# Activate then Clone or Clone then Activate?



## geoyank (Jul 26, 2005)

Hi Guys,
So I am getting an TiVo Premiere and it should arrive any day now. Because I used a special offer, when it comes, I have to activate it via phone and not online (at least at first). Also, before I purchased it, I came here to tivocommunity and went ahead and bought a 2TB WD green drive. I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind giving me some friendly advice on what order I should do everything in. My to do list are the following three things:

- transfer my programs from my tivo HD to the tivo premiere
- activate the TiVo Premiere
- Replace the 320GB hard drive inside the TiVo Premiere w/ the 2TB hard drive (clone it).

Which goes first, second, and third?

Also, I have a DVR expander connected to the TiVo HD at the moment. If you guys think I should transfer the programs from the TiVo HD first, would all of it fit on the 320GB stock drive w/in the TiVo Premiere?

Thanks guys!


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

geoyank said:


> Hi Guys,
> So I am getting an TiVo Premiere and it should arrive any day now. Because I used a special offer, when it comes, I have to activate it via phone and not online (at least at first). Also, before I purchased it, I came here to tivocommunity and went ahead and bought a 2TB WD green drive. I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind giving me some friendly advice on what order I should do everything in. My to do list are the following three things:
> 
> - transfer my programs from my tivo HD to the tivo premiere
> ...


You must activate first because you can't xfer anything to the new TP until it has service in your account.

I would get the TP working with the original HD so if you have any problems TiVo warranty will be no problem and if you are using a cable card get that paired also.

After everything is working than you can use* jmfs *to make up your 2Tb drive and put the original drive safely away should you need a image sometime in the future. (there are many other ways to do this but I think this would be a simple way for you)


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## geoyank (Jul 26, 2005)

lessd said:


> You must activate first because you can't xfer anything to the new TP until it has service in your account.
> 
> I would get the TP working with the original HD so if you have any problems TiVo warranty will be no problem and if you are using a cable card get that paired also.
> 
> After everything is working than you can use* jmfs *to make up your 2Tb drive and put the original drive safely away should you need a image sometime in the future. (there are many other ways to do this but I think this would be a simple way for you)


Thanks lessd! Is the guide here on how to use jmfs is the one you would recommend using?


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

geoyank said:


> Thanks lessd! Is the guide here on how to use jmfs is the one you would recommend using?


Yes, very simple to use if you can make a CD boot disk from an ISO file.


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## jrtroo (Feb 4, 2008)

Will you be OTA? If not, I would suggest pairing your cablecard prior to upgrading as well.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

The very conservative approach would be to wait until the TiVo warranty expires and then crack the case. 

Follow the steps lssd outlined. If the total drive space of your old system is larger than 320GB, then unless it is almost empty, I don't think the shows will all transfer. Some shows may not be allowed to be copied over if the copy bit is set. You will have to get everything up and running first to see what can be moved to the new unit. 

FWIW, you might consider using DvrBARS to make a backup of your final configuration before you copy over your shows or record new ones. 

If you are a little adventurous, you could use DvrBARS to make a virgin backup of the drive of the new unit before you even power it on. The caveat is that you technically voided the warranty before you even tested the unit. The advantage is that the resultant backup image is the smallest one to store and one that puts the unit back to its original factory state.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

jmbach said:


> The very conservative approach would be to wait until the TiVo warranty expires and then crack the case.


I've voided the warranty on almost every Tivo I've owned, and I've owned several dozen at least. It all depends on how confident you feel about repairing the Tivo yourself. The vast majority of Tivo issues are drive related so if you can backup and restore a Tivo image then the warranty is irrelevant. The key is to create a backup image as soon as you get the Tivo so you have something to restore if the drive goes south on you.

As for activation, I'd do that before any hacking just to make sure the unit is 100% functional. This is the one time that I'd rely on the warranty. Once you've upgraded the drive and allowed the Tivo to connect to Tivo HQ, Tivo, Inc., will know that you've upgraded the drive and voided your warranty since that info will be uploaded to their database. The best thing to do is perform the drive upgrade but disconnect the ethernet cable when testing it to make sure it works. Once you've confirmed the upgrade drive works you can let it connect. Otherwise, just replace the original drive and Tivo will be none the wiser.


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## geoyank (Jul 26, 2005)

Thanks everyone! I didn't realize how long it would take to transfer all my shows (I watch most tv in the summer). Transferring was not too bad but I just had to select each individual show and I had several seasons of shows lol. Tonight I am going to do the cloning ssince everything from the old tivo is now on the new tivo. 

I would like to get everything done asap so I can sell the tivohd and the expander. I know it would be nice to keep the expander but I already will have a 2TB drive in there and as it is now, I think the premiere is only 75% full and thats w/ a 320GB drive so I don't think I will miss the expander that much.
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Oh, and the only shows that did not transfer were the ones from HBO. I am guessing that is more due to copyright than anything else.
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UPDATE (5/17/2013): Upgraded successfully. I used Comer's method and everything seems to be working smoothly. For anyone out there I did the following:

1. Transfer programs from a TiVo HD + Expander to TiVo Premiere.
2. Paired cable card (FIOS) to TiVo Premiere
3. Cloned Premiere drive (500GB --> 2TB) using JMFS. Both original and new drive were connected externally to my computer so no need to open up my computer box. I let it run overnight and when I woke up in the morning, it was completed. Cloning took the longest amount of time (a few hours), expand and supersize took seconds.

FYI - to open the tivo box, I had to use T10 and T15 screwdriver heads.


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