# Running weaknees mfstools hangs computer



## spaceboy (Jan 21, 2006)

Hi,

I'm trying to upgrade my stock 540040 to a 300 GB seagate.

I downloaded and burned the weaknees iso file.

My setup is:

hda -> tivo original HD (jumper set to master)
hdb -> seagate 300gb HD (no jumper - slave)
hdc -> CD-ROM (jumper set to master)
hdd -> N/A

The bios detects the master/slave and cd-rom successfully.

I set the bios to boot from the cd-rom. It seems to freeze as Linux is loading (before the command prompt appears). It's intermittent...if I reboot, it will go to the command prompt, and as soon as I type the command (mfsbackup...) it freezes!

Once, I managed to get 40% of the backup/restore process, and then it froze!!

I suspect it could be flaky hardware...however, I do not have another computer (i.e. PC) to test this on.

Has anyone experienced this before? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob.


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## ForrestB (Apr 8, 2004)

I don't see a FAT32 drive in your setup. Typically there should be (1) FAT32 Windows drive in your setup so MFSBACKUP can backup/compress from the old Tivo drive to a tivo.bak file (on the FAT32 Windows drive) and then you'll use MFSRESTORE to restore/expand from the tivo.bak file to your new Tivo drive.


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## spaceboy (Jan 21, 2006)

All the drives in the PC are NTFS (running windows 2000). Does the drive have to be FAT32? can it be NTFS?

By not having a FAT32 drive, can this lock up the computer during the CD boot sequence?


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## spaceboy (Jan 21, 2006)

Also, I'm using the weaknees instruction guide, and the following command:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdX (/dev/hdY) | mfsrestore -s 127 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hdZ (/dev/hdZZ)

Therefore according to my setup above, I do:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hda | mfsrestore -s 127 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hdb

Does there need to be a FAT32 hard drive to store the backup? I thought this command back's up and restores on the fly?

Thanks.


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## ForrestB (Apr 8, 2004)

I'm wrong and you're right. You can backup from one drive and restore directly to the new drive according to http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/MFSTOOLSREADME.txt

I really don't know why it's not working for you.


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

You may have a corrupted CD or bad/dirty CD Drive try burning the mfstools CD at a slower speed. 

In the PC be sure to use the IDE cable that came with the hard drive the new cables have twice as many conductors for better noise immunity at the faster speeds. 

If the above does not help try running a memory diagnostics there are free ones available on the net like memtest386.

The backup/restore will go faster if the two drives are on different IDE channels. 
Suggest : 
hda -> TiVo original HD (jumper set to master) 
hdb -> N/A 
hdc -> Seagate 300gb HD (jumper set to master) 
hdd -> CD-ROM (jumper - slave)


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## spaceboy (Jan 21, 2006)

Ok...Thanks for the tips everyone. I will try them out later today, and let you know.

The computer I'm using is an old PIII-450 from 1999...

Rob.


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## spaceboy (Jan 21, 2006)

Okay, so, I replaced the CD-ROM and re-burned the CD at a slower speed.

When I boot into Linux, I immediately get this error message:

hda: 80293248 sectors (41110 MB) w/2048KiB Cache, CHS=4998/255/63, UDMA(33)
blk: queue c031fda8, I/O limit 4095Mb (mask 0xffffffff)
Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 8f008e0c
printing eip:

<some big error message with lots of hex numbers>

It seems to be erroring at the tivo original drive? could this be a messed up drive?

Thanks.


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

Test your theory try booting with the drive unplugged. 

Paging errors can be attributed to bad memory get a different computer or get memtest86.


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

HomeUser said:


> The backup/restore will go faster if the two drives are on different IDE channels.
> Suggest :
> hda -> TiVo original HD (jumper set to master)
> hdb -> N/A
> ...


would this configuration setup also work if I wanted to make a backup of the 6.2 image along with saving recordings and season passes?
my setup would be:
hda>>> Tivo original drive(Primary Master)
hdb>>> empty
hdc>>> Seagate 250GB drive(Secondary Master)
hdd>>> CD-RW drive(Secondary Slave)


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

Yes, you will need a drive with a FAT32 partition to save the backup on. You could create a small FAT32 partition on the new drive, make the backup, then with the TiVo drive removed boot W2000 make a copy of the image from the new drive. Mfsrestore will wipe out any partition(s) that are on the new drive when you do the "piped" backup | restore.


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## bnm81002 (Oct 3, 2004)

HomeUser said:


> Yes, you will need a drive with a FAT32 partition to save the backup on. You could create a small FAT32 partition on the new drive, make the backup, then with the TiVo drive removed boot W2000 make a copy of the image from the new drive. Mfsrestore will wipe out any partition(s) that are on the new drive when you do the "piped" backup | restore.


if I need a small FAT32 drive then can my setup be,

hda>>> Tivo original drive (Primary Master)
hdb>>> Quantum 8GB Fat32 drive (Primary Slave)
hdc>>> Seagate 250GB drive (Secondary Master)
hdd>>> CD-RW drive (Secondary Slave)

will this save my season passes, saved recordings and make a backup image of 6.2 software? thanks again


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

Sure


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## spaceboy (Jan 21, 2006)

Okay, Thanks HomeUser!

I managed to get another computer (newer - p4 3.0ghz) and did the transfer successfully from the 40gb to the 300gb.

It seems that my original computer was pretty flaky. I didn't run the memory test, but I'm pretty sure it was a hardware issue.

The only thing now, is that the seagate 300gb (7200.9) seems quite noisy...I need to research how to reduce this...I can hear the seek noise from across the room.

Anyway, thanks very much again to HomeUser and everyone else who helped me with this trying upgrade.

Rob.


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## spaceboy (Jan 21, 2006)

An update to the noisy harddrive issue...

It was only noisy for the first day (although exceptionally noisy). Now, it seems pretty quiet. If I put my ear to the Tivo, I can hear faint seek noises, otherwise, I can hear only the hum of the Tivo itself (if anything).

Rob.


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