# Anyone ever add NAS capability to a Series 2?



## ononehand (Dec 22, 2014)

I have a Series 2 and I want to know if anyone has a hack for it so I can use it as NAS in addition to a regular TiVo. Thanks


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

I'm not sure that any model TiVo, from the S1s to the S5s, can be used like that exactly.

You can put 2 1TB drives in an S2, for a total of 2TB, and copy shows to and from that unit to other TiVos on the same account and to PCs, but it's not quite the same thing, and you certainly can't use it for just any old kind of file (text, MS Office, .pdf's, etc.) like you could with a Buffalo Linkstation or something like that.

What's the model number of your S2? (It probably starts with TCD)


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## ononehand (Dec 22, 2014)

unitron said:


> I'm not sure that any model TiVo, from the S1s to the S5s, can be used like that exactly.


My thinking is since the TiVo runs on Linux I could just start a Samba service on it to share files with with my Windows computers. Easier said than done I'm sure. If the TiVo goes into sleep mode it won't be reliable. But I figure if the TiVo is on and connected to the LAN all day it would be good for that.

There was a hack I read of a long time ago where someone enabled telnet to their TiVo and got a shell. If you can do that you can probably run stuff on it. Most of the links I've found these days are dead. I found this TiVo FAQ in the internet archive but I don't see anything about NAS. Coincidentally the FAQ website was tivo.samba.org, not because it was for putting samba on a TiVo but because that's the website of the guy who researched the TiVo.

The closest thing I've found is called the TiVo app to get recorded video off the TiVo. But I want to put files on it via a share.

I found this thread where they suggest using FTP. Not really the same but it may be a crude substitute.

I found this thread where they say it's possible but the link is dead.



unitron said:


> What's the model number of your S2? (It probably starts with TCD)


TCD540040


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

ononehand said:


> My thinking is since the TiVo runs on Linux I could just start a Samba service on it to share files with with my Windows computers.


The bulk of the TiVo's hard drive is formatted in a way that doesn't let you store regular files on it -- it's only accessible through tivoapp, not at the OS filesystem level. In addition, the network performance of a Series 2 is terrible.

That's if you want it to still be a TiVo. You'd get further by swapping out the TiVo OS for a standard Debian distro (and this is actually doable) -- but IMHO, not far enough to justify using it this way. It would make for a very underperforming, overly power-hungry NAS.

The only potential value I can see in this would be to have a server that wouldn't be recognized as such by anyone who happened to be physically in the room with it. But, there are surely better ways to achieve that.


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## telemark (Nov 12, 2013)

Doable, not desirable.

Get shell, add another harddrive with a Linux friendly filesystem, cross build a file server daemon.

NAS are built into routers and hard drives these days. This seems like extra work for no benefit.

The only benefit I can think of is getting to the point it can play stored video files on a TV, like a popcorn hour. There's still better boxes for this, like WD LiveTV, Raspberry Pi, XBMC, AppleTV gen 1.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

I don't get this at all. Any old laptop would do better service for this function.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

ononehand said:


> My thinking is since the TiVo runs on Linux I could just start a Samba service on it to share files with with my Windows computers. Easier said than done I'm sure. If the TiVo goes into sleep mode it won't be reliable. But I figure if the TiVo is on and connected to the LAN all day it would be good for that.
> 
> There was a hack I read of a long time ago where someone enabled telnet to their TiVo and got a shell. If you can do that you can probably run stuff on it. Most of the links I've found these days are dead. I found this TiVo FAQ in the internet archive but I don't see anything about NAS. Coincidentally the FAQ website was tivo.samba.org, not because it was for putting samba on a TiVo but because that's the website of the guy who researched the TiVo.
> 
> ...


The 540's CPU is pretty hard pressed just to handle normal TiVo stuff.

Have you experimented at all with TiVo Desktop or the open source alternatives to it?


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## ononehand (Dec 22, 2014)

unitron said:


> The 540's CPU is pretty hard pressed just to handle normal TiVo stuff.
> 
> Have you experimented at all with TiVo Desktop or the open source alternatives to it?


I haven't even turned it on yet. I just bought one used. I opened it up and vacuumed it.

The consensus here seems to be it's a bad idea so I don't think I'll do it. I'll use a router NAS or something instead. Thanks guys for your advice.


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

ononehand said:


> I haven't even turned it on yet. I just bought one used. I opened it up and vacuumed it.
> 
> The consensus here seems to be it's a bad idea so I don't think I'll do it. I'll use a router NAS or something instead. Thanks guys for your advice.


It's perfectly okay to use as a TiVo, it's just that TiVos, although computer-ish, aren't really computers, they're electronic appliances designed to allow you to use the TiVo service.

That said, the hacks that have been done over the years are pretty impressive overall.


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## djl25 (May 26, 2005)

The 540s need a chip replaced to even be hacked. Once that's done, you need to do a bunch of software hacks to get a shell. Then, you'd need to install the updated USB drivers and the latest samba build. It would be really slow, and probably wouldn't work well for watching TV while big files were being moved. That said, if it's just for the fun of hacking it, it IS possible, and all of the tools are available.


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## telemark (Nov 12, 2013)

If they're not using it as a Tivo then the large MFS partitions could be changed over to ext2, allowing it to be single drive "server".


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