# Add another internal 1TB hdd to Model: TiVo TCD649180



## tim_ver (Nov 30, 2007)

I have seen an old article here saying what hdd you can use to put into your Tivo system. I want to upgrade my Series unit "Model: TiVo TCD649180" now and add on a new hdd to give it more space. I have found these drives below and would like to know if any of them can be used to achieve this goal.

*This is the one I saw on the forums here "posted last year"*

Hitatchi Deskstar 7K1000.C HDS721010CLA332 (0F10383) 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

*These are the ones I would like to use:*

Western Digital - Caviar Black 1TB Internal Serial ATA Hard Drive for Desktops
Model: WDBAAZ0010HNC-NRSN

Western Digital - Caviar GP 1TB Internal Hard Drive
Model: WDBAAY0010HNC-NRSN


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

tim_ver said:


> I have seen an old article here saying what hdd you can use to put into your Tivo system. I want to upgrade my Series unit "Model: TiVo TCD649180" now and add on a new hdd to give it more space. I have found these drives below and would like to know if any of them can be used to achieve this goal.
> 
> *This is the one I saw on the forums here "posted last year"*
> 
> ...


Go here

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8276804#post8276804

and then read the post after that one where I say which 1TB WD Caviar Black drives I'm using (successfully, so far) in tcd649080s. (Only difference between them and the TCD649180 is they come with an 80GB drive and the TCD649180 comes with a 160GB drive)

(Here's a hint:WD1001FALS)

The model number on the retail box (at least the 2 with which I walked out of Best Buy ) is WD10000LSRTL.

The model number on the retail box that Best Buy shipped to me is WDBAAZ0010HNC-NRSN, but it's the same drive inside.

I've got one of these drives in one of my DTs, and 2 of them (along with the $39 Twinbreeze bracket, fan, and power delay kit from Weaknees) in the other one.


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## tim_ver (Nov 30, 2007)

So how did you prep you hdd "format" to add into the Tivo? Do you have the original hdd in it still or did you put in two new ones?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

tim_ver said:


> So how did you prep you hdd "format" to add into the Tivo? Do you have the original hdd in it still or did you put in two new ones?


I have 2 TCD649080 Series 2 Dual Tuner TiVos.

I used the MFS Live CD v1.4 (http://mfslive.org/) to do a backup and restore from the original drive to the replacement on both.

On the first one, which I bought used last spring, I was in too much of a hurry. I didn't test the backup I made, and (I forget what now) something went wrong with the original drive or I used it for an experiment or something, so I couldn't use it for an image later.

I bought the second one used, not originally intending to subscribe it, back in Oct. or Nov. I made a backup of its original drive and put that drive on the shelf un-altered.

On the first one (which I got for my mom), I originally went from the original 80 GB drive to a 500, which she filled up a lot sooner than I ever anticipated. Temporarily added a second 500 velcro-strapped on top of the first, eventually wound up subbing the second unit, putting in a 1 TB drive, using MRV to copy over all the shows from mom's machine, then set up her machine with 2 1TB drives (and the Weaknees TwinBreeze $39 bracket kit), and am now moving those shows back over, via MRV, to her machine, a very tedious process.

When I went from the 80GB to the first 500GB drive, this created all the partitions TiVo will allow per drive on the 500, so I couldn't just copy straight over to the 1TB without losing half of the space, which is why I had to back up to the other machine and start from scratch.

If you use the search function to find all of my posts here, and read them *and the ones around them*, which are often by those who know more than I, or by someone asking about something I learned the hard way, you'll learn a lot about how to put bigger drives in Tivos and how not to.

I strongly suggest that you make a truncated backup of the original drive in your Tivo (you can do it to a big enough FAT32 partition on your "winders" machine, if you've got one, and burn it to CD), put the original drive on a shelf somewhere (with the connectors covered with electrical tape to slow down you or anybody else before you use it for anything), then take another drive at least as big (it can be the new one you plan to put in your Tivo), and restore the image to that drive and test it in the TiVo, to make sure that the backup is good.

Your original drive is only 160GB. Best not to re-use it, just keep it wrapped up on the shelf for future reference. You can install one 1TB drive now (with proper IDE-SATA adapter) and another (along with dual drive bracket) later if money is a consideration.

If you want to save the recorded shows on your current hard drive, let me know, and I'll amend the above instructions to allow for that.


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## tim_ver (Nov 30, 2007)

I was looking at getting the weaknees: TwinBreeze Complete w/PowerTrip for Dual Tuner TiVos TwinBreeze Complete w/PowerTrip for Dual Tuner TiVos. Then get one 1TB hdd and add it to the unit to give me more space. Is this the best way or is it easy to move recordings off original hdd to one 1TB hdd and annd a second so I have 2 1TB hdd;s in the unit??

Thanks


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

tim_ver said:


> I was looking at getting the weaknees: TwinBreeze Complete w/PowerTrip for Dual Tuner TiVos TwinBreeze Complete w/PowerTrip for Dual Tuner TiVos. Then get one 1TB hdd and add it to the unit to give me more space. Is this the best way or is it easy to move recordings off original hdd to one 1TB hdd and annd a second so I have 2 1TB hdd;s in the unit??
> 
> Thanks


It's tired and I'm getting late. I'll tell you how to do that tomorrow.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

tim_ver said:


> I was looking at getting the weaknees: TwinBreeze Complete w/PowerTrip for Dual Tuner TiVos TwinBreeze Complete w/PowerTrip for Dual Tuner TiVos. Then get one 1TB hdd and add it to the unit to give me more space. Is this the best way or is it easy to move recordings off original hdd to one 1TB hdd and annd a second so I have 2 1TB hdd;s in the unit??
> 
> Thanks


Use the MFS Live CD v1.4 (or, I suppose, WinMFS).

http://mfslive.org

For the sake of illustration, let's call your original TiVo hard drive /dev/hda and the new 1TB replacement /dev/hdb, although you don't have to hook them up that way, you just have to carefully keep track of how you do have them hooked up so that you don't copy a blank new drive onto your original TiVo drive.

First do a truncated backup of the original drive to somewhere, a USB thumb drive, a FAT32 partition on your computer's hard drive with at least 1GB of free space, something like that.

Then restore the backup to your new drive, and put it in the TiVo and test it.

If it works, you've got a good backup and a good new drive.

Remember, the truncated backup has all the TiVo files, but not your recorded shows, even though "Now Playing" may still have them listed, but that's just a table of contents at the front of a book that's actually all blank pages after that.

Next we'll wipe out what you just put on the new drive. (It still exists in your backup file, which you should also copy from wherever you put it to a second location, like maybe burn it to a CD.)

With the original drive as hda and the new, freshly tested 1TBdrive as hdb...

backup -Tao - /dev/hda | restore -s (insert new swap partition size here) -pi - /dev/hdb

(If this were a Series 1 machine, you would not use the -p switch, but on S2s you do)

There's no space between the hyphen and the "T", there is a space between the "o" and the next hyphen, and a space after the hyphen before the /dev and there's a space before and after the "pipe" ( | ).

The pipe takes the output of the backup command, and instead of sending it to a backup file, makes it the input of the restore command.

You'll be copying 160GB, it'll take a while.

Regardless of what you may read in the readme's or other instructions, never use the -q switch. It just hides information from you.

After successful completion of the backup | restore, reboot and run pdisk -l to make sure the old drive and the new drive have the same partitions (although you'll likely have made the swap size on the new drive larger--I'd go for 500MB, on a 1TB you can afford it), then put the new drive in the TiVo and test it.

All of your programs (shows) should actually be there.

If you go into "System Information" you'll see you still have the same number of possible hours. Don't panic.

Now hook the new drive back up to the computer (and take the old drive off and put it on a shelf with electrical tape across the contacts to discourage anyone from using it).

Use mfsadd to fill up the rest of the new drive with a third MFS partition set.

Put it back in the TiVo. You should now see your extra hours.

If you ever want to add a second 1TB drive, you can hook up it and the first 1TB drive and use mfsadd again to put TiVo partitions on the second drive and "marry" it to the first one.

None of the above is a substitute for reading all of the readme's and FAQs and instructions, and it wouldn't hurt to spend some time going back through some of the threads at

http://mfslive.org/forums/

Holler if you get lost.


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## tim_ver (Nov 30, 2007)

Ok, thanks for the reply. 

I would like to keep my current drive in the unit and just add a new 1TB hdd. I see weaknees has one add kit for $249 and a kit comes with "one hard drive, torx tools, IDE cable, drive mounting screws, TwinBreeze upgrade bracket, PowerTrip, power splitter, printed instructions". Can I get a hdd from Newegg or BB and prep the drive my self and just order the $39 kit with the other items from Weaknees? Would I need anything else?


Also can I add on a larger hdd than a 1TB, like a 2 or 3TB hdd? 


Thanks


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

tim_ver said:


> Ok, thanks for the reply.
> 
> I would like to keep my current drive in the unit and just add a new 1TB hdd. I see weaknees has one add kit for $249 and a kit comes with "one hard drive, torx tools, IDE cable, drive mounting screws, TwinBreeze upgrade bracket, PowerTrip, power splitter, printed instructions". Can I get a hdd from Newegg or BB and prep the drive my self and just order the $39 kit with the other items from Weaknees? Would I need anything else?
> 
> ...


It's only 160GB, and it's a used drive, and two drives doubles the chances of something going wrong eventually.

Seriously, use it to make a good truncated backup from, and then use it to copy over all your shows, and then put it on the shelf without erasing anything from it, just in case you get yourself in a bind some day, in which case you'll finally realize just how brilliant I am. : - )

If you can't easily afford 2 big drives just now (been there, done that, still don't have enough left over for the T-shirt), just go with the one big one and a SATA-IDE adapter and see how it does.

The LK-13415 adapter from WOWparts should work okay in your machine and be cheaper than the ones necessary for the more finicky Series 1 machines. It's what I'm using in the double drive unit I set up for my mom.

You can put off the $39 and the cost of a second drive and second SATA-IDE adapter for awhile.

I bought the $39 bracket kit (which includes the 2 drive cable and powertrip and a fan and all that) and put in a 1TB from Best Buy. Well actually I put in the drive first and then got the bracket kit and another 1TB drive from BB, so it came out cheaper than paying $250 bucks and only getting one drive.

If I had lots of money and not much time or previous TiVo wrangling experience I could see going with a pre-fab drive from Weaknees or the Instant Cake people*, both of whom I believe are sponsors here.

*I think they used to be PTV Upgrade and now they're DVR Upgrade.

You can use 2 1TB drives, but you can't use 1 2TB drive. I read somewhere on this board, and elsewhere, that 1.2TB per drive is the upper limit for Series 2s, but I don't know if that lets you use a 1.5 and forget about the last .3TB or not.

Put the 2 or 3 TB drive in your computer and install the TiVo desktop software to store shows on it instead if you really need all that space (and have that much $$$ to throw at it).

Despite my blindingly obvious brilliance, allow me to suggest that you read what others on this board have writen as well. The thread about upgrade drives for the Series 3, for example, has lots of good hard drive info in general.


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## tim_ver (Nov 30, 2007)

Ok, Is there a way to view my current hdd to see how many hours I have total, and how many I have left to use on it?


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

tim_ver said:


> So how did you prep you hdd "format" to add into the Tivo? Do you have the original hdd in it still or did you put in two new ones?


It seems I can't add another edit to my original reply to this post for some reason, so here's what I wanted to insert.

...On the first one (which I got for my mom), I originally went from the original 80 GB drive to a 500, which she filled up a lot sooner than I ever anticipated. Temporarily added a second 500 velcro-strapped on top of the first, eventually wound up subbing the second unit, putting in a 1 TB drive, using MRV to copy over all the shows from mom's machine,

****We interrupt for an important edit****

I now recommend using TiVo Desktop--the free version--to copy (they call it transfer) shows from a TiVo for eventual restoration to that or another TiVo, as the original info, including time and date originally recorded, is preserved. Transferring to a second TiVo via MRV without TiVo Desktop involved loses that info, which often includes episode number and other stuff, and makes it look like everything was recorded at the date and time of the transfer.

Be advised, TiVo Desktop can be a little buggy, but it hasn't caused me any data loss yet and I'm working it like a rented mule.

****We now return you to the original sentence****

then set up her machine with 2 1TB drives (and the Weaknees TwinBreeze $39 bracket kit), and am now moving those shows back over, via MRV, to her machine, a very tedious process...


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## tim_ver (Nov 30, 2007)

I now have another Tivo TCD649080 where the HDD died. It just sits on the power up screen. I am looking at putting in a new 500GB or 1tb HDD. I do not need to transfer shows as the HDD is dead. What are the steps to format the new HDD and get the tivo back up and running?

This is what I was looking at using for a new drive:

http://www.amazon.com/Avolusion-SAT...ref=sr_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1303370927&sr=1-7

Model: WD1001FALS

Thanks


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

tim_ver said:


> I now have another Tivo TCD649080 where the HDD died. It just sits on the power up screen. I am looking at putting in a new 500GB or 1tb HDD. I do not need to transfer shows as the HDD is dead. What are the steps to format the new HDD and get the tivo back up and running?
> 
> This is what I was looking at using for a new drive:
> 
> ...


That adapter (basically the same as the partsdom/wowparts adapter) and that drive will work in a TCD649080 (I'm using that combination in one right now), providing that there's nothing else wrong with the TiVo. (You might want to figure out a way to add a hard drive cooling fan, those Caviar Blacks run a little on the toasty side)

Have you actually removed the drive from the Tivo and hooked it up to a computer and checked it out with the manufacturer's diagnostic software, or used the MFS Live cd or WinMFS to see if the partition map is still intact and if "mfsinfo" shows it to be good or not?

In other words, maybe the drive's okay, and something else is wrong.

If you can't get the TiVo far enough into the boot process to be able to run "kickstart", then it might not be the drive that's at fault.

That adapter is cheap enough you should get 2 or 3 just to have on hand, even if your Tivo's motherboard or power supply is the problem. Just remember it'll work on the S2 DT, but not on a Series 1. You have properly educated yourself by reading the adapter sticky, right?

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=416883

Something you can do as an experiment, the results of which please post back here, is to either use that backup of the TCD649180 which I told you to make, or use the drive out of that unit as a source, and restore to a drive at least as big as 160GB, and see if the TCD649180 image will work in a TCD649080.

If you wind up needing a TCD649080 image, PM me and we'll work something out.


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