# Failed primary drive. Where do I get an image?



## brewman (Jun 29, 2003)

I have a TCD540040 whose drive died. I have a new drive, but need an image. Are there any tools available that come with/rebuild an image, or is there someone with the same system who has a backup of their original image they can send me?

Also, is there anything in the image that ties it to the particular unit?


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## techieunite (Oct 18, 2005)

The cheapest way would be to get an instant cake CD for around $29 and then purchase any size hard drive from 40-300+ gig.

Unfortunately the cost of doing such things usually is at least $90.

A better alternative, would be to possibly purchase a new unit from a store such as Bestbuy.

They currently have the 80gig tivo, with a $150 MIR for a one year committment. 

I believe it sells for either $219 or $229. Either way, after the one year committment MIR, it's a better deal to just buy a new one.

The only reason why you would want to repair the original 40gig model would be if you purchased lifetime on the unit. Also, if you're still on a rebate committment period, you would also want to replace the drive.

There are a couple of things to note when you replace the drive in a tivo

1) Your account is tied to a chip on the main board, so you can replace the drive and your account will remain active and in good standing.

2) Whenever you replace the drive, you must do a "clear and delete all" to reassociate the drive with your tivo.

If you can't get a drive, let me know. I believe that I still have the original 40 gig tivo drive. I replaced it with a 120gb drive. If you want the drive and have exhausted other options, message me.

You can have it, all you need to do is pay for shipping, which is usually less than $10.


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## techieunite (Oct 18, 2005)

Sorry, I didn't mention the exact link for the instant cake cd

Do a search on google for instant cake. You should arrive at 9thtree

*scroll down to Series 2 Stand Alone Tivo Instant Cake CD $19.99*

Choose your model and click add to cart.


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## brewman (Jun 29, 2003)

I didn't know about InstantCake. My TiVo has a lifetime subscription. I just bought a 300GB Seagate from Frys for $79. I had added a 2nd drive to the TiVo originally for a total of 160 GB. I'll bump up the size of the swap file and go back to a single drive.


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## funtoupgrade (Mar 15, 2005)

Pm Stan Simmons for an image link.


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## travler765 (Apr 24, 2002)

brewman - thanks for posting this i'm in the same situation, my lifetime subscrption tivo went belly up Wednesday and i never backed it up and I was trying to figure out how to reimage the drive.

As a point of reference I found that you can buy the ISO image and download it from ptvupgrade (dot) com
If your interested in theri beta program: dev (dot) instantcake (dot) com


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## MCO (Apr 15, 2006)

Is there any other place to find a drive image? I too have a broken primary drive, at least I suspect so. I am uncomfortable buying a drive image for a unit which may or may not work. I see it as questionable that I should have to pay a third party for a download of software for the TiVo, when that third party is not the owner of that software.


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## LastPlace (Feb 22, 2005)

Is there an easy way to back up the TiVo on a regular basis?

I'm in the process of (not very successfully) getting a replacement 160 GB ready to install as a replacement for my TiVo 240080.

Now I'm having to give up on my many hours of recorded and unwatched shows

I know I can transfer shows to the computer using TiVoToGo but my preference would be to routinely do a backup to an external hard drive - can that be accomplished with the 2nd USB port


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## Dkerr24 (Oct 29, 2004)

I'm not sure what method techiunite used, but using mfsrestore didn't require me to do a 'clear and delete everything' for my new 300gb drive to work.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

Dkerr24 said:


> I'm not sure what method techiunite used, but using mfsrestore didn't require me to do a 'clear and delete everything' for my new 300gb drive to work.


That is one of the steps if you use InstantCake.

@traveler765, thanks for the link! 

http://dev.instantcake.com/betalist.htm


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## dtreese (May 6, 2005)

MCO, what 9th tee sells is actually a CD with a program that generates the image onto your hard drive. It's a backup utility used to reconstruct a hard drive for a TiVo unit. So far, the folks at TiVo have been okay with that because it makes good business sense. It keeps TiVo customers happy, and it keeps units active. Yes, it keeps lifetime units active, but there are plenty of subscription units out there that die, too. Since TiVo does not offer drive images online, they don't view upgrade/repair businesses as any kind of a threat. Actually, it says a lot about the quality of the product that people are willing to put this kind of work into keeping them running/improving them.


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## nwbills (Mar 13, 2004)

Hi,

Lost my TiVo 24004A and looking for a backup image or something that will get me going again. My backup is unusable. Anyone have one?

Thanks a million!


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