with an 80 GB since we bought it!

That gives me 275 hours according the the system screen, a few less than MFSlive estimated, but, it seems to have done exactly what it was supposed to have.

Only took about 35 minutes too.

I have now turned Suggestions ON because I now have the space to play with. I know they are not supposed to trump scheduled recordings, but, I didn't really want to take any chances before!

Thanks for all the help!


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## akaye (Jan 3, 2004)

We use suggestions as a gauge to see how we are on space. If we have lots of suggestions, we know we're ok, when we get down to only 10 or 20, we'd better start thinking about what we're keeping.

By the way, would those in the know please tell me if this HDD I have lying around would be adequate for use in my R10. I don't know if these older PC drives can hold up to the 24/7 DVR usage:

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB ATA/133

In replacing my dying RCA DVR-40 with an R10, I've gone from 160GB to 80GB, and I don't know that I can trust whatever drive in the old unit.

thx,
AK


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## Bob_Newhart (Jul 14, 2004)

glen4cindy said:


> Yes, I finally found that after I posted the question.
> 
> Everything is working great.
> 
> ...


Yeah, the MSF software works great. Last year I had a hard drive in one of my Tivos die so I bought a copy of Instantcake ($20) that was manufacturer specific. It worked but it was a pain because you had to make a bootable CD and boot to that.

This summer I had a hard drive in another Tivo die (a different manufacturer) so I figured I'd have to buy yet another version of Instantcake.

Luckily I found out about MSF. It is so much better. It's free, it copies all your shows and settings. It works through Windows so it is real easy to work with.
I can't wait for another Hard drive to die now.


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## glen4cindy (Jul 18, 2003)

akaye said:


> We use suggestions as a gauge to see how we are on space. If we have lots of suggestions, we know we're ok, when we get down to only 10 or 20, we'd better start thinking about what we're keeping.
> 
> By the way, would those in the know please tell me if this HDD I have lying around would be adequate for use in my R10. I don't know if these older PC drives can hold up to the 24/7 DVR usage:
> 
> ...


The drive I pulled out of my Hughes DirecTivo was just a standard 80 GB Western Digital hard drive. Nothing different about it at all as far as I could tell.


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## akaye (Jan 3, 2004)

glen4cindy said:


> The drive I pulled out of my Hughes DirecTivo was just a standard 80 GB Western Digital hard drive. Nothing different about it at all as far as I could tell.


Some models of drive are designed for intermittent use in desktop PCs and will not hold up well to the non-stop 24/7 reading and writing in a DVR.
They will fail prematurely, or overheat, or maybe just be too noisy.

I know my drive will "work," I just don't know if it's good choice, considering I can buy 160GB with the software image already on it, for, what, $70 from some sources?

ApK


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

you are far better with a new or refurbished drive.http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/store...Category_ID=2&page=prod&type=Model&ModelID=26 comes with image installed


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