# GSOD - reboot - GSOD - rebbot - can I rebuild and save recordings?



## lcsneil (Jun 18, 2002)

OK it's not been a good weekend. I have GSOD TWO tivos and knackered the TIvo upgrade PC with a dodgy BIOS update!

So once I have fixed the BIOS update I need to start on the Tivos! 

Anyway my question is, is it possible to rebuild a drive and still keep the recordings I have on there.

Status as follows:-

Tivo 1 - upgraded to a 400GB disk about 8 years ago and its run like a dream ever since. This weekend it GSOD - reboot - GSOD loop. 

Tivo 2 - gathering dust (having previously been upgraded to 400GB disk and retired 18 months ago in favour of Humax) . Booted it up for 1st June trials and cycled the power too enthusiastically! GSOD-reboot-GSOD etc

I would really like to keep programmes on Tivo 1 but not bothered about Tivo 2 so can practice on that.

I have MFSTools2largdisk iso and also diskutils - both on bootable disks. 

Have also found a tivo.bak file (about 348MB) from 2002 on my (working) PC which I am assuming is my original 40GB backup I made (no recordings). 

So my question is there any way of restoring the OS in effect from this .bak but without destroying the recordings on the drive itself? And then how do I get Tivo to recognise them again?

I also have a slight problem in that it thinks that the disk is too small to write the image to and diskutils reckon that the drive isn't locked but that is a different issue I think. 

If all else fails then I might just have to put Tivo disk into PC and format it and start again.

I am pretty competent at PC stuff (although you might query that from my opening sentence) and can limp along in UNIX but not really sure sometimes why things are like they are.

Anyone any ideas to help?

Neil


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## spitfires (Dec 19, 2006)

I hate it when that happens 

The GSOD-reboot loop is typical of an incorrect swap file (there used to be problems with swap files being made the wrong size when upgrading).

Unless you can get the TiVo to boot then it's going to be next to impossible to get your recordings off directly (unless you know Linux and can mess around with manually creating/copying disc partitions  )

I think all you can try is to copy the TiVo disc and see if the copying fixes the failed disc sector (or whatever it is that TiVo isn't happy with). There are two ways of doing this, but either will need a second disc at least as big as your current TiVo disc.

Method 1 - use mfstools to do a "upgrade but keeping the existing recordings"

Method 2 - use "dd" Linux utility to copy the disc (with suitable error correcting parameters).

The Hinsdale guide covers both these methods.

With a lot of luck and a fair wind you might be able to copy the disc ok.

p.s.


> So my question is there any way of restoring the OS in effect from this .bak but without destroying the recordings on the drive itself?


No - if you restore to it then you will toast all your recordings.

EDIT: or Method 3 - try dd_rescue - http://www.mfslive.org/softwareguidep6.htm#ddrescue

.


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## lcsneil (Jun 18, 2002)

Ok thanks.

Sounds like I know what is going to happen to the sacraficial disk in Tivo 2. 

Although I do need to fix the system so that the PC (post BIOS fix) sees the correct size and disk name (which was worrying that it came up with rubbish for the first half of the disk name (not Samsung) which is usually indicative of a failing drive although SMART says its OK!


Neil


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

lcsneil said:


> Ok thanks.
> 
> Sounds like I know what is going to happen to the sacraficial disk in Tivo 2.
> 
> ...


That garbled disc name is often caused by a problem with the IDE cable, not the drive, or the mobo, or the bios.

And use Spitfires 3rd option of dd_rescue (with the -v option so you can see what's going on) instead of dd

It's on the MFS Live cd v1.4

Make yourself a copy if you don't already have one.

It's got several handy things to have.

(You may need v1.3b if you want to mount Tivo partitions, though)

And if you're copying to the exact same size disc, you might get better results running dd_rescue with the reverse option (-r).


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## mutant_matt2 (Dec 16, 2008)

And my usual suggestion, when dodgy discs are being discussed, is to try Spinrite on it, as it's a non-destructive, sector based disc surface checker/fixer. Nothing to loose (other than it might take some time, if some sectors are indeed in need of fixing), before you get more serious in your approach.

SMART is often blissfully unaware of a disc that is the process of eating itself, so I wouldn't put too much faith in it! 

If Spinrite can fix it, I'd then clone the disc (as discs are now very cheap), just in case...

HTH!

Matt


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## unitron (Apr 28, 2006)

mutant_matt2 said:


> And my usual suggestion, when dodgy discs are being discussed, is to try Spinrite on it, as it's a non-destructive, sector based disc surface checker/fixer. Nothing to loose (other than it might take some time, if some sectors are indeed in need of fixing), before you get more serious in your approach.
> 
> SMART is often blissfully unaware of a disc that is the process of eating itself, so I wouldn't put too much faith in it!
> 
> ...


Not having a spare $100 bill I'd like to see most of disappear, I don't have the current version of Spinrite with which to experiment (although somewhere areound here I think there's still a floppy with a version that's probably nearly 20 years old).

Does it work in such a way that byte-swapping doesn't matter?


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## Ian_m (Jan 9, 2001)

When one of my 2nd set of disks failed in early 2010 (after 5 years) I managed to use the Seagate tools to repair the failed sectors.

After repair the TiVo rebooted and immediately green screened. I left it connected to phone line and after short while of modem activity, rebooted and was fine long enough for me to copy off any important programmes I hadn't watched as well as a complete copy of my /var/hack directory.

However after about 24 hours it locked up again and wouldn't reboot. Seagate tools gave more failed sectors. I didn't bother repairing as by then my replacement 500GB disk had arrived.


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## mutant_matt2 (Dec 16, 2008)

unitron said:


> Not having a spare $100 bill I'd like to see most of disappear, I don't have the current version of Spinrite with which to experiment (although somewhere areound here I think there's still a floppy with a version that's probably nearly 20 years old).


Understood, but GRC does have a money-back if not satisfied (i.e. it didn't fix it) guarantee.



> Does it work in such a way that byte-swapping doesn't matter?


Yes. It works on sectors, so doesn't care about what the file system is (as it's non-destructive).

Cheers,

Matt


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