# Tivo Romaio RAID



## jjohnston (Feb 8, 2017)

Weird question. I have a Tivo Romaio 500g version laying around. I wanted to try and build a multi hard drive RAID for it to run off of. maybe throw the tivo guts into a computer tower case, or rack mount case etc. But have around 4 Hard Drives setup in a RAID for it to use.

I know, its probably overkill, and "not worth the work" but sounds kinda fun to me... is it even possible to do? I heard it runs a linux backbone, so didn't know if I could run a sudo command and pull updates for different hardware, or what all I needed to do. Umm, this is my first thing to try with tivo, and I'm also no linux expert, I'm very much a linux novis.


----------



## Thom (Jun 5, 2000)

I'd do it the easy way: With an Datoptic SPM394 hardware RAID controller. Lookup SPM394 on Amazon. The SPM394 connects to the RAID host (your Roamio) via the sata port of the Roamio. As far as the Roamio is concerned, you simply connected an ENORMOUS single hard drive.


----------



## jjohnston (Feb 8, 2017)

That sounds like the exact type of part I was thinking of! Didn't know one existed! I will look at that part tonight and see!


----------



## Mikeguy (Jul 28, 2005)

Also, Netgear's ReadyNAS?

Netgear ReadyNAS 102 Review


----------



## Thom (Jun 5, 2000)

jjohnston said:


> That sounds like the exact type of part I was thinking of! Didn't know one existed! I will look at that part tonight and see!


You should also look at this:
Amazon.com: USB3.0/eSATA 5x tray-less SATA bay hardware JBoD/RAID0,1,3,5 enclosure - eBOX-eSU3: Computers & Accessories

This is the controller plus an enclosure with five trayless drive bays. I own one of these and it is very quiet. Just insert drives in bays, no need for screws and tools.


----------



## Thom (Jun 5, 2000)

Mikeguy said:


> Also, Netgear's ReadyNAS?
> 
> Netgear ReadyNAS 102 Review


I own a ReadyNAS. It's TiVo archiving is somewhat problematic in real use.

First, it only archives shows that are flagged Keep Until I Delete (green circle). Thus, the TiVo will not auto-delete the show when the show moves to the bottom of the Now Playing list. The user has to keep track of which shows are OK to delete because they have been archived and manually delete them or change their flag back to auto delete (yellow circle).

Second, it only receives and saves a minimal amount of show metadata. If you press the Info button for a show recorded on the TiVo, you will see MUCH more information than for a show archived to ReadyNAS then transferred back to TiVo.

Third, when the ReadyNAS gets full, the user has to manually delete the shows off the ReadyNAS he no longer wants. This means the user has to do double the work managing shows: Manage the Keep Until I Delete shows on the TiVo, plus manage the show files on the ReadyNAS since the ReadyNAS will not delete files when it is full.

Assuming a TiVo can use the very large hard disk space an SPM394 will present to the TiVo, automatic disk space management of shows is present in the TiVo software, plus full metadata info. Thus, an SPM394 RAID array is much more seamless that a ReadyNAS, assuming you have space next to the TiVo for the RAID box. One advantage the ReadyNAS has is that it can be physically located anywhere as long as it is on the same network as the TiVo. Plus, the ReadyNAS can be configured to periodically read-scan the entire array to find and correct problems early, before they cause problems.

Since Roamios and Bolts can be made to work with dual 6TB+ drives, I would recommend expanding the TiVo to very large capacity single or dual drives, with each drive possibly being a RAID array if you want max protection against bad drives wiping out your shows.

The fact that the ReadyNAS only archives Keep Until I Delete shows creates too much work for the end user to use it as a hedge against TiVo drive failure.

Oh, I called Datoptic a few years ago, and asked them what was the limit on individual RAID-member hard disks. They said 64TB.


----------



## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

I go back with Tivo literally before there was a Tivo.

I think a lot of people who have a history with Tivo, including some original insiders, never really think of Tivos as storage systems. They are, rather, movie/TVshow-harvesting and playback devices. (In the case of the Tivo HD: a superb and _unique_ harvesting device BTW).

OSs like Windows and Mac and Linux do storage just fine. And pyTivo and kmttg and others handle the connection between the two just fine.

I keep my video library on banks of hard drives connected to a Mac, because that happens to be my preference (and it grew to banks of 6TB drives almost before I knew what was happening; starting all over again, probably another platform because of the volume). I have scripts that handle all the harvesting, organization, cross-referencing and backup of the library in a routine and not-burdensome way. The real work of storage/backup is done by the standard OS, a mechanism designed to do all that in a very organized, documented, predictable and dependable way. Frankly, the Tivo innards are a mess.

Very long winded, I know, to give this basic advice: Get the stuff the hell OFF the Tivo ASAP and into a better, more friendly and secure environment. Work out a system of scripts, I'd say centered around pyTivo, to get at your stuff to watch as desired.


----------



## jjohnston (Feb 8, 2017)

Yeah but kmttg won't let me transfer some due to copywrite... so I wanted to save them too... 

I have a server at home already running ubuntu and whs2011 and can use kmttg for some. But I thought it would be fun to make my own tivo with raid. Lol


----------



## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

jjohnston said:


> Yeah but kmttg won't let me transfer some due to copywrite... so I wanted to save them too...
> 
> I have a server at home already running ubuntu and whs2011 and can use kmttg for some. But I thought it would be fun to make my own tivo with raid. Lol


As I'm sure you know, the issue is not copyright; it's crippling via the cci bytes to prevent multi-room Tivos and other fair use by Cable companies, _probably_ not demanded by the actual copyright holder but for Cable company perceptions of their own interests. And while that crippling can be fixed, not after the fact as far as I know.

It's fun to play, but tacking onto Tivo's file handling is a nightmare waiting to happen and tacking onto its external drive handling is a nightmare that has already happened and is just waiting for you to plug into it.


----------



## jjohnston (Feb 8, 2017)

Oh... so I wouldn't be able to transfer the show from tivo A over to the tivo RAID?


----------



## jjohnston (Feb 8, 2017)

Hmm... Debating scraping the tivo idea and maybe building my own DVR... But I have that extra tivo just sitting there. thought it would be fun to just use that. lol oh well.


----------



## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

jjohnston said:


> Oh... so I wouldn't be able to transfer the show from tivo A over to the tivo RAID?


If you are going to connect the external RAID to the internal SATA connector of the TiVo you can use MFSTools to copy and expand the current drive over to the RAID drive which would allow you to keep your recordings.


----------

