# How can I tell *WHICH* hard drive is starting to fail?



## SJChip (Jan 13, 2005)

I installed a 2nd hard drive about 2 years ago by simply installing a weaknees kit.

Two happy years have passed, now my Series 2 TiVo is now stuttering, and everything I've read says it hard drive problems, which makes sense.

I've referenced the methods for mounting, backing up, etc a tivo hard drive (UGH!) but that doesn't help me when I DON'T KNOW *WHICH* HARD DRIVE IS STARTING TO FAIL!

The tricky part, IMO, is that it's still WORKING, but *STARTING* to fail. Detecting a DEAD drive is EASY...

Is there an FAQ or utility to run to find out about detecting WHICH hard drive may be starting to fail?

...or do I have to wait for it to fail entirely?

thanks in advance.


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## wscannell (Dec 7, 2003)

Get the bootable diags from the drive manufacturer and put the drive in a PC and run the diags. Just do not boot into Windows with the TiVo drives connected.


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## Dkerr24 (Oct 29, 2004)

Definitely one of many reasons to stick with a single drive Tivo.


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## dagap (Dec 5, 2003)

Most drives have a self-monitoring feature called SMART. Find a utility that will read your drive's SMART data and it'll probably be obvious which is failing.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

dagap said:


> Most drives have a self-monitoring feature called SMART. Find a utility that will read your drive's SMART data and it'll probably be obvious which is failing.


Speedfan will read SMART data. Unfortunately it is a Windows program and will trash your Tivo drive. 

Anybody know a DOS or linux variant?


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## dagap (Dec 5, 2003)

http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

"The smartmontools package contains two utility programs (smartctl and smartd) to control and monitor storage systems using the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology System (SMART) built into most modern ATA and SCSI hard disks. In many cases, these utilities will provide advanced warning of disk degradation and failure."

Edited: near the middle of that page you'll find some bootable images that contain these tools. That'd probably be easiest.


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## Krosis (May 10, 2004)

wscannell said:


> Get the bootable diags from the drive manufacturer and put the drive in a PC and run the diags. Just do not boot into Windows with the TiVo drives connected.


Avoiding Windows is always a good idea 

Simply booting Windows will not hurt your Tivo drive though, just *don't run Disk Manager!* Disk Manager will almost certainly kill it. Use other disk utilities at your own risk  I doubt a drive manufacturers diag software would kill it though.

I had to boot Windows many times with my Tivo drive connected because I had to retrieve things from the network, it never hurt the Tivo drive.


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## wscannell (Dec 7, 2003)

Krosis said:


> Avoiding Windows is always a good idea
> 
> Simply booting Windows will not hurt your Tivo drive though, just *don't run Disk Manager!* Disk Manager will almost certainly kill it. Use other disk utilities at your own risk  I doubt a drive manufacturers diag software would kill it though.
> 
> I had to boot Windows many times with my Tivo drive connected because I had to retrieve things from the network, it never hurt the Tivo drive.


It actually depends what version of Windows. I did not mention it because most people are on XP. Any Windows version based on NT (NT, 2000, or XP) writes a signature to the boot block when it boots up. Unfortunately, the place it chooses to write this signature is where the TiVo has some important information that is needed to boot. Booting with any of the above WILL cause your TiVo not to boot.

Windows 95, 98, or Me will not hurt the TiVo drive though.


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## weaknees (May 11, 2001)

SJChip said:


> I installed a 2nd hard drive about 2 years ago by simply installing a weaknees kit.
> 
> Two happy years have passed, now my Series 2 TiVo is now stuttering, and everything I've read says it hard drive problems, which makes sense.
> 
> ...


If the drive from us is two years old, then presumably the factory drive is even older. So it might make sense to just replace both with one larger drive. It's the easiest and fastest way to go too . . .


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## Krosis (May 10, 2004)

wscannell said:


> It actually depends what version of Windows. I did not mention it because most people are on XP. Any Windows version based on NT (NT, 2000, or XP) writes a signature to the boot block when it boots up. Unfortunately, the place it chooses to write this signature is where the TiVo has some important information that is needed to boot. Booting with any of the above WILL cause your TiVo not to boot.
> 
> Windows 95, 98, or Me will not hurt the TiVo drive though.


I run XP. As I stated, I booted Win XP many times without harm to the Tivo drive. I used to believe as you say, but my own experience has shown otherwise. When you load Disk Manager it gives you a warning that it is about to write a signature and asks for permission. that I assume will kill it.

Maybe MS changed it with one of the updates?


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

Krosis said:


> I run XP. As I stated, I booted Win XP many times without harm to the Tivo drive. I used to believe as you say, but my own experience has shown otherwise. When you load Disk Manager it gives you a warning that it is about to write a signature and asks for permission. that I assume will kill it.
> 
> Maybe MS changed it with one of the updates?


Not that I didn't believe you... 

I confirm this is true. Just tried it on my MRV only S2. Ran Speedfan on my Tivo drive under Windows XP. Even ran Disk Manager, but canceled the "Initialize and Convert Disk Wizard" before it did anything.

Man, that urban legend is pretty widespread.


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## VirginiaNative (Dec 29, 2002)

SJChip said:


> I installed a 2nd hard drive about 2 years ago by simply installing a weaknees kit.
> 
> Two happy years have passed, now my Series 2 TiVo is now stuttering, and everything I've read says it hard drive problems, which makes sense.
> 
> ...


I am having the same problem. I have the original 40g HD and a 120g from Weaknees. I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but I'm going to lose everything that is recorded when one or the other drive dies, correct? I would guess the 40g is dying since it's older (not necessarily true I know). If I replace one drive, the other will not work, correct?


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## wscannell (Dec 7, 2003)

If you can back up the failing drive before it fails using dd or dd_rescue, then you can save the second drive. Otherwise, you start from a new image and reload both drives.

You would probably be better off now with a single large drive rather than two drives. 300 GB drives are pretty cheap.


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## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

If you have TiVoWeb then check the logs - tverr and kernel - for DMA or uncorrectable sector errors. The drive (hda or hdb) will be mentioned. 

If you don't have TiVoWeb then enable backdoors and check the logs onscreen.


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