# My successful 540040 upgrade experience



## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

I thought other new owners of the 540040 (and other 540 series) might find this helpful...

I am new to Tivo as of Christmas, and of course am already a big fan. Even before we bought the Tivo, I knew from my online reading that I would upgrade the hard drive when I had the time and felt I had a good grasp of the procedure. I have built our last 3 computer systems, so I felt comfortable with the idea of working with hard drives and their mobo connections. IMO prior computer upgrade experience is not required, but if you don't have it you should spend a good amount of time reviewing the hardware hookup procedures.

After reading thru the several guides out there, I decided on using the instructions found at tivo.upgrade-instructions.com. That particular site makes it easy to choose between several upgrade options and customizes instructions based on the choices made. 

From what I had read here and around the net the easiest upgrade to do today is to just upgrade to a bigger drive. Why bother to eek out an extra 40gb from the original drive when there are 2-300gb drives to be had for short money? Plus, no extra brackets required and you keep the original drive as a backup so you don't need to make a separate backup either. Anyway, my upgrade was to replace the original Tivo 40gb drive with a Seagate 200gb/8mb cache/7200 rpm HD. I chose to copy the entire contents of the Tivo HD (all my recorded programs) cause I don't like live tv anymore if Tivo can keep me away from it!

(3/22/05 - Since this thread seems to be getting many reads, wanted to ad that I suggest you hook up your tivo and get it running prior to doing an upgrade to ensure your unit works. I also highly recommend that you allow your unit to get the 7.1 (tivotogo) software upgrade PRIOR to doing the upgrade.)

How it went:

I bought one of those Torx screwdrivers at Home Depo for like $5.00. Came with multiple adapters which included the T-10 and T-15. You need both sizes on the 540040 model. The 540040 has 5 T-10 screws that hold the top on along the back panel. These came undone easily on my unit. The top slid back and lifted off without effort once the screws were out.

The first thing I did was look for that white/grey power wire that many posting around the net warn about; the one that if you boot up with it loose your remote won't work any more and other bad things. It was there, sticking out of a slot in the front panel (you could not see where that end connected) and running to a connection on the edge of the front of the mobo. Although on this unit the connection to the motherboard appears very solid, I was careful to do my best to avoid touching this at all and did check it before closing up just in case. Possibly the design of the connection has been improved since there were so many reported problems.

Next I removed the hard drive power wire and IDE cable, being careful to avoid the exposed power supply (I had the unit unplugged for about 2 hours to be safe, but still avoided the PS.). The Tivo hard drive in this unit is mounted on a bracket that is held down on the front side by 2 T-10 screws. After placing the power and IDE wires out of the way, I next removed the 2 T-10 screws that hold the front edge of the hard drive bracket in place. Once these screws are removed, the back edge of the bracket slides out of 2 retaining clips and the hard drive lifts out of the unit.

The hard drive is held on the bracket with 4 T-15 screw that came off easily, releasing the Tivo HD.

Now time to hook up the drives to a computer. I am lucky to have many spare parts around from my system builds, specifically spare IDE cables and a spare CD drive. (A new hard drive usually comes with an IDE cable, so even if you don't have a spare CD drive you will have an extra cable). Having the extra cable allows you to hook up your hard drives properly while outside the computer, which I found much easier. 

As the instructions say you must set the HD jumpers correctly. The Tivo hard drive in my unit was set as cable select; there was a jumper diagram on the Tivo HD that showed how to set the jumper to master as called for in the instructions. The replacement HD is set to slave. After setting the jumpers, I connected the IDE cable to both (master is at the end of the cable and slave is in the middle, although I'm not sure this really matters as long as the jumpers are set correctly...) and set them aside. I then connected a second IDE cable to my spare CD drive, which was set and jumpered as slave. Using this method, you just need to disconnect the IDE cables in the computer you are using from the motherboard, move these Tivo drives close to the open computer (I had to prop them set up on a shoe box next to the open side panel close enough for the IDE and power plugs to reach), and then connect the ends of the IDE cables from the Tivo drives and the cd drive to the proper IDE channels on the computer mobo (in my instructions the cd drive connects to the primary IDE channel on the mobo and the hard drives connects to the secondary IDE channel). Then you need to find some spare (or unplug) power connectors in your computer and connect these to your hard drives and cd drive. (if you don't have a spare cd drive, I would recommend sliding your drive out of your system and working with it outside the system, then put it back when you are done. You are going to have to take it out to check/change the jumpers anyway, just keep it out then put it back the way it was when you are done.).

Any set of instructions you find cautions to not boot into Windows XP with a TIVO drive connected or the drive will be ruined. With your original IDE cables unplugged your XP system drive is disconnected, unless like me your xp drive is a SATA drive! (Your system could also use a separate PCI IDE adapter card) BE SURE that your xp system drive is not connected when you boot up with the Tivo drive connected. 

One last thing to do, gotta go into the computer bios and set the system to boot from the cd drive. Each system is different, so the system manual becomes your friend. The options are usually under a heading called Boot with sub-headings of boot order or similar names. I WISH I HAD DONE THIS PRIOR TO OPENING AND UNHOOKING MY SYSTEM, I suggest doing this before opening up the system, but it didn't matter in the end...

Once the system was set to boot from the cd drive, I powered on the system and got the drive door open, upgrade disc in (downloaded from the link in the instructions that were specific to my upgrade choices), and door closed before the system was done the boot sequence. You could also put the disc in prior to hooking it up or power on the system, put in the disc, power off, then reboot... Anyway, since nothing is ever completely without issues for me, my boot disc was not burned properly and did not boot. Fortunately, we have other systems in the house that I was able to download and burn a new disc with. If you can, check your disc first.

Anyway, that issue solved, the system booted from the disc with a welcome message and a statement to press enter when ready. I did, and numbers and data flashed by quickly for about 5-10 sec. When done, there was a "weaknees:" prompt. As the instructions direct, this is where you use the shift and page up keys to go back thru the data that flashed by and check to be sure that the software can see the actual size of both of your hard drives. This is also a good time to check and make note of the actual HD designator assigned to your hard drives by the software based on the drive location (master/slave, primary/secondary). They should be hdc=Original Tivo HD, hdd=New drive if you set them up as instructed. The software recognized both my drives (I'm guessing the "locked drive" issues may be something that might not happen on series 2 systems such as the 540 series, but you need to check and be ready in case...), so I was set to enter the copy command.

With my set-up, the command to back up the entire drive to the new drive was:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdd 

where hdc is the Tivo drive and hdd is the new replacement drive. Don't really know what it means but it works. I was very confused and unsure about what I was actually going to type at this point, but after I checked the data and hard drive sizes and saw the associated hdc/hdd designators in the data it became clear to me, your results may vary...

When I hit enter the software began to back up the original Tivo drive to the new drive. The software gives a running count of its progress as a percentage completed. The entire backup took just over 20 minutes on my system (a 3.06 P4 with 1gb ram, don't know if system specs matter or not as far as time to completion?). When done, I got a nice message that said: "New estimated standalone size 222 hours (182 more)". SWEET...

Time to put Tivo back together. First thing I noticed was both hard drives were warm, the original Tivo drive was actually hot. Anyway, the rest is rather easy. Jumper the new drive as master as per instructions, then put the new drive back in the bracket using the 4 T-15 screws, put the bracket back in the Tivo, screw the bracket in place with 2 T-10 screws, reconnect the IDE cable and power wire (be careful in all of this to stay clear of the dreaded "white/grey power cable issue"), then put the top back on (5 T-10 screws).

Reconnect the tivo to your tv/video system and power it on. I did get a scare here as the first static screen that Tivo displayed (something like welcome...) lasted about a minute. The next screen (something like "almost there, just a few more minutes") lasted about 90 seconds. I did notice that when I first plugged the Tivo into the system the front panel power light came on, even though I had shut it off under options on the previous drive. Toward the end of the second static screen, it went off. 

All is well, Tivo reported the massive new capacity under system info. All the previously recorded shows were there. Only small bummer, the new hard drive does make an slightly audible "seek" sound where the original did not. Just sitting there doing nothing it is no more or less noisy than the original, with my limited use so far it appears the seek sound is happening moving thru some menu's or after deleting a program, etc, not playing a program. Our Tivo is in the open on a shelf under the TV, if it was in a case I am sure I would never have noticed the seek sound. I'm sure each brand of hard drive is different, but overall I would say the seek sound is a non-factor given the resulting increase in capacity.

I hope this helped some of you who may be on the fence about upgrading your Tivo. With the proper preparation and research the entire project can take under 2 hours. Do your homework, and you too will have a Tivo with a massive storage capacity!

Rick
NH, USA


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## suggest THIS (Jan 13, 2005)

Thanks for posting this! I have the same setup, and I'm planning to upgrade soon. Your post has simplified the process for me.


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

I figured that many newbies like me got a 540040 for the holidays. I hoped that reading my experience would make others feel more comfortable.

After a week all is well, sure is nice to not worry about filling the thing up. The added slight seek noise I mentioned from my Seagate is really hardly noticable, otherwise the unit is quiet as a mouse.

Prepare well and things should go smoothly.

Good luck

Rick


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

Yes, thanks! I just got a tivo and was wanting to do the same thing...upgrade the hd in my 40 hours 540 unit. Your instructions seem simply enough...now just got to find all the software I need to do it with 

One question...how do you know what model you have...i.e. you posted yours was a 54040. I looked on the web site your gave a link to and they have a 540040, 540080 and a 540140. If it's going by the servicel number then I don't see one that matches mine. Mine is a 5400001.

Help!


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

My tivo is a 540040 as my post describes. I'm not at home to look but I'm guessing that the model # is on the back of the tivo or you could find it in the sytem info section of the tivo menu.

Once you figure out which tivo you have (if your tivo is silver with a white plastic front and 40 hrs you probably have a 540040, but be sure before you begin.), you just need to go thru and select the options at the interactive upgrade page at Weaknees and the site will provide a link to download the correct software for your backup. Click to download the software, burn it as an iso, and you have the software needed for the backup.

Be careful, take your time.

Good luck


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## bigpoppadawg (Mar 18, 2005)

I have a TDC540040 and I upgraded my drive this weekend....I did things a little different I used dd to copy the original drive to the new drive...then ran mfsadd.
Everything went off without a hitch....I highly recommend the new units...they handle the large drives (over 137) gb...without custom kernels...

Bigpoppadawg
Never Fake the Funk....!!!


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

bigpoppadawg said:


> I have a TDC540040 and I upgraded my drive this weekend....I did things a little different I used dd to copy the original drive to the new drive...then ran mfsadd.
> Everything went off without a hitch....I highly recommend the new units...they handle the large drives (over 137) gb...without custom kernels...
> 
> Bigpoppadawg
> Never Fake the Funk....!!!


Where did you get your instructions from and software to upgrade yours? I plan on using a 160 gig hd and want it to be as simple as possible.


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

Just looked on the back of the unit and mine is the TCD-540040. I was looking in the system info and it was giving me the other numbers that I posted. So, one question answered


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

You can get a good set of instructions here customized to your unit and upgrade choices:

tivo.upgrade-instructions.com


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## Stoned Gecko (Mar 25, 2005)

I'm really happy I found this thread. I bought a 540040 a coule of days ago, and after seeing that I wouldn't be able to get 40 hours out of it (basic quality just doesn't do it for me) I'm planning on an upgrade.


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## Pisser (Dec 8, 2004)

I used the hinsdale guide a few months ago on a 540. Took all of 20 minutes to do.

In a nutshell:
backup: mfsbackup -6so /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc
restore and expand: mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc

done, pretty damn simple....


****DO NOT USE THESE LINES AS THE BIBLE***** your settings may differ and there are a few things to do before and after, but these are the 2 main lines.


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

Ok, getting ready to download the files and had a question. When following the instructions it talks about downloading the right file for the new Series 2 Tivo units. Mine is the TCD540040. 

What exact file(s) do I need to make sure I have the correct stuff? On that page it's talking about LBA48 kernel, modified kernels...etc. Then it talks about download 

PTVupgrade LBA48 CD v4.01 FREE DOWNLOAD (default boot no byteswap)

or

PTVupgrade LBA48 CD v4.0 FREE DOWNLOAD (default boot byteswap).

My current Tivo is a 40 hour unit and I'm going to replace that hd with a 200 gig hd...if that helps.

Thanks!


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

That's a main reason why I recommend the weaknees site. They provide a link to the software iso file based on exactly how you want to do your upgrade.

1. Go here: tivo.upgrade-instructions.com

2. Select your model (series 2 standalone 540040)

3. next page: complete upgrade choices

4. next page: Click iso file download link 

That will get you the upgrade software you need. Just burn it as an iso (bootable), test it to make sure it boots, then you are ready to go.

Good luck


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

rick123 said:


> That's a main reason why I recommend the weaknees site. They provide a link to the software iso file based on exactly how you want to do your upgrade.
> 
> 1. Go here: tivo.upgrade-instructions.com
> 
> ...


Ok, went there downloaded the stuff and got into the boot disk and it told me to issue this command:

mount /dev/hdW1 /mnt

When I type that it says this

mount: special device /dev/hdW1 does not exist

Any clues?

I just did exactly like rick 123 did:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdd

and right now it's copying it. We'll see if it works or not


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

Hmm, I didn't have to do any mounting hard drive stuff in my upgrade...

Maybe someone else knows what's up?


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

rick123 said:


> Hmm, I didn't have to do any mounting hard drive stuff in my upgrade...
> 
> Maybe someone else knows what's up?


Well, I tried one of the sites and it listed that mount command. Then I came back and just did it just like you had posted. When I do it your way...I get this error at 26.13%

26.13% finished and gave this error: Restore failed: Internal error 3


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

I found this thread that has some info but no solution.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/archive/index.php/t-175963.html

Maybe you could post a question titled with that error to get some more help.


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

Pisser said:


> I used the hinsdale guide a few months ago on a 540. Took all of 20 minutes to do.
> 
> In a nutshell:
> backup: mfsbackup -6so /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc
> ...


Question...where did you backup to? Your new replacement hd or another hd in your pc?


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

I did not back up, that's the thing about doing a drive replacement. Just keep your original drive as your backup, if anything happens, just put it back in. I believe you need a FAT partition to make a backup to a hard drive in your computer (that's all I know about making a backup) but IMO you really should disconnect any other hard drives in your computer to prevent a boot into windows xp (if that's what you have) which coulld cause problems.

IMO there is nothing wrong with doing a backup, but it is just one more step that you are taking while your original (tivo) drive is connected therefore one more opportunity to screw up the original tivo drive. 

If you followed the steps in the "guide" I wrote, you would not of made a backup. Did you do some other typing other than 

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdd ?

Also check if you have your optical drive jumpered and connected as primary slave and plugged into the primary IDE connector and your tivo jumpered as secondary master and replacement drive jumpered as secondary slave and connected to the secondary IDE channel?

Hope this helps.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Good thread... I'm sure many people would rather hear a success story from a first-time upgrader than someone who's done it a million times.

All the upgrade experts seem to have left the building around here . I don't read TC much any more, but I'll do my best to answer some of the questions raised above:

First, I recommend making (and testing) a backup, even if you're only copying from the old drive to a new drive and thus don't technically need it. Having a good backup ensures that you'll always have a way to restore your TiVo to working condition, regardless of hard disk failures (and yes, that old 40GB drive could certainly fail even though it's not in use; stranger things have happened). It does make the process a little more painful, since you need either a FAT partition or a Linux (typically ext2 or ext3) partition to back up to, and many people nowadays have XP boxes using NTFS, but since you have that shiny new drive that's eventually going to end up in your TiVo, you can format it as a FAT partition temporarily, and back up to it. Then, I'd recommend burning the image you back up onto a CD-R or CD-RW, and restoring from it onto the new drive to make sure the backup works before proceeding. After that, I typically store my backups both on the hard drive of my primary desktop computer, and on CD-R's as well.

As to the person above who mentioned backup up using the command:

mfsbackup -6so /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc

You should really include -f 9999 before -6so in the line above. Without it, on some units you'll fail to back up everything you need; the first backup I ever made had this problem, and I was missing the menu backgrounds. This is also a good reason to test the backup you make before trusting that it's good.

As for the question above about the line:

mount /dev/hdW1 /mnt

/dev/hdW1 isn't an actual device; that W is a placeholder for a lowercase letter, typically in the range a-d, depending on where the drive whose partition you're trying to mount is hooked up on the IDE controller. a is primary master, b is primary slave, c is secondary master, d is secondary slave. If you have more than one IDE controller, you can certainly have letters past d; the Linux box I use to perform most of my upgrades has an additional IDE controller, so I have /dev/hd[e-h] as well.

I can't offer any more advice on the "Internal error 3" than Michael from weaknees posted in the thread linked to above, but certainly try what he suggests.

Drew


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

azitnay,

thanks for the post. So, I can basically just hook up my old Tivo hd and my new hd along with my cdrom and then just do a backup from the old one to the new one? 

Does the new hd need to be partitioned or anything? Because I did pull this out of one of my Windows XP pc's and I'm sure I had it partitioned as NTFS. There's no data on it, but it is formatted...could that be causing my problems? Do I need to reformat it as FAT32?

I have an old 30 gig hd that I deleted all the partitons and reformatted it as FAT32 and stuck it in on Primary Master and tried backing up to it...it got 45.71% done and just froze.

I'm learning, but also at the same time I don't won't to screw up my current Tivo hd either.

One more thing...my 40 gig Tivo hd is almost full...could that be causing some of this? Do I need to delete all my shows on the 40 gig?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Ok, I went back and re-read your previous posts on this thread, and it sounds like you're trying to copy the entire contents of your current TiVo's 40GB drive to a new, larger drive, thereby preserving your recordings. If that's not correct, let me know.

First of all, I'd recommend making a backup image. If you don't know already, this is an image that contains everything on your TiVo EXCEPT the recordings. The size of the image can vary... As far as I know, It's always less than 1GB; in my experience it's always been between 100MB and 500MB.

You can use either the new drive or the old 30GB drive you have to create the backup image. You will need to reformat it as FAT32; it sounds like you know how to do it already, but if not, the easiest way for me nowadays is to download and create a Windows 98 boot disk from http://www.bootdisk.com/, boot from it, and use fdisk and format to create the partition. Then, boot up via MFS Tools 2.0 with the TiVo 40GB drive and the drive with the FAT32 partition connected. You'll have to mount the FAT32 partition so that you can backup to it; that'll involve a command like:

mount /dev/hdX1 /mnt/c

where the X in hdX is the letter designation of the drive with the FAT32 partition; it follows the primary-master-slave-secondary-master-slave order I mentioned in my post above, but it's probably best to use Shift-PageUp once you get to the initial MFS Tools prompt to verify which drive is which. After you have the drive mounted successfully (mount reports no errors), you can run:

mfsbackup -f 9999 -6so /mnt/c/tivo.bak /dev/hdX

where the X in hdX is the letter destination of the TiVo 40GB drive. It'll take a few minutes, and you should end up with a /mnt/c/tivo.bak file.

Next, it's best to test this backup. If you backed up to the 30GB drive, you can do this by booting up via MFS Tools 2.0 again, this time with the 30GB drive and the new drive destined for the TiVo hooked up. Once you're booted, mount the FAT32 partition just as before, and run:

mfsrestore -bzpi /mnt/c/tivo.bak /dev/hdX

where the X in hdX is the letter designation of the new TiVo drive this time. After it's done restoring, pop it in the TiVo, turn it on, and test to make sure everything's working just as it was with the original 40GB drive. The recordings will all be listed, but you won't be able to play them because the backup you restored from didn't include them. Also, you'll still only have 40 hours available, because you didn't use -x on the mfsrestore.

Once you've confirmed that the backup is good, store it in a safe place (or several safe places). Then, you're ready to do a full copy of the TiVo's old 40GB drive onto the new drive. I've never personally done this, but it should be pretty straightforward. There are two methods for doing this; one using mfsbackup and mfsrestore, and the other using dd and then mfsadd to expand the drive. It sounds like you've already tried the mfsbackup-mfsrestore method, and got some kind of error. Just to confirm, the command should have looked like:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdX | mfsrestore -s 127 -xbzpi - /dev/hdY

where X and Y above refer to the OLD (40GB) and NEW TiVo drives, respectively (you're backing up the old drive, and restoring to the new drive). Make sure you get the order correct here; mfstool might detect your error and bail out, but I can't guarantee that. If that method still gives you an error, you can try the dd method. It's done as follows:

dd if=/dev/hdX of=/dev/hdY bs=1024k

where X and Y above refer to the same X and Y as in the previous option. It's even more potentially destructive if you reverse the drives here, as dd has no notion of MFS partitions and will simply copy the contents of the if= drive blindly to the of= drive. If you receive and error while doing the above, apparently you're supposed to try:

dd conv=noerror,sync if=/dev/hdX of=/dev/hdY bs=1024k

instead. Not sure exactly what the differences are. Once the dd finishes (could take several hours), you'll need to use the following command:

mfsadd -x /dev/hdY

(same Y as before) to expand the new drive's MFS partitions. Then, you should be able to boot up with the new drive and have a larger TiVo.

All this and more can be found in the Hinsdale How-to (http://www.newreleasesvideo.com/hinsdale-how-to/index9.html), but hopefully I've clarified some of the points for you.

One last note, you ask if you need to delete all the shows on your 40GB drive... Obviously, using mfsbackup-mfsrestore or dd like this is intended to preserve all your shows; if you're fine with losing them, you can simply mfsrestore from your backup image, adding -x to expand the drive as well, and end up with a bigger TiVo without as much hassle.

Drew


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

azitnay,

THANK YOU very much for the detail instructions. I will try this when I get in from work. I guess I was confused about the image and copying everything to the new hd.

So, the image backup is only backing up your Tivo info and no recordings...got that now!

The 30 gig hd I stuck in another Windows XP system and just went into Admin Tools and deleted the partitions and then formatted it as FAT32. So, I don' t need to do it with a bootup disk...do I?

Thanks again...so much. I've run out of room recording my daugthers childrens programs and I wanted to upgrade to my 200 gig hd and copy all those program over as well.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

I wasn't aware that Windows XP allowed you to create FAT32 partitions, but I guess it would still make some sense, given that I believe it still gives you the option upon installation. Sounds like you have a handle on that part of the operation, anyway.

I fear you might find that those children's programs will slowly eat up the 200 as well... The only true way out of the mess may be a second TiVo .

Good luck on the upgrade; post here if you need more help.

Drew


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## Solver (Feb 17, 2005)

Wow! This just worked on my 40 meg series 2.

After getting all kinds of information about upgrading my TiVo drive I found this.
With this, I did not need any extra FAT 32 formated drives or such.

I just temporarly removed all drives from my PC, placed the TiVo orginal on one IDE port and the new large drive on another, confirm bootup of the upgrade CD and executed:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hde | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdf

After about two hours, I had an upgraded drive.

THANK YOU!


PS By the way, drives on my system somehow show up as hde and hdf.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Yep, that's a fine way to do it... It's still a good idea to create a backup image, but I suppose it's not an absolute necessity, as long as you're willing to run the risk of potentially having to troll for a backup image if your drive ever dies and you didn't keep the original.

If they showed up as hde and hdf, it sounds like you connected them to a secondary IDE controller (some computers come with them).

Drew


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## Solver (Feb 17, 2005)

My old 40gig TiVo drive IS my backup. It is labeled as such and placed in my safe with the upgrade CD and my other backups.

Jim


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

azitnay said:


> I wasn't aware that Windows XP allowed you to create FAT32 partitions, but I guess it would still make some sense, given that I believe it still gives you the option upon installation. Sounds like you have a handle on that part of the operation, anyway.
> 
> I fear you might find that those children's programs will slowly eat up the 200 as well... The only true way out of the mess may be a second TiVo .
> 
> ...


Yes, Windows XP will allow you to format FAT32. Well, I'm using Tivo ToGo and transferring them to my pc and going to burn them when I get time. But it's just so easy for the wife to get a program playing from the Tivo without having to worry about changing dvd's or vhs. That's why I keep several on there.


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

azitnay said:


> You'll have to mount the FAT32 partition so that you can backup to it; that'll involve a command like:
> 
> mount /dev/hdX1 /mnt/c
> 
> Drew


Ok, tried this line

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/c

and got this error:

mount point /mnt/c does not exist


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

darkcyber said:


> Ok, tried this line
> 
> mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/c
> 
> ...


You must not be using the MFS Tools 2.0 CD, then... IIRC, it creates mountpoints /mnt/c, /mnt/d, /mnt/e, and /mnt/cdrom automatically.

I guess you can do:

mkdir /mnt
mkdir /mnt/c
mount /dev/da1 /mnt/c

The first one might give an error if /mnt already exists, but the other two should work.

Drew


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

I'm downloading msf tools 2.0 right now. So, I just boot up with it and then use these commands. 

I went to the weakness site and selected the settings and downloaded whatever iso they had and have been using it. Don't know what version it is.

Let me ask something else...when I use the slave or master jumper on the old tivo drive I always shows up as 33,xxx mb's. If I leave it with cable select it will show it as 41,xxx mb's. So, don't know if that's part of the issue or not.

I downloaded msf tools 2.0 and created a boot disc with it. When I boot up I'm getting something alot different when I used the weakness boot cd. It's not giving that long list of things...like hd's and sizes and all that.


Ok, just tried it will the new 2.0 tools boot cd and typed in that line:

mount / dev/hda1 /mnt/c 

and it says Could not find kernel image: mount

why me?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Heh... Sorry if I confused you. I'm sure weaknees' download was a just semi-stripped-down version of MFS Tools 2.0. Thus, you could have created the mount point yourself and continued.

If you want to use MFS Tools 2.0, just hit Enter at that first prompt. Then you'll see all the familiar stuff. Whatever you're more comfortable with.

Drew


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

azitnay said:


> You must not be using the MFS Tools 2.0 CD, then... IIRC, it creates mountpoints /mnt/c, /mnt/d, /mnt/e, and /mnt/cdrom automatically.
> 
> I guess you can do:
> 
> ...


Nope...When I run mkdir /mnt & mkdir /mnt/c I "could not find kernel image"...that's using 2.0.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

darkcyber said:


> Nope...When I run mkdir /mnt & mkdir /mnt/c I "could not find kernel image"...that's using 2.0.


Did you simply hit enter to bypass the first prompt (the one that asks about noswap, dma, etc.)?

Drew


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

azitnay said:


> Did you simply hit enter to bypass the first prompt (the one that asks about noswap, dma, etc.)?
> 
> Drew


Finally figure that out...lol! The other boot cd's would go past this. I finally burned enough boot cd's that I got one to work and it looks like it's finished. I put in a 200 gig hd and it's showing that the size is now 147 hours (107 more), does that sound right. I though a 200 gig hd should give me more space than that. Rick123 that started this post put in a 200 gig hd and reported he got 222 hours.


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

Plugged the 200 gig hd into my Tivo and powered it up and looks like everything is working...I checked at least one recorded show and it was there.

Strange thing is that I no longer have the redish colored Tivo background on the Tivo screens. All the backgrounds are solid black...any suggestions?


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## darkcyber (Mar 17, 2005)

Ok, NEWS FLASH!!!!!


I finally got it to work correctly. I put my new hd on the primary master and my tivo hd on the primary slave. I had to set the new hd to master on the jumpers and the tivo hd had to be set to CS (cable select). This was the only way mfstools would see the correct size of the tivo hd. 

Everything copied correctly...all my recorded shows, settings and even the red background for the menus is there.

Thanks everyone for you help and input...who knew that the jumper had to be set that way.


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## matty dread (Apr 17, 2005)

i have a 160 gb seagate i want to use to replace the whiney current hd.

it has been formatted as ntfs. do i need to format as fat32 first?

i assume i could use a win 98 disk to delete the partition and then format correct?

or can i just plug it in and let the mfstools do the work?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

You don't have to worry about repartitioning... MFS Tools will blow away the previous partition table.

Drew


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## Meth68 (Apr 22, 2005)

Hi guys I just finally ordered the 540040 i just have a couple dumb questions. If i want to install a 300gb drive will i just need MFS Tools 2.0 and follow this thread? Do i activate then replace the drive? Also, I currently have DTV but its considered semi legit i guess i shouldnt have any issues as long as i dont have my phone line in use for my tivo and use a usb adapter? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

Meth68, 

If you follow this guide you will get your software from the weaknees site based on the type of upgrade you select on their site. 300 gb is fine.

If by activate you mean should you set up and run your tivo first prior to doing the backup?, YES, both to make sure all is working correctly and also recommended you wait until you get the 7.1 updated software.

Not sure what you mean by your DTV comment, but when you initially set up your tivo you are required to use a phone line, the network adapter is not an option. Once you do the initial call to tivo to set up the system you can then switch to the wireless or wired network option.

Rick


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## msurtees (Apr 10, 2005)

I AM the world's biggest, stupidest, dumbest, most moronic loser.

Upgraded my new 40 hour to a maxtor 200gig drive.

Put the new drive in...powered up...and all I got was "Welcome! Powering up..."

I was pretty irritated...I also post a plea for help in this forum.  


I went to go put my original drive back in figuring I'd try again tomorrow...

and...

there's the new drive with NO ide cable attached.  


L O S E R !!!

All is now fine.  

Time for a good glass of wine and a nap.

Sorry everyone.


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## Sonny (Feb 11, 2000)

Hi,

This is a stupid question, but what key do you use to type in the vertical line in between "/dev/hdc " and "mfsrestore of the line below?

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hdd 

Thanks,

Sonny


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Shift+backslash... You should see it above the backslash. It's a pipe.

Drew


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

I recently got one of the "free" refurb 540040 units (actually $155 applied toward a second tive sub equalls free with paid about 2 year subscription...).

Picked up a second Seagate 200gb from Outpost.com for $40 bucks after rebate.

Slipped it into the new refurb unit just like the first time, except the whole process took about 1hr 15min since I had the experience of the first upgrade. 

All went smoothly this time, now I have 2 upgraded and wireless networked Tivos.

Gonna wire one of them and see if transfers are faster.


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## Garycal (Dec 28, 2005)

Did the whole Weaknees thing with my Series 2 TiVo (540040). Upgraded with a 300 Gb drive and it now shows 300+ available recording hours. One thing I noticed however, is that with only about 15 hrs on there I get warnings about programs possibly being deleted to make more room. Is the TiVo somehow not recognizing my larger drive, even though is shows that it is?


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

If you are talking about the yellow ball It is normal for the status to change to May Be Deleted after a couple of days. Turn on the Record TiVo Suggestions use that as your free space indicator The TiVo will delete its suggestions before any requested program. 

Congrats on the Upgrade.


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## rawksteadi (Nov 11, 2005)

SUCCESS! 
I just did pretty much the same thing and it worked. I used 
mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdX | mfsrestore -s 127 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hdZ 
to copy over the whole drive with recordings. This was a lot easier than copying without recordings. I kept getting errors saying "error restoring MFS data" at the 27% mark when I tried to copy over without recordings. Doing it this way with recordings took a little longer, but it worked. I went from a 40hr Tivo to a 340hr Tivo (97hrs at best quality). I used a Maxtor DiamondMax 300GB 5400rpm hdd.


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

Nice Job. Congrats and welcome to the world of BIG Tivo.


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## EricF (Mar 18, 2006)

Ok... I know that the TiVo police would object but my 540 is giving the old "Green Screen of Death" in a continuous and maddening loop. I've tried ALL of the kickstart codes to no avail. I would rather not buy yet another TiVo and I'm prepared to upgrade the HD (it seems this is the likely culprit). The problem I have is that if the HD is indeed toasted, I might not be able to simply transfer to the new drive. Does anyone know where I can get a 540040 image? Help me Obi-wan Kenobi, you're my only hope....


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

If you have trouble locating an image (try PM'ing StanSimmons), you can always attempt the upgrade with the current drive... It might work, and if not you haven't really lost anything.

Drew


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## jstutman (May 19, 2006)

Thread Resurrection

This thread helped me alot, everything is going good, restore/backup.

Lets say that in 6 months I purchase a larger drive, do you just reformat the old "upgraded" tivo drive using windows to return it back to a "normal" hdd?


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## rick123 (Dec 9, 2004)

The Tivo drive is just a normal IDE drive, you can use it in your computer without any issues as far as I know once you format it. 

Congrats on the upgrade, glad the thread helped.


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