# Basic upgrade help needed.



## 2004raptor (Dec 31, 2005)

I've read through the weakness 21 page thread a while bakc and even posted in it. I was thinking of upgrading just for the heck of it but decided to hold off. Plus I never fill up my 40 hour drive anyways.
Well, recenlty my tivo began to reboot frequently. It does it about once per day now. I'd like to go ahead and replace it with something before it's completely dead. SO what are my options?

1. Buy a new hard drive with the tivo OS already installed.

2. BUy a new drive and instacake?

3. Buy a new drive and follow weakness instructions.


I would like to do option 3 but get really confused when I look through the long thread. I have a 540xxx unit and just want to replace the drive, no need to save what's on there. I assume the newest update will hit me if I sign up for the priority update thing again, right?
DO I need an existing hard drive to do anything with this install? IOW, since I have XP pro, could I just unplug my SATA drives and have no other hard drive hooked up besides the new one for the tivo?

How long of a process is this from beginning to end? ie, 2 hours, 4 hours, etc.?
Any other details about the upgrade I need to know?


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

If you are un-comfortable with the innards of a PC the pre-loaded drive would be your best option.

The IC option still requires setting up the hard drives in the PC You might try the MFSTools method and save the $20. Check out the WeaKnees Interactive Online TiVo Upgrade Instructions see if that makes it easier.

Upgrading a 40 Hr Series 2 Tivo drive will take around 4 Hrs if you keep recordings time will vary depending on your hard-ware and the number of recordings. Probably will take less then 15 Minutes without keeping recordings


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## 2004raptor (Dec 31, 2005)

Definately not uncomfortable with pcs. Just built a new C2D system over thanskgiving break. It's really all the commnad line stuff that gets me. I see people do the upgrade and have issues and then someone replies they should have typed -"r" or done somehting to the swap file, etc. Don't quote me, I'm just using that for an example.
So, I can handle the hardware part fine. 
When I go through the instructions it says "Do you have a FAT partition on your C drive:". Is it talking about the new tivo hard drive or the drive already in my pc? Why do I need a hard drive in my pc to do the upgrade? CAn't I just unplug it (so nothing accidently happens)???

I am really contemplating hitting up BB tomorrow and grabbing the WD 320GB hd and just doing it.



HomeUser said:


> If you are un-comfortable with the innards of a PC the pre-loaded drive would be your best option.
> 
> The IC option still requires setting up the hard drives in the PC You might try the MFSTools method and save the $20. Check out the WeaKnees Interactive Online TiVo Upgrade Instructions see if that makes it easier.
> 
> Upgrading a 40 Hr Series 2 Tivo drive will take around 4 Hrs if you keep recordings time will vary depending on your hard-ware and the number of recordings. Probably will take less then 15 Minutes without keeping recordings


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

2004raptor said:


> IOW, since I have XP pro, could I just unplug my SATA drives and have no other hard drive hooked up besides the new one for the tivo?
> 
> How long of a process is this from beginning to end? ie, 2 hours, 4 hours, etc.?
> Any other details about the upgrade I need to know?


I am a big fan of IC. Just bought it again recently for my 240 (had copy for 540 already). They have improved it somewhat so it is more flexible as to which drives are hooked up where. (Master/Slave etc)

If you think your current drive is maybe "bad", I would go with IC or a preformatted drive. That way you are working with a known good image.

You mention SATA drives in your PC. Does your PC not have IDE PATA connectors? If not, that is going be a big problem.

BTW, IC on takes a couple minutes once everything is connected to bake.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

2004raptor said:


> When I go through the instructions it says "Do you have a FAT partition on your C drive:". Is it talking about the new tivo hard drive or the drive already in my pc? Why do I need a hard drive in my pc to do the upgrade? CAn't I just unplug it (so nothing accidently happens)???


I believe it asks you that if you want to make a backup image of your old drive. Linux can only write that backup file to a FAT partition.

IIRC, you can do the upgrade without backing up your image first. May not be recommended approach.


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## 2004raptor (Dec 31, 2005)

My main pc is SATA but it does have one ide port. I would use my spare pc for this anyways. It has two ide ports. ANd I don't want to accidently mess up anything on my new system.



greg_burns said:


> I am a big fan of IC. Just bought it again recently for my 240 (had copy for 540 already). They have improved it somewhat so it is more flexible as to which drives are hooked up where. (Master/Slave etc)
> 
> If you think your current drive is maybe "bad", I would go with IC or a preformatted drive. That way you are working with a known good image.
> 
> ...


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

2004raptor said:


> My main pc is SATA but it does have one ide port. I would use my spare pc for this anyways. It has two ide ports. ANd I don't want to accidently mess up anything on my new system.


If it were me, I would give the Weaknees Instructions a go for free with new blank drive.

If that doesn't work out, can always buy IC later.


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## 2004raptor (Dec 31, 2005)

I'm off for the next few days so I just may do this.
THanks greg and Homeuser.

I know I'm just reading too much into this but after making the selections for the upgrade, even though I chose not to backup my existing tivo and to disregard recordings some of the steps still mention hooking the original tivo drive up to the pc. 

1. SO basically I burn the iso (http://www.weaknees.com/weaknees_lba_boot_cd.iso) to a cd.
2. disconnect my hard drive from the pc because it will not be needed.
3. Get the new drive, connect it to IDE as master and my cdrom on secondary as master.
4. Boot off of the newly burned iso cd mentioned in step 1.
5. Continue with the directions for command line entries.
6. Remove my 40 GB drive from tivo and store.
7. Replace with new hd.

That it?

And then I will have to set it up all over again. Will it give me the newest update then or will I have to sign up for the priority list as I did a few weeks back?


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

2004raptor said:


> I know I'm just reading too much into this but after making the selections for the upgrade, even though I chose not to backup my existing tivo and to disregard recordings some of the steps still mention hooking the original tivo drive up to the pc.


Even without a backup you need the original Tivo drive connected. Weaknees and MFStools CD's do not have Tivo images on them. You have to use your original drive to start with. IC is not this way. It comes with the correct image on the CD.



2004raptor said:


> And then I will have to set it up all over again. Will it give me the newest update then or will I have to sign up for the priority list as I did a few weeks back?


No need for priority list again. If the mother ship thinks you were at 8.1, you'll get it again the next time you connect.

If you signup NOW for those guru guides, it does something that we call TivoMagic. After upgrading, all your SeasonPasses will automatically reappear even with a clean image install using IC. This isn't necessary if you copy your setting using Weakness method. (They get copied over, although your recordings will not unless you do that longer method.)


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## 2004raptor (Dec 31, 2005)

OK, that makes sense. Can I ge tthe link to IC please? I'd like to have this up and running before the wife gives me problems so I may as well take an easier route.
So with IC I just need the IC cdrom and my new tivo hard drive. Boot off the IC disc and it puts the tivo image on the new hd. Then i just have to take out the old drive (from the tivo) and put in the new. Set up and all should be well?



greg_burns said:


> Even without a backup you need the original Tivo drive connected. Weaknees and MFStools CD's do not have Tivo images on them. You have to use your original drive to start with. IC is not this way. It comes with the correct image on the CD.
> 
> No need for priority list again. If the mother ship thinks you were at 8.1, you'll get it again the next time you connect.
> 
> If you signup NOW for those guru guides, it does something that we call TivoMagic. After upgrading, all your SeasonPasses will automatically reappear even with a clean image install using IC. This isn't necessary if you copy your setting using Weakness method. (They get copied over, although your recordings will not unless you do that longer method.)


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## 2004raptor (Dec 31, 2005)

I think I found IC's website. http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/category.cfm?SID=1

So, considering I plan on getting a ~300GB drive do I need the "LBA48 Boot CD version with Enhancements (download)"? Is the "InstantCake for Series2 Standalone TiVo Units (download)" not able to handle drives larger than 137GB?


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

2004raptor said:


> OK, that makes sense. Can I ge tthe link to IC please? I'd like to have this up and running before the wife gives me problems so I may as well take an easier route.
> So with IC I just need the IC cdrom and my new tivo hard drive. Boot off the IC disc and it puts the tivo image on the new hd. Then i just have to take out the old drive (from the tivo) and put in the new. Set up and all should be well?


http://www.dvrupgrade.com/dvr/stores/1/instantcake.cfm

Sounds about right to me. I would go sign up for the Guru guide thing first though and and then do a couple forced connects to Tivo. That way you Season Passes will come back magically. 

The only goofy thing about IC was that it wanted your CD ROM connected as slave on first IDE with no master, IIRC. A lot of computers don't like that setup and won't boot to the CD-Rom that way. I believe, the latter version of IC rectifies this problem by allowing you to specify which drive is where in an advanced mode if necessary.

Used to be necessary when putting newly "baked" drive into your Tivo to do an immediate C&DE. That is no longer required either. Not really a biggie anyways, but if you forgot, weird things would happen from what I understood.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

2004raptor said:


> So, considering I plan on getting a ~300GB drive do I need the "LBA48 Boot CD version with Enhancements (download)"? Is the "InstantCake for Series2 Standalone TiVo Units (download)" not able to handle drives larger than 137GB?


Not really sure what the other software they sell is. Do you have a 240 or a 540 model? The 540 models all support >137GB. The 240 models only supported it since 7.x version of Tivo OS. I believe that is the only version of IC even available anymore. No worries.

It used to be somewhat confusing picking which download you wanted. I see with the revised web site it isn't any better.


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## 2004raptor (Dec 31, 2005)

I have a 540 model. So I'll just get the download for InstantCake for Series2 Standalone TiVo Units under the Software Products for the TiVo TCD540040 section.

Never heard of the Guru guide. I'll hunt around on the tivo in the AM and see if I can figure that out. Season passes aren't that big of a deal. Only have about 3 or 4 that I really care about but I'll give it a shot just in case.



Hope all goes well.


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## greg_burns (May 22, 2004)

2004raptor said:


> Never heard of the Guru guide. I'll hunt around on the tivo in the AM and see if I can figure that out. Season passes aren't that big of a deal. Only have about 3 or 4 that I really care about but I'll give it a shot just in case.


https://www3.tivo.com/tivo-tco/mix/index.do


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## lindylicious (Dec 12, 2006)

You need 2 hard drives and a CD ROM drive either way.

1. Boot off the CD and mfsbackup the original TiVo drive to a Windows FAT partition. Shut down and swap drives. Boot off the CD and mfsrestore from the backup on the Windows FAT partition to the new drive.

2. Boot off the CD and copy (pipe mfsbackup to mfsrestore) from the original TiVo drive directly to the new drive.

I did #2 because my Windows hard drive is NTFS.

The interactive guide at weaknees is step by step and easy to follow. I used their version of mfstools to go from a 40GB orginal drive to a 160GB new drive.



2004raptor said:


> I'm off for the next few days so I just may do this.
> THanks greg and Homeuser.
> 
> I know I'm just reading too much into this but after making the selections for the upgrade, even though I chose not to backup my existing tivo and to disregard recordings some of the steps still mention hooking the original tivo drive up to the pc.
> ...


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