# Upgrading Series 2



## vcudnik (Sep 8, 2006)

Alrighty, experts, I'm at the planning stage for doing my upgrade. I'd like to _not_ brick my box, since I have the lifetime plan. (I bought a spare series 2 at a garage sale for parts for future repairs.) I used to have a link to great step-by-step instructions, but can't find it. Series 2. (hint, hint)

I've been looking at the various software options; I don't mind paying for utilities if they work, so I'm up for recommendations. I'm having a hard time deciding what's right for me since most of the new stuff is geared toward series 3 and HD boxes.

Seems to me I'll have to break one of the old PCs out of the attic if I want to use InstantCake, but that I won't have to do anything with my existing Tivo drive; with WinMFS I can use the USB, but will have to mount and copy my existing drive first.

Rather than add a second drive, I plan on replacing the existing one, ideally keeping the original on a shelf for "emergencies."

I'm fairly tech savvy, I've built a few windows machines (though I'm a Mac user myself). I have a laptop and a usb hard disk enclosure, will this work? Or need I buy one of the cables. Seems to me they do the same thing. I realize this limits my size to 400GB, which compared to my 40 hour box, is still HUGE.

In the meantime, I'll be watching and/or backing up my shows to my laptop.

I can't imagine watching tv without tivo anymore. I know it must seem crazy to some people to upgrade "old" technology, but I tried HD with my cable company and I wasn't impressed.


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## robomeister (Feb 4, 2005)

For the most up to date tools, check out spike25's excellent site, www.mfslive.org. You can either use the bootable CD with command line utilities or WinMFS for use with Windows XP SP2 and higher. I've used both with great success. If you are going to use the bootable CD, there is a convenient command line generator on the site, to help you along.

You'll need a PC to do any upgrade. I've always used one with 2 IDE ports. Both of the above methods work with SATA and external USB drive enclosures. I haven't tried these myself, but I've heard others have had success using them.

Good luck,
robomeister


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## vcudnik (Sep 8, 2006)

Thanks for the reply.

I may just give WinMFS a shot, using my USB HD enclosure with my laptop running XP SP2. Perhaps I'll try on my "extra" Tivo first.

Any hints on avoiding system upgrade problems?


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## robomeister (Feb 4, 2005)

As long as you don't write to your working TiVo hard drive, you should be fine. If the backup and restore doesn't work, you still have a working hard drive. Also, keep in mind that you need about 200-300 MB of free space for a truncated backup file, a highly recommended step. Always have a backup of you software in case your working drive dies on you.

Good luck and happy upgrading!

robomeister


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

Look at the link in my signature for how I did it...


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