# Series 1 problems w/ WD1600AAJB drives



## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

I have a very old (approaching 9 years or maybe 10) Phillips Series 1 DirecTiVo and it has been working great until this last weekend when it appears the upgraded hard drives died.

I took my backup set and they book just fine on it, but wanting to be cautious I purchased two new WD Caviar Blue (WD1600AAJB) drives which are larger than my previous set of Hitachi 120Gig drives (HDS722512VLAT80).

Anyway, after the copy I put the new drive in the TiVo and it doesn't boot. Acts as if it can't spin up the drives in time or something. Weird.

Any ideas?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Which software and version did you use to make the backup, and which software and version did you use to do the restore. did you use the current version of mfslive or some older version? Remember that the drive geometry could be different from two different manufacturers.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

I'm using the latest version of Mfs Tools. I downloaded Mfstools2floppy.zip from the newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to site.

I can't post the full link because this is only my second post. :-}

I made a new floppy before I started.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

You should use www.mfslive.org, It has a corrected version of MSFtools


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

Looks like I need to run that from windows, but I need to attach all four drives at the same time and, therefore, can't boot windows as I've run out of ways to connect hard drives. :-{

How do you suggest I use these updated tools?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

DualInLA said:


> Looks like I need to run that from windows, but I need to attach all four drives at the same time and, therefore, can't boot windows as I've run out of ways to connect hard drives. :-{
> 
> How do you suggest I use these updated tools?


Because you have chosen dual drives you have to use the Linux version of MFStools and boot from the CD. You will have to use backup to a larger hard drive and then restore back to a dual drive system. use Spikes ICG. In theory it can be done but is why instantcake does not copy shows. Most PC's do not handle 5 IDE devices.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

I've tried with WinMFS Beta Build 9.3f and most times it gets and error and kills itself. Right now I can actually see the drives I've copied and it thinks they are just great, but when I put them back into the TiVo it just sits there Powering up ... forever.

I'm TOTALLY stumped.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

BTW, I'm running TiVo Software 3.5d-01-1-001 according to WinMFS.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

BTW, I have also tried the CD to do the backup and restore and that still doesn't give me a pair of drives that do more than the Welcome powering up ... screen forever. http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/images/smilies/frown.gif


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

When I try to do a Mfscopy I get

Error Number:1
Error Message: Unknown error has occured!


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

DualInLA said:


> When I try to do a Mfscopy I get
> 
> Error Number:1
> Error Message: Unknown error has occured!


If all else fails consider using Instantcake from Dvrupgrade. you will loose all shows but you will have a working dual drive Directv TiVo. By the way with the premium channels every show eventually repeats.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

In all these cases, except where noted, I get Welcome. Powering up and it sits there forever.

I have two Series 1 DirecTiVo's. Both are Philips DSR6000R01 models. One came with a 40G drive and the other with a 30+15G drives or something like that. I have the original drives, but don't really think the exact sizes are that important for this discussion.

Both TiVo's were upgraded using Hinsdale many, many, many years ago to each have dual 123G drives. For this purpose I purchased six (6) Hitachi HDS722512VLAT80 drives for each TiVo and every few months I would copy the current pair to the next one in the rotation. I did that up until 2005 when I kind of got lazy and stopped doing it.

The TiVo in the bedroom is working fine, but the one in the living room was having issues and when I did a reboot I ended up in the GSOD reboot cycle, so figured it was time to upgrade again and got me a pair the Western Digital 160G drives.

I've now tried the following to get this TiVo working:

Using two versions of mfstools (boot floppy and CD) copy my dying dual 123G Hitachi drives to dual 160G WD drives -- Welcome. Powering up.

Copy a backup version of my active drives (when inserted in my TiVo these drives boot fine, but are from 2005, so a bit old) to the WD drives -- Welcome. Powering up.

Using WinMFS make a backup copy of the dying dual drives to a Windows files and then restore the the WD drives -- Welcome. Powering up.

Using WinMFS make a backup copy of the backup dual drives to a Windows files and then restore the the WD drives -- Welcome. Powering up.

Bought InstantCake for the Series 1 and used it on the WD drives -- Welcome. Powering up.

Used InstantCake and built an image on a new Seagate 400Gig drive (ST3400832A). Welcome. Powering up.

What have I missed?

The only thing that has allowed me to put this DirecTiVo back into production is to take the dying drives and, using the MFSLive CD, copy them, and all recorded streams to my oldest set of backup drives -- dual Hitachi to dual Hitachi drives. This allows the TiVo to boot and other than the couple weird recordings that caused me to reboot initially, everything seems to be there. Basically my dying drives aren't as bad as I worried they were.

Everyone is happy except that I can't figure out how to do an upgrade or copies using newer drives. I returned the 160G drives to Fry's.

During these couple weeks, I mentioned these problems to a friend at work and he gave me his two Series 2 Philips DSR708 DirecTiVo's as he switched to ATT Uverse because he wanted the faster internet and reluctantly gave up the awesome TiVo interface. One box was clearly dead but the other has a Weaknees 320G upgrade installed and works great.

So I figured I'd use this box as a replacement for an aging Series 1 box, but while I'm at it why not upgrade the storage.

Using MFSlive CD I tried to copy the 320G to the 400G Seagate drive using:

backup -Tao - /dev/hde|restore -r 4 -s 200 -qxzpi - /dev/hdd

320 was on /dev/hde and 400 was on /dev/hdd

restore told me it could not do the upgrade because the drive was not big enough?????

OK, so I then added another 200G drive I had lying around and did this:

backup -Tao - /dev/hde|restore -r 4 -s 250 -qxzpi - /dev/hdc /dev/hdd

with the 400G on hdc, the 200G on hdd and original 320G on hde. Ran without any errors and said the drives were revalidated.

Pop them into the Series 2 box and, wait for it, wait for it -- Welcome. Powering up.

At this point, it appears to me that ONLY Hitachi 123G drives will work in my Series 1 boxes and that I can't make backups of the new Series 2 drives. None of this makes sense since I know people can do it and I was able to do it in the past with other drives, but don't understand what I'm missing.

Any help will be GREATLY appreciated.


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## ronsch (Sep 7, 2001)

You probably need the beta version of MFSLive that includes the -f option. 

Or use Winmfs mfscopy followed by Winmfs mfsadd.

See the MFSLive forum.

I have successfully used an older beta version of MFSLive with the -f option to expand a drive that already has the maximum number of media partitions.

For all your Welcome, Powering up issues I hesitate to suggest something basic but have you checked to make sure the drive jumpers are correct?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

You have been told the answer but ignore the answer.
first you should using www.mfslive.org not hinsdale
2nd the proper command is:

backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdb | restore -s 128 -r 4 -xzi - /dev/hdc /dev/hdd

the command is case sensitive 
you should get your help from www.mfslive.org forums
maybe you will listen to them because you don't listen to us.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

I have tried all the "answers" that I have been given and still no working drives. I guess I didn't communicate that clearly in my long post.

I have used BOTH Hinsdale AND MFSlive, as I stated in my very long post, and in both cases, neither have worked. I have also tried to use MfsWin and also get either errors or no errors depending on what I'm trying, but still don't get a drive or set of drives that the various TiVo's like.

You, personally, suggested I use the ICG and I have done so and this is the command that I get:

backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdb | restore -s 128 -nxzi - /dev/hdc /dev/hdd

This did NOT work. By work, what I mean is it completes successfully -- no errors, but I still get an infinite Welcome. Powering up. It only works when I use this with my "old" drives and not the new 160G drives. Same command, different drives --> joy.

When I use InstantCake, it completes the process successfully for either a single or dual drive, but then neither will work in the TiVo.

When I use this for the Series 2 box to go from the 320 -> 400 Gig drive it gives me this command:

backup -qTao - /dev/hdc | restore -s 200 -xzpi - /dev/hda 

and it complains that the backup target is not large enough. If I add the second drive, then I do:

backup -qTao - /dev/hdc | restore -s 200 -xzpi - /dev/hda /dev/hdb

Of course hdc is really hde since that is where the source drive is, but ICG can't deal with the total number of drives I have, and hda and hdb are really hdc and hdd and, of course, I correct those when I issue the commands.

I plan on trying the MFSlive forums, but it seems that there is something very fundamental that is somehow missing or weird about these drives. Like I said, I can get this to work with my "original" Hitachi drives, but not with anything newer and that makes no sense to me.

All this leads me to wonder if there is some switch or something from a hardware perspective that is incompatible with newer drives. Of course the fact the others can get upgrades to work makes this seem like the wrong conclusion as well.

Concerning the jumpers, when I put the drives into my PC, as I switch the jumpers around I see them either be discovered where I expect of they don't appear, so I'm quite sure I have the jumpers set correctly, but even if that wasn't so, putting a single drive in should work if it is connected as primary and has the jumper set to master, but, like I said, with these new drives (160G and 400G) they won't work in that config either.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

ronsch said:


> You probably need the beta version of MFSLive that includes the -f option.


How do I get the beta version?


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## ronsch (Sep 7, 2001)

DualInLA said:


> How do I get the beta version?


You have to request it from Spike at mfslive, although the WINMFS is supposed to take care of that for you. I'm specifically referring to the 320-->400 scenario here.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

I just learned from the MFSLive Forums that the WD Blue drives don't work in the Series 1 boxes.

Is there a list of drives that are known to work in a Series 1 and a list for Series 2?


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## ronsch (Sep 7, 2001)

DualInLA said:


> I just learned from the MFSLive Forums that the WD Blue drives don't work in the Series 1 boxes.
> 
> Is there a list of drives that are known to work in a Series 1 and a list for Series 2?


I think the Blue is the only IDE drive I've heard of that won't work in a Series 1.

I've used older WD, Maxtor, Seagate.......


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

ronsch said:


> I think the Blue is the only IDE drive I've heard of that won't work in a Series 1.
> 
> I've used older WD, Maxtor, Seagate.......


From my experiences, it appears that the Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB (ST3400832A) doesn't work in the Series 2 boxes either, which is why I was wondering if there was a list of drives known to work in Series 1 and a similar list for Series 2.


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## ronsch (Sep 7, 2001)

DualInLA said:


> From my experiences, it appears that the Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 400GB (ST3400832A) doesn't work in the Series 2 boxes either, which is why I was wondering if there was a list of drives known to work in Series 1 and a similar list for Series 2.


Actually, I have Seagate Barracuda 500GB drives in both my Philips Series 1 DirecTiVo and my Tivo Series 2 stand alone.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

ronsch said:


> Actually, I have Seagate Barracuda 500GB drives in both my Philips Series 1 DirecTiVo and my Tivo Series 2 stand alone.


Would you mind giving me the specific model number, as in ST3500320AS or whatever?


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## ronsch (Sep 7, 2001)

DualInLA said:


> Would you mind giving me the specific model number, as in ST3500320AS or whatever?


They are both ST3500830ACE.


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

I bought a WD 1 TB AV-GP SATA AV Hard Drive (WD10EVVS) and used the MFSlive boot CD 1.4 to make copy of my working 320Gig system -- after 3.5 hours it completed w/o any errors and mfsinfo said it was a 320Gig TiVo drive. I put it into the DirecTiVo and it said Welcome. Powering up.. forever. I put the real 320Gig drive in and it booted happily.

Next I started WinMFS and made a truncated copy of the 320Gig drive and then restored it to the 1TB drive and seconds after it finished the restore the program crashed and sent info to Microsoft.

From that point WinMFS either crashes or hangs my computer when I try to select the drive, even after a fresh reboot of Windows. I'm quite sure that if I boot the MFSlive CD, I will, again, be able to make a clean copy.

What am I doing wrong?


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## ronsch (Sep 7, 2001)

DualInLA said:


> I bought a WD 1 TB AV-GP SATA AV Hard Drive (WD10EVVS) and used the MFSlive boot CD 1.4 to make copy of my working 320Gig system -- after 3.5 hours it completed w/o any errors and mfsinfo said it was a 320Gig TiVo drive. I put it into the DirecTiVo and it said Welcome. Powering up.. forever. I put the real 320Gig drive in and it booted happily.
> 
> Next I started WinMFS and made a truncated copy of the 320Gig drive and then restored it to the 1TB drive and seconds after it finished the restore the program crashed and sent info to Microsoft.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure. I don't have any experience with trying to interface SATA drives with Series 1 and 2 systems. Have you inquired on the MFSLive forum?


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## DualInLA (Oct 2, 2009)

ronsch said:


> I'm not sure. I don't have any experience with trying to interface SATA drives with Series 1 and 2 systems. Have you inquired on the MFSLive forum?


Yes, I've been posting there, but those forums get VERY little traffic, which, to me seems a little weird since everyone keeps telling me that those of the most recent and best tools for doing upgrades, etc.

Since Weaknees is using SATA2PATA converters, I just figured that would work for me as well, but even with my drives connected through a similar, if not the same converter, or directly through SATA, I still get WinMFS to hang and MFS Live to "successfully" copy the drive, but it still doesn't boot.


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