# A few quick Q's about upgrading



## carysb7478 (Jun 26, 2007)

I would like to upgrade my series 2 TCD 240004A. I was thinking of swapping in this drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKB 500GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM, $104 on newegg.com
1) Is this a good drive to use?
2) All I have is a laptop...I can use a USB to IDE cable right? Do I need to buy 2 of these cables (i.e. 1 to connect the old TiVo drive and 1 for the upgrade drive) or do you swap the drives during the upgrade process using mfslive software? (I don't really care about saving my old shows, only that my season passes, ect make the trip to the new drive if that will save me from having to buy 2 cables)
3) Should I get a cooling fan for the drive?
I really have no experience with upgrading hard drives or Linux so any other info would be much appreciated, I'm trying to figure all of this out.
Thanks!


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

You cannot use a laptop to image a drive for TiVo. You must use a desktop. If you don't have access to a desktop you should consider a pre-imaged drive from www.dvrupgrade.com or www.weaknees.com. If you do then the drive from Newegg is fine. Then all you have to order is Instantcake from DVRupgrade to put the image on the drive and you will be up and running in 30 minutes or less. Remember to unplug the AC before working on the TiVo. Check all internal flat cables before restoring AC!


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## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

rbtravis care to explain why you can't use a laptop?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Laptops drives are internal and have no external connectors. you need a CDrom on HDB and the TiVo drive on HDA or HDC, you cannot guarantee that on a laptop. Laptops have a 2 1/2" drive with a propriatary connector that varies among manufacturers.


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## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

I can almost guarantee his laptop has USB...

I have an extra HD. I'm very tempted to use my laptop to mfscopy an OS onto it just to spite you LOL


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

ciper said:


> I can almost guarantee his laptop has USB...
> 
> I have an extra HD. I'm very tempted to use my laptop to mfscopy an OS onto it just to spite you LOL


And you recommend this for a Linux novice? :down:


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## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

1. The only way to learn is to try
2. His original post mentions using a USB to IDE adapter
3. A good linux boot disk will automatically detect the USB mass storage device and even allow hot plugging.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

I at least mentioned URL's where my items could be found. Where is your URL for the good tivo linux boot disk that supports USB and can be used by a novice and supports USB to parallel Adapters? of course since it is Linux it should be free. plus the enabling of the rear USB ports.:down: ps: don't forget the image. Remember this is a help forum, not a help to learn how to research forum, and the OP asked for Quick.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

rbtravis said:


> I at least mentioned URL's where my items could be found. Where is your URL for the good tivo linux boot disk that supports USB and can be used by a novice and supports USB to parallel Adapters? of course since it is Linux it should be free. plus the enabling of the rear USB ports.:down: ps: don't forget the image. Remember this is a help forum, not a help to learn how to research forum, and the OP asked for Quick.


With WinMFS you can use any laptop with windows and an external USB hard drive enclosure, you do not need to know anything about Linux. go hear: http://www.mfslive.org/


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## carysb7478 (Jun 26, 2007)

Thanks for the replies, yes I was actually going to use the WinMFS software which apparently does not require any Linux knowledge and on their website, under the "setup computer" section it mentions the use of a USB to IDE connector. Apparently when you plug in the drive the software automatically detects it, sounds fairly simple (hopefully). I don't plan on opening up my laptop at all. So my questions still remain:
1) Is that a good drive to get?
2) Should I buy a hard drive cooling fan? Is it necessary or a waste of money?
3) Do I need 2 USB-IDE cables or just one when I do the upgrade? I definitely want to transfer all my settings, season passes etc., but don't really care if my saved episodes make the trip to the new drive, especially if it will save me from having to buy a second cable which will most likely never be used again. 

Thanks for helping me out, I realize these questions may seem silly to y'all but at one point you didn't know that much either :up:

p.s. I also posted these questions on the WinMFS forum, but it seems pretty slow over there


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## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

rbtravis said:


> Remember this is a help forum, not a help to learn how to research forum, and the OP asked for Quick.


I disagree completely. You can give a man a fish....
My counter argument is that the OP should SEARCH the forum if he needed clarification on anything I said.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

In response to your questions.
1. Yes that is a very good drive to get.
2. yes buying a fan is a waste of money unless your old TiVo fan is no longer working.
3. Have no idea about USB
Don't forget to get an Image. And don't forget to set AAM to quiet.
Good luck.


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## carysb7478 (Jun 26, 2007)

rbtravis & others,
Thanks for your replies :up:
What do you mean/how do I get an image? Does this matter if I'm going to pull out the existing drive and store it as a backup?

How do I set AAM to quiet?

I think the cooling fan in my TiVo is ok, what I was referring to was a cooling fan that mounts on the hard drive itself...I've heard this can prolong the life?

I did a search, but couldn't really find answers....
thanks


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## ciper (Nov 4, 2004)

carysb7478 said:


> What do you mean/how do I get an image? Does this matter if I'm going to pull out the existing drive and store it as a backup?
> 
> How do I set AAM to quiet?
> 
> I think the cooling fan in my TiVo is ok, what I was referring to was a cooling fan that mounts on the hard drive itself...I've heard this can prolong the life?


1. The original hard drive is going to be the source for your image. Its a great idea to keep the original in the closet as a backup

2. AAM is an adjustment that can be set with a utility from the hard drive vendor. Most likely this utility will run under Windows so you can set it once the WinMFS job is finished

3. Drive life is a very opinionated area. I personally believe maintaining a constant temperature is more important than a lower temperature. Personally I think a fan mounted internally wont do much since the air volume is so small.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Setting AAM to quiet-works on Western Digital, Hitachi, Samsung drives:
http://www.mfslive.org/softwareguidep6.htm#aam


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## omni555 (Oct 4, 2006)

Just went to swap out the drive in my S2/80h TiVo with a 320 GB PATA drive that I had previously used in a computer briefly. I connected the TiVo's drive to the parallel and power cables, started the computer, and ran the WinMFS software. I got a blank window. When I clicked "File" I saw an option to "Select Drive...", but in the succeeding window there were no drives showing to select.

Do the drives have to be prepared in a special way to show up in this program, or have I done something incorrectly?


BOTH drives are connected to the same IDE cable in my computer, and the computer has several SATA drives running the OS and other stuff. (I disconnected the DVD ROM to add the TiVo drive...)

What I want to do is to copy all my programming to the new drive and put it in the TiVo to have increased storage capacity.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!


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## omni555 (Oct 4, 2006)

Oops! Just tried again... Realized what the problem might be. In VISTA, the prog has to be run in Admin mode. I keep forgetting about that since I am set up as an Admin/user on the computer and always assume that, like with XP, this gives me Admin rights to any prog I run.

Am going to try the upgrade process again, and will post any results!!!


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## omni555 (Oct 4, 2006)

OK, just finished!!! Upgraded the 80h (60GB???) drive in my S2 with a 320GB WD Caviar. Got almost 400 h basic quality recording available, and the drive is whisper quiet! All the recordings transferred from the old drive with no problem (process of creating the new drive and transferring the files took about 30 min).

Also, picked up a 1 TB WD Caviar Green that I put in my HD unit to replace the old 180h (160GB?) drive. Took about 45 minutes to set up and transfer everything. Got something like 1300 h (or thereabouts, I don't remember exactly...) of basic quality recording on that unit now, or about 120 h of HD recording!!!

The physical work (opening the case, removing the drive, installing the orig and new drives in the computer, removing them, replacing the new drive in the TiVo, and closing up the case took about 20 min or so for each unit. So the whole upgrade procedure for an S2 unit AND a HD unit took less than 2 hours from start to finish.

All in all, a satisfying experience!!!


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