# Dvr Backup And Restore Software for Windows (DvrBARS)



## ggieseke

2013/04/14: Version 1.0.0.2 Patched for DeviceIoControl error reading SD cards.
2013/04/15: Version 1.0.0.3 Patched for yet another DeviceIoControl error during restore on some computers.
2014/11/27: Version 1.0.0.6 Added the ability to restore VHD images that it doesn't recognize.
2017/11/09: Version 1.0.0.7 patched for SquashFS partitions.

**WARNING**

1. This software is provided "as is" with absolutely no warranty of any kind.
2. Opening your TiVo will void the manufacturer's warranty.
3. While every effort has been made to prevent data loss, the ultimate responsibility is yours.

OVERVIEW:

This is a Windows program designed to backup and restore TiVo DVRs. It will run on XP or later, and it should work on anything from a Series 1 to a Premiere. It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives, and it will not expand or "supersize" your drive (yet).

THE BASICS:

1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.
2. Connect a TiVo drive to your computer. USB adapters will work, but are generally much slower than a SATA or PATA direct connection.
3. Read step 2 again. DvrBARS only scans the drives once when it first starts up. If you add, remove or change your drive configuration while it's running you will confuse the poor thing. I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.
4. Run DvrBARS with an account that's a member of the Administrators group or right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
5. If you like it and want to help support future development, find the donate option in the System Information screen.

NOW WHAT?

There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).

Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.

Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.

Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).

All three backup methods will preserve your settings, CableCARD pairing, Season Passes, guide data etc.

There are two restore options (Full and Quick).

Full restores write all of the information in the backup image to the target drive, including the sectors that weren't backed up. They get zeroes.

Quick restores only write the sectors that contain data. The rest of the target drive is untouched.

NOTES:

There's a roughly 2.2TB limit inherent in the VHD file format. If you try to do a Full backup of a 2TB drive that has been in use for a while it will probably run for about 10 hours and die.

You cannot make a Modified or Truncated backup of a dual drive TiVo unless both drives are connected. It has to be able to scan the entire MFS file system to figure out what sectors to include.

For adventurous souls, you can use the VHD files with VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. Use the VHD as the source drive, boot the virtual computer with the mfstools or jmfs ISO file and you can expand, supersize, etc to another drive.

If you have Vista or later you can also mount a VHD file in Disk Manager and use it as the source drive for further operations like turning a Full or Modified backup into a Truncated backup, but be careful to check the Read Only box.

PLEASE HELP!!!!

I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.

Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.

KUDOS:

Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.

The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.

AND FINALLY:

I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.

Enjoy!
Greg


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## ThAbtO

Does this do an actual backup of Premieres and has it been fully tested, as in restoring to a bigger drive, like a 746320 to a 1tb/2tb?

This is a first I heard of backup/restore for Premieres since WinMFS.


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## vectorcatch

I tried running this on Windows 8 x64 and I get the following attached error screen.

I did a quick bit of testing and discovered that if I put an SD card in my memory card reader, the program starts fine.

My guess is that you are enumerating all the physical drives and trying to get their geometry. However, this call fails on the card reader when nothing is inserted. Should be an easy enough fix, you can either check to see if media is inserted or just assume the drive is offline if the call fails.


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## jmbach

ThAbtO said:


> Does this do an actual backup of Premieres and has it been fully tested, as in restoring to a bigger drive, like a 746320 to a 1tb/2tb?
> 
> This is a first I heard of backup/restore for Premieres since WinMFS.


It will backup and restore but it doesn't expand. You could restore a 746320 to a 2TB drive then use JMFS to expand and supersize. I have tested it on an XL (748) and OLED S3 (648)


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## ggieseke

ThAbtO said:


> Does this do an actual backup of Premieres and has it been fully tested, as in restoring to a bigger drive, like a 746320 to a 1tb/2tb?
> 
> This is a first I heard of backup/restore for Premieres since WinMFS.


That 746 image has been through the mill. It's running on at least 5 TiVos now that I know of, including 1TB and 2TB drives. For now the expansion is still achieved with jmfs, but I hope to change that in the future.

My 748 has been wiped and rebuilt so many times that it probably cringes every time I get near. It's for real. I have personally tested it on a dual drive SVR-2000 Series 1, a 649 Series 2, and the 748. We also built a 648 Series 3 successfully by taking a WinMFS backup, converting it to a VHD file, and restoring it.

The minimum file size for a Premiere seems to be around 2.5GB, but that will compress to about 1.5GB if you zip it or make a .rar file with 7-Zip. It's just a honkin' big piece of software once you add the SQLite partition and the HD menus. I also preserve the Welcome video if you haven't deleted it, the showroom demo video, and the THX certification video even on a Truncated backup.


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## ggieseke

vectorcatch said:


> I tried running this on Windows 8 x64 and I get the following attached error screen.
> 
> I did a quick bit of testing and discovered that if I put an SD card in my memory card reader, the program starts fine.
> 
> My guess is that you are enumerating all the physical drives and trying to get their geometry. However, this call fails on the card reader when nothing is inserted. Should be an easy enough fix, you can either check to see if media is inserted or just assume the drive is offline if the call fails.


Thanks!!!! It does indeed enumerate the physical drives on startup and that screenshot will help me tremendously. I never even considered SD drives.


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## ThAbtO

ggieseke said:


> That 746 image has been through the mill. It's running on at least 5 TiVos now that I know of, including 1TB and 2TB drives. For now the expansion is still achieved with jmfs, but I hope to change that in the future.
> 
> My 748 has been wiped and rebuilt so many times that it probably cringes every time I get near. It's for real. I have personally tested it on a dual drive SVR-2000 Series 1, a 649 Series 2, and the 748. We also built a 648 Series 3 successfully by taking a WinMFS backup, converting it to a VHD file, and restoring it.
> 
> The minimum file size for a Premiere seems to be around 2.5GB, but that will compress to about 1.5GB if you zip it or make a .rar file with 7-Zip. It's just a honkin' big piece of software once you add the SQLite partition and the HD menus. I also preserve the Welcome video if you haven't deleted it, the showroom demo video, and the THX certification video even on a Truncated backup.


What about expand and supersize with WinMFS afterwards?


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## ggieseke

ThAbtO said:


> What about expand and supersize with WinMFS afterwards?


That works fine according to all tests so far (using jmfs for Premieres).

I plan to add drive expansion in the future, but my goal is to resize the partitions instead of adding more of them. That's going to take some work.


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## jmbach

Interesting about the SD card. Both my laptops have nothing in the SD card slot and I haven't got that error. However I never tested it with a card in the slot. But your error is with nothing in the slot. I wonder if your setup shows empty drives being mounted.


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## vectorcatch

With my readers the drive letter is present as long as the device is plugged in, but the drive is greyed out with a no media indication. 

Not all media readers do it this way. Some will only show a drive when media is inserted. The one on my laptop works this way.

This problem happened with both the built in reader on my Dell U2410 and a Kingston USB 3.0 reader.


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## ggieseke

vectorcatch said:


> With my readers the drive letter is present as long as the device is plugged in, but the drive is greyed out with a no media indication.
> 
> Not all media readers do it this way. Some will only show a drive when media is inserted. The one on my laptop works this way.
> 
> This problem happened with both the built in reader on my Dell U2410 and a Kingston USB 3.0 reader.


My Lenovo D20 has the same kind of setup but I always leave the card readers disabled in BIOS. I was able to replicate the problem and version 1.0.0.2 is now available. Thanks.


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## dgorman

Thank you for providing this utility! I accidently ran WinMFS on a premiere drive and while it recognized it, it said it wasn't a Tivo drive so I did the fix swap and fixboot page (tried both option 1 and option 2) and it just causes my original drive to reboot after "Wait... Starting up". It's like I nuked the partition table. Wish I knew how to restore it back to the original.

I was able to use this utility to see all the partitions and make a backup and restore to a new drive, and as expected magically didn't fix the partition table since this is just a byte-for-byte copy, but it does work )

Anyone know how to fix a "I've WinMFS'd my Premiere drive boopage"


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## jmbach

What version of the Premieres do you have?


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## GBL

jmbach said:


> It will backup and restore but it doesn't expand. You could restore a 746320 to a 2TB drive then use JMFS to *expand and supersize*. I have tested it on an XL (748) and *OLED S3 (648)*


Tell me more about expanding an OLED S3 to a 2TB drive - I have a couple that are at 1TB that I wouldn't mind expanding.


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## ggieseke

dgorman said:


> Thank you for providing this utility! I accidently ran WinMFS on a premiere drive and while it recognized it, it said it wasn't a Tivo drive so I did the fix swap and fixboot page (tried both option 1 and option 2) and it just causes my original drive to reboot after "Wait... Starting up". It's like I nuked the partition table. Wish I knew how to restore it back to the original.
> 
> I was able to use this utility to see all the partitions and make a backup and restore to a new drive, and as expected magically didn't fix the partition table since this is just a byte-for-byte copy, but it does work )
> 
> Anyone know how to fix a "I've WinMFS'd my Premiere drive boopage"


What model is it? I may be able to write a "fixboot" type option into the program if I have an appropriate image to start from. It was on my ToDoList anyway, but I didn't expect anyone to need it this soon.

I don't know what the WinMFS fix swap might have done, but as long as it didn't modify the partition table we should be good. The actual contents of the swap partition are meaningless anyway. There seems to be a lot of leeway on Premieres - jmbach dumped the 746 image on a 748 and it repaired itself.


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## dgorman

jmbach said:


> What version of the Premieres do you have?


Hi,

I have the TCD750500 Premiere with the 500GB drive.


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## dgorman

ggieseke said:


> What model is it? I may be able to write a "fixboot" type option into the program if I have an appropriate image to start from. It was on my ToDoList anyway, but I didn't expect anyone to need it this soon.
> 
> I don't know what the WinMFS fix swap might have done, but as long as it didn't modify the partition table we should be good. The actual contents of the swap partition are meaningless anyway. There seems to be a lot of leeway on Premieres - jmbach dumped the 746 image on a 748 and it repaired itself.


Cool. FWIW - I've been a sr. unix engineer for the last 15 years so I have comfort with using linux/unix tools - I just don't know what it "should" look like.


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## ggieseke

GBL said:


> Tell me more about expanding an OLED S3 to a 2TB drive - I have a couple that are at 1TB that I wouldn't mind expanding.


I'll let jmbach answer that one in more detail, but I think that in your case WinMFS, mfstools or jmfs would all work as long as you haven't already maxed out the partition table limit. Your best bet is probably jmfs since it only adds one partition.


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## ggieseke

dgorman said:


> I have the TCD750500 Premiere with the 500GB drive.


I don't have a P4 image yet, but a standard Premiere boot sector may work. Let me see what I can do.

It may take a few days since I have to go back to work tomorrow. There are only 24 hours in a day and I've been living on scraps of sleep for months now getting this beast written.


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## dgorman

ggieseke said:


> I don't have a P4 image yet, but a standard Premiere boot sector may work. Let me see what I can do.
> 
> It may take a few days since I have to go back to work tomorrow. There are only 24 hours in a day and I've been living on scraps of sleep for months now getting this beast written.


Thank you! I am traveling for work this afternoon and won't be back until Thursday anyway. If it's of any help, I would be more than happy to donate to your work (paypal or other) on this project. I do appreciate people with the time and perseverance to hack on these products 

In the meantime, is there a way to mount the full backup so I can at least see if I can convert the shows to watch on a computer? Obviously when I mount the VHD, because the partitions are unknown, it doesn't see them. I'm learning along the way here with the Tivo formats 

Dan


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## ggieseke

Sorry Dan, but that's way beyond what anyone can do. We may be able to recover your recordings by fixing the boot sector but that's about it.

The recordings are encrypted by the hardware and only the box that recorded them can decrypt them.


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## dgorman

ggieseke said:


> Sorry Dan, but that's way beyond what anyone can do. We may be able to recover your recordings by fixing the boot sector but that's about it.
> 
> The recordings are encrypted by the hardware and only the box that recorded them can decrypt them.


Got it. No biggie. If we can get the drive usable again I can put it back in the tivo, do a series marathon catch up. *facepalm* on my screw-up.


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## lessd

ggieseke said:


> I don't have a P4 image yet, but a standard Premiere boot sector may work. Let me see what I can do.
> 
> It may take a few days since I have to go back to work tomorrow. There are only 24 hours in a day and I've been living on scraps of sleep for months now getting this beast written.


I thank you for your time on doing this.

I backed up a TP-320 TiVo and got a file of about 2.8Gb worked great, took very little time.
I went to restore and after the software finding the correct drive to restore (quick restore) to I hit the right arrow and got an error message *deviceIoControl* Error 0x0000001F (31)

I am using an P4 3.2Ghz old HP computer with XP prof. SP3 and direct connection to the SATA port on the motherboard. I get the same error trying to restore to a 320Gb drive or a 2Tb drive.


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## jmbach

dgorman said:


> Got it. No biggie. If we can get the drive usable again I can put it back in the tivo, do a series marathon catch up. *facepalm* on my screw-up.


Can you examine block 0. If you can then pm me the hex image to see if that is what is messed up.


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## ggieseke

lessd said:


> I thank you for your time on doing this.
> 
> I backed up a TP-320 TiVo and got a file of about 2.8Gb worked great, took very little time.
> I went to restore and after the software finding the correct drive to restore (quick restore) to I hit the right arrow and got an error message *deviceIoControl* Error 0x0000001F (31)
> 
> I am using an P4 3.2Ghz old HP computer with XP prof. SP3 and direct connection to the SATA port on the motherboard. I get the same error trying to restore to a 320Gb drive or a 2Tb drive.


Les, I have only seen that error once before and that was with a computer that had been rebuilt with Norton Ghost. We never found the root cause.

Error 31 is ERROR_GEN_FAILURE or "A device attached to the system is not functioning" in Microsoft terms. Can you provide any more details that might help me figure it out? Is there a 3rd party partition manager or drive compression software installed?


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## dgorman

jmbach said:


> Can you examine block 0. If you can then pm me the hex image to see if that is what is messed up.


Will do tonight on the superblock. I'm assuming I can mount my tivo drive through osx to a centos vm, otherwise ill see about Darwin ports for osx.


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## jmbach

dgorman said:


> Will do tonight on the superblock. I'm assuming I can mount my tivo drive through osx to a centos vm, otherwise ill see about Darwin ports for osx.


Easiest thing to do is use iBored to look at the drive. If you have the VHD already made, then have windows attach the VHD instead of attaching the actual drive. Attach the VHD as readonly.


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## jmbach

GBL said:


> Tell me more about expanding an OLED S3 to a 2TB drive - I have a couple that are at 1TB that I wouldn't mind expanding.


The OLED S3 should have version 11.0k of the software running. Use WinMFS to copy the drive to a 2TB drive. Tell it no to expand it right after the copy then use MFSAdd inside WinMFS to expand the drive. Make sure to say no to limit it to 1TB. That's it. I have tried it from the native drive and from a 1TB drive to 2TB and I get the same partition sizes in the end.. Most of all, it works in my OLED S3.


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## lessd

ggieseke said:


> Les, I have only seen that error once before and that was with a computer that had been rebuilt with Norton Ghost. We never found the root cause.
> 
> Error 31 is ERROR_GEN_FAILURE or "A device attached to the system is not functioning" in Microsoft terms. Can you provide any more details that might help me figure it out? Is there a 3rd party partition manager or drive compression software installed?


I tried your program out on my I7 Windows 7 computer and it worked great, I restored to a 2Tb drive and all was good and boy was it fast. I will be testing the program on a TP-4 in the next day or two.

The HP computer was not a restored computer, I had installed Windows XP professional from the original retail Windows disk, than loaded the HP drivers. The system is on a 160Gb drive without any partitions (except the main one). There is no compression or any other programs of note on the system. The system does have Norton security software from Comcast, could that be the problem?? If you want I can remove Norton if it will help you find the problem. I have been using this computer for many years upgrading/fixing bad hard drives on TiVo Series 1, Series 2 and Series 3 using MFtools without problems. I have been using jmfs on this computer for the Series 4 TiVos, but I have to keep an original drive for each Series 4 I want to work on, I have images for the rest.

I can live with using my bigger computer if for no other reason the system is fast, It will be great if you can get expansion and super size in the same program as I had to re-boot (using a jmfs CD boot disk) after the restore to do the expansion.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you.


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## dgorman

jmbach said:


> Easiest thing to do is use iBored to look at the drive. If you have the VHD already made, then have windows attach the VHD instead of attaching the actual drive. Attach the VHD as readonly.


I don't have enough posts to send a PM, so I'll post this here. Screenshot attached.


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## dgorman

dgorman said:


> I don't have enough posts to send a PM, so I'll post this here. Screenshot attached.


Here is a view of the partitions. IIRC reading somewhere, the Premiere uses /dev/sda now (SCSI driver).


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## ggieseke

lessd said:


> I tried your program out on my I7 Windows 7 computer and it worked great, I restored to a 2Tb drive and all was good and boy was it fast. I will be testing the program on a TP-4 in the next day or two.
> 
> The HP computer was not a restored computer, I had installed Windows XP professional from the original retail Windows disk, than loaded the HP drivers. The system is on a 160Gb drive without any partitions (except the main one). There is no compression or any other programs of note on the system. The system does have Norton security software from Comcast, could that be the problem?? If you want I can remove Norton if it will help you find the problem. I have been using this computer for many years upgrading/fixing bad hard drives on TiVo Series 1, Series 2 and Series 3 using MFtools without problems. I have been using jmfs on this computer for the Series 4 TiVos, but I have to keep an original drive for each Series 4 I want to work on, I have images for the rest.
> 
> I can live with using my bigger computer if for no other reason the system is fast, It will be great if you can get expansion and super size in the same program as I had to re-boot (using a jmfs CD boot disk) after the restore to do the expansion.
> 
> Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help you.


I still don't have any idea why that was happening to you, but I patched around it and version 1.0.0.3 is now available. It was using DeviceIoControl at that point to remove the Windows boot signature (if any). It was more of a courtesy gesture to Windows than anything else. Now it only makes that call if the drive already has a boot signature and it will continue even if it fails.

Quick restores should be about the same on the HP as the i7 since you're directly connecting to the motherboard. The processor is barely idling at that point.


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## jmbach

dgorman said:


> I don't have enough posts to send a PM, so I'll post this here. Screenshot attached.


Block 0 is definitely not a kosher Premiere block 0. If you can also post some pics of the first few blocks of the APM as well that would be good.


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## dgorman

jmbach said:


> Block 0 is definitely not a kosher Premiere block 0. If you can also post some pics of the first few blocks of the APM as well that would be good.


Do you mean block 1-14 by APM?


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## jmbach

dgorman said:


> Do you mean block 1-14 by APM?


Yes


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## lessd

ggieseke said:


> I still don't have any idea why that was happening to you, but I patched around it and version 1.0.0.3 is now available. It was using DeviceIoControl at that point to remove the Windows boot signature (if any). It was more of a courtesy gesture to Windows than anything else. Now it only makes that call if the drive already has a boot signature and it will continue even if it fails.
> 
> Quick restores should be about the same on the HP as the i7 since you're directly connecting to the motherboard. The processor is barely idling at that point.


I will try out the 1.003, the speed may be because the motherboard itself has a much faster xfer rate.
I have tried your software on a TP-4 and it works great, looks like I don't have to keep all the 500Tb drives anymore.


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## lessd

ggieseke said:


> I still don't have any idea why that was happening to you, but I patched around it and version 1.0.0.3 is now available. It was using DeviceIoControl at that point to remove the Windows boot signature (if any). It was more of a courtesy gesture to Windows than anything else. Now it only makes that call if the drive already has a boot signature and it will continue even if it fails.
> 
> Quick restores should be about the same on the HP as the i7 since you're directly connecting to the motherboard. The processor is barely idling at that point.


I will try out the 1.003, the speed may be because the motherboard itself has a much faster xfer rate.
I have tried your software on a TP-4 and it works great, looks like I don't have to keep all the 500Tb drives anymore.


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## retiredqwest

dgorman said:


> Thank you for providing this utility! I accidently ran WinMFS on a premiere drive and while it recognized it, it said it wasn't a Tivo drive so I did the fix swap and fixboot page (tried both option 1 and option 2) and it just causes my original drive to reboot after "Wait... Starting up". It's like I nuked the partition table. Wish I knew how to restore it back to the original.
> 
> I was able to use this utility to see all the partitions and make a backup and restore to a new drive, and as expected magically didn't fix the partition table since this is just a byte-for-byte copy, but it does work )
> 
> Anyone know how to fix a "I've WinMFS'd my Premiere drive boopage"


Have you tried the Kickstart 52 'Emeregency Software Reinstall' on the Tivo?

http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-kickstart-codes.php

explains how to do the commands if you have never played with the kickstart commands before.

I have never tried that command myself, but at this point I don't think it can hurt much. And it usually takes me 3 tries before I catch the Series4 to enter the commands.


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## lessd

ggieseke said:


> I still don't have any idea why that was happening to you, but I patched around it and version 1.0.0.3 is now available. It was using DeviceIoControl at that point to remove the Windows boot signature (if any). It was more of a courtesy gesture to Windows than anything else. Now it only makes that call if the drive already has a boot signature and it will continue even if it fails.
> 
> Quick restores should be about the same on the HP as the i7 since you're directly connecting to the motherboard. The processor is barely idling at that point.


Your patched worked great, was able to restore and backup on my old HP XP computer now, makes things much easer for me, thanks again for your hard work on this project.
As a note some TP drives that were already set up gave me a backup size of 1.7Gb without any ZIP and the TP-4 size was about 1.9Gb.


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## jmbach

Would be able to get ggieseke one of those TP4 images?


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## ggieseke

lessd said:


> As a note some TP drives that were already set up gave me a backup size of 1.7Gb without any ZIP and the TP-4 size was about 1.9Gb.


Wow. I've gotten close to 2TB before, but only by using the Truncated mode, excluding the alternate Root partition, and deleting the factory demo videos first. Pretty cool.


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## lessd

ggieseke said:


> Wow. I've gotten close to 2TB before, but only by using the Truncated mode, excluding the alternate Root partition, and deleting the factory demo videos first. Pretty cool.


I am using the Truncated mode, however after doing a C&D all the backup image is 1Tb bigger !!, I am looking into that.

If you want a P-4 image just PM me with your address and I will send one to you on a DVD.


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## GBL

jmbach said:


> The OLED S3 should have version 11.0k of the software running. Use WinMFS to copy the drive to a 2TB drive. Tell it no to expand it right after the copy then use MFSAdd inside WinMFS to expand the drive. Make sure to say no to limit it to 1TB. That's it. I have tried it from the native drive and from a 1TB drive to 2TB and I get the same partition sizes in the end.. Most of all, it works in my OLED S3.


Here's my current partition map:



Code:


Partition Maps
 #:                  type name                            length base      ( size  )
  1   Apple_partition_map Apple                               [email protected]         (  31.5K)
  2                 Image Bootstrap 1                          [email protected] ( 512.0 )
  3                 Image Kernel 1                          [email protected] (   4.0M)
  4                  Ext2 Root 1                          [email protected] ( 256.0M)
  5                 Image Bootstrap 2                          [email protected] ( 512.0 )
  6                 Image Kernel 2                          [email protected] (   4.0M)
  7                  Ext2 Root 2                          [email protected] ( 256.0M)
  8                  Swap Linux swap                      [email protected] ( 256.0M)
  9                  Ext2 /var                            [email protected] ( 256.0M)
 10                   MFS MFS application region          [email protected] ( 288.0M)
 11                   MFS MFS media region             [email protected] ( 103.4G)
 12                   MFS MFS application region 2        [email protected] ( 288.0M)
 13                   MFS MFS media region 2           [email protected]        ( 128.1G)
 14                   MFS MFS App by Winmfs                 [email protected] (   1.0M)
 15                   MFS MFS Media by Winmfs         [email protected] (1024.0G)

Total SA SD Hours: 1404	Total DTV SD Hours: 1226	 98 % Free
Software: 11.0k-01-2-648	Tivo Model: TCD648250B

What does your 2TB partition map look like?


----------



## jmbach

GBL said:


> Here's my current partition map:
> 
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> Partition Maps
> #:                  type name                            length base      ( size  )
> 1   Apple_partition_map Apple                               [email protected]         (  31.5K)
> 2                 Image Bootstrap 1                          [email protected] ( 512.0 )
> 3                 Image Kernel 1                          [email protected] (   4.0M)
> 4                  Ext2 Root 1                          [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 5                 Image Bootstrap 2                          [email protected] ( 512.0 )
> 6                 Image Kernel 2                          [email protected] (   4.0M)
> 7                  Ext2 Root 2                          [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 8                  Swap Linux swap                      [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 9                  Ext2 /var                            [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 10                   MFS MFS application region          [email protected] ( 288.0M)
> 11                   MFS MFS media region             [email protected] ( 103.4G)
> 12                   MFS MFS application region 2        [email protected] ( 288.0M)
> 13                   MFS MFS media region 2           [email protected]        ( 128.1G)
> 14                   MFS MFS App by Winmfs                 [email protected] (   1.0M)
> 15                   MFS MFS Media by Winmfs         [email protected] (1024.0G)
> 
> Total SA SD Hours: 1404	Total DTV SD Hours: 1226	 98 % Free
> Software: 11.0k-01-2-648	Tivo Model: TCD648250B
> 
> What does your 2TB partition map look like?


The partition map is exactly the same except the size of partition 15 is 1.6TB.


----------



## eriksson29

do u guys know where i can find an image for TCD746320 ??? my drive died on me


----------



## ggieseke

eriksson29 said:


> do u guys know where i can find an image for TCD746320 ??? my drive died on me


PM sent.


----------



## eriksson29

Hey thanks for your link im just having trouble downloading the image it startes but after awhile it fails idk if u can help me with that?


----------



## ggieseke

eriksson29 said:


> Hey thanks for your link im just having trouble downloading the image it startes but after awhile it fails idk if u can help me with that?


I'd try a different browser, make sure that you have enough disk space, and possibly even disable your antivirus during the download. The image is on Dropbox and they're very stable.


----------



## lew

I'm getting a new unit later this week. I'm trying to figure out what steps to take. My thought is to run guided setup, pair my cable cards, do enough connections to make sure my software is current, copy my SPs then do a truncated backup.

Would there be any advantage to doing a full backup? At what step in the process?


----------



## jmbach

lew said:


> I'm getting a new unit later this week. I'm trying to figure out what steps to take. My thought is to run guided setup, pair my cable cards, do enough connections to make sure my software is current, copy my SPs then do a truncated backup.
> 
> Would there be any advantage to doing a full backup? At what step in the process?


What unit are you getting. If it is new or an official factory refurbished unit I would do a full backup before powering on the unit. Then run through the guided setup which will update the software usually and then pair the CableCARD. Then do a truncated backup.


----------



## lew

jmbach said:


> What unit are you getting. If it is new or an official factory refurbished unit I would do a full backup before powering on the unit. Then run through the guided setup which will update the software usually and then pair the CableCARD. Then do a truncated backup.


New unit (XL4).

What happens if we need to restore the software and the new drive is (slightly) smaller then the original drive. It may be ancient history but MFSTools had an issue if the new drive was (different mfg) smaller but by a difference that would otherwise be insignificant. Never had that problem in the past, always upgrading to a bigger drive.

How long will this take with USB vs SA? Obviously no recordings.


----------



## retiredqwest

lew said:


> New unit (XL4).
> 
> What happens if we need to restore the software and the new drive is (slightly) smaller then the original drive. It may be ancient history but MFSTools had an issue if the new drive was (different mfg) smaller but by a difference that would otherwise be insignificant. Never had that problem in the past, always upgrading to a bigger drive.
> 
> How long will this take with USB vs SA? Obviously no recordings.


I would think that if you try to restore a 1.82TB file to a 1.81TB drive that the result will not be happy. Even JMFS will complain if you try to use a target drive that is even just a few bytes smaller.

As far as backing up the XL4.... It took me 10 minutes via a USB 3.0 or a Esata external dock. The resulting file was 2.26GB and that compressed down to 1.1GB. USB 2.0 would probably take twice as long I'm guessing.

It took 18 hours using JMFS to a second 2TB drive via a direct SATA connection.

When I did the XL4 restore it was to a WD20EURS, got no complaint screen about target not having enough space.


----------



## ggieseke

lew said:


> What happens if we need to restore the software and the new drive is (slightly) smaller then the original drive. It may be ancient history but MFSTools had an issue if the new drive was (different mfg) smaller but by a difference that would otherwise be insignificant. Never had that problem in the past, always upgrading to a bigger drive.


Right now the new drive has to be at least as big as the source of the image, and not one sector less. Any drive that's too small won't have a right arrow in the target selection screen and if you try anyway it will just "bonk" you (assuming sound effects are turned on).

Resizing the media partitions at will and moving partitions is my next major goal, but I wouldn't even begin to put an ETA on that.

I doubt that it will become much of an issue. If memory serves that problem was mostly with one specific Maxtor model that they used for a while in some of the S2s. WD drives tend to be pretty consistent.


----------



## ggieseke

lew said:


> How long will this take with USB vs SA? Obviously no recordings.


On my PC USB 2.0 was almost exactly 3 times slower than eSATA. 10 hours for a 1TB drive vs 3 hours, 20 minutes for a Full backup or restore. The chipset on my motherboard can't hack anything over 2.5Mbps anyway, so some folks with the right hardware should be able to cut that in half again.


----------



## lew

ggieseke said:


> On my PC USB 2.0 was almost exactly 3 times slower than eSATA. 10 hours for a 1TB drive vs 3 hours, 20 minutes for a Full backup or restore. The chipset on my motherboard can't hack anything over 2.5Mbps anyway, so some folks with the right hardware should be able to cut that in half again.


That suggests 20 hours for a 2T drive. We're talking about a drive without any recordings?


----------



## retiredqwest

lew said:


> That suggests 20 hours for a 2T drive. We're talking about a drive without any recordings?


Timings are so subjective.....

In the first message of this thread it lists the 3 backup options and the 2 restore options.

I have a 758 CD&E image that I created from my 4 month old 758, that is as close as I can get to a 'without recordings'. I created that file using the 'Full backup' option. It took 3 minutes to do the 'quick restore', far longer for the 758 to boot up to the setup screen. The 'Full Restore' will obviously take far longer as you are restoring the entire source to the target drive in this case 2TB.

I used the above drive and did a 'Truncated Backup' and it took 5 minutes.
Next I did the 'Modified Full' and that took 5 minutes.
Doing a 'Full Backup' now..... get back to you tomorrow.....

This is using my Blackx Dock connected via USB2.


----------



## lew

I must be missing something. Never used unit. What is the benefit to doing a full backup vs truncated?


----------



## lessd

lew said:


> I must be missing something. Never used unit. What is the benefit to doing a full backup vs truncated?


You get your recordings with a full backup.


----------



## ggieseke

It just ensures that every last byte on the source drive has been read and recorded to the backup image in some way. I don't THINK that there would be any difference between a Full and a Modified Full backup when it comes to a drive straight from the factory, but without a lot more testing on various models it's impossible to be sure.

In the early testing phase retiredqwest, jmbach and I ran a lot of really tedious backups and restores. For the average person I doubt that they will ever use anything but one of the much faster methods.

At one point each of the 120GB drives in my Series 1 took about 8 hours for a truncated backup due to the byte swapping and some poorly thought out programming on my part.


----------



## lew

lessd said:


> You get your recordings with a full backup.


You think. My question was in regards to a unit which is new out of the box. Never been turned on.

The suggestion by the author of the program was


> What unit are you getting. If it is new or an official factory refurbished unit I would do a full backup before powering on the unit. Then run through the guided setup which will update the software usually and then pair the CableCARD. Then do a truncated backup.


I got my answer. Probably not necessary but it could be useful.


----------



## ggieseke

Just to clarify (ignore this if tech bores you), Full reads every byte from alpha to omega in 2MB chunks. If it happens to stumble across a chunk that's all zeroes it makes a 4 byte note in the header and moves on. That's all. It will happily backup a garbage drive, a Windows drive, or anything else. Think dd with some compression.

Modified and Truncated backups depend on my ability to read all of the the Ext2 and MFS partitions, then decide which sectors to back up and which ones to ignore.

A Full backup of a "dirty" drive will probably be bigger than the source. If you delete all your recordings or even run C&DE it won't help.

On the other hand, the drives that TiVo's using right now come from the factory with all zeroes and they only overwrite parts of it or their build process gives the same result. Either way you get giant chunks of naughts that result in a small image.

End of the Mythbusters "science" lecture.


----------



## johndierks

I backed up my original drive using DvrBARS, (160gb drive from Tivo HD) and then restored the image to a 2TB WD20EARX. I'd like to expand now using WinMFS, but WinMFS doesn't see my drive when loaded. Thoughts?


----------



## ThAbtO

johndierks said:


> I backed up my original drive using DvrBARS, (160gb drive from Tivo HD) and then restored the image to a 2TB WD20EARX. I'd like to expand now using WinMFS, but WinMFS doesn't see my drive when loaded. Thoughts?


You could have used WinMFS for the entire process. Make sure you are using administrative access.


----------



## jmbach

johndierks said:


> I backed up my original drive using DvrBARS, (160gb drive from Tivo HD) and then restored the image to a 2TB WD20EARX. I'd like to expand now using WinMFS, but WinMFS doesn't see my drive when loaded. Thoughts?


I agree with ThAbtO. If WinMFS is not seeing the drive it usually means it needs administrator privileges. You should be able to expand the drive after DvrBARS restored the backup to the larger drive.


----------



## lessd

johndierks said:


> I backed up my original drive using DvrBARS, (160gb drive from Tivo HD) and then restored the image to a 2TB WD20EARX. I'd like to expand now using WinMFS, but WinMFS doesn't see my drive when loaded. Thoughts?


I just did that and WinMFS does see the drive but will not expand it for the full 2Tb, you can do the job by running jmfs to just expand the drive, *do not supersize* the drive with jmfs. You then can super size the drive using WinMFS. This just worked for me.


----------



## jmbach

lessd said:


> I just did that and WinMFS does see the drive but will not expand it for the full 2Tb, you can do the job by running jmfs to just expand the drive, *do not supersize* the drive with jmfs. You then can super size the drive using WinMFS. This just worked for me.


How large did WinMFS expand the drive.


----------



## lessd

jmbach said:


> How large did WinMFS expand the drive.


I did not use WinMFS to expand as it told me that 1Tb was the biggest drive that a TiVo-HD could take, I used jmfs to just expand than went back to WinMFS and used the super size on that program, worked great for a 2Tb TiVo-HD at 318 hours of HD record time. I did not try to first use WinMFS to super size than use jmfs to expand, as I said before do not use jmfs to super size a TiVo-HD.


----------



## jmbach

lessd said:


> I did not use WinMFS to expand as it told me that 1Tb was the biggest drive that a TiVo-HD could take, I used jmfs to just expand than went back to WinMFS and used the super size on that program, worked great for a 2Tb TiVo-HD at 318 hours of HD record time. I did not try to first use WinMFS to super size than use jmfs to expand, as I said before do not use jmfs to super size a TiVo-HD.


Yes that is the standard disclaimer WinMFS gives you. It will then ask you if you want to expansion limited to 1TB. Just say no and it will expand to the full 2Tb.


----------



## lessd

jmbach said:


> Yes that is the standard disclaimer WinMFS gives you. It will then ask you if you want to expansion limited to 1TB. Just say no and it will expand to the full 2Tb.


I did that and it did not work, at least for me, so I used the multi step process and that worked.


----------



## jmbach

lessd said:


> I did that and it did not work, at least for me, so I used the multi step process and that worked.


Are you talking about using WinMFS to do the whole process where you have to say no to expand after copy then use MFSAdd to expand and then supersize. Or are you talking about the multi step process where you used DvrBARS to restore to a larger drive and then JMFS to expand and WinMFS to supersize.


----------



## lessd

jmbach said:


> Are you talking about using WinMFS to do the whole process where you have to say no to expand after copy then use MFSAdd to expand and then supersize. Or are you talking about the multi step process where you used DvrBARS to restore to a larger drive and then JMFS to expand and WinMFS to supersize.


*Multi step process*, you can use DvrBARS or WinMFS to restore to the 2Tb drive, if using WinMFS don't expand, than use JMFS to expand, than WinMFS to supersize. This works, but you may be able to restore and supersize first using WinMFS, than expand using JMFS, I did not try doing that way.


----------



## nooneuknow

Perhaps part of the challenge of the project could be to determine what areas of a never-booted "virgin" drive can be once again returned to zeros on a non-virgin drive, thus reducing the final size of a truncated & compressed backup? It would also be nice to know that the databases are fully wiped, if possible, which could also eliminate the need for a C&DE between different TiVos. I had followed some advice to boot the original drives, in order to keep cable-card pairing, only to have Cox roll out an update that somehow can tell if you swapped in a cloned drive, requiring a re-pair anyway. There's also a limited amount of time the pairing information remains valid, which kills the pairing just by leaving a TiVo unplugged for too long.

Has anybody found the location of the pairing data on the drive? That's a project I'd been thinking could lead to a backup of just that data, but Cox seems to have killed any reason for me to do that. Next comes SDV, which I've heard creates it's own problems and challenges. I'm not looking forward to it, but they've used up their whole 1GHz spectrum with insane internet speed. We get a "free" speed double every year, and then 6 months after, they increase the cost, and somehow rig it where downgrading loses some invisible discount so the cost stays the same, but the speed is slower...

Oops, got a bit off the rails there... Sorry. I still get mad every time Cox claims "Our HD is FREE", when it takes three paid services to get that "free" HD...

So, I guess, I can reel this back in, going back to the matter of zeroing out the right places. For instance, whatever video started recording once the non-virgin Tivo completed setup, etc. Is Comer still active, or is has he retired after JMFS 1.04? He knew a bit about what didn't need to be included in a truncated backup, but that post was long ago, in another thread that I already cluttered up enough for now.


----------



## jmbach

lessd said:


> *Multi step process*, you can use DvrBARS or WinMFS to restore to the 2Tb drive, if using WinMFS don't expand, than use JMFS to expand, than WinMFS to supersize. This works, but you may be able to restore and supersize first using WinMFS, than expand using JMFS, I did not try doing that way.


What model S3 do you have? Not sure why WinMFS could not do the whole expand and supersize. What type of backup and restore did you use with DvrBARS and I will try to replicate.


----------



## nooneuknow

I'm curious as to what led to the concept of this. I suggested adapting jmfs to backup to a virtual drive, and/or run in a virtual machine when Comer released it. This tool is either proof that it wasn't impossible, or something changed, allowing it to be possible. I'm just happy to see that anybody is actually innovating tools to help unbrick or upgrade TiVo. I was beginning lose hope. So :up: :up: :up:


----------



## ggieseke

nooneuknow said:


> I'm curious as to what led to the concept of this.


Back in November I was virtualizing some servers at work, stumbled across yet another "you can't backup a Premiere" post and got curious. I cooked up a POS command-line app that would only run on Windows 7 and suckered retiredqwest into trying it. When he got something that would easily fit on a DVD or flash drive the obsession kicked in and almost 1000 hours of programming later...

Next time I get curious I may try beer instead, but thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

nooneuknow said:


> Perhaps part of the challenge of the project could be to determine what areas of a never-booted "virgin" drive can be once again returned to zeros on a non-virgin drive, thus reducing the final size of a truncated & compressed backup?


In Modified Full or Truncated mode it only backs up the parts of the drive that are actually in use. I may be able to squeeze a bit more compression out of a zipped image by taking that process down to the sector level instead of just marking 2MB blocks for inclusion in the backup, but probably not much.


----------



## nooneuknow

ggieseke said:


> <snip>almost 1000 hours of programming later...
> 
> Next time I get curious I may try beer instead, but thanks.


If it makes you feel any better, I spent about the same amount of time using a raw viewer on bricked GSOD looping TiVo drives, trying to find what was where, and what was breaking. I gave up when I came across "Swedish chef" over and over again. I decided to write it off as the Swedish Chef was borking my TiVos, and I'd have as much luck fixing it as the coyote catching the roadrunner. I then had a computer drive failure, which was the one where I'd documented all my work. So, yeah, sometimes beer seems much better.

I did, possibly, randomly, find something that has the TiVos up for a record amount of time - clear and delete the guide data every three months, with a KS52 on the reboot. Seriously, I'm actually expecting a mechanical drive failure, as opposed to a drive that tests fine and only works again when re-imaged. Now I have jinxed the experiment, and I'm sure I'll be swapping in a spare TiVo by tomorrow...


----------



## nooneuknow

ggieseke said:


> In Modified Full or Truncated mode it only backs up the parts of the drive that are actually in use. I may be able to squeeze a bit more compression out of a zipped image by taking that process down to the sector level instead of just marking 2MB blocks for inclusion in the backup, but probably not much.


It was just a thought. I'm of the mindset of "if it ain't broken, fix it til it is" on some occasions. With TiVo, though, it's been more like "if it ain't broken, you forgot to plug it in and use it".

Best of luck.


----------



## lessd

jmbach said:


> What model S3 do you have? Not sure why WinMFS could not do the whole expand and supersize. What type of backup and restore did you use with DvrBARS and I will try to replicate.


This was done from a 652 TiVo-HD and an original 160Tb drive. WinMFS can't do 2Tb drives in my experience, yours may be different.


----------



## HerronScott

Several people have had success using WinMFS with 2TB drives as long as the TiVo software was already upgraded to the latest software including on the original S3 OLED. I hope to try taking my current S3 OLED from 1TB to 2TB in the future at some point.

Scott


----------



## jmbach

lessd said:


> This was done from a 652 TiVo-HD and an original 160Tb drive. WinMFS can't do 2Tb drives in my experience, yours may be different.


Yes my experience has been different, however, I have only used WinMFS to expand an OLED S3 (648) to 2TB. I will get a 652 image and see if my experience is any different.


----------



## lessd

jmbach said:


> Yes my experience has been different, however, I have only used WinMFS to expand an OLED S3 (648) to 2TB. I will get a 652 image and see if my experience is any different.


The OLED S3 does work with WinMFS and a 2Tb drive.


----------



## Demon_6

Worked perfectly where winmfs would not salvage my Tivo Drive. Tivo was restarting errantly and the Seagate driving was getting more and more noisey.

Winmfs kept having issues and would not finishing copying the drive. Even after letting it set for extended periods of time(24 Hours). Guessing it was getting caught up in bad sectors.


DVRbars managed to back up settings and shows and recover them to a replacement drive within a few hours. Used Winmfs to expand to the new larger drive and everything works perfect again.

Thanks for great working software with a simple user interface.:up:


----------



## johndierks

ThAbtO said:


> You could have used WinMFS for the entire process. Make sure you are using administrative access.


I am using running WinMFS as an administrator. I would have done it all with WinMFS, but I can't get it to see my new drive. It sees my old drive fine, DvrBARS sees both drives fine, I'm stumped.

Using a USB to SATA adaptor with Windows 7 running in VMWare Fusion, on a Macbook Pro. New drive is a WD20EARX.

I used the same setup earlier in the week to upgrade a Tivo HD from 160 to 500GB, so I think my setup is working fine, but for some reason WinMFS just doesn't recognize this drive.


----------



## jmbach

lessd said:


> This was done from a 652 TiVo-HD and an original 160Tb drive. WinMFS can't do 2Tb drives in my experience, yours may be different.


Just played with a 652 image and had no problem with WinMFS taking it to 2TB. Could I get a truncated version of your original drive and test with that to see why it did not work for you.


----------



## jmbach

johndierks said:


> I am using running WinMFS as an administrator. I would have done it all with WinMFS, but I can't get it to see my new drive. It sees my old drive fine, DvrBARS sees both drives fine, I'm stumped.
> 
> Using a USB to SATA adaptor with Windows 7 running in VMWare Fusion, on a Macbook Pro. New drive is a WD20EARX.
> 
> I used the same setup earlier in the week to upgrade a Tivo HD from 160 to 500GB, so I think my setup is working fine, but for some reason WinMFS just doesn't recognize this drive.


Are you going from the 500GB or 160GB drive to a larger drive. And how did you expand from the 160GB drive to the 500GB drive.


----------



## johndierks

jmbach said:


> Are you going from the 500GB or 160GB drive to a larger drive. And how did you expand from the 160GB drive to the 500GB drive.


I'm trying to clone/expand from the 160GB to the 2TB drive.

I cloned/expanded 160GB to the 500GB using WinMFS. WinMFS had no problem seeing either drive, but the 500GB drive was way too loud, so I bought the WD20EARX, but WinMFS doesn't see it.

Since it doesn't see it, I tried to do it with DvrBARS. Cloning worked great, and I was hoping that cloning the drive would force WinMFS to recognize it, but no luck. Currently have the 2TB working, but shows only 21 hours HD capacity when installed in the Tivo HD.


----------



## ggieseke

lessd sent me an image of a 2TB 652 a few days ago. I sent you a PM.

If you want to DIY it here's another possibility.

Go into Disk Manager with the 2TB hooked up (don't let it initialize the disk) and write down the size. Then use Disk Manager to create a new VHD that's the same size or slightly smaller, like 1863.01GB instead if 1863.02GB. It's critical that you choose Dynamically expanding instead of the default of Fixed size.

Use DvrBARS to restore your 160 image to the new "physical" drive, dismount the image, and shut down the virtual computer.

Use VMWare to create an entirely new virtual computer that uses the VHD as a directly-connected physical hard drive and the jmfs ISO as the CD.

Boot the new VM, let jmfs do its stuff, and shut it down.

Back in your Windows 7 VM, restore the expanded image with DvrBARS.

Fusion is the only question mark. I've done this with VMWare Workstation, but I've never seen the Mac version.


----------



## jmbach

johndierks said:


> I'm trying to clone/expand from the 160GB to the 2TB drive.
> 
> I cloned/expanded 160GB to the 500GB using WinMFS. WinMFS had no problem seeing either drive, but the 500GB drive was way too loud, so I bought the WD20EARX, but WinMFS doesn't see it.
> 
> Since it doesn't see it, I tried to do it with DvrBARS. Cloning worked great, and I was hoping that cloning the drive would force WinMFS to recognize it, but no luck. Currently have the 2TB working, but shows only 21 hours HD capacity when installed in the Tivo HD.


Does WinMFS see the 2Tb drive after you cloned it to the larger drive? 
I have been able to boot JMFS CD on my Macbook and have it operational. It's an older C2D Macbook and depends if the Linux version on the JMFS CD has all the drivers for the hardware. Some people I understand were not able to do the same.


----------



## johndierks

jmbach said:


> Does WinMFS see the 2Tb drive after you cloned it to the larger drive?


Nope, WinMFS has yet to see the 2tb drive at any step in the process.



jmbach said:


> I have been able to boot JMFS CD on my Macbook and have it operational. It's an older C2D Macbook and depends if the Linux version on the JMFS CD has all the drivers for the hardware. Some people I understand were not able to do the same.


I did try booting from a jmfs cd, and wasn't immediately successful. I didn't give it much effort after it wasn't immediately successful. I got a 2TB drive image that I'll try first, and if that doesn't work I'll give JMFS another shot.

Thanks!


----------



## jmbach

How are you running windows on you Macbook.


----------



## johndierks

jmbach said:


> How are you running windows on you Macbook.


VMWare Fusion


----------



## ThAbtO

johndierks said:


> Nope, WinMFS has yet to see the 2tb drive at any step in the process.
> Thanks!


Has the drive had anything done to it such as format, or used disk management on it? Also, it should be unmounted.


----------



## jmbach

johndierks said:


> VMWare Fusion


I use bootcamp and dual boot. Using a virtual machine might have too much insulation between the program and hardware causing some of your problems. Not sure. When I get some time I'll install Fusion and see if I get the same issues.


----------



## johndierks

I restored the drive with a 2TB image ggieseke sent over using DvrBars and it worked great. Thanks for everyone's help.


----------



## geekbrain

Greg-
Awesome program - I just wish I hadn't selected the 'Fix Bootpage' option in WinMFS on my Premiere (TCD746320). Any chance you'll be adding that anytime soon? How to send donations??

Thanks - Rich


----------



## jmbach

geekbrain said:


> Greg-
> Awesome program - I just wish I hadn't selected the 'Fix Bootpage' option in WinMFS on my Premiere (TCD746320). Any chance you'll be adding that anytime soon? How to send donations??
> 
> Thanks - Rich


I am not Greg but I probably can help you. Can you either pm me block 0 of your TiVo drive or post an image of it. Can see what can be done.

For donations inside DvrBARS go to system information and you will see the donation option.


----------



## geekbrain

jmbach-
Thanks for stepping up. I think this is what you mean...


----------



## jmbach

geekbrain said:


> jmbach-
> Thanks for stepping up. I think this is what you mean...


That is the beginning of the VHD. Probably the easiest way to get to block 0 of the Tivo drive is to use windows disk manager to attach the VHD (make sure you check read only when attaching the VHD) and then use your program to look at block 0.


----------



## ggieseke

If you want to see "Block 0" without mounting the VHD or you don't have Windows 7 here goes. All values in the following are in hex (base 16) so I'll preface them with 0x.

Crank up the Windows calculator, switch to the Programmers view, and change the numbering system to hex.

In the hex editor of your choice go to offset 0x210 in the VHD and read the 8 bytes at that location. It should always be 0x0000000000000600, but check it just to be sure.

Go to that offset (0x600) in the file and read the first 4 bytes. On a 320GB drive that value will probably be 0x000004AC. In calc, multiply that number by 0x200 and add another 0x200 to the result.

That number is the offset of Block 0. In the 320GB example above it would be 0x95A00.

Adding an option to restore just that one sector from a clean image is next on my To Do List.


----------



## geekbrain

Thanks for the help guys. Attached is the 'real' block 0.

Greg-
All your calculations were correct and did get me to block 0. I had some problems initially as the editor I was using (wxHexEditor) was displaying the row offset in decimal not hex. I am familiar with the Intel HEX format (I am an engineer) and expected the offset to be in hex automatically. I couldn't get the offset to display in hex so I had to convert things. I finally realized if I right clicked in the offset column it rotated through the different base systems.

I know I'm sounding long winded but my point is these forums are for helping others; if someone is stuck and wants to understand and do this manually, hopefully they have enough cookie crumbs to do so.


----------



## ggieseke

I love HxD, and jmbach uses iBored. Either one is worth a look. I figured it was worth a try with a handle like geekbrain. 

Here's the Block 0 from my 746 image. The first two bytes are always 0x1492. The next two are the primary and alternate Root partitions, followed by some text and a bunch of zeroes. I'm not sure if the last 4 bytes mean anything.

If your posts are from a Full or Modified backup you can edit it as necessary and restore it with DvrBARS without changing anything else. If you're feeling adventurous you can edit the disk directly.

For anyone else who isn't REALLY comfortable with low-level disk editing, please don't try this at home...


----------



## geekbrain

greg-
Thanks for getting back to me. I will give it a shot later and let you know how it works out.

Rich


----------



## jmbach

That will work. It is essentially what we did for dgorman to fix his. Would suggest that you make a copy of the VHD and play with that when making the edits. Since I don't feel like doing all the calculations, I tend to mount the VHD then use iBored or VxD to edit the mounted VHD. I use iBored to copy and paste block images as it seems easier plus it recognizes various partition Maps and directory structures and displays them in an easy to read format. If you want me to send you the block 0 Greg posted in a hex image, let me know.


----------



## gamo62

Anyone have a URL for the Tivo XL4 virgin image? Please PM me with details. Thanks!


----------



## geekbrain

Greg/jmbach-
Thank you both for your help - I appear to be back up and running. I have made a small donation towards your great effort.

Rich


----------



## Ilovetorecord2

I am unable to down the file. Please advise.

Patrick


----------



## jmbach

Ilovetorecord2 said:


> I am unable to down the file. Please advise.
> 
> Patrick


Try a different browser


----------



## geekbrain

I am thinking of adding a larger drive now that I've got my original drive PROPERLY imaged. I was wondering about the 4K advanced format alignment nonsense. Since DvdBARS handles the drive formatting, is this something you had considered in a future release?

WDCV spells it out here: https://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5655/~/how-to-install-a-wd-advanced-format-drive-on-a-non-windows-operating-system

Since I am not familiar with Linux, is this something that can be done after the image is installed?

Thanks again - Rich


----------



## jmbach

In the TP4 and XL4 models the partition tables and partition sizes have changed ever so slightly that it looks like everything is now 4k aligned. That being said, block sizes are still 512 byte. 

What drive are you looking at.


----------



## geekbrain

I was looking at the WD10EURX. From what I understand, it has to do with the starting point. I have not used JMFS - is that something that can be set?


----------



## jmbach

As far as I know nothing can be set in JMFS. I bought a WD20EARX and used that for testing images in my 748 (XL) and had no issues with it. FWIW, I have a WD20EURS in my S3 running without issues.


----------



## geekbrain

jmbach-
I don't like to confuse 'works' with 'proper' (as in optimized). I picked up the WD10EURX drive (1 TB) and wrote the image from my Premiere (original 320 GB). I have not supersized yet or installed back in the TiVo. I downloaded the G-Parted iso and the drive indicates:

Heads: 255
Sectors/track: 63
Cylinders: 121601
Total sectors: 1953525168
Sector size: 512

According to http://www.fhgfs.com/wiki/wikka.php?wakka=PartitionAlignment, this is not proper for the 4K advanced format drive. I have NOT supersized the drive yet but I don't think that matters.

I suspect that all the 4K drives may work, but may experience poor performance and mail ultimately fail prematurely. I welcome any comments from Linux experts out there. I did not see a way to use G-Parted to modify nor did it come up with the partition table I've seen posted. From what I gather a starting sector of 2048 is akin to being 'universal' (Windows, RAID, Linux, 512, 4K).

Anyone?


----------



## jmbach

The 2 tuner premieres are not completely 4k aligned because of the bootstrap partitions being 512 bytes long. The first partition after the APM starts at sector 64 which is 4k aligned. The bootstrap partition starts at a 4k boundary but since it is only 512 bytes in size then next partition does not start at a 4k boundary. The 4 tuner premieres are 4k aligned with the bootstrap partition being 4k in size. I have modded a 2 tuner premiere image to give the bootstrap partition a 4k size and aligned the partitions manually. Haven't seen any difference in performance. Here is another article that explains 4k alignment http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-4kb-sector-disks/


----------



## geekbrain

Thanks for clarifying that.


----------



## ggieseke

In the long run I think that the actual start of the partitions may be almost meaningless. What other factors are involved like header blocks, inode tables, etc? How often is that part of the disk accessed? How does the drive's internal cache and read-ahead algorithms come into play?

My Premiere XL came from the factory with an AF drive and most of the partitions are not aligned on 4K boundaries. The MFS media partitions are probably the only ones that really matter, and aligning the blocks that the files live on makes a lot more sense to me than worrying about where the header block starts.

When I get into the next phase of development (moving & resizing partitions to expand) my instinct is to just follow TiVo's lead and and lay everything out the same way they do for a drive of the same size, then restore the files to their new home one at a time.


----------



## jmbach

Looking at the 4 tuner TiVos it appears that they adjusted the bootstrap partitions size so that all the following partitions start on a 4k boundary. What that means, I don't know and I have not looked at the inode tables or any other structures to have an idea if it means anything in the end. Based on the article I referenced, all you can do is align the partitions and it is up to the OS to do the rest.


----------



## ggieseke

Yeah, I just don't know for sure at this point and I won't pretend that I do.

With the current generation of AF drives I don't think it really matters but at some point they're going to have to tackle the issue head on. The days when you could assume that a "sector" means 512 bytes are over, but it's still inherent in everything I've seen on TiVos. My best guess is that they they will radically overhaul the filesystem in the next year or two, but if the open source Nazis keep demanding that they release proprietary code it could *blank* the pooch for all of us.


----------



## jmbach

They probably already have started the transformation. The APM in the 4 tuner premieres are no longer in a standard APM format as they are starting to put data in reserved areas of the APM.


----------



## videobruce

What is a *"error 0x00000037 (550)"* read error message during the backup process?
The file showed 294KB after the eror box appeared.

I was doing a truncated backup from a 500GB drive that was imaged off of a 2 TB.


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> What is a *"error 0x00000037 (550)"* read error message during the backup process?
> The file showed 294KB after the eror box appeared.
> 
> I was doing a truncated backup from a 500GB drive that was imaged off of a 2 TB.


Weird. That error in Microsoft terms is ERROR_DEV_NOT_EXIST, or "The specified network resource or device is no longer available". I haven't seen that one before.

How was the 500GB drive imaged from a 2TB source?


----------



## jmbach

videobruce said:


> I was doing a truncated backup from a 500GB drive that was imaged off of a 2 TB.


I am not 100% clear on what you meant. Could be my lack of sleep recently.
Were you doing a truncated backup of a 500GB drive and the 500GB drive was made by copying the first 500GB of a 2TB drive onto it? Or was the original drive a 500GB drive and it was copied and expanded to a 2TB drive and you were doing a truncated back up that 2TB drive.

I am not sure how DvrBARS would act in the first scenario, that would be a Greg question, but in the first scenario there might be references to areas of the drive that does not exist. So when DvrBARS tries accessing that area it throws the exception.


----------



## jmbach

I have done the first scenario in the past to create images that I did not have to repair premiere models with bad hard drives. (Before the development of DvrBARS) The resultant drive has to be powered up in the TiVo first and the TiVo will divorce the non-existent drive making a good image.


----------



## videobruce

I don't know if that error is a M$ or a DvrBARS error. I assumed it was a DvrBARS error.



> Were you doing a truncated backup of a 500GB drive and the 500GB drive was made by copying the first 500GB of a 2TB drive onto it?


This 652 had a 2TB drive in it. It was purchased used.
I used MFS Live boot CD to image that drive to this 500GB drive (however it is done). I ten tried to copy that image to a file so I can free up that drive to use on another 652 that I'm having a problem with.

DvrBARS seem to be a solution to save a image as a file instead of wasting a hard drive to do the same, which is foolish.

I used a eSATA interface (cable) to attempt the process if that mattered, no USB anything.


----------



## jmbach

To make this a good image to copy, you need to run it in the Tivo first and then have it divorce the "extra drive". After that it should be good to copy.


----------



## videobruce

No extra drive. There is only one drive for the DVR, the eSATA was in reference to connecting it to the PC to use DvrBARS.


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> I don't know if that error is a M$ or a DvrBARS error. I assumed it was a DvrBARS error.
> 
> This 652 had a 2TB drive in it. It was purchased used.
> I used MFS Live boot CD to image that drive to this 500GB drive (however it is done). I ten tried to copy that image to a file so I can free up that drive to use on another 652 that I'm having a problem with.
> 
> DvrBARS seem to be a solution to save a image as a file instead of wasting a hard drive to do the same, which is foolish.
> 
> I used a eSATA interface (cable) to attempt the process if that mattered, no USB anything.


DvrBARS is popping up the error message, but since ReadFile is a Windows API call I just display the MS error code that it returns.

If you used MFS Live to make a truncated image to the 500GB drive, it still has pointers to the full 2TB and DvrBARS is trying to read past the end of the disk.

If you can make a Full backup of the 500GB drive and put it in a shared Dropbox folder I can take a look. If nothing else I can make a virtual 2TB drive and use VMWare and MFS Live to restore it to the VHD.

If you just want a 2TB 652 image in case your drive ever dies I already have one courtesy of lessd. There are also several MFS Live and WinMFS images floating around taken from the original 160GB drive.

If you want to save all of your settings & season passes, the easiest thing to do is to pop the 2TB drive out of the TiVo again and use DvrBARS to make a truncated backup. It should only take a few minutes.


----------



## videobruce

> If you used MFS Live to make a truncated image to the 500GB drive, it still has pointers to the full 2TB and DvrBARS is trying to read past the end of the disk.


Which may explain why the created file did have some data (934 KB). Any chance that would work as is, or is it just corrupted?


> If you want to save all of your settings & season passes, the easiest thing to do is to pop the 2TB drive out of the TiVo again and use DvrBARS to make a truncated backup. It should only take a few minutes.


I guess that makes the most sense, but I had some problems trying to image that 2TB drive initially. Unfortunately, the original 160GB drive was not available (I think he threw it out).


----------



## ggieseke

There's a chance it would work as is, but there are so many variables at play that it's hard to be sure. I take a slightly slower but safer approach to writing the VHD file by rewriting the header & footer after each block, so it should be a valid file that you could mount in Windows 7 Disk Manager. Whether it includes enough of the MFS file system for your TiVo to deal with is anyone's guess.

When it comes to Modified or Truncated backups, I had to start off with the assumption that the source drive(s) were intact and would boot up in a TiVo and run fine. There's some forgiveness built in for cases like the MFS superheader, which has an backup copy in case the primary is damaged, but most of the time it will just puke on the floor if there's anything serious wrong.

Give DvrBARS a shot at that 2TB drive. In backup mode it can't possibly hurt it, and hopefully it will get an image that you can trust.

Edit: I just looked, and the 2TB truncated 652 image from lessd is 953MB, so 934KB probably won't cut it.


----------



## bs1211

I have a Series 3 TCD652160 unit. 

I tried the upgrades with the WinMFS for the last week and didn't have much luck. Tried DvrBARS last night and this morning with a new WD drive and it still gets stuck and the original drive gets stuck on the powering up.

I am afraid to pull another hard drive from another tivo hd unit i have and have it do the same thing.

Does anyone have an image for these 2tb wd20eurs drives i can use with either the winmfs or the DvrBArs tools?

The worst part is the unit I tried to do is for my kids and has all of the kids shows and recordings on it.

Another day and I might go nuts with all of the comments from the wife about screwing it up....

If this doesn't work, is anyone in Chicago that can do the drives?


----------



## videobruce

> When it comes to Modified or Truncated backups, I had to start off with the assumption that the source drive(s) were intact and would boot up in a TiVo and run fine.


I just swap drives for this deck. I placed the imaged 500GB drive (that I was trying to use for DvrBARS) in the 652 and it booted fine.


> just looked, and the 2TB truncated 652 image from lessd is 953MB, so 934KB probably won't cut it.


I was just going to ask just how large these vhd files are suppose to be.
Assuming there are no recordings, is there a file size difference if imaged from different sized drives from the same model deck?


----------



## jmbach

videobruce said:


> I just swap drives for this deck. I placed the imaged 500GB drive (that I was trying to use for DvrBARS) in the 652 and it booted fine.


It will probably work until the TiVo tries to save video in an area of the drive that it thinks it is there but does not exist. When a drive is expanded, the extra partitions are recognized as an "external drive" by the TiVo.

Go into the menu to see if you can divorce the "extra" drive. I have not tried that myself as I usually delete the extra partitions manually then boot the drive in the TiVo and it automatically asks me if I want to divorce the drive.


----------



## jmbach

bs1211 said:


> I have a Series 3 TCD652160 unit.
> 
> I tried the upgrades with the WinMFS for the last week and didn't have much luck. Tried DvrBARS last night and this morning with a new WD drive and it still gets stuck and the original drive gets stuck on the powering up.
> 
> I am afraid to pull another hard drive from another tivo hd unit i have and have it do the same thing.
> 
> Does anyone have an image for these 2tb wd20eurs drives i can use with either the winmfs or the DvrBArs tools?
> 
> The worst part is the unit I tried to do is for my kids and has all of the kids shows and recordings on it.
> 
> Another day and I might go nuts with all of the comments from the wife about screwing it up....
> 
> If this doesn't work, is anyone in Chicago that can do the drives?


If I was to guess, your block 0 is corrupted. That is what happened to another member. Was able to fix it and all the shows were recovered. You might try Fixboot in WinMFS to see if it will help. If not, then it depends on how comfortable you are with low level hex editing a drive or copy and pasting hex images to fix it and possibly saving the recordings.


----------



## videobruce

> It will probably work until the TiVo tries to save video in an area of the drive that it thinks it is there but does not exist. When a drive is expanded, the extra partitions are recognized as an "external drive" by the TiVo.


I just connected it to see if it booted Ok and it did. I'm confused regarding this expanded issue. What extra partitions? If the original drive is 2TB and it was imaged using MFSLive down to a 500GB drive, how can there be extra partitions? 

What I don't understand why the size of the drive should matter, isn't the concept to copy the O/S and any other related data so the recorder boots off of the drive assuming programs are not copied if there are any? Can't the system manage a different size drive by itself?

BTW, I used the program again with the 2TB drive and in less than two minutes it created a 1,071,000 KB vhd image.


----------



## jmbach

videobruce said:


> I'm confused here. What extra partitions? If the original drive is 2TB and it was imaged using MFSLive to a 500GB drive, how can there be extra partitions?
> 
> BTW, I used the program again with the 2TB drive and in less than two minutes it created a 1,071,000 KB vhd image.


The original drive in a 652 was probably 160gb. The drive was expanded to 2TB thereby creating another partition or two (depending on the method of expansion) in order to accomplish this. When you copied the first 500GB of the 2Tb drive to the 500GB drive, the partition table remained the same and only a portion of the expansion partition was copied as well.

If what I think is correct, if you boot that 500GB drive in your 652 and the go to system information to see how many hours you can record on it, it will probably give you about 300 hours which is about 2TB drive size.


----------



## jmbach

Of course it also depends on how you used MFSLive to make the 500GB drive from the 2TB drive. So my assumptions may be wrong.


----------



## videobruce

Ok, but how is it when you image a M$ O/S from a larger drive and copy to a smaller drive, then use that, everything is fine (as fine as it can be with M$)?
If I wanted to use a smaller drive, how can that happen? Or is all of this a limitation of this program?

This 2TB drive was what was in the deck when I got it. I didn't do a thing.


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> Assuming there are no recordings, is there a file size difference if imaged from different sized drives from the same model deck?


Truncated backups from the same model should be about the same size no matter what the actual drive size is. If both Root partitions have a valid copy of the OS, skipping the alternate Root partition will usually save a few hundred MB.

1,071,000KB for a 652 sounds about right.


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> Ok, but how is it when you image a M$ O/S from a larger drive and copy to a smaller drive, then use that, everything is fine (as fine as it can be with M$)?
> If I wanted to use a smaller drive, how can that happen? Or is all of this a limitation of this program?
> 
> This 2TB drive was what was in the deck when I got it. I didn't do a thing.


Tools like Acronis or EaseUs can shrink a Windows drive (within limits) by partitioning it correctly and then copying every file individually. DvrBARS may get to that level in the future, but it's no where near it yet.


----------



## jmbach

videobruce said:


> Ok, but how is it when you image a M$ O/S from a larger drive and copy to a smaller drive, then use that, everything is fine (as fine as it can be with M$)?
> If I wanted to use a smaller drive, how can that happen? Or is all of this a limitation of this program?
> 
> This 2TB drive was what was in the deck when I got it. I didn't do a thing.


How are you imaging the M$ OS. The ability to copy to a smaller drive and have it work might be built into the program you are using to do the imaging. I doubt it is just a mirror image of the first x number of gigabytes of a drive to make it smaller.

The 652 units do not come natively from Tivo with a 2tb drive so somebody expanded it before you got it.

At this point, as far as I know, you cannot shrink a TiVo drive smaller than the size of the original drive it was expanded off of. Someday there might be a way but not at this time. You can shrink it back to its original size and the re-expand.


----------



## ggieseke

bs1211 said:


> I have a Series 3 TCD652160 unit.
> 
> I tried the upgrades with the WinMFS for the last week and didn't have much luck. Tried DvrBARS last night and this morning with a new WD drive and it still gets stuck and the original drive gets stuck on the powering up.
> 
> I am afraid to pull another hard drive from another tivo hd unit i have and have it do the same thing.
> 
> Does anyone have an image for these 2tb wd20eurs drives i can use with either the winmfs or the DvrBArs tools?
> 
> The worst part is the unit I tried to do is for my kids and has all of the kids shows and recordings on it.
> 
> Another day and I might go nuts with all of the comments from the wife about screwing it up....
> 
> If this doesn't work, is anyone in Chicago that can do the drives?


I sent you a link to a 2TB 652 image. It will wipe the entire drive, but it should get you running again. I would try jmbach's suggestion to use the bootfix tool in WinMFS first so the kids don't hate you.


----------



## videobruce

> How are you imaging the M$ OS. The ability to copy to a smaller drive and have it work might be built into the program you are using to do the imaging. I doubt it is just a mirror image of the first x number of gigabytes of a drive to make it smaller.


True Image.


> The 652 units do not come natively from Tivo with a 2tb drive so somebody expanded it before you got it.


Yes, it was used as I stated. I believe he bought the drive from one of those two outfits the prepares drives for specific TiVo's.


> Tools like Acronis or EaseUs can shrink a Windows drive (within limits) by partitioning it correctly and then copying every file individually. DvrBARS may get to that level in the future, but it's no where near it yet.


Ok. I surely didn't mean anything negative about your program, I'm just trying to understand how & why things are the way they are here.

This 1GB sized file, I assume it is because I had 75 deleted programs and another 7 not watched on this drive even though these recordings were not copied to that file?


----------



## jmbach

Would be interesting if you ran MFSinfo on the 500GB and 2TB drive to compare the structures. If you do, could you post the output.


----------



## videobruce

I re-connected the 500GB drive and it shows 76 hours for HD capacity. Can I now assume that drive is being read as a 500GB drive?

I would gladly post the results if I could find a copy of MFSInfo.


----------



## jmbach

videobruce said:


> I re-connected the 500GB drive and it shows 76 hours for HD capacity. Can I now assume that drive is being read as a 500GB drive?
> 
> I would gladly post the results if I could find a copy of MFSInfo.


I think you can. Try a DvrBARS backup and see if you get the same error.

MSFInfo is on the MFSlive iso.


----------



## videobruce

Thanks, I was looking for the specific program. No wonder why I couldn't find it.


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> This 1GB sized file, I assume it is because I had 75 deleted programs and another 7 not watched on this drive even though these recordings were not copied to that file?


If you did a truncated backup, all of the recordings including the deleted shows and the unwatched ones would have been excluded. If you run it again and exclude the alternate Root partition it will probably drop down to about 750MB, but that seems to be about the minimum size for a 652.

If you zip the VHD file it will probably compress another 30-40% for long term storage.

I include the Welcome video, the store demo video, and the THX video (on XL models) in a truncated backup if they still exist. There are probably a few other things I could exclude and make an image that would still boot up like the /var partition, but my first instinct after almost 30 years in IT is "back it up". As long as it will fit on a DVD or a $10 flash drive I'm happy. What's a gig or two among friends?


----------



## bs1211

ggieseke said:


> I sent you a link to a 2TB 652 image. It will wipe the entire drive, but it should get you running again. I would try jmbach's suggestion to use the bootfix tool in WinMFS first so the kids don't hate you.


This did the trick... thanks so much for your help to get this fixed!

You're awesome.


----------



## jmbach

bs1211 said:


> This did the trick... thanks so much for your help to get this fixed!
> 
> You're awesome.


In the end, did you try fixboot at all or did you just used the image and copy it over your old one. What you did to fix it will help guide others.


----------



## videobruce

Here are MSInfo reports of the original (to me) 2TB drive and the 500GB drive that I initially used as a backup of that 2TB drive using MFSLive;



> Mfsinfo (Drive 2)
> 
> Boot Page
> Boot Page: root=/dev/hda7 dsscon=true console=1,115200
> Active Boot Partition: 6 Active Root Partition: 7
> Backup Boot Partition: 3 Backup Root Partition: 4
> 
> MFS Super Header
> state=0 magic=ebbafeed
> devlist=/dev/hda10 /dev/hda11 /dev/hda12 /dev/hda13 /dev/hda14 /dev/hda15 /dev/hda16
> zonemap_ptr=1121 total_secs=3904825344
> 
> Zone Maps
> Z0:	type=0
> map_start=1121 map_size=1 backup_map_start=589822
> next_map_start=263266 next_map_size=6 next_backup_map_start=589816
> zone_first=1122 zone_last=263265 zone_size=262144 min(chunk)=262144
> free=262144 checksum=9ea1961b logstamp=447368 num_bitmap=1
> Z1:	type=2
> map_start=263266 map_size=6 backup_map_start=589816
> next_map_start=263272 next_map_size=34 next_backup_map_start=589782
> zone_first=589824 zone_last=138215423 zone_size=137625600 min(chunk)=20480
> free=0 checksum=848ab353 logstamp=447368 num_bitmap=14
> Z2:	type=1
> map_start=263272 map_size=34 backup_map_start=589782
> next_map_start=138219520 next_map_size=1 next_backup_map_start=138809343
> zone_first=263306 zone_last=589777 zone_size=326472 min(chunk)=8
> free=210384 checksum=c1dd9e92 logstamp=448534 num_bitmap=17
> Z3:	type=0
> map_start=138219520 map_size=1 backup_map_start=138809343
> next_map_start=138481665 next_map_size=10 next_backup_map_start=138809333
> zone_first=138219521 zone_last=138481664 zone_size=262144 min(chunk)=262144
> free=262144 checksum=bae478db logstamp=447368 num_bitmap=1
> Z4:	type=2
> map_start=138481665 map_size=10 backup_map_start=138809333
> next_map_start=138481675 next_map_size=34 next_backup_map_start=138809299
> zone_first=138809344 zone_last=310718463 zone_size=171909120 min(chunk)=20480
> free=0 checksum=3929082d logstamp=447368 num_bitmap=15
> Z5:	type=1
> map_start=138481675 map_size=34 backup_map_start=138809299
> next_map_start=310728706 next_map_size=35 next_backup_map_start=310732763
> zone_first=138481709 zone_last=138809292 zone_size=327584 min(chunk)=8
> free=319504 checksum=e79bbd81 logstamp=448512 num_bitmap=17
> Z6:	type=2
> map_start=310728706 map_size=35 backup_map_start=310732763
> next_map_start=310728742 next_map_size=35 next_backup_map_start=310732728
> zone_first=310732800 zone_last=2458183679 zone_size=2147450880 min(chunk)=32768
> free=1605304320 checksum=89ff7f2c logstamp=447456 num_bitmap=17
> Z7:	type=2
> map_start=310728742 map_size=35 backup_map_start=310732728
> next_map_start=0 next_map_size=0 next_backup_map_start=0
> zone_first=2458183680 zone_last=3904825343 zone_size=1446641664 min(chunk)=32768
> free=1174536192 checksum=d1a9ddc4 logstamp=447392 num_bitmap=17
> 
> Partition Maps
> #: type name length base ( size )
> 1 Apple_partition_map Apple [email protected] ( 31.5K)
> 2 Image Bootstrap 1 [email protected] ( 4.0K)
> 3 Image Kernel 1 [email protected] ( 4.0M)
> 4 Ext2 Root 1 [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 5 Image Bootstrap 2 [email protected] ( 4.0K)
> 6 Image Kernel 2 [email protected] ( 4.0M)
> 7 Ext2 Root 2 [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 8 Swap Linux swap [email protected] ( 300.0M)
> 9 Ext2 /var [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 10 MFS MFS application region [email protected] ( 288.0M)
> 11 MFS MFS media region [email protected] ( 65.6G)
> 12 MFS Second MFS application region [email protected] ( 288.0M)
> 13 MFS Second MFS media region [email protected] ( 82.0G)
> 14 MFS New MFS Application [email protected] ( 2.0M)
> 15 MFS New MFS Media [email protected] (1024.0G)
> 16 MFS New MFS Media [email protected]( 689.8G)
> 
> Total SA SD Hours: 2083	Total DTV SD Hours: 1818 71 % Free
> Software: 11.0k-01-2-652	Tivo Model: TCD652160





> Mfsinfo (Drive 2)
> 
> Boot Page
> Boot Page: root=/dev/hda7 dsscon=true console=1,115200
> Active Boot Partition: 6 Active Root Partition: 7
> Backup Boot Partition: 3 Backup Root Partition: 4
> 
> MFS Super Header
> state=0 magic=ebbafeed
> devlist=/dev/hda10 /dev/hda11 /dev/hda12 /dev/hda13 /dev/hda14 /dev/hda15
> zonemap_ptr=1121 total_secs=974917632
> 
> Zone Maps
> Z0:	type=0
> map_start=1121 map_size=1 backup_map_start=589822
> next_map_start=263266 next_map_size=6 next_backup_map_start=589816
> zone_first=1122 zone_last=263265 zone_size=262144 min(chunk)=262144
> free=262144 checksum=4f9bcd78 logstamp=225357 num_bitmap=1
> Z1:	type=2
> map_start=263266 map_size=6 backup_map_start=589816
> next_map_start=263272 next_map_size=34 next_backup_map_start=589782
> zone_first=589824 zone_last=138215423 zone_size=137625600 min(chunk)=20480
> free=134246400 checksum=1f019c71 logstamp=225448 num_bitmap=14
> Z2:	type=1
> map_start=263272 map_size=34 backup_map_start=589782
> next_map_start=138219520 next_map_size=1 next_backup_map_start=138809343
> zone_first=263306 zone_last=589777 zone_size=326472 min(chunk)=8
> free=153904 checksum=3f446d50 logstamp=225458 num_bitmap=17
> Z3:	type=0
> map_start=138219520 map_size=1 backup_map_start=138809343
> next_map_start=138481665 next_map_size=10 next_backup_map_start=138809333
> zone_first=138219521 zone_last=138481664 zone_size=262144 min(chunk)=262144
> free=262144 checksum=6bde23b8 logstamp=225357 num_bitmap=1
> Z4:	type=2
> map_start=138481665 map_size=10 backup_map_start=138809333
> next_map_start=138481675 next_map_size=34 next_backup_map_start=138809299
> zone_first=138809344 zone_last=310718463 zone_size=171909120 min(chunk)=20480
> free=170926080 checksum=9e72a1 logstamp=225448 num_bitmap=15
> Z5:	type=1
> map_start=138481675 map_size=34 backup_map_start=138809299
> next_map_start=310728704 next_map_size=18 next_backup_map_start=310730734
> zone_first=138481709 zone_last=138809292 zone_size=327584 min(chunk)=8
> free=318528 checksum=e980cc5e logstamp=225357 num_bitmap=17
> Z6:	type=2
> map_start=310728704 map_size=18 backup_map_start=310730734
> next_map_start=0 next_map_size=0 next_backup_map_start=0
> zone_first=310730752 zone_last=974917631 zone_size=664186880 min(chunk)=20480
> free=663449600 checksum=8a9eadf1 logstamp=225448 num_bitmap=16
> 
> Partition Maps
> #: type name length base ( size )
> 1 Apple_partition_map Apple [email protected] ( 31.5K)
> 2 Image Bootstrap 1 [email protected] ( 4.0K)
> 3 Image Kernel 1 [email protected] ( 4.0M)
> 4 Ext2 Root 1 [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 5 Image Bootstrap 2 [email protected] ( 4.0K)
> 6 Image Kernel 2 [email protected] ( 4.0M)
> 7 Ext2 Root 2 [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 8 Swap Linux swap [email protected] ( 128.0M)
> 9 Ext2 /var [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 10 MFS MFS application region [email protected] ( 288.0M)
> 11 MFS MFS media region [email protected] ( 65.6G)
> 12 MFS MFS application region 2 [email protected] ( 288.0M)
> 13 MFS MFS media region 2 [email protected] ( 82.0G)
> 14 MFS MFS App by Winmfs [email protected] ( 1.0M)
> 15 MFS MFS Media by Winmfs [email protected] ( 316.7G)
> 
> Total SA SD Hours: 519	Total DTV SD Hours: 453 99 % Free
> Software: 11.0k-01-2-652	Tivo Model: TCD652160


----------



## videobruce

Since I had WinMFS out, I decided use the copy of the 2TB I made to re-image this 500GB drive to see what happens. The first attempt failed with a "error writing media inode1" message.
I cleared that and the program allowed another attempt which completed. 

Here is the MSInfo file from this same drive with a image copied from a file. The partition table is identical, the only differences are the free (space) in zones 1,2,4,5 & 6;



> Mfsinfo (Drive 2)
> 
> Boot Page
> Boot Page: root=/dev/hda7 dsscon=true console=1,115200
> Active Boot Partition: 6 Active Root Partition: 7
> Backup Boot Partition: 3 Backup Root Partition: 4
> 
> MFS Super Header
> state=0 magic=ebbafeed
> devlist=/dev/hda10 /dev/hda11 /dev/hda12 /dev/hda13 /dev/hda14 /dev/hda15
> zonemap_ptr=1121 total_secs=974917632
> 
> Zone Maps
> Z0:	type=0
> map_start=1121 map_size=1 backup_map_start=589822
> next_map_start=263266 next_map_size=6 next_backup_map_start=589816
> zone_first=1122 zone_last=263265 zone_size=262144 min(chunk)=262144
> free=262144 checksum=9ea1961b logstamp=447368 num_bitmap=1
> Z1:	type=2
> map_start=263266 map_size=6 backup_map_start=589816
> next_map_start=263272 next_map_size=34 next_backup_map_start=589782
> zone_first=589824 zone_last=138215423 zone_size=137625600 min(chunk)=20480
> free=0 checksum=848ab353 logstamp=447368 num_bitmap=14
> Z2:	type=1
> map_start=263272 map_size=34 backup_map_start=589782
> next_map_start=138219520 next_map_size=1 next_backup_map_start=138809343
> zone_first=263306 zone_last=589777 zone_size=326472 min(chunk)=8
> free=210384 checksum=c1dd9e92 logstamp=448534 num_bitmap=17
> Z3:	type=0
> map_start=138219520 map_size=1 backup_map_start=138809343
> next_map_start=138481665 next_map_size=10 next_backup_map_start=138809333
> zone_first=138219521 zone_last=138481664 zone_size=262144 min(chunk)=262144
> free=262144 checksum=bae478db logstamp=447368 num_bitmap=1
> Z4:	type=2
> map_start=138481665 map_size=10 backup_map_start=138809333
> next_map_start=138481675 next_map_size=34 next_backup_map_start=138809299
> zone_first=138809344 zone_last=310718463 zone_size=171909120 min(chunk)=20480
> free=0 checksum=3929082d logstamp=447368 num_bitmap=15
> Z5:	type=1
> map_start=138481675 map_size=34 backup_map_start=138809299
> next_map_start=310728704 next_map_size=18 next_backup_map_start=310730734
> zone_first=138481709 zone_last=138809292 zone_size=327584 min(chunk)=8
> free=319504 checksum=ffa3fb2f logstamp=448512 num_bitmap=17
> Z6:	type=2
> map_start=310728704 map_size=18 backup_map_start=310730734
> next_map_start=0 next_map_size=0 next_backup_map_start=0
> zone_first=310730752 zone_last=974917631 zone_size=664186880 min(chunk)=20480
> free=664186880 checksum=17a4dbeb logstamp=0 num_bitmap=16
> 
> Partition Maps
> #: type name length base ( size )
> 1 Apple_partition_map Apple [email protected] ( 31.5K)
> 2 Image Bootstrap 1 [email protected] ( 4.0K)
> 3 Image Kernel 1 [email protected] ( 4.0M)
> 4 Ext2 Root 1 [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 5 Image Bootstrap 2 [email protected] ( 4.0K)
> 6 Image Kernel 2 [email protected] ( 4.0M)
> 7 Ext2 Root 2 [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 8 Swap Linux swap [email protected] ( 128.0M)
> 9 Ext2 /var [email protected] ( 256.0M)
> 10 MFS MFS application region [email protected] ( 288.0M)
> 11 MFS MFS media region [email protected] ( 65.6G)
> 12 MFS MFS application region 2 [email protected] ( 288.0M)
> 13 MFS MFS media region 2 [email protected] ( 82.0G)
> 14 MFS MFS App by Winmfs [email protected] ( 1.0M)
> 15 MFS MFS Media by Winmfs [email protected] ( 316.7G)
> 
> Total SA SD Hours: 519	Total DTV SD Hours: 453 68 % Free
> Software: 11.0k-01-2-652	Tivo Model: TCD652160


----------



## jmbach

The original drive has an unique partition map. Must be something from DVRDude or WeaKnees. Looks like it was designed for OS versions prior to 11.0k that could not handle single partitions greater than 1TB. 
Have you tried to backup the 500GB drive with DvrBARS again. If there is still an error with that partition map then there is something else afoot.


----------



## videobruce

It was from one or the other, he didn't create it.
I connected it to the deck and it went into a welcome screen reboot loop.  I did choose the supersize option, I wonder if that was it?
No on trying an additional 500GB backup.
The 2TB has 16 partitions, the 500GB had 15. Is that due to the size difference between the two drives?

I just tried to restore that 500GB drive using DvrBARS, but I get an error that the drive is too small.


----------



## jmbach

videobruce said:


> It was from one or the other, he didn't create it.
> I connected it to the deck and it went into a welcome screen reboot loop.  I did choose the supersize option, I wonder if that was it?
> No on trying an additional 500GB backup.
> The 2TB has 16 partitions, the 500GB had 15. Is that due to the size difference between the two drives?
> 
> I just tried to restore that 500GB drive using DvrBARS, but I get an error that the drive is too small.


Yes and no. OS prior to 11.0k could not handle partitions greater than 1TB. So the creator of the drive added the 16th partition to claim the extra space. With 11.0k, WinMFS will create a partition of 1.6TB obviating the need for the extra partition.

The supersize option did not do it.

Have you tried to backup the 500GB drive again with that partition map with DvrBARS.

If I was to guess, if the 500GB is boot looping, block0 is corrupt. Might try fixboot in WinMFS to see if it fixes it. If not there are a few more involved things that can be done. We can try those if fixboot doesn't work.

For DvrBARS, the restore drive has to be the same size or larger to restore.


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> I just tried to restore that 500GB drive using DvrBARS, but I get an error that the drive is too small.


That much makes sense - it still thinks it's bigger than it really is.

I don't really know what else to say at this point, other than recommending starting over from scratch. I'll send you a PM with lessd's image.


----------



## videobruce

> OS prior to 11.0k could not handle partitions greater than 1TB. So the creator of the drive added the 16th partition to claim the extra space. With 11.0k, WinMFS will create a partition of 1.6TB obviating the need for the extra partition.


Could that be a problem with the extra partition from one drive to another?


> Have you tried to backup the 500GB drive again with that partition map with DvrBARS.


Yes, but it says the drive to too small.


> For DvrBARS, the restore drive has to be the same size or larger to restore.


That answers that. This 2TB is the *only* 2TB drive I have or had.


> I don't really know what else to say at this point, other than recommending starting over from scratch.


I ran out of hair to pull out. 

I tried to use WinMFS again to copy the 2TB to the 500GB directly, but as soon as I try to start the process the program closes. I then tried MFSLive (the program I used to image the drive in the 1st place), but that returned an error (I didn't write it down).


----------



## ggieseke

Hopefully the image I sent you will work. I'd hate to see you lose any hair over this.


----------



## jmbach

videobruce said:


> Could that be a problem with the extra partition from one drive to another?Yes, but it says the drive to too small.That answers that. This 2TB is the *only* 2TB drive I have or had. I ran out of hair to pull out.
> 
> I tried to use WinMFS again to copy the 2TB to the 500GB directly, but as soon as I try to start the process the program closes. I then tried MFSLive (the program I used to image the drive in the 1st place), but that returned an error (I didn't write it down).


If you could copy the first 500GB of the 2Tb to the 500GB drive with ddrescue or something similar we can manipulate the APM to get you back to the native drive size so you can expand it to 500GB.


----------



## tvmaster2

thanks to ggieseke so far for all you help...
with an apparently dead, stock drive from a Premiere TCD746320, I am getting this error message when I try to do a backup using DvrBARS:

MFS volume header not found

is there anyway that anyone knows to repair that so I can get my shows back, or is this a complete "drive failure", software and all...


----------



## jmbach

I am going to say that your shows are probably toast. Just about everything else can be recreated to recover a drive and keep the shows intact. Ggieseke can get you an image to restore to your drive but your shows are still gone. However he has more intimate knowledge of the MFS system than I have, so we can see what he says.


----------



## tvmaster2

jmbach said:


> I am going to say that your shows are probably toast. Just about everything else can be recreated to recover a drive and keep the shows intact. Ggieseke can get you an image to restore to your drive but your shows are still gone. However he has more intimate knowledge of the MFS system than I have, so we can see what he says.


hehe - ok, thanks. he too has said it seems like a toaster.... damn Tivo - with most drives, you get a few days warning as the thing starts making weird noises. With Tivo - it just plain dies. I imagine there's a good chance the actual drive may still be usable, and that there was a software glitch that trashed the boot file.


----------



## jmbach

Get the manufacturers drive diagnostic and run it. If the TiVo drive passes SMART but has some bad sectors, it might be reassigning sectors (read erase) to make it the drive still usable. replace it, don't Recertify it.


----------



## tvmaster2

jmbach said:


> Get the manufacturers drive diagnostic and run it. If the TiVo drive passes SMART but has some bad sectors, it might be reassigning sectors (read erase) to make it the drive still usable. replace it, don't Recertify it.


good idea, thanks


----------



## videobruce

> If you could copy the first 500GB of the 2Tb to the 500GB drive with ddrescue or something similar we can manipulate the APM to get you back to the native drive size so you can expand it to 500GB.


I took a fast look at that after a search, but that doesn't appear to be Windows (or me) friendly.


----------



## nooneuknow

tvmaster2 said:


> hehe - ok, thanks. he too has said it seems like a toaster.... damn Tivo - with most drives, you get a few days warning as the thing starts making weird noises. With Tivo - it just plain dies. I imagine there's a good chance the actual drive may still be usable, and that there was a software glitch that trashed the boot file.


I've had that happen A LOT over the years with both Premieres and HD models. I run WinDLG, from WD, which usually says there's nothing wrong, then I re-image, after losing everything by using both the read tests and write zeroes with WinDLG, and the unit will run like new until it happens again. I then used HDDscan, a 3rd party utility that measures the read times, which shows that the most frequently re-written areas of the drives have very long read rates, at which point it seems silly to re-use the drives. It takes 2-3 years for the most drives to end up this way. The annoying part is that WD's utilities pass the drive, and SMART diags, but frequently, if I repeatedly run the TiVo SMART tests, I'll get a "Fail 7" and a reference to it being read related. I think WD has some pretty loose standards, in order to prevent their utilities from failing a drive, and just how bad the drive performance has to degrade before the SMART values drift out of their thresholds, which they set. It would be nice if SMART attributes were more standardized, as opposed to what the manufacturer decides is acceptable... The acceptable values on AV drives are a little tighter, but not enough IMHO...

It seems that the last few updates TiVo sent out has reduced the frequency of my units going into the GSOD reboot loop. But, it could also be that I manually reboot my TiVos frequently, as well as clearing the guide data every three months. While it requires a few hours to rebuild, I don't lose my recordings, season passes, or thumb ratings. I only lose any manual recordings that are in the To Do list. I think, over time, the logs of what didn't record, and why, due to things like cancelling SPs, or re-organizing my SPs, get too large. TiVo is a bit over-zealous when it comes to making sure that six months after you cancel a SP, it still logs every episode not recorded, and every episode deleted. I think it may cause the logs to get too big, and that's why it can't repair itself. Manual reboots, and clearing the guide data, seems to help. I was using a raw disk editor to look at the logs on GSOD reboot looping TiVo drives, and it keep saying that there were too many inode entries in a table, (like saying there were 1,051,654, and the limit was 200,000, only to reboot to attempt repair, and log the same issue at every attempt. I don't know enough about the file system to offer more, and the drive in my computer, where I was saving all my research suffered a sudden mechanical failure/death. I spent nearly a year working on documenting these errors is detail, only to lose it all. 

I've also taken drives that passed WD's tests, used dd_rescue to put an image on from a brand new, tested, drive, then used dd_rescue to copy from the drive I just copied to, and logged read/retry errors. I've tried it on multiple different computers, none of them Gigabyte (to avoid a possible HPA issue), and it all winds up the same. I'm at a loss for what more I can do. It's very rare for any of my TiVos to last a year without getting caught in a GSOD loop, until now, doing what I have been doing, which also includes not using the TiVos for anything except the DVR functions. No Netflix, no Hulu, just DVR use only. If TiVo hadn't sued anybody else out of contention for a competitive DVR, I'd have probably gave up years ago.


----------



## jmbach

I guess I have been lucky as I have yet to date experience any of the issues you mentioned and I don't do anything special for prevention. I just let my TiVos (648 and 748) be Tivos and let them do what they do best.


----------



## alexofindy

Hmmm - this may or may not be the best place to post this basic questions. I have a Premiere XL with a 1 TB drive, over 3 years old and off warranty, with PLS. I want to expand the internal hard drive to 2 TB. I'd rather keep my recorded programs, ST's, and the like, but it's only television, and most of the non-copy-protected shows are backed-up to a readynas fileserver (though I lose the captions).

I have a new windows PC, with oodles of USB-3 and esata ports, oodles of free disk space, as well as an assortment of adapters I can use to connect a couple of drives. I am respectful but not scared of command lines.

Am I better off simply making a jmfs boot CD and using it to copy and then expand the Tivo drive, or should I use DvrBARS to copy, and then jmfs to expand?

And thanks to comer and ggieseki and all the others who have contributed to making such options available to the public including yours truly.


----------



## ggieseke

It's about 6 of one and half a dozen of the other as far as basic copy and expansion goes. If you don't have too many shows DvrBARS in the Modified Full mode may do the copy faster since it only reads and writes what it needs to instead of the entire drive. On the down side you'll still have to boot up jmfs to do the expansion.

Either way, as long as you're going pull the drive out of the TiVo I'd keep a truncated backup around for the future.


----------



## Technogod

I have a TiVo HD. It's a two drive system using WinMFS. I backed up both drives using DvrBARS. I'm restoring A Drive 1TB to a clean 2TB drive. How do I restore the .5 TB B Drive to the 2TB Drive?


----------



## ggieseke

Technogod said:


> I have a TiVo HD. It's a two drive system using WinMFS. I backed up both drives using DvrBARS. I'm restoring A Drive 1TB to a clean 2TB drive. How do I restore the .5 TB B Drive to the 2TB Drive?


You can't do a 2-1 drive upgrade with DvrBARS at this point. I haven't written any of the code to resize or relocate partitions yet.

Since it's a Series 3 you can do it with MFS Live. Not sure about WinMFS.


----------



## Technogod

How do I perform a 2-1 drive upgrade with DvrBars? I only see the option to Restore one of my Backups or the other. I have a 1 TB VHD and a .5TB VHD. WinMFS says the function isn't implemented yet.


----------



## jmbach

I have not tried anything like that yet. What I would consider doing which you may have already done is to restore your backups to the larger drive with DvrBARS and then use WinMFS to expand. Not sure if it will work. What I think has the highest probably of success is to divorce the external drive losing only some of your programs then expanding the single drive with WinMFS followed by adding the external drive with WinMFS. Not sure about a 2 drive to 1 drive conversion.


----------



## Technogod

Unfortunately restoring my drives with DvrBARS didn't work. WinMFS doesn't support 2 to 1 because my Drive was expanded with WinMFS. I'm unable to divorce the external drive because it was expanded with WinMFS. I have both VHD's mounted in Read Only Mode and a clean 2TB destination drive. I can do some testing if you like. I've uploaded the Mfsinfo.txt file.


----------



## jmbach

The only thing I can come up with to combine 2 drives into one drive is not very eloquent and may not capture all of your programs. Essentially identify what recordings are located on your external drive and using Tivo desktop, pytivo, or the like and transfer those recordings to your computer (or even another tivo). Then divorce the extra drive. Copy the single drive to the larger drive then expand ad supersize. Install the drive and copy the recordings back. If the copy bit is not set you can transfer the recordings. The difficult part is identifying the recordings on the external drive. Ggieseke might be able to help with that. Not sure. But that is the best I can come up with at this time. I'll keep on thinking on it. Like to see something more eloquent.


----------



## ggieseke

Technogod said:


> Unfortunately restoring my drives with DvrBARS didn't work. WinMFS doesn't support 2 to 1 because my Drive was expanded with WinMFS. I'm unable to divorce the external drive because it was expanded with WinMFS. I have both VHD's mounted in Read Only Mode and a clean 2TB destination drive. I can do some testing if you like. I've uploaded the Mfsinfo.txt file.


Since it was expanded with WinMFS and drive A already has 15 partitions I can't think of any way to coalesce them into 1 drive at this time. If the total number of existing partitions for both drives was 16 or less it probably wouldn't take too much work to copy the Drive B partitions and modify a few places in the header, but that's not an option in this case.

Even if you divorce the external and use jmfs I don't think it could expand the main drive into the empty space with that partition table. If you can transfer all of your recordings to a computer I do have a 2TB 652 image that would make starting over from scratch much quicker.


----------



## jmbach

ggieseke said:


> Since it was expanded with WinMFS and drive A already has 15 partitions I can't think of any way to coalesce them into 1 drive at this time. If the total number of existing partitions for both drives was 16 or less it probably wouldn't take too much work to copy the Drive B partitions and modify a few places in the header, but that's not an option in this case.
> 
> Even if you divorce the external and use jmfs I don't think it could expand the main drive into the empty space with that partition table. If you can transfer all of your recordings to a computer I do have a 2TB 652 image that would make starting over from scratch much quicker.


I can say that WinMFS will take an already expanded S3 drive and expand it again by just increasing the size of the 15th partition. It has been about 9 months ago when I did my 648 this way. I took it from 1TB to 2TB.

I think JMFS would add the 16th partition in this case, however, I am not sure if the 652 would acknowledge it. It might. When I looked at videobruce's working 652 2TB image, it had 16 partitions, 2 WinMFS like and one JMFS like. Not sure what program(s) was used to do the expansion.


----------



## Technogod

Using the menu in JMFS it only detects the 1TB drive.


----------



## jmbach

Technogod said:


> Using the menu in JMFS it only detects the 1TB drive.


Can you use JMFS to copy the 1TB drive to the 2TB drive then expand. You would have to supersize with WinMFS.


----------



## Technogod

I need it to recognize my 500GB external drive and my 1TB internal drive. I'm trying to do a 2-1 drive upgrade.


----------



## mhillesheim

I have a 746 that I want to blow away with a new image. 

After an expander divorce, I'm getting a looping GSOD. Tivo support of course can't help and want stupid amounts of money just to reimage my drive. I don't care about any of the data on the drive, I just want to start from scratch.

Do you have a 746 image I can get access to so I can blow away everything on the drive and start from scratch with your tooling? The original drive is still fully operational, just a bit corrupted.

Please shoot me a PM if you get a chance...


----------



## ggieseke

mhillesheim said:


> Do you have a 746 image I can get access to so I can blow away everything on the drive and start from scratch with your tooling? The original drive is still fully operational, just a bit corrupted.
> 
> Please shoot me a PM if you get a chance...


Sent.


----------



## halfsheep

I also need a 746320 image please.


----------



## ggieseke

halfsheep said:


> I also need a 746320 image please.


I sent you a PM.


----------



## halfsheep

Thank you very much! The rebuild seemed to go very well on a WD20EURS drive, (expanded and then supersized with jmfs tools). But, I'm stuck on acquiring channel information in that the Tivo can't. No Live TV at all. Have tried re-pairing the cable card with Comcast. Then did a Tivo clear and delete everything. Then a re-pair card with Comcast again. Repeat Guided setup (many times actually) Tivo says the lack of a "Auth: S" on the Conditional Access cable card info screen seems to indicate a cable card issue. Tell comcast to do a complete clear and delete, and then re-pair again. Asked comcast to do that. Not positive they did as they seem to really stick to canned script. They did disable and re-pair and all indications were the re-pair commands were good. allowed another hour or so for all updated, still no channels, restarted tivo and did yet another repeat guided setup. Still no luck. Any ideas?


----------



## jmbach

It is a pairing issue with the cable company. It seems like all cable companies have the same issue. Most of the time you need to go to a higher tiered support as it requires a delete of the previous pairing before it can be repaired. When they pair they need the serial number, data id, and host id. If they don't ask for all three they do not know what they are doing. Either get them to get someone else or hang up and call back. Once that is done, they need to get the correct channel map assigned to the card so you can get all your channels. 
Many times all they try to do is send hits to the card to "re pair" the card. When it does not work they want to send a truck out.


----------



## nooneuknow

halfsheep said:


> Thank you very much! The rebuild seemed to go very well on a WD20EURS drive, (expanded and then supersized with jmfs tools). But, I'm stuck on acquiring channel information in that the Tivo can't. No Live TV at all. Have tried re-pairing the cable card with Comcast. Then did a Tivo clear and delete everything. Then a re-pair card with Comcast again. Repeat Guided setup (many times actually) Tivo says the lack of a "Auth: S" on the Conditional Access cable card info screen seems to indicate a cable card issue. Tell comcast to do a complete clear and delete, and then re-pair again. Asked comcast to do that. Not positive they did as they seem to really stick to canned script. They did disable and re-pair and all indications were the re-pair commands were good. allowed another hour or so for all updated, still no channels, restarted tivo and did yet another repeat guided setup. Still no luck. Any ideas?


Try removing the cablecard, leaving it out, and selecting the lineup you'd get without it, preferentially by repeating guided setup. If no joy, try leaving the card out, disconnect the cable input as well, and say antenna ONLY, even if you don't have one. If on the latter, you get hung-up on the same spot, it's NOT your cableco - it's the TiVo, the image, or the drive. If the former works, then it's indicative of the cablecard.

Please report back on exactly what happens, so I can try to advise on further possibilities or things to try.


----------



## nooneuknow

jmbach said:


> It is a pairing issue with the cable company. It seems like all cable companies have the same issue. Most of the time you need to go to a higher tiered support as it requires a delete of the previous pairing before it can be repaired. When they pair they need the serial number, data id, and host id. If they don't ask for all three they do not know what they are doing. Either get them to get someone else or hang up and call back. Once that is done, they need to get the correct channel map assigned to the card so you can get all your channels.
> Many times all they try to do is send hits to the card to "re pair" the card. When it does not work they want to send a truck out.


This was posted as I was typing up my own reply. It's true. The cablecos have many ways they can go about working with the cablecards. They are trained to spend the least time on the phone, by doing to least amount of work. So they'll often leave data in, rather than take it ALL out and then put it all back in again.

I often ask them to unpair (or if I have already tried that, I ask for full deletion from the account), then INSIST they leave the system in that state, pull the card out, wait a few minutes, re-insert, then have them re-pair, or re-enter all the data.

They hate doing this, because it takes time for the TiVo to receive the updates for all the cablecard tables, due to it being in one-way mode, which puts it into "slow boot mode" (the cablecard itself).

Once you have tried every way, make sure to ask them to send some "EMMs" to your card. After a re-pair, I always ask them to "chase it with some EMMs (sometimes called "addressable hits"). If they do not register under EMMs received, in the CableCard screens (NOT the same as the DVR Diags Screen), there is a problem with its communications from the cableco.


----------



## halfsheep

Thank you both. O.k. I took the cable card out, then took a digital converter box from another room and put it between the cable and the tivo and repeated guided setup. When done, I could finally see some live t.v. on the TIVO. So...hopefully that means the rebuilt drive is good and it's the cable card. th Now, If I can just get them to fix it without a truck roll. (Yes they suggested that in an earlier call.) I'll try to convince them again to start from scratch remotely.


----------



## nooneuknow

halfsheep said:


> Thank you both. O.k. I took the cable card out, then took a digital converter box from another room and put it between the cable and the tivo and repeated guided setup. When done, I could finally see some live t.v. on the TIVO. So...hopefully that means the rebuilt drive is good and it's the cable card. th Now, If I can just get them to fix it without a truck roll. (Yes they suggested that in an earlier call.) I'll try to convince them again to start from scratch remotely.


In my experience (although my provider is Cox), it's been, if at first they don't succeed, they'll aggressively insist on a truck roll. You need to be just as aggressive in saying there's no need, without any proof the cablecard is defective.

I've spent hours on the phone with one rep, just to hang-up, call back, and have the next rep fix the problem in five minutes. It's usually the mangers or supervisors that tell the rep to roll a truck, just to get you off the phone.

With Cox, if they so much as see a splitter, or ANY piece of equipment, that isn't right off one of their trucks, ANYWHERE in sight, or realize it's a TiVo, they'll falsely blame your equipment, then bill you for the truck roll.

Ever since the FCC laid down the law with CableCards, I've NEVER once required a truck roll. I just needed the right person on the other end of the phone. Sometimes it took waiting for a shift change, and a fresh ear and rested mind, to get the matter resolved.


----------



## ggieseke

That's good advice.

I don't know jack (or Jill) about CableCARDs but I've read the new regs. Make them fix it WITHOUT a truck roll.


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## halfsheep

Sill trying to get this going. One thing I just noticed in comparing my HD Tivo (working) and the Premiere I just rebuilt is that the HD says Tuning Adapter: Not available. Whereas the Premiere says: Switched Digital Video: Tuning Adapter. I do not have a tuning adapter. Any chance this was a setting from the rebuild image that is retained (even though I did a clear and delete command in Tivo?) I've been poking around other posts that led me down this path. 

As an update, I failed to get them to fix over the phone although after a couple attempts I did get someone to clear and rebuild from scratch (and I removed the card for a few minutes as suggested, then rebuild.) Still no good. (FYI, first Comcast rep said, we can't delete anything remotely. Second one said sure, I'll delete it.) Anyway, truck roll was suggested, but it was a long ways out so...I decided to pop over to Service office and get a new card, thinking that would force a real rebuild. But even with new card, same problem trying to acquire channels. That's my update. 

any clue on Tuner. Does the above mean Tivo thinks I should have one? And if so, how can I get rid of that. Or am I way off. 

If I need to get out of this post, just let me know. Thanks again for all the help.


----------



## ggieseke

The C&DE on the TiVo should wipe any previous settings, and AFAIK the TiVo that the 746320 image came from was never run through Guided Setup.

The difference in the menus between the HD and the Premiere is probably just due to the difference in their respective menus.

Has it upgraded to 20.2.2.1?


----------



## halfsheep

Actually, it's upgraded to 20.3.1-01


----------



## jmbach

halfsheep said:


> Sill trying to get this going. One thing I just noticed in comparing my HD Tivo (working) and the Premiere I just rebuilt is that the HD says Tuning Adapter: Not available. Whereas the Premiere says: Switched Digital Video: Tuning Adapter. I do not have a tuning adapter. Any chance this was a setting from the rebuild image that is retained (even though I did a clear and delete command in Tivo?) I've been poking around other posts that led me down this path.
> 
> As an update, I failed to get them to fix over the phone although after a couple attempts I did get someone to clear and rebuild from scratch (and I removed the card for a few minutes as suggested, then rebuild.) Still no good. (FYI, first Comcast rep said, we can't delete anything remotely. Second one said sure, I'll delete it.) Anyway, truck roll was suggested, but it was a long ways out so...I decided to pop over to Service office and get a new card, thinking that would force a real rebuild. But even with new card, same problem trying to acquire channels. That's my update.
> 
> any clue on Tuner. Does the above mean Tivo thinks I should have one? And if so, how can I get rid of that. Or am I way off.
> 
> If I need to get out of this post, just let me know. Thanks again for all the help.


Go into the diagnostic area and run the tuning adapter diagnostic and see what happens.

I have a TA with my TiVo Premiere XL. If I unplug the TA I lose my SDV but can see other channels that don't require it. (usually ones under 100)

The acquiring channel map message is a CableCARD message. It can take awhile to download the map. Need to make sure your working CableCARD and non working have the same map. I cannot see why they wouldn't. Stranger things have happened.

If you haven't yet, disconnect the good unit from the cable drop and hook up the unit you are working on. Start it up and see if you have the same problem. Sometimes splitters in the circuit can cause problems especially older ones that don't have a broad enough frequency range.


----------



## nooneuknow

halfsheep said:


> If I need to get out of this post, just let me know. Thanks again for all the help.


While I'd like to keep trying to help, those of us that have been helping, have pretty thoroughly cleared the problem from being related to the utility this thread is for. No offense, but there are many threads that are tailored to problems like yours.

So, I feel the right thing to do, for you, is to move the problem to one or more of those other threads, give us a heads-up on where you've posted, and then this thread can get back on topic, while you can still get help, perhaps even better help than here.

Also, you may be being a bit impatient. As I've said, a cablecard in one-way mode, runs in slow boot mode, and you may not being giving it enough time to download ALL the data it needs before you force it to have to start all over again by all these things you are trying. Best of luck.


----------



## Elgato54

I have been wanting to produce a backup drive for my Premiere XL.

I have
1. The original stock drive that was used for about 6 months.
2. A WD20EURS created with JMFS. Currently in use with about 30% used.
3. A new WD20EURS.

How would you proceed?

Thank You


----------



## ggieseke

Elgato54 said:


> I have been wanting to produce a backup drive for my Premiere XL.
> 
> I have
> 1. The original stock drive that was used for about 6 months.
> 2. A WD20EURS created with JMFS. Currently in use with about 30% used.
> 3. A new WD20EURS.
> 
> How would you proceed?
> 
> Thank You


If it's easily accessible I'd pull the running WD20EURS, make a truncated backup, and keep the VHD file on your computer or restore it to the spare drive. You could also use Modified Full to keep the recordings, but in that case you'll need enough temp space on your computer to handle the image until you write it to the new drive (about 2.5GB + recordings).

You can do the same thing with the stock drive but you would have to restore the image to the new drive and use jmfs to expand it.

I'd probably use the truncated backup method, keep the backup file somewhere safe, and use the new WD20EURS for something else until you actually need it. Who couldn't use another 2TB for something?


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> Since it was expanded with WinMFS and drive A already has 15 partitions I can't think of any way to coalesce them into 1 drive at this time. If the total number of existing partitions for both drives was 16 or less it probably wouldn't take too much work to copy the Drive B partitions and modify a few places in the header, but that's not an option in this case.


None of that seems to matter. I've just spent the better part of a day trying to do that, and neither WinMFS nor MFSlive can do what they claim with regard to a dual drive 648 S3 with the original 250GB internal and 1TB external.

Despite what it says on the help pages, neither can combine two into one, and they cannot even *copy* dual drives to two new dual drives of the same size. WinMFS dumps out after drive selection in either scenario with "Error #1 - Unknown Error" (so helpful) and MFSlive went for 10 hours then dumped pages of errors followed by an "out of memory" message.

So my question for you is: can DvrBARS copy drive A, restore to a new drive of the same size, then copy drive B, restore to a new drive of the same size, and leave me with a working two drive system, all shows and settings intact?

And if that does work, any idea if it's possible to copy the original 250GB internal A drive, then restore it to a new 1TB, then use WinMFS to expand the A drive to full 1 TB size and still have it married to the B drive?

At this point I've given up on the merge idea because it seems unworkable, but I'd like to refresh the two drives in my 648 S3, and perhaps increase the capacity of the internal one.

Thanks.


----------



## jmbach

DvrBARS will backup and restore at this time but does not do a drive to drive copy. For what you want to do use the full backup option on each drive. Then do a restore to the drive of your choice for each of the backups. 

One thought that I have but have not played with yet to verify if it works on combining two drives into one is to first copy the main drive to a larger drive that is greater than the two drive setup. Then copy the first two partitions of the extender drive onto the extra space of the main drive. Physically add the information of those partitions to the APM. Go into the MFS superheader and change the references to the partitions to the external drive to the new partitions on the main drive. There are several places that this could fail. Nothing ventured nothing gained. 

On another note, it may be possible to do as you mentioned. I have seen it done where you expanded the main drive then add an extender drive. Each step has to be done with WinMFS. You can expand an original image twice with WinMFS. The order is different but the expected result is the same.


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## dougdingle

jmbach said:


> On another note, it may be possible to do as you mentioned. I have seen it done where you expanded the main drive then add an extender drive. Each step has to be done with WinMFS. You can expand an original image twice with WinMFS. The order is different but the expected result is the same.


Once I have a set of working clones, I'm going to try restoring the A image to a larger drive and see if I can expand it.

Does it seem to you like I need both A and B drives connected for WinMFS to expand the A drive properly?

Or should I try it with just the A drive connected?

In the past, when I had only the A drive hooked up, WinMFS complained that I only had the A drive hooked up (knows there's a B drive somewhere).

I want to retain all my shows and settings, otherwise I'd just divorce the B drive, do a truncated backup of A, and dump a 2 TB drive in there .


----------



## ThAbtO

dougdingle said:


> Does it seem to you like I need both A and B drives connected for WinMFS to expand the A drive properly?
> 
> I want to retain all my shows and settings, otherwise I'd just divorce the B drive, do a truncated backup of A, and dump a 2 TB drive in there .


Usually we just transfer the shows to the PC then divorce the external, then do the backup/restore to new drive and transfer the shows back to the Tivo. But it cannot be done with protected recordings.


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## dougdingle

ThAbtO said:


> Usually we just transfer the shows to the PC then divorce the external, then do the backup/restore to new drive and transfer the shows back to the Tivo. But it cannot be done with protected recordings.


Yep, if I could do that, I would transfer them all to another S3 I have (much faster than to the PC), but I would lose about half my shows due to the stupid copy flag.

On an editorial note, it would be ridiculously simple for TiVo to implement a "move" function for those programs with the flag set, so that in the end only one copy still existed on the destination machine. This would honor the "do not copy" edict. I've suggested this to them in ten different ways over the last few years, and have been totally ignored. They are less end user concerned with each passing day.

As with social media sites, we are not the customers; we are the product TiVo sells to their customers, the advertisers.


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## jmbach

dougdingle said:


> Once I have a set of working clones, I'm going to try restoring the A image to a larger drive and see if I can expand it.
> 
> Does it seem to you like I need both A and B drives connected for WinMFS to expand the A drive properly?
> 
> Or should I try it with just the A drive connected?
> 
> In the past, when I had only the A drive hooked up, WinMFS complained that I only had the A drive hooked up (knows there's a B drive somewhere).
> 
> I want to retain all my shows and settings, otherwise I'd just divorce the B drive, do a truncated backup of A, and dump a 2 TB drive in there .


That's the rub that might prevent it from working. Both drives need to be connected since WinMFS has to be aware of the current setup when it does the expansion. I am afraid that if only drive A is connected it might erase references to drive B when it expands.

If you want to try my 2 to 1 idea PM me and will help you work through the details. Sounds harder than it is. Mostly time consuming with the copy process. No guarantees. Might be just a waste of time.


----------



## ggieseke

AFAIK the 2-1 function in WinMFS only works on S1 TiVos. DvrBARS can dupe any drive in the Full mode, and should work in Modified Full or Truncated mode as long as both drives are present during the backup stage.

Combining drives should be easy once I add MFS partition relocation / resizing, but that code is many months away. I think I know HOW to do it, but in programming terms I'm looking at the tip of Everest and haven't even made it to base camp or met the sherpas yet.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> AFAIK the 2-1 function in WinMFS only works on S1 TiVos.


It would be thoughtful if he pulled the text from his site which specifically states it will work on S3 boxes. I wasted a lot of time with that and MFSLive trying to make that work.



> DvrBARS can dupe any drive in the Full mode


Yes, and thank you. I will send a contribution once the program finishes running and I can figure out where it needs to go.


----------



## nooneuknow

I hope this doesn't come across in the wrong way. I'm just trying to help the cause of the thread, by providing a source for some 2TB drives:

I just received a shipment of six WD20EADS-00S2B0 HARCHV2AA 2TB Western Digital hard drives, as replacements for some degraded/defective ones I sent back.

I'm curious how the drives have the same model number as the Caviar Green drives I sent back, but, instead have a black/white label, with no mention of Green, or Caviar (although the power & 32MB cache specs are the same), and the label doesn't specify the LBA of the drives (which I expect from AF drives, but EADS drives never were)...

To the point: I really don't need these drives for anything, since before I RMA'd the originals, I bought a case of WD20EURS drives to use for my TiVos, with a couple extra to shelf as spares.

Anyway, I have six 2TB WD20EADS drives (and more to come), which are still factory sealed, and this seemed like an appropriate place to say I'd be willing to part with them for a fair price, either to help the project, or help those looking to expand their capacity.

PM me with any reasonable offer(s). If I'm out of line, I'll retract this post.


----------



## ggieseke

dougdingle said:


> It would be thoughtful if he pulled the text from his site which specifically states it will work on S3 boxes. I wasted a lot of time with that and MFSLive trying to make that work.


If you have a Dropbox account and enough space, put the full backups of both drives in a shared folder and send me an invite (same user name). I may be able to figure out something, and it would be a good way to get me back into the programming mode. Right now I'm in "watch TV & drink beer" mode. 

I don't know that WinMFS can't do it from first hand experience, but someone else said that it couldn't in a recent thread and your experience seems to confirm it. It may even have worked until 11.0k was released with support for 2TB drives.


----------



## bantar

I recently got a new XL4 and ran a backup on the 2TB drive, before ever booting it up (creating a pristine image). I ran a full backup and after 6 hours of running, it created a small 1.6 GB backup file. Does this sound about right?

Silly me, I thought I would be playing with my new toy much sooner than that! 

The one thing that surprised me was that the backup needs to be written to a formatted Windows drive. Makes sense now, but I was used to the dd type of copies and just assumed the same. Luckily, I had an online drive with enough space, in addition to the unformatted drive I was originally planning to copy to. 

Also, when starting the utility, I do get an error message stating that the Drive A: is not ready. I don't have an A: drive. I simply said Continue and had no issues. It was easy to run. Thanks!


----------



## jmbach

The 6 hours and 1.6gb backup for a full backup sounds correct. It reads every byte on the drive so it takes longer. dd in Linux would give you about the same time if you tried to copy the drive. Truncated backups are very quick as it reads only portions of the drive that are necessary. Usually in matter of minutes it will be completed. Modified will take longer as it depends on how many recordings you have. For a pristine drive, all three should be roughly the same size. 
As far as the error message, ggieseke will have to comment on that.


----------



## ggieseke

bantar said:


> I recently got a new XL4 and ran a backup on the 2TB drive, before ever booting it up (creating a pristine image). I ran a full backup and after 6 hours of running, it created a small 1.6 GB backup file. Does this sound about right?
> 
> Silly me, I thought I would be playing with my new toy much sooner than that!
> 
> The one thing that surprised me was that the backup needs to be written to a formatted Windows drive. Makes sense now, but I was used to the dd type of copies and just assumed the same. Luckily, I had an online drive with enough space, in addition to the unformatted drive I was originally planning to copy to.
> 
> Also, when starting the utility, I do get an error message stating that the Drive A: is not ready. I don't have an A: drive. I simply said Continue and had no issues. It was easy to run. Thanks!


6 hours sounds about right for a 2TB drive in Full mode, and about 1.6GB is the same as my XL4 image. Full backups read every byte on the drive and count on there being lots of 2MB chunks of all zeros for compression.

A Modified Full or Truncated backup of a factory drive should give the same results in a few minutes.

Not sure about the A: drive message, maybe it's something in your BIOS settings or an SD card reader. I've patched around most of the unusual drive configurations that it has encountered so far, but I still like to pop up error messages so that I know something is odd. As long as it continues and doesn't kill the main program that's how it should work.

Glad you're up & running now.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> If you have a Dropbox account and enough space, put the full backups of both drives in a shared folder and send me an invite (same user name). I may be able to figure out something, and it would be a good way to get me back into the programming mode. Right now I'm in "watch TV & drink beer" mode.
> 
> I don't know that WinMFS can't do it from first hand experience, but someone else said that it couldn't in a recent thread and your experience seems to confirm it. It may even have worked until 11.0k was released with support for 2TB drives.


The files at 1TB and 250G are too big for me to upload with the limited upload pipe I have, I'm afraid. It would take me over a week to upload just the 1 TB one. But I have started to work with jmbach, and he may have an idea on how to combine two drives into one on an S3.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> 6 hours sounds about right for a 2TB drive in Full mode


For those unaware, the program will flag bad sectors/data as it reads, but thankfully does not abort.

What does happen, however, is that an error window pops up and needs to be acknowledged before the the backup continues, which means someone has to keep an eye on things while the backup is running, or it will wait forever if there's an error.

Perhaps the next version could have an option to just continue on errors, and maybe generate an error log text file on the destination device for fully unattended long operation.


----------



## ggieseke

dougdingle said:


> For those unaware, the program will flag bad sectors/data as it reads, but thankfully does not abort.
> 
> What does happen, however, is that an error window pops up and needs to be acknowledged before the the backup continues, which means someone has to keep an eye on things while the backup is running, or it will wait forever if there's an error.
> 
> Perhaps the next version could have an option to just continue on errors, and maybe generate an error log text file on the destination device for fully unattended long operation.


It used to abort on errors during backup, so that's a small improvement. 

I'll probably add something like that to the next version, along with a subroutine to break down the 2MB blocks it uses now into 512 byte sector reads in case of errors. The initial goal was just to get it working at all with healthy drives.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> It used to abort on errors during backup, so that's a small improvement.
> 
> I'll probably add something like that to the next version, along with a subroutine to break down the 2MB blocks it uses now into 512 byte sector reads in case of errors. The initial goal was just to get it working at all with healthy drives.


Don't mistake me - I am VERY grateful for the program, and having to manually continue on errors is a small price to pay. I just wanted to make people aware that if they're doing a long operation, they should look in on it time to time just in case.

This is the only program I was able to find running in Windows that can duplicate a TiVo drive byte for byte, and the fact it continues after an error is fantastic. It allowed me to refresh the six year old drives in my S3 that were starting to have issues.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> It used to abort on errors during backup, so that's a small improvement.
> 
> I'll probably add something like that to the next version, along with a subroutine to break down the 2MB blocks it uses now into 512 byte sector reads in case of errors. The initial goal was just to get it working at all with healthy drives.


Just sent you a little money with PayPal for the work.

Everyone using this very handy piece of software should do the same.


----------



## ggieseke

Thanks, I really appreciate it!

I didn't take your other post as criticism at all. Keep the suggestions coming. I suffer from "can't see the forest for the trees" more than most programmers and it took a LOT of input from jmbach, retiredqwest and others to get it this far.


----------



## willieb0359

nooneuknow said:


> I hope this doesn't come across in the wrong way. I'm just trying to help the cause of the thread, by providing a source for some 2TB drives:
> 
> I just received a shipment of six WD20EADS-00S2B0 HARCHV2AA 2TB Western Digital hard drives, as replacements for some degraded/defective ones I sent back.
> 
> I'm curious how the drives have the same model number as the Caviar Green drives I sent back, but, instead have a black/white label, with no mention of Green, or Caviar (although the power & 32MB cache specs are the same), and the label doesn't specify the LBA of the drives (which I expect from AF drives, but EADS drives never were)...
> 
> To the point: I really don't need these drives for anything, since before I RMA'd the originals, I bought a case of WD20EURS drives to use for my TiVos, with a couple extra to shelf as spares.
> 
> Anyway, I have six 2TB WD20EADS drives (and more to come), which are still factory sealed, and this seemed like an appropriate place to say I'd be willing to part with them for a fair price, either to help the project, or help those looking to expand their capacity.
> 
> PM me with any reasonable offer(s). If I'm out of line, I'll retract this post.[
> 
> I cant PM because I don't have 10 posts but I am interested in a drive or 2 if the price is right Can I email you?


----------



## richc233

This program sounds like just what I need to restore a TiVo Premiere Elite XL4 TCD758250 that I just got which has a Parental Control password that I need to clear. TiVo support has been unable to reset it, but I think the problem is that it is not configured for the internet and of course I can change the settings without the Parental Control password. 

Does anyone have the small backup from DvrBARS for this TiVo that I could download? Or is there any other way to do this without having a good drive? 

Any help would be great!

Thanks,
Rich


----------



## nooneuknow

willieb0359 said:


> nooneuknow said:
> 
> 
> 
> I just received a shipment of six WD20EADS-00S2B0 HARCHV2AA 2TB Western Digital hard drives, as replacements for some degraded/defective ones I sent back (and more to come), which are still factory sealed, and I'd be willing to part with them for a fair price, either to help the project, or help those looking to expand their capacity. PM me with any reasonable offer(s).
> 
> 
> 
> I cant PM because I don't have 10 posts but I am interested in a drive or 2 if the price is right Can I email you?
Click to expand...

I've placed a post regarding these in a better thread to discuss them (where the discussion won't dilute or hijack anybody else's thread), here: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=505374

I was hoping to get an opinion of what they're worth, but you're my only reply so far (please don't hold the honesty against me). 

Welcome to the forums!


----------



## ggieseke

richc233 said:


> This program sounds like just what I need to restore a TiVo Premiere Elite XL4 TCD758250 that I just got which has a Parental Control password that I need to clear. TiVo support has been unable to reset it, but I think the problem is that it is not configured for the internet and of course I can change the settings without the Parental Control password.
> 
> Does anyone have the small backup from DvrBARS for this TiVo that I could download? Or is there any other way to do this without having a good drive?
> 
> Any help would be great!
> 
> Thanks,
> Rich


I will send you a PM link to the image, but if you use it on your existing drive it will basically wipe out everything on it. If you're willing to go that far I would also recommend using the Full Restore option so that it wipes every sector that isn't being written with actual data. It will take a LOT longer, but probably worth it in this case.

It's an interesting question. I will play around with parental controls on my XL this weekend and see if I can figure out where it's located. I need to look at 20.3.1 anyway, and if it's an easy fix I can add another option to the program to just wipe the password. If you can hold off a few more days don't do anything drastic yet.

Edit: Forget the Full Restore stuff. It slipped my feeble minf that you would have to do a full C&DE anyway with an image from another TiVo.


----------



## jmbach

The full restore still might be a good idea. If the password is located in an area that is usually null, without a complete restore it might remain and if the Tivo just checks to see if it is not null to activate parental controls, it will still be active.


----------



## halfsheep

O.k. just one last post to close the loop on my prior posts, thank you all and confirm you were completely correct in the comcast cable card pairing problem diagnosis.

Sadly I simply could not get comcast to fix remotely and they insisted on a truck roll. Appointment was a week wait. I called them several more times with "leads" while waiting but nothing ever came of these calls. Finally appt day came. At noon I get a call from tech saying, "those cards from the service center don't work, you need special tivo compatible ones and new ones that haven't been used before...I don't have them now. Will get tonight or tomorrow. " He gives me his personal cell number. Day later he says he has and will come out next day. Next day, he never shows. I text him several times. he replies to none of these. Doesn't tell me he's not coming or anything. Call Comcast and they say, sorry, we can't tell you when we can get you a tech - can you call back in a couple hours to try again (at 1:00 a.m.) ? I hung up. (Caveat, we did have a major storm with possible tornados and major outages so I understand this a bit.) 2 things I did next. 1 - I had opted in to customer sat survey post call. I won't describe my ratings (PG forum I think), but at the end they asked if I wanted to be called back about my problem. I said yes and detailed all the above, very nicely and said in an exasperated tone that I'd really like to get this fixed. 2 - I filed an FCC complaint against comcast here saying I suspected they were running afoul of cable card regs: https://esupport.fcc.gov/ccmsforms/form2000.action?form_type=2000E

It really wasn't a bad form at all. 
Next day, came home and voila, everything was working. You KNEW they could fix it remotely, I knew they could too. ARGGGH. [email protected]$!#%!#%[email protected]#%
Anyway, thank you all so much once again. Great Forum! Great people!


----------



## richc233

Thanks for helping me out with the image - glad you had it! It is fine for me to wipe out the drive as I bought it from someone and don't need anything on it. I think the problem and reason TiVo support couldn't get it done is that the unit is not connecting to TiVo and I can't configure the network without the parent controls password. They said to leave the unit on so they could send something to it overnight, but I am sure this didn't work because the network is not setup properly. 

I probably won't get to try this out until after the weekend, but I will let you know how it goes. 

Thanks,
Rich


----------



## Haywood

Would it be possible to copy my Premiere XL (2 tuner) drive with recordings etc. to a 2TB drive and pop it into a TP4?

I haven't powered on the TP4 yet.

Thanks


----------



## ThAbtO

Haywood said:


> Would it be possible to copy my Premiere XL (2 tuner) drive with recordings etc. to a 2TB drive and pop it into a TP4?
> 
> I haven't powered on the TP4 yet.
> 
> Thanks


Yes, but you will lost the recordings. You would have to marry the drive to the Tivo with Clear & Delete Everything.


----------



## Haywood

Thanks for the speedy reply. 

I was looking for a way to keep the recordings and season passes. Any utilities developed to copy from an old unit to a new one, or just manually one at time?


----------



## ThAbtO

Haywood said:


> Thanks for the speedy reply.
> 
> I was looking for a way to keep the recordings and season passes. Any utilities developed to copy from an old unit to a new one, or just manually one at time?


For the season passes, you can copy over using your tivo.com account, season pass manager.

Recordings, only way would be to transfer over either to a PC and then to the new Tivo or from 1 subscribed Tivo to another subscribed Tivo.


----------



## Haywood

My experience:

1. Full backup of a fresh TiVo TCD750500 Premiere 4 Drive (DvrBARS)
2. Quick Restore to a WD20EURS (DvrBARS)
3. Expand using JMFS
4. Supersize using JMFS

Yielded a 318 hour TP4. I actually used the same backup to restore to two drives, one for each of my new machines. I had to do a clear and delete on one of them to get the ESN active.


----------



## lessd

Haywood said:


> My experience:
> 
> 1. Full backup of a fresh TiVo TCD750500 Premiere 4 Drive (DvrBARS)
> 2. Quick Restore to a WD20EURS (DvrBARS)
> 3. Expand using JMFS
> 4. Supersize using JMFS
> 
> Yielded a 318 hour TP4. I actually used the same backup to restore to two drives, one for each of my new machines. I had to do a clear and delete on one of them to get the ESN active.


Now make a backup of the 2Tb drive using DvrBARS and if someday you have to replace the drive you will only have one step to do, make the smallest backup.


----------



## Haywood

lessd said:


> Now make a backup of the 2Tb drive using DvrBARS and if someday you have to replace the drive you will only have one step to do, make the smallest backup.


Excellent tip. Thanks!


----------



## tvmaster2

I just redid my Premiere drive, from the well-used image here. Did all the updates, got the cable-card recognized again, clear and delete and got my lineups all set.
When I then pulled the drive from the Premiere to make a backup in DvrBARS, the PC can't see the drive, whether it's via USB or SATA connection.
What could I be doing wrong?


----------



## ThAbtO

tvmaster2 said:


> I just redid my Premiere drive, from the well-used image here. Did all the updates, got the cable-card recognized again, clear and delete and got my lineups all set.
> When I then pulled the drive from the Premiere to make a backup in DvrBARS, the PC can't see the drive, whether it's via USB or SATA connection.
> What could I be doing wrong?


Are you using administrator login? Do not let your system try to read the drive, it can't, only the software such as DVRBars, WinMFS, etc. (with administrator rights).


----------



## tvmaster2

ThAbtO said:


> Are you using administrator login? Do not let your system try to read the drive, it can't, only the software such as DVRBars, WinMFS, etc. (with administrator rights).


hi - yes, I have administrator rights. All I get is "no useable drives found"

I did run Kickstart on the drive from within the Tivo before trying to backup in DvrBARS. Would that mess up the formatting somehow?

EDIT: OK, ran DvrBARS on a different PC, and it found the Tivo drive. Weird - no idea... lol


----------



## tvmaster2

OK, now I'm confused. Based on this:

_There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).

Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.

Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.

Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).....
_
If I did a FULL backup of a 1tb drive that has absolutely NO recordings and is as fresh an install as possible (the only thing I did was a clear and delete and grabbed my TV Guide data), DvrBARS says that the FULL backup is 931 GB!! I thought I read it would be as little as 2-3GB.

What am I missing? I don't have enough hard drive space for a 931GB backup.
Is that just a theoretical number that will change once the backup starts?

How do you create a drive that's "straight from the factory".....


----------



## tvmaster2

lessd said:


> Now make a backup of the 2Tb drive using DvrBARS and if someday you have to replace the drive you will only have one step to do, make the smallest backup.


How much physical space would that take up on a drive, and WHAT kind of backup are you discussing here: Full, Modified or Truncated?
Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

tvmaster2 said:


> What am I missing? I don't have enough hard drive space for a 931GB backup.
> Is that just a theoretical number that will change once the backup starts?
> 
> How do you create a drive that's "straight from the factory".....


For a Premiere, you can probably assume about 2GB for a truncated backup. A modified full backup would take that much space plus the size of any recordings (whatever that is).

Full backups work fine on a drive that just came straight from the factory because 99% of it is all zeroes and it compresses well. You don't "create" it, you buy a brand-new TiVo and remove the drive before you even plug it in. In that case it will be almost identical to a truncated backup. Once the drive has seen any real use, a full backup could be larger than the actual drive size.

A C&DE does not overwrite the unused parts of the drive with all zeroes. With a used drive, a truncated or modified full backup is what you want.

You can shrink it a bit further by going into Settings and choosing not to back up the alternate OS partition.


----------



## tvmaster2

ggieseke said:


> For a Premiere, you can probably assume about 2GB for a truncated backup. A modified full backup would take that much space plus the size of any recordings (whatever that is).
> 
> Full backups work fine on a drive that just came straight from the factory because 99% of it is all zeroes and it compresses well. You don't "create" it, you buy a brand-new TiVo and remove the drive before you even plug it in. In that case it will be almost identical to a truncated backup. Once the drive has seen any real use, a full backup could be larger than the actual drive size.
> 
> A C&DE does not overwrite the unused parts of the drive with all zeroes. With a used drive, a truncated or modified full backup is what you want.
> 
> You can shrink it a bit further by going into Settings and choosing not to back up the alternate OS partition.


OK, thanks. I did a truncated, and it appeared on my PC drive as 7GB. No recordings - just a post-Tivo download of my cable companies info and guide data. I assume the smart thing to do after doing the truncated backup is then "restore" it to the drive it came from, just to make sure it worked?


----------



## ggieseke

7GB sounds screwy to me, but if it completed a truncated backup you were backing up a TiVo drive and the file systems were intact. I've never seen one go over about 2.5GB.

If you really want to test the image, use the Full Restore method. It will take forever because it writes zeroes to all the sectors on the drive that it didn't actually back up. Alternatively, you could do a quick restore to a different drive.

That must have been one heck of a guide data download.


----------



## tvmaster2

ggieseke said:


> 7GB sounds screwy to me, but if it completed a truncated backup you were backing up a TiVo drive and the file systems were intact. I've never seen one go over about 2.5GB.
> 
> If you really want to test the image, use the Full Restore method. It will take forever because it writes zeroes to all the sectors on the drive that it didn't actually back up. Alternatively, you could do a quick restore to a different drive.
> 
> That must have been one heck of a guide data download.


yeah, I thought the same thing. 600 channels at two weeks listings = 5gb? I wouldn't know. I used the Premiere image from here to start (3.5gb), updated the Tivo software, did a clear & delete, and then downloaded the listing. End result = 7gb.

But.....

I just ran Truncated now, a second time, and got a file that was 2.8gb (?) - which included partitions 1-9 and partition 14. Does that make any sense?

Can't I do a quick restore back to the drive from which it came?


----------



## ggieseke

Sure, you can do a quick restore to the same drive but it won't prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that your backup is 100% reliable. In quick restore mode it only writes the sectors that it backed up and leaves the rest of the drive alone. If it did miss something critical (which I have never seen it do) you wouldn't know the difference because the rest of the drive wasn't modified in any way.

2.8GB sounds a lot closer to what I'd expect depending on the exact model number, the operating system version, and whether you skipped the Alternate Root Partition.

About the only thing I can think of to explain your previous 7GB backup is that it may have still been indexing the guide data. I have no idea how many temporary files it uses during that procedure.

The partitions sound right. I only display the partition numbers for the Linux partitions because it scans the MFS partitions as one complete file system. On a typical Premiere that's 10-13.


----------



## tvmaster2

thanks - the quick restore seemed to work, and since there was nothing else on the drive it's likely OK. What's your recommendation for checking drives for errors once they've been formatted for use in the Tivo?


----------



## ggieseke

Personally, I trust SpinRite as the ultimate drive test / recovery software more than anything else. The downside is that it takes forever and it only runs in DOS.

Most of the time I just use the factory diags from Seagate or WD depending on who made the drive.


----------



## tvmaster2

ggieseke said:


> Personally, I trust SpinRite as the ultimate drive test / recovery software more than anything else. The downside is that it takes forever and it only runs in DOS.
> 
> Most of the time I just use the factory diags from Seagate or WD depending on who made the drive.


I didn't realize the WD app would work if the drive was formatted for Tivo. Cool. thanks. Agreed - Spinrite can take a loooooonnnnnggggg time


----------



## HerronScott

Greg,

Great tool! I just used to get truncated backup of an original TiVoHD 160GB drive (used though). Size was 1.1GB while the WinMFS truncated backup was only 466MB. Just curious how the 2 compare?

I did donate as well. 

Scott


----------



## ggieseke

HerronScott said:


> Greg,
> 
> Great tool! I just used to get truncated backup of an original TiVoHD 160GB drive (used though). Size was 1.1GB while the WinMFS truncated backup was only 466MB. Just curious how the 2 compare?
> 
> I did donate as well.
> 
> Scott


First of all, THANKS!

WinMFS is pretty aggressive when it comes to truncated backups. It leaves out all of the "alternate" partitions, the swap partition, and even the /var partition. It also uses a proprietary file format and compression.

That's cool and it has saved countless folks over the years including me, but after more than 20 years in IT my basic instinct is to back up everything and I used a published file format. When I started DvrBARS my only real goal was to back up Premieres, and I wanted the result to fit on a single-layer DVD or a cheap flash drive, so anything under 4.7GB was fine with me.

There's also a fair amount of compression still on the table if you zip or rar the VHD image. DvrBARS uses 2MB blocks, and even if only 512 bytes are needed the entire 2MB block it lives in is still copied. Zipping them seems to give about 40% compression on truncated images, and there's an option to skip the alternate Root partition which will shave another few hundred meg or so.

Spike's still the true genius that figured out enough of the proprietary MFS file system to let folks like me stand on his shoulders. I'm waiting for the S5s this fall since some predictions are that they've broken the 2TB barrier. THAT's gonna be a challenge...


----------



## HerronScott

Greg,

Thanks for the explanation. I'm in IT as well and backups are a good thing (the more the merrier). So in that spirit, I pulled out my original S3 OLED 250GB hard drives (we have 2) and performed truncated backups with DvrBARS. Interestingly, one was 2.54GB and the other was 5.08GB in size. These had been in use for about a year and a half before I upgraded both to 1TB drives using WinMFS.

Scott


----------



## ggieseke

HerronScott said:


> I pulled out my original S3 OLED 250GB hard drives (we have 2) and performed truncated backups with DvrBARS. Interestingly, one was 2.54GB and the other was 5.08GB in size.


Maybe a web download, Amazon movie, or something along those lines snuck in. Basically I add every file to the backup, then for truncated backups I go back through the /Recording directory and remove the shows listed there.

I'm just guessing. tvmaster2 got some unusual results too (7GB one day, 2.8GB the next). I should probably add a detailed log to the next version.


----------



## MTWomg

Could I get the 746320 image?


----------



## ggieseke

MTWomg said:


> Could I get the 746320 image?


PM sent.


----------



## CJDOG

Hey Greg, I'm unable to get past this error (dvrBARS) during startup: running Vista 64 (I know)

__
https://flic.kr/p/9392178395

Any ideas?


----------



## ggieseke

CJDOG said:


> Hey Greg, I'm unable to get past this error (dvrBARS) during startup: running Vista 64 (I know)
> 
> __
> https://flic.kr/p/9392178395
> 
> Any ideas?


Wow, that's one I haven't seen before. Microsoft's description of that error code is "The semaphore timeout period has expired". I have no idea what the heck that means.

That DeviceIoControl call has been troublesome since I released DvrBARS, but I thought that I had covered all of the weird hardware configurations that I've come across so far and it won't work without it. I have a beta that ignores all errors and continues on despite them. I'll send you a PM link.

Vista is the one OS that I haven't really tested it against due to my utter horror at what MS came up with in that fit of insanity. XP (because I still love it), 7 & 8 have been pretty solid so far.

If you run Disk Manager (don't let it initialize anytnig it finds) what does it say about Disk 2?


----------



## CJDOG

Yeah, the system I have with eSATA connectors came with Vista so...
OK, after the virtual disk driver eventually calmed down I can see the drive and was able to restore my original 160GB image to it.
Thanks!


----------



## dougdingle

So I just discovered that if I'm doing a restore where the VHD file is on a network share, the green progress bar never appears, although I do have other indications that the file is being pulled across the network and the target drive is writing.

Is this a bug or a feature? ;-)

Edit: My mistake. It was the painful slowness that stopped the bar from appearing. Over a gig network, by my calculations it would have taken a mere 300 hours to copy a 1TB VHD file to the drive. I moved the drive to the machine where the file lives, and things are going much faster now.


----------



## ggieseke

dougdingle said:


> So I just discovered that if I'm doing a restore where the VHD file is on a network share, the green progress bar never appears, although I do have other indications that the file is being pulled across the network and the target drive is writing.
> 
> Is this a bug or a feature? ;-)
> 
> Edit: My mistake. It was the painful slowness that stopped the bar from appearing. Over a gig network, by my calculations it would have taken a mere 300 hours to copy a 1TB VHD file to the drive. I moved the drive to the machine where the file lives, and things are going much faster now.


It's definitely not by design. I use standard Windows API calls like CreateFile & ReadFile, and a restore is basically just a bunch of sequential 2MB reads.

If you're using Vista or Windows 7, some routers like my old Cisco 831 don't play well with certain features that the new IP stack uses. It drove me nuts because smaller packets like web browsing were fine but when it started using larger packets to download files it slowed down to about 5MB per hour. If you think that could be happening in your case open a Command Prompt as Administrator and enter the following command.

netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

IMHO that autotuning layer is useless anyway and you can always turn it back on if it doesn't help. Unless every piece of hardware and software in your network supports "huge" packets and the ability to negotiate packet sizes over the MTU settings it doesn't help, and in some cases it may hurt a lot.


----------



## dougdingle

On a slightly different note, if you are working on a new version, please consider supporting drive to drive copies. 

And what would be REALLY cool is an option to continue on read errors without manual intervention, with a log at the end of the process if there were any errors.


----------



## ggieseke

Adding direct copy from drive to drive is my next goal, and since I already have most of the code written for that it shouldn't be a problem. The continue / log on error will take more coding but it's something I have been thinking about, but as noted in my first post, "It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives". Don't be surprised if v1.0.0.5 doesn't have it.

That's my disclaimer and I'm sticking to it. 

Seriously though, it's a big jump from backing up or restoring a healthy drive to compensating for all of the problems that a corrupt or failing drive might present. The "if this or that error occurs" decision trees are endless. I set my basic design goals back in 2012 - back up a working Premiere to a 4GB file or less. Adding S1-S3 compatability along the way was just me being stubborn because I still use old TiVos.


----------



## jmbach

All that might be more of a DvrExplorer feature.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> The continue / log on error will take more coding but it's something I have been thinking about
> 
> Seriously though, it's a big jump from backing up or restoring a healthy drive to compensating for all of the problems that a corrupt or failing drive might present. The "if this or that error occurs" decision trees are endless.


Yes, I can see that.

But the program already stops on source disk read errors when creating a vhd file, and will ignore the error and continue once I click "OK". I want the option for the *program *to click "OK" and carry on so I don't have to babysit it.

The log would just be a bonus, so I knew the drive had unrecoverable read errors.


----------



## nooneuknow

dougdingle said:


> Yes, I can see that.
> 
> But the program already stops on source disk read errors when creating a vhd file, and will ignore the error and continue once I click "OK". I want the option for the *program *to click "OK" and carry on so I don't have to babysit it.
> 
> The log would just be a bonus, so I knew the drive had unrecoverable read errors.


While there are a few things I'd like to see modified or added, I wouldn't be so aggressive in "I want this, and I want that", without clicking on the Donate button. If you have given a donation, then :up: to you.

Even then, I wouldn't feel entitled to demand changes.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like some people are getting a bit aggressive, over things that they want in a FREE program.


----------



## dougdingle

I made a donation immediately after the current version of the program allowed me to back up a failing drive, where nothing else would.

And I'm not demanding anything. I am suggesting what I consider to be useful features. The author seems quite receptive to suggestions, and so I'm making them.


----------



## yeahbut wellum

Were you able to find a virgin 746320 image? If so, can I get a copy?


----------



## ggieseke

yeahbut wellum said:


> Were you able to find a virgin 746320 image? If so, can I get a copy?


PM sent.

It was plugged in once and got updated from 14.5 to 20.2.0, but it works fine. Don't forget to run Clear & Delete Everything after it's back in the TiVo to "marry" the drive to the motherboard.


----------



## jj2me

Excuse this off-topic post, but since I don't have the requisite 5 posts in order to create a thread, and this seems a great deal for those who might want a 120 GB PATA drive. Maybe someone else could start a thread if you think it's worthy of alerting others. (Otherwise, feel free to delete this post.)

newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148723

(Missing h t t p... because it won't even let me post URLs.)


----------



## ccrider2

jj2me said:


> Excuse this off-topic post, but since I don't have the requisite 5 posts in order to create a thread, and this seems a great deal for those who might want a 120 GB PATA drive. Maybe someone else could start a thread if you think it's worthy of alerting others. (Otherwise, feel free to delete this post.)
> 
> newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148723
> 
> (Missing h t t p... because it won't even let me post URLs.)


Thanks for the heads-up. Good deal for the shelf....My old Replay thanks You!


----------



## daverita

Hello Greg, I tried DvrBKRS on a 120 Gig PATA drive with Philips HDR112 Tivo on it. I did a full backup and a full restore to a 250 Gig SATA drive (with an IDE to SATA adapter). After the restore I put the SATA drive with the adapter into the TiVo but it did not work. The TiVo started with "Your Recorder is starting up, Please wait a moment...", then a blue screen, then back to the "Your Recorder ..." message and back and forth continually but no progress past that. Is there any advice you can give me? Thanks, Dave


----------



## ThAbtO

daverita said:


> Hello Greg, I tried DvrBKRS on a 120 Gig PATA drive with Philips HDR112 Tivo on it. I did a full backup and a full restore to a 250 Gig SATA drive (with an IDE to SATA adapter). After the restore I put the SATA drive with the adapter into the TiVo but it did not work. The TiVo started with "Your Recorder is starting up, Please wait a moment...", then a blue screen, then back to the "Your Recorder ..." message and back and forth continually but no progress past that. Is there any advice you can give me? Thanks, Dave


What brand/model drive did you use? Also what SATA adapter? The adapter could be a factor in the issue. Another factor is if the drive is a a Western Digital Drive, it may be needed to have WDidle3.exe run.

I recently did an upgrade on my Series 2 TCD540080 with original drive to a Western Digital 1 TB drive. I used an image downloaded from here. It would not get past the "Powering up" screen. It went back in to my PC and booted up on Ultimate Boot CD and ran WDidle3 /D. When it was back in the Tivo, Booted up and running now with 1268 hrs. I was forced through Guided Setup, but I knew I needed to run Clear & Delete Everything, and then Guided Setup.


----------



## daverita

I used a WD Blue 250GB SATA /16MB Cache WD2500AAKX. The adapter is an ADP-06 SATA to IDE Bridge Board. According to the WD support site the WDidle3.exe should not be used on my drive.


----------



## ThAbtO

daverita said:


> I used a WD Blue 250GB SATA /16MB Cache WD2500AAKX. The adapter is an ADP-06 SATA to IDE Bridge Board. According to the WD support site the WDidle3.exe should not be used on my drive.


The adapter I used had foam tape backing on the reverse side to prevent short circuiting.


Would you be willing to try another adapter? I think there are reports here of incompatible Sata/IDE adapters.


----------



## daverita

The adapter that I used has a foam backing. I bought it at Microcenter and it is the only adapter they sold. Do you think that I should try a clean and delete everything on the Maxtor drive and then try the restore again? And, if so, can you tell me how to do a clean and delete everything.


----------



## nooneuknow

daverita said:


> I used a WD Blue 250GB SATA /16MB Cache WD2500AAKX. The adapter is an ADP-06 SATA to IDE Bridge Board. According to the WD support site the WDidle3.exe should not be used on my drive.


It's OK to ignore that warning. None of the drives it says are OK to use it on are even ones we use to upgrade TiVos, or come in TiVos (which have it set to disabled). I've seen no reports of it damaging a drive, only that some drives will say they couldn't be set (generally, PATA or very old SATA drives).

I haven't a clue why they warn against using it. My best guess, is that if used in a computer, a drive with the setting disabled, or changed to a longer timeout, wouldn't be as green as the specs say it is, or would otherwise deviate from the published specs, in the case of a non-green drive).

In a TiVo, the setting serves no purpose, as the drive isn't given a chance to park the heads and spin down, except it will do that (or try to) in the brief time the TiVo isn't forcing the drive to stay spun-up and un-parked, at the time of a reboot, or sometimes (rarely, if ever) even a cold boot.


----------



## daverita

OK - I'll try the WDidle3.exe tomorrow. Thanks


----------



## ThAbtO

Well, you could try the WDidle3.exe with the /R option to report what its currently set at.


----------



## nooneuknow

ThAbtO said:


> Well, you could try the WDidle3.exe with the /R option to report what its currently set at.


This is a VERY GOOD suggestion. The /R only reports the status, without writing a change to the drive's firmware settings. It -should- report an error, if the drive can not be set with the utility. If it can't, then the drive doesn't use Intellipark, and then it can't be a problem (since it doesn't use it in the first place). Zero chance of harming the drive by a read-only operation.


----------



## ggieseke

daverita said:


> Hello Greg, I tried DvrBKRS on a 120 Gig PATA drive with Philips HDR112 Tivo on it. I did a full backup and a full restore to a 250 Gig SATA drive (with an IDE to SATA adapter). After the restore I put the SATA drive with the adapter into the TiVo but it did not work. The TiVo started with "Your Recorder is starting up, Please wait a moment...", then a blue screen, then back to the "Your Recorder ..." message and back and forth continually but no progress past that. Is there any advice you can give me? Thanks, Dave





daverita said:


> I used a WD Blue 250GB SATA /16MB Cache WD2500AAKX. The adapter is an ADP-06 SATA to IDE Bridge Board. According to the WD support site the WDidle3.exe should not be used on my drive.


WD Blue drives won't work at all in a Series 1 for some reason. Any of their other drives are fine and the Blues run great in later models, but S1s just don't like them.

They're also fussier about SATA adapters.


----------



## unitron

daverita said:


> I used a WD Blue 250GB SATA /16MB Cache WD2500AAKX. The adapter is an ADP-06 SATA to IDE Bridge Board. According to the WD support site the WDidle3.exe should not be used on my drive.


If you'd read through the adapter thread,

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=416883

which I got a mod to make sticky so it's always at the top of the Upgrade Center listings, you'd have seen that the Kingwin is generally not known to work in TiVos and that S1 TiVos have to have an adapter with a Marvell brand chipset, and I think it's mentioned in there a time or two that S1s also don't like Caviar Blues.

But it is true that Caviar Blues don't have Intellipark and therefore wdidle3.exe is unnecessary for them.

That Blue would probably make a nice Windows boot drive in your PC however.

What have you got in there now?


----------



## klr650

Hi, my TiVo just got stuck in a Green Screen Death Spiral. It is a Premiere 320 model but it was a model that had been "professionally upgraded" to 500 gig by a reseller. The drive seems to be toast. I desperately need a drive image but, because this unit was already upgraded, I don't know which image to ask for. I was planning on buying either a 500 gig or 1T drive. If someone could help me I would really appreciate it. Thanks!


----------



## unitron

klr650 said:


> Hi, my TiVo just got stuck in a Green Screen Death Spiral. It is a Premiere 320 model but it was a model that had been "professionally upgraded" to 500 gig by a reseller. The drive seems to be toast. I desperately need a drive image but, because this unit was already upgraded, I don't know which image to ask for. I was planning on buying either a 500 gig or 1T drive. If someone could help me I would really appreciate it. Thanks!


You might as well try to find a 2TB WD20EURS on sale somewhere for about $100 and get more GB/$.


----------



## ggieseke

klr650 said:


> Hi, my TiVo just got stuck in a Green Screen Death Spiral. It is a Premiere 320 model but it was a model that had been "professionally upgraded" to 500 gig by a reseller. The drive seems to be toast. I desperately need a drive image but, because this unit was already upgraded, I don't know which image to ask for. I was planning on buying either a 500 gig or 1T drive. If someone could help me I would really appreciate it. Thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## klr650

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


TiVo is now back up and running! Thanks so much!


----------



## Stumptown Geek

I need an image for 648... Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

Stumptown Geek said:


> I need an image for 648... Thanks.


I don't have any Series 3 images except for one 652 that was already expanded to 2TB. Did you mean 748?


----------



## ThAbtO

ggieseke said:


> I don't have any Series 3 images except for one 652 that was already expanded to 2TB. Did you mean 748?


I think he means the S3 oLED.


----------



## ThAbtO

Stumptown Geek said:


> I need an image for 648... Thanks.


http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8921060#post8921060


----------



## nooneuknow

Keeping your images clean, while allowing a software update. Here's how:

1. Leave the coax inputs disconnected.

2a. When you begin Guided Setup, if it's available, select Installer Express Setup.

2b. If the software is still old, it may not be available, just continue on, but select Cable Only.

2. Enter 00000 as your Zip Code.

3. Select "Tiny TiVo" under digital lineup (doesn't matter what you have)

4. If it asks about a cablecard, just say to worry about it later, and use the digital lineup anyway.

5. This will speed you through as fast as possible, while updating the software, and downloading minimal guide data (which is really empty entries).

6. If you have a cablecard installed, it may actually increase the amount of disk data that gets changed, and that DVRBARS will back-up. This gets worse if you have the coax connected, but still minimized, because the TiVo won't be automatically tune to any valid channel.

7. Yes, if you need to, you can pair a cablecard with this configuration (but you'll need to insert the card and connect the coax.

Hope this helps! I've never seen anybody post about this before, anywhere.

EDIT/ADD: Look for the next post from me to find out how to eliminate the need for the recipient of a pre-imaged drive, or drive image, from having to do a C&DE.

I'll add it here as well. Here's the trick:

When you are all done on your end, with everything else, do a C&DE, and have the time to babysit the TiVo. Once it finishes the C&DE, it will do another reboot (without ever fully booting all the way, throughout this). PROMPLY pull the power cord as soon as all the lights flash (after the C&DE screen is done), or within seconds of the "Welcome Powering Up" screen comes on (once it gets to "Just a few minutes more", it is too late). This will stop the drive from bonding itself to the TSN of the TiVo it is currently in, and will eliminate the need for a C&DE by the person who receives the drive, or the image made from it.


----------



## gsjmia

Hi, I have a brand new Premiere 4, lifetime subscription with a WD500AVDS and I am trying to upgrade using DVRBARS to a 2TB WD20EURS (manuf May, 2013).

I copied the disk and it works fine, it boots and plays and all shows are there, but I can't get it to expand or supersize. The new drive shows the same recording capacity.

I tried running the linux JMFS-rev104.iso on a bootable CD but it fails-says it can't open the CDROM.

So I put put in on a USB stick, and it boots and loads JMFS, but then it says that it can't find any Tivo drives. At the time, the Tivo drive is the only drive on the PC. Tried both the factory drive and the copied WD20EURS, same result, even though both of them boot and work fine on the Tivo.

I am doing this on an ASUS P8Z68-V Pro mobo with Win 7-64.

I have dos command line experience, but unfortunately zero linux.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.


----------



## gsjmia

Hi, I have a brand new Premiere 4 with a WD500AVDS and I am trying to upgrade using DVRBARS to a 2TB WD20EURS (manuf May, 2013).

I copied the disk and it works fine, it boots and plays and all shows are there, but I can't get it to expand or supersize. The new drive shows the same recording capacity.

I tried running the linux JMFS-rev104.iso on a bootable CD but it fails-says it can't open the CDROM.

So I put put the JMFS iso on a USB stick, it loads and runs, but then it says that it can't find any Tivo drives. At the time, the Tivo drive is the only drive on the PC. Tried both the factory drive and the copied WD20EURS, same result, even though both of them boot and work fine on the Tivo.

I am doing this on an ASUS P8Z68-V Pro mobo with Win 7-64. This motherboard has a mixture of SATA 2 and 3 plugs, I haven't checked which the drive is plugged into, will that matter?

Thanks for any help or suggestions.


----------



## ggieseke

gsjmia said:


> Hi, I have a brand new Premiere 4 with a WD500AVDS and I am trying to upgrade using DVRBARS to a 2TB WD20EURS (manuf May, 2013).
> 
> I copied the disk and it works fine, it boots and plays and all shows are there, but I can't get it to expand or supersize. The new drive shows the same recording capacity.
> 
> I tried running the linux JMFS-rev104.iso on a bootable CD but it fails-says it can't open the CDROM.
> 
> So I put put the JMFS iso on a USB stick, it loads and runs, but then it says that it can't find any Tivo drives. At the time, the Tivo drive is the only drive on the PC. Tried both the factory drive and the copied WD20EURS, same result, even though both of them boot and work fine on the Tivo.
> 
> I am doing this on an ASUS P8Z68-V Pro mobo with Win 7-64. This motherboard has a mixture of SATA 2 and 3 plugs, I haven't checked which the drive is plugged into, will that matter?
> 
> Thanks for any help or suggestions.


I'd stick with the SATA-2 ports, but that's about the only thing I have to offer. The linux distro that jmfs uses may not understand newer hardware, but that's only a wild-assed-guess.


----------



## jmbach

If you cannot get the to work by moving to a different SATA port, try a USB to SATA plugged into a USB 2 port. JMFS does not recognize any USB 3 ports. At least as far as all the USB 3 ports I have tested.


----------



## nooneuknow

Eliminate the need for a C&DE by the person who receives the drive, or the image:

Here's the trick:

When you are all done on your end, with everything else, do a C&DE, and have the time to babysit the TiVo. Once it finishes the C&DE, it will do another reboot (without ever fully booting all the way, throughout this). PROMPLY pull the power cord as soon as all the lights flash (after the C&DE screen is done), or within seconds of the "Welcome Powering Up" screen comes on (once it gets to "Just a few minutes more", it is too late). This will stop the drive from bonding itself to the TSN of the TiVo it is currently in, and will eliminate the need for a C&DE by the person who receives the drive, or the image made from it.


----------



## gsjmia

> If you cannot get the to work by moving to a different SATA port, try a USB to SATA plugged into a USB 2 port. JMFS does not recognize any USB 3 ports. At least as far as all the USB 3 ports I have tested


Thanks jmbach, this worked. I dug out my mobo manual and I was wrong earlier, I have SATA 3 and 6 (not SATA 2 and 3, must have missed something the last 5 years). I checked all the other PC's in the house and they were all SATA 3 or 6.

I remembered I had an old IDE external clamshell SATA/USB thingy, so after locating a USB A/B cable, hooked it up and within 2 minutes it was done.

Thanks to everyone.

Greg


----------



## Stumptown Geek

ThAbtO said:


> I think he means the S3 oLED.


I did, and thanks to the link in your next post it's back in business.


----------



## ggieseke

If anyone gets a new Roamio, PLEASE consider running a DvrBARS full backup on the drive before you ever power up the box.

Back to the drawing board...


----------



## jmbach

ggieseke said:


> If anyone gets a new Roamio, PLEASE consider running a DvrBARS full backup on the drive before you ever power up the box.
> 
> Back to the drawing board...


Especially that 3TB version. Would like to see that block structure to see how they expanded beyond 2TB.


----------



## unitron

Stumptown Geek said:


> I did, and thanks to the link in your next post it's back in business.


You're welcome.


----------



## geekbrain

jmbach said:


> Especially that 3TB version. Would like to see that block structure to see how they expanded beyond 2TB.


max signed 32 bit integer = 7F FF FF FF = 2,147,483,648 bytes
max unsigned 32 bit integer = FF FF FF FF = 4,294,967,296 bytes

I thought the 2TB limit had to do with hardware available at the time and possibly the OS not supporting an unsigned integer. I don't see a reason why it can't go to 4TB (other than high cost of drives).

The total sector count in partition 10 is actually a 64 bit entry - future goal of > 4TB???


----------



## gold007eye

Does anyone know where I can find a dvrBars image for 648 Series 3 OLED TiVo? My drive kicked the bucket before I was able to save it and I'm dead in the water.


----------



## ThAbtO

gold007eye said:


> Does anyone know where I can find a dvrBars image for 648 Series 3 OLED TiVo? My drive kicked the bucket before I was able to save it and I'm dead in the water.


There isn't a DVRBars image for the TCD648250B, but there is a WinMFS and MFSLine version.
DVRBars does not even expand yet.

If you had bothered to look up a few posts on this page, you would see the same post with the same links.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8921060#post8921060


----------



## ggieseke

I have a 648250 image at home, but it's identical to the 648 WinMFS image that's already out there in many posts.

In the useless information department, it's not hard to convert if you have Windows 7. In Disk Manager, create a blank dynamic VHD that's exactly the same size as the drive that the WinMFS image came from, but don't let Disk Manager initialize it. Use WinMFS to restore to the virtual drive, then dismount it.


----------



## guustseo

I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.

Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.

KUDOS:

Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.

The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.

AND FINALLY:

I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.

Enjoy!
Greg[/QUOTE]

I have a TIVO TCD540140 WITH A NEW 120g MAXTOR DRIVE, do you have a clean image of this drive?


----------



## ThAbtO

guustseo said:


> I have a TIVO TCD540140 WITH A NEW 120g MAXTOR DRIVE, do you have a clean image of this drive?


DVRBars may work on a Series 2 but its doubtful. Also it does not expand to take full use of the extra space.

Go here and you would need to use either MFSLive or WinMFS.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=9160085#post9160085


----------



## guustseo

ThAbtO said:


> DVRBars may work on a Series 2 but its doubtful. Also it does not expand to take full use of the extra space.
> 
> Go here and you would need to use either MFSLive or WinMFS.
> 
> I used both MFSLive or winMFS, the old hard drive is so bad that they can't see my old drive after all. I can't recover from the old drive.
> I have a fresh new hard drive and I need the original factory drive image to load with the new drive for TCD540140.
> Any one has the drive image?


----------



## ThAbtO

guustseo said:


> I used both MFSLive or winMFS, the old hard drive is so bad that they can't see my old drive after all. I can't recover from the old drive.
> I have a fresh new hard drive and I need the original factory drive image to load with the new drive for TCD540140.
> Any one has the drive image?


The link in that posted link has the image. Even though its for the 540040, it should work on the 540140. They are the same model, just different size drives, 40GB vs. 140GB.

The .BAK is a MFSLive image file, and the .TBK is WinMFS. For WinMFS, you would need administrative rights to access the drives.


----------



## ggieseke

ThAbtO said:


> DVRBars may work on a Series 2 but its doubtful. Also it does not expand to take full use of the extra space.


It works on Series 1 through Series 4 TiVos, but I only keep images for Premieres. The tools and images for older models are already available, so why bother?

I'm working on adding Roamio support but it's low priority.


----------



## BOMOON

Hello,
I'm getting ready to try to copy recordings from a Series 3 HDD that's dying a slow death. I can access it in Windows 7 from bootable CDs like UltimateBootCD in order to run diagnostics. In the Series 3, it sometimes boots and sometimes gets stuck in the "Welcome - powering on" screen. 

I've gotten advice in other TiVo forum threads to use the Modified Full backup. However I'm a little confused about how it creates the backup image on the target drive:

1. Does the target drive have to be empty, or does it just have to have enough contiguous free space to store the image (it's about 250GB on this stock S3 drive)? IOW, will using the Modified Full backup destroy any existing data on a drive?

2. I have one of those WD "Expander" drives that connects to the Series 3 via a SATA cable. One of the posters in the other thread suggested that recordings are "striped" across the two HD's, meaning that if I just restore the internal HD, some or all of the recordings might not be readable. If this is really the case, is there any way to incorporate the data on the external WD with the data on the internal HD when I make the Modified Full backup? My guess is that I would need to have both drives connected to my Windows 7 PC via SATA cables. Would the Modified Full backup recognize recordings striped across two drives like that?

Of course if the recordings aren't "striped" (I've always heard of it as "spanned", but... whatever) it's a moot point and I can just do the Modified Full backup on the internal HD and worry about the external HD later.

I will have to address the recordings on that external WD drive eventually though, because installing a new plug-and-play TiVo HDD is supposed to break the external SATA interface. But that's another issue....

Anyway thanks for your time reading this, and thanks for providing this great backup utility!


----------



## unitron

guustseo said:


> ThAbtO said:
> 
> 
> 
> DVRBars may work on a Series 2 but its doubtful. Also it does not expand to take full use of the extra space.
> 
> Go here and you would need to use either MFSLive or WinMFS.
> 
> I used both MFSLive or winMFS, the old hard drive is so bad that they can't see my old drive after all. I can't recover from the old drive.
> I have a fresh new hard drive and I need the original factory drive image to load with the new drive for TCD540140.
> Any one has the drive image?
> 
> 
> 
> My 540 image will work just fine, you'll just need to expand after you restore to get full use of the drive.
> 
> Your partition map won't be the same as it originally was on the stock drive, but with WinMFS you should be able to move up to an even bigger drive later on and expand into the rest of it despite already having 3 MFS pairs. WinMFS will just make the last one bigger, which is a trick MFS Live doesn't know how to do if I'm not mistaken.
Click to expand...


----------



## ggieseke

BOMOON said:


> Hello,
> I'm getting ready to try to copy recordings from a Series 3 HDD that's dying a slow death. I can access it in Windows 7 from bootable CDs like UltimateBootCD in order to run diagnostics. In the Series 3, it sometimes boots and sometimes gets stuck in the "Welcome - powering on" screen.
> 
> I've gotten advice in other TiVo forum threads to use the Modified Full backup. However I'm a little confused about how it creates the backup image on the target drive:
> 
> 1. Does the target drive have to be empty, or does it just have to have enough contiguous free space to store the image (it's about 250GB on this stock S3 drive)? IOW, will using the Modified Full backup destroy any existing data on a drive?
> 
> 2. I have one of those WD "Expander" drives that connects to the Series 3 via a SATA cable. One of the posters in the other thread suggested that recordings are "striped" across the two HD's, meaning that if I just restore the internal HD, some or all of the recordings might not be readable. If this is really the case, is there any way to incorporate the data on the external WD with the data on the internal HD when I make the Modified Full backup? My guess is that I would need to have both drives connected to my Windows 7 PC via SATA cables. Would the Modified Full backup recognize recordings striped across two drives like that?
> 
> Of course if the recordings aren't "striped" (I've always heard of it as "spanned", but... whatever) it's a moot point and I can just do the Modified Full backup on the internal HD and worry about the external HD later.
> 
> I will have to address the recordings on that external WD drive eventually though, because installing a new plug-and-play TiVo HDD is supposed to break the external SATA interface. But that's another issue....
> 
> Anyway thanks for your time reading this, and thanks for providing this great backup utility!


1. The original backup image(s) are just .VHD files that are written to anywhere you choose on your PC with enough free disk space. It could be your main hard drive or any other drive that's formatted with NTFS, so you might make it C:\MyTiVo.vhd. When you restore, it overwrites the target drive from the beginning. Any data already on that drive will be destroyed. It's a two stage process.

2. With an expander you will have to have both drives connected at the same time to do a Truncated or Modified Full backup. When you select the first drive it will see that it's married and make you select the expander. Each drive will get its own backup file, so you might have C:\MyTiVo.vhd and C:\MyExpander.vhd.

If you're confident that the main drive is the problem and you have at least 250GB of free space on your computer you could just connect that drive and run a Full backup. It will take longer but you wouldn't have to touch the expander at all. Either way you'll probably have to babysit the backup process and click OK every time it runs into a bad sector.

When you restore to a new drive it should maintain everything including your recordings as long as you don't try to expand it with one of the other tools. Even if you use a larger drive it will just duplicate the original drive (in your case 250GB) and leave the rest untouched.

FWIW, I think "spanned" is a better description. At least on my dual-drive Series 1 it may write a chunk of a recording to either drive depending on where it finds some free space, but it doesn't stripe across both drives simultaneously.


----------



## unitron

BOMOON said:


> Hello,
> I'm getting ready to try to copy recordings from a Series 3 HDD that's dying a slow death. I can access it in Windows 7 from bootable CDs like UltimateBootCD in order to run diagnostics. In the Series 3, it sometimes boots and sometimes gets stuck in the "Welcome - powering on" screen.
> 
> I've gotten advice in other TiVo forum threads to use the Modified Full backup. However I'm a little confused about how it creates the backup image on the target drive:
> 
> 1. Does the target drive have to be empty, or does it just have to have enough contiguous free space to store the image (it's about 250GB on this stock S3 drive)? IOW, will using the Modified Full backup destroy any existing data on a drive?
> 
> 2. I have one of those WD "Expander" drives that connects to the Series 3 via a SATA cable. One of the posters in the other thread suggested that recordings are "striped" across the two HD's, meaning that if I just restore the internal HD, some or all of the recordings might not be readable. If this is really the case, is there any way to incorporate the data on the external WD with the data on the internal HD when I make the Modified Full backup? My guess is that I would need to have both drives connected to my Windows 7 PC via SATA cables. Would the Modified Full backup recognize recordings striped across two drives like that?
> 
> Of course if the recordings aren't "striped" (I've always heard of it as "spanned", but... whatever) it's a moot point and I can just do the Modified Full backup on the internal HD and worry about the external HD later.
> 
> I will have to address the recordings on that external WD drive eventually though, because installing a new plug-and-play TiVo HDD is supposed to break the external SATA interface. But that's another issue....
> 
> Anyway thanks for your time reading this, and thanks for providing this great backup utility!


If you have a spare drive lying around that's at least as big as the S3 drive, you could try wrapping some paper towel around the S3 drive and putting it in the freezer overnight, then getting a PC ready to which you can hook up both the spare drive and the S3 drive straight to SATA or IDE ports, and use

dd_rescue

off of the MFS Live cd v1.4 to do a byte for byte copy of the S3 drive and then you can do backups from the spare drive.

You want to have evrything set up and know what you're going to enter at the command line before getting the S3 drive out of the freezer (the paper towel keeps you from leaving any skin on it and absorbs any condensation when you bring it back out into the air), so that it doesn't get any warmer than necessary any sooner than possible.


----------



## BOMOON

unitron said:


> ...and use
> dd_rescue
> off of the MFS Live cd v1.4 to do a byte for byte copy of the S3 drive and then you can do backups from the spare drive.


I checked out the MFS Live CD v1.4 download site at

http://mfslive.org/download.htm

While forum visitors can download the MFS Live CD 1.4 ISO file, this patch requires login:

"Patch to rescue TiVo drive with errors - patch submitted by terativo"
(http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=955)

Only registered users can download the patch. I checked the forum and FAQ and could find no way to register. In addition, I could not send inquries to the site admin because only registered users can do this.

Based on the description, that patch seems like it might be necessary for rescuing my drive.


----------



## HerronScott

BOMOON said:


> I checked out the MFS Live CD v1.4 download site at
> 
> http://mfslive.org/download.htm
> 
> Only registered users can download the ISO file, and there is no way to register a new account on that website. I checked the forum and FAQ and could find no way to register. In addition, I could not send inquries to the site admin because only registered users can do this.
> 
> I was not impressed.


I was able to follow the links and start the downloads from the forum posts without logging in?

Scott


----------



## BOMOON

HerronScott said:


> I was able to follow the links and start the downloads from the forum posts without logging in?
> Scott


I should have been more specific about which link required login. My bad, sorry. I'll revise my first post.... refer to it for the download link that requires login.


----------



## unitron

BOMOON said:


> I checked out the MFS Live CD v1.4 download site at
> 
> http://mfslive.org/download.htm
> 
> While forum visitors can download the MFS Live CD 1.4 ISO file, this patch requires login:
> 
> "Patch to rescue TiVo drive with errors - patch submitted by terativo"
> (http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=955)
> 
> Only registered users can download the patch. I checked the forum and FAQ and could find no way to register. In addition, I could not send inquries to the site admin because only registered users can do this.
> 
> Based on the description, that patch seems like it might be necessary for rescuing my drive.


Although a registered user there for a while now, it doesn't seem to want to allow me access to that link at all. I just get a page that says:

"You are not authorised to read this forum."

I can't even figure out how to sneak up on it, because none of the 9 forums shown here:

http://mfslive.org/forums/index.php

equate to f=4 when I mouse over and look at the address in the bar at the bottom of the screen.

Can you tell me more specifically where you found this patch and why you think you need it?


----------



## jmbach

FWIW
" Release Note:

MFSLive Release v1.4 02-01-2009

- Updated Linux Kernel and drivers so it will support newer hardware.
NTFS read/write access and other file systems are added. With NTFS, there is no
4 GB single file size limit so you should be able to create a full backup to a file
on a NTFS formatted drive.

- Patch to rescue TiVo drive with errors - patch submitted by terativo
(http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=955)

- Fixed Internal + eSATA drive backup on S3.

- Fixd dd_rhelp - patch submitted by Overlook (http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=160)

- Added tpip tool (http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=654)

- Added /bin/bash (http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1067)"

Looks like MFSLive has it as long as you have the latest build.


----------



## BOMOON

unitron said:


> Can you tell me more specifically where you found this patch and why you think you need it?


Jeez, I did it again. Sorry! I found it in the first message in this forum thread:

http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1121

Boy, I'm slipping. This is actually getting scary. For more info see jmbach's message above and my response below.


----------



## BOMOON

jmbach said:


> FWIW
> " Release Note:
> MFSLive Release v1.4 02-01-2009
> 
> - Updated Linux Kernel and drivers so it will support newer hardware.
> NTFS read/write access and other file systems are added. With NTFS, there is no
> 4 GB single file size limit so you should be able to create a full backup to a file
> on a NTFS formatted drive.
> 
> - Patch to rescue TiVo drive with errors - patch submitted by terativo
> (http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=955)
> 
> - Fixed Internal + eSATA drive backup on S3.
> - Fixd dd_rhelp - patch submitted by Overlook (http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=160)
> - Added tpip tool (http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=654)
> - Added /bin/bash (http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1067)"
> 
> Looks like MFSLive has it as long as you have the latest build.


Hmm. I guess the message could be read to mean that version 1.4 includes that patch. It's a little vague on that point.

BTW that link for the patch still doesn't work for non-registered users. As Unitron has reported, it doesn't work for him when he's logged in either.

Just to keep things organized, here again is the link to the forum message reported here by jmBach:

http://mfslive.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1121

At the moment, the PC I need to use for this recovery op is busy on other things. I'll have to wait another day or two for it to finish (it's rendering Blu-Ray recordings) before disembowling it to connect the TiVo S3 internal and expander drives.

From what I've read in the documentation, the S3 has some issues with the MFSLive and WinMFS software, specifically in dealing with the external expander drive. It seems as though the external drive must be "divorced" before recovery of the internal drive can begin. This would result in the loss of all recorded programming on the external drive, plus any recordings that were "spanned" between the two drives.

What's not in the documentation is any description of recovery options for the external expander after it's been "divorced".

As I reported earlier, other TiVo forum posters have said that replacing the old S3 internal drive will break the external eSata interface. That means that even if recordings which were "spanned" on the old drive are partially recovered on the new drive, the portions that were "spanned" to the expander will still be lost.

Only way to find out is just try to do something with either MFSLive or WinMFS when that PC becomes available.

Here are links to the docs I've been talking about. Do text searches for "S3" to see the model-specific caveats. For the MFSLive guide, you'll have to access the chapter links to do that. The WinMFS guide is all on one page.

http://mfslive.org/fullguide.htm

http://www.mfslive.org/winmfs/index.html


----------



## jmbach

I have been inside the code of MFSLive and although I am not intimate with the code I have been working on modding the code to work with larger drives. Especially when trying to combine two drives into one. 
The patch that you are looking for is in the latest release. However, it appears that it addresses MFS errors and not OS issues or getting around a bad drive. 
So my questions to you are:
What is your current setup. 
What is the setup you want to end up with. 
And are wanting to salvage your recordings. (I assume yes)


----------



## unitron

Apparently that's all stuff that was added since v1.3b, so if you've got v1.4, you've got all that stuff.

And I guess there's a private forum where those guys who can actually read and write the code for MFS Live discussed that stuff, and it's a forum to which I was never issued an invitation to join back when spike was still actively running the site.

Which may be just as well, because I'd probably only have gotten in the way.


----------



## BOMOON

jmbach said:


> ...
> So my questions to you are:
> What is your current setup.
> What is the setup you want to end up with.
> And are wanting to salvage your recordings. (I assume yes)


Hi jmbach,
I've modified my signature to show the current setup with the TiVo:

TiVo S3 HD TCD648250B 250GB HDD + WD eSATA Expander

Right now the TiVo's internal 350GB HDD is the one that's dying. The WD eSata Expander drive seems to be OK.

What I would like to do is replace the internal 250GB HDD with a 1TB or 2TB plug-and-play internal TiVo drive. I'll probably buy it from one of the two vendors recommended by other posters in this thread.

Once I've installed the new HDD in the TiVo, I'd like to backup/copy the recorded programming on the old TiVo HDD and Expander drives, then restore the programming to the new internal HDD.

No doubt that's wishful thinking but I want to give it a shot. What's probably going to wreck the plan is the fact that I can't use the Expander drive as-is with the new internal HDD. That's because installing these plug-and-play drives supposedly wrecks the eSATA interface.

Thus if I want to restore all programming on both the old HDD and the Expander drive, I have to backup/copy both of them and somehow take care of any recordings that were "spanned" across the two drives.

There are suggestions in the documentation for MFSLive and WinMFS to the effect that for a TiVo S3, I'll actually have to "divorce" the expander drive and toss away the recorded content before making a backup of the internal HDD. Any "spanned" programs would also obviously be lost.

I'll just have to try the programs to see what happens if I try to backup both drives.

It may well be that I'll just have to toss all of the old recordings and just start over from scratch with the new drive. I really would like to save some of those programs though - the complete "Maverick" and "Cheyenne" series among other classic westerns and old TV series.

Hope this is the information you wanted. If you need more, just let me know. I'm a captive audience.


----------



## BOMOON

unitron said:


> ...
> Which may be just as well, because I'd probably only have gotten in the way.


I doubt that very much. This isn't lip service, just an observation that in these forums you put a lot of effort into trying to make things work for other people. That kind of agenda never gets in anyone's way.

Besides, raising a little hell over in those forums could only be an improvement, especially in the area of documentation.

Now let's see if that last one snags a bass!


----------



## jmbach

That setup has been successfully combined into one 2TB drive by one member here that I worked with. It uses a version of MFSLive that I partially modified along with using a hex editor. Send me a PM if you want to do it. Don't want to clutter up this thread by going to far off topic.


----------



## tvmaster2

just had my Tivo Premiere rebuild fail for the second time in two months. The drive is a WD10EURS.
Being that it is formatted for Tivo, if I run the WD diagnostics app on this drive, will it mean anything?
Does the drive need to be formatted for either Windows or Mac for that diagnostics app to properly note errors, etc.?

thanks


----------



## ggieseke

tvmaster2 said:


> just had my Tivo Premiere rebuild fail for the second time in two months. The drive is a WD10EURS.
> Being that it is formatted for Tivo, if I run the WD diagnostics app on this drive, will it mean anything?
> Does the drive need to be formatted for either Windows or Mac for that diagnostics app to properly note errors, etc.?
> 
> thanks


The WD diags test the drive physically. They work if the drive is set up for a TiVo, PC, Mac or completely empty.


----------



## tvmaster2

ggieseke said:


> The WD diags test the drive physically. They work if the drive is set up for a TiVo, PC, Mac or completely empty.


OK, thanks. Failed the short test. Guess it's toast


----------



## proudx

tvmaster2 said:


> OK, thanks. Failed the short test. Guess it's toast


i just replaced a wd20eurs that failed, and now after only 2 months i think my replacement wd20eurs is already failing. i kickstarted 54 and while it passed all the smart tests it took it 1931 minutes to do the full off-line scan smart test! While i have always had luck with WD, I'm starting to think these WD AV-GP green drives are not that reliable.

I plan on removing the drive from the tivo sometime this week and running a backup of it and wd diag on it. Wonder how many bad sectors the 2 month old drive already has..


----------



## unitron

BOMOON said:


> I doubt that very much. This isn't lip service, just an observation that in these forums you put a lot of effort into trying to make things work for other people. That kind of agenda never gets in anyone's way.
> 
> Besides, raising a little hell over in those forums could only be an improvement, especially in the area of documentation.
> 
> Now let's see if that last one snags a bass!


I thank you for the kind words, but in that forum in particular I'm guessing the discussion is about actually writing code, and getting TurboPascal or QBasic to put "Hello World" on the screen is prettty much the beginning and the end of my expertise in that area.


----------



## tvmaster2

proudx said:


> i just replaced a wd20eurs that failed, and now after only 2 months i think my replacement wd20eurs is already failing. i kickstarted 54 and while it passed all the smart tests it took it 1931 minutes to do the full off-line scan smart test! While i have always had luck with WD, I'm starting to think these WD AV-GP green drives are not that reliable.
> 
> I plan on removing the drive from the tivo sometime this week and running a backup of it and wd diag on it. Wonder how many bad sectors the 2 month old drive already has..


yeah, mine was less than a year old when it crashed the first time. This is the third crash, and it FINALLY showed up as Error 07, which WD said deserved a new drive. So, I await the replacement.
My concern is that they have to be mounted upside-down in the Premiere, but most people here say that's not a problem.
Heat would be my other concern with this drive and the Premiere's design.


----------



## proudx

tvmaster2 said:


> yeah, mine was less than a year old when it crashed the first time. This is the third crash, and it FINALLY showed up as Error 07, which WD said deserved a new drive. So, I await the replacement.
> My concern is that they have to be mounted upside-down in the Premiere, but most people here say that's not a problem.
> Heat would be my other concern with this drive and the Premiere's design.


I pulled the drive and it passes all the wd diag extended test and short tests in around 6 hours. I also checked the smart status and it doesn't have any bad sectors. As far as the sluggishness not sure why, 4k alignment issues or just something in the latest update. When I see sluggishness or pixelation it seems to always be loading guide data from a network connection. Seems this either started with my new drive or the latest update.


----------



## epereira

Hi:

Newbie here... I was hoping someone could help me with this... My TiVo Premiere Elite XL4 TCD758250 hard drive needs to be replaced and I need a full image for my new 2TB drive. I am assuming I could use the program to restore the image to the new drive and then call the cable company to pair my cablecard?

Please help.
Thanks,
Erle


----------



## ggieseke

epereira said:


> Hi:
> 
> Newbie here... I was hoping someone could help me with this... My TiVo Premiere Elite XL4 TCD758250 hard drive needs to be replaced and I need a full image for my new 2TB drive. I am assuming I could use the program to restore the image to the new drive and then call the cable company to pair my cablecard?
> 
> Please help.
> Thanks,
> Erle


I sent you a PM with a link to the image. Just restore it to the new drive, pop it in your TiVo, and it will be identical to the day you first unpacked your Elite.


----------



## epereira

Thank you very, very, much! 


ggieseke said:


> I sent you a PM with a link to the image. Just restore it to the new drive, pop it in your TiVo, and it will be identical to the day you first unpacked your Elite.


----------



## daverita

Advice needed -
For my Philips Series 1 Tivo, I used DVRBARS to copy my PATA 120GB Maxtor drive that I bought from Weaknees and tried to restore it to a PATA 160GB drive Maxtor drive that formerly was used as a Windows XP drive. I used Full Backup and Full Restore.After the copy seemed to have worked OK, I put it in the Tivo but it did not get past the initial screen "Your Recorder is starting up....". 

Since that didn't work I zeroed out the drive that I was copying to using [email protected] KillDisk. Again I tried a Full Restore with the same results - "Your Recorder is starting up...", but the boot up process goes no further.

Is there something I need to do to the drive I am copying to before I do the Full Restore.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

daverita said:


> Advice needed -
> For my Philips Series 1 Tivo, I used DVRBARS to copy my PATA 120GB Maxtor drive that I bought from Weaknees and tried to restore it to a PATA 160GB drive Maxtor drive that formerly was used as a Windows XP drive. I used Full Backup and Full Restore.After the copy seemed to have worked OK, I put it in the Tivo but it did not get past the initial screen "Your Recorder is starting up....".
> 
> Since that didn't work I zeroed out the drive that I was copying to using [email protected] KillDisk. Again I tried a Full Restore with the same results - "Your Recorder is starting up...", but the boot up process goes no further.
> 
> Is there something I need to do to the drive I am copying to before I do the Full Restore.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Did you check the jumpers on the new drive before putting it in the TiVo? It's probably set for cable select, but on a Series 1 you have to specifically jumper it for master (or slave in a two drive setup).


----------



## tvmaster2

hi - just got my replacement WD10EURX in the mail, so off we go

found my Truncated backup, loaded up DVRbars, and restored the drive. Went quickly with no errors.

next - expand and supersize....or NOT

loaded my bootable JMFS disc and ran the Expand procedure, but got this:
"Expand did not finish successfully"

tried it again - fail.

any idea why this would be? I seem to recall that I expanded and supersized my last drive BEFORE writing the Truncated Backup.

Oh, wait a second....is EXPANDING only viable on 2 TB drives? This is a 1TB drive


----------



## jmbach

Boot the drive in the TiVo and see what recording time you have. If the original drive was 1TB when you ran the truncated back up, then the restore should be 1TB. There should be nothing to expand. Run (I think it's called) mfslayout on the JMFS disk to see the capacity and partition structure. 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4


----------



## tvmaster2

jmbach said:


> Boot the drive in the TiVo and see what recording time you have. If the original drive was 1TB when you ran the truncated back up, then the restore should be 1TB. There should be nothing to expand. Run (I think it's called) mfsinfo on the JMFS disk to see the capacity and partition structure.
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4


yes, it was a 1TB WD drive that the backup was made on, and it had already been expanded and supersized. IF there's nothing to "expand", is there anything to supersize?

recordable space reported by Tivo: 927.37G
approximately 143 HD hours
those are the readings in JFMS after the expand fail

something tells me I can get another 15 hours somehow, if I remember reading earlier threads. Is that done with WMFS (supersizing)?

OK - Update: hooked the drive up to the Tivo, and it's reading 157 HD hours, so I guess I'm good to go, right?


----------



## lessd

tvmaster2 said:


> yes, it was a 1TB WD drive that the backup was made on, and it had already been expanded and supersized. IF there's nothing to "expand", is there anything to supersize?
> 
> recordable space reported by Tivo: 927.37G
> approximately 143 HD hours
> those are the readings in JFMS after the expand fail
> 
> something tells me I can get another 15 hours somehow, if I remember reading earlier threads. Is that done with WMFS (supersizing)?
> 
> OK - Update: hooked the drive up to the Tivo, and it's reading 157 HD hours, so I guess I'm good to go, right?


Yes, 157 hours is the most one can get from a 1Tb drive.


----------



## tvmaster2

super....thanks.


----------



## daverita

Thank you ggieseke - setting the jumper to 'master' solved my problem.

Many thanks, now I have a 160GB drive in my Tivo instead of the 120GB drive.


----------



## ggieseke

daverita said:


> Thank you ggieseke - setting the jumper to 'master' solved my problem.
> 
> Many thanks, now I have a 160GB drive in my Tivo instead of the 120GB drive.


I don't know if you previously hacked it to include the LBA48 kernel. If not, 127GB will be the max it can use.

Glad that worked. My S1 memories are getting pretty foggy.


----------



## BobCamp1

ggieseke said:


> I don't know if you previously hacked it to include the LBA48 kernel. If not, 127GB will be the max it can use.
> 
> Glad that worked. My S1 memories are getting pretty foggy.


You are correct. If he didn't put in the lba48 kernel, he's going to have problems.


----------



## letsgokings

Hello, I also am a newbie here... Like others have posted in this thread, I have a Tivo Premiere (base model) whose hard drive has failed. It was a 2TB hard drive. I'm in the position where I have no backup and need a full image to try to setup my Tivo using a new hard drive. Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Joseph


----------



## ggieseke

letsgokings said:


> Hello, I also am a newbie here... Like others have posted in this thread, I have a Tivo Premiere (base model) whose hard drive has failed. It was a 2TB hard drive. I'm in the position where I have no backup and need a full image to try to setup my Tivo using a new hard drive. Can anyone help?
> 
> Thanks,
> Joseph


PM sent.


----------



## antalo

I got the premier S4 with the 2 tuners and 500GB drive. I'm trying to copy it over to a 1 TB WD10EZEX drive, with DvrBARS, but it wont let me copy or back it up directly to the 1 TB drive. It wants to back up on the local drive and from there restore to the 1 TB. I did this before, but can't remember how I did it. I finally got my XP pc running and want to get this S4 -TCD746500 expended. 
Any help please ? Thank You


----------



## ggieseke

antalo said:


> I got the premier S4 with the 2 tuners and 500GB drive. I'm trying to copy it over to a 1 TB WD10EZEX drive, with DvrBARS, but it wont let me copy or back it up directly to the 1 TB drive. It wants to back up on the local drive and from there restore to the 1 TB. I did this before, but can't remember how I did it. I finally got my XP pc running and want to get this S4 -TCD746500 expended.
> Any help please ? Thank You


DvrBARS can't copy directly from disk to disk yet.

Backup the 500GB drive to a VHD file on your PC and close DvrBARS. Hook up the new 1TB drive, restart DvrBARS, and restore the image to the new drive.

You will also need a jmfs boot CD to expand the new drive after you restore it.

Depending on what's already on the 500GB drive you can choose to do a Truncated, Modified Full, or Full backup. It's up to you and what each option does is explanaied onscreen. When restoring to the new drive you can choose to do a Quick or Full restore. If it's a brand new drive I'd go with quick.


----------



## bmeacham2

I'm looking for a TCD750500 image. Can anyone help please?

tia,

Bryan


----------



## qlafferty

I have TCD746320 with a bad hard drive. I have a TCD750500 in the house that is working fine. I read through a bunch of forum posts and I get the impression that backing up my other Tivo and restoring won't work because they are different models. If that is true could someone steer me in the right direction to get an image for a TCD746320? Thanks in advance.


----------



## qlafferty

I am pretty sure I need an image for the TCD746320. 

I bought a WD10EXRX 1Tb drive, took the drive out of my TCD705500, downloaded MFSLive 1.4, and copied, expanded, supersized to the new drive. I then put it back in the TCD705500. System Information saw the full capacity of the new drive. I did a clear and erase everything. After that I backed up the new drive to an image with DvrBARS. So far so good.

I then put the new drive in my TCD746320 and it seemed to boot up just fine. I ran guided setup with no problem. The Tivo downloaded the latest service update and everything seemed great. Until I tried to record something. It won't record and on further inspection I discovered that my Tivo Service number is all zeros.

I rebooted the Tivo several times with no change. I forced a network connection to Tivo. I did a 52 kickstart on the Tivo and it made no difference. I even tried the 56 kickstart and I still have all zeros for my TSN and no recording.

Any suggestions?


----------



## ThAbtO

qlafferty said:


> I am pretty sure I need an image for the TCD746320.
> 
> I bought a WD10EXRX 1Tb drive, took the drive out of my TCD705500, downloaded MFSLive 1.4, and copied, expanded, supersized to the new drive. I then put it back in the TCD705500. System Information saw the full capacity of the new drive. I did a clear and erase everything. After that I backed up the new drive to an image with DvrBARS. So far so good.
> 
> I then put the new drive in my TCD746320 and it seemed to boot up just fine. I ran guided setup with no problem. The Tivo downloaded the latest service update and everything seemed great. Until I tried to record something. It won't record and on further inspection I discovered that my Tivo Service number is all zeros.
> 
> I rebooted the Tivo several times with no change. I forced a network connection to Tivo. I did a 52 kickstart on the Tivo and it made no difference. I even tried the 56 kickstart and I still have all zeros for my TSN and no recording.
> 
> Any suggestions?


Run Clear & Delete Everything to clear out the TSN Zeroes. It will also marry the image/drive to the tivo.


----------



## jmbach

If that is what is happening to you, then as already stated a c&de should do it for you. 
I am a little surprised that MFSLive did everything for you successfully. For the S4 series, JMFS is the utility that is used to do what you did. Might need to test the unit to make sure you have all the recording time that is reported.


----------



## unitron

qlafferty said:


> I am pretty sure I need an image for the TCD746320.
> 
> I bought a WD10EXRX 1Tb drive, took the drive out of my TCD705500, downloaded MFSLive 1.4, and copied, expanded, supersized to the new drive. I then put it back in the TCD705500. System Information saw the full capacity of the new drive. I did a clear and erase everything. After that I backed up the new drive to an image with DvrBARS. So far so good.
> 
> I then put the new drive in my TCD746320 and it seemed to boot up just fine. I ran guided setup with no problem. The Tivo downloaded the latest service update and everything seemed great. Until I tried to record something. It won't record and on further inspection I discovered that my Tivo Service number is all zeros.
> 
> I rebooted the Tivo several times with no change. I forced a network connection to Tivo. I did a 52 kickstart on the Tivo and it made no difference. I even tried the 56 kickstart and I still have all zeros for my TSN and no recording.
> 
> Any suggestions?


Let me be sure I understand, because it sounds like you've done something that's not supposed to be able to be done.

You took the drive out of your 705500, which I suspect is really a 750500, a 4 tuner Premiere 4 with a 500GB hard drive, and copied (for an as yet un-pinned down definition of copy) it somehow to a 1TB WD10EXRX (which appears to be a mostly overseas model, are you sure yours isn't an EZRX?), and whatever voodoo you practiced next, when finished you put the TiVo's 500GB drive aside and put the 1TB drive into the TiVo from which you had removed the 500GB drive, successfully booted that TiVo, let it update (the TiVo operating system software, not just the program listings), and then did a C&DE on it.

Then you took that 1TB drive and put it into an original Premiere (2 tuners, came from the factory with a 320GB drive), and have had mixed success with it?

(I hope you are being very careful with the 500GB drive from the 4 tuner TiVo not to use it in any other TiVo besides the one in which it came, and not to erase or overwrite any of the software on it while it's connected to something other than the TiVo in which it came).


----------



## qlafferty

Unitron, I guess I could have paid a little more attention to detail in my post. You are correct in your assumptions. I am currently at the 'Loading Info' phase of Guided Setup on the two tuner Premiere after doing a C&DE on the 1Tb drive that has 4 tuner Premiere software on it. I will post the results when it has completed.

Other than the TSN being all zeros and the inability to record I haven't seen anything else to indicate other issues on the two tuner Premiere after loading the 4 tuner SW on it. 

I have already put the original drive back into the 4 tuner unit and it is still functioning just fine. Thanks for the warning though.


----------



## qlafferty

I am happy to report that my two tuner Premiere seems to be 100% functional. The TSN is back, I can record again, and it is reporting 157 hours of recording time. I guess I will just have to wait and see if it stays stable and if I can really use the full capacity. 

Thanks for your advice guys. These forums are really helpful.


----------



## unitron

qlafferty said:


> Unitron, I guess I could have paid a little more attention to detail in my post. You are correct in your assumptions. I am currently at the 'Loading Info' phase of Guided Setup on the two tuner Premiere after doing a C&DE on the 1Tb drive that has 4 tuner Premiere software on it. I will post the results when it has completed.
> 
> Other than the TSN being all zeros and the inability to record I haven't seen anything else to indicate other issues on the two tuner Premiere after loading the 4 tuner SW on it.
> 
> I have already put the original drive back into the 4 tuner unit and it is still functioning just fine. Thanks for the warning though.


I'm somewhat amazed that you could use the MFS Live cd v1.4 to copy and expand a Series 4 image.

You could have used

dd

or

dd_rescue

on that cd to "Xerox" the 500GB onto the first 500GB of that 1TB drive, but the S4s introduced some sort of database partition that didn't exist before, and that was supposed to break MFS Live and WinMFS, according to spike, who wrote both, so I wouldn't have expected mfscopy to succeed, especially if you included the expansion option in that command.

Come to think of it, doesn't supersizing require WinMFS rather than MFS Live?

Assuming WinMFS can supersize anything newer than the various S3 models.

Unless you use the S4 only supersize function on the jmfs cd v1.04, in which case you might as well have used it for the copy part as well.

I don't suppose you happened to run

pdisk -l

on that 1TB and redirect its output to a text file?

I'd love to see the before and after partition maps.

It would also have been interesting to see what

mfsinfo

had to say about that expanded 1TB drive as well.


----------



## dak99

Newbie here... I was hoping for a little help... My TiVo Premiere TCD746320 hard drive got corrupted. Where can I get a copy of the image? Please advise


----------



## ggieseke

dak99 said:


> Newbie here... I was hoping for a little help... My TiVo Premiere TCD746320 hard drive got corrupted. Where can I get a copy of the image? Please advise


Check your PMs.


----------



## gls84

I'm sure you are all getting tired of this but I am also hoping for a little help... My TiVo Premiere TCD746320 hard drive has crashed and I am not able to get a backup from it. Would I be able to get an image from this helpful group?

Thanks - Gary


----------



## ggieseke

gls84 said:


> I'm sure you are all getting tired of this but I am also hoping for a little help... My TiVo Premiere TCD746320 hard drive has crashed and I am not able to get a backup from it. Would I be able to get an image from this helpful group?
> 
> Thanks - Gary


PM sent.


----------



## Olamide

Hello, I also am a newbie here... My Tivo 746320 hard disk failed. Don't have a backup of hard drive. I need a full image and instruction to try to setup my Tivo using a new hard drive. Can anyone help?

Thanks- Olamide


----------



## ggieseke

Olamide said:


> Hello, I also am a newbie here... My Tivo 746320 hard disk failed. Don't have a backup of hard drive. I need a full image and instruction to try to setup my Tivo using a new hard drive. Can anyone help?
> 
> Thanks- Olamide


PM sent.

Use DvrBARS to restore it. If the new drive is larger than the original you can download a copy of the jmfs CD, boot from it, and expand the drive.

When you put the new drive in the TiVo run Clear & Delete Everything to "marry" it to the motherboard.


----------



## lpwcomp

Some questions:

Is there any problem running DVRbars under Win 8.1? Any possibility that Windows will automatically try to mount the source drive and write a drive signature to it?

Has the problem with an empty card reader been fixed? My new machine came with an 8-in-1 reader and I have absolutely nothing to put in it.

@ How long for a truncated backup of TCD746320? USB 3.0 connection, supposedly max 5Gbps

@ how long for restore?


----------



## Olamide

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.
> 
> Use DvrBARS to restore it. If the new drive is larger than the original you can download a copy of the jmfs CD, boot from it, and expand the drive.
> 
> When you put the new drive in the TiVo run Clear & Delete Everything to "marry" it to the motherboard.


Hi ggieseke,

Got it, thanks you so much for your time and effort. Will update you on how it goes with the replacement. Question on the replacement, since i don't have an old hard drive, what will be my source drive that will house the image? Can the image be anywhere attached to the computer say a USB drive. Will the DvrBARS program recognize the external drive.

Thank you


----------



## ThAbtO

Olamide said:


> Hi ggieseke,
> 
> Got it, thanks you so much for your time and effort. Will update you on how it goes with the replacement. Question on the replacement, since i don't have an old hard drive, what will be my source drive that will house the image? Can the image be anywhere attached to the computer say a USB drive. Will the DvrBARS program recognize the external drive.
> 
> Thank you


DVRBars currently does not do Drive-to-Drive restores, only Drive-to-FileBackup and FileBackup-to-Drive restore. So, All you would need is a "Target" drive and an image file (and DVRBars program.)


----------



## Olamide

ThAbtO said:


> DVRBars currently does not do Drive-to-Drive restores, only Drive-to-FileBackup and FileBackup-to-Drive restore. So, All you would need is a "Target" drive and an image file (and DVRBars program.)


Ok, great thanks. Will give it a try waiting for the drive from amazon.

Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

lpwcomp said:


> Some questions:
> 
> Is there any problem running DVRbars under Win 8.1? Any possibility that Windows will automatically try to mount the source drive and write a drive signature to it?
> 
> Has the problem with an empty card reader been fixed? My new machine came with an 8-in-1 reader and I have absolutely nothing to put in it.
> 
> @ How long for a truncated backup of TCD746320? USB 3.0 connection, supposedly max 5Gbps
> 
> @ how long for restore?


I haven't tried it on 8.1 but I don't expect any problems. If you don't open Disk Manager while the source drive is connected it shouldn't try to write a signature (that was only a problem on Win2K).

The card reader problem was fixed a few days after the initial post. I would also disable the reader in BIOS if you don't plan to use it, but it's not a problem for DvrBARS anynore.

A truncated backup should only take a few minutes even on a USB 2.0 connection. It's only reading about 2GB, especially if you go into settings and turn off the alternate root partition.

A quick restore is about the same time as the backup. If you do a full restore it writes the entire drive with data or zeroes, so it's up to the connection speed. My PC has an old ICH10 chipset that doesn't support USB 3.0 speeds, so even on eSATA it takes about 3 hours/TB.


----------



## ggieseke

Olamide said:


> Hi ggieseke,
> 
> Got it, thanks you so much for your time and effort. Will update you on how it goes with the replacement. Question on the replacement, since i don't have an old hard drive, what will be my source drive that will house the image? Can the image be anywhere attached to the computer say a USB drive. Will the DvrBARS program recognize the external drive.
> 
> Thank you


It scans the entire machine for drives at startup, so the target drive has to be attached before you run DvrBARS. The image can be anywhere that Windows recognizes (external, DVD, flash drive, etc).


----------



## DFWDave

Bought a TCD748 (Premier XL) back in Sept of 2011, and unlike the other 9 Tivo devices I've purchased since 2003 (including 2 S2s, 2 Minis, and 1 Stream), this is the ONLY one I purchased an extended warranty on.

Of course, it expired less than three months ago, and right before my eyes this morning it went into the endless reboot of hard drive failure!

It's also about the only one that I haven't replaced the hard drive in and have a backup for. 

I guess it's too late to make a long story short - looking for a factory backup image for a TCD748. 

Thanks


----------



## gls84

Thank you ggieseke! My Tivo Premier is back up and running. Had trouble with my cable card after fixing but Time Warner came and fixed their problem.

Great tool set.

Gary


----------



## nooneuknow

gls84 said:


> Thank you ggieseke! My Tivo Premier is back up and running. Had trouble with my cable card after fixing but Time Warner came and fixed their problem.
> 
> Great tool set.
> 
> Gary


Agree with the "great tool set" and the tremendous value ggieseke offers to the forum, with his FREE tool, FREE help, & FREE PMs to help you get your images, supported only by those who click on his PayPal link to make donations.

*However, you will always have to ask the cable company to send a pairing signal to your cablecard, if you use one, when installing a fresh, or donor image.*

A truck-roll should not be necessary, just calling the toll-free number on the screen that should come up automatically, or try the local number if that one doesn't work out (or the number doesn't work). Many cableco's now charge if they have to roll a truck for YOUR problem. Which, if your cable was working before you needed to image, is technically "your problem".

I'm not trying to be a jerk. I'm just posting something others should know, who find themselves here, and possibly save the cost of a "truck roll" to resolve a customer-related issue. A critical part of the pairing data for a cablecard is stored on the TiVo's hard drive. If the HDD fails, you lose it.

In the phone-in method, which even cable techs must do (or do the equivalent online), sets of numbers from the cablecard screen on your TiVo are read to dispatch/operator and manually entered to send the pairing signal and re-write that lost bit on the hard drive.

Sometimes the person who gets your call doesn't remember the last time they had to do this, if ever (other than training), or just is lazy and will push for a truck roll, to make it not their job anymore, to do a very simple task.


----------



## Olamide

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.
> 
> Use DvrBARS to restore it. If the new drive is larger than the original you can download a copy of the jmfs CD, boot from it, and expand the drive.
> 
> When you put the new drive in the TiVo run Clear & Delete Everything to "marry" it to the motherboard.


Hi ggieseke,

Thank you very much. Was able to restore, expand and backup the new harddisk. Thanks so much for you hardwork.


----------



## lillevig

nooneuknow said:


> *However, you will always have to ask the cable company to send a pairing signal to your cablecard, if you use one, when installing a fresh, or donor image.*


That may be true in some cases but not all. I've never had to do that with my cable company (Suddenlink) when installing a new drive in a box using a CableCard so I'm thinking that maybe they marry the card to the MAC address of the box. I have had to remarry the card when I've moved it to a different box.


----------



## nooneuknow

lillevig said:


> That may be true in some cases but not all. I've never had to do that with my cable company (Suddenlink) when installing a new drive in a box using a CableCard so I'm thinking that maybe they marry the card to the MAC address of the box. I have had to remarry the card when I've moved it to a different box.


I intentionally posted accurate info for the person's post (which named TWC as the MSO), to which I was replying to, as well at ~90%+ of other cable markets, and then decided it might be fun to wait and see when how long it would take for somebody in the ~2% of cable markets that don't require pairing, at all, to correct me. Not really, I was just trying to be brief (which isn't easy for me).

Some markets only require it if you have elective "packages" of channels in the lineup, some only require it if you subscribe to premium channels, etc....

Now, let's see how many people want to argue market percentages (actually, please, lets not).

Cox, in my market, is so tightly locked-down, that If I have two identical model & size drives, one being in the TiVo, with the cablecard paired, and I clone the drive to the blank identical drive (with only a different drive serial number), the pairing comes undone.

People dispute this is possible, and claim that there's no way the cablecard could know the HDD S/N. I've replicated it so many times, on three generations of TiVos, with virtually every known method of cloning (including DD type sector-by-sector / forensic cloning), that nobody is going to convince me that I'm "doing something wrong" (which I've been told, many times) as being the reason why the cloning, including the pairing data, doesn't keep the cablecard paired, in my market.

You are correct, in that the MAC addresses are in the pairing data, in one form or another. In my market, so are the serial numbers (which other than the hard drive, which doesn't have a MAC address, is mostly just redundant).


----------



## lessd

nooneuknow said:


> Cox, in my market, is so tightly locked-down, that If I have two identical model & size drives, one being in the TiVo, with the cablecard paired, and I clone the drive to the blank identical drive (with only a different drive serial number), the pairing comes undone.
> 
> People dispute this is possible, and claim that there's no way the cablecard could know the HDD S/N. I've replicated it so many times, on three generations of TiVos, with virtually every known method of cloning (including DD type sector-by-sector / forensic cloning), that nobody is going to convince me that I'm "doing something wrong" (which I've been told, many times) as being the reason why the cloning, including the pairing data, doesn't keep the cablecard paired, in my market.


On Comcast CT if you take a CC that is pared with TiVo-A and put it in another TiVo, than put it back into the original TiVo-A the CC will be unpaired as the data changes, I have done this so I know, and it was confirmed by the Comcast Tech.


----------



## BDM351

Thanks to the developers of DvrBARS. I find it easy to use.
I Need a .vhd file for a SVR-2000 with a 30GB drive.
I have a question. I have an old SVR-2000 that I need to image a drive for (30GB or 40GB drives). The one back up that I have is from a 80GB drive. I found a .tbk file...how do I convert .tbk file to .vhd file?


----------



## ThAbtO

BDM351 said:


> Thanks to the developers of DvrBARS. I find it easy to use.
> I Need a .vhd file for a SVR-2000 with a 30GB drive.
> I have a question. I have an old SVR-2000 that I need to image a drive for (30GB or 40GB drives). The one back up that I have is from a 80GB drive. I found a .tbk file...how do I convert .tbk file to .vhd file?


.tbk is a WinMFS backup file, so use that free program instead.


----------



## BDM351

Turns out the .tbk file I had was no good.
I still need an image for a SVR-2000 for a 30GB or 40GB HD


----------



## ThAbtO

BDM351 said:


> Thanks to the developers of DvrBARS. I find it easy to use.
> I Need a .vhd file for a SVR-2000 with a 30GB drive.
> I have a question. I have an old SVR-2000 that I need to image a drive for (30GB or 40GB drives). The one back up that I have is from a 80GB drive. I found a .tbk file...how do I convert .tbk file to .vhd file?





BDM351 said:


> Turns out the .tbk file I had was no good.
> I still need an image for a SVR-2000 for a 30GB or 40GB HD


This backup is from a 80gb drive as you stated earlier, so it needs a drive at least 80gb or larger.
Please explain what happened to determine the backup file was bad.


----------



## BDM351

The original drives are a 30GB Quantum fireball lct10 series and a 40GB MaxtorD540X-4K

the .tbk file I located on this site doesn't work Winmfs give me the error message "Not a valid backup file" when trying to restore it to a drive. This was to a 80GB WD drive


----------



## ggieseke

The only SVR-2000 image I have is from a box running dual 120GB drives. You could probably restore just the A drive image and then use WinMFS to divorce it, but you would need at least one drive that big and I've never tried it.


----------



## DFWDave

Thanks to *ggieseke* for the TCD748 image. Before attempting that, I did try a Hail Mary and tried a quick backup and restore of my failing drive to the new drive. It did boot in the Tivo, but at random times during the downloading guide data, it would just reboot.

I figured it was corrupted software from the other hard drive or something, so I moved on to the clean image provided. When booting from that one, it gets stuck on the second boot up screen. When I say stuck, I mean overnight, not just 10-15 minutes.

Possibly something more than just the hard drive failing in this unit?



DFWDave said:


> Bought a TCD748 (Premier XL) back in Sept of 2011, and unlike the other 9 Tivo devices I've purchased since 2003 (including 2 S2s, 2 Minis, and 1 Stream), this is the ONLY one I purchased an extended warranty on.
> 
> Of course, it expired less than three months ago, and right before my eyes this morning it went into the endless reboot of hard drive failure!
> 
> It's also about the only one that I haven't replaced the hard drive in and have a backup for.
> 
> I guess it's too late to make a long story short - looking for a factory backup image for a TCD748.
> 
> Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

DFWDave said:


> Thanks to *ggieseke* for the TCD748 image. Before attempting that, I did try a Hail Mary and tried a quick backup and restore of my failing drive to the new drive. It did boot in the Tivo, but at random times during the downloading guide data, it would just reboot.
> 
> I figured it was corrupted software from the other hard drive or something, so I moved on to the clean image provided. When booting from that one, it gets stuck on the second boot up screen. When I say stuck, I mean overnight, not just 10-15 minutes.
> 
> Possibly something more than just the hard drive failing in this unit?


Have you run the new drive through the full manufacturer's diags, checked the cables you're using to copy and the ones in the TiVo, and probably a few other things?

You might also try the clean 748 image again, but keep the network disconnected until it's fully set up. If it's trying to make the jump from 14.5 to 20.3.7 while everything else is going on...


----------



## DFWDave

ggieseke said:


> Have you run the new drive through the full manufacturer's diags, checked the cables you're using to copy and the ones in the TiVo, and probably a few other things?
> 
> You might also try the clean 748 image again, but keep the network disconnected until it's fully set up. If it's trying to make the jump from 14.5 to 20.3.7 while everything else is going on...


Haven't done full mfg diags, but the drive initially came up from my (failing) image.

Point I didn't try and definitely should is leaving network disconnected. I am also re-downloading the clean image in case it was corrupted the first time.

While the image is downloading, the Tivo is running a SMART test on the new drive, now about 50% through the Extended test.


----------



## DFWDave

DFWDave said:


> Haven't done full mfg diags, but the drive initially came up from my (failing) image.
> 
> Point I didn't try and definitely should is leaving network disconnected. I am also re-downloading the clean image in case it was corrupted the first time.
> 
> While the image is downloading, the Tivo is running a SMART test on the new drive, now about 50% through the Extended test.


Both old and new hard drive completely pass full mfg diags. Starting to wonder if it is the power supply - if I let it sit unplugged long enough, either drive will boot and work for a while, then either go into a reboot cycle or sit at the almost done screen.

At this point I'm starting to wonder if I just give up and replace it with a Roamio Plus. I could either return the 2TB drive I just purchased, use it to upgrade a factory 746 unit I have, or use it in the Roamio. I could also throw more money at the XL with a power supply, assuming it's a safe bet that is the problem.

I'm certainly not looking for an excuse to spend $399 on a Roamio. With 3 Premieres (2 x 746, 1 x 748, 1 x 758), 1 Tivo HD, 2 Minis, and a Stream, I feel like I have the market cornered.

I guess looking for anything obvious I might have missed.


----------



## unitron

DFWDave said:


> Bought a TCD748 (Premier XL) back in Sept of 2011, and unlike the other 9 Tivo devices I've purchased since 2003 (including 2 S2s, 2 Minis, and 1 Stream), this is the ONLY one I purchased an extended warranty on.
> 
> Of course, it expired less than three months ago, and right before my eyes this morning it went into the endless reboot of hard drive failure!
> 
> It's also about the only one that I haven't replaced the hard drive in and have a backup for.
> 
> I guess it's too late to make a long story short - looking for a factory backup image for a TCD748.
> 
> Thanks


Is it possible that it's the endless reboot of trying to install a TiVo OS update and not succeeding?


----------



## DFWDave

DFWDave said:


> Both old and new hard drive completely pass full mfg diags. Starting to wonder if it is the power supply - if I let it sit unplugged long enough, either drive will boot and work for a while, then either go into a reboot cycle or sit at the almost done screen.
> 
> At this point I'm starting to wonder if I just give up and replace it with a Roamio Plus. I could either return the 2TB drive I just purchased, use it to upgrade a factory 746 unit I have, or use it in the Roamio. I could also throw more money at the XL with a power supply, assuming it's a safe bet that is the problem.
> 
> I'm certainly not looking for an excuse to spend $399 on a Roamio. With 3 Premieres (2 x 746, 1 x 748, 1 x 758), 1 Tivo HD, 2 Minis, and a Stream, I feel like I have the market cornered.
> 
> I guess looking for anything obvious I might have missed.


Kind of as a last resort, called Tivo Tech Support this morning to see what they might suggest. They had me disconnect from coax and ethernet, and remove cable card and boot Tivo and Clear and Delete Everything. This was after they asked if by chance the DVR had become full when I started having the problem. I did notice yesterday on one of my successful boot-ups (original drive) that it had, in-fact become full, and that I deleted all of the recordings. This led to the clear and delete suggestion indicating that at 100% capacity, the Tivo might become "confused".

It only took about 5 attempts to power up before I could get it to boot and allow me to do a clear and delete. I don't think it made it any less "confused" though, because subsequent to that it is still acting the same way.

I was offered $50 off the a Roamio Plus that I discussed with billing customer service in conjunction with a service transfer (different person) and billing at the same rate without the 1-yr commitment.

Starting to think that moving this new 2TB drive to my unmodified 746 and replacing the 748 with a Roamio Pro for $350 is my next move. The sale prices on the Premieres look pretty nice, but the feedback on the speed on the Roamio sounds like it might be worth it (and the extra tuners).


----------



## unitron

BDM351 said:


> Turns out the .tbk file I had was no good.
> I still need an image for a SVR-2000 for a 30GB or 40GB HD


Ideally an S1 image, Philips or Sony, would have been undated to 3.0 (so you can work around any internal modem problems via either Ethernet card or serial port) and have had the kernel patched to handle drives larger than 137GB.

And if my TiVo wrangling motherboard wasn't acting up, and if I could find where I put my Sony S1, I'd build you one.

In the meantime, the image mentioned in this post

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6228202#post6228202

is no longer available at the link in that post, but you can get it here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49887720/tivoimage-svr2000-v3.0-30hour-20080428.bak

You'll need to use the MFS Live cd v1.4 to restore it, and I'm pretty sure I remember it needs a 30GB drive.


----------



## BDM351

unitron, Thanks Much. I will add this to my backups.
Last week I ended up locating some 80GB Drives and replacing the 2 SVR-2000's with larger H.D. and loaded a image I had from another series 1 that had a 80GB in it.
I didn't see this until now....holidays became quite busy but thank you for the follow up. Thanks again and Happy Holidays.


----------



## unitron

BDM351 said:


> unitron, Thanks Much. I will add this to my backups.
> Last week I ended up locating some 80GB Drives and replacing the 2 SVR-2000's with larger H.D. and loaded a image I had from another series 1 that had a 80GB in it.
> I didn't see this until now....holidays became quite busy but thank you for the follow up. Thanks again and Happy Holidays.


Just don't mix Sony and Philips S1 images or you'll have to use the wrong remote and the first time you try to download program listings it'll probably have a nervous breakdown.


----------



## ThAbtO

unitron said:


> Just don't mix Sony and Philips S1 images or you'll have to use the wrong remote and the first time you try to download program listings it'll probably have a nervous breakdown.


"Just another one which flew over the Tivo's nest."
I remember that movie.


----------



## 1larryw

ggieseke said:


> Check your PMs.


Hello, I am looking for anyone who can provide me with an image as well for the TCD746320.. I do not have enough posts to be able to PM anyone (especially ggieseke...) but it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

LW


----------



## ggieseke

Check your PMs.


----------



## 1larryw

ggieseke said:


> Check your PMs.


Thanks. Going there now. You may be a life saver


----------



## jbluemke

that happenbed to me too


----------



## dougdingle

DFWDave said:


> Both old and new hard drive completely pass full mfg diags. Starting to wonder if it is the power supply - if I let it sit unplugged long enough, either drive will boot and work for a while, then either go into a reboot cycle or sit at the almost done screen.
> 
> At this point I'm starting to wonder if I just give up and replace it with a Roamio Plus. I could either return the 2TB drive I just purchased, use it to upgrade a factory 746 unit I have, or use it in the Roamio. I could also throw more money at the XL with a power supply, assuming it's a safe bet that is the problem.
> 
> I'm certainly not looking for an excuse to spend $399 on a Roamio. With 3 Premieres (2 x 746, 1 x 748, 1 x 758), 1 Tivo HD, 2 Minis, and a Stream, I feel like I have the market cornered.
> 
> I guess looking for anything obvious I might have missed.


Sure sounds like the power supply. Do you have a computer supply sitting around you could use to power the drive in the TiVo?

Does the power supply have any bulging capacitors?


----------



## captainawesome

First time poster, long time reader. It looks like I have a failed 1TB Premiere XL drive. (Unplugged the Tivo for the first time in a long time, now it freezes on the 'starting up' screen when plugged back.)

I tried using the jmfs tool to clone the old disk to a new drive, but it froze around the 600GB mark.

I was able to do a truncated backup using this tool. (The full backup claimed to need 900GB, even though the drive was only 30% full.) I'm currently using that backup to do a full restore on the new drive (since the new drive failed halfway through the clone.)

ggieseke, in case my backup image ends up being corrupt, can you PM me your link to the fresh image for a TCD748000? Much thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

captainawesome said:


> First time poster, long time reader. It looks like I have a failed 1TB Premiere XL drive. (Unplugged the Tivo for the first time in a long time, now it freezes on the 'starting up' screen when plugged back.)
> 
> I tried using the jmfs tool to clone the old disk to a new drive, but it froze around the 600GB mark.
> 
> I was able to do a truncated backup using this tool. (The full backup claimed to need 900GB, even though the drive was only 30% full.) I'm currently using that backup to do a full restore on the new drive (since the new drive failed halfway through the clone.)
> 
> ggieseke, in case my backup image ends up being corrupt, can you PM me your link to the fresh image for a TCD748000? Much thanks.


PM sent.

Just out of curiosity, was the 900GB projection for a Full or a Modified Full backup?


----------



## captainawesome

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.
> 
> Just out of curiosity, was the 900GB projection for a Full or a Modified Full backup?


Received, you're the man.

The 900GB estimate was for the modified full backup. I don't know what state that drive is in though, I haven't run any diagnostics on it yet. I can tell you that I could hear (what sounded like) the platters catching at one point preventing the drive from spinning. Surprisingly, a well placed 'technical tap' with a screwdriver on the side of the drive actually got it to spin again.


----------



## NotVeryWitty

Boy am I glad I found this thread! Many thanks to ggieseke and the others that have contributed time and knowledge and support.

So, I'm yet another person with a Premiere XL (TCD748000) that is suddenly in the GSOD / reboot loop. I'm hoping to be able to retrieve season passes and maybe even some of the shows on the the failing drive. My only PC is a Windows 7 laptop. I also have a USB/SATA "docking station", which it sounds like DvrBARS will let me use to do the backup of my failing drive and then a restore to a new drive.

In anticipation of the backup/restore of the existing drive not working, could you send me a PM for an image link?

Once again, thanks a million! I promise to make a donation.


----------



## ggieseke

NotVeryWitty said:


> In anticipation of the backup/restore of the existing drive not working, could you send me a PM for an image link?


PM sent. Hope you can save at least your settings.

A dock should be fine - that's what I use all the time. Using eSATA or USB 3.0 will be much faster than USB 2.0 if your laptop has the right ports.


----------



## NotVeryWitty

ggieseke said:


> A dock should be fine - that's what I use all the time. Using eSATA or USB 3.0 will be much faster than USB 2.0 if your laptop has the right ports.


Thanks for mentioning that -- I was quite sure my Dell laptop was only USB 2.0, but I went and dug out the specs, and discovered that one of the ports is a dual USB 2.0 / eSATA port. My docking station supports both USB and eSATA, so I should be able to use eSATA for this.


----------



## dmitri

Received a "ReadFile" error popup on both the truncated and full backup.
I suspect my drive is bad. Is there an option to fix it?

If not, could I get access to a Premiere XL image?

Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

dmitri said:


> Received a "ReadFile" error popup on both the truncated and full backup.
> I suspect my drive is bad. Is there an option to fix it?
> 
> If not, could I get access to a Premiere XL image?
> 
> Thanks


PM sent.

You can click OK to continue on after a ReadFile error. If there are lots of errors it can get pretty boring playing whack-a-mole, but eventually it should complete.

Whether the resulting image will work is another question. Since it failed on a Truncated backup, probably not.


----------



## avunc

Hi ggieseke,

I can't PM you (too few posts for this forum), but I was hoping you could PM me with how to access an image of a Tivo Premiere XL.


----------



## ggieseke

avunc said:


> Hi ggieseke,
> 
> I can't PM you (too few posts for this forum), but I was hoping you could PM me with how to access an image of a Tivo Premiere XL.


PM sent.


----------



## joebrod

I was refered to this thread.

I have a failed (previously merged with expander) OEM 320GB drive for a Premiere TCD746320. Not interested in _trying_ to clone this drive just want to install a fresh 2TB.

I did it once before with my S3 box years ago so I'm game to give it a try. I'm told I need an image. Is there someone who could PM me one?


----------



## avunc

Great, thanks much. I got it down and put it on disk no problem at all. Am keeping it in reserve to see how my rescued disk will do.


----------



## ThAbtO

joebrod said:


> I was refered to this thread.
> 
> I have a failed (previously merged with expander) OEM 320GB drive for a Premiere TCD746320. Not interested in _trying_ to clone this drive just want to install a fresh 2TB.
> 
> I did it once before with my S3 box years ago so I'm game to give it a try. I'm told I need an image. Is there someone who could PM me one?


You cannot just put a BLANK new drive into a Tivo and expect it to work (except for the Roamio.) It needs an image for the right model.


----------



## joebrod

ThAbtO said:


> You cannot just put a BLANK new drive into a Tivo and expect it to work (except for the Roamio.) It needs an image for the right model.


Is there someone who could PM me a link to an drive image for a Premiere TCD746320 that I could use on a new 2TB drive installed in that Tivo


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## ggieseke

joebrod said:


> Is there someone who could PM me a link to an drive image for a Premiere TCD746320 that I could use on a new 2TB drive installed in that Tivo


PM sent.


----------



## dougdingle

ThAbtO said:


> You cannot just put a BLANK new drive into a Tivo and expect it to work (except for the Roamio.) It needs an image for the right model.


Really? How does the Roamio deal with that?


----------



## ThAbtO

dougdingle said:


> Really? How does the Roamio deal with that?


http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=507695


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## dougdingle

ThAbtO said:


> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=507695


Holy crap. I had no idea.

Not wanting to read all 56 pages of that thread, can you summarize it?

Will it take a 4TB drive?

With the OS in flash, can you simply take a small drive with recordings, DDRescue or two-step DvrBARS it to a bigger drive, and have the box install what is needed and expand it?

Have people found it to be much faster in terms of menus, guide, search, etc.?

It's the next logical step, but kind of amazing nonetheless...:up:


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## jmbach

Only WK can give it a 4TB drive at this time. Ggeiseke is working on the ability to do the same. 
Not sure about the copy and expand. In theory it should work but not sure if current tools can do this. It would be interesting if a person with a base Roamio copy their 500GB drive to a 1TB and see if JMFS can expand it and put it back in to see if it works. 
It is much faster from what I have read. 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## lpwcomp

jmbach said:


> Not sure about the copy and expand. In theory it should work but not sure if current tools can do this. It would be interesting if a person with a base Roamio copy their 500GB drive to a 1TB and see if JMFS can expand it and put it back in to see if it works.


I doubt that JMFS would even recognize the drive as a TiVo drive.


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## jmbach

That maybe. Will only know if either someone tries or if someone with JAVA experience examines the code. I have no JAVA experience so I am learning OJT so to speak but I think it just might work. From my examination and testing of JMFS, it does not seems to care about anything other than the MFS partitions. All of those are created on the drive when the Roamio prepares it. So JMFS might be just fine with it. 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## lpwcomp

jmbach said:


> That maybe. Will only know if either someone tries or if someone with JAVA experience examines the code. I have no JAVA experience so I am learning OJT so to speak but I think it just might work. From my examination and testing of JMFS, it does not seems to care about anything other than the MFS partitions. All of those are created on the drive when the Roamio prepares it. So JMFS might be just fine with it.


Not according to ggieseke. I'm fairly certain that he posted an analysis of a Roamio drive and the actual structure of the partitions is different.


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## jmbach

Yes it uses a different byte order apparently. Now whether JMFS can handle it, I don't know. There is an altered version of MFS tools that is modified to work on the S4 series. It does have some byte swapping code built into it. Using that, the user will have to manually coalesce the extended partitions if it works. 
I am not saying with certainty that it will work. I am saying it is worth a try. What is someone going to lose by trying. Nobody thought the S4s could be expanded beyond 2TB until someone tried it and succeeded. 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## unitron

jmbach said:


> Yes it uses a different byte order apparently. Now whether JMFS can handle it, I don't know. There is an altered version of MFS tools that is modified to work on the S4 series. It does have some byte swapping code built into it. Using that, the user will have to manually coalesce the extended partitions if it works.
> I am not saying with certainty that it will work. I am saying it is worth a try. What is someone going to lose by trying. Nobody thought the S4s could be expanded beyond 2TB until someone tried it and succeeded.
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


When you say "byte swapping", do you mean what the Series 1s had to do to accomodate their processor that read everything in wrong end first?


----------



## ggieseke

It's not byte-swapping in the sense of a Series 1 where every two bytes were reversed. That's easy to handle by reading one or more whole sectors at a time and running swab (in C or C++) on the buffer.

On Roamios Block0, the APM and all of the MFS headers use Intel byte order (least significant byte first) for all of the values whether they're 16, 32 or 64 bit. All of the older models used Motorola byte order (most significant byte first). It's harder to read when you're looking at a hex dump, but easier to deal with from a programming standpoint on most modern CPUs.

A few fields in the MFS structures have also been moved around, so none of the existing tools like MFSLive will work correctly even if you rewrite them to compensate for the byte order.

MFSLive, WinMFS, jmfs and DvrBARS won't even recognize a Roamio drive. I started to patch DvrBARS but since the VHD file format that it uses can only handle 2TB drives I scrapped that attempt and I'm starting over from scratch.


----------



## jmbach

Ah I see clearer now. I really need to get a Roamio to delve into it more. Too bad etailz cancelled my order. Been concentrating more on getting a DIY 4TB premiere going than examining the Roamio.

Would take a major rewrite then of JMFS to work on the Roamio. Of course to get JMFS to work on a 4TB drive for a Premiere will take some rewriting as well. 

Technically at this time, until the 64bit APM gets perfected, the Roamio can only go up to 4TB so you could split up the drive into two 2TB VHDs. Not sure what would be easier.


----------



## ggieseke

jmbach said:


> Technically at this time, until the 64bit APM gets perfected, the Roamio can only go up to 4TB so you could split up the drive into two 2TB VHDs. Not sure what would be easier.


If it comes to that I'll probably treat each partition as a separate drive instead of trying to force the existing code into two VHDs, but either way there's a LOT of "out with the old and in with the new" involved. I wrote BARS with one goal in mind, and that was to be able to create a truncated image of a Premiere that would fit on a single-layer DVD or 4GB flash drive. Mission accomplished and the other features like Modified Full backups and S1-S3 support were gravy, but it will probably never exceed its current limitations.

Roamios and Premieres over 2TB will need all-new tools. I'm working on it.


----------



## azdvr

I managed to screw up my first drive . It just shows a TiVo welcome screen than starts over . I have tcd746500 500gb drive. Any one have access to a vhd backup of it


----------



## ggieseke

azdvr said:


> I managed to screw up my first drive . It just shows a TiVo welcome screen than starts over . I have tcd746500 500gb drive. Any one have access to a vhd backup of it


I don't have an image for that model, but I sent you a PM to the TCD746320 image. You can use jmfs to expand into the rest of the space on a 500GB drive.


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## azdvr

much appreciated


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## allenfr

I just completed a upgrade to a 4TB hard drive on my TDC750500 and it is working.
Only thing is it shows 429 HD hours and 3749 SD hours.
I did the upgrade using JMFS104 and then installing it in the TIVO then after a complete run I removed it and did the expand and super size the drive using JMFS104.
I think it still hasn't used the complete 4TB hard drive which is a WD WD40EZRX.
Does anyone have a idea what I might do to get the full drive capacity?
Allenfr


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## ggieseke

3TB and 4TB Premieres are still in their infancy, and the existing tools can't get you there without some fairly serious hacking. I just got my first one running a few hours ago.

The procedure is entirely jmbach's baby, and he's working to come up with a new version of jmfs to make it user-friendly. Right now it involves multiple drives, a hex editor, and lots of MFS know-how. A full expansion to 4TB should show an estimated 640/5608 hours.


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## TiVoTJung

Using your program now to back up a hard drive. Pretty sweet!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## jmbach

ggieseke said:


> 3TB and 4TB Premieres are still in their infancy, and the existing tools can't get you there without some fairly serious hacking. I just got my first one running a few hours ago.
> 
> The procedure is entirely jmbach's baby, and he's working to come up with a new version of jmfs to make it user-friendly. Right now it involves multiple drives, a hex editor, and lots of MFS know-how. A full expansion to 4TB should show an estimated 640/5608 hours.


Fortunately I have been able to contact Comer and we are discussing modifications and improvements to JMFS.


----------



## unitron

jmbach said:


> Fortunately I have been able to contact Comer and we are discussing modifications and improvements to JMFS.


We need to lock you, comer, and ggieseke in a room together, and tiger and spike as well if we could find them, and let you create the ultimate all-models does everything TiVo hacking package.


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## Cybernut

jmbach said:


> Fortunately I have been able to contact Comer and we are discussing modifications and improvements to JMFS.


Keep going jmbach - the 3TB & 4TB Premiere upgrades are AMAZING gifts I received thanks to your hard work on it :up: And I couldn't agree more with unitron's comment about locking you, ggieseke, comer, etc. in a room to come up with an amazing automated tool for all TiVo DIY-ers


----------



## ggieseke

The beer bill for that meeting would probably cost more than a new Roamio.


----------



## jmbach

allenfr said:


> I just completed a upgrade to a 4TB hard drive on my TDC750500 and it is working.
> Only thing is it shows 429 HD hours and 3749 SD hours.
> I did the upgrade using JMFS104 and then installing it in the TIVO then after a complete run I removed it and did the expand and super size the drive using JMFS104.
> I think it still hasn't used the complete 4TB hard drive which is a WD WD40EZRX.
> Does anyone have a idea what I might do to get the full drive capacity?
> Allenfr


At this point JMFS will expand it to about 2.2TB so you have a proximately 2.7TB of recording space. If you are wanting to get 4TB you will have to expand it to 2TB first, be willing to copy the partitions over to a 4TB drive, rearranging the partition to be able to coalesce at least 2 partitions into one, and either wait for a new JMFS to come out (which hopefully will be in the near future) or be willing to try this procedure I have developed.


----------



## sbourgeo

ggieseke said:


> The beer bill for that meeting would probably cost more than a new Roamio.


Basic, Plus, or Pro?


----------



## allenfr

JMBACH
I think I will wait for the JMFS upgrade. That sounds like the best way to do the upgrade to 4TB HD. Thank you for your interest in this upgrade.
allenfr


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## jmbach

allenfr said:


> JMBACH
> I think I will wait for the JMFS upgrade. That sounds like the best way to do the upgrade to 4TB HD. Thank you for your interest in this upgrade.
> allenfr


Not a problem. I did post the upgrade procedure here DIY 4TB Premiere if you want to see what is involved.


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## RonH

Just tried 'Truncate' with a nearly full drive from a Premiere. It completed a few hours later, giving me a file a little over 400Gb in size. I was expecting something smaller. Where did I go wrong?

{further clarification: this was a 75 hour Premiere with the original factory drive}


----------



## CoxInPHX

RonH said:


> Just tried 'Truncate' with a nearly full drive from a Premiere. It completed a few hours later, giving me a file a little over 400Gb in size. I was expecting something smaller. Where did I go wrong?


I just did the same thing and the size was ~99Gb, I thought something did not seem right.


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## jmbach

It seems that something changed in 20.3.8 OS that causes DvrBARS truncated backup size to be significantly larger than in previous OS versions.


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## TVisitor

Hi Greg,

I've got a WD20EURS plugged into my system (on an internal SATA port). When I run DVRBARS I'm getting:

Error 0x00000001 (1): \\.\C: DeviceIoControl IOCTL_VOLUME_GET_VOLUME_DISK_EXTENTS

FYI, C: is my boot drive. It's a regular XP install - not a restored image, etc. Also, it is a 1TB drive partitioned into 4 (relatively) equal parts, each formatted NTFS. Furthermore, the BIOS for this machine is set to "IDE" for compatibility.

This machine also has a floppy drive that is A:\ and a DVD burner that is D:\ (internal SATA) [I unplugged both of those, no change.]

I'm running Windows XP on this machine, but I'm guessing that should be fine since you said it supports XP.

Device manager sees the new Tivo drive (I did not let it format/etc.)

Any ideas?


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## nooneuknow

CoxInPHX said:


> I just did the same thing and the size was ~99Gb, I thought something did not seem right.


I've been able to eliminate this "variance" by performing a "Clear Program Information and To Do List", prior to the backup (and keeping the network cable unplugged during and after the process, to prevent repopulation).

While the "and To Do List" part may sound scary, the Season Passes and ARWL entries WILL repopulate once the guide data has been re-downloaded. You WILL LOSE any manually scheduled entries and non-AR WishLists.

Having the supersize option enabled tends to be a large contributor to the variance, but gets nullified (mostly) if you jettison the guide data.

I can't quote sizes, since my Premieres have all been sold-off. But, I did verify the data I just posted with 20.3.8.

Don't forget that the DVRBARS files will often zip/rar compress down GREATLY, if you are trying to back-up to DVDs or thumb drives. I've never seen a case where no additional compression could be applied.

EDIT/ADD: The variance will also tend to be different, depending on which methods/tools (and/or image) was used to create your larger-capacity upgraded drive.


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## ggieseke

I noticed the same variance while creating a 4TB XL using jmbach's method, but I thought it may have been a one-time glitch. I started with 20.3.7.1a and the truncated image was about 1.7GB as expected. I let it upgrade to 20.3.8, repeated the process, and the truncated image was only slightly smaller than a Modified Full.

I'll have to extract and analyze the MFS on 20.3.8 to see what's up. Somewhere along the way from 14.5 to later versions they switched from /Recording to /RecordingLite but it still worked as expected since I was excluding anything that started with /Recording from truncated backups.

Sorry about that folks.


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## ggieseke

TVisitor said:


> Hi Greg,
> 
> I've got a WD20EURS plugged into my system (on an internal SATA port). When I run DVRBARS I'm getting:
> 
> Error 0x00000001 (1): \\.\C: DeviceIoControl IOCTL_VOLUME_GET_VOLUME_DISK_EXTENTS
> 
> FYI, C: is my boot drive. It's a regular XP install - not a restored image, etc. Also, it is a 1TB drive partitioned into 4 (relatively) equal parts, each formatted NTFS. Furthermore, the BIOS for this machine is set to "IDE" for compatibility.
> 
> This machine also has a floppy drive that is A:\ and a DVD burner that is D:\ (internal SATA) [I unplugged both of those, no change.]
> 
> I'm running Windows XP on this machine, but I'm guessing that should be fine since you said it supports XP.
> 
> Device manager sees the new Tivo drive (I did not let it format/etc.)
> 
> Any ideas?


Hmm. Error code 1 is defined as ERROR_INVALID_FUNCTION, which I haven't seen before. Are you running any kind of underlying partition manager or compression software on that PC?

If you don't have another computer you could try let me know and I'll write a customized version for you that ignores that particular error, but it's definitely strange. I could understand a NOT_READY or GEN_FAILURE code, but it seems to be saying that the IOCTL_VOLUME_GET_VOLUME_DISK_EXTENTS function doesn't exist.

Here's some info on that function.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365194(v=vs.85).aspx


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## TVisitor

ggieseke said:


> Hmm. Error code 1 is defined as ERROR_INVALID_FUNCTION, which I haven't seen before. Are you running any kind of underlying partition manager or compression software on that PC?
> 
> If you don't have another computer you could try let me know and I'll write a customized version for you that ignores that particular error, but it's definitely strange. I could understand a NOT_READY or GEN_FAILURE code, but it seems to be saying that the IOCTL_VOLUME_GET_VOLUME_DISK_EXTENTS function doesn't exist.
> 
> Here's some info on that function.
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365194(v=vs.85).aspx


Yeah - I was looking it up last night - it's almost as if it thinks the drive is not a fixed disk for some reason. There's no underlying disk management software running on this PC. I do have another PC to try it in - the only reason I hadn't tried it in there yet is because it's a bit hard to move that PC around (sitting on a table behind a TV). However, I did try running DVRBars on it, and it ran just fine. I'm going to try putting the new drive in it since I see that DVRBars didn't seem to have any issues on first shot.

Edit: Successfully restored the image on my other PC. No errors. I'm willing to play around and test any debug versions you might want to see if it can run on the PC that failed with the error, though I won't put the "new" drive back in there since I successfully restored it (and don't want to clobber it). Feel free to PM me.


----------



## ggieseke

TVisitor said:


> Yeah - I was looking it up last night - it's almost as if it thinks the drive is not a fixed disk for some reason. There's no underlying disk management software running on this PC. I do have another PC to try it in - the only reason I hadn't tried it in there yet is because it's a bit hard to move that PC around (sitting on a table behind a TV). However, I did try running DVRBars on it, and it ran just fine. I'm going to try putting the new drive in it since I see that DVRBars didn't seem to have any issues on first shot.
> 
> Edit: Successfully restored the image on my other PC. No errors. I'm willing to play around and test any debug versions you might want to see if it can run on the PC that failed with the error, though I won't put the "new" drive back in there since I successfully restored it (and don't want to clobber it). Feel free to PM me.


If you're happy I'm happy. Glad it worked on the other PC.

Unless you have an overwhelming desire to play guinea pig it's probably best to accept success. I'd want to know exactly WHY it failed on the first computer (ignoring the error is too easy) and we both probably have better things to focus on for the next several weeks.


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## rgtv65

I have a Premier model TCD746320 that I recently replaced with a new TiVo Romeo, which I upgraded the HD to 2TB. The Premier was beginning to occasionally freeze on some DVR recordings, so I suspect the HD is going. I would like to still salvage the Premier to use in another room to replace an aging TiVo HD. Since I kept the OEM 500GB Seagate HD from the Romeo, my thought was to copy the image from the OEM Premier HD onto the the Romeo OEM drive. Since this will just be for spare room use, I don't necessarily need to expand to use the full 500GB, the original 320GB would be fine. What is the best, easiest method to accomplish this?


----------



## ggieseke

rgtv65 said:


> I have a Premier model TCD746320 that I recently replaced with a new TiVo Romeo, which I upgraded the HD to 2TB. The Premier was beginning to occasionally freeze on some DVR recordings, so I suspect the HD is going. I would like to still salvage the Premier to use in another room to replace an aging TiVo HD. Since I kept the OEM 500GB Seagate HD from the Romeo, my thought was to copy the image from the OEM Premier HD onto the the Romeo OEM drive. Since this will just be for spare room use, I don't necessarily need to expand to use the full 500GB, the original 320GB would be fine. What is the best, easiest method to accomplish this?


You can backup up your existing Premiere drive to a file using the Truncated or Modified Full mode, then restore it to the Roamio drive. Truncated backups usually only take about 2GB, but something in 20.3.8 is making them run about the same size as a Modified Full. Make sure you have about 320GB free on your computer.

Alternatively I can send you a raw 746320 image and you can start over from scratch.

Either way, you can expand it to use the full 500GB with jmfs.


----------



## rgtv65

Thanks very much for the response, ggieseke! I don't believe the HD has degraded to the point where the operating system is affected, however, the surest thing might be to burn the raw 746320 image as I have most of the recorded content backed up on TiVo Desktop anyway. Would I use DvrBARS to install the image? Any recommendations for installation and the image file would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## ggieseke

rgtv65 said:


> Thanks very much for the response, ggieseke! I don't believe the HD has degraded to the point where the operating system is affected, however, the surest thing might be to burn the raw 746320 image as I have most of the recorded content backed up on TiVo Desktop anyway. Would I use DvrBARS to install the image? Any recommendations for installation and the image file would be greatly appreciated.


Check your PMs for a link to the image. Unzip it to extract the VHD file.

Hook the new drive up to your Windows PC. Run DvrBARS, choose the Quick Restore option, and it should walk you through it from there. An internal SATA connection, eSATA, or a USB 3.0 dock is faster but an old USB 2.0 dock or adapter will work fine. The raw image is only a few GB so we're talking minutes, not hours.

Run jmfs to expand it. You can skip this step but I've never heard anyone complain about more recording space.

Grab a copy of kmttg and use it to back up the season passes on your old drive. This is also optional but you can restore them to the new drive later.

Put the new drive in the Premiere. It will update the OS and run Guided Setup immediately, but you'll still have to run Clear & Delete Everything to "marry" the drive to the motherboard before it will work properly. That means another GS, so just blast throught the first one and don't sweat the details.

P.S. There's a little-known feature in the DvrBARS System Information screen (the Donate button). 

Greg


----------



## rgtv65

Thank you, Greg, for the PM. I'll also look in the forums for the JMFS link.


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## rgtv65

DvrBARS worked perfectly, new HD installed and working at planned. Thanks for all your help, Greg. Also, I found the "little-known feature" on the program and employed it!


----------



## rgtv65

Thought I had everything working OK, but just discovered I cant record anything. Tried to transfer recordings from TiVo Desktop, nothing transfered, then tried recording a live broadcast, nothing. Just figured out how to "Clear & Delete Everything" under the help menu. Hopefully this and a re-boot will solve the problem? Noticed that under the "system info" it does not show the TiVo service tag number.


----------



## ThAbtO

rgtv65 said:


> Thought I had everything working OK, but just discovered I cant record anything. Tried to transfer recordings from TiVo Desktop, nothing transfered, then tried recording a live broadcast, nothing. Just figured out how to "Clear & Delete Everything" under the help menu. Hopefully this and a re-boot will solve the problem? Noticed that under the "system info" it does not show the TiVo service tag number.


Yes, you need to run Clear & Delete Everything after you put in a new image that was not from your original Tivo. This will register your Tivo service number to the image, and allow all Tivo functions.


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## rgtv65

Yep, ran the Clear & Delete and set up for the 3rd time and everything works and recording as it should.


----------



## marwatk

My XL (TCD748) drive went belly up on me and I can't find the stock drive. I'm attempting ddrescue but it doesn't look good. I do have a regular Premiere, though. Can I clone the regular premiere's drive and put that in an XL (losing the recordings, of course)? ggieseke seemed to imply that was possible, but I wanted to know if anyone had done it before I pull part the Premiere. Alternatively, does anyone have a virgin XL image?

Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

marwatk said:


> My XL (TCD748) drive went belly up on me and I can't find the stock drive. I'm attempting ddrescue but it doesn't look good. I do have a regular Premiere, though. Can I clone the regular premiere's drive and put that in an XL (losing the recordings, of course)? ggieseke seemed to imply that was possible, but I wanted to know if anyone had done it before I pull part the Premiere. Alternatively, does anyone have a virgin XL image?
> 
> Thanks!


PM sent. The link is to an absolutely virgin 748 image. It was never powered on in the TiVo, so you may even be able to skip the C&DE.


----------



## marwatk

Thanks!

I got some horrible clicking about half way through the ddrescue and I can't get anymore out of it. So now I'm using your image. I tried restoring it to a cheapo 3TB drive with a quick restore and got reboot loops. I'm trying again now with a full restore.

Questions: 
Any ideas on the reboot loop (quick vs full restore)? 
Does it work to restore that image to a larger drive?
If not, will a 2TB be ok? (I have a new WD Red 2TB coming but I want to make sure it will work before I open it)


----------



## jmbach

The boot looping is because OS on the virgin image does not support drives over 2TB in size. Once the virgin image gets updated to the latest OS, you can use it in drives over 2TB. If you are wanting to use it on a larger drive, first put the image on a drive no larger than 2TB and let the TiVo update the image. Once it is updated, then you can transfer it to a larger drive.


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## marwatk

Thanks, that was it! I tried it on an old 1TB and it's good to go. Phew, back up and running.

-Marcus


----------



## ggieseke

marwatk said:


> Questions:
> Any ideas on the reboot loop (quick vs full restore)?
> Does it work to restore that image to a larger drive?
> If not, will a 2TB be ok? (I have a new WD Red 2TB coming but I want to make sure it will work before I open it)


Glad you got it working with jmbach's advice, and thanks for the donation. I crashed early last night.

DvrBARS can only backup 2TB drives or smaller, but it can restore to anything. I used it as the first step in creating my 4TB XL.

The Full restore option is mostly a leftover from early development. If you haven't run the manufacturer's diagnostics on the target drive it can act as a crude write test, but that's about it.


----------



## rodnig1

will this work with my thr22-100 directivo???


----------



## ozzy1983

My HD in my TCD748000 went out and I can't get a backup off of it. A link to a fresh image would be amazing since I've been trying to fix this for over a week. All I have is a new 3TB drive for it to go on. I assumed I could redo it with the expansion. Is there any way for me to get an image that would allow for the 3TB?


----------



## jmbach

The image ggeiseke has is of a virgin 748. If that is the image you have to use then the only way I can think of it working on a 3TB drive in your premiere is to use hdparm on the JMFS cd and permanently (but temporarily) change the visible sector count to a 2TB drive, run it in your premiere to let it update to the latest OS version, then use hdparm again to reset the sector to its natural size and then use JMFS to expand to the full 3TB capacity. (what I meant by permanently changing the sector count is that it has to survive power cycling of the drive.) 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## ozzy1983

Well I would need the image first, but I think I understand what you're saying, and even if I only had 2TB at this point I just need it to work. It's been over a week of working back and forth to try to fix this thing.


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## ggieseke

rodnig1 said:


> will this work with my thr22-100 directivo???


I haven't tested it on a DirecTivo, but it's worth a try.


----------



## ggieseke

ozzy1983 said:


> Well I would need the image first, but I think I understand what you're saying, and even if I only had 2TB at this point I just need it to work. It's been over a week of working back and forth to try to fix this thing.


PM sent. You will have to restore it to a 2TB or less drive and let it update before it will boot at all. Once it updates from 14.5 to 20.3.7 or later you can explore further options.

I don't really know the Linux side of things, so if a 3TB drive is your only option you'll have to get jmbach to talk you through hdparm.


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## ozzy1983

Thanks so much.


----------



## ozzy1983

jmbach said:


> The image ggeiseke has is of a virgin 748. If that is the image you have to use then the only way I can think of it working on a 3TB drive in your premiere is to use hdparm on the JMFS cd and permanently (but temporarily) change the visible sector count to a 2TB drive, run it in your premiere to let it update to the latest OS version, then use hdparm again to reset the sector to its natural size and then use JMFS to expand to the full 3TB capacity. (what I meant by permanently changing the sector count is that it has to survive power cycling of the drive.)
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


Could you possibly write out the hdparm commands for that procedure?


----------



## jmbach

ozzy1983 said:


> Could you possibly write out the hdparm commands for that procedure?


Sent you a PM for the commands. Let us know how it works for you.


----------



## rodnig1

ggieseke said:


> I haven't tested it on a DirecTivo, but it's worth a try.


I assume that it would work, but i am trying to go from a 1TB mechanical drive, to a 960GB ssd drive... and im getting the error that the drive is too small. So, i guess it simply wont work for my intended purpose.

Unless anyone out there has a trick that i am not familiar with??


----------



## jmbach

Are you trying to save any recordings?


----------



## rodnig1

jmbach said:


> Are you trying to save any recordings?


yes, i was trying to save some recordings. i wonder if i hooked it back into the tivo, and deleted a bunch of stuff that i don't care about then re-imaged it, if that would work.

I also just tried to do the truncated option, and it still said it was too small


----------



## ggieseke

DvrBARS will only restore to a drive that's at least as big as the drive that was imaged in the first place. It's not related to the number of recordings.

I'm working on a new program that will create an intact MFS filesystem on any size drive and copy everything from the old one, but it's probably months away. Even then, I don't know if downsizing will be worth all the extra code that it would require.


----------



## lpwcomp

I have a recent (12/08/2013) backup of a TCD746320 if that would help. it is @3.2GB. Zip is @1.6GB.


----------



## ozzy1983

yeah, so trying to turn off those sectors didn't work. I just got the 5 - 10 sec boot loop. So I was so frustrated I called Best Buy and found out I could swap the 3TB for a 2TB since it was less than 15 days since I bought it. However, after a quick restore on the 2TB, an expand using JMFS and a supersize I still got the 5 - 10 sec boot loop. So I'm trying again with a full restore, then boot in the tivo to update, then the expand and supersize.


----------



## jmbach

ozzy1983 said:


> yeah, so trying to turn off those sectors didn't work. I just got the 5 - 10 sec boot loop. So I was so frustrated I called Best Buy and found out I could swap the 3TB for a 2TB since it was less than 15 days since I bought it. However, after a quick restore on the 2TB, an expand using JMFS and a supersize I still got the 5 - 10 sec boot loop. So I'm trying again with a full restore, then boot in the tivo to update, then the expand and supersize.


You should not be boot looping. Might want to try redownloading the image.


----------



## jmbach

What drive did you get

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## rodnig1

FYI: it does work for the directivo THR22-100. i messed around with another drive, and it appears to have worked fine. 

But, i originally had a 1tb installed, and tried it with a new 2TB and wasnt able to get the additional space allocated. Im sure its something i did wrong, so ill mess around a little more and try again


----------



## nooneuknow

For those who don't want to have (or buy) smaller capacity drives, on their way to getting to larger sizes, there is the hdparm way (hard for some), then the Hitachi Feature Tool way (easy for some):

1. Hard way (for some) Use hdparm (linux utility) to set the drive's HPA (Host Protected Area), in order to make the device the drive is attached to believe it is a smaller size, then shrink (or eliminate) the size of the HPA, as needed. This makes the host device (computer or TiVo) think the drive is whatever size you have set the LBA number to represent. hdparm can be dangerous if not used correctly (a small typo can brick your drive).

2. Easy way (for some) Use Hitachi Feature Tool bootable (DOS-based) bootable floppy, CD, or thumb drive are all options, to just change the LBA number to reflect the drive size you need at each step you need a change (can only be done by changing LBA, not typing in the capacity you want, due to limitations in the program). The LBA number you select needs to be offset by 1 (due to Hitachi FT starting with the first LBA as zero, or one, I forget which way it is offset from the way nearly anything else reads/sets LBA number).

With both methods you want to specify "permanently" (or "persistent"), and each requires a reboot once you set the change (and requires a hard reboot if you change it to a value, apply the change, then realize you got it wrong and need to change it to another value). The change can be reversed/altered later, but you need the permanent/persistent part to make the drive retain the change with a soft and hard reboot.

Words of warning: If you have ever had the drive connected to a computer/host that set a HPA area on the drive, you will notice a discrepancy in the true max LBA and what the drive reports. Please make sure to check for this before moving along to changing things. If you see the drive already has it's visible LBA count reduced, the first step is to check your BIOS for an option like "save backup copy of BIOS to HDD", and disable it, and then make sure that you don't have any backup (or drive/partition management) software installed that makes hidden and protected backups within a HPA the software creates. Paragon, and (I think) Acronis, can be set to do this.

In many cases, you may have to change your BIOS settings to change drive(s) involved to "compatible/legacy mode", or Hitachi FT may not see it (in "AHCI/Windows mode").

I've also learned that disabling automount, within windows, via diskpart, via command prompt, is a good idea when you want to insure Windows doesn't try to alter the drive(s). This helps insure Windows will only acknowledge the drive as being connected (hardware-layer-wise), without prompting you to "initialize" the drive, or it trying to assign drive letters/mount-points/etc. While doing this is usually not necessary, it's still added safety.

You can also purge the cache of mount-points, drive letters, and related mappings for no-longer-attached drives while using diskpart at command prompt. Windows remembers every drive it ever mounted, even if you wipe all traces from the device manager with all hidden devices fully displayed.

As always, don't forget that anything done within windows (and linux) will (most of the time) need to be done with an administrative account and/or elevated privileges.


----------



## ozzy1983

jmbach said:


> You should not be boot looping. Might want to try redownloading the image.


I got a WD Green 2TB. I've now loaded this on multiple drives and it boot loops on all of them. I've downloaded it twice and so I think it's the image. Is there another TDC748000 image out there I could try?


----------



## ozzy1983

Because I'll try anything at this point to get this thing running.


----------



## ThAbtO

ozzy1983 said:


> I got a WD Green 2TB. I've now loaded this on multiple drives and it boot loops on all of them. I've downloaded it twice and so I think it's the image. Is there another TDC748000 image out there I could try?


Where does it start rebooting? Welcome screen? A few moments more screen?

It may need WDidle3.exe and disable the Intellipark.

It can be found on the Ultimate Boot CD.


----------



## ozzy1983

ThAbtO said:


> Where does it start rebooting? Welcome screen? A few moments more screen?
> 
> It may need WDidle3.exe and disable the Intellipark.
> 
> It can be found on the Ultimate Boot CD.


It runs for less that 30 seconds with the first "Starting up" screen, then the screen flashes and it starts it again.


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## jmbach

If you are using the image from ggeiseke, download it again. Run DvrBARS as an administrator. How is the drive being hooked up to the computer you are running DvrBARS on. It appears it is not booting the OS at all. If the drive is being written correctly, then check the connections on the motherboard. Make sure the SATA cable is firmly attached to the motherboard as well as the power connectors. 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## ozzy1983

it is all hooked up properly. I've downloaded the image multiple times now, and done both quick restore and full and neither have worked.


----------



## ThAbtO

ozzy1983 said:


> it is all hooked up properly. I've downloaded the image multiple times now, and done both quick restore and full and neither have worked.


Give Wdidle3.exe a try. I had to use it when I tried upgrading a Series 2 when it would not boot.


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## jmbach

Try wdidle3 like ThAbtO suggested. How comfortable are you to send me the first 18 blocks of the drive you wrote the image on. I would like to see if the APM and block 0 are written correctly


----------



## lessd

ThAbtO said:


> Give Wdidle3.exe a try. I had to use it when I tried upgrading a Series 2 when it would not boot.


Wdidle3.exe only fixes a soft boot hang in some TiVo models, a hard boot works all the time without setting Wdidle3.exe.


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## ozzy1983

I have tried wdidle3. I'm sorry did not mention that. I believe it is a problem with the image file because both times I downloaded it I had troubles with it downloading. So it may be it is not the file I need or it is not right after I extract it. I'm just wondering if there is another image out there could try. Oh, and I have no idea how to send you that drive info. But thanks for all the help.


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## jmbach

What kind of trouble downloading. Have you tried using a different browser 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## ozzy1983

I used both IE and Chrome to download it.


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## jmbach

What trouble did you run into downloading


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## jmbach

Download wd diagnostic for windows and run a few tests if it passes, then have it write some zeroes for the first several blocks of the drive. Then do a quick restore with DvrBARS and try booting in the TiVo again. In the meantime I'll see if I can get another file to you. Might be tomorrow if I don't have one handy already.


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## ThAbtO

ozzy1983 said:


> I have tried wdidle3. I'm sorry did not mention that. I believe it is a problem with the image file because both times I downloaded it I had troubles with it downloading. So it may be it is not the file I need or it is not right after I extract it. I'm just wondering if there is another image out there could try. Oh, and I have no idea how to send you that drive info. But thanks for all the help.


What is the exact model of the drive you are trying to use?


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## ggieseke

That 748 image has been used successfully about 50 times. Here are the MD5 hashes for the zip file and the VHD file once you extract it.

TCD748000.zip	392401741E1865E15DFEF8B26BA6034F
TCD748000.vhd	8E7F416BB96BCA12FC2E017323D1A36E

If you don't have a way to check MD5 hashes you can download my command-line utility at http://goo.gl/9tWxBX.


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## ozzy1983

The model HD I have is a WD20EZRX. I am unsure how to use MD5 and what to do with it on those files. What diagnostic tool should I use? I mean this is happening with multiple drives and since this one is brand new I can't see what could be wrong with it. Let me know which one to use and I can check it.


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## jmbach

The MD5 is a way of making sure you have downloaded the file correctly without errors. This would be important since you stated you had troubles downloading the files. Could you describe your setup. Kind of computer you are using, operating system, how is the drive connected to the computer, if you are using an external dock what brand is it. You might consider using a different computer if you have one. As much detail as you can give us will help us diagnose the problem


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## ozzy1983

I have an AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-core 2.30 GHz w/6 GB Ram running windows 7 64 bit. It has an ASUS motherboard and is about 4 years old (I built it from a tiger direct barebones kit). 

The problem I had downloading was that it was stopping constantly and half a dozen times it had to be restarted because the rate dropped to 0 bits/sec and would not restart. I've also noticed someone earlier on this thread got an error message about the A drive when opening DvrBARS and that is a message I'm getting as well. However I just hit the continue option and was able to start the program as it is described in the how-to-use portion of this thread. I also always run in as administrator.

If someone could give me a simple description of how to use the MD5 that would be helpful as I've never heard of it.


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## ggieseke

Open a command prompt (Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt). Change the current directory to the directory where you downloaded the MD5 program with the CD command. It will probably be something like "CD C:\Users\Ozzy\Downloads"

Run "MD5 TCD748000.zip" to check the zip file or "MD5 TCD748000.vhd" to check the extracted VHD file. The results that it prints out should match the vaules I posted earlier. If those files aren't in the same directory as MD5.exe you will have to use the full path to the file you're checking instead of just the file name.


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## ozzy1983

Ok, I checked both files and they match your numbers correctly. Perhaps this has to do with the startup error I mentioned when starting DvrBARS? Am I connecting the drive incorrectly or something when I start the computer?

I start the computer with the drive I want to use in my Tivo connected, am I supposed to only connect it once windows has started? This A drive error may be the only factor left that is causing issue (since we now know my download of your image is correct).

Again thanks for your help troubleshooting this, I know you don't have to, but before I joined this forum and began talking to all of you I was pretty lost.


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## ggieseke

It shouldn't matter if the drive is connected before or after starting Windows. It just has to be connected before running DvrBARS because it only scans the available drives once at startup.

The A: drive error doesn't matter as long as you can get past it. There's probably a BIOS setting that's providing floppy disk support or emulation, but once again if DvrBARS can see the WD20EZRX and write to it you should be good to go.

I'm starting to think that the TiVo itself or possibly the SATA cable in it is bad. Another possible point of failure is the cabling on the PC. One way to test the drive and the PC is to try to run a Truncated backup of it after you do the restore. If DvrBARS can see it and read all of the structures necessary to run in the Truncated or Modified Full backup mode it would validate the drive. Since we now know that the image is good that would only leave something in the TiVo itself.


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## lpwcomp

ozzy1983 said:


> Ok, I checked both files and they match your numbers correctly. Perhaps this has to do with the startup error I mentioned when starting DvrBARS? Am I connecting the drive incorrectly or something when I start the computer?
> 
> I start the computer with the drive I want to use in my Tivo connected, am I supposed to only connect it once windows has started? This A drive error may be the only factor left that is causing issue (since we now know my download of your image is correct).
> 
> Again thanks for your help troubleshooting this, I know you don't have to, but before I joined this forum and began talking to all of you I was pretty lost.


You might want to check all of the connections on the TiVo - motherboard, power supply, etc. Do you know if the drive is actually spinning up when in the TiVo?


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## dougdingle

rodnig1 said:


> FYI: it does work for the directivo THR22-100.


Not to hijack the thread, but I'm curious about that device.

Do you like it?

Is it reliable?

Will it do media transfers to other devices?

Is there any kind of "whole house server" device available?

How much extra is the TiVo subscription part?

I am nearing the end of my rope with Time Warner, TA boxes, no on-demand, no PPV, and rising cablecard rental rates.


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## ozzy1983

Ok, I agree it is more likely on the Tivo side now. I am able to do a Truncated backup with this drive and that makes me feel all my computer connections are correct and the cables are fine.

I am sure it's spinning up in the Tivo because I can hear it, but I'm not sure if the SATA cable is good. Does anyone know how to go about replacing Tivo internal cables?


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## ozzy1983

Yeah I just double checked the drive in the Tivo, it is definitely getting power. That means there must be something wrong with the SATA connection if there is an internal problem with the Tivo.


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## ggieseke

Troubleshooting a Premiere is a bi*ch because the factory drive connection has the power and SATA molded into one plug. Unless you want to try to cut the factory connector into two pieces (which I don't recommend), you can use any standard SATA cable for the data connection. You'll have to find some other way to power up the drive - maybe from your PC?


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## ozzy1983

I'm still not entirely sure about the cables though. Why when I plugged in the old (and essentially dead) drive did I get a locked welcome screen (would sit for hours locked on the welcome screen), but when I did a restore on it with the same image (just messing around to see what would happen) it went into the same boot loop as the new drive? This to me says the power and SATA are connecting from the Tivo but the information it is getting from the new image is causing the boot loop, but you guys know way more about this than I do. It's just a thought as I have no way of rewiring this at this point, but it did seem odd to me that before the old drive was changed (just as it was when I determined I needed to change it) it would stay on the welcome screen, but after it was restored with this image it did the same boot loop. Something to think about.


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## jmbach

Give me a sec. I think I have another image you can try. I'll PM you the link. 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


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## ozzy1983

Oh, that'd be great. That would certainly tell me if it's a problem with the image or not.


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## ozzy1983

dougdingle said:


> Not to hijack the thread, but I'm curious about that device.
> 
> Do you like it?
> 
> Is it reliable?
> 
> Will it do media transfers to other devices?
> 
> Is there any kind of "whole house server" device available?
> 
> How much extra is the TiVo subscription part?
> 
> I am nearing the end of my rope with Time Warner, TA boxes, no on-demand, no PPV, and rising cablecard rental rates.


I don't know how everyone else here feels but I love the premiere xl. That is why I'm going to such lengths to try to repair it. I'm not aware of other devices that work with it, such as a "whole house server", but as a media player for a single TV it is superb. I actually don't like it for Netflix, and I use it for Amazon only if I'm not streaming (like downloading for rental). My cable provider is Comcast and once they install the cablecard and pair it to your account properly (it took forever to get this right because Comcast techs don't know anything about TiVos) it works well with their service and using xfinity on-demand works very well through this Tivo.

As far as cost when I originally bought it I paid something like $800 for it and for lifetime service, however the lifetime service I believe was $500. So now that you can get a new one for $150 (and some show as used for less than $80 on Amazon) then the cost with lifetime should be lower.

Media transfers? I know you can transfer recorded shows to your computer using TiVo's software (TiVo Desktop), and I think you can stream sound and video files on your home network but I don't do that. Overall it serves the purpose of a DVR quite well.


----------



## lpwcomp

ozzy1983 said:


> I don't know how everyone else here feels but I love the premiere xl. That is why I'm going to such lengths to try to repair it. I'm not aware of other devices that work with it, such as a "whole house server", but as a media player for a single TV it is superb. I actually don't like it for Netflix, and I use it for Amazon only if I'm not streaming (like downloading for rental). My cable provider is Comcast and once they install the cablecard and pair it to your account properly (it took forever to get this right because Comcast techs don't know anything about TiVos) it works well with their service and using xfinity on-demand works very well through this Tivo.
> 
> As far as cost when I originally bought it I paid something like $800 for it and for lifetime service, however the lifetime service I believe was $500. So now that you can get a new one for $150 (and some show as used for less than $80 on Amazon) then the cost with lifetime should be lower.
> 
> Media transfers? I know you can transfer recorded shows to your computer using TiVo's software (TiVo Desktop), and I think you can stream sound and video files on your home network but I don't do that. Overall it serves the purpose of a DVR quite well.


He was asking about the THR22-100 since he is thinking about switching to DirecTV. A Premiere would be useless since no Series 3 or later standalone TiVo will work with Satellite TV.


----------



## ozzy1983

lpwcomp said:


> He was asking about the THR22-100 since he is thinking about switching to DirecTV. A Premiere would be useless since no Series 3 or later standalone TiVo will work with Satellite TV.


My mistake. I'm new to forums in general and I didn't notice the little quote referring to that post. Well I still stand by what I said for anyone considering the Premiere XL


----------



## ozzy1983

Does anyone know how to clear any HPA restrictions on a drive from windows or maybe DOS prompt? Or at least check to see if it's been enabled and has made the visible drive smaller? I tried jmfs and it threw a kernel error using the hdparm -N method. My drive is 2TB and jmbach has sent me an image of a 2TB drive and DvrBARS says my 2TB drive is too small for the restore. jmbach seems to think that my BIOS have enabled an HPA change on the drive and made it appear smaller. However, my BIOS has no HPA tools or setting at all. In DvrBARS the drive shows up as 1.82TB (I know Windows counts using their stupid 1024 bytes = 1kB or 1 kiB and 1024 kiB = 1MiB method so I know why it isn't a full 2TB), however in jmfs it is listed as 2000.3 GB.

Any ideas? This has me going crazy. I've been trying to repair this TiVo for nearly 2 weeks now (my wife and I are both going nuts with only Netflix and DVDs to watch and we can't afford to even just get a Comcast DVR to hold us over) and I know you guys on this forum have way more knowledge about TiVos than I do. I feel if I could just get a proper image to load on my drive the TiVo would function again (since all of it's troubles were very obviously HD related i.e. freezing in the middle of shows, constant reboots, and slow responses) but it's driving me crazy trying to get that to happen. I'm sure most of you know the feeling. Thank you all again for your help.


----------



## nooneuknow

ozzy1983 said:


> Does anyone know how to clear any HPA restrictions on a drive from windows or maybe DOS prompt? Or at least check to see if it's been enabled and has made the visible drive smaller? I tried jmfs and it threw a kernel error using the hdparm -N method. My drive is 2TB and jmbach has sent me an image of a 2TB drive and DvrBARS says my 2TB drive is too small for the restore. jmbach seems to think that my BIOS have enabled an HPA change on the drive and made it appear smaller. However, my BIOS has no HPA tools or setting at all. In DvrBARS the drive shows up as 1.82TB (I know Windows counts using their stupid 1024 bytes = 1kB or 1 kiB and 1024 kiB = 1MiB method so I know why it isn't a full 2TB), however in jmfs it is listed as 2000.3 GB.
> 
> Any ideas? This has me going crazy. I've been trying to repair this TiVo for nearly 2 weeks now (my wife and I are both going nuts with only Netflix and DVDs to watch and we can't afford to even just get a Comcast DVR to hold us over) and I know you guys on this forum have way more knowledge about TiVos than I do. I feel if I could just get a proper image to load on my drive the TiVo would function again (since all of it's troubles were very obviously HD related i.e. freezing in the middle of shows, constant reboots, and slow responses) but it's driving me crazy trying to get that to happen. I'm sure most of you know the feeling. Thank you all again for your help.


I suspected from the get-go that your target drive for imaging had a HPA area set. Please read the post I already made here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10018396#post10018396

Then, if you still need help, please do a little Googling on HPAs, BIOS settings that may enable them (without actually mentioning HPA in the setting name), and most of all:* Make sure your PC motherboard has the most current BIOS available (older BIOS revisions for many boards did not display a setting to turn off an automatically made HPA).* Also, check for any Acronis, Paragon, or other backup software that may be installed on your computer, which may also set a HPA area. Many are capable of doing so. Names for it include something like "time capsule" or "protected backup partition".

For example: My Gigabyte board would set a HPA, and even if I got software to remove it, the board would automatically re-create it again, until I got the newest BIOS, which gave me access to change the setting called something like "Save a backup copy of BIOS to HDD". There are workarounds if a newer BIOS still doesn't give you the option to toggle.

For a forum expert on this matter, PM unitron, link to his user-page here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/member.php?u=141805

He probably has answered your questions, and/or addressed all your potential issues already, just not in *this* thread.


----------



## ThAbtO

Try this:

https://kb.acronis.com/content/1710


----------



## nooneuknow

ThAbtO said:


> Try this:
> 
> https://kb.acronis.com/content/1710


Which references using using HFT (Hitachi Feature Tool), like I've brought up three times now (this is the third time).

However, it does bring up something I had forgotten about: Cloning a drive with a HPA area set can carry over issues to the target drive.

I don't think that applies in this case, but it's a good link, and helped remind me to watch out for HPAs on sources (not just targets), when I'm cloning drives.

I'm about to do a bunch of cloning, so that link potentially helped me avoid some headaches and/or hair-pulling-out.

As for the poster whom that link was intended for, I think that's a good start, due to it having specific instructions to actually use the HFT utility.


----------



## nooneuknow

ThAbtO said:


> Try this:
> 
> https://kb.acronis.com/content/1710


Unfortunately, upon trying to review the instructions link given at this link, I get this error:

"http://www.acronis.com/r/support/en/kb/907/Removing_HPA.txt from referred page https://kb.acronis.com/content/1710 not found"

So, I doubt it will be of much help to anybody without the instructions...


----------



## ThAbtO

nooneuknow said:


> Unfortunately, upon trying to review the instructions link given at this link, I get this error:
> 
> "http://www.acronis.com/r/support/en/kb/907/Removing_HPA.txt from referred page https://kb.acronis.com/content/1710 not found"
> 
> So, I doubt it will be of much help to anybody without the instructions...


I just relooked at that page, seems to be out of date.

"Created - December 4, 2007; Updated - March 26, 2009; "

I found another page which uses hdparm:

http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/DCO_and_HPA

It will show whether HPA is enabled or disabled.


----------



## unitron

lessd said:


> Wdidle3.exe only fixes a soft boot hang in some TiVo models, a hard boot works all the time without setting Wdidle3.exe.


Right here on this very website at least one person has reported that disabling Intellipark fixed their cold boot problem encountered when upgrading to a larger drive.


----------



## unitron

ozzy1983 said:


> Does anyone know how to clear any HPA restrictions on a drive from windows or maybe DOS prompt? Or at least check to see if it's been enabled and has made the visible drive smaller? I tried jmfs and it threw a kernel error using the hdparm -N method. My drive is 2TB and jmbach has sent me an image of a 2TB drive and DvrBARS says my 2TB drive is too small for the restore. jmbach seems to think that my BIOS have enabled an HPA change on the drive and made it appear smaller. However, my BIOS has no HPA tools or setting at all. In DvrBARS the drive shows up as 1.82TB (I know Windows counts using their stupid 1024 bytes = 1kB or 1 kiB and 1024 kiB = 1MiB method so I know why it isn't a full 2TB), however in jmfs it is listed as 2000.3 GB.
> 
> Any ideas? This has me going crazy. I've been trying to repair this TiVo for nearly 2 weeks now (my wife and I are both going nuts with only Netflix and DVDs to watch and we can't afford to even just get a Comcast DVR to hold us over) and I know you guys on this forum have way more knowledge about TiVos than I do. I feel if I could just get a proper image to load on my drive the TiVo would function again (since all of it's troubles were very obviously HD related i.e. freezing in the middle of shows, constant reboots, and slow responses) but it's driving me crazy trying to get that to happen. I'm sure most of you know the feeling. Thank you all again for your help.


The first rule of HPA undoing is to make sure that you aren't using a motherboard that that slaps one on there automatically. (I'm looking at you, GigaByte!)

What's the brand and exact model number of your motherboard?

Does it do both IDE/PATA and SATA, or just SATA?

Without any extra drives, like TiVo drives or drives intended to be TiVo drives, connected, what do you have connected?

I assume a drive running some version of Windows and a cd or dvd.

What's hooked up to which controller/port?


----------



## ggieseke

Try using DvrBARS to do a Full backup of the WD20EZRX. When you get to the Confirm Source Drive screen, look at the number of sectors that it reports. It should be 3,907,029,168.

P.S. You don't have to actually do the backup, just write down the number and quit there.


----------



## unitron

I'm pretty sure that

hdparm

is on the Ultimate Boot CD

which I tell how to download in this post

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10021131#post10021131

and a copy of which everyone should have anyway because of all the other stuff on it.

Also, I know that

hdparm

is on the MFS Live cd v1.4, and is one of the things, along with

dd

and

dd_rescue

which make it handy to have as well, even if you don't own a TiVo.

And if, for example, the drive you want to check out is on the third SATA controller, with the first two used up by the regular hard drive and the cd or dvd deck, then

hdparm -N /dev/sdc

will tell you if the available LBA number matches the total LBA number, which lets you know if there's an HPA on there or not.

When dealing with drives which were in Series 1 TiVos, and possibly in other stuff, you may need to "unlock" the drives before trying to actually remove the HPA, and what program you use to do the unlocking may depend on the brand of the drive and/or what it was that locked it in the first place.

Apparently Wikipedia now has more info on HPAs than when I first got bitten by it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area


----------



## jmbach

Got an email from ozzy1983. He hooked the drive up with and external power supply and a good SATA cable and the TiVo continued to reboot. Then he got a dock and used his laptop to restore the virgin image to the drive. It started through guided setup and upon reboot, the same thing happened. So he feels like there is something more than the hard drive that is causing his issues and decided to shelve the project as he has spent too much time on it already. He sends his thanks to everyone here for their help. 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


----------



## jthomas

I am stuck trying to upgrade, hope the TiVo experts here can help. I got a WD30EURX and am trying to put it in a 750500. I have been able to transfer the image off using DVRBars (Thank you ggieseke) and put it on the WD30EURX. I can put it in the TiVo and it works. My problem comes when trying to expand and supersize it. JMFS won't recognize the drive when I boot it. It will recognize all the other drives I connect. I don't have a desktop so I'm using a SATA to USB adapter. Also, I have a clean image of the 750500 that has never been plugged in. If it is needed I just need to know where to send it. I would appreciate it if someone could share an image of a 74632. I hosed it up and had the wrong hard drive connected and mounted it in disk manager. I have no need to try and save the recordings at all. Any help from the TiVo gurus out there would be appreciated.


----------



## jmbach

Well if you are wanting to use the whole 3TB drive you well have to do more than just use JMFS. The best you can do is about 2.1TB over your base image size. If you want to be able to use the whole 3TB, we can guide you through it. Read the 4TB DIY thread for background. 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


----------



## jthomas

jmbach said:


> Well if you are wanting to use the whole 3TB drive you well have to do more than just use JMFS. The best you can do is about 2.1TB over your base image size. If you want to be able to use the whole 3TB, we can guide you through it. Read the 4TB DIY thread for background.
> 
> Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


I did read that thread, my understanding is that before I could even start that process I had to get it expanded to the 2TB. I can't get that far, the JMFS won't recognize my hard drive. Is there any way to expand the drive without JMFS?


----------



## jmbach

What system are you running JMFS 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk


----------



## jthomas

I'm running an HP Elitebook 8460p, it has a Intel Core i5 vPro, with a Mobile Intel QM67 Express Chipset. I'm using the JMFS Live v 1.04. It just won't recognize drive. I can get it to recognize any other drive I put in. It works fine in the TiVo, it just sees it as a 500 gb drive. I'm trying to find a desktop so I can try it with it plugged in directly to a SATA port on the mb but haven't had any luck so far. I couldn't PM you back since I don't have enough posts but I have a 750500 vhd from an out of the box system that's never been plugged in. I'm downloading the vhd, is that an already expanded image or just stock? Do you have a vhd for a 746320? I have another TiVo drive that I toasted when I accidentally mounted it in disk manager and I wanted to have it around for a just in case backup. (I thought I had my 3 tb drive connected) Thank you for your help.


----------



## jmbach

You are using an external dock to connect it to the HP. Is it connected via a USB2 or USB3. I have problems using USB3 with JMFS with my systems so I only use it with USB2. Are you booting the CD or are you running the CD in a virtual PC inside windows. 

We probably need to carry this conversation over to the JMFS thread as we are getting off topic here and this is something that will take a little time to sort out. So post your reply to the JMFS thread and we will go from there.


----------



## dougdingle

jmbach said:


> You are using an external dock to connect it to the HP. Is it connected via a USB2 or USB3. I have problems using USB3 with JMFS with my systems so I only use it with USB2. Are you booting the CD or are you running the CD in a virtual PC inside windows.


In general, people should be aware that the current crop of USB 3 controllers are mostly NOT supported by the machine's BIOS the way USB 2 controllers are, whether desktop or laptop.

What this means is that drivers need to be loaded to see the USB 3 ports, whether in Windows, or a compiled Unix bootable distro. Without a loaded driver, most USB 3 ports are not there.


----------



## jcd4878

ggieseke said:


> I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.


Greg (ggieseke),
I recently had a TCD748000 die and I don't have a backup image.
Can you send me the link by PM to download your virgin backup?
I'd send you a PM but the forum won't let me because my account is too new.

Thanks!
-Jerry


----------



## ggieseke

jcd4878 said:


> Greg (ggieseke),
> I recently had a TCD748000 die and I don't have a backup image.
> Can you send me the link by PM to download your virgin backup?
> I'd send you a PM but the forum won't let me because my account is too new.
> 
> Thanks!
> -Jerry


PM sent.


----------



## jcd4878

Thanks soooooooooooooooo much Greg!

-Jerry


----------



## back2future

I hope someone can shed some light on my observations.

1. 3.5 year old TiVo encounters GSOD. Initial indications are disk problems. Tired to run Kickstart codes to fix it. But nothing worked. Initially I could launch KS 54 to test the disk (which found no errors). But after running KS 57, I could no longer launch KS54. System went into reboot cycle: Welcome, Almost There..., GSOD.

2. I got this error message when I try to do a backup using DvrBARS:

MFS volume header not found
(should have run JMFS Live advanced options, but didn't learn about it until I'd wiped the disk with a restore)

3. Ran extensive diagnostics on disk with HD Tune Pro and ran read, write, seek and performance tests. None, zero, nada, errors are found with any test. No test result was out of spec. S.M.A.R.T. shows no reallocated sectors. No other errors found of any kind. 

3. Got a new disk from WK (could have come here first to get image, maybe). Backed up image from WK disk with DvrBars and restored it to the original drive.

4. Drive seems fully functional now.

Questions:
1. What could have happened to the disk to cause this?
2. Is it known, or possible that TiVo's OS has serious problems where it can trash the structure of the disk?
3. Are there ways, restart, clean or other operations that can be used to avoid this?
4. Has anyone else encountered this or thinks they have?

Thanks,
John


----------



## ggieseke

Hey John,

I replied in your other thread, but I'll try to combine the two here. You're not the first person to have KS57 take a marginal drive to unusable. Without the source code we'll never know for sure what the Kickstart codes do, and TiVo isn't likely to give us that info.

My last attempt to repair a drive that didn't have a recognizable MFS volume header went south when the original poster gave up (or just quit responding).

1. Good question.
2. Another good question.
3. Not that I know of.
4. Probably several people.

I think it's fairly clear that you had an OS or filesystem meltdown that wasn't caused by a hard disk failure, but sometimes bad sh*t happens to good people.

If you want to attempt a recovery I'm there for you. That would probably mean shipping the drive to Houston, but at least we both have the same hardware (Premiere XL). If it's salvagaeble I'll do my best.

Greg


----------



## jmbach

My guess when things like this happens, that there might be a power glitch during a disk write or possibly a buffer overflow problem. No one really knows for sure. Like Greg said bad things happen.


----------



## back2future

Well, this feels like a serious OS problem. I wonder how many non-technical people had failures like this that really weren't a hardware failure. I did finally encounter a logged error of one bad sector on a write then read of all zeros across the whole drive.

I wonder if TiVo knows or cares that there appears to be this serious problem.

As I posted, I decided to bite the bullet and not attempt a recovery, this time. I just wanted to get the thing up and running. I restored the WK image to the original disk and we'll see how long it runs. Next time I'll take a closer look at it.

Thanks for the info. You guys have done some amazing work with little, if any, internal info to go by. If it wasn't for all your collective work, and Weaknees, I would not have been able to fix this.

John


----------



## eboydog

I'm trying Dvrbars for the first time in attempting to backup a 320gb drive out of Preimere.

I'm receiving "ReadFile" errors about every 40-60 seconds and the after 30 minutes, the progress bar hasn't moved.

What does this imply?

The drive it's self appears good, Smart disk diagnostics and WD short test passed with no issue. Also, does it matter if ACHI mode is enabled or should I use standard IDE mode for the PC controller?

<<Edit>>

Stopped the full backup since it didn't appear to be going any were and started a modified however it ended after I clicked OK....










Any suggestions?


----------



## ggieseke

eboydog said:


> I'm trying Dvrbars for the first time in attempting to backup a 320gb drive out of Preimere.
> 
> I'm receiving "ReadFile" errors about every 40-60 seconds and the after 30 minutes, the progress bar hasn't moved.
> 
> What does this imply?
> 
> The drive it's self appears good, Smart disk diagnostics and WD short test passed with no issue. Also, does it matter if ACHI mode is enabled or should I use standard IDE mode for the PC controller?


AHCI mode is usually faster than standard IDE. Other than that it's a wash.

If you click OK through enough of those errors you may still get a functional backup, but if it goes much beyond 10 or 20 clicks I'd probably give up and throw the drive in the trash.

DvrBARS reads 2MB chunks at a time and wasn't designed to be a drive recovery tool, just a backup & restore utility for healthy drives. It doesn't even break drives down into 512 byte sectors like ddrescue, much less have any repair abilities like SpinRite.

If you can get through the backup and restore it to a new drive it may work despite the bad sectors. If not, I can send you a link to a 746320 image and you can start over from scratch.

IMO it sounds like your 320 is dead.


----------



## eboydog

ggieseke said:


> AHCI mode is usually faster than standard IDE. Other than that it's a wash.
> 
> If you click OK through enough of those errors you may still get a functional backup, but if it goes much beyond 10 or 20 clicks I'd probably give up and throw the drive in the trash.
> 
> DvrBARS reads 2MB chunks at a time and wasn't designed to be a drive recovery tool, just a backup & restore utility for healthy drives. It doesn't even break drives down into 512 byte sectors like ddrescue, much less have any repair abilities like SpinRite.
> 
> If you can get through the backup and restore it to a new drive it may work despite the bad sectors. If not, I can send you a link to a 746320 image and you can start over from scratch.
> 
> IMO it sounds like your 320 is dead.


I have another Premiere with 320Gb drive that is good, if I need the image I will let you know but otherwise I will see if I can make my own off what I have.

I ran the extended WD tests on the drive and it failed with too many bad sectors so I gave up and I'm doing a full write of zeros across it to see if it as drive it's recoverable.


----------



## jmbach

You may be able to recover the drive but if sectors are already failing it is an accident waiting to happen.


----------



## ggieseke

jmbach said:


> You may be able to recover the drive but if sectors are already failing it is an accident waiting to happen.


Amen!


----------



## jsaul5364

Could someone send me a link to the image for a 746320? I don't have enough post to PM.
Thank you!


----------



## ggieseke

jsaul5364 said:


> Could someone send me a link to the image for a 746320? I don't have enough post to PM.
> Thank you!


PM sent.


----------



## st40

jcd4878 said:


> Greg (ggieseke),
> I recently had a TCD748000 die and I don't have a backup image.
> Can you send me the link by PM to download your virgin backup?
> I'd send you a PM but the forum won't let me because my account is too new.
> 
> Thanks!
> -Jerry


Hey Greg (ggieseke),

I also just had my TCD748000 hard drive fail. Would you please also send me the link via PM for the backup? Like Jerry, my account is too new to send you a PM directly.

Thanks very much! Steve


----------



## ggieseke

st40 said:


> Hey Greg (ggieseke),
> 
> I also just had my TCD748000 hard drive fail. Would you please also send me the link via PM for the backup? Like Jerry, my account is too new to send you a PM directly.
> 
> Thanks very much! Steve


Done.


----------



## st40

ggieseke said:


> Done.


Hey Greg,

Thanks very much! I'll give it a try this weekend, and hopefully we'll be back up and running soon.

Steve


----------



## kgr

Hey Greg
Any chance you could PM me the link to the download too. My TCD748000 also has a dead drive.

TIA


----------



## ggieseke

kgr said:


> Hey Greg
> Any chance you could PM me the link to the download too. My TCD748000 also has a dead drive.
> 
> TIA


PM sent.


----------



## DensityK

Could someone send me a link to the disk image of the TCD748000? The hard drive on mine just died, and there is no way to salvage the hard drive via the copy methods. I would be so appreciative if I could get a copy of the image so that my lifetime subscription on this tivo isn't wasted.


----------



## ggieseke

DensityK said:


> Could someone send me a link to the disk image of the TCD748000? The hard drive on mine just died, and there is no way to salvage the hard drive via the copy methods. I would be so appreciative if I could get a copy of the image so that my lifetime subscription on this tivo isn't wasted.


PM sent.


----------



## nooneuknow

Is it just me, or should some TiVo owners be buying new drives in preparation for what seems to be a trend of drive failures on one or two models I keep seeing failure reports on, with image requests?

Is everybody truly confirming the drive is at fault?

EDIT/ADD: This post has nothing to do with the drives listed in my signature.


----------



## eboydog

Has there been any progress for support of the newer Roamio drive backup yet?


----------



## unitron

nooneuknow said:


> Is it just me, or should some TiVo owners be buying new drives in preparation for what seems to be a trend of drive failures on one or two models I keep seeing failure reports on, with image requests?
> 
> Is everybody truly confirming the drive is at fault?
> 
> EDIT/ADD: This post has nothing to do with the drives listed in my signature.


It does seem a little early for later model S4 drives to be failing and I wonder if a lot of it isn't the TiVo software on them getting scrambled, which we all know is by no means impossible.


----------



## nooneuknow

unitron said:


> It does seem a little early for later model S4 drives to be failing and I wonder if a lot of it isn't the TiVo software on them getting scrambled, which we all know is by no means impossible.


That does happen, which is why I am suspicious about the reports.

The TiVo Service induced "Random Reboots" had people shopping for drives, just assuming their drive was failing, without stating they had made any efforts to test their drives.

OTOH, the "update borked my drive" issues of earlier times often was the result of the alternate partition becoming the active partition, and revealing there were bad sectors there, once pulled for testing with the mfg diags.

I guess it's getting to the point where some would rather buy a replacement drive, than invest the time and effort into testing the one they have, for whatever reasons. If that's what they want, we can't force them to do otherwise...

The Roamio doesn't use the same alternating partition scheme, AFAICT. But, those aren't the ones I'm seeing so many requests for here. It's the 748's that seem to be "dropping like flies"...


----------



## ggieseke

I'm showing 57 downloads on the 748 image since I posted it a year ago. The 746 image is at 108 for comparison. Requests do seem to have spiked a bit lately but I don't know if it's hardware related. Most of them are just people stuck in boot loop hell.


----------



## ggieseke

eboydog said:


> Has there been any progress for support of the newer Roamio drive backup yet?


I'm working on a drive to drive copy/expansion program, but a backup to image program for Roamios isn't on my radar at all. DvrBARS can't handle anything over 2TB even with additional code to read the new headers.

You can back up your SPs and channel selections with kmttg, and disaster recovery on a Roamio is as easy as plugging in a new blank drive.


----------



## jmbach

ggieseke said:


> I'm showing 57 downloads on the 748 image since I posted it a year ago. The 746 image is at 108 for comparison. Requests do seem to have spiked a bit lately but I don't know if it's hardware related. Most of them are just people stuck in boot loop hell.


And if everyone who got an image from you donated a dollar you would have enough money to pay another year of storage.


----------



## lpwcomp

One factor that should be considered - multiple tuner, HD capable TiVos are far more stressful on hard drives than previous models.


----------



## DensityK

Thank you so very much for the 748000 image Greg. I bought a EURX hard drive off of Amazon and used DvrBARS to restore that image. 

The problems initially began when the Tivo would just freeze while watching recorded programs, it would eventually 'unstick' and continue. Then one day we lost power and when the tivo started to boot back up it just froze at the "Welcome, Starting Up" screen. When I pulled the hard drive and attached it to my computer it came up with a bad SMART monitoring message and my attempt at backing up the drive resulted in over 500 write errors due to the disk failure. 

I am disappointed, but not surprised that Tivo does not offer a disk image. Hard drive failures are a reasonablely common occurrence. Any company that sells a ~$300.00 device plus a ~$499.99 lifetime activation should support that product to the best of their ability for what could be considered a 'lifetime'. Thankfully this community provides support that prevented me from having another very expensive paperweight.


----------



## ggieseke

DensityK said:


> Thank you so very much for the 748000 image Greg. I bought a EURX hard drive off of Amazon and used DvrBARS to restore that image.
> 
> The problems initially began when the Tivo would just freeze while watching recorded programs, it would eventually 'unstick' and continue. Then one day we lost power and when the tivo started to boot back up it just froze at the "Welcome, Starting Up" screen. When I pulled the hard drive and attached it to my computer it came up with a bad SMART monitoring message and my attempt at backing up the drive resulted in over 500 write errors due to the disk failure.
> 
> I am disappointed, but not surprised that Tivo does not offer a disk image. Hard drive failures are a reasonablely common occurrence. Any company that sells a ~$300.00 device plus a ~$499.99 lifetime activation should support that product to the best of their ability for what could be considered a 'lifetime'. Thankfully this community provides support that prevented me from having another very expensive paperweight.


They have never provided images, but the new Roamios will rebuild from scratch given a 3TB or less blank drive. That's pretty cool, and the fact that they turn a mostly blind eye to 3rd-party software is great.

I'm glad it worked out.


----------



## lpwcomp

DensityK said:


> I am disappointed, but not surprised that Tivo does not offer a disk image. Hard drive failures are a reasonablely common occurrence. Any company that sells a ~$300.00 device plus a ~$499.99 lifetime activation should support that product to the best of their ability for what could be considered a 'lifetime'. Thankfully this community provides support that prevented me from having another very expensive paperweight.


At least they are not currently actively pursuing people who provide such images and making them remove them.


----------



## nooneuknow

lpwcomp said:


> At least they are not currently actively pursuing people who provide such images and making them remove them.


That's true. The FTP site that used to host a cache of them was always being shut-down, as well as the moderators here frowning-upon members publicly helping other members by posting links outside of PMs.

I always figured the forum sponsors were behind most of it. But, TiVo could have been a force behind the FTP site shutdowns. I still have a drive somewhere, containing everything that was on that site.

Full-disclosure: The FTP site had the "Instant Cake" iso on it. So, it still might have not been TiVo.

I'm also very happy that TiVo hasn't been going after image-sharing, and 3rd-party utility distros. I keep hearing WK, and others, have some sort of agreement with TiVo. The original home of Instant Cake advertised they did. We have no proof of it, that I'm aware of...


----------



## eboydog

ggieseke said:


> I'm working on a drive to drive copy/expansion program, but a backup to image program for Roamios isn't on my radar at all. DvrBARS can't handle anything over 2TB even with additional code to read the new headers.
> 
> You can back up your SPs and channel selections with kmttg, and disaster recovery on a Roamio is as easy as plugging in a new blank drive.


Replacing the drive yes however the problem though is the protected content, as for example the HBO etc which that isn't a big deal as typically they re-run the same movies over and over but if you purchase a HD movie off Amazon which is tied to the box, if you lose the drive, you lose the purchase (Gravity HD I paid $20 bucks for!). I doubt Amazon will refund my money or offer an additional download ability in say, two years from now should my Roamio drive go bad which it will eventually since no hard drive last forever.

I would PAY to have a utility that would back up my Roamio drive as I suspect others might too if reasonable priced. I can understand the issue would be to properly enforce the copyright protection as I can see it possible for some one to distribute a image that contains a series of desirable HD movies.....


----------



## ggieseke

eboydog said:


> Replacing the drive yes however the problem though is the protected content, as for example the HBO etc which that isn't a big deal as typically they re-run the same movies over and over but if you purchase a HD movie off Amazon which is tied to the box, if you lose the drive, you lose the purchase (Gravity HD I paid $20 bucks for!). I doubt Amazon will refund my money or offer an additional download ability in say, two years from now should my Roamio drive go bad which it will eventually since no hard drive last forever.
> 
> I would PAY to have a utility that would back up my Roamio drive as I suspect others might too if reasonable priced. I can understand the issue would be to properly enforce the copyright protection as I can see it possible for some one to distribute a image that contains a series of desirable HD movies.....


Content protection isn't really an issue since all the recordings are encrypted and will only play on that TiVo. I just don't know how many people would dedicate 3 or 4 TB and pull the drive just to back up their content.

I'll keep it in mind.


----------



## HerronScott

eboydog said:


> Replacing the drive yes however the problem though is the protected content, as for example the HBO etc which that isn't a big deal as typically they re-run the same movies over and over but if you purchase a HD movie off Amazon which is tied to the box, if you lose the drive, you lose the purchase (Gravity HD I paid $20 bucks for!). I doubt Amazon will refund my money or offer an additional download ability in say, two years from now should my Roamio drive go bad which it will eventually since no hard drive last forever.


Amazon digital purchases aren't tied to the TiVo you "purchased" it on. I can go to my Video Library on Amazon and download purchases to any of our 3 TiVo's (I think someone has mentioned that you can have it on up to 2 at the same time although I noticed that a number of mine indicate 4 download licenses available now).

Where did you get the idea that it was limited to that one device?

Scott


----------



## eboydog

HerronScott said:


> Amazon digital purchases aren't tied to the TiVo you "purchased" it on. I can go to my Video Library on Amazon and download purchases to any of our 3 TiVo's (I think someone has mentioned that you can have it on up to 2 at the same time although I noticed that a number of mine indicate 4 download licenses available now).
> 
> Where did you get the idea that it was limited to that one device?
> 
> Scott


You are limited to x number of downloads per what ever is set for a particular content, for example purchased Gravity HD and Amazon allowed 2 downloads. I downloaded once to my Tivo and the other to my PC (which wasn't HD but still counts) and now I have no further option to download Gravity anywere else.

Should my Tivo hard drive go bad, I will no longer have it as one of the downloads was used when it was transferred to one of my TiVo's.

I have all my Tivo registered at Amazon and can have purchases transfered to any of them however they don't allow you to transfer to all of them or allow that content to be transfered to another Tivo on your account once it's downloaded from Amazon. Now I guess as in my example of Gravity, I could have used my 2 downloads to 2 of my TiVo's which would have allowed a better chance of surviving a individual hard drive failure.

In retrospect, I should have just purchased the Blu-ray disk and ripped in order to archive the content, I understand the copyright issues esp with rental content but there needs to be a better provision for maintaining content when you purchase the full digital version.


----------



## HerronScott

eboydog said:


> You are limited to x number of downloads per what ever is set for a particular content, for example purchased Gravity HD and Amazon allowed 2 downloads. I downloaded once to my Tivo and the other to my PC (which wasn't HD but still counts) and now I have no further option to download Gravity anywere else.


I don't have a lot of Amazon digital content as I've used it only occasionally to pick up missed TV episodes. Odd that the older Big Bang Theory episode that I did recently still shows all download licenses as available but I did check one that was a few years old and it does only show 1 download available. I was basing my statement on the latest example I had where all the licenses were showing available after we had watched and deleted the episode and the following from Amazon's website.

Amazon Instant Video stores your purchased videos in Your Video Library for re-download so your videos don't have to take up space on your TiVo DVR

Scott


----------



## imrf

nooneuknow said:


> EDIT/ADD: This post has nothing to do with the drives listed in my signature.


Speaking of that. Can you PM some info on them? I'm too new of a member to PM anyone.


----------



## infin

I have a series 2 with 2 upgraded 250gb drives in it, the drives are dying so i went to go back it up. It made me select "full" option since it detected both drives. The image it backed up is only 240gb, did it only backup one drive? or is this normal? i didnt see a way to select both drives to backup at once, i just selected the main one.


----------



## eboydog

ggieseke said:


> Content protection isn't really an issue since all the recordings are encrypted and will only play on that TiVo. I just don't know how many people would dedicate 3 or 4 TB and pull the drive just to back up their content.
> 
> I'll keep it in mind.


Yes, I see your point however with the much larger drives, you have so much more at stack and with more and more cable companies setting the copy once flag, backing up with Kmttg/desktop isn't as good as it once was. My cable provider just inflicted the copy limits on me this last January and I wasn't aware of the woes of such until just recently.

If my 3tb drive in my Roamio dies with no backup, I will be a basket case.


----------



## infin

infin said:


> I have a series 2 with 2 upgraded 250gb drives in it, the drives are dying so i went to go back it up. It made me select "full" option since it detected both drives. The image it backed up is only 240gb, did it only backup one drive? or is this normal? i didnt see a way to select both drives to backup at once, i just selected the main one.


Well i plugged the drive in the Tivo and it said it was missing a previously attached external drive. Let it load and 90% of the recordings are gone. Is there anyway to get them off the other drive?


----------



## ThAbtO

infin said:


> Well i plugged the drive in the Tivo and it said it was missing a previously attached external drive. Let it load and 90% of the recordings are gone. Is there anyway to get them off the other drive?


No, they are stored using both drives at the same time, parts on 1 drive and other parts on the other.


----------



## infin

ThAbtO said:


> No, they are stored using both drives at the same time, parts on 1 drive and other parts on the other.


so no way of combining the backup files?


----------



## Cybernut

eboydog said:


> Yes, I see your point however with the much larger drives, you have so much more at stack and with more and more cable companies setting the copy once flag, backing up with Kmttg/desktop isn't as good as it once was. My cable provider just inflicted the copy limits on me this last January and I wasn't aware of the woes of such until just recently.
> 
> If my 3tb drive in my Roamio dies with no backup, I will be a basket case.


eboydog - Luckily for me on FiOS it's still just Cinemax & HBO that's flagged as copy-once. But even for copy-once shows, kmttg has devised a pretty good solution several versions ago but you'll have to spend a little bit to get that benefit.

Basically you'll need to buy a slingbox and then use kmttg to capture the slingbox signal. Read up on kmttg's wiki if you are interested in this feature. It may be a bit more manual process than regular kmttg operation but it works.


----------



## ggieseke

infin said:


> I have a series 2 with 2 upgraded 250gb drives in it, the drives are dying so i went to go back it up. It made me select "full" option since it detected both drives. The image it backed up is only 240gb, did it only backup one drive? or is this normal? i didnt see a way to select both drives to backup at once, i just selected the main one.


To back up both drives you have two options:

1) Do two separate Full backups (one for each drive).

2) Connect both drives to the computer and choose Modified Full backup. When it asks you to select a drive pick the primary drive. It will see that it's married and ask you to select the second drive.

Either method will result in a separate VHD file for each drive, which you can restore one at a time. Modified Full should be faster and result in smaller files since it skips the unused sectors.


----------



## ggieseke

eboydog said:


> If my 3tb drive in my Roamio dies with no backup, I will be a basket case.


I may be able to bodge something together after I finish the drive-to-drive copy and expand program. With the right drivers you could also use Linux and dd or ddrescue to image the drive to a single raw file.


----------



## steve614

eboydog said:


> ...but if you purchase a HD movie off Amazon which is tied to the box, if you lose the drive, you lose the purchase (Gravity HD I paid $20 bucks for!). I doubt Amazon will refund my money or offer an additional download ability in say, two years from now should my Roamio drive go bad which it will eventually since no hard drive last forever.


I think you are mistaken about this. It is my understanding that Amazon limits the number of copies you can have on any device to 2 (at least this is true for my copy of Prometheus).
I have one copy on my TivoHD and one still available for download to another device. 
I assume if I were to delete the copy on my TivoHD, the download count would go back to 2, because I wouldn't have a copy of the movie on any device. 
Having said that, I am not going to test this on the small chance I am wrong.  If anyone else can confirm what I said above is true, please speak up, otherwise my curiosity may get the better of me.


----------



## SteveD

steve614 said:


> I think you are mistaken about this. It is my understanding that Amazon limits the number of copies you can have on any device to 2 (at least this is true for my copy of Prometheus).
> I have one copy on my TivoHD and one still available for download to another device.
> I assume if I were to delete the copy on my TivoHD, the download count would go back to 2, because I wouldn't have a copy of the movie on any device.
> Having said that, I am not going to test this on the small chance I am wrong.  If anyone else can confirm what I said above is true, please speak up, otherwise my curiosity may get the better of me.


I have done this a few times before. After you delete the program, you need to also remove it from "Recently Deleted". Once the Tivo syncs again with Amazon, the download counter should increment. In any case, Amazon has great customer service and if there is any issue, they can adjust it manually.


----------



## eboydog

**** Red said:


> I have done this a few times before. After you delete the program, you need to also remove it from "Recently Deleted". Once the Tivo syncs again with Amazon, the download counter should increment. In any case, Amazon has great customer service and if there is any issue, they can adjust it manually.


Interesting, I made the assumption that once downloaded there was no further synchronization. I understand what you are describing I just assumed there wasn't any further communications to Amazon once it confirmed the content had been loaded on a particular device. I will see check that later with a free download to see if such works, in fact I will try that on my PC as I had recently reload it so the downloads on it were removed.

It would make sense that there would be some type of assurance that content you purchase remains viable in situations were it can be lost once it's on your Tivo.


----------



## Cybernut

eboydog said:


> ...
> 
> It would make sense that there would be some type of assurance that content you purchase remains viable in situations were it can be lost once it's on your Tivo.


So I think the lesson from this is that if you are upgrading your drive, it is best to manually remove all Amazon purchases BEFORE replacing the drive. However, that may not always work as in the case of a TiVo drive failure when you cannot access the drive any more.



**** Red said:


> ...In any case, Amazon has great customer service and if there is any issue, they can adjust it manually.


I completely agree about Amazon's legendary customer service on situations like this. An example was around the past Holidays, I had purchased a movie on Amazon using a free credit value I had accrued from other Amazon digital purchases. But after I made the purchase (I hadn't downloaded it to my device yet but it had been purchased) I called them when I realized that it was not the HD version of the movie and asked how I can cancel the purchase and re-purchase the HD movie. They manually cancelled the purchase for me and then asked me to re-purchase it again. I did and expected to pay $2 out-of-pocket since my free Amazon credit was only for $10, but to my pleasant surprise Amazon covered the additional $2 or $3 the HD version cost - so I got the HD movie for completely free 

I have no doubt if one's movie's download count needed adjustment manually in the event of a TiVo drive failure, a quick call to Amazon's customer service would resolve the issue - they'll be able to remove the download from the Tivo device allowing you re-download again. I know for Amazon mp3's you don't even need to make a call - you can simply re-download the song from the Amazon digital library after logging into your account and going to your digital orders section of your account.


----------



## gsol

I have a 746320 with a WD 1 TB external esata hooked up. If I use dvrBARS to clone the internal drive and install it will it recognize the external with all the recordings?

Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

gsol said:


> I have a 746320 with a WD 1 TB external esata hooked up. If I use dvrBARS to clone the internal drive and install it will it recognize the external with all the recordings?


To run a Modified Full backup you'll have to have both drives connected to your PC since it needs to read the entire MFS filesystem. If you use the Full backup method you could just backup the internal drive.

Either way, the external and all of the recordings should be intact.


----------



## gsol

ggieseke said:


> To run a Modified Full backup you'll have to have both drives connected to your PC since it needs to read the entire MFS filesystem. If you use the Full backup method you could just backup the internal drive.
> 
> Either way, the external and all of the recordings should be intact.


OK, I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Can I get a link to an image file in case I need it?
Thanks, again.


----------



## jthomas

Does anyone have an image for a 746320? I want to keep my old drive as a backup and I messed it up when I was trying to learn how to upgrade...


----------



## eboydog

jthomas said:


> Does anyone have an image for a 746320? I want to keep my old drive as a backup and I messed it up when I was trying to learn how to upgrade...


Sent you a PM....


----------



## eboydog

Dumb question perhaps but I'm getting ready to reload a Premiere 746320 which I have a good image file, when I restore the image with dvrBARS, it doesn't have to be the orginal size 320 Gb or will a larger drive work and be able to use the full capacity of the larger drive once restored? 

If it expands the 320gb image to full larger capacity, what is the largest drive it can handle, 2tb? I have a couple 320gb drives but since I'm going to sell them if they check out ok, i'm hoping to put something larger in them. Kick me for not reading the instructions but it's been a long day and I'm about to call it a day.! 

I haven't used dvrBARS hardly at all except for a bad drive that I tried to backup but it was too far gone to save. Tomorrow I'm planning on finally getting around to fixing a couple TCD746320's that I have have laying around that are missing drives.


----------



## jmbach

You can restore the image to any size drive that is at least as large as the image. The limiting factor on the maximum size of the drive is the OS version on the image you are restoring. All the images support 2TB but only the latest images support drives larger than 2TB. DvrBARS does not expand. You will have to use JMFS for that. You can take a premiere up to 4TB if you wish but it is not as straight forward as taking it up to 2TB.


----------



## gsol

gsol said:


> OK, I'll give it a try. Thanks.
> 
> Can I get a link to an image file in case I need it?
> Thanks, again.


Thanks, ggieseke. You're doing great stuff here.


----------



## jthomas

Thank you.



eboydog said:


> Sent you a PM....


----------



## bill02888

Hi folks.

I've got a TiVo Premiere XL (TCD748000) that has some bad sectors. I was seeing some freezing and stuttering during playback so I ran kickstart 54. It shows "Fail 7" next to the short S.M.A.R.T. result. This unit has the original 1GB hard drive. I just ordered a new WD20EURX hard drive. I want to make a backup of the settings first (truncated backup), then copy all settings AND recordings to the new drive, expand, and finally, supersize.

I've upgraded TiVo hard drives previously, but it's been a while. I looked at some of the older tools and found that they probably won't work with drives from newer TiVos. I've been spending the day searching for the most notable tools to use that will work with my TiVo.

It seems as though JMFS, WinMFS, and DvrBARS can all work with my TiVo's hard drive, at least to some extent.

I've done lots of reading in many forums but it takes forever to see if a specific upgrade (such as mine, WITH SECTOR ERRORS) has been done successfully, which software was used to copy, which was used to expand (hopefully by making partitions larger instead of adding new partitions), and which was used to supersize.

Which tools do you folks suggest that I use for my upgrade? Do I need to mix/match some of the above tools with ddrescue to perform my drive copy/upgrade?

Has anybody figured out if transferring all the data from the original drive to the new WD20EURX (a 4K Advanced Format drive) will cause any slowdown if partitions aren't properly aligned?

For the tools that run under Windows, is it okay to use Windows 8.1 Update? I could easily set up one of my older PCs with XP SP3 or Windows 7 if that's safer. (I managed to hose an XP laptop drive a few months ago by connecting it to my Windows 8 system. It added many new attributes to just about every file on the drive. That's why I'm a bit scared about connecting "any drive" to a Windows 8 system.)

Thank you VERY MUCH,
Bill in MA US


----------



## unitron

bill02888 said:


> Hi folks.
> 
> I've got a TiVo Premiere XL (TCD748000) that has some bad sectors. I was seeing some freezing and stuttering during playback so I ran kickstart 54. It shows "Fail 7" next to the short S.M.A.R.T. result. This unit has the original 1GB hard drive. I just ordered a new WD20EURX hard drive. I want to make a backup of the settings first (truncated backup), then copy all settings AND recordings to the new drive, expand, and finally, supersize.
> 
> I've upgraded TiVo hard drives previously, but it's been a while. I looked at some of the older tools and found that they probably won't work with drives from newer TiVos. I've been spending the day searching for the most notable tools to use that will work with my TiVo.
> 
> It seems as though JMFS, WinMFS, and DvrBARS can all work with my TiVo's hard drive, at least to some extent.
> 
> I've done lots of reading in many forums but it takes forever to see if a specific upgrade (such as mine, WITH SECTOR ERRORS) has been done successfully, which software was used to copy, which was used to expand (hopefully by making partitions larger instead of adding new partitions), and which was used to supersize.
> 
> Which tools do you folks suggest that I use for my upgrade? Do I need to mix/match some of the above tools with ddrescue to perform my drive copy/upgrade?
> 
> Has anybody figured out if transferring all the data from the original drive to the new WD20EURX (a 4K Advanced Format drive) will cause any slowdown if partitions aren't properly aligned?
> 
> For the tools that run under Windows, is it okay to use Windows 8.1 Update? I could easily set up one of my older PCs with XP SP3 or Windows 7 if that's safer. (I managed to hose an XP laptop drive a few months ago by connecting it to my Windows 8 system. It added many new attributes to just about every file on the drive. That's why I'm a bit scared about connecting "any drive" to a Windows 8 system.)
> 
> Thank you VERY MUCH,
> Bill in MA US


Beginning with the first Series 4, the original Premiere, (746320), you can't actually "do" anything with WinMFS or the MFS Live cd (or anything else based on MFS Tools) because of changes TiVo made in the partition layout and file system.

I vote in favor of a separate TiVo wrangling PC running XP SP3 or 7, and plugged into a UPS.


----------



## ggieseke

You can't use WinMFS on a Premiere. DvrBARS will handle the truncated backup but it can't expand or supersize. You have to use jmfs for that.

Since you will have to use jmfs for the expansion anyway I would use it for the full copy too. You could do it with DvrBARS but it would take two steps (backup and restore).

DvrBARS is fine with Windows 8 and jmfs is a linux boot disk. Just stay out of Disk Manager while Windows is running.

The factory partitions on a 748 aren't 4K aligned, but I doubt that you will notice any performance issues. The expansion works by adding a partition, not resizing the existing ones. If you really want 4K alignment and larger partitions I could probably walk you through putting an Elite image on the new drive. That's what I did on my 748 and it has been stable for almost a year now. Of course, you would lose any recordings that you can't copy to your PC.


----------



## bill02888

So ... don't bother with ddrescue, just use jmfs? What will jmfs do as it comes across each "bad sector"?

Once I install the new drive (with copied data) into my TiVo, should I initiate a kickstart 57 and/or 58? Anything else?

(It took me a while to figure out how to kickstart my TiVo Premiere XL -- many sources said to press and HOLD the pause button, but I finally found one site that said "But for the Premiere, just press and release the pause button; don't hold it.")

Thank you!
Bill


----------



## bill02888

A short time ago I got my little XP SP3 system set up. It's got a smallish hard drive, but figured it would be good enough to store the Truncated Backup. I started DvrBARS and chose Truncated Backup. After a while a pop-up popped up saying "Backing up 362.26GB of 931.51GB. Press the right arrow or double-click Begin Backup to continue."

That's a lot bigger than I expected. The drive on this little PC isn't big enough to hold it. Is there anything I can do to ensmallen the Truncated Backup?

The "Confirm Source Drive" screen showed:

WDC WD10EVVS-63M5B0

Name: \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1
Size: 931.51GB
Sectors: 1953525168
Format: TiVo (R)
Volumes:

Thanks,
Bill


----------



## gsol

gsol said:


> I have a 746320 with a WD 1 TB external esata hooked up. If I use dvrBARS to clone the internal drive and install it will it recognize the external with all the recordings?
> 
> Thanks


I followed ggieseke's advice and ran a full backup on the internal 320 gb drive. I then did a full restore to a WD blue 500gb drive and put it back to test and all seems well. External drive hooked up and all recordings seem intact. Thanks for the help.

One more question: If I take the 500gb out and expand and supersize with jmfs will all the recordings (external drive too) still work?


----------



## lpwcomp

gsol said:


> One more question: If I take the 500gb out and expand and supersize with jmfs will all the recordings (external drive too) still work?


Yes.


----------



## ggieseke

bill02888 said:


> A short time ago I got my little XP SP3 system set up. It's got a smallish hard drive, but figured it would be good enough to store the Truncated Backup. I started DvrBARS and chose Truncated Backup. After a while a pop-up popped up saying "Backing up 362.26GB of 931.51GB. Press the right arrow or double-click Begin Backup to continue."
> 
> That's a lot bigger than I expected. The drive on this little PC isn't big enough to hold it. Is there anything I can do to ensmallen the Truncated Backup?
> 
> The "Confirm Source Drive" screen showed:
> 
> WDC WD10EVVS-63M5B0
> 
> Name: \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1
> Size: 931.51GB
> Sectors: 1953525168
> Format: TiVo (R)
> Volumes:
> 
> Thanks,
> Bill


They have changed something recently that seems to throw off the Truncated backup. Normally it should only take about 1.5-2GB.

It's a moving target as they transition from the old tyDb database to the new SQLite database. I hope to patch it soon - sorry about that.


----------



## bill02888

ggieseke,

Just for the fun of i, I tried running DvrBARS on my Windows 8.1 Update system. I don't use Metro -- I only use the desktop. I put the program on my desktop. I used right-click to run as administrator. I got a prompt for UAC and allowed it. My mouse pointer briefly turned from an arrow to a swirl, indicating that something was happening, but that only lasted for a few seconds. The program never started.

The event log shows:

Event ID: 1000
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
Faulting application name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.3, time stamp: 0x516bd007
Faulting module name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.3, time stamp: 0x516bd007
Exception code: 0xc000000d
Fault offset: 0x00002ce2

Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing any additional details from the event log.

- Bill


----------



## lessd

bill02888 said:


> ggieseke,
> 
> Just for the fun of i, I tried running DvrBARS on my Windows 8.1 Update system. I don't use Metro -- I only use the desktop. I put the program on my desktop. I used right-click to run as administrator. I got a prompt for UAC and allowed it. My mouse pointer briefly turned from an arrow to a swirl, indicating that something was happening, but that only lasted for a few seconds. The program never started.
> 
> The event log shows:
> 
> Event ID: 1000
> Level: Error
> Keywords: Classic
> Faulting application name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.3, time stamp: 0x516bd007
> Faulting module name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.3, time stamp: 0x516bd007
> Exception code: 0xc000000d
> Fault offset: 0x00002ce2
> 
> Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing any additional details from the event log.
> 
> - Bill


That why I have an old P4 HP computer with XP and the internet turned off as MS is not supporting XP anymore. I load new programs using a USB stick. The side cover is off and I have two SATA ports coming out, and one ATA port. Does all TiVo work I need doing, and the computer has no value if I tried to sell it.


----------



## ggieseke

bill02888 said:


> ggieseke,
> 
> Just for the fun of i, I tried running DvrBARS on my Windows 8.1 Update system. I don't use Metro -- I only use the desktop. I put the program on my desktop. I used right-click to run as administrator. I got a prompt for UAC and allowed it. My mouse pointer briefly turned from an arrow to a swirl, indicating that something was happening, but that only lasted for a few seconds. The program never started.
> 
> The event log shows:
> 
> Event ID: 1000
> Level: Error
> Keywords: Classic
> Faulting application name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.3, time stamp: 0x516bd007
> Faulting module name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.3, time stamp: 0x516bd007
> Exception code: 0xc000000d
> Fault offset: 0x00002ce2
> 
> Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing any additional details from the event log.
> 
> - Bill


Is the account you're using a member of the Administrators group? Even when using Run as administrator it needs a certain set of rights to elevate them the rest of the way. You might also try decreasing or disabling UAC altogether.


----------



## FovisJoris

ggieseke said:


> I'm showing 57 downloads on the 748 image since I posted it a year ago. The 746 image is at 108 for comparison. Requests do seem to have spiked a bit lately but I don't know if it's hardware related. Most of them are just people stuck in boot loop hell.


Greg,

Could you please PM me the link for the TCD748000 image? We just got bitten with the Kickstart 57 bug and are stuck in boot loop hell.

Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

FovisJoris said:


> Greg,
> 
> Could you please PM me the link for the TCD748000 image? We just got bitten with the Kickstart 57 bug and are stuck in boot loop hell.
> 
> Thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## FovisJoris

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Thank you, sir!


----------



## gsol

I have a 746320 with a WD 1 TB external esata hooked up. I hooked both drives to a Win 7 PC and used DvrBARS to do modified full backup. The 320gb internal TiVo drive backed up fine to a 301gb .vhd file. The 1tb external drive gave numerous "read error messages" during backup which I kept clearing. The backup stopped at a file size of 984 gb because the backup site disc was full. I was surprised the external backup was so big since I only had 34% usage indicated on My Shows. I was thinking 34% of 1.3 tb should be 450 gb for both drives???
Any way, I would like to get both drives backed up with all the recordings (34%) and then restore all of it to a single 1tb drive to eliminate the existing internal and external drives. How can I do this.
Thanks for any help.


----------



## eboydog

Does anyone have a TCD750500 image?


----------



## ggieseke

eboydog said:


> Does anyone have a TCD750500 image?


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

gsol said:


> I have a 746320 with a WD 1 TB external esata hooked up. I hooked both drives to a Win 7 PC and used DvrBARS to do modified full backup. The 320gb internal TiVo drive backed up fine to a 301gb .vhd file. The 1tb external drive gave numerous "read error messages" during backup which I kept clearing. The backup stopped at a file size of 984 gb because the backup site disc was full. I was surprised the external backup was so big since I only had 34% usage indicated on My Shows. I was thinking 34% of 1.3 tb should be 450 gb for both drives???
> Any way, I would like to get both drives backed up with all the recordings (34%) and then restore all of it to a single 1tb drive to eliminate the existing internal and external drives. How can I do this.
> Thanks for any help.


Something in recent versions of the OS is throwing off DvrBARS when it comes to making truncated bakups. It may be affecting Modified backups too, but I haven't had time to analyze an image with lots of recordings and figure it out. You might try clearing out the Recently Deleted folder and run the backup again.

As far as consolidating 1.3TB onto a single 1TB drive goes, it can't be done at this time (you can't go smaller). You could probably xerox the 320GB internal onto a 2TB drive, manually copy the MFS partitions from the external to the end, and get it to work. You would have to manually edit the partition table and the MFS superheader. It would be similar to jmbach's procedure to make a 4TB Premiere and not for the faint of heart.


----------



## gsol

ggieseke said:


> Something in recent versions of the OS is throwing off DvrBARS when it comes to making truncated bakups. It may be affecting Modified backups too, but I haven't had time to analyze an image with lots of recordings and figure it out. You might try clearing out the Recently Deleted folder and run the backup again.
> 
> As far as consolidating 1.3TB onto a single 1TB drive goes, it can't be done at this time (you can't go smaller). You could probably xerox the 320GB internal onto a 2TB drive, manually copy the MFS partitions from the external to the end, and get it to work. You would have to manually edit the partition table and the MFS superheader. It would be similar to jmbach's procedure to make a 4TB Premiere and not for the faint of heart.


Hmm. I guess at this point I fall in the faint of heart category since I know nothing about copying MFS partitions or editing partition tables, etc. Thanks for your help, though.


----------



## UCLABB

I believe the HDD on my Premiere is dying (I've had to do multiple plug/unplug to get it booted for the last three mornings. I bought a 2TB HDD and want to do a modified backup/restore. The existing drive is about half full and been used for over a year. I also bought an HDD so that I have enough space in my computer to load the backup on.

Am I good to go?


----------



## lpwcomp

UCLABB said:


> I believe the HDD on my Premiere is dying (I've had to do multiple plug/unplug to get it booted for the last three mornings. I bought a 2TB HDD and want to do a modified backup/restore. The existing drive is about half full and been used for over a year. I also bought an HDD so that I have enough space in my computer to load the backup on.
> 
> Am I good to go?


If you have a way to have both drives connected to your computer at once, I would recommend using JMFS to copy/expand. You can then create a backup copy of the old drive if you so desire using DvrBARS after getting your TiVo back into operation. In any case, the first thing you should do is run the manufacturers diagnostics on the new drive.

What size is the existing drive?


----------



## UCLABB

lpwcomp said:


> If you have a way to have both drives connected to your computer at once, I would recommend using JMFS to copy/expand. You can then create a backup copy of the old drive if you so desire using DvrBARS after getting your TiVo back into operation. In any case, the first thing you should do is run the manufacturers diagnostics on the new drive.
> 
> What size is the existing drive?


The existing drive is 2TB as will the new one. No need to expand. I just want to use the simplest method.

Thanks for the tip on doing the diagnostics on the new drive; I'll do that.


----------



## lpwcomp

UCLABB said:


> The existing drive is 2TB as will the new one. No need to expand. I just want to use the simplest method.
> 
> Thanks for the tip on doing the diagnostics on the new drive; I'll do that.


You also need to be sure that the actual size of the new drive is as large as or larger than the existing drive. Even if they are labled the same, i.e. 2TB, there might be slight differences.


----------



## UCLABB

lpwcomp said:


> You also need to be sure that the actual size of the new drive is as large as or larger than the existing drive. Even if they are labled the same, i.e. 2TB, there might be slight differences.


Just use "properties" when I have them connected to check size?

So is it best to use DVrBARS or JMFS? I just want to do whatever is easiest.


----------



## lpwcomp

UCLABB said:


> Just use "properties" when I have them connected to check size?


Compare the LBA values on the physical label on the drive. You really don't want to be using Windows file explorer to look at the disks.



UCLABB said:


> So is it best to use DVrBARS or JMFS? I just want to do whatever is easiest.


See this post to help you decide whether or not it currently makes sense to do a modified backup. If you're going to do the backup, you should permanently delete everything in "Recently Deleted" before removing the drive from the TiVo. If not, you can use JMFS or any boot disk that has ddrescue and use it to do the copy.


----------



## eboydog

I just installed a 500gb drive in a TCD746320 which isn't active or subscribed to Tivo yet. I used DVrBars to restore a 320gb image to the 500gb drive and then JMFS live to expand it and it appeared to work after I did a clear and reset as I have 75hd hours.

However is it normal that the Tivo central menu is simple with only My Shows, Watch Live TV, Find Shows, Video on demand and Settings and Messages? I have never restored or expanded a drive in an inactive box before as this one is an extra Tivo that was given to me since it had a bad drive. I haven't seen such a simplified menu before.

I presume it will be normal once the TiVo is subscribed and active?


----------



## tailwagger

Greg, thank you for all of your hard work on this thread. It is very informative. I have a Tivo Premiere XL (TCD 748000) and need an image for it. Do you have a DvrBARS image for this? Thanks in advance.


----------



## jmbach

eboydog said:


> I just installed a 500gb drive in a TCD746320 which isn't active or subscribed to Tivo yet. I used DVrBars to restore a 320gb image to the 500gb drive and then JMFS live to expand it and it appeared to work after I did a clear and reset as I have 75hd hours.
> 
> However is it normal that the Tivo central menu is simple with only My Shows, Watch Live TV, Find Shows, Video on demand and Settings and Messages? I have never restored or expanded a drive in an inactive box before as this one is an extra Tivo that was given to me since it had a bad drive. I haven't seen such a simplified menu before.
> 
> I presume it will be normal once the TiVo is subscribed and active?


I think it has to be hooked up to the Internet to be busier if I remember correctly. It has been a while since I have restored a fresh image on a Premiere. BTW if you are still wanting a 500GB native Premiere image send me a PM.


----------



## ggieseke

tailwagger said:


> Greg, thank you for all of your hard work on this thread. It is very informative. I have a Tivo Premiere XL (TCD 748000) and need an image for it. Do you have a DvrBARS image for this? Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## eboydog

jmbach said:


> I think it has to be hooked up to the Internet to be busier if I remember correctly. It has been a while since I have restored a fresh image on a Premiere. BTW if you are still wanting a 500GB native Premiere image send me a PM.


Its working now, just had to activate it. Greg got me the image but thanks!


----------



## mkstretch

Anyone have a clean image for the premiere 746320? My HD seems to have died after the update. Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

mkstretch said:


> Anyone have a clean image for the premiere 746320? My HD seems to have died after the update. Thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## randomtech

Sorry for a double post. I would love to get the image for my dead Premiere XL TCD74800 if you wouldn't mind. I also would like to know what I need to do to expand. I had a look at the dvrbars tool but couldn't tell if it would install onto a larger drive all by itself or if some expansion tool is required after the restore. I find confusing posts about what expansion tool would work for this model and perhaps what size the destination could be. I believe the starting drive is 1TB. I would love to go to 4TB but most of what I find is going to 2TB. Can someone enlighten me on this? What tool? What limitations?


----------



## ggieseke

randomtech said:


> Sorry for a double post. I would love to get the image for my dead Premiere XL TCD74800 if you wouldn't mind. I also would like to know what I need to do to expand. I had a look at the dvrbars tool but couldn't tell if it would install onto a larger drive all by itself or if some expansion tool is required after the restore. I find confusing posts about what expansion tool would work for this model and perhaps what size the destination could be. I believe the starting drive is 1TB. I would love to go to 4TB but most of what I find is going to 2TB. Can someone enlighten me on this? What tool? What limitations?


PM sent. DvrBARS doesn't do any expansion.

To get it up to 4TB, see jmbach's thread.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=512153

I went a different route on my 748 by putting a factory 758 image on a 2TB drive. I modified the "brev=" value in Block0, put it in the TiVo to update, then imaged it again. After creating another blank 2TB virtual drive I set up a VMWare virtual machine connected to both VHDs and used jmfs to add the second drive. After that I copied both virtual drives to the appropriate locations on a 4TB drive and edited the partition table and MFS superblock.


----------



## cykotix

ggieseke said:


> After creating another blank 2TB virtual drive I set up a VMWare virtual machine connected to both VHDs and used jmfs to add the second drive. After that I copied both virtual drives to the appropriate locations on a 4TB drive and edited the partition table and MFS superblock.


Any chance you could detail this procedure a bit more? I'm thinking I need to do something like this to go from a 320gb factory to a 4TB.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


----------



## ggieseke

cykotix said:


> Any chance you could detail this procedure a bit more? I'm thinking I need to do something like this to go from a 320gb factory to a 4TB.


I don't know for sure that a TCD746320 will run a 758 image without any issues. My 748 didn't blink an eye (with or without the Block0 mods). The 758 image was taken from a factory never-booted drive, so it's still on the 14.5 OS. During the inevitable update to 20.x it downloads the appropriate software for the actual model and the System Information screen reflects that, but there are still traces of the previous model in some of the MFS files.

If you have a 2TB drive handy in addition to the eventual 4TB destination drive send me a PM and I'll try to walk you through the rest. You'll also need Windows 7 or higher and VMWare Workstation.


----------



## cykotix

I'll be back later this afternoon. I need to get my lost count up before I can PM. I don't have a 2TB drive but I do have a spare 3TB wd red drive I can hopefully use as an intermediary. I use we can use hdparm to make it look like a 2TB.


----------



## cykotix

I've got Windows 7 and virtualbox. Is vmware specifically needed?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


----------



## cykotix

ggieseke said:


> I don't know for sure that a TCD746320 will run a 758 image without any issues. My 748 didn't blink an eye (with or without the Block0 mods). The 758 image was taken from a factory never-booted drive, so it's still on the 14.5 OS. During the inevitable update to 20.x it downloads the appropriate software for the actual model and the System Information screen reflects that, but there are still traces of the previous model in some of the MFS files.
> 
> If you have a 2TB drive handy in addition to the eventual 4TB destination drive send me a PM and I'll try to walk you through the rest. You'll also need Windows 7 or higher and VMWare Workstation.


Just to give some background of what I'm attempting versus what I'm starting with, I have a TCD746320 with the used, original 320gb drive. It's running the latest 20.x software. I want to replace the original 320gb drive to the 4TB WD40EZRX (green) drive I have. The original 320gb has never been tampered with. I have a backup of it's current state doing a Modified Full Backup using DvrBARS.


----------



## cykotix

It looks like Virtualbox can mount VHD files, so I imagine using that should be just as good as VMWare unless you had a specific reason that's a better option. As an intermediary drive, I have a spare 3TB WD (red). I haven't connected it to anything yet. Hopefully that will be satisfactory to use for this process.


----------



## cykotix

If I understand your original methodology, I would have the original VHD backup, create a blank 2TB VHD on the 3TB drive and have the eventual 4TB destination drive physically connected. All 3 drives would be connected to the VM (booting JMFS?) - 320gb VHD, 2TB VHD, 4TB physical.


----------



## cykotix

I apologize for all the short responses to get my post count to 10 to PM. I appreciate any and all help to get this accomplished. I intend to do the same thing on my TCD746500.


----------



## UCLABB

I'm about to do a backup and restore for my 2tb XL4. Will be doing a modified restore and my disc is about 60% full. Will permanently delete recently deleted files. 

I will be using an external drive case using an Esata connection. In order to plan this out to minimize problems with the TiVo being down, can someone give me an idea roughly how long the back up and restore steps will take?


----------



## ggieseke

cykotix said:


> If I understand your original methodology, I would have the original VHD backup, create a blank 2TB VHD on the 3TB drive and have the eventual 4TB destination drive physically connected. All 3 drives would be connected to the VM (booting JMFS?) - 320gb VHD, 2TB VHD, 4TB physical.


The first goal would be to create a 2TB drive based on the 758 image and let it update in the TiVo to the latest software. Until the OS is updated it won't even boot on a larger drive even though the partition table is only using 2TB of the available space. I started my 4TB upgrade with an image of the original 758 drive running on a WD20EURS.

The second virtual drive would be created with Disk Manager on Windows 7 or later. I don't know virtualbox, but if it talks VHD files it should work.

After that we get to the complicated bits...


----------



## cykotix

Is there a need to start with a 758 image if I have the factory 746 drive and it's going back in the same 746? That image already has the latest software since its in use.


----------



## ggieseke

cykotix said:


> Is there a need to start with a 758 image if I have the factory 746 drive and it's going back in the same 746? That image already has the latest software since its in use.


Not at all. I just started there because my 748 was already running the 758 image to see if it worked. It's a handy starting point due to the 2TB factory layout and 4K alignment.

See jmbach's 3TB thread for details. The process will be similar. Expand to 2TB and coalesce partitions back down to 14, then expand into the remaining space.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=512153


----------



## boyet_m

Anyone has a clean image of a 750500? Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

boyet_m said:


> Anyone has a clean image of a 750500? Thanks


PM sent.


----------



## randomtech

I succeeded in reviving my Premiere XL with your tool. Thanks so much. I have also expanded with JMFS to 2 TB. I have not succeeded in getting the WD Align tool to work on the drive though. I find the instructions her daunting. If anyone has a cheat sheet on how to accomplish thin on an existing drive I would like to see it. Perhaps you might consider integrating JMFS and an Align function or streamlining the process? I made a small donation to the cause. Thanks again.


----------



## jmbach

WD Align tool does not recognize the TiVo partition structure so it will not work. There is a tool that will copy and align the drive. (the tool is found in the 4TB DIY thread or in the 320GB > 1TB > 2TB thread) it will align during the copy process from one drive to another.


----------



## HerronScott

jmbach said:


> WD Align tool does not recognize the TiVo partition structure so it will not work. There is a tool that will copy and align the drive. (the tool is found in the 4TB DIY thread or in the 320GB > 1TB > 2TB thread) it will align during the copy process from one drive to another.


Would that tool work for the original S3 OLED except for the JMFS expansion (alignment that is going from 1TB to 2TB) and would WinMFS then be able to expand the resulting drive?

Scott


----------



## UCLABB

I now have a good replacement drive and I'm ready to clone my HDD. However, I'm worried that I may copy some bad data, stuff that is causing problems on the HDD, and I'll just end up with the same problems on the cloned drive. If that happens, can I use the new drive to simply put an image on it after erasing the drive or whatever is appropriate. I'm not sure how to "erase" the drive if that would work.


----------



## jmbach

HerronScott said:


> Would that tool work for the original S3 OLED except for the JMFS expansion (alignment that is going from 1TB to 2TB) and would WinMFS then be able to expand the resulting drive?
> 
> Scott


I believe it will and it should not affect WinMFS operation.


----------



## ggieseke

UCLABB said:


> I now have a good replacement drive and I'm ready to clone my HDD. However, I'm worried that I may copy some bad data, stuff that is causing problems on the HDD, and I'll just end up with the same problems on the cloned drive. If that happens, can I use the new drive to simply put an image on it after erasing the drive or whatever is appropriate. I'm not sure how to "erase" the drive if that would work.


If there is corruption in the OS partitions or the MFS application partitions the problems will probably continue. In that case, starting over from a clean image would be your best option.

Erasing the drive isn't necessary, but if you use DvrBARS and want to be absolutely sure, just do a Full restore instead of a Quick restore. That will zero out the unused sectors.

On a 2TB Premiere, about 99.7% of the drive is taken up by the MFS media partitions, so your odds of a successful clone are actually pretty good. Even if you do copy a few corrupt recordings it wouldn't be the end of the world.


----------



## Jeremy999

I would love to get a clean image for my Premiere XL TCD74800. 

I was in a GSOD loop that I started when I did KS57 to try and fix an apparent drive issue. I bought a new 3TB drive today and used ddrescue to clone the old drive. But the new drive is also stuck in GSOD now.


----------



## ggieseke

Jeremy999 said:


> I would love to get a clean image for my Premiere XL TCD74800.
> 
> I was in a GSOD loop that I started when I did KS57 to try and fix an apparent drive issue. I bought a new 3TB drive today and used ddrescue to clone the old drive. But the new drive is also stuck in GSOD now.


I sent you a PM with a link to the image, but there's another problem unless you made a typo. The factory 748 image has version 14.5 software, and it won't boot on a 3TB drive. You need to write the image to a 1 or 2 TB drive first and let it update to the latest software. Then you can back it up and restore it to the 3TB drive. Check out jmbach's 3TB Premiere thread for info on expanding it to use the entire disk.


----------



## Jeremy999

ggieseke said:


> I sent you a PM with a link to the image, but there's another problem unless you made a typo. The factory 748 image has version 14.5 software, and it won't boot on a 3TB drive. You need to write the image to a 1 or 2 TB drive first and let it update to the latest software. Then you can back it up and restore it to the 3TB drive. Check out jmbach's 3TB Premiere thread for info on expanding it to use the entire disk.


Thanks for the image...it got me back up and running! Any tips on how to get the Tivo to download the new software version? I've manually connected 7 times and rebooted 3 times, but I'm still on 14.5. I even tried KS 56 once and that didnt do anything.


----------



## ggieseke

Every time I've run it, the update is immediate. You get just far enough into Guided Setup for it to connect to the mothership and it makes that first monster download.

You could try running C&DE.


----------



## Jeremy999

ggieseke said:


> Every time I've run it, the update is immediate. You get just far enough into Guided Setup for it to connect to the mothership and it makes that first monster download.
> 
> You could try running C&DE.


I tried C&DE, but I still couldn't get the software to update. I noticed in the var/tvlog that there is a repeating error relating to an SSL certificate failing to be validated. I'm not sure if that's related or not, but a Tivo rep said they updated their SSL certificates in Oct 2013.

A Tivo support rep told me that their systems don't allow a version as old as 14.5 to pull down the current version of their software anymore. He gave me a real hard time about how could my software mysteriously revert back to v14.5 without me doing something that isn't allowed, and tried telling me that I'm not supported anymore.

Does anyone have a newer image for the Premiere XL (748)?


----------



## ggieseke

Jeremy999 said:


> I tried C&DE, but I still couldn't get the software to update. I noticed in the var/tvlog that there is a repeating error relating to an SSL certificate failing to be validated. I'm not sure if that's related or not, but a Tivo rep said they updated their SSL certificates in Oct 2013.
> 
> A Tivo support rep told me that their systems don't allow a version as old as 14.5 to pull down the current version of their software anymore. He gave me a real hard time about how could my software mysteriously revert back to v14.5 without me doing something that isn't allowed, and tried telling me that I'm not supported anymore.
> 
> Does anyone have a newer image for the Premiere XL (748)?


Weird. I have been sending that image to people at least a few times a month since April 2013, and if anyone else had problems with updating they didn't mention it. Also, they usually ship every TiVo with the same OS that it came with originally and make you sit through the update.

I don't have a newer "clean" image, but I'll try to replicate your problem this weekend. If they have done something to keep 14.5 drives from updating automatically most of my images are shot.


----------



## squint

What is a "clean" image? Are they from TiVos straight out of the box before even being on for the first time?

If not, I have a lifetime 748 that has no recordings on it and which I believe was given a clear and delete everything by its previous owner. It's been connected to the 'net recently so I'm sure it's fairly up-to-date.


----------



## ggieseke

squint said:


> What is a "clean" image? Are they from TiVos straight out of the box before even being on for the first time?
> 
> If not, I have a lifetime 748 that has no recordings on it and which I believe was given a clear and delete everything by its previous owner. It's been connected to the 'net recently so I'm sure it's fairly up-to-date.


That should be fine, especially after the C&DE. There's something in later OS releases that throws off my calculations for truncated backups and they're too big to be practical. I think it's including recordings even though it shouldn't.


----------



## ggieseke

Jeremy999,

OK, it's definitely NOT a certificate issue. I restored the same 748 image running 14.5 to a 1TB drive this morning before work (I did a Full restore) and installed it this afternoon.

I told it my zip code was 00000 and after the first call home (about 10 minutes) later I chose "Tiny TiVo" and "CableCARD to come later". Thanks nooneyouknow for that tip.

It went through the first call home in a few minutes and immediately said that an Important Service Update was pending. I won't go into every detail since your internet speed will have a HUGE effect, but about an hour later after rebooting itself a few times and another call home it was on 20.4.1.

When I set up that same XL the first time it took nearly the whole day and several failed downloads, but I guess a 50Mbps Comcast connection beats my old DSL line to death.

You're probably going to have to add a C&DE to my results since the original image came off of my XL, but the SSL excuse is BS. If you try this procedure and it still doesn't update, I would call TiVo and have them create an entirely new account for you and switch it to that account. That has fixed a surprising number of really weird problems lately over at the official TiVo forums.


----------



## squint

Do you still need a 748 image from me?


----------



## telemark

Jeremy999: I had a box with that symptom. I was waiting for ggieseke to run his test before mentioning it.

I assumed the SSL errors were blocking the update. But closer I looked at it, the box was not being told there was a new update by the servers. Which is a mapping based on the TSN.

Do you know the history of this this box, did it come from an odd source? Was it updating before your HD replacement?

I never made any progress except, eventually the next SW release was about to come up, and signing up for the priority list, made it go away, and has updated automatically since.

My personal opinion:
In retrospect, I would not have done this, because the newer updates is making the box slower. I would have just updated to a 20.3.8-ish image and be glad it's never going to get anything new, but it's not going to break either.


----------



## nooneuknow

ggieseke said:


> I told it my zip code was 00000 and after the first call home (about 10 minutes) later I chose "Tiny TiVo" and "CableCARD to come later". Thanks *nooneyouknow* for that tip.


You're welcome, I think 

If you thought it was a timesaver with the old installer, you should try it after the update, with the added advanced Installer Express option (skips all the minor settings, and only does what must be done to update and complete)!

BTW, using that was a critical part of me recovering that one Roamio with the database issues, while I was refusing/resisting doing a C&DE, change drives, or trying putting my TiVos under a new account.

I did a series of repeating GS w/00000, CPI&TDL, KS57&58, then back to correct lineup, and that "problem child" is now back up to full speed, and not rebooting. No loss of SPs or recordings!

I get the feeling that TiVo corrupted quite a few TSNs/accounts, and just how many will take time for us to find out. I'm sure some will require new accounts.

I'm with telemark, on wishing it was possible to recreate a lock-out of updates. I'd love to be stuck on 20.3.8, and not suffering the 20.4.1 blues...

I know that would likely cause issues, but would they be more issues than TiVo already provides us, as-is?

I wonder what TiVo will fix (break) with the "Summer Update"...


----------



## ggieseke

squint said:


> Do you still need a 748 image from me?


I'm going to image it tonight after work in case Jeremy999 can't get his to update any other way. Since it has no recordings it should be less than 2GB, but I'll let you know if I need one. Thanks.


----------



## telemark

The other reason I mentioned 20.3.8 is we'll know the same day the box is still not updating. If he installs with 20.4.1, we won't know it's still broken until the next software update.


----------



## nooneuknow

telemark said:


> The other reason I mentioned 20.3.8 is we'll know the same day the box is still not updating. If he installs with 20.4.1, we won't know it's still broken until the next software update.


One of my goals is to find a way to stop updates, without killing the TiVo. See my post in the 4TB project thread about a way I might have found, by accident.

It's a way that would only work pre-Roamio (before system on flash design). I had accidentally typed ddrescue /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2 , essentially knocking an alternate system partition out of action, by copying the boot sector to the beginning of it. Didn't break the TiVo, wasn't repairable with kickskarts, but also didn't create a bootloop, as I would have fully expected when I threw the kickstarts at it.

I'm sure you'll be able to figure out if it will block more than just a KS52 attempt to change the active partition & re-install, such as a freshly downloaded update.

Everybody else: Please don't try this at home, unless you are willing to have to re-image due to unforeseen issues/complications, which could also happen down the road, not just right now.


----------



## bacon612

rodnig1 said:


> FYI: it does work for the directivo THR22-100. i messed around with another drive, and it appears to have worked fine.
> 
> But, i originally had a 1tb installed, and tried it with a new 2TB and wasnt able to get the additional space allocated. Im sure its something i did wrong, so ill mess around a little more and try again


You ever get this to work? I am about to upgrade my THR22-100 with its 500 GB drive to a spare 1.5TB drive i have laying around.

Edit: Somehow the 500 gig seagate pipeline in my dtv tivo died when i removed it. It wont spin up anymore. I popped a 1.5TB seagate in it and it formatted it and is working great. I did loose all my content tho. Whatever.


----------



## awilson8

Sorry to fill up thread but I don't have the post count to PM.

Seeking clean image for 758250 that died today. I promise that I shall never again let a TiVo exit warranty status without backing it up first...


----------



## [NG]Owner

jmbach said:


> Go to the DvrBARS thread and pitch for an image there. The image you get will need to be updated to at least version 20.3.8 for the TiVo to recognize a 3TB drive or larger.


So I am here pitching for an image. TCD746xxx updated to at least 20.3.8. Anyone help a fellow Tivo enthusiast out?

[NG]Owner


----------



## ggieseke

awilson8 said:


> Sorry to fill up thread but I don't have the post count to PM.
> 
> Seeking clean image for 758250 that died today. I promise that I shall never again let a TiVo exit warranty status without backing it up first...


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

[NG]Owner;10147283 said:


> So I am here pitching for an image. TCD746xxx updated to at least 20.3.8. Anyone help a fellow Tivo enthusiast out?
> 
> [NG]Owner


PM sent.


----------



## Jeremy999

After complaining and escalating at Tivo, they agreed to submit a ticket to some other technical support group at Tivo and then I got an email saying that my box was ready to be updated. Indeed, I was able to connect and download the latest version.

I'm still experiencing freezing and rebooting though. And today I have a new problem: recordings that are mismatched and under the wrong folders. When I try to delete them, they wont delete (and sometimes trying that makes my box reboot). WD Diagnostics says my drive is fine, but maybe I will try a new drive.

You know, I think the problems on my Premiere started around the same time that I added a Roamio to my account. Think that could be related?


----------



## unitron

Jeremy999 said:


> After complaining and escalating at Tivo, they agreed to submit a ticket to some other technical support group at Tivo and then I got an email saying that my box was ready to be updated. Indeed, I was able to connect and download the latest version.
> 
> I'm still experiencing freezing and rebooting though. And today I have a new problem: recordings that are mismatched and under the wrong folders. When I try to delete them, they wont delete (and sometimes trying that makes my box reboot). WD Diagnostics says my drive is fine, but maybe I will try a new drive.
> 
> You know, I think the problems on my Premiere started around the same time that I added a Roamio to my account. Think that could be related?


Well, I've seen plenty of evidence of hardware jealousy where you no sooner get a new piece of gear in the door than something else starts pitching fits and demanding special attention.


----------



## lessd

unitron said:


> Well, I've seen plenty of evidence of hardware jealousy where you no sooner get a new piece of gear in the door than something else starts pitching fits and demanding special attention.


Great statement,* hardware jealousy*, never though of that problem that way. :up:


----------



## telemark

Jeremy999 said:


> ... rebooting ...


Rebooting can often leave an error message in the logs, so I would look there.

I think this box deserves it's own thread, getting hard to put all the relevant history info together.


----------



## ggieseke

lessd said:


> Great statement,* hardware jealousy*, never though of that problem that way. :up:


That works the other way too. You should have seen the look on my fully-loaded Arctic White C5 Corvette's face when I got sick of Chevy's BS and replaced it with a used Toyota from a salvage yard.


----------



## unitron

lessd said:


> Great statement,* hardware jealousy*, never though of that problem that way. :up:


It's kinda like gremlins, but situation specific.


----------



## nooneuknow

Helpful tips & explanations for all:

Use my trick of using 00000 zip code, Tiny TiVo as provider, run a C&DE on the updated image, pull the plug on the reboot once the C&DE operation has completed, which self-triggers a reboot (preferably before the KS [kickstart] window of opportunity, or before the "almost there" screen at the latest), make a backup of that, and upload it for distribution, or just use for yourself, if that's how you roll.

The 00000 zip code & Tiny TiVo provider trick only downloads one channel worth of empty guide data, keeping the new backup image small as can be, and saves time. A cablecard can be paired in this setup, but the channels can only be tested using "test channels using M-card" via DVR Diagnostics screens. This is just a FYI, for those who may use this trick for the many other uses I've found for it, like purging out corrupted data related to an existing zip and provider's guide data.

The reason for the C&DE with timed power-pull is to stop the drive from becoming married to the TSN of the board it is updated on, eliminating image recipients from having to repeat guided setup twice, with a C&DE between the two, to remove any existing host board TSN-to-drive marriage.

Once the software has reached a certain version number, the second screen of GS, where you select demo/home setup, has a "press enter for advanced options" option, which adds Installer Express mode to the choices, saving a big chunk of time, by only doing the absolute minimum GS needs to, leaving all the little personalized preferences to be set later through the menus.

If you want to see what software version is on a drive that boots into GS, without running it, press Info button on the very first GS screen (Select Country). It's at the bottom of the screen, when displayed.

*EDIT/ADD*: I had left out it is best that the only things connected, until done, are:

1. Power cord/supply.
2. Ethernet cable (or wireless, if you absolutely can't do RJ45 ethernet).

What absolutely should NOT be connected:
1. Coaxial cable for cable or antenna.

Why: If a video source is available, the TiVo will continuously process and buffer all tuners, making the resulting image larger for every zeroed-sector that is changed to in the process. A C&DE does not re-zero the sectors that get changed. Even though the buffer, per tuner, is 30 minutes, it still moves forward though more sectors for as long as the TiVo is on, and has a coax connection providing cable or antenna connectivity. For the cleanest and smallest backup image, this is a big deal.

I suppose (theoretically) somebody who insists on using MoCA, could just remove the cable/antenna input coax to the MoCA, and just use the coax for networking only.


----------



## xdroccax

I've been trying to create a 746/748 image that can be used with dvrBARS to restore on either a 3Tb or 4Tb drive. Check out this post #64 over at the DIY 4TB thread. Managed to get a 2Tb drive (WD Red) to the state where the final VHD is to be made. Tried using dvrBARS to backup the 2Tb drive (all three methods of backup), but it is hanging on scanning partition 9. Actually, the dvrBARS process is running the cpu around 50% constant, but the hard drive access stops after a few seconds. Waited about an hour on the Truncated method and still the same results. It would basically start the backup process like normal, but once it hits partition 9 it would read for a few seconds, than 'hang'. Any ideas what's the issue?

Btw, the 2Tb can copy via JMFS v1.05 to a 4Tb (than expand) just fine. It works great actually! Just need to figure out how to capture the VHD of the 2Tb.


----------



## ThAbtO

This partition may be one of those that are huge, and would take a long while to complete.


----------



## xdroccax

ThAbtO said:


> This partition may be one of those that are huge, and would take a long while to complete.


I thought that too, but when I used it in an USB adapter the LED did not show any disk activity (read, or write). When i let it see for about 20 minutes, the drive had actually spun down (stopped).


----------



## nooneuknow

xdroccax said:


> I thought that too, but when I used it in an USB adapter the LED did not show any disk activity (read, or write). When i let it see for about 20 minutes, the drive had actually spun down (stopped).


I've had this happen too. I have a version of DVRBARS that skips the check for the drive being a TiVo drive, and it starts off promising, then the activity lights go out on my USB 3.0 docks. But, the program will complete, after hours of no LED activity, create a file around the size (I would guess) it should be, but the actual data inside the VHD only goes as far as the time the LEDs were showing activity...

I wrote it off as "it was worth a shot". What I was trying to do was create a VHD backup of some laptop drives, with the VHD files going to another drive. None of them completed properly.

The same docks have been used with the regular DVRBARS to backup and restore a great many TiVo drives. It's not a large-drive issue, since the laptop drives are only 500GB, 750GB, & 1TB, while the drive I formatted to NTFS to write the VHD files to was 2TB.

Could be some other problem. I just thought now was a good time to bring it up.


----------



## ggieseke

xdroccax said:


> I've been trying to create a 746/748 image that can be used with dvrBARS to restore on either a 3Tb or 4Tb drive. Check out this post #64 over at the DIY 4TB thread. Managed to get a 2Tb drive (WD Red) to the state where the final VHD is to be made. Tried using dvrBARS to backup the 2Tb drive (all three methods of backup), but it is hanging on scanning partition 9. Actually, the dvrBARS process is running the cpu around 50% constant, but the hard drive access stops after a few seconds. Waited about an hour on the Truncated method and still the same results. It would basically start the backup process like normal, but once it hits partition 9 it would read for a few seconds, than 'hang'. Any ideas what's the issue?
> 
> Btw, the 2Tb can copy via JMFS v1.05 to a 4Tb (than expand) just fine. It works great actually! Just need to figure out how to capture the VHD of the 2Tb.


A Full backup should have worked unless there's something wrong with the drive or the connection to the computer. It doesn't go through the "scanning" process the read the ext2 and MFS file systems, it just reads bytes in a row. I have even used it to virtualize Windows drives.

Your first pic shows it scanning the /var partition. I only copy it to be nice to the hackers that have modified it on older models. If something is corrupted in the ext2 file system on that partition you can just zero those sectors with a hex editor.

Not sure what else to say. The code will always pop up an error message if any of the Windows API calls fail and it's littered with sanity checks, but something unexpected must have thrown it into a Hotel California loop.


----------



## romannyc

My Premier just crashed. :-( Does anyone have an Image for a: Premiere xl4 (tcd758250) ? I will be restoring it to a 3tb drive. From what I have read in the thread I need to use hdparam.... Can someone send me the commands for that as well? 

I would greatly appreciate it ..

Thanks..


----------



## jmbach

If you use the 2TB XL4 image you can use the patched version of JMFS and go right to 4TB. No hdparm. The only caveat is that the image needs one of the later OS revisions for the OS to not bootloop on a drive greater than 2TB.


----------



## romannyc

jmbach said:


> If you use the 2TB XL4 image you can use the patched version of JMFS and go right to 4TB. No hdparm. The only caveat is that the image needs one of the later OS revisions for the OS to not bootloop on a drive greater than 2TB.


Sounds perfect. Where do I get the patched version of JMFS from as well as the newer image?


----------



## jmbach

The  patched version of JMFS is here. 

Might see if ggieseke has an image that will not bootloop on large drives.


----------



## romannyc

jmbach said:


> The
> Might see if ggieseke has an image that will not bootloop on large drives.


Hopefully he will see my posts, I can't PM do to my lack of posts even though I've been a member for 10 years..


----------



## ThAbtO

romannyc said:


> Hopefully he will see my posts, I can't PM do to my lack of posts even though I've been a member for 10 years..


The ultimate silent type.


----------



## unitron

romannyc said:


> Hopefully he will see my posts, I can't PM do to my lack of posts even though I've been a member for 10 years..


And if you'd only posted once in each of those years, even just to let us know how you're doing, you'd be able to PM now.

After you answer this post, you'll only have 6 more to go.


----------



## ThAbtO

unitron said:


> After you answer this post, you'll only have 6 more to go.


Quit putting words, er, uh posts, into his mouth!


----------



## ggieseke

romannyc said:


> Hopefully he will see my posts, I can't PM do to my lack of posts even though I've been a member for 10 years..


PM sent. Thank awilson8 for the 758 20.4.1 image.


----------



## jmbach

Has anybody tried DvrBARS on a 20.4.2 image yet to see the resultant truncated backup file size.


----------



## romannyc

ggieseke said:


> PM sent. Thank awilson8 for the 758 20.4.1 image.


Thank YOU!!!

Right now I am restoring it to a 3tb drive. From my understanding with this version and with the modified version of jmfs (jmfs-rev105-krbaker-tivotools)... I can simply just expand it?


----------



## jmbach

Yes


----------



## chuckcheeze

ggieseke
if i am reading your post correctly, this may save me. i can restore from an image onto any drive and it will bring the tivo and hard drive into factory setting with no recordings...right?

my hard drive is failing (random flickers) and i cannot find my original 320GB OEM drive. i am so stressed.

i have most of my recording on a nas, so i can pytivo back onto the tivo.


----------



## ThAbtO

chuckcheeze said:


> ggieseke
> if i am reading your post correctly, this may save me. i can restore from an image onto any drive and it will bring the tivo and hard drive into factory setting with no recordings...right?


Yes, pretty close to factory, but you would have to run Clear & Delete Everything after the image installed. Otherwise, it will not record, the TSN will be all ZEROs, drive not married to the MB/Tivo, etc.


----------



## nooneuknow

ThAbtO said:


> Yes, pretty close to factory, but you would have to run Clear & Delete Everything after the image installed. Otherwise, it will not record, the TSN will be all ZEROs, drive not married to the MB/Tivo, etc.


There are exceptions to this.

If the person who made the image never booted the TiVo (creating a "virgin" image), I believe the drive has not yet been married to the board's TSN. I wish I was 100% sure on this always being true (hazy memory). *EDIT/ADD: It has been verified by others that a "virgin" image, made from a never-booted factory-imaged drive, does not require a C&DE to work on another TiVo.*

If the person who made the image did a C&DE before making the image, and had pulled power at the reboot after the C&DE completed, not allowing the TiVo to get past the kickstart window of opportunity or to the second booting screen with "almost there...", it will definitely not require the image recipients to do a C&DE.

While I'm all for "better safe than sorry", I feel your post is a bit extreme in how it states what will happen, what will be, and what must be done, as an absolute statement.

A better way to say it, is "If your TSN does not show correctly in System Information, you will need to do a C&DE". That's an absolute statement, which is always the case (unless there is some other issue causing it, which a C&DE might have no effect on anyway).


----------



## lessd

nooneuknow said:


> There are exceptions to this.
> 
> If the person who made the image never booted the TiVo (creating a "virgin" image), I believe the drive has not yet been married to the board's TSN. I wish I was 100% sure on this always being true (hazy memory).
> 
> If the person who made the image did a C&DE before making the image, and had pulled power at the reboot after the C&DE completed, not allowing the TiVo to get past the kickstart window of opportunity or to the second booting screen with "almost there...", it will definitely not require the image recipients to do a C&DE.
> 
> While I'm all for "better safe than sorry", I feel your post is a bit extreme in how it states what will happen, what will be, and what must be done, as an absolute statement.
> 
> A better way to say it, is "If your TSN does not show correctly in System Information, you will need to do a C&DE". That's an absolute statement, which is always the case (unless there is some other issue causing it, which a C&DE might have no effect on anyway).


All my TiVo images are made by starting C&D all than after the welcome screen I pull the plug and make a copy of the drive, except for the Roamio product.


----------



## jmbach

The true virgin factory image does not need a c&de and gets married to the TiVo at first run. Problem is that it run an older OS and does not support drives over 2TB.


----------



## nooneuknow

jmbach said:


> The true virgin factory image does not need a c&de and gets married to the TiVo at first run. Problem is that it run an older OS and does not support drives over 2TB.


Thanks for clearing that up (I erred on the side of caution). I'm aware of the latter issue, which is why I'm always posting directions for making the cleanest, smallest, and already unmarried, updated images. All of that should be here, and in a dozen other threads already.

OTOH, sometimes we forget that some are just looking to restore the stock drive with a clean image, or they only plan on using a max of 2TB.

It would be nice if more people, having the right models, provided images with a newer software, not married to a TSN, which ideally begins with a virgin image.


----------



## nooneuknow

lessd said:


> All my TiVo images are made by starting C&D all than after the welcome screen I pull the plug and make a copy of the drive, except for the Roamio product.


So, if I am reading this right, you start the C&DE, only as far as selecting it from the menu, then pull power before it performs it?

That works, but some image recipients (if you share your images), might panic if the first thing they see upon booting with the image is the C&DE boot-time screen.

If you keep your images just for yourself, that works just fine. I've done it that way, when the image was just for my use, and I didn't have time to watch for the reboot after boot-time C&DE (final stage of process) process completed. It's faster for the making of the image, and slower on the TiVo it winds up used with. I seem to recall the final image/backup size being larger than it needed to be, and it didn't compress (zip) down as well, either.


----------



## ggieseke

chuckcheeze said:


> ggieseke
> if i am reading your post correctly, this may save me. i can restore from an image onto any drive and it will bring the tivo and hard drive into factory setting with no recordings...right?


It sounds like you have a TCD746320, but please confirm the model number so I can send you a link to the correct image.

My 746 image requires a C&DE. It was updated from 14.5 to 20.2.0a before being backed up. The 748 & 758 images were from 14.5 factory virgins.

I also have 748 & 758 images running 20.4.1. If anyone has a nice clean 746 image running 20.4.x I'd be glad to host it for those looking to break the 2TB limit.


----------



## lessd

nooneuknow said:


> So, if I am reading this right, you start the C&DE, only as far as selecting it from the menu, then pull power before it performs it?
> 
> That works, but some image recipients (if you share your images), might panic if the first thing they see upon booting with the image is the C&DE boot-time screen.
> 
> If you keep your images just for yourself, that works just fine. I've done it that way, when the image was just for my use, and I didn't have time to watch for the reboot after boot-time C&DE (final stage of process) process completed. It's faster for the making of the image, and slower on the TiVo it winds up used with. I seem to recall the final image/backup size being larger than it needed to be, and it didn't compress (zip) down as well, either.


When I do share such an image I give instructions to the user telling them that the first part of the first boot is to marry the TiVo to the drive, never been a problem.


----------



## nooneuknow

lessd said:


> When I do share such an image I give instructions to the user telling them that the first part of the first boot is to marry the TiVo to the drive, never been a problem.


OK. That leaves the part I was leaving out/waiting on, until I confirmed that.

As we've noticed, some (not just one), give universal (one size fits all) statements on shared images, that they requiring a C&DE once the recipient's TiVo completes setup. I've already covered the two distinct scenarios where that does not apply. Your imaging method adds another dimension.

You are the only person doing as you describe, and sharing the images, that I'm aware of. You have no control over what happens to your images once you share them. If the images are being further distributed (which is likely), and the instructions/explanations don't get passed along with the images "out in the wild", that's bound to confuse some image recipients (maybe even incite panic), as well as those who may reply to posts about "why did this image do this?". Any unrelated issue, where the image recipient mentions the way the drive first booted, would likely have many questioning if the image was good, suggesting re-imaging, and/or suggesting to obtain a different image (as nobody is used to seeing a shared image boot into the C&DE process/screen).

Sometimes I've wondered if it was best if donor images were all provided as-is (in the usual states). Those who don't do their homework, would always post the same issue (with non-virgin drives), and a singular reply would remain the same "Run a C&DE to unmarry & remarry the image to the TiVo's TSN". It's a short question with a short answer. I won't go into the larger drive capacity and software revision matters, just yet.

Since those making the images have no control over what happens to them later, it would be best to include a README_FIRST.txt file in the image archive file.

The time you save with your method, has great potential to add more new threads, more posts, and increase the amount of time the helping people in the community have to spend assisting recipients of images created from a drive in an unconventional state.

Everybody appreciates that people create and share images in the first place. They also appreciate those hosting links to re-share them. We all appreciate those who make the tools/utilities to do so. I try to simplify things for all image recipients, by posting my guides to preparing drives for imaging. I do not wish to put you into a defensive position, over my concerns.

Things got more complicated since the Premiere software reached a revision allowing it to boot on a >2TB drive. This is not uncharted territory, though. The TiVo HD had to reach a software revision level to support >1.26TB (without pre-imaged drives, or a lot of complex work). There were similar matters with older models.

There were specific variables before, virgin image or non-virgin image, the software version and drive size. I added my own way to eliminate the need to complete GS, only to have to re-complete it, after a C&DE, plus added already having the software already at the required version for larger drive support, eliminating intermediate drives. I added complexity to making the image, while making it easy-peasy for anybody who gets the image, no matter how they got it.

Sometimes it helps the community to not add more variables than there needs to be (especially when it comes to those who try to provide help/support). Unless you assign a special identifier to the filename of the image file, that makes it stand out as "unconventional", when it gets into the wild, I am a bit concerned about how much complexity it may add. I'm also wondering what possible problems might arise if an image from a drive in that state is used as a base for further operations, and the recipient fails to boot the drive the image is applied to, and let it return to a conventional state, before performing further operations.

I've tried very hard to make this post about keeping things simple for those who get the images you make, from the wild, as well as simple for those who try to answer questions they may post here. None of it is intended to imply ingratitude, and/or imply that you are doing anything wrong. If I wasn't trying so hard on those fronts, it would be much shorter...


----------



## chuckcheeze

ggieseke said:


> It sounds like you have a TCD746320, but please confirm the model number so I can send you a link to the correct image.
> 
> My 746 image requires a C&DE. It was updated from 14.5 to 20.2.0a before being backed up. The 748 & 758 images were from 14.5 factory virgins.
> 
> I also have 748 & 758 images running 20.4.1. If anyone has a nice clean 746 image running 20.4.x I'd be glad to host it for those looking to break the 2TB limit.


ggieseke, yes, i have TCD746320. please share link to image.

i just ddrescued in a new drive this weekend and i am still getting flicker. it is good you have an earlier version, because my tivo started to flicker when i got the summer update and there was a lightening storm. not sure what is happening. so frustrating!


----------



## nooneuknow

chuckcheeze said:


> ggieseke, yes, i have TCD746320. please share link to image.
> 
> i just ddrescued in a new drive this weekend and i am still getting flicker. it is good you have an earlier version, because my tivo started to flicker when i got the summer update and there was a lightening storm. not sure what is happening. so frustrating!


I sincerely doubt even a new hard drive with a new image will fix that specific problem, with those specific circumstances. You will get the update again, if you had some illusion you could stay on older software.

It won't hurt to see what happens. Just don't get your hopes up...


----------



## chuckcheeze

nooneuknow said:


> I sincerely doubt even a new hard drive with a new image will fix that specific problem, with those specific circumstances. You will get the update again, if you had some illusion you could stay on older software.
> 
> It won't hurt to see what happens. Just don't get your hopes up...


i am keeping my hopes low with the image. after i reboot with the old drive and newly image drive, it works for about an hour and then the flicker comes back.

fingers crossed if the image work.


----------



## lessd

nooneuknow said:


> OK. That leaves the part I was leaving out/waiting on, until I confirmed that.
> 
> As we've noticed, some (not just one), give universal (one size fits all) statements on shared images, that they requiring a C&DE once the recipient's TiVo completes setup. I've already covered the two distinct scenarios where that does not apply. Your imaging method adds another dimension.
> 
> You are the only person doing as you describe, and sharing the images, that I'm aware of. You have no control over what happens to your images once you share them. If the images are being further distributed (which is likely), and the instructions/explanations don't get passed along with the images "out in the wild", that's bound to confuse some image recipients (maybe even incite panic), as well as those who may reply to posts about "why did this image do this?". Any unrelated issue, where the image recipient mentions the way the drive first booted, would likely have many questioning if the image was good, suggesting re-imaging, and/or suggesting to obtain a different image (as nobody is used to seeing a shared image boot into the C&DE process/screen).
> 
> Sometimes I've wondered if it was best if donor images were all provided as-is (in the usual states). Those who don't do their homework, would always post the same issue (with non-virgin drives), and a singular reply would remain the same "Run a C&DE to unmarry & remarry the image to the TiVo's TSN". It's a short question with a short answer. I won't go into the larger drive capacity and software revision matters, just yet.
> 
> Since those making the images have no control over what happens to them later, it would be best to include a README_FIRST.txt file in the image archive file.
> 
> The time you save with your method, has great potential to add more new threads, more posts, and increase the amount of time the helping people in the community have to spend assisting recipients of images created from a drive in an unconventional state.
> 
> Everybody appreciates that people create and share images in the first place. They also appreciate those hosting links to re-share them. We all appreciate those who make the tools/utilities to do so. I try to simplify things for all image recipients, by posting my guides to preparing drives for imaging. I do not wish to put you into a defensive position, over my concerns.
> 
> Things got more complicated since the Premiere software reached a revision allowing it to boot on a >2TB drive. This is not uncharted territory, though. The TiVo HD had to reach a software revision level to support >1.26TB (without pre-imaged drives, or a lot of complex work). There were similar matters with older models.
> 
> There were specific variables before, virgin image or non-virgin image, the software version and drive size. I added my own way to eliminate the need to complete GS, only to have to re-complete it, after a C&DE, plus added already having the software already at the required version for larger drive support, eliminating intermediate drives. I added complexity to making the image, while making it easy-peasy for anybody who gets the image, no matter how they got it.
> 
> Sometimes it helps the community to not add more variables than there needs to be (especially when it comes to those who try to provide help/support). Unless you assign a special identifier to the filename of the image file, that makes it stand out as "unconventional", when it gets into the wild, I am a bit concerned about how much complexity it may add. I'm also wondering what possible problems might arise if an image from a drive in that state is used as a base for further operations, and the recipient fails to boot the drive the image is applied to, and let it return to a conventional state, before performing further operations.
> 
> I've tried very hard to make this post about keeping things simple for those who get the images you make, from the wild, as well as simple for those who try to answer questions they may post here. None of it is intended to imply ingratitude, and/or imply that you are doing anything wrong. If I wasn't trying so hard on those fronts, it would be much shorter...


I only use my images with certain people on this Forum who know what their doing, or friends that would never share with anybody, I have send out drives with my image on them and a note, never had any returns or problems as it is hard to share a drive, for me the C&D works and saves the user much time as they don't have to do two setups and they get the newest software.


----------



## ggieseke

chuckcheeze said:


> i am keeping my hopes low with the image. after i reboot with the old drive and newly image drive, it works for about an hour and then the flicker comes back.
> 
> fingers crossed if the image work.


PM sent.


----------



## nooneuknow

lessd said:


> I only use my images with certain people on this Forum who know what their doing, or friends that would never share with anybody, I have send out drives with my image on them and a note, never had any returns or problems as it is hard to share a drive, for me the C&D works and saves the user much time as they don't have to do two setups and they get the newest software.


The way I outlined earlier in this thread does all of that, plus saves the recipients time on waiting for the C&DE process to complete, and makes the cleanest & smallest image possible, while providing all of that.

I guess since you seem sure your images won't leak into into the wild, I need not be concerned about what state the drive is in when you image it.


----------



## lessd

nooneuknow said:


> The way I outlined earlier in this thread does all of that, plus saves the recipients time on waiting for the C&DE process to complete, and makes the cleanest & smallest image, while possible providing all of that.
> 
> I guess since you seem sure your images won't leak into into the wild, I need not be concerned about what state the drive is in when you image it.


It has been some years since I have done any images for anybody but myself (except ggieseke who does know what he is doing).


----------



## bobade

Can you explain this DvrBARS behavior?

11/26/13 - Truncated backup of my WD20EARX (from TIVO TCD746320) successful, size 3.62 GB

8/2/14 - Same TIVO, same drive, same copy of DvrBARS (1.0.0.3), permanently deleted all of the Recently Deleted programs first and then successfully made a Truncated backup, size 106.4 GB.

Why the huge size disparity? Is bigger, better?

Will either of these truncated backups actually be able to create a functional 2TB TIVO drive? 

In my case I was able to copy my drive with JMFS, so I don't plan to use the DvrBARS restore functionality. But I have seen recent discussion of this issue on this thread, and want to report that permanently deleting the recently deleted files does not solve the problem.


----------



## bobade

Do you TIVO gurus replace drives before they fail?

Do you have any backup strategy?

I have 2 TIVOs - an HD with 1TB and a Premiere with 2TB - which are primarily used to record shows from cable so that we can watch what we want, when we want, and avoid commercials. Unfortunately, if a TIVO drive fails, all it contains can be lost.

The drives have been working well for 3 years, but I have decided to replace them both prophylactically. Is that crazy? One benefit is that the retired but functional drives are available to restore a new drive in the case of drive failure.

Regarding backup, the TIVOs are located in separate viewing areas, but are set to record most of the same shows, so I have a backup if one were to fail. This system works pretty well, but can be foiled by TIVOs failure to explicitly notify you when a recording is skipped because it is of lower priority.

I guess I'm willing to admit to my OCD tendencies. What do the rest of you do?


----------



## ggieseke

bobade said:


> Can you explain this DvrBARS behavior?
> 
> 11/26/13 - Truncated backup of my WD20EARX (from TIVO TCD746320) successful, size 3.62 GB
> 
> 8/2/14 - Same TIVO, same drive, same copy of DvrBARS (1.0.0.3), permanently deleted all of the Recently Deleted programs first and then successfully made a Truncated backup, size 106.4 GB.
> 
> Why the huge size disparity? Is bigger, better?
> 
> Will either of these truncated backups actually be able to create a functional 2TB TIVO drive?
> 
> In my case I was able to copy my drive with JMFS, so I don't plan to use the DvrBARS restore functionality. But I have seen recent discussion of this issue on this thread, and want to report that permanently deleting the recently deleted files does not solve the problem.


I still don't have an explanation for that behavior. Running C&DE does bring it back down to the size that I would expect with either Truncated or Modified Full backups, but I guess the RD programs isn't where the problem lies. I proposed that as a possible solution a while back and you're the first person who has tried it and posted the results. Thanks.

Both images should restore fine, it's just that the 106.4GB image is obviously way too big for a Truncated backup and includes sectors that it shouldn't.


----------



## HerronScott

bobade said:


> Do you TIVO gurus replace drives before they fail?
> 
> The drives have been working well for 3 years, but I have decided to replace them both prophylactically. Is that crazy? One benefit is that the retired but functional drives are available to restore a new drive in the case of drive failure.


I had asked a similar question a while back but didn't get much in the way of responses. My current 2 S3 OLED's both have 1TB drives that are 6 years old now. I too had thought of replacing them before they failed with new 2TB drives.

Scott


----------



## tommyjr

Looks like this forum would be quite helpful in figuring out how to fix (or replace) the hard drive in my TCD748000. But, where do I find an image file to use once I crack it open? Are there links anywhere? Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

tommyjr said:


> Looks like this forum would be quite helpful in figuring out how to fix (or replace) the hard drive in my TCD748000. But, where do I find an image file to use once I crack it open? Are there links anywhere? Thanks.


Check your Private Messages. I sent you a link.


----------



## tommyjr

ggieseke said:


> Check your Private Messages. I sent you a link.


Great! Thanks very much for your help.


----------



## unitron

bobade said:


> Do you TIVO gurus replace drives before they fail?
> 
> Do you have any backup strategy?
> 
> I have 2 TIVOs - an HD with 1TB and a Premiere with 2TB - which are primarily used to record shows from cable so that we can watch what we want, when we want, and avoid commercials. Unfortunately, if a TIVO drive fails, all it contains can be lost.
> 
> The drives have been working well for 3 years, but I have decided to replace them both prophylactically. Is that crazy? One benefit is that the retired but functional drives are available to restore a new drive in the case of drive failure.
> 
> Regarding backup, the TIVOs are located in separate viewing areas, but are set to record most of the same shows, so I have a backup if one were to fail. This system works pretty well, but can be foiled by TIVOs failure to explicitly notify you when a recording is skipped because it is of lower priority.
> 
> I guess I'm willing to admit to my OCD tendencies. What do the rest of you do?


None of my 2TB WD "green" AV drives have died yet, but I've had 2 "Caviar Green" WD20EADS drives (which I was running in a PC running Desktop and backing up shows to) go bad shortly after end of warranty, so If you can spare the money, I'd call it good practice.

And it'll give you an excuse to move that HD up to 2TB.


----------



## UCLABB

ggieseke said:


> I still don't have an explanation for that behavior. Running C&DE does bring it back down to the size that I would expect with either Truncated or Modified Full backups, but I guess the RD programs isn't where the problem lies. I proposed that as a possible solution a while back and you're the first person who has tried it and posted the results. Thanks.
> 
> Both images should restore fine, it's just that the 106.4GB image is obviously way too big for a Truncated backup and includes sectors that it shouldn't.


I just backed up my 2tb drive in my XL4 this morning. Used the truncated option and was about to tack it onto my desktop until I saw it was something like 1.5 tb and wouldn't fit on my 1tb OS drive. Fortunately I have another 3tb drive in the PC with plenty of room. I was hoping to also put the image on a flash drive for safe keeping, but obviously that is now out if the question.

I am now waiting out a full restore to a 2tb drive. I did full as I previously tried to do a restore on it in the past (bad external enclosure was fouling things up) and figured I'd play it safe and write zeros on unused parts.

Once the restore us done, I will put it in the TiVo to make are it boots up okay. Is there anything I need to do to make sure it is ready to be fully functional with full capacity in the TiVo if and when I need it should my existing drive have a problem?


----------



## nooneuknow

unitron said:


> None of my 2TB WD "green" AV drives have died yet, but I've had 2 "Caviar Green" WD20EADS drives (which I was running in a PC running Desktop and backing up shows to) go bad shortly after end of warranty, so If you can spare the money, I'd call it good practice.
> 
> And it'll give you an excuse to move that HD up to 2TB.


It's been my experience that a WD20EADS drive, running 24/7/365 for three years, will never spin up again, if powered off.

I've seen spindle motor lockup, head to platter seizing, and inability to spin-up in time before the drive aborts and tries again (over and over).

Even though it's outdated advice to stick a drive in the freezer, I've tried it a few times over the years (as a last resort), and can say it's been almost 10 years since the "hard drive in the freezer" method made a drive work again, for me, in any capacity.

There are far too many problems that that method can cause, and just make things worse, or create more problems (often taking any other valid methods off the table). Cooling the PCB can be done a number of ways, that don't create condensation. Even if sealed in a bag, with sealed cables coming out of the bag, there's still moisture in the air inside the drive, and what air is in the bag, even in the mojave desert.

In my recent experiences, when running 24/7, standard drives would last 2 years, and the AV ones 3 years (about the same length as the warranty). Anything longer is good luck, and gravy.

At some point, something changed with the drives and longevity. I still have a drive that is over 15 years old, ran 24/7 for about 10 years, was retired, but still powers-up, works, and passes all the tests I can throw at it. It sounds like a circular saw cutting through plywood, but just won't quit. 80GB WD Caviar 7200RPM PATA (the WD Black of the time period).

My new method is to test for slow-reading sectors that would cause AV issues, but not fail a test. I then word my RMA request to reflect that the drive has too many slow sectors to keep up with what I use it for. So far, that's worked well for me, when I have a drive close to warranty, that hasn't failed.

WD has just recently changed their whole RMA "Support Portal", and everything about registration & RMAs, so I have no idea if I could do that anymore...

I still have two stock 160GB drives, from some of the first TiVo HDs to go to retail, which don't work fast enough for TiVo use any more, but pass all standard tests with flying colors. I should run them through Spinrite testing and see what that level of testing says about them...


----------



## ggieseke

UCLABB said:


> I just backed up my 2tb drive in my XL4 this morning. Used the truncated option and was about to tack it onto my desktop until I saw it was something like 1.5 tb and wouldn't fit on my 1tb OS drive. Fortunately I have another 3tb drive in the PC with plenty of room. I was hoping to also put the image on a flash drive for safe keeping, but obviously that is now out if the question.
> 
> I am now waiting out a full restore to a 2tb drive. I did full as I previously tried to do a restore on it in the past (bad external enclosure was fouling things up) and figured I'd play it safe and write zeros on unused parts.
> 
> Once the restore us done, I will put it in the TiVo to make are it boots up okay. Is there anything I need to do to make sure it is ready to be fully functional with full capacity in the TiVo if and when I need it should my existing drive have a problem?


If the existing drive was already using the entire 2TB it should be fine. I don't resize or move partitions like WinMFS. Every byte that it backs up gets written to the exact same location during a restore. You can check the hours on the SI screen to be sure.

I gotta figure out why truncated backups are picking up so much extra stuff.


----------



## UCLABB

ggieseke said:


> If the existing drive was already using the entire 2TB it should be fine. I don't resize or move partitions like WinMFS. Every byte that it backs up gets written to the exact same location during a restore. You can check the hours on the SI screen to be sure.
> 
> I gotta figure out why truncated backups are picking up so much extra stuff.


Okay, here is what I noticed/did. While the backup said the file was 1.5tb and showed that when I clicked on properties afterward, I notice that checking the properties of the drive itself did not jive- by subtraction the file wasn't anything near that.

When I put the drive with the restore in the Tivo it still showed the listing of all the shows and the drive 50% full. The shows of course weren't there and I got an error when I tried to play them. I deleted all the shows to get down to zero disc usage.

I pulled the drive and ran a backup from it and the file size then was only about 2.7gb- a number I assume would be expected.

An interesting thing I noted was that the THX video WAS playable so apparently it is somewhere on that "truncated" area.

Greg, I am in awe of the work you and others do to help amateurs like myself deal with their TiVos. I made a modest contribution via Paypal.


----------



## ggieseke

UCLABB said:


> Okay, here is what I noticed/did. While the backup said the file was 1.5tb and showed that when I clicked on properties afterward, I notice that checking the properties of the drive itself did not jive- by subtraction the file wasn't anything near that.
> 
> When I put the drive with the restore in the Tivo it still showed the listing of all the shows and the drive 50% full. The shows of course weren't there and I got an error when I tried to play them. I deleted all the shows to get down to zero disc usage.
> 
> I pulled the drive and ran a backup from it and the file size then was only about 2.7gb- a number I assume would be expected.
> 
> An interesting thing I noted was that the THX video WAS playable so apparently it is somewhere on that "truncated" area.
> 
> Greg, I am in awe of the work you and others do to help amateurs like myself deal with their TiVos. I made a modest contribution via Paypal.


That's really interesting. How big was the actual backup file? I knew that a C&DE would get it back down to size, but your results are a first. About 2.7GB is pretty normal for a raw Premiere image and that should zip down to about 1.5GB, which is definitely flash drive or single-layer DVD territory.

It should keep all of your your settings and maybe even the CableCARD pairing if the gods are smiling.

I specifically wrote it to include the THX video and the two "intro" videos that came with 14.5 in a truncated backup. Glad to hear that's still working.

Somewhere in the early 20s (software-wise) they dropped the /Recording folder in MFS and all of its subfolders and switched to a single /Recordings folder with just enough info to point to the SQLite database for the rest of the metadata. The truncated backup code still worked as expected back then because I was looking for any folder that started with "/Recording" and "/Recordings" fit the bill. They have probably changed the landscape again and that's why it's making huge truncated backups.

Most people don't have the disk space to even attempt a nearly 2TB backup file, so your feedback really helps. Your donation is also greatly appreciated.


----------



## UCLABB

ggieseke said:


> That's really interesting. How big was the actual backup file? I knew that a C&DE would get it back down to size, but your results are a first. About 2.7GB is pretty normal for a raw Premiere image and that should zip down to about 1.5GB, which is definitely flash drive or single-layer DVD territory.
> 
> It should keep all of your your settings and maybe even the CableCARD pairing if the gods are smiling.
> 
> I specifically wrote it to include the THX video and the two "intro" videos that came with 14.5 in a truncated backup. Glad to hear that's still working.
> 
> Somewhere in the early 20s (software-wise) they dropped the /Recording folder in MFS and all of its subfolders and switched to a single /Recordings folder with just enough info to point to the SQLite database for the rest of the metadata. The truncated backup code still worked as expected back then because I was looking for any folder that started with "/Recording" and "/Recordings" fit the bill. They have probably changed the landscape again and that's why it's making huge truncated backups.
> 
> Most people don't have the disk space to even attempt a nearly 2TB backup file, so your feedback really helps. Your donation is also greatly appreciated.


As I said, DVRBars said it was 1.5tb at the beginning of the backup process. When I hit properties on the the .vhd file after the backup was complete, it said it was 1.5tb in size. However, my 2.7tb HDD already had 0.8tb on it leaving roughly 1.9tb free. After I put the .VHD on it and then hit properties of the HDD, it still showed about 1.9tb free space. Thus while the .vhd THINKS it is 1.5tb in size, it obviously isn't.

I suspect that if I had tried to put the first "1.5tb" .vhd on the desktop of my OS drive, even though there wasn't 1.5tb space available for the .vhd, it would have worked just fine.


----------



## mc_hotmail

I read some many postings about backup and restore but never get a clear statement about these 2 questions:

1) If I have 2 TiVo units of the same series (e.g. TCD746320 and TCD746500), can I restore a backup from one unit (smaller or equal size) onto another?

2) Will the unit being written retain its unique TiVo Service Number (TSN)?

I would guess the "master" TSN is from its ROM but also know that the TSN is saved in various files of the hard drive.

Thanks

--mc


----------



## jmbach

mc_hotmail said:


> 1) If I have 2 TiVo units of the same series (e.g. TCD746320 and TCD746500), can I restore a backup from one unit (smaller or equal size) onto another?


Yes as long as the drive you are restoring to is of equal or larger size than the image you backed up. If the drive is larger, you will have to expand it with JMFS to use the whole drive for recording.



mc_hotmail said:


> 2) Will the unit being written retain its unique TiVo Service Number (TSN)?


Yes, but the image will show the TSN as all zeroes until you do a C&DE.


----------



## jackthejester

Hey Guys ..

My drive is starting to act up and I might need to do a reinstall and wanted to see if this might be available if I need to do to a total swap.

I'm on Win 8.1 and tried using DVRBars but it starts then stops immediately - I've tried compatibility mode with no luck.

I can try to use my original drive and do a clone of some kind, but don't know if that's my issue (bad sectors) - planning on running a 54 disk-check overnight tonight.

Thanks in advance - trying to get out ahead of a bad HDD and the related downtime - happy wife, happy life!

dave.


----------



## lpwcomp

jackthejester said:


> Hey Guys ..
> 
> My drive is starting to act up and I might need to do a reinstall and wanted to see if this might be available if I need to do to a total swap.
> 
> I'm on Win 8.1 and tried using DVRBars but it starts then stops immediately - I've tried compatibility mode with no luck.
> 
> I can try to use my original drive and do a clone of some kind, but don't know if that's my issue (bad sectors) - planning on running a 54 disk-check overnight tonight.
> 
> Thanks in advance - trying to get out ahead of a bad HDD and the related downtime - happy wife, happy life!
> 
> dave.


Did you start DVRBars via "Run as administrator"?


----------



## Tenkian

Hi guys,

I've succeeded in backing up my 320GB Aussie TIVO 3, to the primary HDD (drive C.
The Tivo HDD was connected via USB to an external case, and was recognised without problem.
However . . . . . .
I'll be damned if I can get DVRBars to recognise the new, 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD.
I can get the Seagate recognised by Win7, and DVRBars will recognise it as a "mounted" drive but will, of course, refuse to wipe the HDD.
So, quit out of DVRBars and unmount the Seagate. Restart DVRBars (under admin, of course) and go to "Restore" but "No useable drive available" (or equivalent).
Ok, so swap out DVD ROM drive for the new Seagate. Try the process again.
Still no joy.
I'm sure there's something REALLY basic I'm missing out on here.
Can anyone assist?
Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

Tenkian said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I've succeeded in backing up my 320GB Aussie TIVO 3, to the primary HDD (drive C.
> The Tivo HDD was connected via USB to an external case, and was recognised without problem.
> However . . . . . .
> I'll be damned if I can get DVRBars to recognise the new, 2TB Seagate Barracuda HDD.
> I can get the Seagate recognised by Win7, and DVRBars will recognise it as a "mounted" drive but will, of course, refuse to wipe the HDD.
> So, quit out of DVRBars and unmount the Seagate. Restart DVRBars (under admin, of course) and go to "Restore" but "No useable drive available" (or equivalent).
> Ok, so swap out DVD ROM drive for the new Seagate. Try the process again.
> Still no joy.
> I'm sure there's something REALLY basic I'm missing out on here.
> Can anyone assist?
> Thanks.


As you noticed, even though I put an option in DvrBARS to "show" mounted drives I refuse to wipe it for you. Call me chicken. 

The easiest and safest way to wipe it is to use Data Lifeguard Diagnostics by WD or Seatools by Seagate. Run the Write Zeros test after being ABSOLUTELY SURE that you have the right drive selected. You can use the quick option that only wipes the first thousand sectors.

I was wondering when an Aussie would jump in. I want a copy of that image! Since your post count is low I'm sending you a PM with my email address. We'll work something out.


----------



## emerz

Low Level Format Tool from the HDD Guru site has always work flawlessly for me.

http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

Just select the option "Perform Quick Wipe (just remove partition and MBR)". Takes less than 5 seconds to complete.

No fussing with creating boot floppys or cd's. The portable version of LLFT runs in Windows by clicking the exe file.

Just throwing another option out there.


----------



## TriGeek

*ggieseke*-

I tried PMing you, but apparently my permanent lurk mode around here means I don't have enough posts to send PM's. Would you be able to send me the information on how to find the 746 image? My premiere is deader than a doornail. Thanks in advance!


----------



## ggieseke

TriGeek said:


> *ggieseke*-
> 
> I tried PMing you, but apparently my permanent lurk mode around here means I don't have enough posts to send PM's. Would you be able to send me the information on how to find the 746 image? My premiere is deader than a doornail. Thanks in advance!


PM sent.


----------



## waynomo

First time DvrBARS user here. 

I want to make a backup of my series 1 Sony-2000. The instructions seem pretty straight forward. My one question is about hooking up a TiVo drive to a Windows machine that will boot into Windows. I read elsewhere... 

"If you boot into Windows with a TiVo hard drive attached, Windows writes a signature to the first sector which prevents the TiVo from booting."

Should I be worried about this? If not, why? 

The!


----------



## nooneuknow

waynomo said:


> First time DvrBARS user here.
> 
> I want to make a backup of my series 1 Sony-2000. The instructions seem pretty straight forward. My one question is about hooking up a TiVo drive to a Windows machine that will boot into Windows. I read elsewhere...
> 
> "If you boot into Windows with a TiVo hard drive attached, Windows writes a signature to the first sector which prevents the TiVo from booting."
> 
> Should I be worried about this? If not, why?
> 
> The!


That's only like Windows 2000 (maybe Vista), and before, that automatically did that. Now, if you open Disk Management console with a TiVo drive attached, it will say you have a disk that needs to be initialized, and ask Y/N (if you find yourself there, say NO). Best to just stay out of anything more than device manager, to see if Windows acknowledges the drive is there (purely as hardware).

You can still do it safely with older Windows, or be extra cautious with Win7/8/8.1, by doing this (which is not necessary for 7/8/8.1):

Get an administrative command prompt.
Type diskpart
Wait about 5 seconds for a new prompt to appear
Type automount disable
Verify it confirms automount is now disabled
Type exit
Type exit
Shut down, hook up drive, do your things.
Once done, make sure to turn automount back on using "enable" in place of "disable", verify it's enabled, exit, exit, and done.


----------



## unitron

waynomo said:


> First time DvrBARS user here.
> 
> I want to make a backup of my series 1 Sony-2000. The instructions seem pretty straight forward. My one question is about hooking up a TiVo drive to a Windows machine that will boot into Windows. I read elsewhere...
> 
> "If you boot into Windows with a TiVo hard drive attached, Windows writes a signature to the first sector which prevents the TiVo from booting."
> 
> Should I be worried about this? If not, why?
> 
> The!


If you're running XP Service Pack 3, you're okay. SP1 or 2, I won't swear that it won't put an MBR on there, so update to SP3 if necessary.

That's if you're running XP.


----------



## waynomo

Yes, I will be using an old XP machine. It's on SP3 so I should be good.
Thank you.


----------



## rhroyse

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for this useful tool. I used it today to put an image on a new WD 2GB drive for my TCD748000. I hope it boots after I install it this evening!


----------



## waynomo

So I hooked up both 120 GB drives. It recognized both. It wanted to back up the first at around 110 GBs. No problem. When it came to ensure to back up the second it only copied 100 MBs. Something didn't work right I guess.


----------



## ThAbtO

rhroyse said:


> I just wanted to say THANK YOU for this useful tool. I used it today to put an image on a new WD 2GB drive for my TCD748000. I hope it boots after I install it this evening!


Don't forget to do a Clear & Delete Everything if the drive image was not from that specific Tivo, otherwise it will not record or do anything else. You can tell if you need to do the CD&E when you look at the System Information and the TSN shows all ZEROs.


----------



## videobruce

*ThAbtO;*
Unfortunately, I didn't see your post in time. 
I just restored what apparently was a bad or corrupted drive in a 652. Under System Info, I saw the zeros for the TSN which I never encountered before and didn't know what to make of it. After a few minutes I got a message stating a hardware problem and for the need of a reboot (error 18?). The message did the part of not being able to record, if it wasn't rebooted.

Now it appears that it is stuck in the "almost there" screen which is what was happening before I restored an image file (not from this unit). Is this a sign of a failing drive? It's the original from 8/08.
Should I wipe the drive and start over?
I plan on selling this, but I don't want a bad drive in it even if I can get this squared away.

.


----------



## videobruce

On a separate note, before I was able to restore the image, I tried a couple of utilities (*outside* of Windows) via boot discs and they either didn't see the drive or showed it as unformatted. The one that didn't see the drive was WD's Lifeguard.

Input on this?


----------



## videobruce

There are two 652's that I posted about. The first had a issue with the drive incorrectly reporting the recording capacity. That was corrected. There is still a CC issue. I'm waiting for another card.

This one may have an apparent bad drive. It hangs at the 'almost there' screen as I posted. I restored a good image, went through the guided setup. All looked good until that message appeared.

Sorry, I didn't get any notices that there were any posts after the one I made last night in that other thread. I will answer your questions there.



> My apologies if what I describe is not accurate


It was not accurate. Is the situation clearer now as I thought I made it clear before?


----------



## nooneuknow

videobruce said:


> *ThAbtO;*
> Unfortunately, I didn't see your post in time.
> I just restored what apparently was a bad or corrupted drive in a 652. Under System Info, I saw the zeros for the TSN which I never encountered before and didn't know what to make of it. After a few minutes I got a message stating a hardware problem and for the need of a reboot (error 18?). The message did the part of not being able to record, if it wasn't rebooted.
> 
> Now it appears that it is stuck in the "almost there" screen which is what was happening before I restored an image file (not from this unit). Is this a sign of a failing drive? It's the original from 8/08.
> Should I wipe the drive and start over?
> I plan on selling this, but I don't want a bad drive in it even if I can get this squared away.





videobruce said:


> On a separate note, before I was able to restore the image, I tried a couple of utilities (*outside* of Windows) via boot discs and they either didn't see the drive or showed it as unformatted. The one that didn't see the drive was WD's Lifeguard.
> 
> Input on this?





videobruce said:


> There are two 652's that I posted about. The first had a issue with the drive incorrectly reporting the recording capacity. That was corrected. There is still a CC issue. I'm waiting for another card.
> 
> This one may have an apparent bad drive. It hangs at the 'almost there' screen as I posted. I restored a good image, went through the guided setup. All looked good until that message appeared.
> 
> Sorry, I didn't get any notices that there were any posts after the one I made last night in that other thread. I will answer your questions there.
> 
> It was not accurate. Is the situation clearer now as I thought I made it clear before?


Yes, clearer now. But, if you could try to divide the cases in future posts, it would help to make it clearer for all.

If WD Data LifeGuard Diagnostics can't see the drive, it's likely (in order):

1. You are using some outdated version that can't see the drive. Download the current version directly from WD. I prefer WinDLG (for Windows).
2. The cable connections are not making proper contact, or the cable is bad.
3. The drive itself is bad.

The hanging at the boot screen may be related to the "Intellipark" (Idle Mode 3 Timer). Use WDIDLE3.EXE tool to insure it is disabled.

Try GENTLY cleaning the drive connector contacts with a grey pen-ink eraser. Those have a mild abrasive that will remove tarnish and help insure good connections. I've had to pull the boards of some WD drives and clean the contacts that the drive chassis uses to connect the two together. They should be shiny gold or silver colored, but may have a film of flux not properly rinsed off, or tarnish, like the cable contacts. I've seen at least 20 WD drives fail due to the eco-friendly defluxing not removing the flux. They all worked once I resolved this.


----------



## ggieseke

waynomo said:


> So I hooked up both 120 GB drives. It recognized both. It wanted to back up the first at around 110 GBs. No problem. When it came to ensure to back up the second it only copied 100 MBs. Something didn't work right I guess.


Were these drives from two separate TiVos, or a dual drive SVR-2000?

What backup method was used (Full, Modified or Truncated)?


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> On a separate note, before I was able to restore the image, I tried a couple of utilities (*outside* of Windows) via boot discs and they either didn't see the drive or showed it as unformatted. The one that didn't see the drive was WD's Lifeguard.
> 
> Input on this?


Most programs and operating systems will see a TiVo drive as unformatted or raw. They use a modified version of the ancient Apple Partition Map, and the first sector on the drive is unique to them.


----------



## waynomo

ggieseke said:


> Were these drives from two separate TiVos, or a dual drive SVR-2000?
> 
> What backup method was used (Full, Modified or Truncated)?


Dual drive SVR-2000.

Full method was used.


----------



## ggieseke

waynomo said:


> Dual drive SVR-2000.
> 
> Full method was used.


If the second drive was just recently added and mostly zeros I can see it compressing down that far, but that's unlikely. Full mode is the simplest method and it doesn't try to read the drive intelligently - it just reads everything from start to finish in 2MB chunks. If a chunk has even one byte that isn't zero the whole thing is copied to the image, otherwise it's just noted in the VHD header as empty.


----------



## waynomo

ggieseke said:


> If the second drive was just recently added and mostly zeros I can see it compressing down that far, but that's unlikely. Full mode is the simplest method and it doesn't try to read the drive intelligently - it just reads everything from start to finish in 2MB chunks. If a chunk has even one byte that isn't zero the whole thing is copied to the image, otherwise it's just noted in the VHD header as empty.


Second drive has been on there for 12 years.

For my purposes I could get by with a modified or truncated. I'll probably try that in a couple of weeks.


----------



## videobruce

> If WD Data LifeGuard Diagnostics can't see the drive, it's likely (in order):
> 1. You are using some outdated version that can't see the drive. Download the current version directly from WD. I prefer WinDLG (for Windows).


The DOS version I have is V5.19. I have never used a Windows version.
I d/l'ed V1.27, ran it and it see the drive now. The short test passed. I'm running the full test (NOT the write zeros).


> The hanging at the boot screen may be related to the "Intellipark" (Idle Mode 3 Timer).


But why did it boot ok the 1st time after restoring a good image and allowed guided setup?
.


> Most programs and operating systems will see a TiVo drive as unformatted or raw. They use a modified version of the ancient Apple Partition Map, and the first sector on the drive is unique to them.


I thought these non Windows, Linux based programs see most anything.


----------



## videobruce

Two quick unrelated questions, sorry if they were asked before. 

1. Are image files from DVRBar & WinMFS interchangeable? Can one file that was created by one program be used by the other?be used by the other program?

2. Any consensuses which program works or runs better overall (less issues)?


----------



## jmbach

videobruce said:


> Two quick unrelated questions, sorry if they were asked before.
> 
> 1. Are image files from DVRBar & WinMFS interchangeable? Can one file that was created by one program be used by the other?be used by the other program?
> 
> 2. Any consensuses which program works or runs better overall (less issues)?


1) No

2)Both are valuable and have quirks. In the end, it depends on what you need done.


----------



## videobruce

In what areas do each excel in and which fail?


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> I thought these non Windows, Linux based programs see most anything.


Only if they speak TiVo.



videobruce said:


> Two quick unrelated questions, sorry if they were asked before.
> 
> 1. Are image files from DVRBar & WinMFS interchangeable? Can one file that was created by one program be used by the other?be used by the other program?
> 
> 2. Any consensuses which program works or runs better overall (less issues)?


AFAIK WinMFS files can only be read by WinMFS. Spike never documented the file format. DvrBARS uses the Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk Image Format Specification. One thing I like is that you can mount them in Disk Manager in Windows 7 or later and treat them as a physical disk. You can also use VHD files as "drives" in Windows Virtual PC or VMWare.

Way back someone asked me for a 2TB 746320 image. I created a blank 2TB "dynamically expanding" VHD in Disk Manager and used DvrBARS to write my standard 746 image to it. After detaching the VHD file from Windows I assigned it to a VMWare virtual PC that was set to use the jmfs ISO as the CD drive. Booted the virtual machine, expanded the drive with jmfs and now I have a DvrBARS 2TB 746 image. Total time was about 10 minutes and I never left Windows, rebooted, or cracked open the case.

WinMFS files are compressed. VHD files only have the inherent compression offered by ignoring 2MB "empty" blocks, so I zip them afterwards for easier distribution.

One note for S1 and early S2 hacked TiVos: WinMFS ignores the /var partition, so you lose your modifications.

I'm biased, but that's to be expected.


----------



## pisquared

ggieseke-

One seriously dead TCD746320 (Error 0x0000045D -- cannot extract backup image), can you PM me on how to get my new Eurx 1Tb drive installed?


----------



## EccentricTX

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Good Afternoon. I have a TiVo TCD746500 Premiere DVR with a defective hard drive. Unfortunately I didn't realize the importance of having an image of the hard drive. I see on the forum where you have an image available on dropbox that can be used to clone a replacement drive. I would be eternally grateful if you could help me out. Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
Greg


----------



## mojomba

I have a TiVo Premiere TCD746320 with the original 320GB drive. I have attempted a backup on three different computers USB, USB and SATA connected using DVRBARS and in all cases the application crashed. It doesn't seem to matter whether I run the application as administrator or not and one of the computers has XP anyway.

I have attempted a JMFS copy to a 1TB drive both with source and destination SATA connected and the copy fails.

I have not run through the initial setup of TiVo yet because I was hoping to end up with a virgin image. do I need to run through that first to get these applications to work?

Has anyone seen DVRBARS crash so consistently and if so did you find a solution?

Thank you for your help.


----------



## jmbach

What error are you getting when it crashes.


----------



## telemark

mojomba said:


> I have attempted a JMFS copy to a 1TB drive both with source and destination SATA connected and the copy fails.
> 
> I have not run through the initial setup of TiVo yet because I was hoping to end up with a virgin image. do I need to run through that first to get these applications to work?


Also whats the error JMFS gave? But No, you should not have to run through setup to start making backups.

You can use "dd" on the JMFS cd if you're just trying to copy to another drive. My question is how is this going to be a virgin image, you never booted this drive ever before?


----------



## dbwilbur

I just wanted to thank ggieseke for this utility... it works like magic!


----------



## ggieseke

mojomba said:


> I have a TiVo Premiere TCD746320 with the original 320GB drive. I have attempted a backup on three different computers USB, USB and SATA connected using DVRBARS and in all cases the application crashed. It doesn't seem to matter whether I run the application as administrator or not and one of the computers has XP anyway.
> 
> I have attempted a JMFS copy to a 1TB drive both with source and destination SATA connected and the copy fails.
> 
> I have not run through the initial setup of TiVo yet because I was hoping to end up with a virgin image. do I need to run through that first to get these applications to work?
> 
> Has anyone seen DVRBARS crash so consistently and if so did you find a solution?
> 
> Thank you for your help.


I tried to send you the 746320 image, but you have PMs and email turned off.

I have never managed to crash the release version at all, but it should give you some kind of error message in any case. I've tried USB 2.0, USB 3.0, SATA & eSATA on XP, Windows 7, 8 & 8.1.

In any case we need the exact error messages from both jmfs and DvrBARS to troubleshoot.


----------



## ggieseke

dbwilbur said:


> I just wanted to thank ggieseke for this utility... it works like magic!


Thanks!

P.S. I will give a free copy of DvrBARS and a gold star to the first person who can correctly identify the screen background that I used.


----------



## unitron

telemark said:


> Also whats the error JMFS gave? But No, you should not have to run through setup to start making backups.
> 
> You can use "dd" on the JMFS cd if you're just trying to copy to another drive. My question is how is this going to be a virgin image, you never booted this drive ever before?


I think the jmfs cd v1.04 also has

ddrescue

which might be preferable to plain old

dd

for copying an entire drive.


----------



## unitron

ggieseke said:


> Thanks!
> 
> P.S. I will give a free copy of DvrBARS and a gold star to the first person who can correctly identify the screen background that I used.


But wouldn't I already have to have a copy of DvrBARS in order to see the screen background in the first place?

Granted, the gold star and bragging rights would be nice.


----------



## mojomba

JMFS Copy attempts say somthing like "Copy Operation Failed" I don't know the specifics on that one and it takes a couple of hours for it to fail

DVRBARS crashes right after "Scanning drive A partition 9 (/var)" and generates a file that starts with a few random characters and ends with appcompat.txt. The information in that file just seems to be version info with no specific error information.

Looking at the details the Error Signature windows shows AppVer: 1.0.0.3 and Offset: 00012d92 so maybe that tells us if I have the latest version.

The Technical information link shows Exception information - Code:0xc0000005

If you have a specific set of steps you want me to follow to get better information please let me know.

Thank you.


----------



## mojomba

telemark said:


> Also whats the error JMFS gave? But No, you should not have to run through setup to start making backups.
> 
> You can use "dd" on the JMFS cd if you're just trying to copy to another drive. My question is how is this going to be a virgin image, you never booted this drive ever before?


I booted it to make sure it worked but didn't go through any steps to set it up. If booting it up at all keeps it from being a virgin image then I stand corrected.

FYI, I now have PM and Email turned on.

Thank you again


----------



## nooneuknow

mojomba said:


> I booted it to make sure it worked but didn't go through any steps to set it up. If booting it up at all keeps it from being a virgin image then I stand corrected.
> 
> FYI, I now have PM and Email turned on.
> 
> Thank you again


Booting it has married the TSN to your drive. You may as well just let it download and update the software, since you missed the plethora of posts explaining that "virgin" means "never booted".

You can update the software, keep the image small, and un-marry it from the TSN, by following the directions I posted on how to do so, step-by-step, earlier in the thread (more than once). Look for mention of Zip Code 00000 & Tiny TiVo channel lineup, in the posts I speak of.


----------



## telemark

Maybe one of the drives is bad or throwing an error. 
This is why I proposed dd.

ddrescue is a great tool. I was concerned it would mask an error since it knows how to do a retry.

Oh wait:
0xc0000005 is an access violation.

Do you have a 2nd PC you can use instead? This one is being suspicious.


----------



## ggieseke

mojomba said:


> JMFS Copy attempts say somthing like "Copy Operation Failed" I don't know the specifics on that one and it takes a couple of hours for it to fail
> 
> DVRBARS crashes right after "Scanning drive A partition 9 (/var)" and generates a file that starts with a few random characters and ends with appcompat.txt. The information in that file just seems to be version info with no specific error information.
> 
> Looking at the details the Error Signature windows shows AppVer: 1.0.0.3 and Offset: 00012d92 so maybe that tells us if I have the latest version.
> 
> The Technical information link shows Exception information - Code:0xc0000005
> 
> If you have a specific set of steps you want me to follow to get better information please let me know.
> 
> Thank you.


PM sent. My 746 image isn't "virgin" either, so you will have to run Clear & Delete Everything on the TiVo to marry it to the motherboard.

1.0.0.3 is the latest official version. Downloading a fresh copy couldn't hurt just in case it got corrupted somehow, but given that you have tried it on multiple PCs I'm inclined to think that the file system on that drive is corrupted. The /var partition isn't actually necessary and can be all zeros, but if it has a valid ext2 header I try to analyze & copy it for the sake of hacked S1 and S2 owners.

If you have at least 320GB of free disk space available you could try the Full Backup mode. It doesn't analyze anything, it just copies the drive byte for byte (similar to dd).


----------



## ggieseke

unitron said:


> But wouldn't I already have to have a copy of DvrBARS in order to see the screen background in the first place?
> 
> Granted, the gold star and bragging rights would be nice.


Darn, I knew someone would catch that. 

It's free anyway, so the bragging rights are the only real incentive. I'll sweeten the pot and throw in a WAV file with the TiVo sound effect of your choice. I use the error sound (a longer version of the standard bonk) as a ringtone for people I don't like.


----------



## telemark

ggieseke said:


> bragging rights are the only real incentive.


Shot in the dark here, but there used to a rare version of Tivo (DVR functionality) that ran on Windows PC's. 
Seems like one place Tivo UI elements would come from.


----------



## ggieseke

telemark said:


> Shot in the dark here, but there used to a rare version of Tivo (DVR functionality) that ran on Windows PC's.
> Seems like one place Tivo UI elements would come from.


I think you mean Nero LiquidTV. Good guess, but no gold star.


----------



## mojomba

ggieseke said:


> PM sent. My 746 image isn't "virgin" either, so you will have to run Clear & Delete Everything on the TiVo to marry it to the motherboard.
> 
> 1.0.0.3 is the latest official version. Downloading a fresh copy couldn't hurt just in case it got corrupted somehow, but given that you have tried it on multiple PCs I'm inclined to think that the file system on that drive is corrupted. The /var partition isn't actually necessary and can be all zeros, but if it has a valid ext2 header I try to analyze & copy it for the sake of hacked S1 and S2 owners.
> 
> If you have at least 320GB of free disk space available you could try the Full Backup mode. It doesn't analyze anything, it just copies the drive byte for byte (similar to dd).


Thank you all for the help. I restored the image provided by ggieseke to my 1TB hard drive using DVRBARS and then expanded it with JMFS and it is working perfectly. I am still going to try and make a backup of the original drive with another machine when I have some free time and let you guys know if I get a different error or if it works.


----------



## jmbach

Try the manufacturer's diagnostic on it first if you have not already tried it.


----------



## unitron

ggieseke said:


> Thanks!
> 
> P.S. I will give a free copy of DvrBARS and a gold star to the first person who can correctly identify the screen background that I used.


You haven't been seeing one of those Aussie TiVos behind our backs, have you?


----------



## ggieseke

unitron said:


> You haven't been seeing one of those Aussie TiVos behind our backs, have you?


I wish. Someone posted here a while back and used DvrBARS to back up their 663, but my pleas and PMs for a copy of the image fell on deaf ears. Guess a crock ate it.

Even though it's basically just a Series 3 I always wanted to take a peek under the hood to see if I could enable TTG or add anything from the US models that was missing or "cough up more money" down under.

The UI was designed to replicate the overall look and feel of my 649 S2DTs as closely as possible without actually using anything from TiVo. One forum member still doesn't agree with the shade of yellow that I chose for the "weiners", but that's life.


----------



## jefeuno

Hello all, I am a newbie and have a couple of questions.

I have the Jmfs download. I have a perfectly running Premiere TCD746320, and want to upgrade to 2tb drive. I see this program, DVBARS, and don't know if I need it or not. Is there any advantage to using DVBARS over Jmfs? I intend to follow the instructions for transferring my files over to the 2tb drive and expanding, as the instructions for Jmfs seem pretty bulletproof. Am I missing anything?
Thanks


----------



## jmbach

That's pretty on spot. Use DvrBARS if you want to keep a backup of your OS if something happens later.


----------



## BcScooter

Can someone please provide me with the Tivo Premier image as my hard drive died.


----------



## lpwcomp

BcScooter said:


> Can someone please provide me with the Tivo Premier image as my hard drive died.


What model?


----------



## BcScooter

Sorry the model number is TCD746320


----------



## lpwcomp

BcScooter said:


> Sorry the model number is TCD746320


PM sent.


----------



## gsol

ggieseke sent me an image for a premiere last April and it worked great. Thanks so much.
I can also use one for a Tivo HD TCD652160.

Thanks again.


----------



## ThAbtO

gsol said:


> ggieseke sent me an image for a premiere last April and it worked great. Thanks so much.
> I can also use one for a Tivo HD TCD652160.
> 
> Thanks again.


TCD652xxx S3HD 11.0m here


----------



## wombat94

Hi all.

I'm in need of an image for an original 320GB premiere (TCD746320)

Hard drive died, and I don't know what I did with the virgin original drive that I pulled before I even booted the thing up when I purchased it years ago.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

wombat94 said:


> Hi all.
> 
> I'm in need of an image for an original 320GB premiere (TCD746320)
> 
> Hard drive died, and I don't know what I did with the virgin original drive that I pulled before I even booted the thing up when I purchased it years ago.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## wombat94

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Thank you!


----------



## flynhawaiian

Could I get an image for a TCD 748 please? I'm having trouble finding one 

Also can I use MFS tools to install it?


----------



## lpwcomp

flynhawaiian said:


> Also can I use MFS tools to install it?


No, you'll have to use DvrBARS.


----------



## ggieseke

flynhawaiian said:


> Could I get an image for a TCD 748 please? I'm having trouble finding one


PM sent.


----------



## flynhawaiian

Awesome. Is DVRBARS just like the old WINMFS?


----------



## lpwcomp

flynhawaiian said:


> Awesome. Is DVRBARS just like the old WINMFS?


No. DvrBARS, as the name implies, is for backup and restoring _*only.*_. You need JMFS to expand.


----------



## gbuskirk

I would to also request the TCD746320 image. Thanks much.

Glenn B.


----------



## ggieseke

gbuskirk said:


> I would to also request the TCD746320 image. Thanks much.
> 
> Glenn B.


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

Version 1.0.0.6 now is available using the link in the first post of this thread.

It will prompt you if it doesn't recognize the VHD file as a valid Series 1 through Series 4 image during restores, but you can choose to continue anyway.


----------



## blankscrew

This might've been asked already but here goes...

Using DvrBARS, I'm getting a message that says drive too small. I had a brand new 750GB drive laying around that I wanted to use. Does it have to be same size or larger than the original 1TB? Any way around this? Image is only 2.5GB.


----------



## lpwcomp

blankscrew said:


> This might've been asked already but here goes...
> 
> Using DvrBARS, I'm getting a message that says drive too small. I had a brand new 750GB drive laying around that I wanted to use. Does it have to be same size or larger than the original 1TB? Any way around this? Image is only 2.5GB.


Yes, the drive has to be at least as large as the drive from which the image was made. The size of the compressed image is irrelevant.


----------



## nooneuknow

blankscrew said:


> This might've been asked already but here goes...
> 
> Using DvrBARS, I'm getting a message that says drive too small. I had a brand new 750GB drive laying around that I wanted to use. Does it have to be same size or larger than the original 1TB? Any way around this? Image is only 2.5GB.


It must be the same size or larger. Even if the LBA count is one shy of the drive backed-up, it will give the same error.

There may be some way to work with the VHD file, to shrink a partition. But, even if possible, it's beyond my scope. I'll defer to the others here that know if/how it can be done.


----------



## nooneuknow

NEWS: WD renames "AV-GP" line of drives to "AV".

There are two WD Product SpecSheet PDFs now.

One PDF (old) is for "AV-GP", which only goes to 3TB.

The second (new) one is for "AV", which is the new name for the product refresh cycle. They dropped the "-GP". Includes 4TB model.
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-800015.pdf

I guess "AV" sounds sportier that "AV-GP". This is further proof that they are refreshing the line. I doubt it will bring anything good to the discussions here, likely more confusion, than anything.

*From the new PDF:*
WD AV (formally WD AV-GP) SATA hard drives store more
hi-def audio and video than ever before  up to 4 TB. They
are optimized with SilkStream
technology to capture data
from up to 16 simultaneous HD video streams. With 24x7
operation, low temperature, and best-in-class reliability,
WD AV hard drives are ideal for DVR/PVR and IPTV
applications. 3-year limited warranty


----------



## clevow

is there an image for the series 4? thanks for the help!


----------



## jmbach

What model.


----------



## mpspoli

I have a HD going bad on my TiVo Premiere XL. Does anyone have a "clean" image for a TCD748000 (1TB drive)?


----------



## ggieseke

mpspoli said:


> I have a HD going bad on my TiVo Premiere XL. Does anyone have a "clean" image for a TCD748000 (1TB drive)?


PM sent.


----------



## mpspoli

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Thank you!

Quick follow-up: I was unable to get the image installed on my 1TB drive (DvrBARS popped a message about the drive being too small). I tried the restore on a 3TB drive that I was going to use in a new system, and it worked. My question is, will I get the full 3TB of storage on for the TiVo or do I have to execute some sort of upgrade?


----------



## jmbach

Since you placed the 1TB image on the 3TB drive, just use JMFS to expand the drive and you will have access to the whole 3TB.

Your 1TB might have a HPA (host protected area) that restricted the true size of the drive making it too small for the image. If you are adept, you can use hdparm to see if an HPA exists and remove it. (some motherboards may automatically place one on a drive that is connected to the first SATA port. )


----------



## mpspoli

jmbach said:


> Since you placed the 1TB image on the 3TB drive, just use JMFS to expand the drive and you will have access to the whole 3TB.
> 
> Your 1TB might have a HPA (host protected area) that restricted the true size of the drive making it too small for the image. If you are adept, you can use hdparm to see if an HPA exists and remove it. (some motherboards may automatically place one on a drive that is connected to the first SATA port. )


Thank you. I checked the 1TB drive and it shows HPA disabled with 1,953,525,168 sectors available. Is it possible that I am having a problem because I am attempting to lay the image on to a drive using a USB connected enclosure?

I couldn't get DvrBARS to run in Windows 8.1 and the only Win7 box I have is a laptop. Do you have any tricks to get DvrBARS to run on Win8.1?


----------



## jmbach

What error are you getting. Make sure you right click on DvrBARS and run as an administrator. (Generally speaking you should not have to do this but if there is any problems that is the first thing to do.). I have tried DvrBARS on windows 7 both 32 and 64bit and windows 8 and 8.1 as well without issue. 

There are issues using an enclosure rather than a dock as some enclosures may encrypt data on the drive effectively reducing the size.


----------



## clevow

looking for image for the 746320. thanks!


----------



## mpspoli

jmbach said:


> What error are you getting. Make sure you right click on DvrBARS and run as an administrator. (Generally speaking you should not have to do this but if there is any problems that is the first thing to do.). I have tried DvrBARS on windows 7 both 32 and 64bit and windows 8 and 8.1 as well without issue.
> 
> There are issues using an enclosure rather than a dock as some enclosures may encrypt data on the drive effectively reducing the size.


No errors, just doesn't launch. When I attempt to launch it, I get a UAC confirming that I want to continue. I select yes, the mouse spins for a few seconds, and then nothing - no error, no application. The response is the same whether I double-click to launch or right-click -> run as administrator.

I am running Windows 8.1 Pro, 64-bit.

Appreciate the help!


----------



## jmbach

Until ggieseke responds, my only suggestions would be to re-download it, make sure anti-virus programs are not interfering, and in Windows 8,8.1 when I try to run anything I download for the first time, Windows gives me a warning and I have to select run anyway in order for it to launch that time and any subsequent times.


----------



## ggieseke

clevow said:


> looking for image for the 746320. thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

mpspoli said:


> No errors, just doesn't launch. When I attempt to launch it, I get a UAC confirming that I want to continue. I select yes, the mouse spins for a few seconds, and then nothing - no error, no application. The response is the same whether I double-click to launch or right-click -> run as administrator.
> 
> I am running Windows 8.1 Pro, 64-bit.
> 
> Appreciate the help!


I have never had any problems on 8 or 8.1, and I just ran it on my new 64-bit 8.1 Pro box to test it again. As long as you're a member of the Administrators group it won't matter if you right-click and choose run as Administrator, double-click it, or even log in using the built-in Administrator account. You will always get the UAC prompt because it has to self elevate its rights even further. You see that with some other programs like EaseUS or MiniTool that have to deal with disks at the physical level.

It's pretty much the same story on Windows 7. You aren't trying to run it from the Start screen are you? You need to run it from the Desktop screen.


----------



## mpspoli

ggieseke said:


> I have never had any problems on 8 or 8.1, and I just ran it on my new 64-bit 8.1 Pro box to test it again. As long as you're a member of the Administrators group it won't matter if you right-click and choose run as Administrator, double-click it, or even log in using the built-in Administrator account. You will always get the UAC prompt because it has to self elevate its rights even further. You see that with some other programs like EaseUS or MiniTool that have to deal with disks at the physical level.
> 
> It's pretty much the same story on Windows 7. You aren't trying to run it from the Start screen are you? You need to run it from the Desktop screen.


Running from the desktop screen. I saved it on the desktop and launch it directly from the desktop screen on the desktop itself.

One additional thought... When I run DvrBARS from my laptop (Win 7), I get a pop-up indicating something about screen size/resolution (sorry, not in front of it right now) - I click OK and the application launches fine and operates fine. When I attempt from my desktop (Win 8.1), I do not see that message - is it possible that I have some sort of conflict with my video card and the application? Does DvrBARS do some sort of video check? Long shot, I know, but thought I'd throw it out there...


----------



## lpwcomp

mpspoli said:


> Running from the desktop screen. I saved it on the desktop and launch it directly from the desktop screen on the desktop itself.
> 
> One additional thought... When I run DvrBARS from my laptop (Win 7), I get a pop-up indicating something about screen size/resolution (sorry, not in front of it right now) - I click OK and the application launches fine and operates fine. When I attempt from my desktop (Win 8.1), I do not see that message - is it possible that I have some sort of conflict with my video card and the application? Does DvrBARS do some sort of video check? Long shot, I know, but thought I'd throw it out there...


Try starting it from an Administrator Command Prompt to see if that gives you more info.


----------



## um3k

Looking for an image on a Premier XL4 TCD758250. Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

mpspoli said:


> Running from the desktop screen. I saved it on the desktop and launch it directly from the desktop screen on the desktop itself.
> 
> One additional thought... When I run DvrBARS from my laptop (Win 7), I get a pop-up indicating something about screen size/resolution (sorry, not in front of it right now) - I click OK and the application launches fine and operates fine. When I attempt from my desktop (Win 8.1), I do not see that message - is it possible that I have some sort of conflict with my video card and the application? Does DvrBARS do some sort of video check? Long shot, I know, but thought I'd throw it out there...


When you include the frame around the main window it takes 968x753 pixels to display the entire program. Wide screen laptops can usually handle that with no problems, but 4:3 monitors running at 800x600 can be problematic.

It's just a warning and doesn't affect any of the functionality.

I'll have to go back through the code that runs in the very first initialization steps. I generally test EVERY call to the Windows APIs and pop up an error message if anything goes wrong, but there may be something that I missed. It shouldn't be capable of falling over dead without some kind of explanation.

Do you have any card readers or other "drives" that show up in Disk Management?


----------



## mpspoli

ggieseke said:


> When you include the frame around the main window it takes 968x753 pixels to display the entire program. Wide screen laptops can usually handle that with no problems, but 4:3 monitors running at 800x600 can be problematic.
> 
> It's just a warning and doesn't affect any of the functionality.
> 
> I'll have to go back through the code that runs in the very first initialization steps. I generally test EVERY call to the Windows APIs and pop up an error message if anything goes wrong, but there may be something that I missed. It shouldn't be capable of falling over dead without some kind of explanation.
> 
> Do you have any card readers or other "drives" that show up in Disk Management?


I show a number of drives in Disk Management: Disk 0 (empty 1 TB drive I'm trying to lay the image on), Disk 1 (OS and storage), 4 "Removable" drives with "No Media" (Disk 2 - 5), and CD-ROM 0 "No Media".

I have a 23" monitor running 1920 x 1080.

On another note - I've tried running DvrBARS via Administrator: Command Prompt and I get the same behavior - a few seconds of mouse spinning with no result.

Hope this helps.


----------



## lpwcomp

mpspoli said:


> On another note - I've tried running DvrBARS via Administrator: Command Prompt and I get the same behavior - a few seconds of mouse spinning with no result.


So you get no error messages in the Command Prompt window? Does it hang or do you eventually get a prompt?


----------



## mpspoli

lpwcomp said:


> So you get no error messages in the Command Prompt window? Does it hang or do you eventually get a prompt?


No error messages. It flashes briefly right away (a lot quicker than launching the application from the desktop), and returns control to the command prompt.


----------



## mpspoli

Here is the error log in the Event Viewer, if you can get anything out of it:

Faulting application name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.6, time stamp: 0x5477524b
Faulting module name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.6, time stamp: 0x5477524b
Exception code: 0xc000000d
Fault offset: 0x00002bd2
Faulting process id: 0x1df4
Faulting application start time: 0x01d0168169b76bb8
Faulting application path: C:\Users\Mike\Desktop\DvrBARS.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Users\Mike\Desktop\DvrBARS.exe
Report Id: a82a713b-8274-11e4-beaa-002268384593
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID:


----------



## lpwcomp

mpspoli said:


> Here is the error log in the Event Viewer, if you can get anything out of it:
> 
> Faulting application name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.6, time stamp: 0x5477524b
> Faulting module name: DvrBARS.exe, version: 1.0.0.6, time stamp: 0x5477524b
> Exception code: 0xc000000d
> Fault offset: 0x00002bd2
> Faulting process id: 0x1df4
> Faulting application start time: 0x01d0168169b76bb8
> Faulting application path: C:\Users\Mike\Desktop\DvrBARS.exe
> Faulting module path: C:\Users\Mike\Desktop\DvrBARS.exe
> Report Id: a82a713b-8274-11e4-beaa-002268384593
> Faulting package full name:
> Faulting package-relative application ID:


How to fix Exception Code 0xc000000d Error


----------



## jmbach

If the wiki is correct then running sfc /scannow in an administrator command window or using online command with dism to refresh the windows files may fix it.

The other thought that occurred to me is that between the two computers that work,is there any differences in the Microsoft C redistributable files installed.


----------



## mpspoli

jmbach said:


> If the wiki is correct then running sfc /scannow in an administrator command window or using online command with dism to refresh the windows files may fix it.
> 
> The other thought that occurred to me is that between the two computers that work,is there any differences in the Microsoft C redistributable files installed.


I repaired the registry and system files, ran sfc /scannow and executed dism. Nothing has changed - same issue (mouse spins for a couple seconds and no application).


----------



## ggieseke

mpspoli said:


> I show a number of drives in Disk Management: Disk 0 (empty 1 TB drive I'm trying to lay the image on), Disk 1 (OS and storage), 4 "Removable" drives with "No Media" (Disk 2 - 5), and CD-ROM 0 "No Media".


The removable drives with no media are the ones I'm interested in. They sound a lot like the multi-format card reader on my Lenovo that I always disable in BIOS.

Excluding optical drives like your CD-ROM, if a "drive" shows up in Disk Manager DvrBARS will try to determine its parameters. Can you figure out what disks 2-5 actually are and temporarily disable them somehow? The Disk Drives category in Device Manager might do it.


----------



## mpspoli

ggieseke said:


> The removable drives with no media are the ones I'm interested in. They sound a lot like the multi-format card reader on my Lenovo that I always disable in BIOS.
> 
> Excluding optical drives like your CD-ROM, if a "drive" shows up in Disk Manager DvrBARS will try to determine its parameters. Can you figure out what disks 2-5 actually are and temporarily disable them somehow? The Disk Drives category in Device Manager might do it.


BAM! That did it. They were card reader slots. I disabled them and have the full restore in progress. Thank you!!!

One other side note - I did find the drive you recommended (WD10EURX) online. Unfortunately, it is an older drive (it was advertised as new, looks new, but manufactured in 2010). Do I need to run widdle on it?

Thanks again - really appreciate the guidance!


----------



## lpwcomp

mpspoli said:


> One other side note - I did find the drive you recommended (WD10EURX) online. Unfortunately, it is an older drive (it was advertised as new, looks new, but manufactured in 2010). Do I need to run widdle on it?


Shouldn't be necessary since it is an AV drive.


----------



## jmbach

mpspoli said:


> BAM! That did it. They were card reader slots. I disabled them and have the full restore in progress. Thank you!!!
> 
> One other side note - I did find the drive you recommended (WD10EURX) online. Unfortunately, it is an older drive (it was advertised as new, looks new, but manufactured in 2010). Do I need to run widdle on it?
> 
> Thanks again - really appreciate the guidance!


Thought you were going to use the 3TB drive?


----------



## lpwcomp

mpspoli said:


> BAM! That did it. They were card reader slots. I disabled them and have the full restore in progress. Thank you!!!
> 
> One other side note - I did find the drive you recommended (WD10EURX) online. Unfortunately, it is an older drive (it was advertised as new, looks new, but manufactured in 2010). Do I need to run widdle on it?
> 
> Thanks again - really appreciate the guidance!


I suspect that the problem is actually in the driver for the card reader since DvrBARS shouldn't crash with no notice simply because it got an error when trying to status a device.


----------



## nooneuknow

lpwcomp said:


> Shouldn't be necessary since it is an AV drive.


I can't speak for sure on this, as the details are buried deep in some old thread for S3/HD TiVos. But, there was a time period that WD factory shipped AV-GP (EURS) drives with the idle mode 3 timer set to the lowest timeout, then later (after a certain mfg date) started shipping them with it fully disabled.

A drive that old, will have a 3yr warranty, started from the date of manufacture, unless bought from a WD Authorized reseller, which might get a warranty from date of purchase, if everything is on the up and up.


----------



## nooneuknow

lpwcomp said:


> I suspect that the problem is actually in the driver for the card reader since DvrBARS shouldn't crash with no notice simply because it got an error when trying to status a device.


I forgot about this issue plaguing those with certain card readers, as well.

IIRC, all it takes is to populate the card reader, or disabling it via the root device that will disable all parts of it, within Device Manager.


----------



## lpwcomp

nooneuknow said:


> I forgot about this issue plaguing those with certain card readers, as well.
> 
> IIRC, all it takes is to populate the card reader, or disabling it via the root device that will disable all parts of it, within Device Manager.


My point is that even if DvrBARS encounters an error when trying to status a device, it shouldn't crash with no message _*and*_ that the error code indicates a system problem rather than an application problem.

At the very least, there is a problem with the API where the status request is causing a crash rather than returning an error.


----------



## mpspoli

jmbach said:


> Thought you were going to use the 3TB drive?


I hope to get to the 3TB eventually. TiVo wouldn't boot with it (likely due to the fact that I used a drive enclosure to put the image on it???), so I thought I'd go back to the fundamentals and start over with a 1TB drive.

If I can get the 3TB working in my Premiere, I'll use the 1TB in my S3.

Really appreciate all the help on this forum!


----------



## jmbach

If you are using the image from ggieseke, that will have to be updated to the latest OS before it will boot in the TiVo on any drive larger than 2TB. If you have a good 1TB handy, you could restore the image to that and then let the TiVo update to the latest OS. Then use JMFS to copy and expand to the 3TB.


----------



## unitron

mpspoli said:


> BAM! That did it. They were card reader slots. I disabled them and have the full restore in progress. Thank you!!!
> 
> One other side note - I did find the drive you recommended (WD10EURX) online. Unfortunately, it is an older drive (it was advertised as new, looks new, but manufactured in 2010). Do I need to run widdle on it?
> 
> Thanks again - really appreciate the guidance!


That's an old enough manufacture date that I'd check it with

wdidle3.exe

to be sure.


----------



## nooneuknow

mpspoli said:


> I hope to get to the 3TB eventually. TiVo wouldn't boot with it *(likely due to the fact that I used a drive enclosure to put the image on it???)*, so I thought I'd go back to the fundamentals and start over with a 1TB drive.
> 
> If I can get the 3TB working in my Premiere, I'll use the 1TB in my S3.
> 
> Really appreciate all the help on this forum!


Enclosures can tend to do things like encrypt the drive on the fly, rendering it unreadable, once removed from the enclosure. Even if using an enclosure that is sold w/out a drive inside, they can still do this, w/out necessarily the product literature saying it does so.

Even some USB-SATA adapters and docks have proven to be problematic, for certain usage scenarios. Things like using wdidle3.exe can only be done via direct drive to SATA controller connection.


----------



## ggieseke

mpspoli said:


> BAM! That did it. They were card reader slots. I disabled them and have the full restore in progress. Thank you!!!


Glad to hear it. I always hated the fact that it creates 5 extra drive letters on my PC that I never use, so it's the first thing I disable in BIOS.

Thanks for following through. Now I know what to tell anyone else that runs into that problem.



lpwcomp said:


> My point is that even if DvrBARS encounters an error when trying to status a device, it shouldn't crash with no message _*and*_ that the error code indicates a system problem rather than an application problem.
> 
> At the very least, there is a problem with the API where the status request is causing a crash rather than returning an error.


Yeah, I went back through that entire subroutine yesterday with a fine tooth comb and there shouldn't be any way for it to fail without an error message. This is the 3rd time someone running 8 reported the same problem, but the first time it was ever diagnosed.

I have revised that code four times already to compensate for unusual configurations like one of jmbach's laptops, so it already has a ton of places where I ignore certain error codes and continue. One of the Windows API calls must be crashing the program without returning.

0xC000000D=STATUS_INVALID_PARAMETER (An invalid parameter was passed to a service or function). Unless I can single step though it in a debugger on a PC that has the exact right combination of OS and hardware I'm going to chalk it up to a bad driver and move on.


----------



## mpspoli

jmbach said:


> If you are using the image from ggieseke, that will have to be updated to the latest OS before it will boot in the TiVo on any drive larger than 2TB. If you have a good 1TB handy, you could restore the image to that and then let the TiVo update to the latest OS. Then use JMFS to copy and expand to the 3TB.


Good information - thank you. It now makes sense why the 3TB will not boot. But, does present a new challenge.

I continue to struggle with my 1TB drive (WD10EURX purchased new on Amazon). Here is the latest:
1. Full restore of the image using DvrBARS - success
2. wdidle3 to turn off intellipark (drive was manufactured in 2012) - success
3. Boot in TiVo - success
4. Work through the guided set-up - success
5. Download the latest service update from TiVo - FAIL. This causes my TiVo to go into a GSOD infinite boot loop

I pulled the 1TB drive out of the TiVo and attempted to run Data Lifeguard Diagnostic (from WD) on it - it failed the QUICK TEST

Not believing that I had a bad hard drive, I did another full restore from DvrBARS, which was successful. After the full restore, the drive passed the QUICK TEST.

It feels like the latest update from TiVo is causing my problems (and maybe my original problem?). Does this make sense? Is there an image that includes the latest update? Other ideas?


----------



## jmbach

The drive is bad. Especially if it failed the quick test. That is the issue. Return the drive for another. In the meantime, if you can borrow any 1TB drive from anybody that is good, you can use it for the short time to upgrade the OS and transfer it to the 3TB drive. BTW I would use the zip 00000 and choose Tiny TiVo that nooneuknow recommends and not do any pairing of cableCARDs until the 3TB is up and running. Then do a C&DE, GS, and pairing of cableCARDs.


----------



## mpspoli

jmbach said:


> The drive is bad. Especially if it failed the quick test. That is the issue. Return the drive for another. In the meantime, if you can borrow any 1TB drive from anybody that is good, you can use it for the short time to upgrade the OS and transfer it to the 3TB drive. BTW I would use the zip 00000 and choose Tiny TiVo that nooneuknow recommends and not do any pairing of cableCARDs until the 3TB is up and running. Then do a C&DE, GS, and pairing of cableCARDs.


Thank you - I'll proceed with your recommendations. I haven't come across nooneuknow's "Tiny TiVo" recommendation, but will search for it.


----------



## nooneuknow

I have seen a great many false proclamations of drive failures by even the newest version of WD WinDLG. What clears these right out, when it's a false positive, is a full overwrite of the drive, using anything but Data Lifeguard Diagnostics.

It seems to be caused by "weak writes", or other conditions where the data and ECC of any sector don't match on a read test (or just a read).

These are "soft" errors, where the sectors are not actually bad, but appear as if they are, and are stuck in a limbo state, until new data is written to them, and they are successfully read after that. They then go from creating "UNC" and "IDNF" errors, to being "raw read errors", which is not a critical SMART register, which also will recover it's original 200 value, once no further errors have been seen in a few full read passes.

Add in a Red, Purple, or other TLER-enabled NAS/RAID drive, and this is that "perfect storm" that made me question if TLER-enabled drives belong in TiVos. I'm still running my Reds. The drive I had "fail" all WinDLG tests is still running strong, never again skipping a beat, after I got to the bottom of things, and overwrote the whole drive. Telemark, and other here, feel I must have encountered an insufficient power event, leading to the weak writes. I can't rule that out, as I have since switched to 12V 2.5A power bricks, rather than using the stock wall warts for base Roamios that are only 2.0A.

If the drive passes all the read-only tests by WinDLG now, it might never have any related issue in the future. I can not guarantee that. But, I've spent months torture-testing the drive in question. It's solid, in my case.

I'm not the first, or only person, to have seen this phenomenon first-hand.

As far as my "Tiny TiVo trick", using 00000 zip code, and Tiny TiVo as provider, I'm sick of typing it out. It is outlined in this thread many times, and also in several other threads. If somebody could find an instance, and post a link, while I get caught up on other threads, and take care of other business, it would be appreciated.


----------



## unitron

Here's one write up of the TinyTiVo trick

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10145381#post10145381


----------



## tazxx

I am looking for a 746320 image. Any help locating one would be appreciated.

Thank you


----------



## ggieseke

tazxx said:


> I am looking for a 746320 image. Any help locating one would be appreciated.
> 
> Thank you


PM sent.


----------



## paulgar342

I'm having some difficulty using DvrBARS (1.0.0.6) to do a truncated backup on my Premiere XL4 (TCD758260). After it is done scanning the drive, it puts up a dialog stating "Backing up 79.92GB of 1.82TB Press the right arrow ...". The backup size is huge whether or not the alternate root partition option is set to scan or skip. I tried this with Win 7-64 and also on XP. Same huge backup size. Everything I have read indicates that a truncated backup should be < 3GB and only take a few minutes. It's acting like it is doing something other than a truncated backup. Any idea what might be wrong?

Also, can someone PM me with info on how to get an image for my model?

Thanks,
Paul


----------



## jmbach

ggieseke can speak better on this but with one of the recent OS updates, the MFS structure has changed some and folders that were left out in a truncated backup are now captured.


----------



## ggieseke

If you run a Clear & Delete Everything first the Truncated backup still works correctly, but as jmbach indicated recent changes in the MFS structure broke something.

I sent you a PM to a clean image.


----------



## paulgar342

ggieseke said:


> If you run a Clear & Delete Everything first the Truncated backup still works correctly, but as jmbach indicated recent changes in the MFS structure broke something.
> 
> I sent you a PM to a clean image.


Thanks for the image.

I'm not ready for a C&DE yet, I'm just now starting to experience what looks like an occasional bad sector. I wanted to get a backup image before running the WD diagnostics in hopes of fixing some of the bad sectors.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> Glad to hear it. I always hated the fact that it creates 5 extra drive letters on my PC that I never use, so it's the first thing I disable in BIOS.


I use a utility called USB Safely Remove (http://www.safelyremove.com), and it works nicely for (among other things) disabling drive letter assignment in card readers when there's no media inserted.

It shows up every once in a while on the GiveawayOfTheDay free software site, which is where I first got it from.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> Version 1.0.0.6 now is available using the link in the first post of this thread.
> 
> It will prompt you if it doesn't recognize the VHD file as a valid Series 1 through Series 4 image during restores, but you can choose to continue anyway.


I just tried 10.0.0.6, made a 2TB backup image from an OLED Series 3, and when I went to restore it to another drive, 10.0.0.6 complained that the image it had just created wasn't a valid TiVo Series 1-4 image.

So I mounted the VHD using Disk Management, and WinMFS liked it fine, displayed its parameters without complaint.

So I ran the older version, and it had no issue with the image, which is restoring at the moment. When it's done, I'll see if it boots.

FYI.


----------



## ggieseke

dougdingle said:


> I just tried 10.0.0.6, made a 2TB backup image from an OLED Series 3, and when I went to restore it to another drive, 10.0.0.6 complained that the image it had just created wasn't a valid TiVo Series 1-4 image.
> 
> So I mounted the VHD using Disk Management, and WinMFS liked it fine, displayed its parameters without complaint.
> 
> So I ran the older version, and it had no issue with the image, which is restoring at the moment. When it's done, I'll see if it boots.
> 
> FYI.


There's a really simple explanation. I made a stupid programming mistake and never tested 1.0.0.6 with a valid TiVo image. My bad. 

The image that you made should be OK, and I just uploaded a patched version. Restoring it with 1.0.0.6 despite the false warning would have been fine too.

Sorry for the confusion.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> There's a really simple explanation. I made a stupid programming mistake and never tested 1.0.0.6 with a valid TiVo image. My bad.
> 
> The image that you made should be OK, and I just uploaded a patched version. Restoring it with 1.0.0.6 despite the false warning would have been fine too.
> 
> Sorry for the confusion.


 :up: The resulting restore booted just fine.


----------



## Hexdump

I am looking for a TCD746320 image. Any help locating one would be greatly appreciated. I have a new WD500GB Green, and my original seems to have too many bad sectors to clone.


----------



## ggieseke

Hexdump said:


> I am looking for a TCD746320 image. Any help locating one would be greatly appreciated. I have a new WD500GB Green, and my original seems to have too many bad sectors to clone.


PM sent.


----------



## Hexdump

Ggieseke, thank you sooooo much!!!! You are a life-saver!!! It's never good when the Tivo dies during two weeks of school vacation.


----------



## tanyatnt

Looking for some help on using DvrBARS. I'm trying to upgrade my Mom's premiere (model 746) from the original 320 GB drive to a 2TB drive.

I tried to do a modified backup of my Mom's premiere on my Windows 7 laptop and the backup got an error 70 on WriteFile but it did write a VHD file to the directory I chose.

Since there was a VHD file, I tried to restore the file which succeeded fine (probably because it just copies the file to the new disk drive) but when I tried to use JMFS on the new disk it didn't recognize the disk as a Tivo drive.

Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to fix this problem? Do I need to start all over?

Thanks!


----------



## jmbach

How much free space does your Windows 7 computer has. It should have at least 400GB incase the image is full. If it is the modified backup copies the whole thing. 

I would start over since there was a write error. 

Make sure you run it as an administrator. (Right click on it and select run as administrator just to be sure. 

If you can connect both drives to the computer, you might just use JMFS for the copy and expand.


----------



## tanyatnt

jmbach said:


> How much free space does your Windows 7 computer has. It should have at least 400GB incase the image is full. If it is the modified backup copies the whole thing.


Thanks, jmbach! I didn't even think to check how much free disk space on the C drive because I'm so used to having a lot of disk space on my computers at home!

Anyways, I only have my work laptop with me and there's only 216 GB free (only has a 300 GB hard drive)! I guess I will have to go the full JMFS route - which is not a problem except I will need to open the other SATA/USB converter that I bought from Fry's.


----------



## ggieseke

That error was probably 0x00000070 (in hexadecimal), which Microsoft defines as ERROR_DISK_FULL. It's error 112 in decimal.

To run a Modified Full backup on a 320GB drive that has been in use you'll need at least that much free disk space wherever you choose to write the backup file. If you have another computer with more space available you could map a drive to it and save the backup file there.

As jmbach suggested, if you can hook both drives up at the same time you could copy the 320GB drive directly to the 2TB drive with jmfs.

Edit: Guess I'm a day late and a dollar short, as usual.


----------



## monkeyfacedave

Hi,

I am looking for an image for my Mom's old Series 2 with a dead HD - TCD540080

Thank you,

David


----------



## ThAbtO

monkeyfacedave said:


> Hi,
> 
> I am looking for an image for my Mom's old Series 2 with a dead HD - TCD540080
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> David


TCD540xxxC image here


----------



## philt56

I'm doing a truncated backup of a premiere 1tb drive about 90% full. How long should this take? Dvrbars has been running for an hour. The last line in the output is 
Scanning drive A partition 14 ( SQLite)

the tivo source drive is on a usb sata cable, I'm writes to a wd passport external drive. 

All I have been seeing is the spinning wheel. 

How long before I should abort and retry?

Thanks


Ok restarted and now showing scanning MFS file system


----------



## philt56

Well I did the quick restore and did the expand and supersize with jmfs. But I am in a reboot loop when I power up the premiere. 

Before doing anything I did run the full WD diagnostics and got no errors. I did not do wd3idle since I could not get the disc detected via usb in a dos boot flash drive. I'm doing this on a Sony laptop so I can't plug the drive into a sata port directly. The sata connector connects to the board with a small copper ribbon. 

I will pull out the drive and do another restore (not quick) and see if that does anything better. Will doing another restore reformat the drive or do I need to do anything before the second restore?

Any other ideas?


----------



## ggieseke

philt56 said:


> Well I did the quick restore and did the expand and supersize with jmfs. But I am in a reboot loop when I power up the premiere.
> 
> Before doing anything I did run the full WD diagnostics and got no errors. I did not do wd3idle since I could not get the disc detected via usb in a dos boot flash drive. I'm doing this on a Sony laptop so I can't plug the drive into a sata port directly. The sata connector connects to the board with a small copper ribbon.
> 
> I will pull out the drive and do another restore (not quick) and see if that does anything better. Will doing another restore reformat the drive or do I need to do anything before the second restore?
> 
> Any other ideas?


Restoring will overwrite what's there, no matter what it is. If you do a full restore it will also write zeros to the unused sectors.

What king of drive is it? Only the WD Green drives should need wdidle3.


----------



## philt56

ggieseke said:


> Restoring will overwrite what's there, no matter what it is. If you do a full restore it will also write zeros to the unused sectors.
> 
> What king of drive is it? Only the WD Green drives should need wdidle3.


It's a WD 20EURX. I thought they are usually already disabled? If it was enabled would it cause a continual reboot like this?


----------



## philt56

Ok full restore completed and same thing. Welcome screen comes up, goes black and all the LEDs on the front panel flash and then back to Welcome. After cycling thru a number of these reboots, it just stays stuck on the welcome screen.

Will probably go get another sub- sata cable so I can do a jmfs copy.


----------



## jmbach

Need to look at a couple of things. One is the first 20 blocks of the drive that is looping. If that checks out okay, then we nees to look at the MFS header.


----------



## philt56

jmbach said:


> Need to look at a couple of things. One is the first 20 blocks of the drive that is looping. If that checks out okay, then we nees to look at the MFS header.


Thanks any instructions on how to proceed will be appreciated


----------



## emanonii

Phil,

I'm unable to reply to PMs (not enough posts yet). Here's the reply:

Others in the thread will have better ideas/info than me, but the continual reboot sounds like an issue with the drive, or the boot sector of the drive got whacked. Try reseating the cable on the drive first, maybe it will be something simple. If that doesn't work, do the restore again (that is what I'd do). And the USB/SATA cable I used was:

SATA/PATA/IDE Drive to USB 2.0 Adapter Converter Cable for 2.5 / 3.5 Inch Hard Drive / Optical Drive with External AC Power Adapter
by Generic

Sorry, post count isn't high enough to post a direct link. It's $9.99.

Although, I had to use the power supply supply from a different enclosure. I think the bad tivo drive burned up the power converter.

good luck!


----------



## Joey85

Also looking for a TCD746320 image to replaced failed WD 500GB drive. Thanks for any help.


----------



## ggieseke

Joey85 said:


> Also looking for a TCD746320 image to replaced failed WD 500GB drive. Thanks for any help.


PM sent.


----------



## gsol

I have an XL4 with 2tb drive and lifetime service. Just got another XL4 on ebay that someone put a 500 gb drive in with no lifetime service. I would like to swap the drives between the two. Is that possible without doing clear and delete? Because I would like to keep the recordings from the 2 tb drive.
Any help will be appreciated.


----------



## jmbach

No


----------



## lpwcomp

gsol said:


> I have an XL4 with 2tb drive and lifetime service. Just got another XL4 on ebay that someone put a 500 gb drive in with no lifetime service. I would like to swap the drives between the two. Is that possible without doing clear and delete? Because I would like to keep the recordings from the 2 tb drive.
> Any help will be appreciated.


No, you cannot swap drives and retain recordings. I don't understand why you would even want to swap the drives anyway. Exactly what do you hope to accomplish?


----------



## gsol

lpwcomp said:


> No, you cannot swap drives and retain recordings. I don't understand why you would even want to swap the drives anyway. Exactly what do you hope to accomplish?


Thanks for the help. I want the 2tb drive on the XL4 with monthly service to give to son-in-law. They need the storage. I can live with 500 gb on the lifetime XL4 because I have 2 other premieres and a roamio with plenty of storage among them. That's why I wanted to swap.


----------



## lpwcomp

gsol said:


> Thanks for the help. I want the 2tb drive on the XL4 with monthly service to give to son-in-law. They need the storage. I can live with 500 gb on the lifetime XL4 because I have 2 other premieres and a roamio with plenty of storage among them. That's why I wanted to swap.


If it only has a 500GB drive, then it s not a stock XL4. If it has 4 tuners, the it is either an X4 or is at least running the X4 s/w.

What is the model number?


----------



## gsol

TCD756250. It's an XL4. The seller explained he took the stock (2tb) drive out to use in a Roamio basic and put a 500gb drive in.


----------



## lpwcomp

gsol said:


> TCD756250. It's an XL4. The seller explained he took the stock (2tb) drive out to use in a Roamio basic and put a 500gb drive in.


You can't just stick a drive in a Premiere of any model and have it work. It must have the correct s/w installed on it. The only model whose image will fit on a 500GB drive and might work in a an XL4 is that of a Premiere 4.

I hope you didn't pay very much for this. A used Premiere w/o lifetime isn't worth much.


----------



## jmbach

Maybe a 758250?


----------



## ggieseke

jmbach said:


> Maybe a 758250?


Yeah, AFAIK there was never a 756anything. The 750500 is the only 500GB 4-tuner model that I have ever heard of. There was also the 746500 2-tuner model that was basically a late model 746320 when 320GB drives became more expensive than 500GB drives.

I have two different images for a 758250 but they won't fit on anything less than a 2TB drive.


----------



## Joey85

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


It lives!! Thanks so much!


----------



## styre

looking for a TCD746320 image to help restore a premiere.


----------



## Ricker888

I am looking for a TiVo TCD746500 Premiere Image. Any chance anyone has one? Thank you so much if there is any way I can get it.


----------



## unitron

Ricker888 said:


> I am looking for a TiVo TCD746500 Premiere Image. Any chance anyone has one? Thank you so much if there is any way I can get it.


If necessary, you can use a 746320 image, since it's the same machine except for the size of the hard drive they put in at the factory.


----------



## ggieseke

Ricker888 said:


> I am looking for a TiVo TCD746500 Premiere Image. Any chance anyone has one? Thank you so much if there is any way I can get it.


PM sent (it's for a 746320).


----------



## unitron

ggieseke said:


> PM sent (it's for a 746320).


Once DvrBARS restores that 320 image to something bigger than 320, can jmfs come along and do the expansion if it didn't do the original copying?


----------



## jmbach

Yes


----------



## Andy_R

Hi all. I'm new here. Have to say that this is a pretty impressive place for TiVo owners. 

I found my way here because my TiVo HD has a bad drive. The wife warned me a few months back that it was having problems. I chalked it up to bad reception. Now it won't boot and the WD utility confirms the drive is bad. 

I got a backup off the drive with DvrBARS but not without several read errors. Is it advisable for me to use this backup to create new drive? I see other people asking for drive images here. If mine won't work can I get one? Is it ok for me to ask? I have a TCD652160. 

I'll try the image I created and see how that goes. 

ggieseke, thank you for the awesome free tool. If I get my TiVo back I'm happy to make a contribution for your effort.


----------



## ggieseke

Andy_R said:


> Hi all. I'm new here. Have to say that this is a pretty impressive place for TiVo owners.
> 
> I found my way here because my TiVo HD has a bad drive. The wife warned me a few months back that it was having problems. I chalked it up to bad reception. Now it won't boot and the WD utility confirms the drive is bad.
> 
> I got a backup off the drive with DvrBARS but not without several read errors. Is it advisable for me to use this backup to create new drive? I see other people asking for drive images here. If mine won't work can I get one? Is it ok for me to ask? I have a TCD652160.
> 
> I'll try the image I created and see how that goes.
> 
> ggieseke, thank you for the awesome free tool. If I get my TiVo back I'm happy to make a contribution for your effort.


I don't have any 652 DvrBARS images, but Unitron and several others have images for WinMFS or MFSTools. The S3 and earlier crowd never saw a need to make and post DvrBARS images when they had existing stuff that already worked.

I'd say give it a shot. If it fails you haven't lost anything but a little time and you can still revert to one of the standard methods/images. If it works, hopefully all of your settings and maybe even the CableCARD pairing will be preserved. Only random chance and the TiVo gods know if the errors that you saw were in a critical part of the OS or just part of an I Love Lucy rerun.


----------



## ThAbtO

Andy_R said:


> Hi all. I'm new here. Have to say that this is a pretty impressive place for TiVo owners.
> 
> I found my way here because my TiVo HD has a bad drive. The wife warned me a few months back that it was having problems. I chalked it up to bad reception. Now it won't boot and the WD utility confirms the drive is bad.
> 
> I got a backup off the drive with DvrBARS but not without several read errors. Is it advisable for me to use this backup to create new drive? I see other people asking for drive images here. If mine won't work can I get one? Is it ok for me to ask? I have a TCD652160.
> 
> I'll try the image I created and see how that goes.
> 
> ggieseke, thank you for the awesome free tool. If I get my TiVo back I'm happy to make a contribution for your effort.


TCD652xxx S3HD 11.0m here


----------



## Andy_R

ggieseke said:


> I don't have any 652 DvrBARS images, but Unitron and several others have images for WinMFS or MFSTools. The S3 and earlier crowd never saw a need to make and post DvrBARS images when they had existing stuff that already worked.


Got it. Thanks.



ThAbtO said:


> TCD652xxx S3HD 11.0m here


Done. Incredibly easy to do. Back up and running with a 1TB drive.

Great forum with great resources. WinMFS looks like it hasn't been updated in years. Still working great. Surprising and awesome.

Thanks again.


----------



## rob4crib

ggieseke said:


> 2013/04/14: Version 1.0.0.2 Patched for DeviceIoControl error reading SD cards.
> 2013/04/15: Version 1.0.0.3 Patched for yet another DeviceIoControl error during restore on some computers.
> 2014/11/27: Version 1.0.0.6 Added the ability to restore VHD images that it doesn't recognize.
> 
> **WARNING**
> 
> 1. This software is provided "as is" with absolutely no warranty of any kind.
> 2. Opening your TiVo will void the manufacturer's warranty.
> 3. While every effort has been made to prevent data loss, the ultimate responsibility is yours.
> 
> OVERVIEW:
> 
> This is a Windows program designed to backup and restore TiVo DVRs. It will run on XP or later, and it should work on anything from a Series 1 to a Premiere. It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives, and it will not expand or "supersize" your drive (yet).
> 
> THE BASICS:
> 
> 1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.
> 2. Connect a TiVo drive to your computer. USB adapters will work, but are generally much slower than a SATA or PATA direct connection.
> 3. Read step 2 again. DvrBARS only scans the drives once when it first starts up. If you add, remove or change your drive configuration while it's running you will confuse the poor thing. I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.
> 4. Run DvrBARS with an account that's a member of the Administrators group or right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
> 5. If you like it and want to help support future development, find the donate option in the System Information screen.
> 
> NOW WHAT?
> 
> There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).
> 
> Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.
> 
> Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.
> 
> Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).
> 
> All three backup methods will preserve your settings, CableCARD pairing, Season Passes, guide data etc.
> 
> There are two restore options (Full and Quick).
> 
> Full restores write all of the information in the backup image to the target drive, including the sectors that weren't backed up. They get zeroes.
> 
> Quick restores only write the sectors that contain data. The rest of the target drive is untouched.
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> There's a roughly 2.2TB limit inherent in the VHD file format. If you try to do a Full backup of a 2TB drive that has been in use for a while it will probably run for about 10 hours and die.
> 
> You cannot make a Modified or Truncated backup of a dual drive TiVo unless both drives are connected. It has to be able to scan the entire MFS file system to figure out what sectors to include.
> 
> For adventurous souls, you can use the VHD files with VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. Use the VHD as the source drive, boot the virtual computer with the mfstools or jmfs ISO file and you can expand, supersize, etc to another drive.
> 
> If you have Vista or later you can also mount a VHD file in Disk Manager and use it as the source drive for further operations like turning a Full or Modified backup into a Truncated backup, but be careful to check the Read Only box.
> 
> PLEASE HELP!!!!
> 
> I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.
> 
> Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.
> 
> KUDOS:
> 
> Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.
> 
> The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.
> 
> AND FINALLY:
> 
> I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> Greg


 I have a 750gb drive that a friend gave to me that I want to try this on but it has been formatted (NTFS) how does a person undo a drive that has been initialized already? Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

rob4crib said:


> I have a 750gb drive that a friend gave to me that I want to try this on but it has been formatted (NTFS) how does a person undo a drive that has been initialized already? Thanks


DvrBARS has a built-in a safety feature and it won't wipe a drive that already has a valid Windows file system. It could, but the early test versions were command line driven and I got tired of killing my friend's computers if they made a typo.

Hook it up and run Disk Manager. Find the 750GB drive in the lower part of the screen, and when you're absolutely sure that you have the right one just right click each partition and delete it. Once it shows as a completely unintitalized drive DvrBARS will take it from there.

I know it's a PITA, but I sleep better this way.


----------



## unitron

rob4crib said:


> I have a 750gb drive that a friend gave to me that I want to try this on but it has been formatted (NTFS) how does a person undo a drive that has been initialized already? Thanks


When you get hold of the diagnostic software made by the same company that made the drive so that you can run their long test before putting that drive into service (which one should *always* do with any drive which is new *to them*), you can see if the software doesn't also have an erase utility.

The Universal Boot CD has the software from most drive makers all together in one place. Read about it here:

https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

then go here:

https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

ignore the stuff at the top of the page that says "Start Download" or "Download Here" or whatever and go down almost to the bottom of the page to where it says "Mirror Sites".

Choose one, right click on the icon in the left hand column (that's an old hard drive icon from the early days of GUIs) and tell it to save the link(not the image, which is just an icon) wherever on your hard drive you save stuff, then when it eventually downloads (hey, it's free) burn it to cd-r "as an image" (not a picture image, an iso file image, so that everything is in the right place on the cd to make it bootable).


----------



## rob4crib

ggieseke said:


> 2013/04/14: Version 1.0.0.2 Patched for DeviceIoControl error reading SD cards.
> 2013/04/15: Version 1.0.0.3 Patched for yet another DeviceIoControl error during restore on some computers.
> 2014/11/27: Version 1.0.0.6 Added the ability to restore VHD images that it doesn't recognize.
> 
> **WARNING**
> 
> 1. This software is provided "as is" with absolutely no warranty of any kind.
> 2. Opening your TiVo will void the manufacturer's warranty.
> 3. While every effort has been made to prevent data loss, the ultimate responsibility is yours.
> 
> OVERVIEW:
> 
> This is a Windows program designed to backup and restore TiVo DVRs. It will run on XP or later, and it should work on anything from a Series 1 to a Premiere. It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives, and it will not expand or "supersize" your drive (yet).
> 
> THE BASICS:
> 
> 1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.
> 2. Connect a TiVo drive to your computer. USB adapters will work, but are generally much slower than a SATA or PATA direct connection.
> 3. Read step 2 again. DvrBARS only scans the drives once when it first starts up. If you add, remove or change your drive configuration while it's running you will confuse the poor thing. I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.
> 4. Run DvrBARS with an account that's a member of the Administrators group or right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
> 5. If you like it and want to help support future development, find the donate option in the System Information screen.
> 
> NOW WHAT?
> 
> There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).
> 
> Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.
> 
> Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.
> 
> Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).
> 
> All three backup methods will preserve your settings, CableCARD pairing, Season Passes, guide data etc.
> 
> There are two restore options (Full and Quick).
> 
> Full restores write all of the information in the backup image to the target drive, including the sectors that weren't backed up. They get zeroes.
> 
> Quick restores only write the sectors that contain data. The rest of the target drive is untouched.
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> There's a roughly 2.2TB limit inherent in the VHD file format. If you try to do a Full backup of a 2TB drive that has been in use for a while it will probably run for about 10 hours and die.
> 
> You cannot make a Modified or Truncated backup of a dual drive TiVo unless both drives are connected. It has to be able to scan the entire MFS file system to figure out what sectors to include.
> 
> For adventurous souls, you can use the VHD files with VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. Use the VHD as the source drive, boot the virtual computer with the mfstools or jmfs ISO file and you can expand, supersize, etc to another drive.
> 
> If you have Vista or later you can also mount a VHD file in Disk Manager and use it as the source drive for further operations like turning a Full or Modified backup into a Truncated backup, but be careful to check the Read Only box.
> 
> PLEASE HELP!!!!
> 
> I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.
> 
> Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.
> 
> KUDOS:
> 
> Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.
> 
> The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.
> 
> AND FINALLY:
> 
> I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> Greg


I kept receiving a BAT ENTRY ERROR and as suggested I tried using a new clean image and the problem was solved.
Thank You sir


----------



## drummerben

Does anyone know where I might be able to locate a clean disc image for a TCD746320?


----------



## ggieseke

drummerben said:


> Does anyone know where I might be able to locate a clean disc image for a TCD746320?


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

matthewrpi said:


> I also need an image for TCD764320 or TCD746500 if they are interchangeable. Thanks.


PM sent.


----------



## JBYoung

I need an image for a TCD746320


----------



## viperjuice

Thanks for all the info on DvrBARS.

My TCD746320 2TB Drive just died. Any chance I could get a copy of the image? New to the whole Tivo / forum thing. Had this thing for two weeks. Can't send PMs yet.

Thank you.


----------



## ggieseke

viperjuice said:


> Thanks for all the info on DvrBARS.
> 
> My TCD746320 2TB Drive just died. Any chance I could get a copy of the image? New to the whole Tivo / forum thing. Had this thing for two weeks. Can't send PMs yet.
> 
> Thank you.


PM sent.


----------



## viperjuice

thank you for the image. Just to be sure, is the image for the factory HD and needs to be altered for the 2tb drive?


----------



## viperjuice

Just loaded the image into my drive using the dvrbars and set it up using jmfs. Thanks to your help this couldn't have been easier. Thank you very much


----------



## jmbach

viperjuice said:


> Just loaded the image into my drive using the dvrbars and set it up using jmfs. Thanks to your help this couldn't have been easier. Thank you very much


Don't forget the donation button in the system information section of DvrBARS.


----------



## rlance

My 320GB Premiere just died on me. I'm trying ddrescue right now. Can I get an image for it in case ddrescue doesn't work? Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

rlance said:


> My 320GB Premiere just died on me. I'm trying ddrescue right now. Can I get an image for it in case ddrescue doesn't work? Thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## viperjuice

Well think I spoke too soon. 

Purchased a Tcd746320 and the hard drive died after couple of days ( before I had a chance to setup antenna and try anything)

Figured I could do the replacement so I got a new WD20EURX drive, loaded the image using dvrbars, ran JMFS to expand and supersize the drive. 

Everything work although won't record any shows. Tried to schedule and it does, doesn't record and history shows not available. Was told by TiVo support that it could be antenna signal. Got cable installed and still the same

Ran WdIdle3 and set it to 300s. Still the same

Any ideas if it could be something wrong with the hd or programs I used to set it up? Please help, can't find and forums with answers on this problem


----------



## jmbach

Run a clear and delete everything and redo guided setup. That usually solves most issues that you are experiencing.


----------



## viperjuice

Thank you. No lie in doing that right now. Hope it works.


----------



## unitron

viperjuice said:


> Well think I spoke too soon.
> 
> Purchased a Tcd746320 and the hard drive died after couple of days ( before I had a chance to setup antenna and try anything)
> 
> Figured I could do the replacement so I got a new WD20EURX drive, loaded the image using dvrbars, ran JMFS to expand and supersize the drive.
> 
> Everything work although won't record any shows. Tried to schedule and it does, doesn't record and history shows not available. Was told by TiVo support that it could be antenna signal. Got cable installed and still the same
> 
> Ran WdIdle3 and set it to 300s. Still the same
> 
> Any ideas if it could be something wrong with the hd or programs I used to set it up? Please help, can't find and forums with answers on this problem


The image you used came from a TiVo with its own unique TiVo Service Number which does not match the TSN on your TiVo's motherboard, so what jmbach prescribed will give it a chance to "marry" the image on the drive to your motherboard and it should work just fine once you finish Guided Setup.

When you reach that point, pull the drive and make a DvrBARS backup of it so you'll have one with the right TSN and all your settings.


----------



## vacaloca

I tried the DVRBARS application on Windows 8.1 x64 (fully patched) and the GUI doesn't come up. The application seems to exit after < 1 second. I do see it in the task manager for a short while. Works fine on Windows 7 SP1 x64 though. Any ideas? Would happily test a debug build to see if that ends up working. Low post count, so I couldn't PM.


----------



## lpwcomp

vacaloca said:


> I tried the DVRBARS application on Windows 8.1 x64 (fully patched) and the GUI doesn't come up. The application seems to exit after < 1 second. I do see it in the task manager for a short while. Works fine on Windows 7 SP1 x64 though. Any ideas? Would happily test a debug build to see if that ends up working. Low post count, so I couldn't PM.


Did you run it as administrator?


----------



## vacaloca

lpwcomp said:


> Did you run it as administrator?


I did priviledge elevation (run as admin) through right-click, yes, no change.


----------



## jmbach

I have ran it on both Windows 8.0 x64 and 8.1 x64 machines without issues. However, I will say, if I remember correctly, when I downloaded it for the first time Windows was reluctant to run it since it was downloaded from the internet and I had to give it an extra approval otherwise it would not run it. After I gave it a permanent exclusion, it ran fine from then on.


----------



## rlance

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


After over 24 hours, ddrescue finally completed and worked!

I sent a donation your way as a thank you!


----------



## lpwcomp

vacaloca said:


> I did priviledge elevation (run as admin) through right-click, yes, no change.


I just started it on my 8.1 Pro 64-bit system with no problem.


----------



## viperjuice

It finally works. Thanks. Where do I go to donate?


----------



## ggieseke

vacaloca said:


> I tried the DVRBARS application on Windows 8.1 x64 (fully patched) and the GUI doesn't come up. The application seems to exit after < 1 second. I do see it in the task manager for a short while. Works fine on Windows 7 SP1 x64 though. Any ideas? Would happily test a debug build to see if that ends up working. Low post count, so I couldn't PM.


There's a bug in WMI (the Windows Management Instrumentation layer) that can cause that behavior.

In particular, some card readers appear as physical drives even when there's no card in the slot. DvrBARS uses WMI to detect all of the drives on your computer, but when it asks for details about drives like that WMI terminates the program that made the call instead of returning an error code.

Disable the card reader in BIOS and it should be fine.


----------



## vacaloca

ggieseke said:


> There's a bug in WMI (the Windows Management Instrumentation layer) that can cause that behavior.
> 
> In particular, some card readers appear as physical drives even when there's no card in the slot. DvrBARS uses WMI to detect all of the drives on your computer, but when it asks for details about drives like that WMI terminates the program that made the call instead of returning an error code.
> 
> Disable the card reader in BIOS and it should be fine.


The Windows 8.1 x64 system does indeed have a Rosewill RDCR-11003 USB 3.0 card reader. Upon disconnecting the physical USB 3.0 connection to the motherboard DvrBARS started right up. I tried a few ways of removing the empty drive letters (hiding them via USBDLM, or mapping the empty drives to directory mount points) but neither worked, only not having the card reader present at all works.


----------



## jmbach

viperjuice said:


> It finally works. Thanks. Where do I go to donate?


When you open DvrBARS go to System Information and the donate link is there.


----------



## dougdingle

jmbach said:


> Don't forget the donation button in the system information section of DvrBARS.


This is important. If an image from Greg has helped you, or DvrBARS has helped you, sending $10 or so to Greg via PayPal is a very small price to pay for having your ass saved.

He has spent a ton of time and effort on the project thus far, and is working on some other utilities useful to TiVo owners, and deserves a little recognition in the way of beer money for his efforts, it seems to me. I sent him $10 right after the first time I used DvrBARS. There's nothing else quite like it available.


----------



## unitron

comer and spike are probably deserving of a little more love (read $) as well.


----------



## kpeters59

SSIA, but I'll add to it.

Hoping someone might be kind enough to hook me up with an image for this premiere 2 tuner/500gb.

DVRBARS finds it, but errors out reading from the SQL partition.

Sure am glad I saved this XP boot too, 'cause I couldn't get DVRBARS to start on Win8 32, either.

Thanks to everybody who does all this work to keep TiVo going.

-Kyle

While I'm at it, I tried to boot up an OLD S3. It never got past "Powering up...", so I pulled the cover on it.  There is 1 cap that appears to be bulging, so I'll probably need to service the Power Supply. But, I ran DVRBARS on the drive and it error-ed out too. So, can I maybe find an image for a TCD648250B as well?

Thanks!

-KP


----------



## ggieseke

kpeters59 said:


> SSIA, but I'll add to it.
> 
> Hoping someone might be kind enough to hook me up with an image for this premiere 2 tuner/500gb.
> 
> DVRBARS finds it, but errors out reading from the SQL partition.
> 
> Sure am glad I saved this XP boot too, 'cause I couldn't get DVRBARS to start on Win8 32, either.
> 
> Thanks to everybody who does all this work to keep TiVo going.
> 
> -Kyle
> 
> While I'm at it, I tried to boot up an OLD S3. It never got past "Powering up...", so I pulled the cover on it. There is 1 cap that appears to be bulging, so I'll probably need to service the Power Supply. But, I ran DVRBARS on the drive and it error-ed out too. So, can I maybe find an image for a TCD648250B as well?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> -KP


PM sent. It's for a 746320 but you can expand it to 500GB or more with jmfs. Don't forget to run Clear & Delete Everything.

Window 8.x works fine as long as you're a member of the Administrators group. If it seems to start but disappears without any error messages see the posts from vacaloca and my response earlier on this page.

I don't have any images for S3 and older models except for some from my 500GB expanded S2DTs and a dual-drive S1. It never caught on with the crowd that grew up on WinMFS & MFSLive (not that I blame them).


----------



## kpeters59

ggieseke said:


> PM sent. It's for a 746320 but you can expand it to 500GB or more with jmfs. Don't forget to run Clear & Delete Everything.
> 
> Window 8.x works fine as long as you're a member of the Administrators group. If it seems to start but disappears without any error messages see the posts from vacaloca and my response earlier on this page.
> 
> I don't have any images for S3 and older models except for some from my 500GB expanded S2DTs and a dual-drive S1. It never caught on with the crowd that grew up on WinMFS & MFSLive (not that I blame them).


Thanks. Download complete. Restore complete. Now I just need to expand it to fill the 2tb I had spare as best it can. I'll try to figure that out real quick.

Thanks again.

-Kyle

ps...anybody got an S3 image?

-KP


----------



## unitron

kpeters59 said:


> SSIA, but I'll add to it.
> 
> Hoping someone might be kind enough to hook me up with an image for this premiere 2 tuner/500gb.
> 
> DVRBARS finds it, but errors out reading from the SQL partition.
> 
> Sure am glad I saved this XP boot too, 'cause I couldn't get DVRBARS to start on Win8 32, either.
> 
> Thanks to everybody who does all this work to keep TiVo going.
> 
> -Kyle
> 
> While I'm at it, I tried to boot up an OLD S3. It never got past "Powering up...", so I pulled the cover on it. There is 1 cap that appears to be bulging, so I'll probably need to service the Power Supply. But, I ran DVRBARS on the drive and it error-ed out too. So, can I maybe find an image for a TCD648250B as well?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> -KP


Until I get around to posting in the right thread, 648 images here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10445305#post10445305

Note, these are not DvrBARS images, they are for either the MFS Live cd or the WinMFS program, neither of which are any good for Premieres or Roamios but work fine for Series 1, 2, and 3 models.


----------



## kpeters59

unitron said:


> Until I get around to posting in the right thread, 648 images here:
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10445305#post10445305
> 
> Note, these are not DvrBARS images, they are for either the MFS Live cd or the WinMFS program, neither of which are any good for Premieres or Roamios but work fine for Series 1, 2, and 3 models.


Wow! Cool!

Thanks.

Got it downloaded.

Just need to figure out what drive I'm going to use and, most probably, replace at least one cap.

Thanks,

-Kyle


----------



## kpeters59

OK.

This new image booted up. It made me go through Guided Setup, which I did. It seems to be downloading an "Important Update".

Once that finishes up, will I be able to successfully expand out to the 1.16tb that I suppose should be available without having to redo Guided Setup?

I'm sorry if this is already answered, or if it's a dumb question.

Thanks,

-Kyle


----------



## kpeters59

kpeters59 said:


> OK.
> 
> This new image booted up. It made me go through Guided Setup, which I did. It seems to be downloading an "Important Update".
> 
> Once that finishes up, will I be able to successfully expand out to the 1.16tb that I suppose should be available without having to redo Guided Setup?
> 
> I'm sorry if this is already answered, or if it's a dumb question.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -Kyle


Answered my own question...Used JMFS to expand and now it's booted up with only wasting nearly a terabyte of space on that spare drive.



ggieseke said:


> Window 8.x works fine as long as you're a member of the Administrators group. If it seems to start but disappears without any error messages see the posts from vacaloca and my response earlier on this page.


I was unable to get DvrBARS to start on Win 8 32. I am an Admin. I ran as Admin. I set Compatability to Xp.Sp2. I'd seen the issue with the empty SD-type slots. I had that issue. Since this old machine triple boots into XP/7/8, it was just as simple to boot into XP. Done and done.

I really love TIVo and the TiVo community.

Thanks,

-Kyle


----------



## unitron

kpeters59 said:


> OK.
> 
> This new image booted up. It made me go through Guided Setup, which I did. It seems to be downloading an "Important Update".
> 
> Once that finishes up, will I be able to successfully expand out to the 1.16tb that I suppose should be available without having to redo Guided Setup?
> 
> I'm sorry if this is already answered, or if it's a dumb question.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -Kyle


You're talking about the Premiere and not the 648, right?

Because for it, or any larger than stock drive prepared with either the MFS Live cd or WinMFS, it's best to ignore the instructions where expansion is concerned and do it afterwards as a separate step.

Get the image on the drive, without using the -x option on the command line or, if using WinMFS, turn down the offer to expand.

Then check that new drive with

mfsinfo

to make sure everything looks okay, including that there's a large Apple Free Partition at the end of the drive.

Then expand into that area with

mfsadd

Doing it as an integral part of a copy or image restore sometimes fails and screws up the drive for some reason, but doing it later separately doesn't.


----------



## kpeters59

unitron said:


> You're talking about the Premiere and not the 648, right?
> 
> Because for it, or any larger than stock drive prepared with either the MFS Live cd or WinMFS, it's best to ignore the instructions where expansion is concerned and do it afterwards as a separate step.
> 
> Get the image on the drive, without using the -x option on the command line or, if using WinMFS, turn down the offer to expand.
> 
> Then check that new drive with
> 
> mfsinfo
> 
> to make sure everything looks okay, including that there's a large Apple Free Partition at the end of the drive.
> 
> Then expand into that area with
> 
> mfsadd
> 
> Doing it as an integral part of a copy or image restore sometimes fails and screws up the drive for some reason, but doing it later separately doesn't.


I ran JMFS on the Premiere drive and it expanded out to 318 hrs without error, so that's pretty much it. Took me longer to configure the USB Boot Stick than it did to expand. It's all put back together now.

Thanks for your help!

-Kyle


----------



## dianebrat

kpeters59 said:


> Just need to figure out what drive I'm going to use and, most probably, replace at least one cap.


Hit most of them, they'll just go bad later anyway :up:


----------



## bristle_splitter

I am trying to do a backup of my working Premiere TCD750500 (500GB), but an error comes up "insufficient memory". There is about 150GB of free HD space but still no go with either method. I don't think the image would the image be larger than that with no recordings, I seen other people on here able to back up the 500GB version - any ideas???


----------



## jmbach

A couple of things. Are you doing a complete or modified backup. That saves recordings as well and if your drive has a lot of recordings, you will need a larger backup drive. If you are doing a truncated backup, that size should be sufficient. It used be under 5GB but since TiVo changed a few things recently with their OS, I have it as high as 60GB for a truncated backup.


----------



## bristle_splitter

Thanks, just tried it on a Win7 machine with 320GB HDD and 8GB RAM and seems to be working fine with about 2GB output file size... The other was XP with 2GB RAM so must be time for an upgrade.


----------



## ggieseke

bristle_splitter said:


> Thanks, just tried it on a Win7 machine with 320GB HDD and 8GB RAM and seems to be working fine with about 2GB output file size... The other was XP with 2GB RAM so must be time for an upgrade.


I should have caught it earlier. "Insufficient memory" is a generic error message I use any time I try to allocate more memory (not disk space).

2GB should be fine assuming that the swap file isn't too small or something else isn't pushing it to the edge, but I'm glad you got it to work.


----------



## Scuba

I have a premiere the hdd died. I do have a WD 2Tb drive but it's formatted NFST. Can I still have an TIVO premiere 4 series image installed on it? If yes, can someone send me an image. Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

Scuba said:


> I have a premiere the hdd died. I do have a WD 2Tb drive but it's formatted NFST. Can I still have an TIVO premiere 4 series image installed on it? If yes, can someone send me an image. Thanks


What's the model number? It should start with "TCD" followed by 6 digits.


----------



## Scuba

It's 746320. I'm not a computer guy as you can tell by my post. So, hopefully I can reformat my WD20 hD to TIVO and image


----------



## ggieseke

Scuba said:


> It's 746320. I'm not a computer guy as you can tell by my post. So, hopefully I can reformat my WD20 hD to TIVO and image


PM sent.


----------



## unitron

ggieseke said:


> What's the model number? It should start with "TCD" followed by 6 digits.


Will BvrBARS just overwrite without any need for formatting or erasing the way MFS Live and WinMFS can/do?


----------



## ggieseke

unitron said:


> Will BvrBARS just overwrite without any need for formatting or erasing the way MFS Live and WinMFS can/do?


It could, but even with the Show Mounted Drives option turned on I decided to play it safe. It won't overwrite anything that Windows recognizes as a valid file system.

You have to go into Disk Manager yourself and delete the partitions, then restart DvrBARS. I only promised to show mounted drives, not wipe them.


----------



## shappyss

I'm looking for an image for the Tcd746320 so I can replace the failed hard drive.


----------



## ggieseke

shappyss said:


> I'm looking for an image for the Tcd746320 so I can replace the failed hard drive.


PM Sent.


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

I was wondering if I could get a copy of a image for a TCD746320 and a TCD750500.

Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

CantDecideOnOne said:


> I was wondering if I could get a copy of a image for a TCD746320 and a TCD750500.
> 
> Thanks


PM sent.


----------



## waynomo

ggieseke said:


> I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.


So did I damage the boot sector?

I found my old series 1 40 GB drive. I hooked it up via USB to my Windows 8 computer. I ran Disk Management under Manage. Did I hose my virgin series 1 drive?


----------



## ggieseke

Only if you said yes when it asked if it could initialize the drive.


----------



## unitron

waynomo said:


> So did I damage the boot sector?
> 
> I found my old series 1 40 GB drive. I hooked it up via USB to my Windows 8 computer. I ran Disk Management under Manage. Did I hose my virgin series 1 drive?


There *may* be a problem (but I'm not at all sure) because of the drive "locking" that Series 1s did (for reasons I've never understood).

What brand is that drive?

If you wanted to look at it under Windows, you should have done so with WinMFS

Also, WinMFS should be able to repair the boot sector, without changing any of the other stuff on there.


----------



## bristle_splitter

Has anyone seen this issue before - I have a 320GB drive that shows only 297.58GB instead of 298.09GB in the disk manager. DVRbars will not successfully write to it but it passes all tests I can throw at it including s.m.a.r.t, wiping, formatting, and mbr "fix". It's like 1 sector is missing (512MB difference) or something??? Any thoughts or ideas, maybe just keep this drive for windows...


----------



## telemark

bristle_splitter said:


> Has anyone seen this issue before - I have a 320GB drive that shows only 297.58GB instead of 298.09GB in the disk manager.


What's the drive make/model and how is it connected to the computer?

Explanations before have included settings like HPA/DCO or connecting hardware.


----------



## jmbach

Did this drive come out of an enclosure?


----------



## unitron

bristle_splitter said:


> Has anyone seen this issue before - I have a 320GB drive that shows only 297.58GB instead of 298.09GB in the disk manager. DVRbars will not successfully write to it but it passes all tests I can throw at it including s.m.a.r.t, wiping, formatting, and mbr "fix". It's like 1 sector is missing (512MB difference) or something??? Any thoughts or ideas, maybe just keep this drive for windows...


Like jmbach asks, was it ever in an enclosure?

Like unitron asks, was it ever connected to a GigaByte brand PC motherboard?

And what LBA number is shown on the label on the top of the drive?


----------



## stlcardfan70

I need an image for a Premiere 320/500. I have a 500. Can someone send a link to the 746320/746500 image?

Thank you.


----------



## ggieseke

stlcardfan70 said:


> I need an image for a Premiere 320/500. I have a 500. Can someone send a link to the 746320/746500 image?
> 
> Thank you.


PM sent.


----------



## bristle_splitter

WD3200AAJS, I had it connected through a HDD dock via USB and also directly connected to the SATA cables in the PC. Another of the same model works fine and shows 298.09. The LBA listed on the bad drive is 625142448. I picked it up used so I have no way to know if it was ever in an enclosure or connected to a Gigabyte MB. Is there a HDD tool or something available to get that sector back...?


----------



## bristle_splitter

Turns out it was the HPA setting for the drive, and hdparm was able to reset it to full capacity. Thanks


----------



## unitron

bristle_splitter said:


> Turns out it was the HPA setting for the drive, and hdparm was able to reset it to full capacity. Thanks


Yeah, that's what I thought it smelled like.

Good to hear you were able to use

hdparm -N lotsofdangerousstuff

successfully without setting your house on fire.

(Okay, it wouldn't have done quite *that* much damage)


----------



## cuda74360

Does anyone have an image for a TCD750500?


----------



## ggieseke

cuda74360 said:


> Does anyone have an image for a TCD750500?


PM sent.


----------



## zerdian1

Still searching for mac sw to backup, restore, play tivo videos, upload and download tivo videos from roamio pro and mac osx 10.10.


----------



## ggieseke

zerdian1 said:


> Still searching for mac sw to backup, restore, play tivo videos, upload and download tivo videos from roamio pro and mac osx 10.10.


Why ask this in a thread about a Windows-only program to backup and restore the entire drive (for Series 1 through Series 4 TiVos)? 

You need pyTivo, kmttg or both. There's tons of info about both programs in the "TiVo Home Media Features & TiVoToGo" forum.


----------



## tazxx

I'm looking for an original TCD748000 image, for failed drive. Any would be appreciated.


----------



## ggieseke

tazxx said:


> I'm looking for an original TCD748000 image, for failed drive. Any would be appreciated.


PM sent.


----------



## mrdave

does anyone know which is better to use to copy a tivo disk
ddrescue or dd_rescue


----------



## unitron

mrdave said:


> does anyone know which is better to use to copy a tivo disk
> ddrescue or dd_rescue


If it's still in good enough shape, either should be able to do it, and if not, then probably neither unless you're already very knowledgeable about the various options.

The MFS Live cd, v1.4, has

dd_rescue

and the jmfs cd has

ddrescue

I've used both, and they seemed about the same to me, but I'm by no means an expert.

Which model TiVo do you have?

Should start with TCD if it's a TiVo brand TiVo.

Are we talking copying the original drive to a bigger one and expanding?

Does the one you want to copy still work in the TiVo?


----------



## telemark

mrdave said:


> does anyone know which is better to use to copy a tivo disk
> ddrescue or dd_rescue


I'm not an expert either, but I just checked some comparison reviews and there's a consensus that GNU ddrescue handles problem drives better and is faster for them. I'll add my personal opinion the logfile that ddrescue offers is pretty handy if things go wrong.

Non-problem drives, they should be the same.

Don't ask me how do you know if it's a problem drive before hand.


----------



## Sparky1234

ggieseke graciously provided me a link to the TCD748000 image, Thanks. I created a Full backup of my TiVo Premiere XL hard drive with DvrBARS before I tried to re-image. Now when I try to resort the newly created Full backup or re-image with ggieseke's image my Windows 7 Pro 64 bit computer crashed every time with BSOD. I have restarted computer, ran DvrBARS as admisistrator... What am I missing?


----------



## ggieseke

Sparky1234 said:


> ggieseke graciously provided me a link to the TCD748000 image, Thanks. I created a Full backup of my TiVo Premiere XL hard drive with DvrBARS before I tried to re-image. Now when I try to resort the newly created Full backup or re-image with ggieseke's image my Windows 7 Pro 64 bit computer crashed every time with BSOD. I have restarted computer, ran DvrBARS as admisistrator... What am I missing?


Does the program crash on startup, or during the restore?


----------



## Sparky1234

Program start ok.... I select restore then the drive then when I confirm the drive to restore to the Program crashes every time. Right now I have the drive in another computer using UBCD to check the WD dirve again with Data Lifeguard. Passed the quick test now running the extended test. Once it passes I'm going to try JMFS to restore the TCD748000 image. If that fails them I will restore the backup I made with DvrBARS.


----------



## ggieseke

jmfs can't restore a DvrBARS image. Let me know how the drive test goes and we'll work it from there.


----------



## Sparky1234

WD drive quick and extended both test good. Can the provided TCD748000 image be restored / written to this original 1 TB drive with jmfs or DvrBARS? I suspect the data / OS on the TiVo drive was corrupted causing my issues. Additionally I suspect my TiVo lost time due to the 5 plus year old 2032 battery dying and got out of time sync with the TiVo servers which caused the drive corruption.


----------



## ggieseke

Sparky1234 said:


> WD drive quick and extended both test good. Can the provided TCD748000 image be restored / written to this original 1 TB drive with jmfs or DvrBARS? I suspect the data / OS on the TiVo drive was corrupted causing my issues. Additionally I suspect my TiVo lost time due to the 5 plus year old 2032 battery dying and got out of time sync with the TiVo servers which caused the drive corruption.


The battery shouldn't matter, nor should anything else in a restore. That part of the program only uses two Windows API calls (ReadFile & WriteFile). If it made it to that point successfully a BSOD should be impossible.

Do you have another PC you can try?


----------



## nooneuknow

ggieseke said:


> The battery shouldn't matter, nor should anything else in a restore. That part of the program only uses two Windows API calls (ReadFile & WriteFile). If it made it to that point successfully a BSOD should be impossible.
> 
> Do you have another PC you can try?


In the early boot processes, the current unified software used on Roamios and Premieres will make a call to a dedicated internet time server, before anything happens that should/could cause any corruption due to the clock. This, of course, requires the TiVo to have the ethernet cable connected, and internet access.

TiVos probably always made this call to the time server. I just could only verify it with current software (using wireshark to capture mirrored network traffic to/from a Roamio).

However, if the battery is weak/dead, I would make sure to replace it, ASAP, or the clock could (theoretically) drift in-between time server calls made during scheduled service connections.


----------



## Sparky1234

ggieseke said:


> The battery shouldn't matter, nor should anything else in a restore. That part of the program only uses two Windows API calls (ReadFile & WriteFile). If it made it to that point successfully a BSOD should be impossible.
> 
> Do you have another PC you can try?


This is weird... I installed the TiVo drive into a Linux machine but booted and tested the drive with UBCD ver 5.34 and the drive passed with no problems. Next I booted with JMFS - Rev104 but no TiVo drive was recognized. How do I restored / write to this original 1 TB TiVo drive with the TCD748000 image?


----------



## telemark

Sparky1234 said:


> JMFS - Rev104 but no TiVo drive was recognized.


What command did you run.


----------



## Sparky1234

Sorry I think I'm really lost here. I thought JFMS provided the prompts, is that not correct?


----------



## Sparky1234

ggieseke said:


> The battery shouldn't matter, nor should anything else in a restore. That part of the program only uses two Windows API calls (ReadFile & WriteFile). If it made it to that point successfully a BSOD should be impossible.
> 
> Do you have another PC you can try?


Tried it on another Windows 7 Pro 64 bit machine and same BSOD. Thoughts?


----------



## jmbach

Do you have any antivirus software that may protect writes to the drive? As a precaution, I would disable (unload) antivirus software and see if you still have the issue. Another option might be to try to run it in Windows safe mode.

Also redownload the program to make sure something wonky did not happen when you downloaded the first time.


----------



## unitron

Sparky1234 said:


> Sorry I think I'm really lost here. I thought JFMS provided the prompts, is that not correct?


It's supposed to.

But it's got an option to skip the script which will dump you at the command line and you can run some *nix stuff from there like

ddrescue

hdparm

and some other stuff.

Try booting with the jmfs cd and running

fdisk

from the command line and seeing if the Linux that got loaded into RAM can see the hard drive.

That's, of course, after you go into CMOS/BIOS at the beginning when you power up the PC and make sure the PC itself is detecting the drive properly.


----------



## Sparky1234

jmbach said:


> Do you have any antivirus software that may protect writes to the drive? As a precaution, I would disable (unload) antivirus software and see if you still have the issue. Another option might be to try to run it in Windows safe mode.
> 
> Also redownload the program to make sure something wonky did not happen when you downloaded the first time.


Status: Full Restore of provided TCD748000 image is 1/2 complete using DvrBARS run as administrator. A program, driver, or service was causing BSOD.

Here's what I did to make DvrBARS work for me...

1. Read all 33 pages of this thread.

2. Verified again in BIOS and during boot that the target TiVo drive was recognized and again in Windows Disk Manager. Used WD WinDlg_v1_28 for Quick Check and Quick Wipe.

2.a. Re-downloaded the DvrBARS program - no change.

3. Booting to Safe Mode was problematic as I could not delete some programs or stop certain services and programs from running. Got BSOD is Safe Mode when I tried Quick Restore.

4. Then from normal Start Up of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit I deleted most everything like Acronis, Avast, Daemon, and others that loaded images/drivers, USB drivers, Suunto loader, Devices, Printers, Faxes, Others, etc., (lots of stuff running in the background - everything was deleted, disabled, including services).

5. Got BSOD again when I tried Quick Restore. Then I tried Full Restore and it appears to be working. (Not worth upping Crash Report.)

Next up is to reinstall the drive into my TiVo and run "Clear and Delete Everything" then run 00000 zip code with "Tiny TiVo" sans Cable Card and Tuning Adapter. Once updated I will reconnect the Cable Card and Tuning Adapter then call the cable company to pair the Cable Card and Tuning Adapter.

Thanks everyone for the pointers. I'll report back with the final results when I am up and running.


----------



## not logged in

I need a TCD748000 image to replace a failed drive.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

not logged in said:


> I need a TCD748000 image to replace a failed drive.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## rhg84

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Could you send me the image for a tcd746320. Thanks in advance! Need to get my mom's tivo back up and running.


----------



## ggieseke

rhg84 said:


> Could you send me the image for a tcd746320. Thanks in advance! Need to get my mom's tivo back up and running.


PM sent.


----------



## Sparky1234

Sparky1234 said:


> Status: Full Restore of provided TCD748000 image is 1/2 complete using DvrBARS run as administrator. A program, driver, or service was causing BSOD.
> 
> Here's what I did to make DvrBARS work for me...
> 
> 1. Read all 33 pages of this thread.
> 
> 2. Verified again in BIOS and during boot that the target TiVo drive was recognized and again in Windows Disk Manager. Used WD WinDlg_v1_28 for Quick Check and Quick Wipe.
> 
> 2.a. Re-downloaded the DvrBARS program - no change.
> 
> 3. Booting to Safe Mode was problematic as I could not delete some programs or stop certain services and programs from running. Got BSOD is Safe Mode when I tried Quick Restore.
> 
> 4. Then from normal Start Up of Windows 7 Pro 64-bit I deleted most everything like Acronis, Avast, Daemon, and others that loaded images/drivers, USB drivers, Suunto loader, Devices, Printers, Faxes, Others, etc., (lots of stuff running in the background - everything was deleted, disabled, including services).
> 
> 5. Got BSOD again when I tried Quick Restore. Then I tried Full Restore and it appears to be working. (Not worth upping Crash Report.)
> 
> Next up is to reinstall the drive into my TiVo and run "Clear and Delete Everything" then run 00000 zip code with "Tiny TiVo" sans Cable Card and Tuning Adapter. Once updated I will reconnect the Cable Card and Tuning Adapter then call the cable company to pair the Cable Card and Tuning Adapter.
> 
> Thanks everyone for the pointers. I'll report back with the final results when I am up and running.


5.a. 5 year old 2032 battery was replaced before I started the above process

6. Completed the Full Restore to the disk with provided TCD748000 image

7. Ran setup with zip code 00000 then selected Tiny TiVo - completed this initial check and verification in about 10 minutes. Paired Cable Card / Tuning Adapter with cable company.

8. TSN displayed correctly so Clear & Delete Everything was not necessary

9. Re-ran setup for my zip code and selected my area cable provider - which took about 40 minutes. Connected TiVo twice more for guide update

10. Used kmttg to load my backup of One Pass / Season Pass to TiVo

11. TiVo menus are now snappier compared to how it was working before the 5 year old TiVo drive became corrupted. This old drive is now back in service for another 5 years I hope.

12. Let me know if these details are helpful to you.

-Final thoughts  a special thanks to ggieseke, et al, for all their efforts to make TiVo more usable for all of us.


----------



## Sparky1234

Could you send me the image for a tcd 758-2001 Thanks in advance


----------



## rhg84

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


I might be blind but I dont see the donate link. Could you post it or PM it to me so I could donate a few bucks. Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=DK4TPY9FDWBUW

Thanks!


----------



## Sparky1234

Check your PayPal account - donated a few bucks. 

Not sure you received my PM. I could not isolate what program, driver, or service that was causing my BSOD. 

Thanks Again.


----------



## not logged in

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Many thanks for the image. But, I'm unable to unzip it. Is there some trick I'm missing?


----------



## ggieseke

Windows 7 or above will do it for you in File Explorer. If you're on XP I would recommend 7zip.


----------



## not logged in

ggieseke said:


> Windows 7 or above will do it for you in File Explorer. If you're on XP I would recommend 7zip.


Bingo . . . 7zip worked great. Thanks again.


----------



## dougdingle

Anything available that will back up the Roamio's 3TB drive?

I know if it fails I can just put another drive in, but I'd kinda like to back up the whole drive, shows and all.

Has anyone tried one of those 'disk cloning' docking devices to do it?


----------



## jmbach

A hardware disk duplicator will work find, you just need another drive to back it up to.


----------



## nooneuknow

jmbach said:


> A hardware disk duplicator will work find, you just need another drive to back it up to.


But, beware of so-called duplicators, cloners, or "one button/touch" devices, that require a connection to a computer to work. There are a lot of them out there, that are really just a dual-drive dock, and send everything to the computer and then back again, and rely on bundled software, that is 99.9% of the time not capable of doing a true sector-by-sector identical clone operation.

If it doesn't loudly and proudly proclaim "no computer required", it's not the duplicator dock you are looking for.


----------



## nooneuknow

Sparky1234 said:


> 5.a. 5 year old 2032 battery was replaced before I started the above process
> 6. Completed the Full Restore to the disk with provided TCD748000 image
> 7. Ran setup with zip code 00000 then selected Tiny TiVo - completed this initial check and verification in about 10 minutes. Paired Cable Card / Tuning Adapter with cable company.
> 8. TSN displayed correctly so Clear & Delete Everything was not necessary
> 9. Re-ran setup for my zip code and selected my area cable provider - which took about 40 minutes. Connected TiVo twice more for guide update
> 10. Used kmttg to load my backup of One Pass / Season Pass to TiVo
> 11. TiVo menus are now snappier compared to how it was working before the 5 year old TiVo drive became corrupted. This old drive is now back in service for another 5 years I hope.
> 12. Let me know if these details are helpful to you.
> 
> -Final thoughts  a special thanks to ggieseke, et al, for all their efforts to make TiVo more usable for all of us.


How much time do you estimate using the "Tiny TiVo" trick saved?
How would you rate my guides on using it?
Do you feel anything was unclear, or could use further explanation?
Did you use Installer Express mode from page 2 of guided setup, by pressing enter to display advanced options?
Did you leave the coax input disconnected from any signal at all, until it was time to pair the cable card?
Did you really do the CC pairing and set-up the TA, before putting in your actual zip and provider lineup, as your report seems to say?

I ask, since I found that trick by seeing what would happen if I fed a Premiere 00000 as a zip code, then tried all options, and decided Tiny TiVo was the ticket to save me hours (by the end, for just that project, days) of time, while doing some experimentation, where I had to keep doing GS over and over, but did not actually need/want guide data. Combined with Installer Express mode, it was a godsend!

I recently compared network captures of traffic using Tiny TiVo versus using real provider data, and found, as suspected, there are some cleanup routines in there, and there is no smaller guide data file that can be downloaded. It's pretty much empty.

I was thinking that before fate rips me away from the forum, I might create a proper thread, just for guides on using Tiny TiVo while doing any number of things, on just about any TiVo. There are different versions scattered all around from past write-ups, for specific situations. But, searching this forum for anything, even if you know what you are looking for, can be such a futile exercise. Why not save more time, by making it easier to learn Tiny TiVo is a valuable diagnostic tool, and time saver for tinkerers/devs option, and centralize the guides, right?


----------



## dougdingle

nooneuknow said:


> But, beware of so-called duplicators, cloners, or "one button/touch" devices, that require a connection to a computer to work. There are a lot of them out there, that are really just a dual-drive dock, and send everything to the computer and then back again, and rely on bundled software, that is 99.9% of the time not capable of doing a true sector-by-sector identical clone operation.
> 
> If it doesn't loudly and proudly proclaim "no computer required", it's not the duplicator dock you are looking for.


I have one here by Aluratek that requires no computer connection (although it is an esata dock) to make a clone, and I've used it as an experiment to successfully clone a 2TB TiVo drive, but haven't tried it on a 3TB yet.

The things always make me slightly nervous that they're going to do something to the source drive. I wish drive manufacturers would put a write protect jumper on drives so you could be sure they were read only for things like cloning.


----------



## nooneuknow

dougdingle said:


> I have one here by Aluratek that requires no computer connection (although it is an esata dock) to make a clone, and I've used it as an experiment to successfully clone a 2TB TiVo drive, but haven't tried it on a 3TB yet.
> 
> The things always make me slightly nervous that they're going to do something to the source drive. I wish drive manufacturers would put a write protect jumper on drives so you could be sure they were read only for things like cloning.


About all you can do is make sure you have the right drives in the right slots, and double-check a few times, before you press the button.

As long as you insure that, you just have to think of it the same as doing it using Linux GNU ddrescue (or something like it), and know which drives are assigned each sdx designation, before committing.

I'd worry more about getting the command line drive assignment parameters wrong from a linux prompt, than I'd worry about a duplicator somehow writing to the "source" drive. Even if 2TB is its limit, it should never write anything to the drive in the source slot, if not connected to a PC at the time.


----------



## Sparky1234

nooneuknow said:


> How much time do you estimate using the "Tiny TiVo" trick saved?
> How would you rate my guides on using it?
> Do you feel anything was unclear, or could use further explanation?
> Did you use Installer Express mode from page 2 of guided setup, by pressing enter to display advanced options?
> Did you leave the coax input disconnected from any signal at all, until it was time to pair the cable card?
> Did you really do the CC pairing and set-up the TA, before putting in your actual zip and provider lineup, as your report seems to say?
> 
> I ask, since I found that trick by seeing what would happen if I fed a Premiere 00000 as a zip code, then tried all options, and decided Tiny TiVo was the ticket to save me hours (by the end, for just that project, days) of time, while doing some experimentation, where I had to keep doing GS over and over, but did not actually need/want guide data. Combined with Installer Express mode, it was a godsend!
> 
> I recently compared network captures of traffic using Tiny TiVo versus using real provider data, and found, as suspected, there are some cleanup routines in there, and there is no smaller guide data file that can be downloaded. It's pretty much empty.
> 
> I was thinking that before fate rips me away from the forum, I might create a proper thread, just for guides on using Tiny TiVo while doing any number of things, on just about any TiVo. There are different versions scattered all around from past write-ups, for specific situations. But, searching this forum for anything, even if you know what you are looking for, can be such a futile exercise. Why not save more time, by making it easier to learn Tiny TiVo is a valuable diagnostic tool, and time saver for tinkerers/devs option, and centralize the guides, right?


Tiny TiVo saved me about 20-25 minutes. This short cut allowed me to verify everything was working before committing the time needed to complete the full TiVo update.

A separate thread with a Tiny TiVo how to would be helpful. It would need to be linked back to other imaging how to threads. 00000 zip code and Tiny TiVo is not very well known. I vote go for it....


----------



## goofyhalo

Any chance I can get the TCD746320 image? My wife's TiVo started GSOD'ing , I have a spare (500GB) drive, but haven't been able to get a working image off the failed drive


----------



## telemark

goofyhalo said:


> Any chance I can get the TCD746320 image? My wife's TiVo started GSOD'ing , I have a spare (500GB) drive, but haven't been able to get a working image off the failed drive


You might want a 500GB image.


----------



## goofyhalo

If there's a 500GB image around, sure! Right now I was just looking to get it up and running again, I figured I could look into resizing the partitions to fit the drive later.


----------



## ggieseke

goofyhalo said:


> If there's a 500GB image around, sure! Right now I was just looking to get it up and running again, I figured I could look into resizing the partitions to fit the drive later.


PM sent. Sorry I don't have a 500GB 746 image, but you can expand it with jmfs.


----------



## SamuraiSkye

Hello! I hope this is the right place to ask, but I'm in need of the image file for a TiVo Premiere XL (TCD748000). I'm just replacing the existing drive that failed with one of the same size. Thanks in advance!


----------



## ggieseke

SamuraiSkye said:


> Hello! I hope this is the right place to ask, but I'm in need of the image file for a TiVo Premiere XL (TCD748000). I'm just replacing the existing drive that failed with one of the same size. Thanks in advance!


This is the right thread. Check your Private Messages for the link.


----------



## scrossi

DvrBars does a full backup just fine, but if I try a modified or truncated backup I get "Invalid apple partition map". 

When I restore my backup I get the same message, but it lets me do the restore. 

I'm using a 3.4mhz dual core PC, with Windows 7 and USB 3 external drives. I have a TIVO Roamio 500g.


----------



## ggieseke

scrossi said:


> DvrBars does a full backup just fine, but if I try a modified or truncated backup I get "Invalid apple partition map".
> 
> When I restore my backup I get the same message, but it lets me do the restore.
> 
> I'm using a 3.4mhz dual core PC, with Windows 7 and USB 3 external drives. I have a TIVO Roamio 500g.


DvrBARS only works on Series 1s through Premieres. Roamios are lot different and I haven't gone back and tried to make it compatible. It also can't touch drives over 2TB.

The full backup mode is just a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive without any attempt to interpret what's on it, similar to ddrescue or a duplicating dock. Up to 2TB it will work on anything (I use it to backup the OS drive on my Windows PC).

I'm working on Roamio tools like mfsr now.


----------



## pfitzmsn

hey does anyone have an image for a TCD750500?
i am finally upgrading to tivo4 from a tivo3 and the refurb i bought the drive doesn't have a partition map and the DVRbars software errors with Invalid Apple Block0

thanks.


----------



## mustangshelly

Hi,

I'm using DVR Bars to copy a 2TB drive over to a 2TB drive both WD20EARX. I've just started and it says backing up Drive A but it hasn't given me an option of where to back it up to. Is that right? Will it give me an option later of where I want to back it up to?

Thank you.

Michelle


----------



## ggieseke

pfitzmsn said:


> hey does anyone have an image for a TCD750500?
> i am finally upgrading to tivo4 from a tivo3 and the refurb i bought the drive doesn't have a partition map and the DVRbars software errors with Invalid Apple Block0
> 
> thanks.


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

mustangshelly said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm using DVR Bars to copy a 2TB drive over to a 2TB drive both WD20EARX. I've just started and it says backing up Drive A but it hasn't given me an option of where to back it up to. Is that right? Will it give me an option later of where I want to back it up to?
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Michelle


DvrBARS is a backup to file or restore from file tool. It doesn't do direct drive to drive copies. If it says backing up drive A, you already had to pick the location and name for the backup file two screens earlier. The default location is the My Documents folder.


----------



## dyno

Hello, does anyone have a TCD748000 image? I believe my hard drive failed as now I have a green screen.

Thanks for any help!


----------



## ggieseke

dyno said:


> Hello, does anyone have a TCD748000 image? I believe my hard drive failed as now I have a green screen.
> 
> Thanks for any help!


PM sent.


----------



## LewPayne

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Hello... I recently bought a TCD750500 (4 tuner) to replace my old and failing TCD746320.

I would like to upgrade the HDD in the TCD750500 to a 3TB, as well as replace the failed drive in the TCD746320 with a 1TB I have laying around. I don't need to copy any current programming over.

Is there a "ready to run" image I can get which does not require that I clone the existing drive in the units?

Thank you in advance, of course.


----------



## ggieseke

LewPayne said:


> Hello... I recently bought a TCD750500 (4 tuner) to replace my old and failing TCD746320.
> 
> I would like to upgrade the HDD in the TCD750500 to a 3TB, as well as replace the failed drive in the TCD746320 with a 1TB I have laying around. I don't need to copy any current programming over.
> 
> Is there a "ready to run" image I can get which does not require that I clone the existing drive in the units?
> 
> Thank you in advance, of course.


PM sent.


----------



## captdave_ca

Hello.. I'm looking for an image file for a TCD746320. 

Can I replace the existing 320GB drive with something larger, like 1TB? Or does it have to stay 500MB or under?

I tried backing it up with DVRBARS, but it gets Partition 14 (SQLite) and throws the error below....

I'm mainly looking to get the Tivo working again and get my existing programs back. Any chance of that?

Thanks!!


Problem signature:
Problem Event Name:	APPCRASH
Application Name:	DvrBARS.exe
Application Version:	1.0.0.6
Application Timestamp:	549ec189
Fault Module Name:	DvrBARS.exe
Fault Module Version:	1.0.0.6
Fault Module Timestamp:	549ec189
Exception Code:	c0000005
Exception Offset:	00013355
OS Version:	6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48
Locale ID:	1033
Additional Information 1:	0a9e
Additional Information 2:	0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3:	0a9e
Additional Information 4:	0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789


----------



## jmbach

Exception Code c0000005 is an access violation. Sooo.....

Are you running it under an administrator account and running it as an administrator.

Do you have enough space on your hard drive to back up your drive? Make sure you have about 350GB free. With the newer TiVo OS, DvrBARS truncated backup to be quite large. I have had some over 60GB in size.

Is there anything wrong with your current drive and image? If not, then there are tools to take your TCD746320 to 4TB.


----------



## LewPayne

I want to thank ggieseke for his generous PM, and for dvrBARS.

I am the new owner of a 1TB TCD750500 (obviously upgraded by its prior owner), and have a WD 3TB AV-GB drive (WD30EURX) on order via amazon.

I am fine with scratching/trashing whatever shows have been recorded on it, and using the image on my PC to create a "ready to go" 3TB drive. However, there are so many posts (and pieces of software) on the subject (none which indicate in their timeline when a procedure is obsolete) that I'm confused.

When I do a dvrBARS of the new 3TB drive, using a stock image (provided in the PM), do I also need to do an expansion and/or coalesce the drive? This is unclear to me, and it's also unclear what I should use to do it... JMFS or the WinMFS or what?

Can someone give me a heads-up on the steps that are now involved? I've not run upgrades since the old days when you had to boot linux and dd the source and target drives, then expand the partition (TiVo HD days, I think).

This is for a TCD750500, using a "fresh" VFS image to install a 3TB drive.


----------



## captdave_ca

I am running it with an administrator account and I just tried it using the "Run As Administrator" option as well. Same thing. I'm saving the file to a network storage with plenty of room and I have full write access to it. Do you think it gets confused with the network location? (I tried mapping a drive too - same error). It actually gets to the "Scanning MFS File system..." and then crashes.

There is something wrong with the image.. Tivo simply won't work anymore. When Tivo tries to boot, it goes to one of those green screens that says there is a serious problem and it can't fix itself. I wanted to try to back up all my existing shows, put a new drive in, start with a fresh image, and restore the shows to the new drive.

Am I screwed?



jmbach said:


> Exception Code c0000005 is an access violation. Sooo.....
> 
> Are you running it under an administrator account and running it as an administrator.
> 
> Do you have enough space on your hard drive to back up your drive? Make sure you have about 350GB free. With the newer TiVo OS, DvrBARS truncated backup to be quite large. I have had some over 60GB in size.
> 
> Is there anything wrong with your current drive and image? If not, then there are tools to take your TCD746320 to 4TB.


----------



## jmbach

LewPayne said:


> I want to thank ggieseke for his generous PM, and for dvrBARS.
> 
> I am the new owner of a 1TB TCD750500 (obviously upgraded by its prior owner), and have a WD 3TB AV-GB drive (WD30EURX) on order via amazon.
> 
> I am fine with scratching/trashing whatever shows have been recorded on it, and using the image on my PC to create a "ready to go" 3TB drive. However, there are so many posts (and pieces of software) on the subject (none which indicate in their timeline when a procedure is obsolete) that I'm confused.
> 
> When I do a dvrBARS of the new 3TB drive, using a stock image (provided in the PM), do I also need to do an expansion and/or coalesce the drive? This is unclear to me, and it's also unclear what I should use to do it... JMFS or the WinMFS or what?
> 
> Can someone give me a heads-up on the steps that are now involved? I've not run upgrades since the old days when you had to boot linux and dd the source and target drives, then expand the partition (TiVo HD days, I think).
> 
> This is for a TCD750500, using a "fresh" VFS image to install a 3TB drive.


Get the modified JMFS iso from the DIY 4TB Premiere thread and follow the same procedure for the 4TB expansion. You can use a 1TB intermediate drive instead of a 2TB, but either will work.


----------



## jmbach

captdave_ca said:


> I am running it with an administrator account and I just tried it using the "Run As Administrator" option as well. Same thing. I'm saving the file to a network storage with plenty of room and I have full write access to it. Do you think it gets confused with the network location? (I tried mapping a drive too - same error). It actually gets to the "Scanning MFS File system..." and then crashes.
> 
> There is something wrong with the image.. Tivo simply won't work anymore. When Tivo tries to boot, it goes to one of those green screens that says there is a serious problem and it can't fix itself. I wanted to try to back up all my existing shows, put a new drive in, start with a fresh image, and restore the shows to the new drive.
> 
> Am I screwed?


You will lose all your recordings because the image has to be working in order to save non copyprotected recordings from the TiVo to a computer and later transfer them back. You cannot use DvrBARS to do this.

See if ggieseke can provide you with an image and then use DvrBARS to restore the image to your drive. Make sure you test your drive with a diagnostic software before using it.


----------



## captdave_ca

So it looks like I'm screwed on recovering my existing recordings?

I will probably just put a new drive in this thing. If I put a 500MB drive in it, is there anything special I need to do before restoring the image?



jmbach said:


> You will lose all your recordings because the image has to be working in order to save non copyprotected recordings from the TiVo to a computer and later transfer them back. You cannot use DvrBARS to do this.
> 
> See if ggieseke can provide you with an image and then use DvrBARS to restore the image to your drive. Make sure you test your drive with a diagnostic software before using it.


----------



## jmbach

After restoring an image from another unit you will have to run a clear & delete everything for the unit to be fully functional. (unless you have a virgin image or the image was made after a c&de was performed and power pulled at the correct moment)


----------



## LewPayne

jmbach said:


> Get the modified JMFS iso from the DIY 4TB Premiere thread and follow the same procedure for the 4TB expansion. You can use a 1TB intermediate drive instead of a 2TB, but either will work.


So when using the virtual image provided by ggieseke, I still have to first restore the image to an intermediate 1TB drive before going to the 3TB drive?


----------



## jmbach

Yes. For one thing, depending on the version OS the image you get has, it has to be updated to at least 20.3.8 for TiVo to boot up a drive larger than 2TB. Otherwise it will go in a boot loop. So restore it to a 1TB and expand it and then boot it in the TiVo and allow it to update the OS before copying it over to the 3TB.


----------



## wickerbill

Can I please get an image for a TCD748000? My mom's TiVo HD has died and a premiere is the only TiVo generation I don't own to pull an image from. Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

wickerbill said:


> Can I please get an image for a TCD748000? My mom's TiVo HD has died and a premiere is the only TiVo generation I don't own to pull an image from. Thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## unitron

wickerbill said:


> Can I please get an image for a TCD748000? My mom's TiVo HD has died and a premiere is the only TiVo generation I don't own to pull an image from. Thanks!


Just to be nitpicky, usually "TiVo HD" means a Series 3 platform TCD652160


----------



## ThAbtO

unitron said:


> Just to be nitpicky, usually "TiVo HD" means a Series 3 platform TCD652160


I would say "S3HD."


----------



## lpwcomp

ThAbtO said:


> I would say "S3HD."


Which *I* would interpret as shorthand for a TCD648250.


----------



## unitron

lpwcomp said:


> Which *I* would interpret as shorthand for a TCD648250.


That's because TiVo really screwed up with Series 3 platform model names.


----------



## lessd

unitron said:


> That's because TiVo really screwed up with Series 3 platform model names.


The best words is* Series 3* and *TiVo-HD*, should be no confusion, but there will be because people don't use the same terminology.


----------



## berginj

Does anyone have a TCD748 image? My drive starting making clicking noises and then went to the green screen of death. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also - having to send 10 messages before a single PM seems a bit crazy but that is why I am posting rather than sending a pm to the folks who have said they have the image.


----------



## telemark

lessd said:


> The best words is* Series 3* and *TiVo-HD*, should be no confusion, but there will be because people don't use the same terminology.


In an ideal system you'd have 3 names. One for each model, and one for the Platform/Generation.



berginj said:


> Does anyone have a TCD748 image? My drive starting making clicking noises and then went to the green screen of death.


And then you bought a new drive?


----------



## berginj

Yes, bought a new drive it arrives tomorrow and now I don't have an image to load on it.


----------



## unitron

berginj said:


> Yes, bought a new drive it arrives tomorrow and now I don't have an image to load on it.


Hook the new drive to a PC (if it's a GigaByte brand motherboard say so and I'll tell you the precautions to take) and run the drive manufacturer's own diagnostic software long test, preferably from a boot cd, before putting the drive into service.

Then you could try the jmfs cd to give

ddrescue

a shot at "Xeroxing" the old drive to the new one, and see if the new one can complete the green screen repair, at which point you'll have a new drive with the old shows and settings on it.


----------



## ggieseke

berginj said:


> Does anyone have a TCD748 image? My drive starting making clicking noises and then went to the green screen of death.


PM sent.


----------



## WWWWIII

Is it possible to get an image for TCD748000? Drive died and would like to get it replaced.

Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

WWWWIII said:


> Is it possible to get an image for TCD748000? Drive died and would like to get it replaced.
> 
> Thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## psavas

The hard drive in my Premiere 4 TCD750500 has died (it's making keening noises, so it's beyond any hope at this point), and I'd like to put a new hard drive in it. I was re-directed to this thread for assistance from the "Need an image? Don't PM me. " thread (I'm unable to post the link as I don't have a high enough post count, sorry).

I'm not worried about recovering any of the data from the old drive; I just want to get my TiVo back up and running again. As such, I have two questions:

1. Does anyone have an image for the TCD750500 that will work with DvrBARS?
2. Can I use a 3TB drive (WD30EZRX) in the TCD750500, or is 2TB the max size?

Thanks,
pete


----------



## psavas

ggieseke,

I tried to send you a reply to your PM, but my post count isn't high enough, sorry.

Holy moley, though; I didn't expect such a fast response! Thank you.

Will I be able to use DvrBARS and this image on the 3TB drive, or will I have to get a 2TB drive?

Thanks,
pete


----------



## jmbach

That image he sent you is an old OS. It supports up to 2TB drives. If you will place it on any good drive that is at least as large as the original image and allow your TiVo to update it, you can then transfer it with either JMFS to a 3TB drive and use it to expand it or try the new MFSTools 3.2. If you use JMFS, it will add only a 2TB partition to the drive so if the original image is 0.5TB then the resultant size is 2.5TB, unless you do and intermediate expand. With MFSTools 3.2 it does it differently so does not have that issue. However, MFSTools 3.2 is new and has not had much community experience yet so YMMV.


----------



## MarkBergeron

I am a fairly-versed TiVo user; I've used MFS tools many times on my series-2s. I now own three Premieres: a 320Gb, a 500Gb XL and a 320Gb which has been upgraded to a 1Tb drive.
My original TCD746320 has just died. I had a contractor flip the circuit breaker several times quickly in succession and now all I get is a green screen "attempting repairs," which continues to cycle after 48 hours. I hope to be able to recover my recorded shows and get the TiVo working again.

Hard Drive Sentinel reports the drive is 100% healthy with no errors. The latest JMFS does not recognize the drive as a TiVo drive. DvrBARS recognizes the drive as a TiVo drive and a full backup starts - but stops when attempting to read the MFS file system. 

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

MarkBergeron said:


> I am a fairly-versed TiVo user; I've used MFS tools many times on my series-2s. I now own three Premieres: a 320Gb, a 500Gb XL and a 320Gb which has been upgraded to a 1Tb drive.
> My original TCD746320 has just died. I had a contractor flip the circuit breaker several times quickly in succession and now all I get is a green screen "attempting repairs," which continues to cycle after 48 hours. I hope to be able to recover my recorded shows and get the TiVo working again.
> 
> Hard Drive Sentinel reports the drive is 100% healthy with no errors. The latest JMFS does not recognize the drive as a TiVo drive. DvrBARS recognizes the drive as a TiVo drive and a full backup starts - but stops when attempting to read the MFS file system.
> 
> Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!
> Thank you in advance.


I assume you meant a Modified Full backup. In Full backup mode it just copies the disk byte-for-byte.

Can you post a screenshot or the error message when DvrBARS craps out?


----------



## MarkBergeron

Yes, sorry: Full Modified.
JPG attached.
Thanks!


----------



## psavas

jmbach,

Thank you for the response. I'm hoping I might be able to pick your brain for a little more help?

The only WD Green drive I was able to buy locally was a 3TB WD30EZRX, so I'm working with that . I've started a restore of the image Greg sent me using DvrBARS to the 3TB drive, and it appears to be going smoothly. I don't mean to be stupid, but I am a little confused as to what to do next.

I went to the MFSTools Website and looked at the instructions for using that sfotware, however, it does not cover the Series 4 boxes, which is what I have. Do you have any experience with MFSTools, and if so, would you be able to tell me how to use it?

If not, and I go with JMFS, my next question is one of clarification: When you say "allow your TiVo to update it," what does that mean? Is there another step I need to do before using JMFS to expand the drive, or can I just go to that step?

I'm sorry for being such a novice with this, and hope I'm not imposing too much.

Thanks in advance,
pete


----------



## ThAbtO

That meant to install the drive in the Tivo, boot it up, make a few Tivo Connections so it will update to, at least, 20.4.7. 

Re-install into the PC to do the JMFS.


----------



## jmbach

psavas said:


> The only WD Green drive I was able to buy locally was a 3TB WD30EZRX, so I'm working with that . I've started a restore of the image Greg sent me using DvrBARS to the 3TB drive, and it appears to be going smoothly. I don't mean to be stupid, but I am a little confused as to what to do next.


You need to restore it with DvrBARS to a drive that is at least as big as the size of the image given. In this case 500GB but less than or equal to 2TB. Put the drive in the TiVo and let it boot and update the image so that it can be used in a drive larger than 2TB.



psavas said:


> I went to the MFSTools Website and looked at the instructions for using that sfotware, however, it does not cover the Series 4 boxes, which is what I have. Do you have any experience with MFSTools, and if so, would you be able to tell me how to use it?


You need to use MFSTools v3.2 found here. Main issue at this time is that the author pulled the ISO because it had problems reading large drives. You will have to go to the code source here and download a snapshot and compile it yourself. The thread has usage information.



psavas said:


> If not, and I go with JMFS, my next question is one of clarification: When you say "allow your TiVo to update it," what does that mean? Is there another step I need to do before using JMFS to expand the drive, or can I just go to that step?


See first response above. If the image you have is 500GB then JMFS will add 2TB of recording space and you will have 2.5TB of recording space. If you want to use all 3TB, you will have to expand the original image to 1TB or 2TB first before being able to expand it further. The instruction in the DIY 4TB Premiere thread here will give you guidance. The instructions are pretty much the same for either 3TB or 4TB expansion. Follow cykotix's instructions and use the JMFS ISO found there to do the process.



psavas said:


> I'm sorry for being such a novice with this, and hope I'm not imposing too much.


Not at all.


----------



## jmbach

psavas said:


> The only WD Green drive I was able to buy locally was a 3TB WD30EZRX


You might need to run WDIDLE3 to either disable or lengthen the idle timer to prevent soft reboot issues on the Premiere. It's on some universal boot CD. If unitron sees this post, he might be able to point you to it, he knows where to find it.


----------



## psavas

Okay, I restored the image to the 3TB drive and installed it in my TiVo in order to update to 20.4.7. When I reconnected the cables and powered the system back on, all it does is reboot over and over again.

Did I do something wrong?

Thanks,
pete


----------



## jmbach

psavas said:


> Okay, I restored the image to the 3TB drive and installed it in my TiVo in order to update to 20.4.7. When I reconnected the cables and powered the system back on, all it does is reboot over and over again.
> 
> Did I do something wrong?
> 
> Thanks,
> pete


Yes. You need to read three posts back from this post.


----------



## jmbach

BTW, you can use quick restore to restore that image. Will save you loads of time from a normal restore.


----------



## psavas

jmbach,

I apologize for being so obtuse. The image appears to be 1.5TB, but the only drive I have larger than 320GB is the 3TB drive. Is there any way I can do this with just the 3TB drive?

Thanks,
pete


----------



## ggieseke

MarkBergeron said:


> Yes, sorry: Full Modified.
> JPG attached.
> Thanks!


FSID #1 is the root directory of the entire MFS file system. If that's missing, the inode tables are corrupt and the odds of recovering anything just went to zero. 

I'm sending you a PM with a link to a clean 746 image. Starting over from scratch is probably your only choice.


----------



## jmbach

psavas said:


> jmbach,
> 
> I apologize for being so obtuse. The image appears to be 1.5TB, but the only drive I have larger than 320GB is the 3TB drive. Is there any way I can do this with just the 3TB drive?
> 
> Thanks,
> pete


I believe you mean 1.5GB not 1.5TB. The image ggieseke gave you is a compressed image. If it is a 750500 image, it should uncompress when restored to 500GB. I am sorry, but the older OSes will just bootloop on anything larger than 2TB. You can try using hdparm found in Linux ISOs to restrict the sectors down to a 2TB size but I am not sure if it will work and it is something you need to be VERY careful with as it can wreck havoc if not used properly.


----------



## MarkBergeron

Thank you for the image. Can the TCD746320 image be restored to a 250Gb drive?


----------



## jmbach

No.


----------



## unitron

MarkBergeron said:


> Thank you for the image. Can the TCD746320 image be restored to a 250Gb drive?


Requires 320GB or larger.

746500 image will also work on one but it requires 500GB or larger.


----------



## MarkBergeron

Thanks to ggieseke, jmbach and unitron. Although I lost all my recordings and my WishList, I successfully rebuilt my Premiere back to factory and I'm back in business. There's nowhere where a WishList is stored in the cloud is there?

So - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!
Mark


----------



## dougdingle

MarkBergeron said:


> Thanks to ggieseke, jmbach and unitron. Although I lost all my recordings and my WishList, I successfully rebuilt my Premiere back to factory and I'm back in business. There's nowhere where a WishList is stored in the cloud is there?
> 
> So - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!
> Mark


May I suggest that if you haven't done so already, you express your gratitude by contributing a few bucks to greg's beer budget?

Details for his paypal account are in the DvrBARS program. I gave $10, but of course the amount is up to you.

If you have already contributed, thank you very much for keeping the development of this fine program moving forward.


----------



## drhankz

MarkBergeron said:


> There's nowhere where a WishList is stored in the cloud is there?
> 
> So - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!
> Mark


Your TiVo Account Page saves all your *SEASON PASS* settings.
I don't see anywhere a WISH LIST is saved.


----------



## lessd

drhankz said:


> Your TiVo Account Page saves all your *SEASON PASS* settings.
> I don't see anywhere a WISH LIST is saved.


If you set up your SP from the TiVo web sight maybe yes, but if you set up your SP from the TiVo itself no so much. It is a sync problem as your TiVo and the TiVo web sight does who is the master, as least RoboForm ask you what computer should be the master, and everything is sync to that computer. If you install a new drive, the TiVo web sight may not know this and think you deleted all your SP, so all the web sight SP will also be deleted. TiVo could fix this if they wanted.


----------



## jparker7345

For a premiere model tcd746320. It's a 320gb wd green...but I don't think it's coming back.


----------



## ggieseke

jparker7345 said:


> For a premiere model tcd746320. It's a 320gb wd green...but I don't think it's coming back.


PM sent.


----------



## jimboc22

I think my Premiere XL's (TCD748000) hard drive may be going out soon. I'll need an image for it that I can use to restore on a new WD20EURX drive. Also since it will be an image from a different Tivo, I'll need to do a clear and delete after installing it, correct? Does this mean I will lose the THX video? Thanks!


----------



## jparker7345

Ok, so I've got the image.... but I'm all Mac's and Linux boxes at home (well... my kids have windows boxes... but they're on them all the time now that the TIVO is down....)... so while I realize I should just kick them off and use the DVRBars software.... I'm a unix geek .. and an engineer ... and I want to understand how this works. So some questions:

1. The VHD image I have received... is it a VHD image of the tivo drive itself? or a linux/windows/someotherOS virtual machine that contains an image of the tivo drive... i.e. should I be able to sector by sector copy this file to the drive (using ..say dd?) 

I've converted it to a vdi file and mounted it with qemu-kvm but can't seem to see any partitions directly, so I'm thinking the actual tivo image is wrapped in something else and I'm wondering what that is... so I can unwrap it.

2. If I do end up kicking my kids off their windows systems and want to restore the image to the drive using DVRBars, what do I need to do to prepare an empty 500GB disk? Does it need a particular partition setup? Or will DVRBars handle all that for me once I point it at the device?

Thanks for your patience and help,

John


----------



## jparker7345

As a backup, I also tried running this from my work laptop (windows 7). It seems to find my image file and usb hard drive fine, but consistently blue screens immedately after beginning the process to restore from an image. I'm guessing the security settings on my laptop may be to blame (I'm running as administrator, but there's a layer of disk encryption that may be messing things up if you're trying to access resources directly)... unless you've got another thing to try.

ddrescue of the old drive got about 300gb (out of 320) after a 3 day weekend ... but it wasn't enough for the tivo to be able to get the rest of the way there upon installation.

Thanks,
John


----------



## dougdingle

jimboc22 said:


> I think my Premiere XL's (TCD748000) hard drive may be going out soon. I'll need an image for it that I can use to restore on a new WD20EURX drive. Also since it will be an image from a different Tivo, I'll need to do a clear and delete after installing it, correct? Does this mean I will lose the THX video? Thanks!


If the old drive still works, why not do a basic backup (or even a full one with all the shows if you wish) with DvrBARS that you can then use to create your new drive? Everything is preserved then...


----------



## dougdingle

jparker7345 said:


> Ok, so I've got the image.... but I'm all Mac's and Linux boxes at home (well... my kids have windows boxes... but they're on them all the time now that the TIVO is down....)... so while I realize I should just kick them off and use the DVRBars software.... I'm a unix geek .. and an engineer ... and I want to understand how this works. So some questions:
> 
> 1. The VHD image I have received... is it a VHD image of the tivo drive itself? or a linux/windows/someotherOS virtual machine that contains an image of the tivo drive... i.e. should I be able to sector by sector copy this file to the drive (using ..say dd?)
> 
> I've converted it to a vdi file and mounted it with qemu-kvm but can't seem to see any partitions directly, so I'm thinking the actual tivo image is wrapped in something else and I'm wondering what that is... so I can unwrap it.
> 
> 2. If I do end up kicking my kids off their windows systems and want to restore the image to the drive using DVRBars, what do I need to do to prepare an empty 500GB disk? Does it need a particular partition setup? Or will DVRBars handle all that for me once I point it at the device?
> 
> Thanks for your patience and help,
> 
> John


Can't help you with #1, but the answer to #2 is "nothing".

In fact, the drive must be raw. If it's initialized or otherwise readable by Windows, DvrBARS won't write to it (or even see it in its default setup).


----------



## telemark

The VHD is of a Tivo drive. You can use 'dd' if you know what you're doing. That is, you can not directly because all the sectors are scrambled around.

Typical Linux does not speak Tivo partition maps, so it will never show you the partitions unless you use specialized Tivo-aware tools.

tivopart, pmdmp, mfstools, jmfs, etc.
hexdump -C is my favorite in a pinch.


----------



## ggieseke

jimboc22 said:


> I think my Premiere XL's (TCD748000) hard drive may be going out soon. I'll need an image for it that I can use to restore on a new WD20EURX drive. Also since it will be an image from a different Tivo, I'll need to do a clear and delete after installing it, correct? Does this mean I will lose the THX video? Thanks!


PM sent.

My 748 image shouldn't need a C&DE because it was taken from a factory drive that was never booted. If I'm wrong and you have to clear it the THX video will be deleted.


----------



## Sparky1234

What size drive do you now support for Premiere and Premiere XL? 6TB? 4TB? 2TB?


----------



## ggieseke

Sparky1234 said:


> What size drive do you now support for Premiere and Premiere XL? 6TB? 4TB? 2TB?


DvrBARS should be able to write to anything, but it can only image drives up to 2TB. That's a limitation of the VHD file format.


----------



## Sparky1234

Thanks!


----------



## cringe

Can I get a link to the tcd746320 image please. Thanks you!


----------



## videobruce

On a *unformatted* WD 1TB drive trying to restore image of the original 320GB drive the program showed reporting different file systems each time I tried it.
There was one more I didn't take a screen shot of, it was labeled as 'Windows MFS' I believe.

It's a new drive, I ran the long test and it passed. Any idea what is going on? The drive doesn't show in Windows, & shows unformatted in G Parted & Mini Tool Partition Wizard.


----------



## jmbach

The first pic you chose the drive as a source drive and since it does not have an MFS put on it, it gives you that error.

The middle pic looks correct. And looks like it has a TiVo system on it at that time. 

The last screen states that the drive you are trying to restore to is mounted by Windows. However, the drives listed are Seagate drives and not WD.


----------



## videobruce

The 1st shot was the wrong pic, I didn't catch that nor noticed the last pic wasn't the correct drive. I don't remember what the exact situation was at the time, but I'm surprised I didn't catch that. The correct drive should of showed up.

If only this program was used to image the orignal 320GB drive, then restore that to a 2TB drive (other tyhen the size difference) would or should it at least boot the Premier, probably only showing 320GB of usable space?)


----------



## videobruce

I have a problem with this. I run W7 on two bootable drives (one for backup). On one bootable drive, DVRBars crashes (APPCRASH) )when it is 'analyzing' the 320 GB TiVo source drive. On my other bootable drive, the program completes and image is saved. I restored that 320GB image to a larger drive (I tried a 1TB and a 2TB), but the Premier will not boot to it, it just re-boots back into the initial internal start up screen.

I have to assume there is a problem with both O/S's though in somewhat different areas. The question is, what processes, programs etc. does DVRBars use of W7 to make it work?

The source drive is a good source and the target is a good target. The source had just a TinyTiVo image.


----------



## bckid

Hey there,

Is there any way that you could send me a link to an image for a TCD746320? 

I am trying to fix my parents premier with a new Hard Drive, but JMFS is showing quite a few errors, was splitting errors, and is now on retrying error blocks...it's not looking good. I am thinking that I need to use a blank image of the Tivo software on the new drive. But with this in mind, I would now have to re-format the new drive using NTFS since i will be halting the JMFS process.

Thanks!
Bill


----------



## ThAbtO

bckid said:


> Hey there,
> 
> Is there any way that you could send me a link to an image for a TCD746320?
> 
> I am trying to fix my parents premier with a new Hard Drive, but JMFS is showing quite a few errors, was splitting errors, and is now on retrying error blocks...it's not looking good. I am thinking that I need to use a blank image of the Tivo software on the new drive. But with this in mind, I would now have to re-format the new drive using NTFS since i will be halting the JMFS process.
> 
> Thanks!
> Bill


The new drive needs to be blank, not NTFS, or FAT, FAT32, to begin with.


----------



## ggieseke

bckid said:


> Hey there,
> 
> Is there any way that you could send me a link to an image for a TCD746320?
> 
> I am trying to fix my parents premier with a new Hard Drive, but JMFS is showing quite a few errors, was splitting errors, and is now on retrying error blocks...it's not looking good. I am thinking that I need to use a blank image of the Tivo software on the new drive. But with this in mind, I would now have to re-format the new drive using NTFS since i will be halting the JMFS process.
> 
> Thanks!
> Bill


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> I have a problem with this. I run W7 on two bootable drives (one for backup). On one bootable drive, DVRBars crashes (APPCRASH) )when it is 'analyzing' the 320 GB TiVo source drive. On my other bootable drive, the program completes and image is saved. I restored that 320GB image to a larger drive (I tried a 1TB and a 2TB), but the Premier will not boot to it, it just re-boots back into the initial internal start up screen.
> 
> I have to assume there is a problem with both O/S's though in somewhat different areas. The question is, what processes, programs etc. does DVRBars use of W7 to make it work?
> 
> The source drive is a good source and the target is a good target. The source had just a TinyTiVo image.


It uses the WMI layer to build the list of available drives when you first start the program, but after that it's just reading or writing the selected drive using standard Windows calls like CreateFile, ReadFile & WriteFile. It doesn't even use the built-in support for VHD files on Windows 7 since I wanted it to be able to run on XP.

It shouldn't even be possible for an APPCRASH to occur at that point without getting an error message from DvrBARS itself. I would try disabling any antivirus first, then start looking for possible disk driver issues.

Since you have W7, one way to test it would be to mount one of my images in read-only mode in Disk Manager so that it looks like a physical drive to DvrBARS. It sounds like you aren't trying to save any settings or recordings, so the easiest fix is probably to just restore one of my working images to the new drive. Let me know what model number it is and I'll send you a link.


----------



## videobruce

> I would try disabling any antivirus first, then start looking for possible disk driver issues.


No active A/V running (it's disabled by design).
Would this run in safe mode?

On that other drive, the fact the process did complete, but the image when restored to another drive wouldn't boot, you think it would still be "disk driver issues"? 

I was finally successfully (with jmbach's help) using MFSTool 3.2 to copy from a 320 to a 2TB drive, but I wanted to have a file version of that image in addition to the original HDD.


----------



## ggieseke

videobruce said:


> No active A/V running (it's disabled by design).
> Would this run in safe mode?
> 
> On that other drive, the fact the process did complete, but the image when restored to another drive wouldn't boot, you think it would still be "disk driver issues"?
> 
> I was finally successfully (with jmbach's help) using MFSTool 3.2 to copy from a 320 to a 2TB drive, but I wanted to have a file version of that image in addition to the original HDD.


It should run in safe mode, but I've never tried it. As noted, there's not much dependance on Windows itself except the WMI layer on the initial drive scan, and that's a core feature.

As regards your multiple boot drive issues, I just dunno. It isn't a scenario that I have ever explored. One of my PCs multi-boots to XP/7 and the other one is 7/8.1 (soon to be 8.1/10), but in both cases the redundancy factor is provided by a hardware RAID0.


----------



## videobruce

I ran it again (not in safe mode yet). The 1st time it locked up, the 2nd try was able to scan the drive. 
It still didn't work, the new restored image to the spare 1TB drive (that was cleaned) just went into that starting up loop after 45 seconds.

I'll try Safe Mode next.


----------



## jmbach

It looks like the error code is c00..05 which usually means the program is denied access to something it wants.


----------



## videobruce

With typical M$ error codes it could be almost anything. But, that doesn't account for the times where it did not lock up. Actually the program reports "not responding" after 20-30 seconds.


----------



## jimfaria

Where can I get an 746320 image ? Thanks in advance


----------



## ggieseke

jimfaria said:


> Where can I get an 746320 image ? Thanks in advance


PM sent.


----------



## mhillesheim

old drive died, no recovery possible.

have a new 1tb WD drive.

Image available for a premiere?


----------



## lpwcomp

mhillesheim said:


> old drive died, no recovery possible.
> 
> have a new 1tb WD drive.
> 
> Image available for a premiere?


Which model?


----------



## mhillesheim

746320 but I couldn't find a cheap 320gb so got a 1tb instead.

Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

mhillesheim said:


> 746320 but I couldn't find a cheap 320gb so got a 1tb instead.
> 
> Thanks!


PM sent.

It's a 320GB image, but you can expand it to 1TB with jmfs after restoring it to the new drive with DvrBARS.


----------



## livanss

Where can I get a 746320 image ? Thanks in advance


----------



## mls

DvrBars is not starting in Windows 10, any ideas what is going on? I tried compatibility mode set for Windows 7 with no success.


----------



## ggieseke

livanss said:


> Where can I get a 746320 image ? Thanks in advance


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

mls said:


> DvrBars is not starting in Windows 10, any ideas what is going on? I tried compatibility mode set for Windows 7 with no success.


Works fine on my Windows 10. Any error messages?

One thing that can kill it without even an error message is a particular SD card reader that's usually found in Lenovo D or S series ThinkStations. Disable the card reader in BIOS and it should fire right up.

P.S. No compatibility mode needed.


----------



## livanss

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


The Tivo keeps rebooting about every 10 seconds with this image and a new WD30EURX. I tried both Quick and Full restore. DVRBars is able to do a backup of this image after the restore. If I copy my old drive using a dual docking station, TIVO is stuck in GSOD.


----------



## ggieseke

livanss said:


> The Tivo keeps rebooting about every 10 seconds with this image and a new WD30EURX. I tried both Quick and Full restore. DVRBars is able to do a backup of this image after the restore. If I copy my old drive using a dual docking station, TIVO is stuck in GSOD.


That image won't run on a 3TB drive - it's too old. You need to restore it to a 2TB or less drive and let it update to the latest OS in the TiVo before attempting to break the 2TB barrier.


----------



## drewby

looking for the TCD746320 clean image as well

thanks for any help


----------



## ggieseke

drewby said:


> looking for the TCD746320 clean image as well
> 
> thanks for any help


PM sent.


----------



## kalahari

I would greatly appreciate help finding a TCD746320 image, as well. If I understand correctly, I can restore to a 2TB drive using DvrBARS, and then I can expand to the full 2TB using jmfs.

Thank you for any help.


----------



## ggieseke

kalahari said:


> I would greatly appreciate help finding a TCD746320 image, as well. If I understand correctly, I can restore to a 2TB drive using DvrBARS, and then I can expand to the full 2TB using jmfs.
> 
> Thank you for any help.


You need to enable Private Messages so I can send you the link.


----------



## kalahari

ggieseke said:


> You need to enable Private Messages so I can send you the link.


Enabled. Sorry about that...and thank you!


----------



## ggieseke

kalahari said:


> Enabled. Sorry about that...and thank you!


PM sent.


----------



## drewby

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Thank you SO MUCH. The HD in my TiVo crapped out. I was almost able to use DVRBARS to backup the failing drive but it had been extended with an external HD and just would not restore right. With the clean image I was able to restore, expand, and then set up and marry to my box. Up and running again. 

I can't do it today but I'll be sure to donate when I get paid next!!!


----------



## gwar11d2

Well, I'm in a pickle. Had an expanded 1TB drive that just went bad in my Premiere TCD746320. Tried a few things, including restoring the old 320 to a 3TB drive. After reading this thread, it looks like because that drive image is probably old, it's not going to work unless it is 2TB or less.

So, two options I was thinking:

1. clone the drive to the 3TB and don't expand it, let the DVR update itself, and then go back in and expand it after it has the latest OS. (Problem is, I'm not sure how old this 320G drive is...or if it is going to work).

or

2. Can someone hook me up with a factory image? Would it lay down on a 3TB drive as i stated above? Just don't do an expand until I'm all updated? Or do you think a 3TB drive just isn't going to do it.

Thank you for your help!!!!


----------



## lpwcomp

If the 320 works, put it back in the TiVo, let it update, then use it as your source for the 3TB drive.


----------



## gwar11d2

lpwcomp said:


> If the 320 works, put it back in the TiVo, let it update, then use it as your source for the 3TB drive.


In progress right now...i just had a 'duh' moment. 

I really need to make a dd copy of this one while i have it in my linux box... 320GB is big, but it's gonna save me down the line.


----------



## gwar11d2

gwar11d2 said:


> In progress right now...i just had a 'duh' moment.
> 
> I really need to make a dd copy of this one while i have it in my linux box... 320GB is big, but it's gonna save me down the line.


Well, unfortunately, my 320 drive showed it's age during the restore to another drive. 

If anyone would be so kind to have a new image, I would very much appreciate it. Premiere tcd746320... :up:


----------



## ggieseke

gwar11d2 said:


> Well, unfortunately, my 320 drive showed it's age during the restore to another drive.
> 
> If anyone would be so kind to have a new image, I would very much appreciate it. Premiere tcd746320... :up:


PM sent.


----------



## Jay2tak

I'm looking for clean image for 758250. Thanks in advance.


----------



## krausswilliam

2 questions:

1. I need an image for TCD748000
2. How do I make a contribution to the developer(s) of DvrBars?

Thanks,


----------



## hockeyamd

Looking for an image for premier 2 turner with ota with 320gb drive

thanks a million


----------



## ggieseke

Jay2tak said:


> I'm looking for clean image for 758250. Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

krausswilliam said:


> 2 questions:
> 
> 1. I need an image for TCD748000
> 2. How do I make a contribution to the developer(s) of DvrBars?
> 
> Thanks,


PM sent.

Thanks for the donation. For others with the same question you can find the donate option in the System Information screen in DvrBARS, or use the button in the first post of the mfsr thread.


----------



## ggieseke

hockeyamd said:


> Looking for an image for premier 2 turner with ota with 320gb drive
> 
> thanks a million


PM sent.


----------



## gheatly

In the same boat with a TCD748000 . . . any chance I can get a copy of the image for a Tivo Premier? I assume the image would work across all Premiers, including the XL.

Thanks and greatly appreciated . . . crashed drives do suck!!


----------



## ggieseke

gheatly said:


> In the same boat with a TCD748000 . . . any chance I can get a copy of the image for a Tivo Premier? I assume the image would work across all Premiers, including the XL.
> 
> Thanks and greatly appreciated . . . crashed drives do suck!!


PM sent.


----------



## gheatly

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Thank you very much!!!


----------



## whitereef

My Tivo Premiere hard drive died. I took it to work and had some of the IT people help out. We used USB cradles to check the drives in Win8 Disk Management. It initialized the drives, but the copy process they thought might work could not read the drive. Then I tried to use the JMRF boot disk and it could not detect a Tivo drive. My guess is that when Win8 initialized the drive it killed it even worse than it was.

At this point I am in need of an image for a TCD746320.


----------



## ThAbtO

Yes, Windows Disk manager messed up the boot sectors, even by just opening the manager. Initializing means formatting the drive which wiped out whatever was there from the Tivo.

A Tivo drive appears blank to Windows and does not have a drive designation. It only shows for the programs such as DVRBars, JMFS and others designed to detect MFS type drive configurations.


----------



## whitereef

Thanks! That is what I thought, after the fact. Is it possible to get an image for my Tivo?


----------



## ggieseke

whitereef said:


> Thanks! That is what I thought, after the fact. Is it possible to get an image for my Tivo?


PM sent.


----------



## whitereef

Thanks! I am running the restore using DvrBARS. Also is there a utility that I can use to restore the damaged boot sector on the original drive? I did find some old utilities out there that seemed to work for older model Tivos. MFS Tools seems like it might work.


----------



## ggieseke

whitereef said:


> Thanks! I am running the restore using DvrBARS. Also is there a utility that I can use to restore the damaged boot sector on the original drive? I did find some old utilities out there that seemed to work for older model Tivos. MFS Tools seems like it might work.


A lot is going to depend on how much damage Disk Manager and your IT guy's attempt to help did. Most of the tools that I would normally recommend in your case like WinMFS were designed for Series 3s and earlier, not Premieres. If it's only a matter of replacing the first sector on the drive with a valid Premiere "Block0" it should be possible.

You will need a way to connect it to a PC like the dock they used or a direct SATA cable, and a hex editor. I use one called HxD and can walk you through it on that software. iBored may be even better but I haven't played with it.

Any CableCARD pairing you had is long gone, but salvaging the recordings may still be an option depending on how "dead" the original drive is. My rule of thumb is that if it makes clicking noises while booting it up it's trash can time, but anything else _might_ be worth trying to salvage.

Send me a PM if you want to pursue it further.


----------



## stux

ggieseke said:


> I wish. Someone posted here a while back and used DvrBARS to back up their 663, but my pleas and PMs for a copy of the image fell on deaf ears. Guess a crock ate it.
> 
> Even though it's basically just a Series 3 I always wanted to take a peek under the hood to see if I could enable TTG or add anything from the US models that was missing or "cough up more money" down under.
> 
> The UI was designed to replicate the overall look and feel of my 649 S2DTs as closely as possible without actually using anything from TiVo. One forum member still doesn't agree with the shade of yellow that I chose for the "weiners", but that's life.


Do you still need 663 images?

Just pulled my original stock drive out of deep storage and imaged it yesterday. Not Virgin, but maybe only two-weeks of use since release with 8.3 SW

2.8GB truncated backup.

Also have a truncated backup just after initial C&DE.

I suspect WinMFS' truncated backup was actually causing subtle issues, so started trying dvrbars


----------



## ggieseke

stux said:


> Do you still need 663 images?
> 
> Just pulled my original stock drive out of deep storage and imaged it yesterday. Not Virgin, but maybe only two-weeks of use since release with 8.3 SW
> 
> 2.8GB truncated backup.
> 
> Also have a truncated backup just after initial C&DE.
> 
> I suspect WinMFS' truncated backup was actually causing subtle issues, so started trying dvrbars


I'd love to have a 663 image. The one made right after C&DE would probably be the cleanest.


----------



## stux

ggieseke said:


> I'd love to have a 663 image. The one made right after C&DE would probably be the cleanest.


Okay, will get you one eventually 

Promise.


----------



## chilifries

Arg! My tivo premiere 4 just died (hard drive clicking). Can anyone point me to the image? I think it's 746. Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

chilifries said:


> Arg! My tivo premiere 4 just died (hard drive clicking). Can anyone point me to the image? I think it's 746. Thanks!


PM sent. Make sure it's actually a 746 before restoring the image I sent you.


----------



## chilifries

ggieseke said:


> PM sent. Make sure it's actually a 746 before restoring the image I sent you.


Just got home and checked. It's a TCD750500. Can I still use the 746 disk image on it?


----------



## ggieseke

chilifries said:


> Just got home and checked. It's a TCD750500. Can I still use the 746 disk image on it?


That's a 4-tuner model and the 746 is 2-tuner, so I wouldn't use it. New PM sent with the correct link.


----------



## tarzxf

Lost the original drive for a 746320, and the 2TB drive in it gave up the ghost. Any chance of an image to restore from?

Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

tarzxf said:


> Lost the original drive for a 746320, and the 2TB drive in it gave up the ghost. Any chance of an image to restore from?
> 
> Thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## tarzxf

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


PM received! :up:


----------



## rainbow

i am trying to upgrade drives in 2 oled series 3s. just replaced the bad caps in both. strange thing is thing when I hook up the orig 250G HD both machines come up fine. 
I have 2 new 2T Hard drives (wd2texrs). I initially used dvrbars and the tivos would only come up to 1st powering up screen and all lights on front stay on. I wiped the hds and used the jmfs program. same thing. I have used 2 different 648 images (in case one might have been corrupted) - same thing. both machines start up with all lights lit up, but don't go any further. tonight I am going to use a different laptop and do the programs again on the hard drives to see if that might make a difference. I am baffled. any suggestions?

last night I put the orig 250wd back in just to be sure all was still ok w/the oled's, and both responded and started up fine.


----------



## HerronScott

I didn't think JMFS worked with the S3 OLED?

SInce the original drives are working have you tried just using WinMFS to copy them and then expand the new drives?

Scott


----------



## jmbach

JMFS does not work with OLED S3s. You can use dd to copy the drive from the JMFS ISO. 
Try MFSTools 3.2 to copy and expand your original drive. Should work just fine.
If you never get beyond the first powering up screen, then you are not booting from the hard drive. So either hard drives are bad (or goofy), the image is not copying over on to the drive correctly (as in the case where the computer decides to put a HPA on the drive), or the image is bad you are using to copy to the drive. 
What I meant by goofy drive. I had once bought a new drive off of eBay. When I got this drive, the initial computer I had connected the drive to copied the image to the drive and expanded it. When I put the drive in the TiVo, I had your same issue. I could not detect the heads moving on the drive when the TiVo booted. Took the drive out and it checked out just fine on that computer. Image was good, APM was correct. No reason it would not boot. Ran the manufacturer diagnostic and it passed as well. Back in the TiVo and it would not boot. Hooked it back to a different computer. Now the drive would not work properly. Could not read the image on the drive. Failed manufacturer diagnostic. Drive came up as 128MB size when it was in fact 2TB in size. Hooked it to the original computer and it ran flawlessly. The computer that the drive did not work on was the same age as the TiVo circa 2009. The computer the drive worked on was circa 2013. The drive was hooked via eSata to both computers via a dock. When the same dock was hooked bias USB, the drive did not work in either computer. Called the manufacturer of the drive and stated that the firmware was made for a certain DVR and that is why it might be exhibiting that behavior. At the same time they would not give me the firmware to flash over it to make the drive a standard configuration. That was one of the weirdest experience with a drive I ever had.


----------



## tarzxf

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Image worked like a charm, many thanks once again.


----------



## jmyshral

dgorman said:


> Thank you for providing this utility! I accidently ran WinMFS on a premiere drive and while it recognized it, it said it wasn't a Tivo drive so I did the fix swap and fixboot page (tried both option 1 and option 2) and it just causes my original drive to reboot after "Wait... Starting up". It's like I nuked the partition table. Wish I knew how to restore it back to the original.
> 
> I was able to use this utility to see all the partitions and make a backup and restore to a new drive, and as expected magically didn't fix the partition table since this is just a byte-for-byte copy, but it does work )
> 
> Anyone know how to fix a "I've WinMFS'd my Premiere drive boopage"


I made the same mistake as this user by thinking I could upgrade my Premiere by using WinMFS - same as I had done with my Tivo HDs. I messed up my image and am now stuck in the "Wait... Starting up" cycle.

I also attempted to repair the block 0 using this technique ggieseke posted in post #102, but it didn't fix the problem.



ggieseke said:


> I love HxD, and jmbach uses iBored. Either one is worth a look. I figured it was worth a try with a handle like geekbrain.
> 
> Here's the Block 0 from my 746 image. The first two bytes are always 0x1492. The next two are the primary and alternate Root partitions, followed by some text and a bunch of zeroes. I'm not sure if the last 4 bytes mean anything.
> 
> If your posts are from a Full or Modified backup you can edit it as necessary and restore it with DvrBARS without changing anything else. If you're feeling adventurous you can edit the disk directly.
> 
> For anyone else who isn't REALLY comfortable with low-level disk editing, please don't try this at home...


Long story short, I guess I need a clean image of a TCD746320. ggieseke I would appreciate it if you could send me a PM with the details. Thanks.


----------



## spulfer

I don't suppose anyone has a backup image for the TCD846510 before last month's 20.5.2a upgrade do they please?


----------



## lpwcomp

spulfer said:


> I don't suppose anyone has a backup image for the TCD846510 before last month's 20.5.2a upgrade do they please?


Roamios don't have images. The OS is in flash memory.

Even if it were a Premiere, it wouldn;t do any good as it would just download and install the update again.


----------



## ggieseke

jmyshral said:


> I made the same mistake as this user by thinking I could upgrade my Premiere by using WinMFS - same as I had done with my Tivo HDs. I messed up my image and am now stuck in the "Wait... Starting up" cycle.
> 
> I also attempted to repair the block 0 using this technique ggieseke posted in post #102, but it didn't fix the problem.
> 
> Long story short, I guess I need a clean image of a TCD746320. ggieseke I would appreciate it if you could send me a PM with the details. Thanks.


PM sent.


----------



## izee888

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


May I trouble you for a link also?

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


----------



## ggieseke

izee888 said:


> May I trouble you for a link also?
> 
> Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk


For what model?


----------



## izee888

TCD746320. You sent it to me from another thread already. Thanks ggieseke.


----------



## jmyshral

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Greg, thanks for sending the image. It worked like a charm, almost...

I was able to restore it onto the original 320GB drive that came with the Premiere and the Tivo boots normally. I am still running through the guided setup and just did a Clear and Delete Everything.

However, I am having loads of problems with a new WD20EURX (from Jet.com). I attempted to restore the clean image onto the drive with DvrBARS, and then supersized it with JMFS, followed by WDIDLE3. When I put it into the Tivo, I would get all lights flashing and nothing on the screen like there was no HD installed at all. No welcome screen, just blinking.

I don't know if it's a problem with the WD20EURX or my HP Pavilion Bios, but the majority of the time with the drive connected, it does not get detected by my Bios. The only way I can get it to detect is if I first run WD Lifeguard from my ultimate boot CD, see the new drive, and then restart the computer. The next time I reboot the bios (and Windows 7) still usually don't see the drive until I re-run Lifeguard.

Every time I run WD Lifeguard it detects the drive no problem. It passes the WD short test and I have run the Write Zeros (quick erase) two times.

I have also re-run this same process on a completely different Dell PC (which detected the HD first time). I re-ran DvrBARS Restore from the Dell PC , and got the same result - all lights flashing on Tivo like no drive detected.

Each time I have run the exercise directly connected to the SATA on the motherboard(s). I have used 2 different SATA cables (one in each PC) so that seems to rule out a cabling issue. I have also tried to add the jumper to pins 5-6 to limit the drive to limit transfer speed to 3 Gb/s. I don't have a USB-to-SATA cable so I haven't tried that scenario.

At this point I am flustered. I feel like the drive is flaky and should be RMA'd but it passes every test every time through WD Lifeguard, which makes me think it may be something else.

I'm open for suggestions at this point. Thanks for reading.


----------



## ggieseke

jmyshral said:


> Greg, thanks for sending the image. It worked like a charm, almost...
> 
> I was able to restore it onto the original 320GB drive that came with the Premiere and the Tivo boots normally. I am still running through the guided setup and just did a Clear and Delete Everything.
> 
> However, I am having loads of problems with a new WD20EURX (from Jet.com). I attempted to restore the clean image onto the drive with DvrBARS, and then supersized it with JMFS, followed by WDIDLE3. When I put it into the Tivo, I would get all lights flashing and nothing on the screen like there was no HD installed at all. No welcome screen, just blinking.
> 
> I don't know if it's a problem with the WD20EURX or my HP Pavilion Bios, but the majority of the time with the drive connected, it does not get detected by my Bios. The only way I can get it to detect is if I first run WD Lifeguard from my ultimate boot CD, see the new drive, and then restart the computer. The next time I reboot the bios (and Windows 7) still usually don't see the drive until I re-run Lifeguard.
> 
> Every time I run WD Lifeguard it detects the drive no problem. It passes the WD short test and I have run the Write Zeros (quick erase) two times.
> 
> I have also re-run this same process on a completely different Dell PC (which detected the HD first time). I re-ran DvrBARS Restore from the Dell PC , and got the same result - all lights flashing on Tivo like no drive detected.
> 
> Each time I have run the exercise directly connected to the SATA on the motherboard(s). I have used 2 different SATA cables (one in each PC) so that seems to rule out a cabling issue. I have also tried to add the jumper to pins 5-6 to limit the drive to limit transfer speed to 3 Gb/s. I don't have a USB-to-SATA cable so I haven't tried that scenario.
> 
> At this point I am flustered. I feel like the drive is flaky and should be RMA'd but it passes every test every time through WD Lifeguard, which makes me think it may be something else.
> 
> I'm open for suggestions at this point. Thanks for reading.


That's the second post like this in a week (see http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=532237).

What happens if you write the image to the new 2TB drive and put it in the TiVo WITHOUT running jmfs? That would only give you 320GB of usable space, but it would rule out most of the common drive problems like Intellipark settings.

If it boots up without any problems, run it through Guided Setup and let it do its upgrade thing. Once it's stable on 20.5.2a put it back in the PC (preferably the Dell) and run a DvrBARS Truncated Backup. Once you have a fresh backup of the latest software try the jmfs expansion again. I would take that one step at a time - expand & test in the TiVo, the supersize and test again.

I'm just throwing out WAGs, but breaking it down into smaller steps may tell us where it's going bad. If you're feeling really adventurous I can send you my TCD758250 Elite image. It's a native 2TB image and I ran it in my XL for about 6 months without any problems. The upgrade process from 14.5 detects the hardware and downloads the correct software to upgrade it while maintaining the existing file system.


----------



## jmbach

jmyshral said:


> Greg, thanks for sending the image. It worked like a charm, almost...
> 
> I was able to restore it onto the original 320GB drive that came with the Premiere and the Tivo boots normally. I am still running through the guided setup and just did a Clear and Delete Everything.
> 
> However, I am having loads of problems with a new WD20EURX (from Jet.com). I attempted to restore the clean image onto the drive with DvrBARS, and then supersized it with JMFS, followed by WDIDLE3. When I put it into the Tivo, I would get all lights flashing and nothing on the screen like there was no HD installed at all. No welcome screen, just blinking.
> 
> I don't know if it's a problem with the WD20EURX or my HP Pavilion Bios, but the majority of the time with the drive connected, it does not get detected by my Bios. The only way I can get it to detect is if I first run WD Lifeguard from my ultimate boot CD, see the new drive, and then restart the computer. The next time I reboot the bios (and Windows 7) still usually don't see the drive until I re-run Lifeguard.
> 
> Every time I run WD Lifeguard it detects the drive no problem. It passes the WD short test and I have run the Write Zeros (quick erase) two times.
> 
> I have also re-run this same process on a completely different Dell PC (which detected the HD first time). I re-ran DvrBARS Restore from the Dell PC , and got the same result - all lights flashing on Tivo like no drive detected.
> 
> Each time I have run the exercise directly connected to the SATA on the motherboard(s). I have used 2 different SATA cables (one in each PC) so that seems to rule out a cabling issue. I have also tried to add the jumper to pins 5-6 to limit the drive to limit transfer speed to 3 Gb/s. I don't have a USB-to-SATA cable so I haven't tried that scenario.
> 
> At this point I am flustered. I feel like the drive is flaky and should be RMA'd but it passes every test every time through WD Lifeguard, which makes me think it may be something else.
> 
> I'm open for suggestions at this point. Thanks for reading.


Sounds like the TiVo does not see the drive. Just to see what the TiVo will do I started it without a drive in it and it lit up like a Christmas tree. If you put a blank drive in it, you get the initial welcome screen and boot loop. I personally vote for a flakey drive since the original TiVo drive works after being reimaged. I will have to say that if Jet got the drives as new overstock drives meant for a specific DVR, it could have a special firmware that causes that behavior on both the TiVo and PC. I had the same exact experience (one computer could not see the drive initially and the other me could. TiVo flaked out when the drive was connected. The newer computer was the one that could see he drive better.) with two seagate DVR hard drives. The vendor I bought the drive from did not know what was going on. I finally called seagate support and they stated that the firmware on the drive was meant for a specific DVR and was not the general relapse firmware. I returned the drive and got another one (same model as the previous two) with confirmed general relapse firmware and it has been running fine the past 5 years in my S3 OLED. Might see if you can confirm if it is general release firmware or not. It is a hassle and takes a lot of time and have to go through a few tiers of tech support. Much easier to return it and find another source.


----------



## dougdingle

What ggieseke said. 

One step at a time, see if it boots, then the next step. When you take 4 steps at a time, it's much more difficult to diagnose what's going on.


----------



## jmyshral

ggieseke said:


> That's the second post like this in a week (see http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=532237).
> 
> What happens if you write the image to the new 2TB drive and put it in the TiVo WITHOUT running jmfs? That would only give you 320GB of usable space, but it would rule out most of the common drive problems like Intellipark settings.


I did try this last night as well, and got the same result - flashing lights and nothing on the screen.



ggieseke said:


> If it boots up without any problems, run it through Guided Setup and let it do its upgrade thing. Once it's stable on 20.5.2a put it back in the PC (preferably the Dell) and run a DvrBARS Truncated Backup. Once you have a fresh backup of the latest software try the jmfs expansion again. I would take that one step at a time - expand & test in the TiVo, the supersize and test again.
> 
> I'm just throwing out WAGs, but breaking it down into smaller steps may tell us where it's going bad. If you're feeling really adventurous I can send you my TCD758250 Elite image. It's a native 2TB image and I ran it in my XL for about 6 months without any problems. The upgrade process from 14.5 detects the hardware and downloads the correct software to upgrade it while maintaining the existing file system.


I do plan on configuring the Tivo with my channels and some season passes, and then re-imaging with DvrBARS to try the process again. Perhaps I will do a full erase / write zeros on the WD20EURX before re-running the process. Option 2 will be to try just running JMFS with both drives hooked up simultaneously.

I'm leaning toward jmbach's suggestion of returning the drive but won't give up until at least the weekend.


----------



## jimmywaldo

I can not download the file DvrBARS . 
Can anybody help. 

Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

jimmywaldo said:


> I can not download the file DvrBARS .
> Can anybody help.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Did you try the link in Step 1 of the first post in this thread?

http://goo.gl/AbXwr


----------



## jimmywaldo

I'm was using Windows Explorer. Downloads ok with Chrome. Dont know why..


----------



## rainbow

jmbach said:


> JMFS does not work with OLED S3s. You can use dd to copy the drive from the JMFS ISO.
> Try MFSTools 3.2 to copy and expand your original drive. Should work just fine.
> If you never get beyond the first powering up screen, then you are not booting from the hard drive. So either hard drives are bad (or goofy), the image is not copying over on to the drive correctly (as in the case where the computer decides to put a HPA on the drive), or the image is bad you are using to copy to the drive.
> What I meant by goofy drive. I had once bought a new drive off of eBay. When I got this drive, the initial computer I had connected the drive to copied the image to the drive and expanded it. When I put the drive in the TiVo, I had your same issue. I could not detect the heads moving on the drive when the TiVo booted. Took the drive out and it checked out just fine on that computer. Image was good, APM was correct. No reason it would not boot. Ran the manufacturer diagnostic and it passed as well. Back in the TiVo and it would not boot. Hooked it back to a different computer. Now the drive would not work properly. Could not read the image on the drive. Failed manufacturer diagnostic. Drive came up as 128MB size when it was in fact 2TB in size. Hooked it to the original computer and it ran flawlessly. The computer that the drive did not work on was the same age as the TiVo circa 2009. The computer the drive worked on was circa 2013. The drive was hooked via eSata to both computers via a dock. When the same dock was hooked bias USB, the drive did not work in either computer. Called the manufacturer of the drive and stated that the firmware was made for a certain DVR and that is why it might be exhibiting that behavior. At the same time they would not give me the firmware to flash over it to make the drive a standard configuration. That was one of the weirdest experience with a drive I ever had.


Sorry for the delay in response. Been on vac this week and I dont have internet at home, not yet anyway. This past week I have tried a NBC of things including removing the he from my functioning oiled to back up that prom and tried to use that on the new hard drives to no avail. Only thing I can figure out to do that I have not done would be try to get a clean image from someone for the orig oiled 648 and see if that will work.

I did put in the orig 250 he's and they booted up again ok but then the pic froze, so now I figure the images I have been trying to use are bad.

Can anyone help with a clean oled image?

One more thing I thought I might ad in case it might mean something's. When I reinstalled the new Hard drives that ended up not working, I noticed the 4 lights would come on the front, but not the TiVo image in the middle . With the orig he, when they did boot up all the lights pls the TiVo guy in the middle were on.

Also, these are western dig drives, and I did use their diagnostic prom to zero out the drives before I used the winjms pgrm to image them. Don,t know if that info would mean anything.


----------



## rainbow

Just for my clarification , which programs will work for oled series 3's, and which will work for premiere's.

Winjms and/or dvrbars for oleds? It had been so long since I had todo anything with my oleds that I have forgotten......


----------



## ThAbtO

rainbow said:


> Just for my clarification , which programs will work for oled series 3's, and which will work for premiere's.
> 
> Winjms and/or dvrbars for oleds? It had been so long since I had todo anything with my oleds that I have forgotten......


WinMFS generally, MFSTools (I think), for S3s, DVRBars, JMFS for Premiere, MSFR for Roamio.


----------



## unitron

rainbow said:


> Just for my clarification , which programs will work for oled series 3's, and which will work for premiere's.
> 
> Winjms and/or dvrbars for oleds? It had been so long since I had todo anything with my oleds that I have forgotten......


You can use the MFS Live cd or WinMFS on the 648.

My preference would be to use WinMFS.

Just remember, with either, do the image restoration, check the drive with

mfsinfo

and only then do the expansion with

mfsadd

That means not using the

-x

option when using the MFS Live cd, or saying NO when WinMFS says you have extra room and offers to expand.

Sometimes expansion doesn't work and just screws up the drive if you try to do it as part of the restore.

By itself later, running

mfsadd

I've never known it to do so.

And to use a 2TB drive in a 648, make sure you have an 11.0h or newer version of the TiVo OS on the 648 image (most recent version is 11.0m).


----------



## jrm964

Any chance anyone can PM me a TCD 746500 image? I need to restore after accidently altering the partition type through Disk Manager. TIVO just sits at the startup screen and LEDs just blink randomly as if trying to reboot.


----------



## ggieseke

jrm964 said:


> Any chance anyone can PM me a TCD 746500 image? I need to restore after accidently altering the partition type through Disk Manager. TIVO just sits at the startup screen and LEDs just blink randomly as if trying to reboot.


PM sent. It's for a 746320 (I don't have a 500 image), but you can expand it with jmfs.


----------



## rainbow

​


unitron said:


> You can use the MFS Live cd or WinMFS on the 648.
> 
> My preference would be to use WinMFS.
> 
> Just remember, with either, do the image restoration, check the drive with
> 
> mfsinfo
> 
> and only then do the expansion with
> 
> mfsadd
> 
> That means not using the
> 
> -x
> 
> option when using the MFS Live cd, or saying NO when WinMFS says you have extra room and offers to expand.
> 
> Sometimes expansion doesn't work and just screws up the drive if you try to do it as part of the restore.
> 
> By itself later, running
> 
> mfsadd
> 
> I've never known it to do so.
> 
> And to use a 2TB drive in a 648, make sure you have an 11.0h or newer version of the TiVo OS on the 648 image (most recent version is 11.0m).


Ok I will try that. I tested the two 2t hard drives this am on my premiere using a clean image prev provided to me by someone in the TiVo community when I was trying to upgrade my sister,s premiere (where I am right now using her wifi) and both hard drives worked in my premiere, so I know now it is def not the new hard drives. I think i might need a clean 648 image. But I will try your suggestion re not doing the add/expand and see if that works. The only image I have for the oled that I know is up to date is from my currently active oled I am using. I have one active oled and one active premiere right now. (Poles the two oleds that have been down until I finally got the bad caps replaced). Those are the ones I am trying to get up and running.


----------



## rainbow

unitron said:


> You can use the MFS Live cd or WinMFS on the 648.
> 
> My preference would be to use WinMFS.
> 
> Just remember, with either, do the image restoration, check the drive with
> 
> mfsinfo
> 
> and only then do the expansion with
> 
> mfsadd
> 
> And to use a 2TB drive in a 648, make sure you have an 11.0h or newer version of the TiVo OS on the 648 image (most recent version is 11.0m).


oh my God - that worked! at least mostly. one of the harddrives is still giving me a bit of trouble expanding from 218 to 255 to the eventual 318 HD hours, but you can't know how relieved I was when they actually worked! i was on vacation last week and spent at least half of that time messing around trying to get those oled's to work. :up: thanks again.

(i had so many images i had stored in my computer and several did not 
work at all. i also had backed them up using DVRBARS, and since those did not work deleted them as well). one image worked w/11.G version. one of the oleds came up fine, and the TiVo image in the middle of the front of the other did not light up).


----------



## He'sDeadJim

Hi,

I need an image for a TCD 758250.

Thanks,

Bob


----------



## ggieseke

He'sDeadJim said:


> Hi,
> 
> I need an image for a TCD 758250.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Bob


PM sent.


----------



## He'sDeadJim

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Got the image. You are a gentleman and a scholar!

Thanks.


----------



## unitron

rainbow said:


> oh my God - that worked! at least mostly. one of the harddrives is still giving me a bit of trouble expanding from 218 to 255 to the eventual 318 HD hours, but you can't know how relieved I was when they actually worked! i was on vacation last week and spent at least half of that time messing around trying to get those oled's to work. :up: thanks again.
> 
> (i had so many images i had stored in my computer and several did not
> work at all. i also had backed them up using DVRBARS, and since those did not work deleted them as well). one image worked w/11.G version. one of the oleds came up fine, and the TiVo image in the middle of the front of the other did not light up).


I probably forgot to tell you--as long as you have any Series 2 or Series 3 opened up, check the power supply for bulging capacitors.

Or better yet, go ahead and replace the usual suspects with the proper low Equivalent Series Resistance caps since if the power supply isn't failing yet it's really only a matter of time.

Read here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=473394


----------



## BZee

I want to try replacing the hard drive - have a WD Caviar Black 1.0 TB drive available. Saving the data on the old drive would be nice but not required. Downloaded DvrBARS and hooked the old Tivo drive up via USB. DvrBARS errors out when trying a modified full backup (due to bad drive?). From reading this thread it seems I need an image for the TCD746320 and I assume use the restore function of DvrBARS to copy the image to the new drive. Read about needing to expand it to 1TB with jmfs which I have downloaded (rev104,iso). Will burn it next. Hopefully I can follow the instructions in the jmfs thread - I'm mostly a windows guy with a little other experience. Request image for Tivo Premiere Model TCD746320. Any addition advice would be appreciated.


----------



## ggieseke

BZee said:


> I want to try replacing the hard drive - have a WD Caviar Black 1.0 TB drive available. Saving the data on the old drive would be nice but not required. Downloaded DvrBARS and hooked the old Tivo drive up via USB. DvrBARS errors out when trying a modified full backup (due to bad drive?). From reading this thread it seems I need an image for the TCD746320 and I assume use the restore function of DvrBARS to copy the image to the new drive. Read about needing to expand it to 1TB with jmfs which I have downloaded (rev104,iso). Will burn it next. Hopefully I can follow the instructions in the jmfs thread - I'm mostly a windows guy with a little other experience. Request image for Tivo Premiere Model TCD746320. Any addition advice would be appreciated.


PM sent.

I would urge you NOT to use a Caviar Black drive. They run way too hot for a TiVo and generate tons of noise & vibration. The "AV" rated Green line (WDxxEURX) is what TiVo uses, and by far the most recommended.


----------



## BZee

I'll use the black for quick testing (and learning). If it cures the GSOD I'll order/pick-up a WD green.


----------



## BZee

BZee said:


> I want to try replacing the hard drive - have a WD Caviar Black 1.0 TB drive available. Saving the data on the old drive would be nice but not required. Downloaded DvrBARS and hooked the old Tivo drive up via USB. DvrBARS errors out when trying a modified full backup (due to bad drive?). From reading this thread it seems I need an image for the TCD746320 and I assume use the restore function of DvrBARS to copy the image to the new drive. Read about needing to expand it to 1TB with jmfs which I have downloaded (rev104,iso). Will burn it next. Hopefully I can follow the instructions in the jmfs thread - I'm mostly a windows guy with a little other experience. Request image for Tivo Premiere Model TCD746320. Any addition advice would be appreciated.


This is not going well. I connected the 1TB drive via USB and used DvrBARS to transfer the TCD745320 image to it. To expand the drive I rebooted with jmfs. The directions for jmfs say I must copy the image before I can expand it so I picked a drive in my computer to copy it to. When it finished about 9 hours later, jmfs asked if I want to expand it to 3TB! - it wants to expand the wrong drive!! When I rebooted into windows I found jmfs has wiped out the 3TB drive in my computer. I have reformatted the 3TB drive and now am copying back 2TB of data from a NAS. Is it possible to expand the 1TB drive without copying it first or do I need another blank drive to make a copy of the 1TB drive on? Is there a comprehensive guide on how to replace a Tivo drive?


----------



## ggieseke

BZee said:


> This is not going well. I connected the 1TB drive via USB and used DvrBARS to transfer the TCD745320 image to it. To expand the drive I rebooted with jmfs. The directions for jmfs say I must copy the image before I can expand it so I picked a drive in my computer to copy it to. When it finished about 9 hours later, jmfs asked if I want to expand it to 3TB! - it wants to expand the wrong drive!! When I rebooted into windows I found jmfs has wiped out the 3TB drive in my computer. I have reformatted the 3TB drive and now am copying back 2TB of data from a NAS. Is it possible to expand the 1TB drive without copying it first or do I need another blank drive to make a copy of the 1TB drive on? Is there a comprehensive guide on how to replace a Tivo drive?


The jmfs instructions assume that you are copying an original working Premiere drive to another blank drive. Before DvrBARS that was the only way to get the Premiere software onto another drive, so ignore that part.

Restore the image I sent you to the 1TB drive with DvrBARS, then boot into jmfs and go straight to expanding the drive.


----------



## BZee

Will do - except I ordered a 2TB WD "AV" green drive so I'll wait for that. Thanks for your help.


----------



## rainbow

unitron said:


> I probably forgot to tell you--as long as you have any Series 2 or Series 3 opened up, check the power supply for bulging capacitors.
> 
> Or better yet, go ahead and replace the usual suspects with the proper low Equivalent Series Resistance caps since if the power supply isn't failing yet it's really only a matter of time.
> 
> Read here:
> 
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=473394


caps have just been replaced on both and I now show 318hrs on both as well


----------



## cmarr

i am looking for a 746320 image. Any help will be appreciated.


----------



## ggieseke

cmarr said:


> i am looking for a 746320 image. Any help will be appreciated.


PM sent.


----------



## dougdingle

Slightly reduced for the next few days @ $240 with promo code ESCKANP27.

Promo codes are only usable if you subscribe to their e-blast newsletter.

Note that there are a LOT of DOA complaints on most NewEgg shipped drives. I believe it's because they pack OEM (non-boxed) drives so *incredibly *poorly.

On a slightly different note, I ordered a new USB3 dual slot docking/cloning station from them yesterday: Mediasonic HUR2-SU3, which claims to support up to 8 TB sized drives should you need such capacity. Should be here today.


----------



## gespears

I got the 6TB from them, ran diagnostics, no issues. No issues with the dock you mentioned other than the first cable I tried (I don't think it was the cable that came with it but got them mixed up so I'm not sure) did NOT work. Changed cables, everything was perfect.


----------



## unitron

dougdingle said:


> Slightly reduced for the next few days @ $240 with promo code ESCKANP27.
> 
> Promo codes are only usable if you subscribe to their e-blast newsletter.
> 
> Note that there are a LOT of DOA complaints on most NewEgg shipped drives. I believe it's because they pack OEM (non-boxed) drives so *incredibly *poorly.
> 
> On a slightly different note, I ordered a new USB3 dual slot docking/cloning station from them yesterday: Mediasonic HUR2-SU3, which claims to support up to 8 TB sized drives should you need such capacity. Should be here today.


In the past year or two the bare drives I've gotten from newegg have been packed quite well, in a sort of bubble wrap envelope, but the bubbles are about .5 to .75 inches across, so the whole thing is cushioning but fairly rigid.

And those have been packed rather tightly in the shipping carton so they can't "inertia slide" inside the carton everytime the truck turns a corner.

I think a lot of the DOA complaints are because the drives they put on sale are the ones the manufacturers are trying to unload because those models tend towards high failure rates.

If you can find honest reviews of the same model bought OEM elsewhere, like Amazon, TigerDirect, et cetera, you usually see the same early failure complaints.


----------



## lpwcomp

unitron said:


> In the past year or two the bare drives I've gotten from newegg have been packed quite well, in a sort of bubble wrap envelope, but the bubbles are about .5 to .75 inches across, so the whole thing is cushioning but fairly rigid.
> 
> And those have been packed rather tightly in the shipping carton so they can't "inertia slide" inside the carton everytime the truck turns a corner.


Funny you should mention that. I just received a WD Red 3TB yesterday as part of a package deal with a Netgear ReadyNAS 104. It was packaged as you described. However, it was not snug in the box and the big bubble packing material that replaced styrofoam peanuts didn't keep it from sliding around in the box. Happy to report that it passed the WD extended tests.


----------



## dougdingle

unitron said:


> In the past year or two the bare drives I've gotten from newegg have been packed quite well, in a sort of bubble wrap envelope, but the bubbles are about .5 to .75 inches across, so the whole thing is cushioning but fairly rigid.
> 
> And those have been packed rather tightly in the shipping carton so they can't "inertia slide" inside the carton everytime the truck turns a corner.
> 
> I think a lot of the DOA complaints are because the drives they put on sale are the ones the manufacturers are trying to unload because those models tend towards high failure rates.
> 
> If you can find honest reviews of the same model bought OEM elsewhere, like Amazon, TigerDirect, et cetera, you usually see the same early failure complaints.


The last two drives I bought from them, about six months ago, were in the anti-static bag, thrown into a large box, with that 'inflatable bag' packing where the bags collapse from any impact and what you're left with is a bare drive banging around in a large box as the UPS gorillas throw the box around. Lots of the DOA complaints cited the pathetic packing they used.

Both the ones I ordered passed the WD extended tests, but one has wonder what it does for the longevity of the drives, being mechanically abused like that.

In any case, glad to hear they've sort of come to their senses about how they pack drives and things seem to have improved.


----------



## BZee

Trying to upgrade a TiVo Premiere that has a dead hard drive. Bought a 2TB WD Green drive. Original TiVo drive is completely dead and useless. Have the TCD745320 image but no way to get it onto the new drive. Both DvrBARS and jmfs say something like no usable drive found. Tried via both USB adapter and direct sata connection. I'm lost. Any advice will be appreciated.


----------



## ggieseke

Either the computer isn't seeing the drive at all or it already has a Windows drive signature and partition(s).

Try using Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic program to detect the drive. If it sees the new 2TB Green, run a write zeros test to wipe out any existing partitions. I always run a full write zeros test followed by the long read test on any new drive, but the short write zeros test will work.


----------



## darynsd

ggieseke- I need an image to repair my dead Premiere, model TCD746320. Can you help me out?


----------



## ggieseke

darynsd said:


> ggieseke- I need an image to repair my dead Premiere, model TCD746320. Can you help me out?


PM sent.


----------



## BZee

ggieseke said:


> Either the computer isn't seeing the drive at all or it already has a Windows drive signature and partition(s).
> 
> Try using Western Digital's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic program to detect the drive. If it sees the new 2TB Green, run a write zeros test to wipe out any existing partitions. I always run a full write zeros test followed by the long read test on any new drive, but the short write zeros test will work.


That did it. Got the image restored. That cleared up the GSOD but now I'm getting a hardware error (M51). I'll be sending the TiVo back for out-of-warranty repair - but will have to wait a month or two until my finances improve. Thanks for all your help.


----------



## ajdelbus

Hi ggieseke,

I also need an image for a dead TCD746320. I have a 2TB drive that I put in it when it was brand new, which is now toast, and apparently something killed the original drive because it isn't working for me either 

Thanks in advance!


----------



## jmbach

BZee said:


> That did it. Got the image restored. That cleared up the GSOD but now I'm getting a hardware error (M51). I'll be sending the TiVo back for out-of-warranty repair - but will have to wait a month or two until my finances improve. Thanks for all your help.


Try running a clear and delete everything followed by guided setup. That may fix the issue.


----------



## solstice

BZee said:


> That did it. Got the image restored. That cleared up the GSOD but now I'm getting a hardware error (M51). I'll be sending the TiVo back for out-of-warranty repair - but will have to wait a month or two until my finances improve. Thanks for all your help.


http://www.tivopedia.com/error-51-hardware-error.php

EDIT: See this issue was previously answered by jmbach


----------



## jespenshade

I am in need of an image for a TCD750500. Does anyone have this, or know of another model that uses this same image? 
Thanks in advance!


----------



## ggieseke

jespenshade said:


> I am in need of an image for a TCD750500. Does anyone have this, or know of another model that uses this same image?
> Thanks in advance!


PM sent.


----------



## BZee

jmbach said:


> Try running a clear and delete everything followed by guided setup. That may fix the issue.


Learned somthing new. I'll try it.


solstice said:


> http://www.tivopedia.com/error-51-hardware-error.php
> 
> EDIT: See this issue was previously answered by jmbach


Didn't know about this site. Without your post I would have had to ask "How to do a 'clear' and a 'delete everything'. Still not to sure about 'guided setup' but I figure the TiVo will bring that up after the clear and delete.

Sorry this got a bit off topic from DvrBARS (although I did use DvrBARS). All your help was/is appreciated.
Edit: Completed. TiVo is up and working properly. Thanks


----------



## lpwcomp

BZee said:


> Still not to sure about 'guided setup' but I figure the TiVo will bring that up after the clear and delete.


If it doesn't

TiVo Central->Help->Restart or Reset->Repeat Guided Setup

If you're on digital cable, you'll also probably need to get the CableCARD re-paired.


----------



## ajdelbus

Hi ggieseke,

Wondering if you missed my post (#1180 above)?... Looking for an image for a TCD746320.

Sorry to be a pest and thanks in advance!


----------



## ggieseke

ajdelbus said:


> Hi ggieseke,
> 
> Wondering if you missed my post (#1180 above)?... Looking for an image for a TCD746320.
> 
> Sorry to be a pest and thanks in advance!


I did miss it. Sorry.

PM sent.


----------



## jespenshade

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


You are too awesome! Thank you!


----------



## funkyjunkman

Thanks in advance... I've got a TCD746320 that fails during boot sequence, and I am inclined to replace with larger HD instead of troubleshooting the existing drive.


----------



## ajdelbus

ggieseke said:


> I did miss it. Sorry.
> 
> PM sent.


Worked like a charm. You are awesome... Thank you so much!!


----------



## ggieseke

funkyjunkman said:


> Thanks in advance... I've got a TCD746320 that fails during boot sequence, and I am inclined to replace with larger HD instead of troubleshooting the existing drive.


PM sent.


----------



## moonflame

Hey ggieseke!

Any progress on a version of DvrBARS that can expand a 3tb Roamio to 6tb?


----------



## ThAbtO

moonflame said:


> Hey ggieseke!
> 
> Any progress on a version of DvrBARS that can expand a 3tb Roamio to 6tb?


DVRBars does not work on Roamio. You can use MSFr to upgrade to a 6TB. You should copy unprotected shows to a PC or another Tivo and then to the new upgraded Tivo, because MSFr does not copy.


----------



## ggieseke

As noted, DvrBARS has never had any expansion capabilities and only works on Series 1s through Premieres. MFSR can expand Roamios (and Bolts since I released version 1.0.0.2), but it completely wipes the drive.

I hope to start writing a copy/expand program soon.


----------



## bmal1

Hi. It looks like the drive in my TiVo Premiere XL4 is failing. I would like to get an image of TCD758250. If you can assist I greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your time and help.


----------



## ggieseke

bmal1 said:


> Hi. It looks like the drive in my TiVo Premiere XL4 is failing. I would like to get an image of TCD758250. If you can assist I greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your time and help.


PM sent.


----------



## fcha

Need help on fixing my Tivo (Series 4 Premiere TCD746320 320 GB). I ran a HD diagnostics and everything is fine but I am unable to do any of the kickstart codes. Does anyone have the image file so that I can try and restore the drive? Thanks in advance.


----------



## jmbach

Does the system boot up? If not, how far in the boot process does it get.


----------



## ggieseke

fcha said:


> Need help on fixing my Tivo (Series 4 Premiere TCD746320 320 GB). I ran a HD diagnostics and everything is fine but I am unable to do any of the kickstart codes. Does anyone have the image file so that I can try and restore the drive? Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## bgpolak

Hi there, it looks like the drive in my Tivo Premiere TCD746320 gave out and word around these parts is that this thread is the place to go to for image files. So if anyone has this image file so I could restore to a new drive, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

bgpolak said:


> Hi there, it looks like the drive in my Tivo Premiere TCD746320 gave out and word around these parts is that this thread is the place to go to for image files. So if anyone has this image file so I could restore to a new drive, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks.


PM sent.


----------



## unitron

bgpolak said:


> Hi there, it looks like the drive in my Tivo Premiere TCD746320 gave out and word around these parts is that this thread is the place to go to for image files. So if anyone has this image file so I could restore to a new drive, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks.


This thread is also the place to go for the software you need to use to restore those images.


----------



## bgpolak

unitron said:


> This thread is also the place to go for the software you need to use to restore those images.


Yeah don't worry , I saw DvrBars first then I went looking for images, and that led me back here because apparently I didn't see other pour souls seeking generosity


----------



## chaoflux

I'm currently also in the boat of having a failed (GSOD Loop) TCD746320 drive on my wifes premiere. Tried the dd_rescue without avail. Any help getting ahold of a decent image would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Chao


----------



## ggieseke

chaoflux said:


> I'm currently also in the boat of having a failed (GSOD Loop) TCD746320 drive on my wifes premiere. Tried the dd_rescue without avail. Any help getting ahold of a decent image would be much appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Chao


PM sent.


----------



## jespenshade

Could I please get an image for a TCD758250?


----------



## ggieseke

jespenshade said:


> Could I please get an image for a TCD758250?


PM sent.


----------



## jespenshade

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Many THANKS for GIVING this to me!


----------



## chaoflux

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Thanks Much!


----------



## chaoflux

Ok I I figured it would be a great idea to backup all of my TiVo's using Dvrbars....which was, backed up 2 tivo premieres... until I ran out of space. Grabbed and old 1tb and formatted my Series 3 drive instead of my old 1tb drive......
any chance you have a TCD652160 image.....

I'm an idiot...


----------



## darklyte

The DVRBars program is not working for me. 
When I click on it nothing happens, no error message.

The program used to work on my computer, I last used it about a year ago on the same machine, the only difference being that I have upgraded to Windows 10. It is not a laptop and I did try disabling a card reader I have attached as was suggested in an earlier post.

I tried running it in compatibility mode but that hasn't worked. Any suggestions for getting DVRBars to work?


----------



## ggieseke

darklyte said:


> The DVRBars program is not working for me.
> When I click on it nothing happens, no error message.
> 
> The program used to work on my computer, I last used it about a year ago on the same machine, the only difference being that I have upgraded to Windows 10. It is not a laptop and I did try disabling a card reader I have attached as was suggested in an earlier post.
> 
> I tried running it in compatibility mode but that hasn't worked. Any suggestions for getting DVRBars to work?


If you're using the latest version (1.0.0.6), card readers are the only thing that I've seen kill it in the manner you describe. Windows 10 shouldn't bother it.


----------



## ggieseke

chaoflux said:


> Ok I I figured it would be a great idea to backup all of my TiVo's using Dvrbars....which was, backed up 2 tivo premieres... until I ran out of space. Grabbed and old 1tb and formatted my Series 3 drive instead of my old 1tb drive......
> any chance you have a TCD652160 image.....
> 
> I'm an idiot...


PM sent.


----------



## darklyte

ggieseke said:


> If you're using the latest version (1.0.0.6), card readers are the only thing that I've seen kill it in the manner you describe. Windows 10 shouldn't bother it.


Yes its 1.006 and I've also got 1.003 from the last time I used it successfully and neither work, while 1.003 did work on this same machine with all the same hardware.

Its a PC running Windows 10 which is the only major change to hardware/software since I ran it last time previously on Windows 7.

The card reader was in the machine last time as well, its one of those multi-card readers in the 3.5" bay slot. I unplugged it from the MB but DVRB still doesn't work. I also tried disabling the antivirus just in case but not luck either.

No error message, I just try to start it and nothing happens. Do you have any other suggestions I could try to get it to work?


----------



## ggieseke

darklyte said:


> Yes its 1.006 and I've also got 1.003 from the last time I used it successfully and neither work, while 1.003 did work on this same machine with all the same hardware.
> 
> Its a PC running Windows 10 which is the only major change to hardware/software since I ran it last time previously on Windows 7.
> 
> The card reader was in the machine last time as well, its one of those multi-card readers in the 3.5" bay slot. I unplugged it from the MB but DVRB still doesn't work. I also tried disabling the antivirus just in case but not luck either.
> 
> No error message, I just try to start it and nothing happens. Do you have any other suggestions I could try to get it to work?


If you look at Disk Manager, what devices does it show? I just ran it on my Windows 10 company laptop without any problems.


----------



## baltimorebrett

I tried the dvrbars program on my dell 8900 running Windows 10-64 and it does work at all. I think it starts and then stops right away. Is there a log file? I tired a Windows7 install and it works just fine (So I can do what I need to do but figured perhaps you would like to know).


----------



## jmbach

You might have to right click on the exe file, click on properties and click unblock in the general tab.


----------



## baltimorebrett

The program is not blocked. I tried windows 7 and windows95 compatibility without any success. It does try to run the program


----------



## ggieseke

baltimorebrett said:


> I tried the dvrbars program on my dell 8900 running Windows 10-64 and it does work at all. I think it starts and then stops right away. Is there a log file? I tired a Windows7 install and it works just fine (So I can do what I need to do but figured perhaps you would like to know).


It looks like the 8900 has a 19 in 1 media card reader. Those devices have been a pain in the butt since I wrote DvrBARS because they show up as physical drives to the OS but the Windows Management Instrumentation layer crashes when you try to get any information about them. It doesn't return an error code that I could work around, it just terminates the program.

Try disabling the card reader in the BIOS settings and let me know if that solves the problem. I have tried it on at least half a dozen Windows 10 desktops and laptops without any crashes.

For anyone experiencing this particular bug, I would be interested if MFS Reformatter runs on the same computer. I rewrote the drive detection subroutine so that it uses the Setup API instead of WMI in an effort to solve the problem. You don't have to have a TiVo drive to expand, just see if you get a user interface or it crashes.


----------



## baltimorebrett

I disabled all 4 devices and now it starts up. Then I re-enabled a single device and it does not. I ran the mfs reformatter and it does startup successfully, though the screen is blank when it starts up (and tells me I don't have a the right TiVo attached).


----------



## ThAbtO

Interestingly, I have a HP laptop with a SD card reader and MSFR wasn't interfered by it.


----------



## baltimorebrett

I had run it my wife's dell (Dimension 660s). I worked yesterday, but Microsoft was kind enough to upgrade it to windows 10 overnight. Now it does not work. So it worked with windows 7, but not windows 10. I did not try to disable devices and presume that would make it work


----------



## darklyte

ggieseke said:


> If you look at Disk Manager, what devices does it show? I just ran it on my Windows 10 company laptop without any problems.


Disk manager is currently showing my primary boot drive (0) and a secondary drive that I have split in 2 (1) as active drives.

The card reader is showing up as blank disks 2-6.

And then a DVD-R drive

I did disable the card reader by unplugging it from the MB and the program still wouldn't start. I don't see a setting in my Bios to disable it that way.


----------



## ggieseke

darklyte said:


> Disk manager is currently showing my primary boot drive (0) and a secondary drive that I have split in 2 (1) as active drives.
> 
> The card reader is showing up as blank disks 2-6.
> 
> And then a DVD-R drive
> 
> I did disable the card reader by unplugging it from the MB and the program still wouldn't start. I don't see a setting in my Bios to disable it that way.


The setting is usually in the same screen with USB settings. Unplugging it from the MB probably won't help if the BIOS still thinks it's there.



baltimorebrett said:


> I disabled all 4 devices and now it starts up. Then I re-enabled a single device and it does not. I ran the mfs reformatter and it does startup successfully, though the screen is blank when it starts up (and tells me I don't have a the right TiVo attached).


Did you run it while they were enabled? If the mfsr code works I can probably port it to DvrBARS.



ThAbtO said:


> Interestingly, I have a HP laptop with a SD card reader and MSFR wasn't interfered by it.


Single slot SD card readers usually don't bother it. I'm convinced that it's a bug in the driver from one specific manufacturer of all-in-one card readers, but that's almost impossible to prove.


----------



## baltimorebrett

reading the latest post, I'm realizing I disabled the drives in the device manager. That would tell me that the crash is when you query the device and since it's disabled, then it does not exist. I would think the bios disable or unplugging would accomplish the same action


----------



## ggieseke

baltimorebrett said:


> reading the latest post, I'm realizing I disabled the drives in the device manager. That would tell me that the crash is when you query the device and since it's disabled, then it does not exist. I would think the bios disable or unplugging would accomplish the same action


I'm not sure why unplugging it from the motherboard didn't work, but thanks for the info about disabling them in Device Manager. That was going to be my next question. 

It's a lot easier than opening the case or messing around in BIOS.


----------



## baltimorebrett

Any other ideas? I'd be willing to try a few test binaries (with logging etc) if that would help.


----------



## ggieseke

baltimorebrett said:


> Any other ideas? I'd be willing to try a few test binaries (with logging etc) if that would help.


I will try to transplant the newer drive detection code from mfsr back to DvrBARS if I get some time this weekend. In the meantime, temporarily disabling the offending "disks" in Device Manager is a fairly painless workaround.


----------



## baltimorebrett

I ran dvrbars it in disabled mode and was able to restore the TiVo. The disk drive was ~5 years old. I made a copy of the original disk without any errors, but I think it was in an infinite reboot mode, so it was a dead disk. Now it's in trash & disassembled. New image is online and working.

Big debate is do I replace my drive before it dies. It's been running since January 2010, so I'm past the 5 year mark on that drive


----------



## baltimorebrett

I presume I can use dvrbars on any TiVo. My TiVo is a tivohd that I will need to clone. 1TB drive, so it's going to take a long time to copy. Does anyone know of an easy way to purge all the deleted shows? That would really shorted the copy time.


----------



## ggieseke

baltimorebrett said:


> I presume I can use dvrbars on any TiVo. My TiVo is a tivohd that I will need to clone. 1TB drive, so it's going to take a long time to copy. Does anyone know of an easy way to purge all the deleted shows? That would really shorted the copy time.


It should work fine on Series 1 through Premiere TiVos. It won't touch Roamio or Bolt models. On a Series 3, both the Truncated and Modified backup modes should ignore the deleted files, but you can always clean them out with a few clicks by using kmttg.


----------



## untfan

Anyone have an image for a TCD746320, the grandfather-in-law is stating his HDD is starting to click, figured I better bring a new HDD up just in case.

... and while I am at it can I get one for the TCD750500 as my parent's is the same vintage and rather than go looking I will just have it when needed.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

untfan said:


> Anyone have an image for a TCD746320, the grandfather-in-law is stating his HDD is starting to click, figured I better bring a new HDD up just in case.
> 
> ... and while I am at it can I get one for the TCD750500 as my parent's is the same vintage and rather than go looking I will just have it when needed.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## splintersam

I'm also looking for an image for the TCD746320 if any one has it. I've been trying to copy the image I have onto a new drive, but I can't get jmfs to recognize it as a Tivo drive. I'm running out of space on my other Tivo and time to fix it before I leave on a trip Tuesday, so for now I'm cutting my program losses and just looking for an image to start over. Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

splintersam said:


> I'm also looking for an image for the TCD746320 if any one has it. I've been trying to copy the image I have onto a new drive, but I can't get jmfs to recognize it as a Tivo drive. I'm running out of space on my other Tivo and time to fix it before I leave on a trip Tuesday, so for now I'm cutting my program losses and just looking for an image to start over. Thanks


PM sent.


----------



## splintersam

Thanks, ggieseke, your message storage has been exceeded so I couldn't reply to the PM.


----------



## darklyte

baltimorebrett said:


> reading the latest post, I'm realizing I disabled the drives in the device manager. That would tell me that the crash is when you query the device and since it's disabled, then it does not exist. I would think the bios disable or unplugging would accomplish the same action


Opening the device manager in "Disk Drives" and disabling each drive related to the multi-card reader worked.

I am now able to start DVRB without it crashing. 

Not sure why actually unplugging the device from the MB didn't work, and my bios didn't have a setting to disable, so this is an easier solution. Thanks.


----------



## Bob_Collins

I need a backup image for a TiVo TCD748000 Premiere XL. I tried to back it up using WinMFS before I realized it wouldn't work with a Premiere unit and screwed up the hard drive. Anyone know of a way to bring it back without having to restore an image to it?

Thanks in advance!


----------



## ggieseke

Bob_Collins said:


> I need a backup image for a TiVo TCD748000 Premiere XL. I tried to back it up using WinMFS before I realized it wouldn't work with a Premiere unit and screwed up the hard drive. Anyone know of a way to bring it back without having to restore an image to it?
> 
> Thanks in advance!


PM sent.


----------



## chrislandis98

I made a copy of my external hard drive using the program and have restored it but the tivo won't recognize the hard drive now


----------



## ggieseke

chrislandis98 said:


> I made a copy of my external hard drive using the program and have restored it but the tivo won't recognize the hard drive now


Did you use the Full Backup mode? That's the only way you can copy an external drive unless you mount both drives at the same time and use the Truncated or Modified backup mode.


----------



## rainbow

ggieseke said:


> DvrBARS should be able to write to anything, but it can only image drives up to 2TB. That's a limitation of the VHD file format.


not sure if this is answered elsewhere, but is there another program that could be used to upgrade to a 3T HD in premiere? (winjms maybe?).

looking to get a couple of new HDs and trying to decide if I should just go for 2TB or 1 2TB and 1 3TB. I have oled 3s and 1 premiere.

**I did see on page 91 or so on the -upgrade center- thread that the premieres can be upgraded now to 3tb/4tb using *MFSTools 3.2 * 
here is that link in case someone else has this question.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=455968&page=91


----------



## ggieseke

rainbow said:


> not sure if this is answered elsewhere, but is there another program that could be used to upgrade to a 3T HD in premiere? (winjms maybe?).
> 
> looking to get a couple of new HDs and trying to decide if I should just go for 2TB or 1 2TB and 1 3TB. I have oled 3s and 1 premiere.
> 
> **I did see on page 91 or so on the -upgrade center- thread that the premieres can be upgraded now to 3tb/4tb using *MFSTools 3.2 *
> here is that link in case someone else has this question.
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=455968&page=91


MFSTools 3.2 is probably your best bet, but there is also jmbach's 4TB Premiere thread.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=513785


----------



## J.P.M.

ggieseke,
May I trouble you for a pair of images? I have 2TB upgrades to pursue on a 652160 TiVo HD and a 658000 TiVo HD XL, each with dead or dying existing drives.
-J.P.M.


----------



## ThAbtO

J.P.M. said:


> ggieseke,
> May I trouble you for a pair of images? I have 2TB upgrades to pursue on a 652160 TiVo HD and a 658000 TiVo HD XL, each with dead or dying existing drives.
> -J.P.M.


I doubt he has any of the Series 3 images for DVRBars, but I have them for WinMFS, but they are for use under Windows. (DVRBars is Windows also.)

For which I will PM them.


----------



## J.P.M.

ThAbtO said:


> I doubt he has any of the Series 3 images for DVRBars, but I have them for WinMFS, but they are for use under Windows. (DVRBars is Windows also.)
> 
> For which I will PM them.


So great. Thank you, ThAbtO; I will gladly use WinMFS for my task.

Should anyone care to additionally share TCD652160 and/or TCD658000 images in VHD format, I would be happy to experiment with DvrBARS also.

Very cool group you guys have here! I am pleased to finally join in and take better advantage of this great resource, after years of only reading.
-J.P.M.


----------



## unitron

J.P.M. said:


> ggieseke,
> May I trouble you for a pair of images? I have 2TB upgrades to pursue on a 652160 TiVo HD and a 658000 TiVo HD XL, each with dead or dying existing drives.
> -J.P.M.


What brand and model drive were you going to use?


----------



## J.P.M.

unitron said:


> What brand and model drive were you going to use?


I am rolling with the usual, recommended, Western Digital AV-GP drives, in 2TB form. Specifically, I have the more recent WD20EURX.

The linux program "badblocks" has been chewing on those disks since early yesterday, in preparation.
-J.P.M.


----------



## unitron

J.P.M. said:


> I am rolling with the usual, recommended, Western Digital AV-GP drives, in 2TB form. Specifically, I have the more recent WD20EURX.
> 
> The linux program "badblocks" has been chewing on those disks since early yesterday, in preparation.
> -J.P.M.


You may or may not run into a problem.

I used a WD20EURX in June of last year on a 648 or 652, did it with WinMFS, and it's still working fine, but this past week I tried 2 EURXs I'd just gotten and Windows and WinMFS can't see them, and 3 others here have run into the same problem.

If you could get back to me with success or failure and all the info on the drive labels, I'd appreciate it.


----------



## J.P.M.

unitron said:


> You may or may not run into a problem.
> 
> I used a WD20EURX in June of last year on a 648 or 652, did it with WinMFS, and it's still working fine, but this past week I tried 2 EURXs I'd just gotten and Windows and WinMFS can't see them, and 3 others here have run into the same problem.
> 
> If you could get back to me with success or failure and all the info on the drive labels, I'd appreciate it.


unitron,
That's very interesting. I had an odd little experience with these to start with, where they were not recognized through my mains-powered USB/eSATA hard drive dock. They wouldn't even spin up. This, at multiple computers.

Mounted internally on either of two computers, I had no issue, and set them to torture test as mentioned. I have not returned to my dock with another 3.5" drive, to check if maybe the dock's power prick has gone tired. Or perhaps the dock has a conflict with 6Gbps desktop-sized drives, which I hadn't yet discovered.

Any chance you hit a snag similar to mine? Did you get to try your same EURX units internally? Or on a second computer?

I will keep paying attention, and indeed report back on my outcome.
-J.P.M.


----------



## unitron

J.P.M. said:


> unitron,
> That's very interesting. I had an odd little experience with these to start with, where they were not recognized through my mains-powered USB/eSATA hard drive dock. They wouldn't even spin up. This, at multiple computers.
> 
> Mounted internally on either of two computers, I had no issue, and set them to torture test as mentioned. I have not returned to my dock with another 3.5" drive, to check if maybe the dock's power prick has gone tired. Or perhaps the dock has a conflict with 6Gbps desktop-sized drives, which I hadn't yet discovered.
> 
> Any chance you hit a snag similar to mine? Did you get to try your same EURX units internally? Or on a second computer?
> 
> I will keep paying attention, and indeed report back on my outcome.
> -J.P.M.


Tried on 2 different PCs, hooked straight to one of the SATA headers on the motherboard, and one of those PCs would have been the one I used successfully on a WD20EURX (which is currently working just fine in one of my S3s) back in June of 2014.

So before these 2 go back to newegg, I'm going to write down the serial numbers and email WD and ask them what changed.

I do so love having nearly $200 tied up during the Christmas shopping season.


----------



## dougdingle

Newegg has the WD RED 6TB available for $230 until 12/29, with promo code ESCKNNT26.

Note that promo codes can only be used if you've signed up for their daily email blasts. Of course, you can then unsubscribe at any time once you've bought what you need.


----------



## ggieseke

j0hnsmith19 said:


> The hard drive on my Tivo Premiere went dead and I don't have a copy of the image. Does anybody have a pristine image of TCD746320? Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## MichaelCiv

Would anyone please be kind enough to share an image for the TCD46320? My drive died today, trying to replace asap! Thanks guys!


----------



## rbendorf

Please share a copy of the image for a TCD746320. Thanks in advance. Have a blessed holiday season! Rich


----------



## Art

My Premiere also died.. no backup.. can anyone send a 746320 image for me?

thanks in advance..


----------



## malsan

The hard drive on my TCD748000 Tivo Premiere XL just died. I did not have a backup and need an image. 

If anyone can provide one, I would appreciate it.

Thank you.


----------



## ggieseke

PMs sent to rbendorf, Art & malsan.


----------



## rbendorf

ggieseke said:


> PMs sent to rbendorf, Art & malsan.


Thanks for the support and have a happy and blessed New Year. Rich


----------



## Art

My Premiere drive is trashed, so no backup is possible. How do I use DVRBARS to install a new image on a new drive?


----------



## cmh62

ggieseke - could you PM me with the link to the 746320 image? Many thanks in advance.


----------



## conleysm

please send the link for 748000. thanks


----------



## ggieseke

PMs sent to cmh62 & conleysm.


----------



## rkrenicki

(moving this here, as it is the correct thread)

I also have a dead source drive from my Premiere TCD746320, and I was hoping to find an image for it.


----------



## ggieseke

rkrenicki said:


> (moving this here, as it is the correct thread)
> 
> I also have a dead source drive from my Premiere TCD746320, and I was hoping to find an image for it.


PM sent.


----------



## talljoe

Image needed for TDC750500. I tried to use a image for TDC746320 with reboot loop as a result. Your help in appreciated. Image needed TDC750500. Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

talljoe said:


> Image needed for TDC750500. I tried to use a image for TDC746320 with reboot loop as a result. Your help in appreciated. Image needed TDC750500. Thanks


PM sent.


----------



## dkiehl

please send the link for 748000. thanks


----------



## ggieseke

dkiehl said:


> please send the link for 748000. thanks


PM sent.


----------



## xircon

Just tried to recover my failing Premiere XL4 drive with ddrescue to a new 2TB drive. Still getting endless green screen on the new drive. Anybody have a TCD758250 image link?


----------



## ggieseke

xircon said:


> Just tried to recover my failing Premiere XL4 drive with ddrescue to a new 2TB drive. Still getting endless green screen on the new drive. Anybody have a TCD758250 image link?


PM sent.


----------



## krobx

long time lurker first time poster  my TCD746320 was giving me issues and I managed to get it a boot loop after a kickstart 57. Spent a day trying ddrescue but the loop exist on the new target drive. So after much reading I am image begging.


----------



## ggieseke

krobx said:


> long time lurker first time poster  my TCD746320 was giving me issues and I managed to get it a boot loop after a kickstart 57. Spent a day trying ddrescue but the loop exist on the new target drive. So after much reading I am image begging.


PM sent.


----------



## krobx

So after a re-image  it is necessary to do C&DE to marry. But is there a way to do this before guided setup?


----------



## unitron

krobx said:


> So after a re-image  it is necessary to do C&DE to marry. But is there a way to do this before guided setup?


That probably depends (and this may vary from model to model) on whether the image was made from a drive set to boot up into Guided Setup or not.

If you boot the TiVo with the new drive or new image on old drive, and it starts in GS, you pretty much can't go back and can't go around, you have to go through.


----------



## ggieseke

krobx said:


> So after a re-image  it is necessary to do C&DE to marry. But is there a way to do this before guided setup?


If the image is from a never-booted factory drive like my 748 image, the C&DE isn't necessary at all. My 746 image is from another member and it was already initialized.

The fastest way through the first Guided Setup is to choose zip code 00000 and Tiny TiVo for the lineup. I got that trick from nooneuknow and it speeds up the process a lot.


----------



## krobx

Thanks guys great info. I am up and running!!! Woo hoo


----------



## The Juggler

I have a TCD75825 (XL4) that was stuttering. I determined it was the drive. I was trying to clone it to a new 2TB WD Drive using ddrescue, but it's been running for 4 days now and only achieved 300GB transferred with 10,000+ errors. I assume it's taking so long because the original drive isn't reading properly?

It sounds like writing a clean TCD75825 image is a better option. Where can I find that?

Thanks,
The Juggler


----------



## ggieseke

The Juggler said:


> I have a TCD75825 (XL4) that was stuttering. I determined it was the drive. I was trying to clone it to a new 2TB WD Drive using ddrescue, but it's been running for 4 days now and only achieved 300GB transferred with 10,000+ errors. I assume it's taking so long because the original drive isn't reading properly?
> 
> It sounds like writing a clean TCD75825 image is a better option. Where can I find that?
> 
> Thanks,
> The Juggler


PM sent.


----------



## miadlor

In the rotten loop today.
I would appreciate if I could please have a clean TCD746320 image.
Thank you!


----------



## ggieseke

miadlor said:


> In the rotten loop today.
> I would appreciate if I could please have a clean TCD746320 image.
> Thank you!


PM sent.


----------



## andydumi

Can I please have a link to a clean Premiere image? 2 tuner 746320 model. THank you.


----------



## miadlor

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Thank you!


----------



## ggieseke

andydumi said:


> Can I please have a link to a clean Premiere image? 2 tuner 746320 model. THank you.


PM sent.


----------



## miadlor

So I tried a drive that I had before I go picking up a new one.
error 0x00000002, write file, came up 3/4 through the upgrade.
Any idea?


----------



## andydumi

Thank you much. Does dvrbars have issues with win10? I get a DEVICEIOCONTROL error.

Edit: Nevermind, figured it out. Unplugged other PC drive. Thank you!


----------



## miadlor

Ok, here's what has happened so far.
I was able to complete an image restore to the original hard drive which at this point is running (until I pick up a new drive).
Upon putting the drive back in I noticed on the underside of the yellow HD wire that it had a tiny burn mark. I could see copper with a magnifying glass. It seems to have been sitting on the heatsink the whole time. I did tape it up and move them as much as they could go.
All seems ok at this time.


----------



## unitron

miadlor said:


> Ok, here's what has happened so far.
> I was able to complete an image restore to the original hard drive which at this point is running (until I pick up a new drive).
> Upon putting the drive back in I noticed on the underside of the yellow HD wire that it had a tiny burn mark. I could see copper with a magnifying glass. It seems to have been sitting on the heatsink the whole time. I did tape it up and move them as much as they could go.
> All seems ok at this time.


The yellow wire is the +12V line (the red is the +5) and if the insulation was breached then there could have been some current leakage to ground preventing the hard drive itself from getting full current and making it act wonky.


----------



## jas759

Can I please have a link to a clean Premiere image? 2 tuner 746320 model.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

jas759 said:


> Can I please have a link to a clean Premiere image? 2 tuner 746320 model.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## HerronScott

Wow seems to be a large number of Premiere image requests recently. 

Scott


----------



## gespears

Hard drive failures seem to be in season.


----------



## jpierce237

So it seems that the software description is pretty old. Wondering if there's support for the Bolt and/or support to expand storage as the initial description implied might be forthcoming. A program like this would be very handy. Also, I wonder if it might not be possible to prepare a standard external drive for use via ESATA in place of the now defunct WD DVR Expander?


----------



## dougdingle

jpierce237 said:


> Also, I wonder if it might not be possible to prepare a standard external drive for use via ESATA in place of the now defunct WD DVR Expander?


While that can be done, and outfits like Weaknees (and perhaps others) are doing it commercially, it's not so easy. The allowable external drives are hard coded into the TiVo software, and so byte-level modifications would have to be made to the code on the current hard drive.

And even then, it would be difficult to modify the code for any model drive except the specific one you wished to install.

I haven't looked at this for a while, and so things may have changed, but that's how it was with every TiVo that didn't support the old Kickstart mode of adding an external drive (all the ones after the S3 OLED, I believe). I'm sure someone will speak up if I'm wrong (which would not be too unusual).


----------



## ggieseke

jpierce237 said:


> So it seems that the software description is pretty old. Wondering if there's support for the Bolt and/or support to expand storage as the initial description implied might be forthcoming. A program like this would be very handy. Also, I wonder if it might not be possible to prepare a standard external drive for use via ESATA in place of the now defunct WD DVR Expander?


I looked into updating this program back when the Roamios first came out, but the VHD file format that I use doesn't support drives over 2TB. To bring it fully up to date and add features at this point would take months, and I would rather put that effort into an entirely new program with different design criteria.

I'm sending out Premiere images like crazy these days, so it still does what I designed it to do. My next program will probably drop imaging altogether and focus on copying & expanding Premiere through Bolt models.


----------



## tvmaster2

unitron said:


> You can use the MFS Live cd or WinMFS on the 648.
> 
> My preference would be to use WinMFS.
> 
> Just remember, with either, do the image restoration, check the drive with
> 
> mfsinfo
> 
> and only then do the expansion with
> 
> mfsadd
> 
> That means not using the
> 
> -x
> 
> option when using the MFS Live cd, or saying NO when WinMFS says you have extra room and offers to expand.
> 
> Sometimes expansion doesn't work and just screws up the drive if you try to do it as part of the restore.
> 
> By itself later, running
> 
> mfsadd
> 
> I've never known it to do so.
> 
> And to use a 2TB drive in a 648, make sure you have an 11.0h or newer version of the TiVo OS on the 648 image (most recent version is 11.0m).


using winmfs, do you have a link for the process of how to backup a working, TiVo HD drive, so that image could then be transferred to a newer, larger drive?
My old TiVo HD, 652, finally got the 11.0n update, so I wanted to use this as my source.

Actually, what I'm really looking for are the complete directions for winmfs, as the .org site seems to be dead. There is an archive site, but most of the sub links are dead there as well. Is there a .pdf of the complete instructions?


----------



## mitsugsx97

ggieseke, can you please send me the link for TDC750500 image. Thank you


----------



## ggieseke

mitsugsx97 said:


> ggieseke, can you please send me the link for TDC750500 image. Thank you


PM sent.


----------



## mitsugsx97

ggieseke, Thanks a lot. It seems to be working - at least it's not stuck in the infinite reboot loop. You just saved me $400+ for a new Roamio. 
I have another request: Can you please send me the link for TCD746320. It's another TiVo Premiere with lifetime service that failed on me last year. I assumed it wasn't a hard drive issue since I was able to back it up and restore to another drive without any errors. But now I'm thinking that I should've started with a fresh image before making that assumption. Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

mitsugsx97 said:


> ggieseke, Thanks a lot. It seems to be working - at least it's not stuck in the infinite reboot loop. You just saved me $400+ for a new Roamio.
> I have another request: Can you please send me the link for TCD746320. It's another TiVo Premiere with lifetime service that failed on me last year. I assumed it wasn't a hard drive issue since I was able to back it up and restore to another drive without any errors. But now I'm thinking that I should've started with a fresh image before making that assumption. Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## djtv

As luck would have it, my model TCD746320 just died this week. I have a spare hard drive, but need the image. Would you be willing to share with me as well?

Thank you


----------



## ggieseke

djtv said:


> As luck would have it, my model TCD746320 just died this week. I have a spare hard drive, but need the image. Would you be willing to share with me as well?
> 
> Thank you


PM sent.


----------



## djtv

Thank you! I've had partial success.

Doing a full restore to a hard drive, then putting the drive in the Tivo, it goes to the Welcome screen, then the "Just a few minutes more" screen for awhile, then the screen goes dark and the TV reports "Not a supported mode". Only the green light on the Tivo is lit, no other activity noted.

Is there anything special that needs to be done to the drive before or after the restore?

I've tried using 2 drives so far, a Seagate 1 Tb, and a Hitachi 1.5 Tb with the same results. Both drives were previously used as Windows 7 OS drives, and the only thing I did to them was delete the partitions before running the software.

Appreciative of any help!


----------



## kpeters59

djtv said:


> Thank you! I've had partial success.
> 
> Doing a full restore to a hard drive, then putting the drive in the Tivo, it goes to the Welcome screen, then the "Just a few minutes more" screen for awhile, then the screen goes dark and the TV reports "Not a supported mode". Only the green light on the Tivo is lit, no other activity noted.
> 
> Is there anything special that needs to be done to the drive before or after the restore?
> 
> I've tried using 2 drives so far, a Seagate 1 Tb, and a Hitachi 1.5 Tb with the same results. Both drives were previously used as Windows 7 OS drives, and the only thing I did to them was delete the partitions before running the software.
> 
> Appreciative of any help!


That sounds like maybe it worked, just TiVo is coming up in a resolution that your display (TV/Monitor) doesn't support.

Try changing it with the ^ (up arrow) button?

Is there audio? TiVo sounds? Try tuning to a channel (even though you can't see video)?

-KP


----------



## djtv

kpeters59 said:


> That sounds like maybe it worked, just TiVo is coming up in a resolution that your display (TV/Monitor) doesn't support.
> 
> Try changing it with the ^ (up arrow) button?
> 
> Is there audio? TiVo sounds? Try tuning to a channel (even though you can't see video)?
> 
> -KP


Hi KP,
No audio at all, button presses do nothing except make the yellow light blink (no key press audio), no Tivo musical intro, no change when trying to change channels, up arrow doesn't change anything.


----------



## unitron

djtv said:


> Thank you! I've had partial success.
> 
> Doing a full restore to a hard drive, then putting the drive in the Tivo, it goes to the Welcome screen, then the "Just a few minutes more" screen for awhile, then the screen goes dark and the TV reports "Not a supported mode". Only the green light on the Tivo is lit, no other activity noted.
> 
> Is there anything special that needs to be done to the drive before or after the restore?
> 
> I've tried using 2 drives so far, a Seagate 1 Tb, and a Hitachi 1.5 Tb with the same results. Both drives were previously used as Windows 7 OS drives, and the only thing I did to them was delete the partitions before running the software.
> 
> Appreciative of any help!


Don't use HDMI when making any changes.

Use composite or component video and make sure everything else is working right, and only then take a chance on HDMI.


----------



## djtv

unitron said:


> Use composite or component video and make sure everything else is working right, and only then take a chance on HDMI.


Excellent suggestion!

Worked fine with the A/V jacks. Currently going through the clear and delete process.

Thank you!


----------



## dmw-01

I'm a little lost on where/who you ask for an image. Looks like my drive failed and I have a WD Red 3TB drive handy (backup for a NAS that hasn't needed it yet) so I thought that I'd try putting in a new drive first and I'd rather not pay a huge premium for one already formatted.
Thanks


----------



## dougdingle

dmw-01 said:


> I'm a little lost on where/who you ask for an image. Looks like my drive failed and I have a WD Red 3TB drive handy (backup for a NAS that hasn't needed it yet) so I thought that I'd try putting in a new drive first and I'd rather not pay a huge premium for one already formatted.
> Thanks


You ask right here, starting with the model of the TiVo in question.


----------



## ggieseke

dmw-01 said:


> I'm a little lost on where/who you ask for an image. Looks like my drive failed and I have a WD Red 3TB drive handy (backup for a NAS that hasn't needed it yet) so I thought that I'd try putting in a new drive first and I'd rather not pay a huge premium for one already formatted.
> Thanks


PM sent. Once you restore the image you can use MFSTools 3.2 to expand it.


----------



## salcpr57

I have TCD746320 that has hard drive going bad. I bought a replacement drive, but now I need a image file for it. Would someone please share one?


----------



## BillyKaos

The drive in my TCD758250 went belly up. Looking for the image. Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

salcpr57 said:


> I have TCD746320 that has hard drive going bad. I bought a replacement drive, but now I need a image file for it. Would someone please share one?





BillyKaos said:


> The drive in my TCD758250 went belly up. Looking for the image. Thanks in advance.


PMs sent.


----------



## rbstuartjr

It seems my hard drive in my Premiere 746320 went bad as well. Could I get a an image for mine as well? Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

rbstuartjr said:


> It seems my hard drive in my Premiere 746320 went bad as well. Could I get a an image for mine as well? Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## dougdingle

I am looking for a disk cloning utility that works under OSX to help me make a disk-to-disk clone of my Roamio drive.

I am currently in a situation where I have to use a Thunderbolt I/O device to get a couple of eSATA ports going (no Windows machine available), and the TB I/O device only works under OSX. 

I plug my eSATA dual dock into it, and it works fine, but now I need software to do the clone, and have not been able to find any. There's plenty of utilities that will clone the OSX partition from the boot drive, but I haven't been able to find anything that will clone an external dock with a TiVo drive in it.

When I had access to an extra Windows machine, I used Rawcopy to do the clone, and that worked just great. I need the equivalent for OSX. Anyone?


----------



## dougdingle

Replying to my own post...

So jmbach convinced me to try using my cloning dual dock instead of going through a full OS, and it's almost 3/4 done, so we'll soon see if the resulting clone boots and works.

I would be real pleased if it did, since it takes 17 hours to do a 3TB copy using RawCopy on my old machine, and it looks like it's going to take just 6 hours on the cloning dock.

Those things make me slightly nervous for some reason, even if I'm very careful about which disk is the source and which one is the destination. My paranoia makes me think it might do something harmful to the source drive, although why that would be so I can't say.

For those interested, it's the 'Mediasonic HUR2-SU3 2 3.5" USB 3.0 UASP ProBox dualbay docking station', which they claim can handle drive sizes to 8 TB and is available from Newegg.


----------



## plexplug

The amount of failures for the 746320 seems to be ever increasing. ggieseke could you send me a link for the 746320?

I tried a recovery of the original but all it does is make the whir whir whir ca-clunk sound. Many many thanks for your awesome work!


----------



## ggieseke

plexplug said:


> The amount of failures for the 746320 seems to be ever increasing. ggieseke could you send me a link for the 746320?
> 
> I tried a recovery of the original but all it does is make the whir whir whir ca-clunk sound. Many many thanks for your awesome work!


PM sent.


----------



## wood252ota

I've asked this in a different thread, but maybe someone here has an idea. I did a backup and restore using dvrbars. Everything seems to work except the "search by title" function. It doesn't find programs that are in the guide. The only I can think of is to get a image from ggieseke and try again. The image I used was from my other working Premiere. If I do have to redo it, should I zero out the drive to make sure the old image is gone ?
Thanks for the help.


----------



## ggieseke

wood252ota said:


> I've asked this in a different thread, but maybe someone here has an idea. I did a backup and restore using dvrbars. Everything seems to work except the "search by title" function. It doesn't find programs that are in the guide. The only I can think of is to get a image from ggieseke and try again. The image I used was from my other working Premiere. If I do have to redo it, should I zero out the drive to make sure the old image is gone ?
> Thanks for the help.


DvrBARS won't overwrite a drive that Windows recognizes and assigns a drive letter, but other than that you shouldn't need to zero it first. If you are restoring the image you made to a different TiVo, a lot more than "search by title" will be broken until you run a Clear & Delete Everything. The TSN will be all zeros and it won't record or play back at all.


----------



## wood252ota

ggieseke,
I restored the image and did do a Clear and Delete Everything. I thought I was home free because everything was working until I tried the Search by Title and discovered it is mostly working. Do you think when I did the restore I should have used the zero out unused areas option ? Thanks for the help


----------



## ggieseke

wood252ota said:


> ggieseke,
> I restored the image and did do a Clear and Delete Everything. I thought I was home free because everything was working until I tried the Search by Title and discovered it is mostly working. Do you think when I did the restore I should have used the zero out unused areas option ? Thanks for the help


Nah, the unused portions of the drive are just that (unused) until it writes something meaningful to them. The sectors that DvrBARS overwrites during a restore are the only ones that matter, and if it didn't have any errors during that process they should be fine.

I suspect that it's still just rebuilding the guide data and indexing it. Left to its own devices a TiVo can take up to 3 days to become fully functional. You can push that down to about 5 hours by watching it do its thing and forcing more daily calls as soon as it's done processing the last batch of data, but that's about as quick as I have seen a complete rebuild work.

I always test the crap out of any drive (new or used) by doing a full write zeros test followed by a full read test, but it doesn't sound like a bad restore to me if Search By Title after running a full C&DE is the only thing that isn't working.

Give it time. If that doesn't work, post the model number and I will send you a clean image.


----------



## dragon22

Hi, my Tivo Premiere XL model 748000 hard drive just died. Could you please send me the image for it? Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

dragon22 said:


> Hi, my Tivo Premiere XL model 748000 hard drive just died. Could you please send me the image for it? Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## phr0z3n

Might I trouble you for a link to the image for the premiere TCD746320 my hard drive failed 2 days ago. Thank you in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

phr0z3n said:


> Might I trouble you for a link to the image for the premiere TCD746320 my hard drive failed 2 days ago. Thank you in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## phermone3

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Can I please get the TCD746320 image as well


----------



## ggieseke

phermone3 said:


> Can I please get the TCD746320 image as well


PM sent.


----------



## dragon22

Thanks for the link to the image. I just received a 2TB WD20EURX drive and restored the image to the drive with dvrbars. I then used jmfs to expand and supersize it. However, the drive will not boot in my Premiere XL Tivo. All the lights just stay on for a while and then blink a few times. After that, nothing. Can you tell me if I am missing any steps? Thanks.


----------



## jmbach

Need to turn off puis using hdat2. See this thread.


----------



## dragon22

Thanks jmbach! I used HDAT2 to disable PUIS and did the image restore and expand again. Now I get to the Welcome Start Up screen but no further. I tried again using just the image itself but still got stuck on the startup screen. I'm about ready to give up and just order a drive from Weakness.


----------



## jmbach

What image are you using?


----------



## jmbach

Boot the drive in the TiVo before you expand. Also make sure you do a thorough disk diagnostic on the drive make sure no bad spots. Quality control is not what it used to be.


----------



## dragon22

I ran a full diagnostic on the drive and found no errors. I'm currently running a full erase on the drive and will try to restore the 748000 image again and attempt to boot it.


----------



## lpwcomp

dragon22 said:


> I ran a full diagnostic on the drive and found no errors. I'm currently running a full erase on the drive and will try to restore the 748000 image again and attempt to boot it.


How is it attached to the computer?


----------



## back2future

I tried to scan this thread to see if this has been posted before but haven't found it yet. Apologies if it has been answered.

My basic issue is that when using the DvrBARS tool, I can't seem to get a good backup and restore of the current version of the SW in the TiVo. I am able to successfully restore an image made about 2 years ago. Any idea why the newer backups can't be restored successfully?

Long story:

I have a Tivo Premiere XL TCD748000 that's been very reliable for the last 6 years. Now my Tivo is showing signs the HD might be about to die. Freezing during playback, and last night a total hang.

In Mar of 2013 I thought the drive might be dying so I bought a Weaknees replacement drive preinstalled with the TiVo SW. I used DvrBARS to make a backup of that drive. After testing the original Tivo drive, and not finding problems, I continued to use the original disk until now. I kept the WK drive (DrvA) uninstalled. At that time I also kept a second drive (DrvB) which contained the same version as my active drive.

Now, after freezes and a hang, I attempted to make a backup of the TiVo drive as it was yesterday. The backup seemed successful but when I restored it to a new drive it did not boot. The TiVo is stuck at 'Welcome, Starting up.

I installed the backup of my original drive (DrvB) in my tivo which booted and was updated to the current Tivo version. When I took a backup of this and restored it to the 'new' drive, it would not boot, stuck at Welcome....

I restored the Weakknees image to the same drive and it booted just fine and when through the Guided setup and update to the latest version.


----------



## ggieseke

back2future said:


> I tried to scan this thread to see if this has been posted before but haven't found it yet. Apologies if it has been answered.
> 
> My basic issue is that when using the DvrBARS tool, I can't seem to get a good backup and restore of the current version of the SW in the TiVo. I am able to successfully restore an image made about 2 years ago. Any idea why the newer backups can't be restored successfully?
> 
> Long story:
> 
> I have a Tivo Premiere XL TCD748000 that's been very reliable for the last 6 years. Now my Tivo is showing signs the HD might be about to die. Freezing during playback, and last night a total hang.
> 
> In Mar of 2013 I thought the drive might be dying so I bought a Weaknees replacement drive preinstalled with the TiVo SW. I used DvrBARS to make a backup of that drive. After testing the original Tivo drive, and not finding problems, I continued to use the original disk until now. I kept the WK drive (DrvA) uninstalled. At that time I also kept a second drive (DrvB) which contained the same version as my active drive.
> 
> Now, after freezes and a hang, I attempted to make a backup of the TiVo drive as it was yesterday. The backup seemed successful but when I restored it to a new drive it did not boot. The TiVo is stuck at 'Welcome, Starting up.
> 
> I installed the backup of my original drive (DrvB) in my tivo which booted and was updated to the current Tivo version. When I took a backup of this and restored it to the 'new' drive, it would not boot, stuck at Welcome....
> 
> I restored the Weakknees image to the same drive and it booted just fine and when through the Guided setup and update to the latest version.


Have you checked the PUIS (Power Up In Standby) setting on the new drive? You can use HDAT2 on the Ultimate Boot CD to inspect or change it.

Can you cold boot the XL now that it has updated to the latest version?

I don't have a Premiere anymore, so I'm just guessing...


----------



## dragon22

After attempting various scenerios of installing the TCD748000 image on the new hard drive and having no success I ordered a drive from Weakness. The image just refused to boot up no matter what I tried. The PUIS was disabled with HDAT2 and I tried booting with just the image itself installed by dvrbars and also with the explanded option with jmfs. I also erased the drive and tried the same things again without success. All operations were performed with the drive connected directly to the motherboard with a SATA cable. HDAT2 did not work after erasing the drive so I couldn't verify if the PUIS was still disabled.
After I install the drive from Weakness I will attempt to copy it to the problem drive and see if that works.


----------



## dougdingle

Anyone using these? Opinions?

Newegg has the 6TB version on sale for $200 until April 5th with coupon code ESCEHHF26. Codes are only usable by those who have signed up for their daily email blasts.


----------



## back2future

ggieseke, Thanks for the quick reply.


ggieseke said:


> Have you checked the PUIS (Power Up In Standby) setting on the new drive? You can use HDAT2 on the Ultimate Boot CD to inspect or change it.


I will check this out.


ggieseke said:


> Can you cold boot the XL now that it has updated to the latest version?


Yes, Once the drive is updated, it will boot and look good. All functions work.

I just reran some of my backup and restore processes. I'm not sure where the problems were but the backup and restores are working better today. I was more meticulous about mounting and unmounting the drives to make sure they were recognized correctly.

Today, I also got a very interesting result.

When I started this, I took a full backup of my Original Tivo disk which is 86% full of recordings. I restored this to the drive that was the WK disk. This was the first restore that would not boot.

Later I restored the WK image to the same disk and allowed the updates to occur. This booted and worked (no recordings, as expected). I then Backed it up and restored it to another drive. This too, booted and worked.

Today, I again restored my first full backup to the same disk but used Quick Restore. (to see if my Original backup would boot.) It did boot and I expected the recordings to be listed but not playable, but I'm finding the recording are listed and THEY WILL PLAY. I did not expect them to play.

Apparently the first full restore put them on the disk and the later Quick Restore fixed what was preventing the disk from booting.

So, now my question is: Given that I restored a truncated Weakknees image to this disk, then restored the Original Tivo to this same disk. How confident can I be that the disk is fully built correctly?

Is there a test I can run to verify the disk structure? I have found that some of the recordings can't be accessed.


----------



## ggieseke

back2future said:


> ggieseke, Thanks for the quick reply.
> 
> I will check this out.
> 
> Yes, Once the drive is updated, it will boot and look good. All functions work.
> 
> I just reran some of my backup and restore processes. I'm not sure where the problems were but the backup and restores are working better today. I was more meticulous about mounting and unmounting the drives to make sure they were recognized correctly.
> 
> Today, I also got a very interesting result.
> 
> When I started this, I took a full backup of my Original Tivo disk which is 86% full of recordings. I restored this to the drive that was the WK disk. This was the first restore that would not boot.
> 
> Later I restored the WK image to the same disk and allowed the updates to occur. This booted and worked (no recordings, as expected). I then Backed it up and restored it to another drive. This too, booted and worked.
> 
> Today, I again restored my first full backup to the same disk but used Quick Restore. (to see if my Original backup would boot.) It did boot and I expected the recordings to be listed but not playable, but I'm finding the recording are listed and THEY WILL PLAY. I did not expect them to play.
> 
> Apparently the first full restore put them on the disk and the later Quick Restore fixed what was preventing the disk from booting.
> 
> So, now my question is: Given that I restored a truncated Weakknees image to this disk, then restored the Original Tivo to this same disk. How confident can I be that the disk is fully built correctly?
> 
> Is there a test I can run to verify the disk structure? I have found that some of the recordings can't be accessed.


I wouldn't count too much on the recordings depending on the backup method you used, but unless it gave an error message during the restore all of the critical structures should be intact.

A lot depends on the original backup. Due to changes in the file system after I wrote it, Truncated backups behave almost the same as Modified Full backups and don't exclude all of the recordings. That makes it nearly impossible to make a truly truncated back that's only about 2.5GB unless you run Clear & Delete All on the TiVo before making the truncated backup.

No matter what backup method was used, Quick Restore writes every sector that the backup included. Full Restore mode will also zero out any sectors that weren't backed up originally but it takes forever.

You can run a "kickstart" 57 or 58 on the TiVo to check the MFS file system. It takes several hours and doesn't give any feedback, so do it when you don't have anything scheduled to record.

https://www.weaknees.com/tivo-kickstart-codes.php

Technical crap follows - feel free to skip it.

Full backups copy every sector on the original drive. Modified Full backups copy every sector that the TiVo considers to be in use based on the MFS inodes and some other stuff. Truncated backups are supposed to go back through the Modified Full list of sectors and remove the actual recordings, but as noted earlier that feature doesn't work very well these days.


----------



## vacaloca

phermone3 said:


> Can I please get the TCD746320 image as well


Tivo HD died and I'm also in need of the image for TCD746320. Would appreciate a PM


----------



## ggieseke

vacaloca said:


> Tivo HD died and I'm also in need of the image for TCD746320. Would appreciate a PM


PM sent.


----------



## johnT3

Would appreciate a link for the TCD746320. Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

johnT3 said:


> Would appreciate a link for the TCD746320. Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## johnT3

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


My TiVo and I thank you!


----------



## jeepinsox

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Would you mind sending me the image for a TCD746320? Thanks :up:


----------



## ggieseke

jeepinsox said:


> Would you mind sending me the image for a TCD746320? Thanks :up:


PM sent.


----------



## aersloat

Would you mind directing me towards an image for a TCD746320? TIA


----------



## ggieseke

aersloat said:


> Would you mind directing me towards an image for a TCD746320? TIA


PM sent.


----------



## jeepinsox

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


It's alive!!! Thanks man! :up: that was way too easy


----------



## dougdingle

Newegg is having a sale on the 3TB WD30EFRX Red drives for the next two days or so - $195 for a pair of them. Nice drives - cool and quiet.

I use three of them and rotate them through my Roamio every ninety days or so, using a Mediasonic cloning dock to make the copies. Roughly seven hours to make a perfect clone of a 3TB drive.

What I'd *really *like is a way to upgrade to a 6TB drive while keeping my shows intact, but unless I've missed something, development in that area is not happening.


----------



## ggieseke

dougdingle said:


> What I'd *really *like is a way to upgrade to a 6TB drive while keeping my shows intact, but unless I've missed something, development in that area is not happening.


I'm working on it, but don't expect a finished solution until mid summer at the earliest.


----------



## dougdingle

Great! Consider me a willing lab rat to test anything you come up with.


----------



## suzook

Need image for TCD746320 please. Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

suzook said:


> Need image for TCD746320 please. Thanks


PM sent.


----------



## suzook

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


I am back up!!! Thank you so much!!!!


----------



## yoheidiho

I also need na image for TCD746320. Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

yoheidiho said:


> I also need na image for TCD746320. Thanks


PM sent.


----------



## rmcclurg1

Would a TCD746320 image work on a TCD750500, or would I need one specific to that one? If the answer is NO, would you have an image for a TCD 750500? Thanks your efforts are appreciated.


----------



## jmbach

What size drive are you going to use in the unit


----------



## rmcclurg1

jmbach said:


> What size drive are you going to use in the unit


I have a 500Gb available so I'll probably use that for the moment.


----------



## ggieseke

rmcclurg1 said:


> Would a TCD746320 image work on a TCD750500, or would I need one specific to that one? If the answer is NO, would you have an image for a TCD 750500? Thanks your efforts are appreciated.


I have a clean TCD750500 image. PM sent.


----------



## rmcclurg1

ggieseke said:


> I have a clean TCD750500 image. PM sent.


Thanks for the image.


----------



## fisherj7

aersloat said:


> Would you mind directing me towards an image for a TCD746320? TIA


I have a dead HD on a TiVo Premiere (TCD746320) that I am replacing with a 1TB WD10EURS drive. What do I need for formatting the 1TB drive on this unit? Can it be done in a one-step process? Is it complicated? Do you just copy the image to the drive and reinstall?

In an earlier post I believe someone suggested using the image of a 748 that supports 1TB. Since my previous drive was also a 1TB, would that work? This is my first time attempting this type of action so I need some guidance/assurance!

Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

fisherj7 said:


> I have a dead HD on a TiVo Premiere (TCD746320) that I am replacing with a 1TB WD10EURS drive. What do I need for formatting the 1TB drive on this unit? Can it be done in a one-step process? Is it complicated? Do you just copy the image to the drive and reinstall?
> 
> In an earlier post I believe someone suggested using the image of a 748 that supports 1TB. Since my previous drive was also a 1TB, would that work? This is my first time attempting this type of action so I need some guidance/assurance!
> 
> Thanks!


Premieres are pretty forgiving about using other S4 images as long as it has to go through an update to the latest OS anyway. They will detect the hardware and download the correct software for that model, so in your case you could probably get by with my factory 748 image. I ran my 748 on a 2TB drive using the image from a 758250 Elite for several months without any problems.

I would still recommend using the correct image for your model and expanding it to 1TB with jmfs, or copying an interim 320GB drive to the WD10 with MFS Tools 3.2. I don't have any long-term evidence either way to show whether a FrankenPremiere will play nice or end up with angry villagers and torches.

Let me know what image you want to try and I will send you a PM.


----------



## fisherj7

ggieseke said:


> Premieres are pretty forgiving about using other S4 images as long as it has to go through an update to the latest OS anyway. They will detect the hardware and download the correct software for that model, so in your case you could probably get by with my factory 748 image. I ran my 748 on a 2TB drive using the image from a 758250 Elite for several months without any problems.
> 
> I would still recommend using the correct image for your model and expanding it to 1TB with jmfs, or copying an interim 320GB drive to the WD10 with MFS Tools 3.2. I don't have any long-term evidence either way to show whether a FrankenPremiere will play nice or end up with angry villagers and torches.
> 
> Let me know what image you want to try and I will send you a PM.


Maybe PM both 748 and 746 images. I have a tech guy coming in an hour or so and maybe he can help me decide. Does the PM contain a link or an attached file? Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

fisherj7 said:


> Maybe PM both 748 and 746 images. I have a tech guy coming in an hour or so and maybe he can help me decide. Does the PM contain a link or an attached file? Thanks!


PM sent. It contains links.


----------



## fisherj7

ggieseke said:


> PM sent. It contains links.


Do I just copy the image to the new drive? And if I use the 746 image, how do I get the jmfs to expand the drive settings to 1TB capacity?


----------



## ThAbtO

You use DVRBars for restoring the image to a drive of at least the size of the original (the last 3 of 6 digits of the TCD Tivo model # in Gb)


----------



## ggieseke

fisherj7 said:


> Do I just copy the image to the new drive? And if I use the 746 image, how do I get the jmfs to expand the drive settings to 1TB capacity?


Use DvrBARS to restore the image. The first post in this thread contains instructions and a link to download the program.

jmfs has its own thread.
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=455968


----------



## davmoo

As many others in this thread have done before me, I need to humbly bow my head in prayer and ask for a TCD746320 image. I made a backup when I first got the thing, but now that I need it, of course its nowhere to be found. Funny how CDs do that


----------



## ggieseke

davmoo said:


> As many others in this thread have done before me, I need to humbly bow my head in prayer and ask for a TCD746320 image. I made a backup when I first got the thing, but now that I need it, of course its nowhere to be found. Funny how CDs do that


PM sent.


----------



## jhill1977

Well, this is my first attempt trying to run DVRBars, and I'm getting the same error on 3 different machines.

0x00000005 CreateFile

I've tried t different USB to SATA adapters, as well as a desktop internal SATA connection. All units are running Win7 Pro x64, and YES I did run from a user with ADMIN privileges. Any ideas ???


----------



## jmbach

Sometimes you still have to right click and select run as administrator even if you run it as a user with Admin privileges.


----------



## jhill1977

jmbach said:


> Sometimes you still have to right click and select run as administrator even if you run it as a user with Admin privileges.


I am getting the same error when right clicking and running as an admin. Very frustrating...


----------



## jmbach

I think that error is a write protect error. What function are you using for DvrBARS. Backup or restore.


----------



## jhill1977

jmbach said:


> I think that error is a write protect error. What function are you using for DvrBARS. Backup or restore.


I can't ever open the application...I just get the 0x00000005 error and the program exits.


----------



## lpwcomp

jhill1977 said:


> I can't ever open the application...I just get the 0x00000005 error and the program exits.


Where is it installed?


----------



## jmbach

Yes and consider turning off Antivirus software


----------



## ggieseke

jhill1977 said:


> I can't ever open the application...I just get the 0x00000005 error and the program exits.


Error 5 is a really generic "access denied" error, and doesn't give me much to go on. As long as you're a member of the Administrators group it should self-elevate to the necessary rights. At most you might see a UAC prompt asking for permission.

During the initial startup it's only asking for read-only rights to access the drives on a physical level, so I'd look for something like a third party driver that's not playing nice.

What hardware, operating system, etc are you running?


----------



## gsol

Apologies if this has already been addressed, but will dvrbars work on Bolt hard drive upgrades?


----------



## jhill1977

ggieseke said:


> Error 5 is a really generic "access denied" error, and doesn't give me much to go on. As long as you're a member of the Administrators group it should self-elevate to the necessary rights. At most you might see a UAC prompt asking for permission.
> 
> During the initial startup it's only asking for read-only rights to access the drives on a physical level, so I'd look for something like a third party driver that's not playing nice.
> 
> What hardware, operating system, etc are you running?


Well, after a little messing around, I was able to get DVRBars up an running. Quick question though. Am I able to restore an image to a drive size different than the source.

For example, can I restore an XL4 TCD758250 image to a 1TB drive, and have the DVR see 150 hours of space? Or would I be better off restoring an TCD748000 Premiere XL image to a 1TB drive, drop it in the XL4 and "choose a clear and delete"?

Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

jhill1977 said:


> Well, after a little messing around, I was able to get DVRBars up an running. Quick question though. Am I able to restore an image to a drive size different than the source.
> 
> For example, can I restore an XL4 TCD758250 image to a 1TB drive, and have the DVR see 150 hours of space? Or would I be better off restoring an TCD748000 Premiere XL image to a 1TB drive, drop it in the XL4 and "choose a clear and delete"?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


The drive has to be at least as big as the one the source image was taken from. If it's bigger, you can use jmfs to expand into the additional space.

The 758 image requires a 2TB drive. The 748 image will fit on a 1TB drive and will PROBABLY work fine on an XL4 once the software updates (I've done the exact opposite), but you're better off using the correct image for your model.

You can usually skip C&DE with either of those 2 images because they were taken from never-booted factory drives.


----------



## ciscokid516

Thank you for the image, will try this tonight. Apparently, I lost my remote sometime during my move, had to buy another one from Weaknees. Will pop the new hard drive in once I receive the new remote and report back.


----------



## MightyBlackAnt

Can you please send me an image for TCD746320? Many thanks in advance


----------



## ggieseke

MightyBlackAnt said:


> Can you please send me an image for TCD746320? Many thanks in advance


PM sent.


----------



## bignate612

Could you send me a link to the TCD746320 image? Many thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

bignate612 said:


> Could you send me a link to the TCD746320 image? Many thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## hoss

Thanks to ggieseke for his awesome tool and image.

I am still having issues figuring out / getting the entire process to work.

I have a Premiere with the 320gig drive originally. I purchased a 1TB Western Digital Green drive.

I originally followed some instructions using a Linux / Ubuntu Live image and using DD to copy the 320gig onto the 1TB drive. I put the drive in the TiVO and it was doing a strange boot loop.. Starting Up Screen and then the few more minutes screen over and over.

Then I got the image from ggieseke and used DVRbars to restore that clean image onto the drive. I figured great this has to work.. so I put that in the TiVo and was stuck at a looping Starting Up Screen this time.

I found winMFS and verified that when I select the WD 1TB drive it shows as TiVO format... but it won't boot.

What steps am I missing?

Does restoring a drive using DVRbars take care of the formatting automatically? Should I wipe it in Windows and format to like FAT32 again and use DVRbars to restore or should I be using the JMFS tools to format before using DVRbars? Do I expand after the restore?


----------



## jmbach

Check the PUIS mode of the drive. For TiVo it needs to be disabled. Some of the newer drives seem to have that enabled.


----------



## hoss

jmbach said:


> Check the PUIS mode of the drive. For TiVo it needs to be disabled. Some of the newer drives seem to have that enabled.


Is that done with:

hdparm -S 0 /dev/sda (Looks like this is a mfstools util?

or

wdidle3.exe /R (Looks like a WD Util that runs in Windows)


----------



## jmbach

I use HDAT2


----------



## ThAbtO

hoss said:


> wdidle3.exe /R (Looks like a WD Util that runs in Windows)


This is a utility that runs in a command line environment such as DOS and it only affects Western Digital drives and the Intellipark feature.


----------



## hoss

jmbach said:


> I use HDAT2


Using HDAT2 I have confirmed that the feature is turned off.

Any next steps for troubleshooting?

Is there a step by step wiki or thread here to do this from end to end?


----------



## ggieseke

I would check the Intellipark settings with wdidle3, and the SATA cable in the Premiere. If it doesn't get to the "few minutes more" screen it isn't seeing the drive.

You shouldn't have to format the drive, and if you format it with Windows DvrBARS will refuse to overwrite it. You could zero it with the WD diagnostics if you think there could be something on it that's preventing the TiVo from booting.


----------



## hoss

ggieseke said:


> I would check the Intellipark settings with wdidle3, and the SATA cable in the Premiere. If it doesn't get to the "few minutes more" screen it isn't seeing the drive.
> 
> You shouldn't have to format the drive, and if you format it with Windows DvrBARS will refuse to overwrite it. You could zero it with the WD diagnostics if you think there could be something on it that's preventing the TiVo from booting.


wdidle3 worked. Sweet. Then used JMFS to expand / supersize the drive. Did a clear and reset and went through guided setup and we are great.

Thanks!


----------



## hoss

Hmmm one last issue.

I have the TiVo up and running and getting Live TV and everything seems great. I am noticing that the video goes out periodically and the TV is showing that the HDMI input went out and is reconnecting.

I swapped the HDMI cable just to eliminate it being a faulty HDMI cable, but it's still occurring. It's sporadic.

This TiVo wasn't doing this before.. could this be something related to the HD? Or is something on the motherboard starting to fail?


----------



## jmbach

Could be. Might try other HDMI ports on the TV or just another TV. 

Also make sure the TiVo updates to the latest OS.


----------



## ggieseke

The TV may be adjusting to different resolutions for local commercials or when you change channels. Try unchecking all of the output resolutions on the TiVo except one, like 1080i.


----------



## 5bar

May I please get an image for a TCD746320?


----------



## ggieseke

5bar said:


> May I please get an image for a TCD746320?


PM sent.


----------



## noza

This software is a life-saver, thanks so much. My drive completely died; makes 3 half-hearted attempts to spin up and then quits, so it's time to just replace it completely. 

Can I get a link for a TCD746320 image, please?


----------



## ggieseke

noza said:


> This software is a life-saver, thanks so much. My drive completely died; makes 3 half-hearted attempts to spin up and then quits, so it's time to just replace it completely.
> 
> Can I get a link for a TCD746320 image, please?


PM sent.


----------



## Hickoryw

Ok, I guess I need help. Thought I'd done my research and was ready, but not sure what I'm missing...

I have a Premiere 746320 with origional HDD that I'm trying to upgrade to a new wd red 1Tb (wd 10efrx). I did a clear and delete everything on the original drive so that now when booted it loads to the usa or canada option at the beginning of guided setup. I used DvrBARS to make backups of the original drive (first tried truncated, then modified, haven't done full). I,ve tried quick and full restore of the truncated backup and quick restore of the modified backup and no joy. All I get is the powering up screen over and over.

I did run the wd data lifeguard on the new wd red and it passed both quick and extended tests. Interestingly the original 320Gb from the Premiere fails these tests saying that there is a read element failure (error 7) which is the same thing that happens when I do a kickstart 54. Even though the drive seems to work fine in the tivo, could this be causing me to get bad backups?

Assuming I get this sorted the plan is to then expand (and supersize?) using jmfs 105. I gather that's the correct procedure?

Any help/insight is greatly appreciated.


----------



## jmbach

I would use MFSTools 3.2 to copy and expand the drive. Might give you more information on what is happening when the drive is copied. It is only a one line command to get the job done. 
For the red drives, there is a WD utility that changes the wdidle3 time to 5 minutes. You can down load it from the Web site if your drive requires the modification.


----------



## ggieseke

The WD tool for Red drives is called wd5741. They normally come in preset to 5 minutes, but my first 4TB Red was set to 8 seconds.


----------



## Hickoryw

Well, it looks like the problem is the source drive... just tried MFSTools 3.2 and ended up with a bunch of I/O errors from the original tivo drive shortly before it seems it was about to finish. Odd that it still works in the Tivo with no problems. Must be in a currently unused area or something. Probably why DvrBARS didn't work I assume too.

So anyway I guess I could use that 746320 image as well...

Also wanted to specifically thank both of you (ggieseke and jmbach) for all of your work on these tools and help to the community.


----------



## Hickoryw

Tried wd5741 just to be sure and when run it said it wasn't needed on my drive.


----------



## jmbach

If you get the image from ggieseke, it may have to be updated before it will boot on a 4TB drive. My suggestion would be to use DvrBARS to put the image on any good drive that is less than or equal to 2TB and boot it in the TiVo. Force a few connects to the TiVo servers to get it to download and install the update. Once the image is updated, use MFSTools 3.2 to copy and expand the image to the 4TB drive. The JMFS method will only add 2TB of recording space to the original image. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## jmbach

Did you run WD diagnostic on the drive and did it have any errors?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Hickoryw

My new drive is only 1 Tb...

Ran wd data lifeduard on both. The new drive passed both quick and extended, while the 320 Gb original tivo drive passed the quick test the first time then failed to complete the extended test saying it had a read element error. Then i reran the quick test a second time and it failed with the same error as the extended test. Not sure which drive you were asking about, but the new one seems fine.


----------



## jmbach

Was inquiring about the original one. 

With a 1TB drive, you should not have a problem with any method of expansion.


----------



## ggieseke

Hickoryw said:


> Well, it looks like the problem is the source drive... just tried MFSTools 3.2 and ended up with a bunch of I/O errors from the original tivo drive shortly before it seems it was about to finish. Odd that it still works in the Tivo with no problems. Must be in a currently unused area or something. Probably why DvrBARS didn't work I assume too.
> 
> So anyway I guess I could use that 746320 image as well...
> 
> Also wanted to specifically thank both of you (ggieseke and jmbach) for all of your work on these tools and help to the community.


PM sent.


----------



## Hickoryw

That did the trick! Thank you so much... this will make a great house warming gift for my friend now and allow him to stop paying comcast/xfinity for their terrible X1.

Thanks again


----------



## irepoder

I am unable to open DVR BARS on my windows 10 computer. I have used it before on windows 7 before the upgrade. Tried compatability mode, but no help.


----------



## ggieseke

irepoder said:


> I am unable to open DVR BARS on my windows 10 computer. I have used it before on windows 7 before the upgrade. Tried compatability mode, but no help.


Do you get any error messages or the main screen at all?


----------



## irepoder

No, nothing seems to happen at all. I used administrator mode, and tried downloading multiple times, with the same result. What is most current version? I am away from my computer, but I think I saw 001. 
Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

irepoder said:


> No, nothing seems to happen at all. I used administrator mode, and tried downloading multiple times, with the same result. What is most current version? I am away from my computer, but I think I saw 001.
> Thanks.


1.0.0.6 is the latest version. There's a download link in post #1 of this thread.

My best guess is that you have a universal SD card reader on your computer that shows up as drive letters even when there isn't a card inserted. My Lenovo ThinkStations are a perfect example, and no amount of reprogramming has been able to reliably work around the bugs in their driver. If you disable the card reader in the BIOS settings it should solve the problem. You can even just disable it in Device Manager, run DvrBARS, and re-enable it without rebooting.


----------



## SuperSHO

The drive in my Premiere decided to take a crap with little warning and before I could create a backup. Is the TCD746320 image available?


----------



## ggieseke

SuperSHO said:


> The drive in my Premiere decided to take a crap with little warning and before I could create a backup. Is the TCD746320 image available?


PM sent.


----------



## Kevin L

May I please get an image for a TCD748000?

Thank you,
Kevin


----------



## ggieseke

Kevin L said:


> May I please get an image for a TCD748000?
> 
> Thank you,
> Kevin


PM sent.


----------



## dougdingle

For those who may be interested, Newegg has the WD Red 3TB on sale through Sunday for $99.99 with free shipping using promo code ESCENEH33.

You must subscribe to their daily email blasts to use the promo code.


----------



## dare

Can I have a link for an image for a TCD 74320?

I think that is my last option at this point. I successfully used DvrBARS to copy my original drive which had been stuck in a boot loop. I got the replacement 1TB Hitachi to work once, though it failed at connecting to the TiVo service to update listings. I was starting to trouble shoot it, but its now stuck in the boot loop again. I restored again, I even avoided jmfs/expanding/supersizing and same result. I am assuming there is enough corruption of the original disk operating files that I have to resort to an original image to ensure no corruption.

Random question of curiosity: my boot loop would always result in a white snow image with a black box in the top left quadrant. Kickstarter codes seemed to be accepted, but no message screen ever came up (referring to weeknees images). I mention this because I have not seen that same screen posted from anyone else asking for help. Anyone know why my TiVo Premiere would get stuck there, even with a healthy drive? Again, I assume its a corrupted file, but if its hardware, I want to know before I continue trouble shooting.

I can't thank you enough for all the work you put into developing this program, finding image copies and sharing them through PMs.


----------



## dougdingle

I'm sure more experienced members will reply, but I have never seen anything like that, and I've been messing with drive updates since the Series 1 and DirecTivo days, at least a decade.

I have, however, attempted a 3TB update to an OLED Series 3 that booted but resulted in an available recording time on an empty drive of one full hour.


----------



## ggieseke

dare said:


> Can I have a link for an image for a TCD 74320?


PM sent.


----------



## NewSeries4

I got a used 748000 tivo that worked great for a month and then the hard drive failed. I purchased a new one that's half a terrabyte bigger, but jmfs doesn't seem to work with the old one (I probably messed something up trying to get an old desktop running). Can I get an image of a clean drive for this? Any help is greatly appreciated.


----------



## ggieseke

NewSeries4 said:


> I got a used 748000 tivo that worked great for a month and then the hard drive failed. I purchased a new one that's half a terrabyte bigger, but jmfs doesn't seem to work with the old one (I probably messed something up trying to get an old desktop running). Can I get an image of a clean drive for this? Any help is greatly appreciated.


PM sent.


----------



## bobade

May I please get an image for a TCD746320? Thank you very much for the help.


----------



## ggieseke

bobade said:


> May I please get an image for a TCD746320? Thank you very much for the help.


PM sent.


----------



## busterc69

I just wanted to thank you guys for creating that windows backup DvrBARS as it worked great where a lot of the other utilities wouldn't even see my new hard drive. I am upgrading from a Roamio OTA with a 500gb hard drive to a 6Tb hard drive. 

I was able to backup and restore but am currently unable to expand the 6Tb hard drive to the use the remaining space. So I'm currently stuck with 500Gb. When I hook up the 6Tb hard drive to my computer, do I need to have it as a master, slave, or it doesn't matter? I have 6 SATA ports I can plug the 6Tb drive into.

I've tried WinMFS and it doesn't see the hard drive. I've tried MFS Tools 3.2 and it sees the drive as hdg but then locks up because it says it can't see my keyboard.

I apologize for rambling, but if someone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. Thanks again.


----------



## jmbach

busterc69 said:


> I just wanted to thank you guys for creating that windows backup DvrBARS as it worked great where a lot of the other utilities wouldn't even see my new hard drive. I am upgrading from a Roamio OTA with a 500gb hard drive to a 6Tb hard drive.
> 
> I was able to backup and restore but am currently unable to expand the 6Tb hard drive to the use the remaining space. So I'm currently stuck with 500Gb. When I hook up the 6Tb hard drive to my computer, do I need to have it as a master, slave, or it doesn't matter? I have 6 SATA ports I can plug the 6Tb drive into.
> 
> I've tried WinMFS and it doesn't see the hard drive. I've tried MFS Tools 3.2 and it sees the drive as hdg but then locks up because it says it can't see my keyboard.
> 
> I apologize for rambling, but if someone can point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. Thanks again.


Currently you cannot copy and expand a Roamio drive to larger than 4TB. You can have a 6TB Roamio but you have to have the Roamio bless the drive first and use MFSR to expand it. You will have no recordings after that. 
You could use the various programs out there (like archivo, kmttg) to off load the non copy protected recordings to a computer and the copy them back on your 6TB drive.


----------



## busterc69

jmbach said:


> Currently you cannot copy and expand a Roamio drive to larger than 4TB. You can have a 6TB Roamio but you have to have the Roamio bless the drive first and use MFSR to expand it. You will have no recordings after that.
> You could use the various programs out there (like archivo, kmttg) to off load the non copy protected recordings to a computer and the copy them back on your 6TB drive.


Thanks for the advice. I might not worry about the recordings since we can get those off of Hulu, Netflix, etc. So I'll redo the expansion and see if MFSR will give me the full 6TB. If not 4TB is good for now. At least until someone comes out with something to expand it past the 4TB. Thanks jmbach!


----------



## europavin

Hello, can anyone please send me an image for a Premiere TCD746320? Even better if it can be used on a 1TB drive! Thank you!


----------



## ggieseke

europavin said:


> Hello, can anyone please send me an image for a Premiere TCD746320? Even better if it can be used on a 1TB drive! Thank you!


PM sent.

It's a 320GB image, but you can use jmfs to expand it into the full 1TB.


----------



## gardiner

Hi, can I please get an image for a TCD746320? I have a bad drive. Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

gardiner said:


> Hi, can I please get an image for a TCD746320? I have a bad drive. Thanks.


PM sent.


----------



## houseofreynolds

My drive is not only merely dead,
It's really most sincerely dead.

Thanks for any help you can give.


----------



## ggieseke

houseofreynolds said:


> My drive is not only merely dead,
> It's really most sincerely dead.
> 
> Thanks for any help you can give.


PM sent.


----------



## lpwcomp

houseofreynolds said:


> My drive is not only merely dead,
> It's really most sincerely dead.


Did you drop a house on it?


----------



## houseofreynolds

lpwcomp said:


> Did you drop a house on it?


Yes, but I swear it was an accident.



ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Thank you so much for the help you gave me and all the others. It is very much appreciated. My dead Tivo experience now seems like only a bad dream.


----------



## mario_kr

Hello,

I'm trying to fix my brother-in-law tivo premiere and when I try to do a backup using DvrBARS I get "MFS volume header not found". Could you please send me an image for TCD746320?

Thank you.


----------



## ggieseke

mario_kr said:


> Hello,
> 
> I'm trying to fix my brother-in-law tivo premiere and when I try to do a backup using DvrBARS I get "MFS volume header not found". Could you please send me an image for TCD746320?
> 
> Thank you.


PM sent.


----------



## joncollins

I am trying to run DVRBars on Windows 10. I am unable to get it to start. When run as admin, OS UAC asks if OK for app to modify...answer yes, circle wait cursor appears for a few moments and then nothing. No sign of running program. Tried compatibility troubleshooter to no avail. Please advise. I have a Premier XL with blilnking lights. I am trying to create a new drive for it. 

Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

joncollins said:


> I am trying to run DVRBars on Windows 10. I am unable to get it to start. When run as admin, OS UAC asks if OK for app to modify...answer yes, circle wait cursor appears for a few moments and then nothing. No sign of running program. Tried compatibility troubleshooter to no avail. Please advise. I have a Premier XL with blilnking lights. I am trying to create a new drive for it.
> 
> Thanks.


Do you have a universal memory card reader in that computer? That's usually the only thing that can kill DvrBARS without at least some kind of error message. Both of my Lenovo ThinkStations have them and I have to keep it disabled in BIOS. If you know what you're doing you can also temporarily disable those "drives" in Device Manager.

You don't need to fart around with the compatibility troubleshooter or even right-click and choose Run as administrator. It works fine on XP through 10 as long as your user account is a member of the Administrators group. You will get the UAC prompt on Vista or later, but that's just Windows being cautious.


----------



## joncollins

ggieseke said:


> Do you have a universal memory card reader in that computer? That's usually the only thing that can kill DvrBARS without at least some kind of error message. Both of my Lenovo ThinkStations have them and I have to keep it disabled in BIOS. If you know what you're doing you can also temporarily disable those "drives" in Device Manager.


Yes, this dell has built in memory card readers. Hardly ever notice them. I disabled them in the device manager under disk drives and it works.
Thanks again


----------



## jhoos

I've got a dead TCD746320 - nothing but blinking lights every few seconds. I've got DVDbars up and running, but (as expected) the original drive is too far gone to get a back up off of. Can someone help me out with an image?

Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

jhoos said:


> I've got a dead TCD746320 - nothing but blinking lights every few seconds. I've got DVDbars up and running, but (as expected) the original drive is too far gone to get a back up off of. Can someone help me out with an image?
> 
> Thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## FLN

I have a TCD746320 that is in the guided setup loop. This premiere has a 4TB drive that I cloned from the original 320GB a couple of years back. This has been working great up until the big Tivo SW update late summer 2016 and was stuck in the "restart required" loop with zero program information for the last couple of months. 

I did the unthinkable - started guided setup and of course I'm now stuck in a "groundhog day" loop of guided setup. I did a few kickstarts, specifically 52 and 57 but these have no effect on guided setup starting upon reset.

I still have the original drive and can of course go back; however, I have a lot of DRMd movies that I won't be able to copy to another device. I am wondering if I can back up the programs and restore them to the original drive in some fashion, copy or otherwise? The rough plan would be as follows:

Connect both drives to PC.
Back up 4TB drive.
Copy ONLY programs from the 4TB drive to original drive.

I'm also wondering if there is a way to modify a startup script that is on the 4TB drive to break it out of the guided setup loop?

Thanks for any ideas.


----------



## jmbach

FLN said:


> I have a TCD746320 that is in the guided setup loop. This premiere has a 4TB drive that I cloned from the original 320GB a couple of years back. This has been working great up until the big Tivo SW update late summer 2016 and was stuck in the "restart required" loop with zero program information for the last couple of months.
> 
> I did the unthinkable - started guided setup and of course I'm now stuck in a "groundhog day" loop of guided setup. I did a few kickstarts, specifically 52 and 57 but these have no effect on guided setup starting upon reset.
> 
> I still have the original drive and can of course go back; however, I have a lot of DRMd movies that I won't be able to copy to another device. I am wondering if I can back up the programs and restore them to the original drive in some fashion, copy or otherwise? The rough plan would be as follows:
> 
> Connect both drives to PC.
> Back up 4TB drive.
> Copy ONLY programs from the 4TB drive to original drive.
> 
> I'm also wondering if there is a way to modify a startup script that is on the 4TB drive to break it out of the guided setup loop?
> 
> Thanks for any ideas.


Not sure what will work with that one. 
Some people suggest disconnecting from the network and/or leave it unplugged for a week to see if it can provoke a garbage collection routine. 
I would consider copying it to another 4TB drive with MFSTools 3.2 to see if that will fix it.


----------



## FLN

Copying to another drive is certainly something I can try.


----------



## jthaups

I am unable to get a replacement drive out of the GSOD loop.
Would it be possible to get an image for TCD746320?

Thank you.


----------



## ggieseke

jthaups said:


> I am unable to get a replacement drive out of the GSOD loop.
> Would it be possible to get an image for TCD746320?
> 
> Thank you.


PM sent.


----------



## Drewby99

Does anyone have a backup or a way to restore a drive for Premiere 4 (TCD750500)? My drive has failed and won't boot or make a copy. Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

Drewby99 said:


> Does anyone have a backup or a way to restore a drive for Premiere 4 (TCD750500)? My drive has failed and won't boot or make a copy. Thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## Dave Albert

Another confirmation that DVRBars works under Windows 10, but only if you disable any USB card reader devices in the Windows device manager...otherwise it appears to start and immediately dies without displaying any dialog.


----------



## Dave Albert

My Premiere stopped working and I'm waiting for a replacement drive to arrive; in the interim, I'd love to test it to see if it's the hard drive or something else, but the only spare drives I have are 500GB. Does anyone have a Premiere 500GB backup image I can use with DVRBars? Thank you!


----------



## lesliew

Can someone help me out with an image for a Tivo Premiere (Dual Tuner). I successfully upgraded my Roamio with an 8TB drive this weekend now I want to use the old 3TB drive in the premiere but cant successfully do a backup. Even though I never noticed any problems with the premiere before this the 320Gb drive appears to be failing. It fails 3 of the 5 kickstart 54 tests, also failed a ddrescue copy. 


TIA


----------



## wintermute824

Can someone provide a clean image for one or both models: TCD75825 (XL4) and TCD746320 (Premiere). Both have experienced some mild to severe issues of late, and I'm going to replace the HDD in the 746320 with a larger drive (since it already had to be C&DE, why not upgrade). Then be ready for the XL4 which is aging and did some freezing/rebooting last week.


----------



## ggieseke

Dave Albert said:


> My Premiere stopped working and I'm waiting for a replacement drive to arrive; in the interim, I'd love to test it to see if it's the hard drive or something else, but the only spare drives I have are 500GB. Does anyone have a Premiere 500GB backup image I can use with DVRBars? Thank you!


PM sent. It's for a 320GB drive, but you can expand it to the full 500GB with jmfs.


----------



## ggieseke

wintermute824 said:


> Can someone provide a clean image for one or both models: TCD75825 (XL4) and TCD746320 (Premiere). Both have experienced some mild to severe issues of late, and I'm going to replace the HDD in the 746320 with a larger drive (since it already had to be C&DE, why not upgrade). Then be ready for the XL4 which is aging and did some freezing/rebooting last week.


PM sent.


----------



## deshwasi

I am also in need of a image for the 500GB Premiere 4 TCD750500 to revive a unit. would appreciate any help with an image i can restore with DVRBars. thanks


----------



## ggieseke

deshwasi said:


> I am also in need of a image for the 500GB Premiere 4 TCD750500 to revive a unit. would appreciate any help with an image i can restore with DVRBars. thanks


PM sent.


----------



## Toady11

I am in need of a image for the 1TB Premiere XL TCD748000 to revive a unit. I would appreciate any help with an image i can restore with DVRBars. thanks


----------



## ggieseke

Toady11 said:


> I am in need of a image for the 1TB Premiere XL TCD748000 to revive a unit. I would appreciate any help with an image i can restore with DVRBars. thanks


PM sent.


----------



## ghelfrich919

I have a general question. I bought an upgrade HD for my TiVo HD XL DVR TCD658000 from WeaKnees. 

Before I replace it in my DVR, I'd like to make a backup image of the new HD image using DvrBARS. When attempting the backup, I can choose between 3 different methods:
1- Full Backup
2- Modified Full Backup
3- Truncated Backup

From the provided descriptions, either method 2 or 3 sounds like the best option. Option 3 indicates best compression and possibly the best option for me considering this HD has no recordings of any kind.

But before I proceed, I just wanted to check to see what is recommended for this situation.

Also, it's too bad I wouldn't be able to somehow copy over the config / selected recordings. From what I think I know, I'll just have to accept and move on. I'd thought I'd ask to see if there is something I don't know that could be helpful for me. 

If not, I guess at the least I'd need to go through the different Tivo options/settings to write them down before I remove the old drive and install the new one. 

Any help on these items here is greatly appreciated.

Thanks - Gerry


----------



## ggieseke

If it's a blank Weaknees drive there shouldn't be any difference between Modified Full or Truncated.

You can use kmttg to back up your OnePass settings from the old drive and restore them after the new drive is set up. It can do your channel setting and thumb ratings too.


----------



## ghelfrich919

Thanks - what you stated is what I was expecting to hear which is for a blank weaKness drive there shouldn't be a difference. I can't say I have had any issues with the old drive and that is the primary reason I am replacing it. It is the original drive though. Call it preemptive maintenance as well as adding more capacity. I have been quite pleased using it to record good quality OTA shows and have decided the little old Tivo has a new lease on life.

I did check out kmttg - but I ran into issues with it not pulling back the config items like OnePass, etc. I get some JAVA errors. It will show the recordings on the recorder, but not the other 'remote' items. This is an old series 3 Tivo, but I'd like to think it would/could be able to work with my Tivo. I guess my next option is to pursue help on this possible issue with kmttg support

This app kmttg as well as DvrBARS are great apps to fit my needs. 

So, thank you for your efforts. Much appreciated. 

Gerry


----------



## dougdingle

ghelfrich919 said:


> I did check out kmttg - but I ran into issues with it not pulling back the config items like OnePass, etc. I get some JAVA errors. It will show the recordings on the recorder, but not the other 'remote' items. This is an old series 3 Tivo, but I'd like to think it would/could be able to work with my Tivo. I guess my next option is to pursue help on this possible issue with kmttg support
> 
> This app kmttg as well as DvrBARS are great apps to fit my needs.
> 
> So, thank you for your efforts. Much appreciated.
> 
> Gerry


KMTTG is _*quite *_limited with what it can do with Series 3 boxes, as you've discovered. TiVo can store some of that stuff online, although there was this horrendous bug the last time I tried that about a year ago, where I stored OnePass settings online with them when I moved from a Series 3 to a Roamio Pro, and when the Roamio connected to them for the first time, the web site decided to sync stored info with the new Roamio, saw there were no Season's Passes on the Roamio, and deleted all the ones online. No idea if that was fixed, as I never tried it again, and my faith in TiVo's programmers is currently non-existent, having waited months for them to fix what they broke on Desktop Pro. Fair warning...


----------



## slotkar

I had the strangest thing happen when upgrading a TCD746320 to a 1TB drive. I recently purchased a WD10EURX from an on-line store. I then restored the image (using DvrBARS) from the original TiVo 320GB drive to the WD 1TB drive and the expanded it using the JMFS utility. Everything went as expected (been there, done that). I then installed the upgraded HD into the TiVo and I got the reboot loop, as if it was defective HD. Has anyone experienced bad WD10EURX drives? I did notice that the drive I purchased had a build date of: Nov 09, 2012. Could bad sectors cause this?


----------



## jmbach

slotkar said:


> I had the strangest thing happen when upgrading a TCD746320 to a 1TB drive. I recently purchased a WD10EURX from an on-line store. I then restored the image (using DvrBARS) from the original TiVo 320GB drive to the WD 1TB drive and the expanded it using the JMFS utility. Everything went as expected (been there, done that). I then installed the upgraded HD into the TiVo and I got the reboot loop, as if it was defective HD. Has anyone experienced bad WD10EURX drives? I did notice that the drive I purchased had a build date of: Nov 09, 2012. Could bad sectors cause this?


Try running the WD diagnostic utility on it.


----------



## heuer1370

Hi all. I am looking for an TCD746320 image for use with wimmfs. Thanks in advance


----------



## ThAbtO

heuer1370 said:


> Hi all. I am looking for an TCD746320 image for use with wimmfs. Thanks in advance


That is a Premiere and WinMFS does not work on it. You would need at least, DVRBars.


----------



## politicks

Can someone provide me with an image for a TCD746320? My efforts at backing up/restoring using the original failed drive have been unsuccessful. Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

politicks said:


> Can someone provide me with an image for a TCD746320? My efforts at backing up/restoring using the original failed drive have been unsuccessful. Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## sharp1

My Premiere XL just died and JMFS tools can't detect an image to try to recover from. 

Would somone be able to share an image for it?

Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

sharp1 said:


> My Premiere XL just died and JMFS tools can't detect an image to try to recover from.
> 
> Would somone be able to share an image for it?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## politicks

Thanks ggieseke!!!! Wondering if you or someone else can give me insight in the problem I'm having now. I have restored the TCD746320 image to a new drive and placed back in the TiVo. I understand that I have to do a clear and delete to get the image to marry to the box. I cannot get through the guided setup though as it keeps failing on downloading. I have tried hard wired and wireless. I have rebooted the TiVo. It errors out on the "Getting Info" section and says "Connection Interrupted". Is this a known issue? I have also rebooted my networking equipment and everything else (other tivos) are working fine.


----------



## ggieseke

Assuming that it's not an un-diagnosed network issue I would use zip code 00000 and pick one of the factory lineups. They are quite small and only take a few seconds to download. If that lets you complete guided setup, let it update to the latest OS before running C&DE. Once it has the latest software it should be able to handle the correct lineup data. That image is from 2012 and they've made a lot of changes since then.


----------



## magnus

Can someone provide me a TCD746320 image? Mine appears to not be good for a backup. Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

magnus said:


> Can someone provide me a TCD746320 image? Mine appears to not be good for a backup. Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## sasquatch981

is it possible to get an image for a premiere xl? i tried dvrbars (error after 2 min) and ddresuce with no success at all. been at this for weeks,, thanks in advance.


----------



## Wilma Bird

Can someone share a TCD746320 image? I need to get my TiVo fixed before the new "The Bachelor" episodes begin next month. Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

Wilma Bird said:


> Can someone share a TCD746320 image? I need to get my TiVo fixed before the new "The Bachelor" episodes begin next month. Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## Jkhops

Does anyone know where I might be able to locate a clean disc image for a TCD746320?
Is there a instructions on how to change out the H drive?
Thank you


----------



## ggieseke

Jkhops said:


> Does anyone know where I might be able to locate a clean disc image for a TCD746320?
> Is there a instructions on how to change out the H drive?
> Thank you


PM sent.


----------



## Hinky3

My Premiere XL TDC746320 drive just died. Does anyone have an image for this.


----------



## MisterMidnight

I have a Premiere Elite XL4 TCD 758250 with a 2TB HDD.

It appears that my HDD may be *starting* to go out - random reboots once per day or so. No other problems detected (all recordings play ok).

I want to clone the existing drive, using a brand new 2TB WD Green drive, same model as what's now in the TIVO.

I want to keep my recorded programs, of which there are only a handful of (5% HDD used). All older recordings have been "permanently" deleted via TIVO).

Can I do this just using only the DVBARS program? Any special settings I need to follow once drives are hooked up to my Windows 10 PC?

P.S. Will the Windows disc initializing function ALWAYS come up with the option to say "No", or will it in some cases initialize without my input?


----------



## dougdingle

MisterMidnight said:


> I want to keep my recorded programs, of which there are only a handful of (5% HDD used). All older recordings have been "permanently" deleted via TIVO).
> 
> Can I do this just using only the DVBARS program? Any special settings I need to follow once drives are hooked up to my Windows 10 PC?


Yes, but your PC will have to have a drive in it with at least 2TB free to store the image. The process is man-in-the-middle, where you back up the image of your old drive to the PC, then restore to the new drive from that file.

Alternatives you might want to consider, since you still have a working drive: MFSTools, which will do the copy in one step without need for additional storage, but you need to boot from its Linux disk, or one of the inexpensive (usually <$40) cloning docks which will clone your current drive to your new drive without being connected to a PC at all in roughly five hours for 2TB.



> P.S. Will the Windows disc initializing function ALWAYS come up with the option to say "No"?


I believe that's the case since Windows Vista (or maybe Windows 7). That was very rude behavior on XP.


----------



## MisterMidnight

dougdingle said:


> ...or one of the inexpensive (usually <$40) cloning docks which will clone your current drive to your new drive without being connected to a PC at all in roughly five hours for 2TB.


Thank you for your reply. I may go the docking route - if so, can the new drive be a 3TB? I don't need the extra space, but I can have a 3TB drive delivered quicker.


----------



## dougdingle

Not sure if your model will support a 3TB physical drive to boot from. Something about drive geometry. Someone else here will know. 

Be aware that the docks make exact clones, so even if you put a 3TB drive as the destination, it will only be able to store as much as a 2TB drive, and 1TB will sit idle and uninitialized for anything.


----------



## MisterMidnight

dougdingle said:


> Not sure if your model will support a 3TB physical drive to boot from. Something about drive geometry. Someone else here will know.
> 
> Be aware that the docks make exact clones, so even if you put a 3TB drive as the destination, it will only be able to store as much as a 2TB drive, and 1TB will sit idle and uninitialized for anything.


I was able to find a 2TB drive, any recommendations on cloning dock brands?


----------



## hayfzj

My Tivo TDC746320 drive has died. It is not recognized by DvrBARS. Does anyone know where I can get an image for this? Thank you.


----------



## dougdingle

MisterMidnight said:


> I was able to find a 2TB drive, any recommendations on cloning dock brands?


I have used the MEDIASONIC HUR2-SU3 successfully many times to clone my Roamio's 3TB WD Red drive (I have three drives and rotate them through every 60-90 days to keep wear to a minimum and avert potential disaster from 250 hours of shows being wiped out by a drive failure).

It is an older model, not sure if it's available any longer. If you do find that one, be aware that is has some kind of bug that prevents it from properly cloning small sized drives (like the 128 GB SSD I tried to clone). No idea why. But it has successfully cloned _*many *_drives for me 1TB and up. It takes about 2.5 hours per TB to clone. The dock has never, ever messed up a source drive for me, even when it failed to clone the smaller ones.


----------



## ggieseke

hayfzj said:


> I have also have TCD746320 and the hard drive went bad. Would it be possible to get an image so I can replace the hard drive? Thank you.





Hinky3 said:


> My Premiere XL TDC746320 drive just died. Does anyone have an image for this.


PM sent.


----------



## ggieseke

MisterMidnight said:


> Can I do this just using only the DVBARS program? Any special settings I need to follow once drives are hooked up to my Windows 10 PC?


I would recommend MFSTools 3.2. It can copy and expand up to 4TB in a single step. The original limit of 2TB went away when the software hit 20.3.8, so you should be OK.

DvrBARS could do it if you do a Full backup, but as noted it would require 2TB of temporary storage and take twice as long and the restored image would still be limited to 2TB.


----------



## MisterMidnight

UPDATE: Premiere Elite XL4 TCD 758250 with a 2TB HDD / Cloning Drive

dougdingle, your info was very helpful. I ended up buying a Mediasonic HUD1-SU3 for $30 shipped. I cloned my 2TB WD Green drive that was starting to go out, to a new identical drive. Clone process took a little over 5 hours. Put the new drive in my Tivo and everything works perfect. For me, so much easier than doing the process on a PC. Thanks again.


----------



## dougdingle

Great. You're welcome. Sometimes, the easiest solutions are the best.


----------



## MisterMidnight

dougdingle said:


> Great. You're welcome. Sometimes, the easiest solutions are the best.


Unfortunately, replacing the HDD did not stop the random rebooting issue, although it now reboots less often than before the HDD swap.

Have the series 4 Tivo's had power supply issues? The caps do not seem to be bad looking at them visually.

Here is a close-up image of the PS:

http://www.eresourcing.com/misc/Tivo_power_supply_01.jpg

Would you suggest replacing the PS as the next step? If so, is Weaknees a good source?

-----------------------------------------------------------
(Premiere Elite XL4 TCD 758250 / 2TB HDD)


----------



## dougdingle

I think you're on the right track, but of course it's difficult to know for sure.

Is the fan spinning? If you spin it by hand, does it spin freely for a few seconds? If not, it may need replacing because a slow dying fan will allow the supply to heat up.

I would reseat all the connectors from the power supply a couple of times - things tend to corrode over time - and see if the reboots stop.

Weaknees seems to enjoy a decent reputation if you want to replace the power supply. There are less expensive ones available on ebay from time to time, but you never know if you're buying someone else's problems.


----------



## ggieseke

I've never heard of a Series 4 power supply failing, but I guess nothing's impossible.


----------



## jmbach

Would consider running a KS 58. Chances are that the bad drive induced some corrupt info that transferred to the new drive with the copy process. Depending on what is corrupted, a KS 58 is probably as close we can come to fixing it. 
On another note, if you have another 2TB drive, you could place a fresh copy of a Premiere OS on that drive with DvrBARS and run it in your TiVo for a while. If there are no random rebooting, it is less likely to be a power supply issue.


----------



## MisterMidnight

I tried the KS 58, or at least I think I did. It didn't take much longer than a normal Tivo boot, and during the startup it said "installing update". Is this normal for KS 58, or does it go to a special screen for the HDD diagnostics?


----------



## jmbach

That is normal. KS 54 does the hard drive test which I do not recommend running. The manufacturer diagnostic does a much better job.


----------



## MisterMidnight

jmbach said:


> Would consider running a KS 58. Chances are that the bad drive induced some corrupt info that transferred to the new drive with the copy process. Depending on what is corrupted, a KS 58 is probably as close we can come to fixing it.
> On another note, if you have another 2TB drive, you could place a fresh copy of a Premiere OS on that drive with DvrBARS and run it in your TiVo for a while. If there are no random rebooting, it is less likely to be a power supply issue.


No luck with KS 58. Tried a brand new drive with fresh OS, no go. Still have the random reboot problem, 1-2x per day.

I guess the next step would be to replace the power supply? If that doesn't solve the issue I assume it's something with the MB, in which it looks like I will have to sell it for parts.


----------



## CoxInPHX

Is there a Post-Rovi conversion image for an XL4 - TCD758250

I have an old virgin image pre-Rovi dated 04/19/13 which I received from Greg a long time ago
Will that old image work w/o issues for restoring to a new 2TB HDD?


----------



## ggieseke

CoxInPHX said:


> Is there a Post-Rovi conversion image for an XL4 - TCD758250
> 
> I have an old virgin image pre-Rovi dated 04/19/13 which I received from Greg a long time ago
> Will that old image work w/o issues for restoring to a new 2TB HDD?


The old image still works fine with a 2TB drive. If you want to go larger than that I have a 20.4.1 image for a 758 around here somewhere.


----------



## Fred H

I just replaced my (daily rebooting) 2TB HD in my Premier XL4 with a 3TB Red Pro HD; It's now constantly rebooting through blue screen, black screen Starting Up. Here's what I've done:

Saved all my saved shows to my PC, photographed all season passes, etc.
Removed all deleted shows from Tivo
Fully tested the new drive with Data Lifeguard
Modified Full backup with DvrBARS (also a Truncated backup just in case...)
Quick Restore of the Modified Full backup with DvrBARS
Installed the Red Pro in the Tivo; hooked up the wires, etc.
When I put the original Tivo drive back in the Tivo so we could watch TV I initially had the same problem, but when I looked I found that I had neglected to plug in the drive! But the identical effect of this mistake makes me wonder if the Red Pro is incompatible with my Tivo.

While a bit more Tivo storage would be nice, I have an almost-new 2TB Red drive in my PC and could use it in the Tivo -- and use the 3TB drive in my PC.

I'd greatly appreciate advice.

TIA


----------



## ThAbtO

The WD Red Pro are 7200 RPM drives and shouldn't have been used in a Tivo. It would not benefit from the higher RPM. It also uses more power and create more heat than the non-pro drives. The constant reboots means the drive didn't get enough power for the full spinup to be accessed.
Only the WD Red 5400 RPM drives should be used.


----------



## internetsoncomps

Can I get an image of TCD748000? Also, can I use DvrBARS to expand storage to 3tb or does it need to be a 3tb image?


----------



## Fred H

ThAbtO said:


> Only the WD Red 5400 RPM drives should be used.


Thank you. I'll implement plan B when there's enough gap between scheduled recordings.


----------



## ThAbtO

Fred H said:


> Saved all my saved shows to my PC, photographed all season passes, etc.


Use KMTTG, its a program used to download shows and other features. It also has the ability to backup and restore Season/One Passes and their options.



Fred H said:


> Thank you. I'll implement plan B when there's enough gap between scheduled recordings.


As for my upgrade on the Roamio basic from the original 500gb to WD40EFRX, it took me a week, because I needed a USB adapter for a laptop which runs Win7. Prior to the final install of the 4TB, I kept the original drive in use. The re-install hardly took much time at all, 10 min I believe.


----------



## MHunter1

I purchased a 4TB WD Blue HDD pre-formatted for a TiVo Premiere XL TCD746 on eBay for $75 which was half the price of the next competitor. The HDD works fine, but when I view its capacity under my XL4 TCD758's System Information it says "up to 400 HD hours or 3495 SD hours". The more expensive HDD claims a 4TB upgrade should provide up to 640 HD or 5608 SD hours. It's confusing because both HDDs are 4TB. Did the cheaper seller image the disk incorrectly causing it to use up more data per hour, or am I really getting 640 HD hours and the fact that it's showing 400 HD hours is just a cosmetic discrepancy?


----------



## jmbach

I believe it was not imaged correctly. A WD blue in an unusual choice for a TiVo drive but not an unheard of choice.


----------



## ggieseke

internetsoncomps said:


> Can I get an image of TCD748000? Also, can I use DvrBARS to expand storage to 3tb or does it need to be a 3tb image?


PM sent. DvrBARS doesn't do expansion and the TiVo software didn't support drives over 2TB until 20.3.8 came out, so you'll need a 1-2TB drive for the restore. Once it updates to the latest software you can copy and expand it to the 3TB drive with MFSTools 3.2.


----------



## ggieseke

Fred H said:


> I just replaced my (daily rebooting) 2TB HD in my Premier XL4 with a 3TB Red Pro HD; It's now constantly rebooting through blue screen, black screen Starting Up. Here's what I've done:
> 
> Saved all my saved shows to my PC, photographed all season passes, etc.
> Removed all deleted shows from Tivo
> Fully tested the new drive with Data Lifeguard
> Modified Full backup with DvrBARS (also a Truncated backup just in case...)
> Quick Restore of the Modified Full backup with DvrBARS
> Installed the Red Pro in the Tivo; hooked up the wires, etc.
> When I put the original Tivo drive back in the Tivo so we could watch TV I initially had the same problem, but when I looked I found that I had neglected to plug in the drive! But the identical effect of this mistake makes me wonder if the Red Pro is incompatible with my Tivo.
> 
> While a bit more Tivo storage would be nice, I have an almost-new 2TB Red drive in my PC and could use it in the Tivo -- and use the 3TB drive in my PC.
> 
> I'd greatly appreciate advice.
> 
> TIA


Truncated and Modified Full backups don't work on the latest OS since TiVo changed the filesystem on the Root partitions from Ext2 to SquashFS. I'm sending you my factory image, which should work fine on the 2TB drive.


----------



## internetsoncomps

As a side note, if I have 2 Premiere XLs and one is now working again could I image that drive to a hard drive for my other non-working XL using the DVRBars software? I don't know if I want to open the other box at this point since it is now working again but the thought just occurred. Also, on that one I have a AV Expander 1TB, but not on the other XL -moved that to my Roamio Pro. Would that complicate anything?


----------



## jmbach

internetsoncomps said:


> As a side note, if I have 2 Premiere XLs and one is now working again could I image that drive to a hard drive for my other non-working XL using the DVRBars software? I don't know if I want to open the other box at this point since it is now working again but the thought just occurred. Also, on that one I have a AV Expander 1TB, but not on the other XL -moved that to my Roamio Pro. Would that complicate anything?


I would recommend using MFSTools 3.2 to copy the one image to another hard drive equal to or greater than your source but no more than 4TB. Would use the command mfstool copy -i /dev/sdX /dev/sdY. Should take about 10 to 20 minutes. Then run a clear and delete everything when it boots up with the new TiVo. (As a side note, if while you are booting the image up for the first time and enter the Kickstart portal when the yellow light flashes by pressing the 'pause' button. Right after hitting the 'pause' button type '7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0', the yellow and green light flash and then the system will reboot and run a clear and delete everything without having to wait for the entire system to complete booting.)


----------



## ggieseke

internetsoncomps said:


> As a side note, if I have 2 Premiere XLs and one is now working again could I image that drive to a hard drive for my other non-working XL using the DVRBars software? I don't know if I want to open the other box at this point since it is now working again but the thought just occurred. Also, on that one I have a AV Expander 1TB, but not on the other XL -moved that to my Roamio Pro. Would that complicate anything?


You would have to use the Full Backup mode (see post 1519), divorce it from the expander, and run Clear & Delete Everything. Assuming that your working XL still has a 1TB internal drive that would take at least 6-8 hours. The factory image I sent you will restore in a few minutes and skip all those other steps.


----------



## dougdingle

Anyone using the new Seagate IronWolf NAS Hard Drive line in a TiVo?

Specs look reasonable, and it seems they're trying to compete with the WD Red line.


----------



## internetsoncomps

ggieseke said:


> You would have to use the Full Backup mode (see post 1519), divorce it from the expander, and run Clear & Delete Everything. Assuming that your working XL still has a 1TB internal drive that would take at least 6-8 hours. The factory image I sent you will restore in a few minutes and skip all those other steps.


Yeah, I am thinking I will do the quick way. Thanks.


----------



## jmbach

internetsoncomps said:


> Yeah, I am thinking I will do the quick way. Thanks.


If you have ggieseke's image, then that is the way to go. I thought you were considering using one working TiVo image to create a working image for your other TiVo.


----------



## internetsoncomps

jmbach said:


> If you have ggieseke's image, then that is the way to go. I thought you were considering using one working TiVo image to create a working image for your other TiVo.


I got a 1tb drive up and running that I had extra as well and did all the updates. It went pretty painlessly, which is great. Thanks for the help!

As far as the 3TB expansion, I have rarely ever used linux but it seems straightforward enough, my only issue is my main pc has problems booting from cd so I have to recall how I was able to get it to work in the past. Even had trouble with windows rescue disks if I needed them. Last night, even after setting slow boot from win 10, for some reason it hangs on a boot from a cd I think it has something to do with the raid controller card (have a Highpoint card installed with system drive on it) or sata controller. If I remember I may have been able to get a usb cd drive to boot in the past but I may just try this out on a laptop if I have the requisite interfaces-have to check that as I haven't used that laptop recently. I guess I could use usb and just have it take a while. The BIOS started doing some quirky things with displaying correctly and sometimes the mouse was working, sometimes not so I don't want to turn off the uefi again if I don't have to. And I really don't want to start playing with unplugging the raid card or unplugging hard drives on it.

This is pretty cool though, if I can get this done ok I may do the other Premiere XL as well-although that one has a lot of shows on it so would take a long time.


----------



## jmbach

internetsoncomps said:


> I got a 1tb drive up and running that I had extra as well and did all the updates. It went pretty painlessly, which is great. Thanks for the help!
> 
> As far as the 3TB expansion, I have rarely ever used linux but it seems straightforward enough, my only issue is my main pc has problems booting from cd so I have to recall how I was able to get it to work in the past. Even had trouble with windows rescue disks if I needed them. Last night, even after setting slow boot from win 10, for some reason it hangs on a boot from a cd I think it has something to do with the raid controller card (have a Highpoint card installed with system drive on it) or sata controller. If I remember I may have been able to get a usb cd drive to boot in the past but I may just try this out on a laptop if I have the requisite interfaces-have to check that as I haven't used that laptop recently. I guess I could use usb and just have it take a while. The BIOS started doing some quirky things with displaying correctly and sometimes the mouse was working, sometimes not so I don't want to turn off the uefi again if I don't have to. And I really don't want to start playing with unplugging the raid card or unplugging hard drives on it.
> 
> This is pretty cool though, if I can get this done ok I may do the other Premiere XL as well-although that one has a lot of shows on it so would take a long time.


FWIW, I use my laptop running Windows 10 with a USB3 dual drive dock and use VirtualBox to run the MFSTools 3.2 iso on my TiVo images.


----------



## e_identity

ggieseke, I would appreciate the link for an image for the Premiere XL TCD748000. Kickstart code 54 shows "Fail 7" which I understand to mean that my hard drive is failing. thanks very much in advance,
Michael


----------



## internetsoncomps

jmbach said:


> FWIW, I use my laptop running Windows 10 with a USB3 dual drive dock and use VirtualBox to run the MFSTools 3.2 iso on my TiVo images.


Ok, I started a linux virtual machine in virtualbox but when I login and run how do I recognize the tivo drives? Do I have to add them manually to the setup or how does that work? DO they have to be attached as usb drives? I currently have them hooked up as sata.


----------



## jmbach

internetsoncomps said:


> Ok, I started a linux virtual machine in virtualbox but when I login and run how do I recognize the tivo drives? Do I have to add them manually to the setup or how does that work? DO they have to be attached as usb drives? I currently have them hooked up as sata.


I will send you pm about this and get this thread back on topic.


----------



## ggieseke

e_identity said:


> ggieseke, I would appreciate the link for an image for the Premiere XL TCD748000. Kickstart code 54 shows "Fail 7" which I understand to mean that my hard drive is failing. thanks very much in advance,
> Michael


PM sent.


----------



## ITGrouch

Do you folks know where I can get, the original or latest firmware, for a TiVo TCD758250. I have to replace the hard drive. 

Many thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

ITGrouch said:


> Do you folks know where I can get, the original or latest firmware, for a TiVo TCD758250. I have to replace the hard drive.
> 
> Many thanks!


PM sent.


----------



## stan_44

good moring ,,Can someone provide me a TCD746320 image? Mine appears to not be good for a backup..ps wife not to hope with me


----------



## ggieseke

stan_44 said:


> good moring ,,Can someone provide me a TCD746320 image? Mine appears to not be good for a backup..ps wife not to hope with me


PM sent.


----------



## stan_44

will the TCD746320 image work for a tcd 750500 ?i just put the 746320 on the 750500 hard drive ...darn both drive where the same size..i did not backup for the 750500.


----------



## ThAbtO

stan_44 said:


> will the TCD746320 image work for a tcd 750500 ?i just put the 746320 on the 750500 hard drive ...darn both drive where the same size..i did not backup for the 750500.


The 746 is has an original drive of 320GB whereas the 750 is a 500 GB as its original drive size.


----------



## jmbach

stan_44 said:


> will the TCD746320 image work for a tcd 750500 ?i just put the 746320 on the 750500 hard drive ...darn both drive where the same size..i did not backup for the 750500.


The image will work, just that you are not using the whole drive. Your choice to use the whole drive is to use JMFS or MFSTools 3.2 with apmfix to expand the image to use the whole drive. 
Alternatively, my preference is to MFSTools 3.2 to copy the image to the drive. It will expand and copy at the same time. The difference between expanding the image and copying the image is the expanded image has 15 partitions and the copied image has the normal 14 partitions. This is because when MFSTools copies, it expands the current media partitions instead of adding another partition.


----------



## stan_44

jmbach said:


> The image will work, just that you are not using the whole drive. Your choice to use the whole drive is to use JMFS or MFSTools 3.2 with apmfix to expand the image to use the whole drive.
> Alternatively, my preference is to MFSTools 3.2 to copy the image to the drive. It will expand and copy at the same time. The difference between expanding the image and copying the image is the expanded image has 15 partitions and the copied image has the normal 14 partitions. This is because when MFSTools copies, it expands the current media partitions instead of adding another partition.


thanks for all the reply


----------



## ggieseke

stan_44 said:


> will the TCD746320 image work for a tcd 750500 ?i just put the 746320 on the 750500 hard drive ...darn both drive where the same size..i did not backup for the 750500.


PM sent (TCD750500 image).


----------



## stan_44

thank you


----------



## mindyloowho

another need for TCD746320 image. Can someone send please? thx.


----------



## ggieseke

mindyloowho said:


> another need for TCD746320 image. Can someone send please? thx.


PM sent.


----------



## jim5b

I am in need of the TCD746320 image. I was trying to install a 1TB drive and my original drive failed during copy. The copy does work, but it will not let me expand it. I'm thinking best to start with new image.


----------



## cola1200

Hi I am upgrading my hard drive because I filled it. Can someone please send me an image for a TCD746500. Thank you.


----------



## jmbach

cola1200 said:


> Hi I am upgrading my hard drive because I filled it. Can someone please send me an image for a TCD746500. Thank you.


If your current drive is working but full, you might just want to use MFSTools 3.2 to copy and expand that image to a larger drive. This way you still keep all your recordings.


----------



## shawn_bowen

Need image for Premiere XL4 I was sent a Premiere 4 image but I lost my THX boot up etc. 

*Model number:* TCD 75825


----------



## OldManTV

I am in need of the TCD746320 image for the gf that covered the unit in fabric until the drive roasted..


----------



## ggieseke

OldManTV said:


> I am in need of the TCD746320 image for the gf that covered the unit in fabric until the drive roasted..


PM sent.


----------



## aaronwt

Was this program ever updated to expand a Premiere Drive? Or is the jmfs method still the only one to use to expand a Premiere drive?


----------



## jmbach

aaronwt said:


> Was this program ever updated to expand a Premiere Drive? Or is the jmfs method still the only one to use to expand a Premiere drive?


The alternative is using MFSTools 3.2. You can either copy which expands while copying or you can add a pair of partitions but you will have to use an utility called apmfix on the image before booting it in the TiVo. The utility is on the ISO in my post in that thread.


----------



## dougdingle

Is anyone using an alternative to the WD Red drives? 

I'd like to upgrade my Roamio Pro from a 3TB to a 4TB drive while retaining my recordings, and was looking at the Red drives, but the reviews on sites like Newegg have been horrendous the last six months. Truly awful with many, many failures in the first six months of use. It seems as if WD quality control has fallen through the floor on these.

So anyone using the Seagate BarraCuda ST4000DM005 or anything similar with some long(er) term success?


----------



## tomc585

I was able to create a backup of my Hughs SD-DVR. I swapped in the new drive but DvrBARS doesnt see it (repurposed windows drive). I can select to show my mounted drives but it wont recognize any donor drives to write to. rebooted, reopened DvrBARS. Any ideas? Thanks.
edit: I connect the donor drives via powered USB to ide/sata cable


----------



## jmbach

tomc585 said:


> I was able to create a backup of my Hughs SD-DVR. I swapped in the new drive but DvrBARS doesnt see it (repurposed windows drive). I can select to show my mounted drives but it wont recognize any donor drives to write to. rebooted, reopened DvrBARS. Any ideas? Thanks.
> edit: I connect the donor drives via powered USB to ide/sata cable


You probably are going to have to erase the donor drive. DvrBARS tries to prevent you from hosing your Windows system. So if still has a Windows format on the drive, it won't let you use it.


----------



## ggieseke

jmbach said:


> You probably are going to have to erase the donor drive. DvrBARS tries to prevent you from hosing your Windows system. So if still has a Windows format on the drive, it won't let you use it.


That's correct. I only promised to show mounted drives, not wipe them. 

The short "write zeros" test in WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostics or Seagate's SeaTools is the safest way to wipe the Windows drive formatting because you can see the serial number of the drive. Windows Disk Manager doesn't show the S/N.


----------



## tomc585

I figured it was something like that, I dont remember having that issue with WinMFS. I'll go get the SeaTools and give that a whirl. Thanks for the tip!


----------



## j053

Hi there, can someone send me the image of the 746320 it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance, J


----------



## ggieseke

tomc585 said:


> I figured it was something like that, I dont remember having that issue with WinMFS. I'll go get the SeaTools and give that a whirl. Thanks for the tip!


WinMFS will let you overwrite a drive that already has a valid Windows file system. I chickened out and put in every safety check I could think of so that it couldn't possibly wipe out your C: drive.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> WinMFS will let you overwrite a drive that already has a valid Windows file system. I chickened out and put in every safety check I could think of so that it couldn't possibly wipe out your C: drive.


Never seemed to me that it was about 'chickening out'. It was a prudent safety measure to keep people from shooting themselves in the foot. And you know some would have.


----------



## dougdingle

dougdingle said:


> Is anyone using an alternative to the WD Red drives?
> 
> I'd like to upgrade my Roamio Pro from a 3TB to a 4TB drive while retaining my recordings, and was looking at the Red drives, but the reviews on sites like Newegg have been horrendous the last six months. Truly awful with many, many failures in the first six months of use. It seems as if WD quality control has fallen through the floor on these.
> 
> So anyone using the Seagate BarraCuda ST4000DM005 or anything similar with some long(er) term success?


So no one? No one is using anything but WD Red drives?


----------



## jmbach

dougdingle said:


> So no one? No one is using anything but WD Red drives?


That is all I am using. Just upgraded my Roamio to 4TB. Now my two Roamios and one Premiere have a WD Reds.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Pcomazzi

Anyone happen to have an image for a Sony SVR-3000? Really desperate ... my units HD took a turn for the worse


----------



## ajlanga

ggieseke said:


> 2013/04/14: Version 1.0.0.2 Patched for DeviceIoControl error reading SD cards.
> 2013/04/15: Version 1.0.0.3 Patched for yet another DeviceIoControl error during restore on some computers.
> 2014/11/27: Version 1.0.0.6 Added the ability to restore VHD images that it doesn't recognize.
> 
> **WARNING**
> 
> 1. This software is provided "as is" with absolutely no warranty of any kind.
> 2. Opening your TiVo will void the manufacturer's warranty.
> 3. While every effort has been made to prevent data loss, the ultimate responsibility is yours.
> 
> OVERVIEW:
> 
> This is a Windows program designed to backup and restore TiVo DVRs. It will run on XP or later, and it should work on anything from a Series 1 to a Premiere. It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives, and it will not expand or "supersize" your drive (yet).
> 
> THE BASICS:
> 
> 1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.
> 2. Connect a TiVo drive to your computer. USB adapters will work, but are generally much slower than a SATA or PATA direct connection.
> 3. Read step 2 again. DvrBARS only scans the drives once when it first starts up. If you add, remove or change your drive configuration while it's running you will confuse the poor thing. I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.
> 4. Run DvrBARS with an account that's a member of the Administrators group or right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
> 5. If you like it and want to help support future development, find the donate option in the System Information screen.
> 
> NOW WHAT?
> 
> There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).
> 
> Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.
> 
> Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.
> 
> Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).
> 
> All three backup methods will preserve your settings, CableCARD pairing, Season Passes, guide data etc.
> 
> There are two restore options (Full and Quick).
> 
> Full restores write all of the information in the backup image to the target drive, including the sectors that weren't backed up. They get zeroes.
> 
> Quick restores only write the sectors that contain data. The rest of the target drive is untouched.
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> There's a roughly 2.2TB limit inherent in the VHD file format. If you try to do a Full backup of a 2TB drive that has been in use for a while it will probably run for about 10 hours and die.
> 
> You cannot make a Modified or Truncated backup of a dual drive TiVo unless both drives are connected. It has to be able to scan the entire MFS file system to figure out what sectors to include.
> 
> For adventurous souls, you can use the VHD files with VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. Use the VHD as the source drive, boot the virtual computer with the mfstools or jmfs ISO file and you can expand, supersize, etc to another drive.
> 
> If you have Vista or later you can also mount a VHD file in Disk Manager and use it as the source drive for further operations like turning a Full or Modified backup into a Truncated backup, but be careful to check the Read Only box.
> 
> PLEASE HELP!!!!
> 
> I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.
> 
> Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.
> 
> KUDOS:
> 
> Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.
> 
> The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.
> 
> AND FINALLY:
> 
> I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> Greg


This looks amazing. My Tivo TCD746320 HDD went belly up the other week and I've been looking to replace it. Does anyone have an image for this model?


----------



## ggieseke

ajlanga said:


> This looks amazing. My Tivo TCD746320 HDD went belly up the other week and I've been looking to replace it. Does anyone have an image for this model?


PM sent.


----------



## ThAbtO

Amazon.com: WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD40EFRX: Computers & Accessories

Lowest price I have seen lately. $118 which is only $4 more than the 3TB.


----------



## dougdingle

Back to $140 this morning.


----------



## dougdingle

Went back today, price was $115, but they only allowed me to order one (I wanted two). Price was exclusive to Prime members, it said.


----------



## jespenshade

Does anyone have an image for a TCD648250B?


----------



## splintersam

dougdingle said:


> So no one? No one is using anything but WD Red drives?


I have WD greens in a few of my systems operating for years now, and a Seagate 4TB in one without any issue.


----------



## dougdingle

I went with a pair of 4TB red drives. I clone my drives every 60-90 days or so, and rotate them into the machine. I'll be doing the 3TB to 4TB copy/expand at the end of the week.

I've also been using the WD greens for years, and had one Seagate deployed for a few months. It was a 7200 RPM drive and I ran the box with the top off to keep things cool. 

The only drive I've had fail in an older Series 3 was a Samsung.


----------



## TheCryptkeeper

Will DvrBARS work on a Windows 10 PC? For some reason the .exe file does not install when I click on it. I've tried running as an administrator with the same results. A spinning circle appears and then disappears with no results.


----------



## ggieseke

TheCryptkeeper said:


> Will DvrBARS work on a Windows 10 PC? For some reason the .exe file does not install when I click on it. I've tried running as an administrator with the same results. A spinning circle appears and then disappears with no results.


Let me guess - that PC has an SD card reader that shows up as drive letter even when there is no card in the slot. If that's the case, disable the card reader in BIOS or in Device Manager.

Yes, it should run fine on 10.


----------



## TheCryptkeeper

Thanks for the advice. Yes, it has an SD card reader. I'll try disabling in Bios to see what happens. The software ran on my laptop, also Windows 10.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk


----------



## ChipStewart

ajlanga said:


> This looks amazing. My Tivo TCD746320 HDD went belly up the other week and I've been looking to replace it. Does anyone have an image for this model?


I could use one too. I've been using an image someone sent me a couple of years ago, but have tried many times and can't get past the initial screen. Think I may have a bad copy.


----------



## ggieseke

ChipStewart said:


> I could use one too. I've been using an image someone sent me a couple of years ago, but have tried many times and can't get past the initial screen. Think I may have a bad copy.


PM sent.


----------



## ChipStewart

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


A million thanks. Unfortunately, no joy - it's still stuck at the "Welcome Starting up..." screen.

I copied it using DVRBars, then supersized it with JMFS. That is correct, isn't it? What else can I try? The unit was working fine with the original 320G drive (which I no longer have access to), so it shouldn't be a hardware issue.

Thanks again


----------



## jmbach

ChipStewart said:


> A million thanks. Unfortunately, no joy - it's still stuck at the "Welcome Starting up..." screen.
> 
> I copied it using DVRBars, then supersized it with JMFS. That is correct, isn't it? What else can I try? The unit was working fine with the original 320G drive (which I no longer have access to), so it shouldn't be a hardware issue.
> 
> Thanks again


Copy the image to a 2TB drive or less and let it boot up in the TiVo and make sure it updates to the latest OS before you do any other operation on the image.


----------



## jespenshade

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Any chance you have an image for a TCD648250B? I would greatly appreciate it.


----------



## ggieseke

jespenshade said:


> Any chance you have an image for a TCD648250B? I would greatly appreciate it.


I have a 648 DvrBARS image, but it's more than 4 years old and I don't remember who sent it to me. Given the problems people have had getting older Series 3s to update, it's probably useless. I'll send a PM anyway as soon as it uploads.

I think there are some up to date MFSTools or WinMFS images floating around here somewhere. You might ask in the image thread.


----------



## jespenshade

ggieseke said:


> I have a 648 DvrBARS image, but it's more than 4 years old and I don't remember who sent it to me. Given the problems people have had getting older Series 3s to update, it's probably useless. I'll send a PM anyway as soon as it uploads.
> 
> I think there are some up to date MFSTools or WinMFS images floating around here somewhere. You might ask in the image thread.


Thanks so much!


----------



## ChipStewart

jmbach said:


> Copy the image to a 2TB drive or less and let it boot up in the TiVo and make sure it updates to the latest OS before you do any other operation on the image.


Nope. Still stuck at the "Welcome Starting Up..." screen. Reformat using the WD software again?


----------



## jmbach

ChipStewart said:


> Nope. Still stuck at the "Welcome Starting Up..." screen. Reformat using the WD software again?


There are several welcome starting up screens. Each screen is separated by a flicker. Which screen are you getting stuck in. Maybe post a picture of the screen.


----------



## purex37

Trying to fix my mom's Tivo but the original hard drive is completely dead. I need a hard drive image for a tcd746320 that I can put on the 1TB drive I purchased. Can anyone help?


----------



## ggieseke

purex37 said:


> Trying to fix my mom's Tivo but the original hard drive is completely dead. I need a hard drive image for a tcd746320 that I can put on the 1TB drive I purchased. Can anyone help?


PM sent.


----------



## ChipStewart

jmbach said:


> There are several welcome starting up screens. Each screen is separated by a flicker. Which screen are you getting stuck in. Maybe post a picture of the screen.


----------



## jmbach

That looks like the first screen. And it is in a reboot loop from there?

Does it boot up to or through the Kickstart Portal entry point.


----------



## ChipStewart

jmbach said:


> That looks like the first screen. And it is in a reboot loop from there?
> 
> Does it boot up to or through the Kickstart Portal entry point.


After about 50 seconds, I do get the amber flashing light for a couple of seconds, but I can't seem to do anything with it. I hit and release the Pause button and various kickstart codes, but the unit doesn't reboot (or do anything else) - it just stays on the same screen.


----------



## jmbach

ChipStewart said:


> After about 50 seconds, I do get the amber flashing light for a couple of seconds, but I can't seem to do anything with it. I hit and release the Pause button and various kickstart codes, but the unit doesn't reboot (or do anything else) - it just stays on the same screen.


Sounds like the image is corrupted.
Re-download the image. (Which image are you using)
Use DvrBARS to restore the image using full restore and not quick restore.
Boot it in the TiVo before you do anything else to the image.


----------



## ChipStewart

jmbach said:


> Sounds like the image is corrupted.
> Re-download the image. (Which image are you using)
> Use DvrBARS to restore the image using full restore and not quick restore.
> Boot it in the TiVo before you do anything else to the image.


Nope. No change. Still stuck at the same screen. What's next?


----------



## Anexus

New to the TIVO Forum and been reading every thread I could to fix my Premiere S4 and Premiere XL HDDs after my XL drive crashed. I bought a Premiere S4 (New on Craigslists $40) after my Premiere XL died switched the HDDs and it worked well. I updated and used the XL TIVO with recordings for about a month before wanting to replace the HDD with a 2TB drive. Both the new 2TB and "bought and used" Premiere drives are now in the "Welcome Screen Boot Loop" after trying to copy the 320GB TIVO Premiere drive to my laptop using DvrBARS and reimaging the WD Purple 2TB with it. Is the easiest way to get an image for both of these and use DvrBARS to them to get both the Premiere and XL back running. Also, who has an image for these?


----------



## jmbach

Anexus said:


> New to the TIVO Forum and been reading every thread I could to fix my Premiere S4 and Premiere XL HDDs after my XL drive crashed. I bought a Premiere S4 (New on Craigslists $40) after my Premiere XL died switched the HDDs and it worked well. I updated and used the XL TIVO with recordings for about a month before wanting to replace the HDD with a 2TB drive. Both the new 2TB and "bought and used" Premiere drives are now in the "Welcome Screen Boot Loop" after trying to copy the 320GB TIVO Premiere drive to my laptop using DvrBARS and reimaging the WD Purple 2TB with it. Is the easiest way to get an image for both of these and use DvrBARS to them to get both the Premiere and XL back running. Also, who has an image for these?


If the image is of the recent OS, backup with DvrBARS using full backup and then restore.


----------



## Anexus

jmbach said:


> If the image is of the recent OS, backup with DvrBARS using full backup and then restore.


I did the restore to the 2TB drive and it is in the "Welcome Screen Boot Loop". I tried to put the good OS drive back in the TIVO and it also has the "Welcome Screen Boot Loop" now as well.


----------



## ggieseke

Anexus said:


> New to the TIVO Forum and been reading every thread I could to fix my Premiere S4 and Premiere XL HDDs after my XL drive crashed. I bought a Premiere S4 (New on Craigslists $40) after my Premiere XL died switched the HDDs and it worked well. I updated and used the XL TIVO with recordings for about a month before wanting to replace the HDD with a 2TB drive. Both the new 2TB and "bought and used" Premiere drives are now in the "Welcome Screen Boot Loop" after trying to copy the 320GB TIVO Premiere drive to my laptop using DvrBARS and reimaging the WD Purple 2TB with it. Is the easiest way to get an image for both of these and use DvrBARS to them to get both the Premiere and XL back running. Also, who has an image for these?


PM sent.


----------



## jmattioni

I have a Premiere XL with a corrupted 1TB drive. Can anyone help?


----------



## ggieseke

jmattioni said:


> I have a Premiere XL with a corrupted 1TB drive. Can anyone help?


PM sent.


----------



## MarkBergeron

Hope someone can help: I've been using DVRBARS for several years w/ no problem. After not using it (on the same PC) for ~ a year, I tried to restore a couple of different previously-saved Premiere images. DVRBARS Restore completes with no error, but the respective TiVos just keep rebooting after about 2 minutes of the first "Welcome" screen, yet the original drives work fine. All LEDs flash & the TiVos restart. Next I tried making 3 different backups from known working Premier TiVos: a 320, an XL and an XL4. In each case, same results: the backups complete with no errors and they restore with no errors, but NONE of the restored images work: same rebooting as above (and again: the original drives work fine). I have tried in Win-10/32 and XP/32 on the same hardware that has always worked before. NOTE: There are no card readers on this system. Any and all ideas/help appreciated!!! HELP! ;-)


----------



## ThAbtO

MarkBergeron said:


> Hope someone can help: I've been using DVRBARS for several years w/ no problem. After not using it (on the same PC) for ~ a year, I tried to restore a couple of different previously-saved Premiere images. DVRBARS Restore completes with no error, but the respective TiVos just keep rebooting after about 2 minutes of the first "Welcome" screen, yet the original drives work fine. All LEDs flash & the TiVos restart. Next I tried making 3 different backups from known working Premier TiVos: a 320, an XL and an XL4. In each case, same results: the backups complete with no errors and they restore with no errors, but NONE of the restored images work: same rebooting as above (and again: the original drives work fine). I have tried in Win-10/32 and XP/32 on the same hardware that has always worked before. NOTE: There are no card readers on this system. Any and all ideas/help appreciated!!! HELP! ;-)


Would need more info.... What model drives? From where does it reboot? Welcome screen? A few Minutes more screen?


----------



## MarkBergeron

ThAbtO said:


> Would need more info.... What model drives? From where does it reboot? Welcome screen? A few Minutes more screen?


Copying to TiVo WD drives of exactly the same model as the ones I'm copying from. As above: The first "Welcome" is all I see, that screen goes away as the TiVos reboot - yet the original "copied-from" drive boots properly. Again: I've tried this with a TiVo Premiere 320, XL and XL4 several times before requesting assistance..


----------



## ThAbtO

MarkBergeron said:


> Copying to TiVo WD drives of exactly the same model as the ones I'm copying from. As above: The first "Welcome" is all I see, that screen goes away as the TiVos reboot - yet the original "copied-from" drive boots properly. Again: I've tried this with a TiVo Premiere 320, XL and XL4 several times before requesting assistance..


From this, you are saying you are copying from 1 old Tivo drive to another old Tivo drive which is failing.


----------



## ggieseke

Mark,

When TiVo changed the OS partitions from Ext2 to SquashFS it broke DvrBARS. Images from before that still work, but newer images are useless. What's happening is that the OS partitions are not being backed up at all since that change, so when you restore them there's no operating system to boot from.

I have a beta that should back up a current Premiere and restore it successfully, but nobody that I've sent it to so far has bothered to reply. I can send it to you if you want, or any of my factory images from before they changed the playing field.


----------



## MarkBergeron

ThAbtO said:


> From this, you are saying you are copying from 1 old Tivo drive to another old Tivo drive which is failing.


I didn't mention "failing." None of the drives are failing. I refurbish TiVos. When I get a TiVo in, the first thing I do is pull the drive and test it with Hard Drive Sentinel. All drives - originals and destinations) are "perfect" and report 100% Healthy. I dispose of any drives which are not perfect and wipe the perfect ones before using DVRBARS: I write Truncated, clean images to the wiped and tested drives, some of which are brand new and have never been in a TiVo. All of a sudden this process has been stopped by my installation of DVRBARS not creating bootable images - I've been doing this for several years without incident. Thought maybe I was doing something "stupid" and not catching it myself and someone might have seen this particular issue. Hope this more-in-depth explanation helps!


----------



## MarkBergeron

ggieseke said:


> Mark,
> 
> When TiVo changed the OS partitions from Ext2 to SquashFS it broke DvrBARS. Images from before that still work, but newer images are useless. What's happening is that the OS partitions are not being backed up at all since that change, so when you restore them there's no operating system to boot from.
> 
> I have a beta that should back up a current Premiere and restore it successfully, but nobody that I've sent it to so far has bothered to reply. I can send it to you if you want, or any of my factory images from before they changed the playing field.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi GGieseke, If you read my reply above, I am vested in finding a Windows Backup and Restore solution. I need to be able to save images to RAID storage, and be able to restore them at will. Copying doesn't work well as copying uses (wastes) and entire drive for each different image. So YES, I will be happy to test & report back to you. As long as your beta app can copy & restore, I already have a working Premiere of every model (and working Host drive inside). THANK YOU!!!


----------



## MarkBergeron

MarkBergeron said:


> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Hi GGieseke, If you read my reply above, I am vested in finding a Windows Backup and Restore solution. I need to be able to save images to RAID storage, and be able to restore them at will. Copying doesn't work well as copying uses (wastes) and entire drive for each different image. So YES, I will be happy to test & report back to you. As long as your beta app can copy & restore, I already have a working Premiere of every model (and working Host drive inside). THANK YOU!!!


On second reading - if you send me older images, I will test them as well and tell you the results of restoring previous images AND of new copy & restore!


----------



## ggieseke

MarkBergeron said:


> I didn't mention "failing." None of the drives are failing. I refurbish TiVos. When I get a TiVo in, the first thing I do is pull the drive and test it with Hard Drive Sentinel. All drives - originals and destinations) are "perfect" and report 100% Healthy. I dispose of any drives which are not perfect and wipe the perfect ones before using DVRBARS: I write Truncated, clean images to the wiped and tested drives, some of which are brand new and have never been in a TiVo. All of a sudden this process has been stopped by my installation of DVRBARS not creating bootable images - I've been doing this for several years without incident. Thought maybe I was doing something "stupid" and not catching it myself and someone might have seen this particular issue. Hope this more-in-depth explanation helps!


I'm going to recuse myself at this point. With DvrBARS I didn't jam the conditions in your face like I do with MFSR, but they're clearly stated in the System Information screen. If you have been using it commercially that's not what I ecer intended it for, nor will I support it. Thumbs DOWN!


----------



## MarkBergeron

ggieseke said:


> I'm going to recuse myself at this point. With DvrBARS I didn't jam the conditions in your face like I do with MFSR, but they're clearly stated in the System Information screen. If you have been using it commercially that's not what I ecer intended it for, nor will I support it. Thumbs DOWN!


Sorry, I never saw anything like that. However, I don't advertise or sell TiVo repair as a business. I own a Computer sales and support business. What I do with TiVos is for friends whose TiVos have failed, and two or three I have repaired and then re-sold. It is not a "commercial" business from my point of view, and I do apologize if I've stepped on any toes, it was certainly unintended.


----------



## matt314159

Just wanted to say thanks for this software. I bought a used XL4 on eBay and backed it up as soon as I got it. It was super easy to use. Today (after the backup) I finally got my cablecard provisioned/paired - Would it be wise to back it up again or is it fine without it?


----------



## jmbach

matt314159 said:


> Just wanted to say thanks for this software. I bought a used XL4 on eBay and backed it up as soon as I got it. It was super easy to use. Today (after the backup) I finally got my cablecard provisioned/paired - Would it be wise to back it up again or is it fine without it?


I would do a backup of the image after the CableCARD was paired. This way if the drive fails, restoring that image will prevent you from having to call the cable company to re-pair the CableCARD.

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk


----------



## matt314159

Thanks! That's the way I was leaning but wanted to be sure.


----------



## djose

The download link for DVRBars in this thread's first post doesn't seem to be working - http://goo.gl/AbXwr.


----------



## ggieseke

Dropbox disabled public folders yesterday, so all my links went bad. Try this.
Dropbox - DvrBARS.zip


----------



## ThAbtO

Use Google Drive.


----------



## RickStrobel

I've tried DvrBARS on two different Windows 10 computers and it won't run on either. I can run it in a Windows 7 VM, but haven't tried to connect drives to it nor do I want to, would be way too slow. Both Windows 10 PCs are running the latest Creators Edition of Windows 10. One of them has an absolutely brand new, clean install with nothing on it.

On the one with the clean install the program appears begin to launch then just disappears. On the other it gives this error:


----------



## Endymion_

I don't know what to attribute it to, but my Windows 10 PC does not exhibit this issue with DvrBARS. Yes, latest and up to datest, Creators Edition.


----------



## ms602

Can someone please send me an image for a TCD746320? I don't know what happened, but the internal drive stopped booting right after the Western Digital Expander was removed. My Premiere goes right past the "starting up" screen, cuts to black, then never does anything else. It just sits there for hours with the green LED on.

I thought the internal drive might have gone bad, so I copied the internal drive to a brand new drive and tried to boot the new drive; exact same problem. So now I'm thinking it got corrupted somehow, and that I need to just put a brand new image on.. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears, but I would still like to get an image file. Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

RickStrobel said:


> I've tried DvrBARS on two different Windows 10 computers and it won't run on either. I can run it in a Windows 7 VM, but haven't tried to connect drives to it nor do I want to, would be way too slow. Both Windows 10 PCs are running the latest Creators Edition of Windows 10. One of them has an absolutely brand new, clean install with nothing on it.
> 
> On the one with the clean install the program appears begin to launch then just disappears. On the other it gives this error:


It's hitting something it doesn't like while getting a list if all the drives in the system. Usually when it just disappears after launching it's caused by a specific brand of SD card reader. If you have a card reader, try disabling it in BIOS or even in Device Manager.


----------



## joball70

Anyone have the DvrBARS new, or latest VHD file, for a TivoHD XL Series 3 model #TCD658000 (software 11.0n.K1-01-2-658)?....Currently having some trouble using WinMfs


----------



## ThAbtO

joball70 said:


> Anyone have the DvrBARS new, or latest VHD file, for a TivoHD XL Series 3 model #TCD658000 (software 11.0n.K1-01-2-658)?....Currently having some trouble using WinMfs


There isn't one around unless someone does it.


----------



## joball70

ThAbtO said:


> There isn't one around unless someone does it.


Ok....Thx for quick reply ThAbtO. Will update, if successful using winmfs


----------



## dadrepus

I have an older Premiere that seems to be failing. i would lke to keep the machine and just replace the drive. I only have Macs to work with. Can I do it with something like CCC? If not what?


----------



## toy4x4

Need a recommendation here all. I am getting ready to replace my hard drive in my Premier XL4. I have a 2TB image and am putting it on the replacement drive now. But now I'm wondering if I should backup and restore the current drive to it instead of a fresh install. I know my recordings can be damaged, but I am now thinking it's worth copying the old drive to the new one to retain all info/settings/etc. I do not see any stability issues with the box, just lots of errors in recorded shows now.

Thoughts on whether I'm better off with a fresh image or to backup/restore?


----------



## ggieseke

toy4x4 said:


> Need a recommendation here all. I am getting ready to replace my hard drive in my Premier XL4. I have a 2TB image and am putting it on the replacement drive now. But now I'm wondering if I should backup and restore the current drive to it instead of a fresh install. I know my recordings can be damaged, but I am now thinking it's worth copying the old drive to the new one to retain all info/settings/etc. I do not see any stability issues with the box, just lots of errors in recorded shows now.
> 
> Thoughts on whether I'm better off with a fresh image or to backup/restore?


If you're not having any issues that indicate corruption in the OS, I would try a byte-for-byte copy of the existing drive with ddrescue or a cloning drive dock. You can always resort to the fresh image if it doesn't work. If you use ddrescue and write down the location of any bad sectors it finds I can tell you if they are in a media partition or somewhere that would affect the software itself.


----------



## catbastet

I was hoping to find a way to get an image for my TCD746320. The hard drive is far too damaged to copy to a new drive


----------



## ggieseke

catbastet said:


> I was hoping to find a way to get an image for my TCD746320. The hard drive is far too damaged to copy to a new drive


PM sent.


----------



## videojanitor

Hoping for a little input on this: I have a Premiere that is working fine, but I decided I should make a backup of the drive so that I would have it in the event of trouble. I used DvrBARS to make a truncated backup — seemed to work fine. To test it, I restored it to another drive of the same size. Unfortunately, the Premiere never gets past the “Welcome” screen when this drive is installed. About once a minute, all the lights on the front of the Premiere come on for about a half-second, but that’s it. I tried doing a “full backup” and restoring to yet another drive, but the results were the same. Any ideas about what I might be doing wrong?


----------



## ThAbtO

What model drive did you use?

If you used a WD Green or Blue drive, An intellipark feature is preventing it from working in Tivo. WDidle3 is a command line program to use. Download "Ultimate Boot CD", burn it to a CD, then boot to it with only the "Tivo" drive attached.

WDidle3 drive: /D

Another issue with Green drive is PUIS and use HDAT2 if enabled. Though this feature is usually with a couple jumpers, but some came internally set.

Recommended drive is the WD Red (not Pro line, or any 7200+ RPM), ie: WD10EFRX, up to WD40EFRX.


----------



## videojanitor

I tried two different drives — one was indeed a WD Green, while the other was a Seagate Barracuda. These were just drives I had laying around — my only intention was to test to the backup/restore process. I have used the WD Red drives to revive a couple of Series 3 boxes, and those worked great. I don’t have any spares though. If you think that’s the issue, I’ll order one and then just keep it on the shelf after testing.


----------



## ggieseke

videojanitor said:


> Hoping for a little input on this: I have a Premiere that is working fine, but I decided I should make a backup of the drive so that I would have it in the event of trouble. I used DvrBARS to make a truncated backup - seemed to work fine. To test it, I restored it to another drive of the same size. Unfortunately, the Premiere never gets past the "Welcome" screen when this drive is installed. About once a minute, all the lights on the front of the Premiere come on for about a half-second, but that's it. I tried doing a "full backup" and restoring to yet another drive, but the results were the same. Any ideas about what I might be doing wrong?


I just attached version 1.0.0.7 to the first post in this thread. It fixes a bug in Truncated and Modified Full backups caused by the change from Ext2 to SquashFS for the OS partitions. Earlier versions ignored those partitions altogether, so they were never included in the backup image.

Your Full backup (the byte-for-byte long copy) should have worked. It's basically the same as using dd or a duplicating drive dock and it can copy ANY drive up to 2TB, not just TiVo drives. How big is the source drive and how was it connected?


----------



## videojanitor

Thanks for posting the updated file — I’ll give that a try in a little while and post my results.

My source drive is 1TB, and was connected via SATA. Not sure why the full backup didn’t work — could’ve been some kind of fluke.


----------



## videojanitor

ggieseke said:


> I just attached version 1.0.0.7 to the first post in this thread. It fixes a bug in Truncated and Modified Full backups caused by the change from Ext2 to SquashFS for the OS partitions. Earlier versions ignored those partitions altogether, so they were never included in the backup image.


Well, that did the trick. I made a Truncated Backup, then did a Quick Restore it booted without any issues. Thanks so much for your help! You'll find a little something in your PayPal account as token of appreciation.


----------



## ggieseke

videojanitor said:


> Well, that did the trick. I made a Truncated Backup, then did a Quick Restore it booted without any issues. Thanks so much for your help! You'll find a little something in your PayPal account as token of appreciation.


Thanks - both for the donation and confirming that Truncated backups work with the latest version. I thought it would, but I've made stupid programmer mistakes before and these days I don't count my chickens until they're in my belly.


----------



## videojanitor

ggieseke said:


> Thanks - both for the donation and confirming that Truncated backups work with the latest version. I thought it would, but I've made stupid programmer mistakes before and these days I don't count my chickens until they're in my belly.


You've done a heck of job on this, so I for one applaud your efforts!


----------



## sow

My in-laws Tivo Premiere drive appears to have given up the ghost (keeps going through the many hour repair process, limping along, and then dying again). Wondering if I should attempt to copy from that drive to a new one or just use a fresh image. If the latter, will I have to go through the cable company to set them up again on Cablecard or might it just boot up and operate sans configuration?

Can I get some help on acquiring the image?

Tia.


----------



## ggieseke

sow said:


> My in-laws Tivo Premiere drive appears to have given up the ghost (keeps going through the many hour repair process, limping along, and then dying again). Wondering if I should attempt to copy from that drive to a new one or just use a fresh image. If the latter, will I have to go through the cable company to set them up again on Cablecard or might it just boot up and operate sans configuration?
> 
> Can I get some help on acquiring the image?
> 
> Tia.


What model number?


----------



## sow

Oh, sorry, I'm a dummy. It's a basic Premier model (TCD746320).

Thanks!


----------



## sow

Btw, I noticed DvrBARS doesn't like substituted drives; it crashes on boot in the presence of them. Workaround is to delete the subst drives..

Perhaps an easy programming fix.


----------



## sow

sow said:


> Oh, sorry, I'm a dummy. It's a basic Premier model (TCD746320).
> 
> Thanks!


I received the unit and plugged in the drive but unfortunately DvrBARS crashes upon accessing it. I'm guessing the drive is beyond repair. Looks like I'll need an image after all.


----------



## ggieseke

sow said:


> I received the unit and plugged in the drive but unfortunately DvrBARS crashes upon accessing it. I'm guessing the drive is beyond repair. Looks like I'll need an image after all.


PM sent.


----------



## djose

I bought a new hard drive (Western Digital WD AV-GP 500GB), restored the backup with DVRBARS and put it back in my TiVo (TCD746320). When I power it on the green and amber lights flash for a short period then only the green one remains lit, with no image on the screen. Is there something I can do to diagnose what's going on? Is it possible to start the Tivo in "debug mode" or some mode that helps me understand what is the issue?


----------



## ThAbtO

djose said:


> I bought a new hard drive (Western Digital WD AV-GP 500GB), restored the backup with DVRBARS and put it back in my TiVo (TCD746320). When I power it on the green and amber lights flash for a short period then only the green one remains lit, with no image on the screen. Is there something I can do to diagnose what's going on? Is it possible to start the Tivo in "debug mode" or some mode that helps me understand what is the issue?


Download the "ultimate Boot CD" and burn to CD and boot from it. Use "WDidle3 Drive: /D" with only the drive connected (and CD drive).

WD Green are not being made any more and what's being sold may be leftovers from their stock and getting higher priced. The 500GB will only get you ~75 HD hours.

Recommended is WD Red (not Pro) drives, WD10EFRX, WD20EFRX, WD30EFRX, WD40EFRX are examples. These do not need WDidle3, just put image on them and place in Tivo.


----------



## lpwcomp

ThAbtO said:


> Download the "ultimate Boot CD" and burn to CD and boot from it. Use "WDidle3 Drive: /D" with only the drive connected (and CD drive).


Since he is not even getting the initial startup screen, Intellipark is not the problem.


----------



## jmbach

djose said:


> I bought a new hard drive (Western Digital WD AV-GP 500GB), restored the backup with DVRBARS and put it back in my TiVo (TCD746320). When I power it on the green and amber lights flash for a short period then only the green one remains lit, with no image on the screen. Is there something I can do to diagnose what's going on? Is it possible to start the Tivo in "debug mode" or some mode that helps me understand what is the issue?


You can do a clear and delete everything if you type 76543210 after you enter the kickstart portal. That is about as close as you can get to reset the image to your unit.

By the way. Do you see any image upon power up.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## djose

lpwcomp said:


> Since he is not even getting the initial startup screen, Intellipark is not the problem.


Thank you for your feedback. I got this drive as the original that came with my TiVo is a WD AV-GP 320GB. I realize it's not much bigger than the original, but my priority now is to get the TiVo to work again, rather than having extra storage capacity.
Given how similar the replacement drive is to the original one, do you still think that the issue I'm experiencing is related to the compatibility of the drive with the TiVo?


----------



## djose

jmbach said:


> By the way. Do you see any image upon power up


No, I get no image at all after powering the TiVo up.


----------



## jmbach

djose said:


> No, I get no image at all after powering the TiVo up.


Check your HDMI connections or connect the video via another method.


----------



## lpwcomp

djose said:


> No, I get no image at all after powering the TiVo up.


2 *fixable *possibilities come to mind.

1. There is a problem with the connection to the TV.

2. There is a problem with an internal connection in the TiVo.

I don't know if your question was aimed at me, but I never thought it was a drive incompatibility problem. You should get the initial startup screen regardless of the status of the drive.


----------



## ThAbtO

lpwcomp said:


> 2 *fixable *possibilities come to mind.
> 
> 1. There is a problem with the connection to the TV.
> 
> 2. There is a problem with an internal connection in the TiVo.
> 
> I don't know if your question was aimed at me, but I never thought it was a drive incompatibility problem. You should get the initial startup screen regardless of the status of the drive.


3. The TV is set to the Input port for the Tivo.
4. Make sure the HDMI is fully plugged in.


----------



## djose

ThAbtO said:


> 3. The TV is set to the Input port for the Tivo.
> 4. Make sure the HDMI is fully plugged in.


Thank you all. I plugged my old drive back in the TiVo and confirmed it behaved as before (stuck in the "welcome" screen). Then I reconnected the new one and this time it worked. I believe the drive was not properly connected the first time I installed it. Everything seems to be working fine now, thanks for the help with this setup.


----------



## bhepburn

I installed the "new" TiVo interface, and do not like it. The TiVo solution to roll back to the previous U/I involves a clear and delete everything. 

I have a Roamio Pro with the stock disk (476 HD hrs capacity 1TB??). It's less than 20% full, and I would prefer to not lose about half of that. I have about 60 OnePasses that I would prefer to not have to recreate. 

Are there any set of tools that will allow me to backup the programming and season passes to a computer (I have tons of disk space on several Windows machines), then jump through the hoops to reinstall the "old" U/I, then restore the programming and season passes to the Roamio with the "old" U/I?


----------



## lpwcomp

bhepburn said:


> I installed the "new" TiVo interface, and do not like it. The TiVo solution to roll back to the previous U/I involves a clear and delete everything.
> 
> I have a Roamio Pro with the stock disk (476 HD hrs capacity 1TB??). It's less than 20% full, and I would prefer to not lose about half of that. I have about 60 OnePasses that I would prefer to not have to recreate.
> 
> Are there any set of tools that will allow me to backup the programming and season passes to a computer (I have tons of disk space on several Windows machines), then jump through the hoops to reinstall the "old" U/I, then restore the programming and season passes to the Roamio with the "old" U/I?


You can use kmttg to copy any recordings that are not copy protected to your computer, then once you have restored the old UI, you can use pyTivo to move them back.

You should also be able to use kmttg to backup and restore your OnePasses, although I do not know if anyone has done this with a Hydra-ted TiVo.

BTW, the stock drive (476 HD hrs capacity) in a Pro is 3TB.


----------



## ThAbtO

lpwcomp said:


> You can use kmttg to copy any recordings that are not copy protected to your computer, then once you have restored the old UI, you can use pyTivo to move them back.
> 
> You should also be able to use kmttg to backup and restore your OnePasses, although I do not know if anyone has done this with a Hydra-ted TiVo.
> 
> BTW, the stock drive (476 HD hrs capacity) in a Pro is 3TB.


That may not be possible if its the (new) Hydra interface.


----------



## lpwcomp

ThAbtO said:


> That may not be possible if its the (new) Hydra interface.


As I stated, I don't know about the 1P backup.

AFAIK, there have been no reported problems with transferring _*from*_ a Hydra-ted TiVo.


----------



## bhepburn

Thanks for the info. It is a Hydra. It sounds like the programming should go relatively reliably, it's all stuff from TV. One Passes may have an issue. I can recreate those reasonably easily. It seemed like backup and restore ought to work, but all I have seen was people grousing about clear and delete all. I guess I have a project for the holidays. I'll post a report when I have results.


----------



## DaoFerret

A huge "thank you" to the community and the people who worked on this.

Downloaded an image, and utility, ran it on a new drive and swapped it in today. Booted up first try. Wife was suitably impressed and was expecting to spend lots more than the $70 for the new drive to get it back up and running.

Thanks again!

Edit: One suggestion if someone is actively working on DVRBars, I'd add a percentage counter and an estimated time to completion (if at all possible). I know I was using it "sub-optimally" by using a USB adapter on the new drive, so my time would take quite a bit longer than normal, for a 1TB drive, but those two things would have been useful in estimating how much more time it might take (and to tell if things were actually happening  )


----------



## matt314159

I might be missing some kind of "search thread" functionality in this forum but I've got a truncated image I created when my Tivo was fresh and newly married to my CableCard. It's a ~2GB image from a 2TB Premier XL4 Tivo. I've recently begun experiencing moments where the image macroblocks terribly and I lose audio anywhere from 3 to 30 seconds, and sometimes when it's really bad the image is lost altogether. My signal levels look good so I'm wondering if perhaps it's the HDD. 

I have a 7200RPM 500GB hard drive I wanted to toss the original's image onto and swap for testing, but the program squawks about the destination disk being too small. Is there a way around that, maybe shrinking the image somehow? I don't want to drop money on a 2TB size drive until I know for sure whether it's actually the disk. I'll keep reading as much as I can and see if I can find the answer on my own but in the meantime I thought I'd ask in case anybody knows a good solution offhand. 

Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

I think MFSTools 3.2 can copy and shrink. If you have VMware Desktop or VirtualBox you can create a VM with the DvrBARS VHD file as one of the drives, your 500GB drive as the 2nd drive, and the MFSTools 3.2 ISO as the boot CD it should work. I've done it the other way (expanding a 746320 image onto a 2TB drive).


----------



## matt314159

ggieseke said:


> I think MFSTools 3.2 can copy and shrink. If you have VMware Desktop or VirtualBox you can create a VM with the DvrBARS VHD file as one of the drives, your 500GB drive as the 2nd drive, and the MFSTools 3.2 ISO as the boot CD it should work. I've done it the other way (expanding a 746320 image onto a 2TB drive).


I'll check that out, thanks!


----------



## ThAbtO

You should not use 7200+ RPM drives, they are power hungry and exhaust heat. The power supply may not even be able to handle it.


----------



## **iggy**

Pointed to this thread by another user, need an image for TCD746320 thank you in advanced..


----------



## ggieseke

**iggy** said:


> Pointed to this thread by another user, need an image for TCD746320 thank you in advanced..


PM sent.


----------



## greenfalcon

Attempted to ddrescue from an old failing drive to a new drive, still get a GSOD. I suspect that I will need a clean image for a 746320. Thanks in advance.


----------



## ggieseke

greenfalcon said:


> Attempted to ddrescue from an old failing drive to a new drive, still get a GSOD. I suspect that I will need a clean image for a 746320. Thanks in advance.


PM sent.


----------



## carysmith

Hello! My Premier got stuck doing an update and would never get past 5% on the scale. I ran the on-board HD test and it said the drive was failing. So I decided to upgrade using DVRBackup onto a WD 1TB drive. The copy worked fine till about half way, when I got an error message (see attached). Does this mean that the TiVo operating system is on a bad sector and it cannot be copied? Thanks for your help! (forgot to mention it is a TCD746320)


----------



## ggieseke

carysmith said:


> Hello! My Premier got stuck doing an update and would never get past 5% on the scale. I ran the on-board HD test and it said the drive was failing. So I decided to upgrade using DVRBackup onto a WD 1TB drive. The copy worked fine till about half way, when I got an error message (see attached). Does this mean that the TiVo operating system is on a bad sector and it cannot be copied? Thanks for your help! (forgot to mention it is a TCD746320)


Error 112 means that you ran out of disk space of the destination drive.


----------



## carysmith

Silly me! Thanks for the response!


----------



## nickhaas33

GGIESEKE:
Do you still have the image link for the Tivo Elite XL4 Model # TCD758250?
Do they use the same type SATA Western Digital 2TB drives that work in the Tivo HD machines?
I have replaced my Tivo HD drives several times, so I know how to use WINMFS, but I see you have to use DVRBARS (never used this one) now?
I am thinking mine is about to go.
Thanks very much!


----------



## ggieseke

nickhaas33 said:


> GGIESEKE:
> Do you still have the image link for the Tivo Elite XL4 Model # TCD758250?
> Do they use the same type SATA Western Digital 2TB drives that work in the Tivo HD machines?
> I have replaced my Tivo HD drives several times, so I know how to use WINMFS, but I see you have to use DVRBARS (never used this one) now?
> I am thinking mine is about to go.
> Thanks very much!


Image sent. The AV-rated green drives from Western Digital that TiVo always used (WD20EURS or WD20EURX) aren't made any more, but the Red line works great. That would be the WD20EFRX in your case.

WinMFS doesn't work on Premieres, but DvrBARS is similar and even easier to use IMO. I made the user interface look like the standard TiVo UI, right down to the sound effects.


----------



## wood252ota

The hard drive in my premiere is mostly dead and I want to make sure I have the procedure right to replace it. I'll be putting in a WD 1TB red drive.
1) Get an image of the drive (I know how to get that )
2) Run DVRBars to restore the image to the drive.
3) Run JMFS to expand drive to 1TB
Between steps 2 and 3 do I need to put the drive in the Tivo and do a guided setup?
Is there some step I'm missing ?
Thanks for the help


----------



## ggieseke

You don't have to do anything between steps 2 & 3.


----------



## nickhaas33

ggieseke said:


> Image sent. The AV-rated green drives from Western Digital that TiVo always used (WD20EURS or WD20EURX) aren't made any more, but the Red line works great. That would be the WD20EFRX in your case.
> 
> WinMFS doesn't work on Premieres, but DvrBARS is similar and even easier to use IMO. I made the user interface look like the standard TiVo UI, right down to the sound effects.


Do I have to do something special after I restore the image to expand it to use the 2TB drive? In other words do I have to run WINMFS after DVRBARS for the Tivo HD?
Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

nickhaas33 said:


> Do I have to do something special after I restore the image to expand it to use the 2TB drive? In other words do I have to run WINMFS after DVRBARS for the Tivo HD?
> Thanks


Are we still talking about your TCD758250, or a Series 3 like a 652? The 758 image is already for a 2TB drive. For a Series 3 you're probably better off getting an image from ThAbtO and using WinMFS for the entire process. I have a few DvrBARS images for older models, but you would still have to expand them with jmfs or MFSTools 3.2.


----------



## dmoss

Sorry for newbie question. To take failed TCD746 to 4tb clean, not trying to save recordings, do I need to start with a restore of TCD746320 image and expand or does a 4tb image exist? Thank you for any assistance.


----------



## ggieseke

dmoss said:


> Sorry for newbie question. To take failed TCD746 to 4tb clean, not trying to save recordings, do I need to start with a restore of TCD746320 image and expand or does a 4tb image exist? Thank you for any assistance.


My 746 image is too old to go straight to 4TB. You would have to restore it to a 2TB or smaller drive, let it upgrade to the latest OS, and copy that drive to a 4TB with MFSTools 3.2.


----------



## Karunch

My hard drive died on my TCD746320, and I am buying a WD10EFRX drive (the 2TB one is out of stock). Could you send me the image that I would need to install? Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

Karunch said:


> My hard drive died on my TCD746320, and I am buying a WD10EFRX drive (the 2TB one is out of stock). Could you send me the image that I would need to install? Thanks!


Sent.


----------



## Allenn Bond

My hard drive died on my TCD746320. Can I get an image file to put on a new hard drive? Where?


----------



## ggieseke

Allenn Bond said:


> My hard drive died on my TCD746320. Can I get an image file to put on a new hard drive? Where?


Sent.


----------



## Allenn Bond

ggieseke said:


> Sent.


Thanks for the file. Is "clear and delete" for the new drive and I'm looking for a thread about "marrying" the hard drive. Sorry for the newbie questions, but the old Tivo's would format the drive by itself as I remmember.


----------



## ThAbtO

Allenn Bond said:


> Thanks for the file. Is "clear and delete" for the new drive and I'm looking for a thread about "marrying" the hard drive. Sorry for the newbie questions, but the old Tivo's would format the drive by itself as I remmember.


No, anything older than a Roamio (series 5) needs an image on the drive. You would need to do "Clear and Delete Everything " when System Information shows ZEROS for the TiVo service number. This marries image to system and enables recordings.


----------



## LHSR02

Greetings.

I have a TCD746320 with the guided setup loop and can't get out of it, according to Tivo. Is it possible to get a copy of the image file, as others have gotten (thanks to ggieseke).

BTW Tivo offered me a new unit plus Lifetime (a second "Lifetime" for this unit) for only $800.00! Geesh. 

Thank you.


----------



## ggieseke

LHSR02 said:


> Greetings.
> 
> I have a TCD746320 with the guided setup loop and can't get out of it, according to Tivo. Is it possible to get a copy of the image file, as others have gotten (thanks to ggieseke).
> 
> BTW Tivo offered me a new unit plus Lifetime (a second "Lifetime" for this unit) for only $800.00! Geesh.
> 
> Thank you.


Sent.


----------



## SirMontego

Help!

I am not a smart person. Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

I’m trying to replace the hard drive on my Premiere XL because my old one died.

First, let me explain my initial problem. I plugged in my Premiere XL, which hadn’t been used for two months. It got stuck on the “Welcome! Starting up . . .” screen. I then removed the hard drive (a western digital green), connected it to my desktop PC, and checked it with Western Digital’s Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows. The program said the drive had errors.

I then bought a new hard drive, a 1 TB Western Digital Blue. I also got an image (a VHD file) of the TCD748000. I plugged the new Western Digital Blue into my PC and turned my PC on.

From Windows 10, using DvrBARS (version 1.0.0.7), I chose Restore, Quick Restore, chose the TCD748000 file, and chose the new hard drive. The restore took a few minutes and said success (or something similar) at the end. I then turned off my pc, removed the hard drive, put it into my Premiere XL, connected the sata/power cable, reinstalled the tivo lid, and plugged it all into my tv and power outlet.

Thirty minutes later, the Tivo is still stuck at the “Welcome! Starting up . . .”


----------



## ggieseke

It sounds like the box isn't seeing the drive at all. The first Welcome screen comes off of the firmware, and should switch to a different startup screen that comes off the drive within about 30 seconds.

I would recheck the power and SATA connections at both ends, and make sure that the drive is spinning up.


----------



## SirMontego

ggieseke,

Unfortunately for me that didn't work. Specifically, I unplugged the sata cord from the motherboard and securely plugged it back in. I also removed the hard drive from the Tivo, plugged it into my windows 10 pc, and ran the full restore on the hard drive (which took a few hours). I then plugged the hard drive back in and plugged the Tivo into the power and hdmi without putting the cover back on. I listened and confirmed that the hard drive was spinning.

As near as I can tell, the possibilities are:

1. I prepared the hard drive wrong or
2. My Tivo's sata cable is defective, which seems extremely unlikely.

Help. 

PS, I really appreciate your help.


----------



## jmbach

One other option is that the drive may have PUIS enabled. You can use HDAT2 to check and disable it if needed.

You might consider trying another drive of a different model to see if it will boot up okay.


----------



## SirMontego

jmbach said:


> One other option is that the drive may have PUIS enabled. You can use HDAT2 to check and disable it if needed.
> 
> You might consider trying another drive of a different model to see if it will boot up okay.


Do you happen to have instructions on how to load HDAT2? I'm a bit lost here. As I understand, I have to have my computer boot from a USB (I don't have a cd/dvd drive or a 3.5" floppy drive), but I'm totally lost on what program to put on the usb and how to put that program on the usb so it will boot. I'm pretty sure I can set my computer to boot from the USB though.


----------



## jmbach

Download HDAT2 lite iso and use Rufus to put on usb stick to boot off of.

Might need to make sure BIOS has hard drive mode set to IDE or AHCI mode and not RAID or some other mode. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## SirMontego

jmbach,

Thanks for the idea and taking the time to help me. I got hdat2 to run. Unfortunately, the Power-UP In Standby (PUIS) feature set was set to disabled. Also, everything else in the Nr. Command/Features sets of HDAT2 was enabled except the Security features set (not sure if that's important).

Kinda a side note: Rufus gave me a "don't recognized the iso file" or something like that, so I used RMPrepUSB program and the HDAT2IMG_60B7.IMG file from HDAT2 Download. I followed the directions from How to check your hard disk for bad sectors. I only write this so someone else having trouble making a hdat2 boot usb doesn't struggle like me.

Any other ideas?


----------



## jmbach

Just to confirm that the drive is a 1 TB drive that you are restoring to.

Did you notice when you were running HDAT2 on the drive if the drive had a HPA (Host Protected Area). If it does, it needs to be deleted. Some older computers would create one if the boot drive did not have one to hold some BIOS information. 

Erase the drive and try again with a different computer.


----------



## CentralValley209

I'm a newbie here. Can anyone help me out?

I have a Tivo premiere 1TB (TCD748000) and the box started rebooting itself and showing a green screen saying "The Tivo has detected a serious problem..." Customer service told me that the hard drive is failing and they cannot do anything about it as the 90 day warranty is up (well it IS 7 years old).

The box has lifetime service and I do not want to give that up!

Based on the research I have done on this Tivo community forum I can replace the hard drive, but I do not know how. I have been reading conflicting information on how to go about it.

You need to somehow copy the software from the original and put it in the new one or download the software of your tivo model online or on this forum if you do not have the original hd? At least to my understanding.

I would like to copy the contents of the original and transfer it to a new 3tb hard drive, if that is possible. Would that be possible in my situation due to my failing(or failed) hd? Or would I need to do a clean install (not using the original hd)?

My Tivo did have the latest software (20.7.4). Read somewhere that that is important to determine if you can upgrade to a hd larger than 2tb.

These are all the programs people have mentioned here in these forums and I assume one(maybe more) need to be burned on a cd but I don't know which ones I need:

jmfs
mfs tools 3.2
ddrescue
dvrbars
image of TCD748000 software

I have already downloaded (but not yet burned) an ISO [MFSTools_3.2_openSUSE_Leap_42.1_JeOS.x86_64-1.0.4] from this thread:
https://www.tivocommunity.com/community/index.php?threads/6tb-premiere.53051

and an ISO [premiere_linux_inc_supersize_jmfs-rev104] from this website that does give a pretty good step by step guide but I do not know how dated it is:
A Guide to Upgrading Your Tivo Bolt, Tivo Premiere, Tivo Roamio, Tivo Roamio OTA, Tivo HD, Tivo Series 3 or Tivo Series 2 (Easily upgrade your Tivo Bolt, Roamio or Premiere to 300 Hours+ HD Capacity) - Also includes instructions on how to fix a broken Tivo.

Maybe I need one or both of these ISOs or none?

These are the possible hard drives I want to upgrade to:

https://www.amazon.com/Red-4TB-Hard-Disk-Drive/dp/B008JJLW4M/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1526399595&sr=1-1&keywords=wd+sata+hard+drive&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin:6799353011&th=1

or

https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Surveillance-Hard-Disk-Drive/dp/B0718XQQJ9/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526402047&sr=1-3&keywords=wd+purple&th=1​If anyone can provide the correct software and the step-by-step process by linking me to the correct threads or giving it here, that would be great. Any help would much be appreciated!


----------



## jmbach

CentralValley209 said:


> I'm a newbie here. Can anyone help me out?
> 
> I have a Tivo premiere 1TB (TCD748000) and the box started rebooting itself and showing a green screen saying "The Tivo has detected a serious problem..." Customer service told me that the hard drive is failing and they cannot do anything about it as the 90 day warranty is up (well it IS 7 years old).
> 
> The box has lifetime service and I do not want to give that up!
> 
> Based on the research I have done on this Tivo community forum I can replace the hard drive, but I do not know how. I have been reading conflicting information on how to go about it.
> 
> You need to somehow copy the software from the original and put it in the new one or download the software of your tivo model online or on this forum if you do not have the original hd? At least to my understanding.
> 
> I would like to copy the contents of the original and transfer it to a new 3tb hard drive, if that is possible. Would that be possible in my situation due to my failing(or failed) hd? Or would I need to do a clean install (not using the original hd)?
> 
> My Tivo did have the latest software (20.7.4). Read somewhere that that is important to determine if you can upgrade to a hd larger than 2tb.
> 
> These are all the programs people have mentioned here in these forums and I assume one(maybe more) need to be burned on a cd but I don't know which ones I need:
> 
> jmfs
> mfs tools 3.2
> ddrescue
> dvrbars
> image of TCD748000 software
> 
> I have already downloaded (but not yet burned) an ISO [MFSTools_3.2_openSUSE_Leap_42.1_JeOS.x86_64-1.0.4] from this thread:
> https://www.tivocommunity.com/community/index.php?threads/6tb-premiere.53051
> 
> and an ISO [premiere_linux_inc_supersize_jmfs-rev104] from this website that does give a pretty good step by step guide but I do not know how dated it is:
> A Guide to Upgrading Your Tivo Bolt, Tivo Premiere, Tivo Roamio, Tivo Roamio OTA, Tivo HD, Tivo Series 3 or Tivo Series 2 (Easily upgrade your Tivo Bolt, Roamio or Premiere to 300 Hours+ HD Capacity) - Also includes instructions on how to fix a broken Tivo.
> 
> Maybe I need one or both of these ISOs or none?
> 
> These are the possible hard drives I want to upgrade to:
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Red-4TB-Hard-Disk-Drive/dp/B008JJLW4M/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1526399595&sr=1-1&keywords=wd+sata+hard+drive&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin:6799353011&th=1
> 
> or
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Surveillance-Hard-Disk-Drive/dp/B0718XQQJ9/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526402047&sr=1-3&keywords=wd+purple&th=1​If anyone can provide the correct software and the step-by-step process by linking me to the correct threads or giving it here, that would be great. Any help would much be appreciated!


Questions first.

Where did you get your image from (and is it a known good image). The answer to this will determine the path to upgrade.

The 3TB Red drive is a favorite to upgrade TiVos. The Purple drive will work as well but people question reliability / longevity because its usage and failure numbers are lower than the Red.


----------



## CentralValley209

Thanks for your reply...

I downloaded the first ISO image listed [MFSTools_3.2_openSUSE_Leap_42.1_JeOS.x86_64-1.0.4] from this thread:
6TB Premiere
The second post that starts with "After finally getting the time.."

I downloaded the second ISO image listed [premiere_linux_inc_supersize_jmfs-rev104] from this website:
A Guide to Upgrading Your Tivo Bolt, Tivo Premiere, Tivo Roamio, Tivo Roamio OTA, Tivo HD, Tivo Series 3 or Tivo Series 2 (Easily upgrade your Tivo Bolt, Roamio or Premiere to 300 Hours+ HD Capacity) - Also includes instructions on how to fix a broken Tivo.

It's a very long website and I found this image under one of the many subheadings called *TiVo Premiere & Original Cisco Virgin Media (UK) TiVo*


----------



## jmbach

CentralValley209 said:


> Thanks for your reply...
> 
> I downloaded the first ISO image listed [MFSTools_3.2_openSUSE_Leap_42.1_JeOS.x86_64-1.0.4] from this thread:
> 6TB Premiere
> The second post that starts with "After finally getting the time.."
> 
> I downloaded the second ISO image listed [premiere_linux_inc_supersize_jmfs-rev104] from this website:
> A Guide to Upgrading Your Tivo Bolt, Tivo Premiere, Tivo Roamio, Tivo Roamio OTA, Tivo HD, Tivo Series 3 or Tivo Series 2 (Easily upgrade your Tivo Bolt, Roamio or Premiere to 300 Hours+ HD Capacity) - Also includes instructions on how to fix a broken Tivo.
> 
> It's a very long website and I found this image under one of the many subheadings called *TiVo Premiere & Original Cisco Virgin Media (UK) TiVo*


I was actually talking about the TCD748000 software version.

Sent from my SM-T827V using Tapatalk


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## CentralValley209

jmbach said:


> I was actually talking about the TCD748000 software version.
> 
> Sent from my SM-T827V using Tapatalk


I haven't downloaded any TCD 7480000 software or any of the bulleted software for that matter except MFS tools 3.2

The bulleted list above were the various software many users have posted about in the different threads I have read, but I do not know which ones I need. The only software downloaded were the two ISO software mentioned above: MFS tools 3.2 that was posted in a different thread & some other software from a different website. Not sure if they are pertinent to what I want to do.


----------



## ggieseke

I would try the mfscopy command in MFSTools 3.2 to copy your existing drive to the new 3TB drive first. If that works, you should be able to salvage most of your recordings.

If that doesn't work, let me know and I will send you a clean image so that you can start over from scratch.


----------



## CentralValley209

ggieseke said:


> I would try the mfscopy command in MFSTools 3.2 to copy your existing drive to the new 3TB drive first. If that works, you should be able to salvage most of your recordings.
> 
> If that doesn't work, let me know and I will send you a clean image so that you can start over from scratch.


Thanks for the response...

Can you link me a thread or website or provide here the step-by-step process on how to do it? I am not really computer savvy.


----------



## ggieseke

TiVo Home Media Features & TiVoToGo


----------



## jmbach

CentralValley209 said:


> Thanks for the response...
> 
> Can you link me a thread or website or provide here the step-by-step process on how to do it? I am not really computer savvy.


MFS Tools 3.2


----------



## CentralValley209

Thanks jmbach. This link looks more narrowed down than the other link.

I came upon these instructions:
Premier and earlier models - mfscopy -ai /dev/sdX /dev/sdY​So what I have to do is burn the MFS Tools 3.2 ISO to disc, then when I insert the disc into the drive, a command prompt will appear and I will then input the command line above?

And that will copy the contents - recordings and software - of the old 1tb to the new 3tb hard drive? And that's all?


----------



## jmbach

Yes. That is of course, after you log onto the ISO via the instructions in that same post.


----------



## ThAbtO

You burn (there are programs, some rip DVDs, CDs, some do both rip and burn) the ISO file to a CD, remove your hard drives leaving only the Tivo drives and a DVD/CD drive attached. Make sure the BIOS is set to boot from the CD, followed by HD. With the CD in the DVD/CD drive, start up (boot up) the computer.


----------



## CentralValley209

Alright, thanks for the advice. I'll see what I can do.

But before I start, Is there a way to check if the new hard drive is any good? Maybe it's faulty and I do not want to risk it failing 3 months - 1 year later.

Also, will the hd need to be formatted in any way?


----------



## jmbach

CentralValley209 said:


> Alright, thanks for the advice. I'll see what I can do.
> 
> But before I start, Is there a way to check if the new hard drive is any good? Maybe it's faulty and I do not want to risk it failing 3 months - 1 year later.


Run WD diagnostic on it with a full write followed by a full read.

Sent from my SM-T827V using Tapatalk


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## CentralValley209

Is this where I would download the WD Diagnostics software?
Testing a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows | WD Support


----------



## jmbach

Yes


----------



## SirMontego

jmbach said:


> Just to confirm that the drive is a 1 TB drive that you are restoring to.
> 
> Did you notice when you were running HDAT2 on the drive if the drive had a HPA (Host Protected Area). If it does, it needs to be deleted. Some older computers would create one if the boot drive did not have one to hold some BIOS information.
> 
> Erase the drive and try again with a different computer.


Yes, it is a 1 TB drive. It is a Western Digital Blue. It says 1.0 TB on it. It is a WD10EZRZ SATA 64MB Cache.

I ran HDAT2 again and verified that there is no HPA. It said "Host Protected Area: disabled" and in the Overview of hidden areas the HPA was 0 in size.

Just to be sure. I wiped the whole drive clean with HDAT2 (which took a few hours) and under the Errors it said "blocks 1" and on the next line "sectors 1". I think that might be the AMNF (I'm not sure what that stands for). It also said "1953524708 100% Address mark not found" and "AHCI100: Task File Error Status (TFES) [b1h]. Press any key . . . "

Can I return the drive for this?

Also, I did a restore with two other drives (which have errors according to the western digital diagnostic program, but theses are the only spare drives I have) and I got the same stuck at start up screen.

Thanks again for any help you can provide.


----------



## jmbach

SirMontego said:


> Yes, it is a 1 TB drive. It is a Western Digital Blue. It says 1.0 TB on it. It is a WD10EZRZ SATA 64MB Cache.
> 
> I ran HDAT2 again and verified that there is no HPA. It said "Host Protected Area: disabled" and in the Overview of hidden areas the HPA was 0 in size.
> 
> Just to be sure. I wiped the whole drive clean with HDAT2 (which took a few hours) and under the Errors it said "blocks 1" and on the next line "sectors 1". I think that might be the AMNF (I'm not sure what that stands for). It also said "1953524708 100% Address mark not found" and "AHCI100: Task File Error Status (TFES) [b1h]. Press any key . . . "
> 
> Can I return the drive for this?
> 
> Also, I did a restore with two other drives (which have errors according to the western digital diagnostic program, but theses are the only spare drives I have) and I got the same stuck at start up screen.
> 
> Thanks again for any help you can provide.


Would run WD Diagnostic full write and read and see if there are any codes.


----------



## SirMontego

jmbach said:


> Would run WD Diagnostic full write and read and see if there are any codes.


I ran the full test and no errors came up.


----------



## jmbach

Restore the image to the drive and make a video of the booting process so that we can see the TV screen and the front of the unit. Post that so we can see what the unit is doing.


----------



## SirMontego

jmbach said:


> Restore the image to the drive and make a video of the booting process so that we can see the TV screen and the front of the unit. Post that so we can see what the unit is doing.


Here's the video: 




Note that the green light does go on for the first 30 seconds. I'm not sure why it doesn't show up on the video after the TV lights up; maybe the video compression removed it or the contrast is too little.

To save ya'll from watching the most boring 2 minute video in history:

0 seconds: I plug the Tivo in and all the lights turn on. All the lights then turn off except the green one. The "Welcome! Starting up..." screen appears (sorry for the shaking, that's me plugging the tivo in and backing up).

1-29 seconds: the green light remains on.
30 seconds: the green light goes off for a moment and the amber/orange light turns on
31-36 seconds: the green light remains on and the amber light flickers (if the amber/orange light flickering pattern is significant, let me know and I'll study it)
37 seconds to infinity: green light remains on and the "Welcome! Starting up..." screen continues to appear (the tv screen doesn't change at all from the time it displays until I power off, which could be an hour or more).
As a matter of background, I used the dvrbars restore program to restore the drive from a TCD748000 image. I have a tivo premiere xl.

I used HDAT2 to confirm there is no Host Protected Area or PUIS. My drive is a new Western Digital Blue, 1.0 TB. It is a WD10EZRZ SATA 64MB Cache. I ran the full Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows | WD Support and it said the drive is fine.

Thank you all again for your patient support.


----------



## jmbach

So it is booting into the OS but not finishing the setup.

Is it connected to the internet while it is booting?

How long have you left it in its final boot screen. That image was pre-rovi and it might need to download some data to make it compatible with Rovi guide data before it can complete booting.


----------



## SirMontego

jmbach said:


> So it is booting into the OS but not finishing the setup.
> 
> Is it connected to the internet while it is booting?
> 
> How long have you left it in its final boot screen. That image was pre-rovi and it might need to download some data to make it compatible with Rovi guide data before it can complete booting.


For the video, the tivo wasn't connected to the internet, but in previous attempts it was. I think I left the unit plugged in for an hour or two during those internet-connected attempts and nothing changed. Let me try connecting the tivo to the internet and powering it up again.

If i plug in a cat5 cable how long would it take to download and install the update if I have a 100mbps connection? I guess what I'm really asking is how long should I let the unit sit there with the "Welcome! Starting up..." screen?

thanks again.


----------



## jmbach

About 3 hours. If it does not boot up by then, power cycle it and see if it boots up.

If that does not work, will need to find you a newer image to boot from.


----------



## CentralValley209

CentralValley209 said:


> I came upon these instructions:
> Premier and earlier models - mfscopy -ai /dev/sdX /dev/sdY


I was actually looking at another thread for MFS tools 3.2 and someone posted a command line of:
mfstool copy -ai /dev/sda /dev/sdb​which one is correct?


----------



## jmbach

sdX us your source drive. It can be sda, sdb, sdc, and so on. sdY is the target drive and can be sda, sdb, sdc, and so on. It is up to you to determine the actual label.


----------



## CentralValley209

jmbach said:


> sdX us your source drive. It can be sda, sdb, sdc, and so on. sdY is the target drive and can be sda, sdb, sdc, and so on. It is up to you to determine the actual label.


I am actually referring to the beginning part:
Mfscopy
Mfstool copy​
Also, I am having some issues with the Mfs tool 3.2 cd. When I get to the login part I am able to type in "root" but not able to type in anything for the password part. Has this happened to anyone?
Is is just a glitch and need to reboot the cd or something with the software?


----------



## SirMontego

jmbach said:


> About 3 hours. If it does not boot up by then, power cycle it and see if it boots up.
> 
> If that does not work, will need to find you a newer image to boot from.


No success. I plugged in my tivo and let it sit there for 12 hours. The "Welcome! Starting up..." screen appeared the whole time. I then unplugged the tivo, waited a few hours, plugged it back in, and the "Welcome! Starting up..." has been showing for the past two hours.


----------



## jmbach

SirMontego said:


> No success. I plugged in my tivo and let it sit there for 12 hours. The "Welcome! Starting up..." screen appeared the whole time. I then unplugged the tivo, waited a few hours, plugged it back in, and the "Welcome! Starting up..." has been showing for the past two hours.


Sent you a PM


----------



## SirMontego

I would like to thank everyone who helped me here. As an update on my attempt to fix my Tivo Premiere XL, it looks like my motherboard is broken, which appears to mean that my Tivo is dead.

So nobody needs to read my old posts, my Tivo is stuck at the "Welcome! Starting up..." screen. I restored three different images using DvrBARS, confirmed those images work by placing that hard drive into a working tivo of the same model number, and swapped out the power supply (and the attached sata cable) from a working Tivo. None of that worked. Cry. It looks like something on my motherboard is broken.

I understand that weakness has a $50 diagnostic service, but sending my tivo to them will cost me another $50 (I live in Hawaii) plus I have to pay for any repair parts. Comparatively, the cost of a Tivo Premiere with Lifetime subscription on ebay is about $150 (including shipping).

Moreover, in my quest to fix my broken Tivo, I bought a used Premiere XL with Lifetime off Craigslist for $75 (this is the working model I used to diagnose my broken Tivo)--I'm still debating whether from the philosophy of an economist this was a good idea. The plan was to resell this on ebay after I got my broken Tivo working. 

So right now, I've spent $120 on my Tivo repair project ($45 for the new hard drive and $75 for the used Tivo) plus a bunch of hours. I have a broken Tivo, a working Tivo, an extra hard drive, more knowledge in my brain about fixing Tivos, and, most importantly, the satisfaction that I've tried everything (sensible) in my power to fix my Tivo. 

If anyone has any ideas of how to diagnose and fix Tivo motherboard problems or any other ideas of how to fix my tivo, please feel free to post them up. 

Again, thank you to everyone here for your time, wisdom, and advice.


----------



## HerronScott

SirMontego said:


> Moreover, in my quest to fix my broken Tivo, I bought a used Premiere XL with Lifetime off Craigslist for $75 (this is the working model I used to diagnose my broken Tivo)--I'm still debating whether from the philosophy of an economist this was a good idea. The plan was to resell this on ebay after I got my broken Tivo working.
> 
> So right now, I've spent $120 on my Tivo repair project ($45 for the new hard drive and $75 for the used Tivo) plus a bunch of hours. I have a broken Tivo, a working Tivo, an extra hard drive, more knowledge in my brain about fixing Tivos, and, most importantly, the satisfaction that I've tried everything (sensible) in my power to fix my Tivo


Sounds like you just need to move to the used Premiere XL with lifetime that you bought and to cut your "repair" costs sell your broken one for parts (power supply, remote, case) specifying that the motherboard is bad.

Scott


----------



## Eugo

I have a TiVo premier XL (1TB).
TDC748000, that just cycles through the “Welcome...” “Just a few minutes more...” and the green screen that says a serious error occurred and will TiVo will try to repair it. It reboots itself after just a couple minutes and cycles again.

I suspect a bad hard drive so I bought a 2TB WD Red mode suggested here, 
WD Red line: WD20EFRX (2TB).

I tried the ddrescue complete copy but it fails the same way with the new drive. Does thIs mean it’s probably not the hard drive? Or maybe I just need a “clean” image to restore using DVRBars? Please send me the link for the image.

I think I should only need to try:
1. Run DVRBars to restore the image to the new drive.

2. Run JMFS to expand the drive to 2TB

Is that right?


----------



## ThAbtO

It means, the Tivo drive failed and you cannot get the data from it.

Best method is to get an image from @ggieseke and restore with DVRBars, and expand with MFSTools 3.2.


----------



## videobruce

When you had the cover off, did you check the caps in the PS?


----------



## wingclip

[QUOTE="
There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).

Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.

Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.

Greg[/QUOTE]

Thank you Greg! I won't even hesitate to donate if this works. I just want to make sure I'm getting this right. I have Windows 7 64bit o/S. I have a TiVo Bolt (the smallest capacity one). I have a new Seagate 2TB, which I plan to place in the Bolt. My Bolt's present drive is 82% full and I want to save all the recordings, (or as many as I can), to a location where I can then return those recordings to the Tivo Bolt's new 2TB drive, which I would have installed.

I plane to use the Modified backup and the following are the steps to two different scenarios. I'm hoping that you confirm one of those two as the correct way to go:
Scenario #1:
- However, can I run a USB cable from my TiVo bolt to the USB port on a HDD Docking station?
- If so, can I place the new 2TB HDD in that docking station and direct the backup from the TiVo Bolt's present drive, to the new 2TB drive?
- If I can, then the last question is; will the Tivo Bolt reformat the new 2TB HD after I install it, hence erasing the entire back up I saved to it?

OK, If the answer to the first question is no, then I must assume that I need to remove the TiVo Bolt's present drive, and therefore must place it into the USB connected Docking station on my PC, right?

Ergo, Scenario #2:
- If that's correct, then I should run the backup via the "Modified" option and direct the DVR BARS to save the recordings to a HDD that can match the TivO's present drive capacity, at minimum.

- If that's correct, then I can transfer the backed up recordings to my new 2TB HDD from whatever HDD I chose by using the DVR BARS "Restore" option, right?

Finally, if the steps I laid out in the 2nd scenario are correct, I must assume that the "Restore" option will also format the new 2TB drive so that the new drive won't be 're-formatted' after I install it in the TiVo Bolt and start the machine.

So there it is, is the best scenario, the first, or the second? Also, is there anything I should, or shouldn't do that I either stated, or failed to mention? I just want to be sure of exactly what I'm doing so I lose as few recordings as possible.
Thank you,
Rich


----------



## ggieseke

wingclip said:


> Thank you Greg! I won't even hesitate to donate if this works. I just want to make sure I'm getting this right. I have Windows 7 64bit o/S. I have a TiVo Bolt (the smallest capacity one). I have a new Seagate 2TB, which I plan to place in the Bolt. My Bolt's present drive is 82% full and I want to save all the recordings, (or as many as I can), to a location where I can then return those recordings to the Tivo Bolt's new 2TB drive, which I would have installed.


Unfortunately, DvrBARS only works on Series 1 through Series 4 TiVos. Roamios and Bolts made some significant changes to the file system.

I would use MFSTools 3.2 to copy the existing 500GB drive to the new 2TB drive. It can copy and expand all in one step. The published version doesn't work on Bolts, but jmbach has a beta that does.


----------



## wingclip

Ok, so I'm confused, or one of us is... As I said, I have a Bolt and as you said, DvrBars works with Bolts. Assuming we're both on the same page in that respect, at what point am I getting things screwed up? I can see that you understood I wanted to backup what I presently have recorded on my TiVo Bolt.

I want to do this so that I can then return those backups to a new, 2TB HDD I plan to replace the present TiVo Bolt's HDD, with.

Therefore, what is it that compelled you to suggest I use a different program to do the do the transfer of my recordings to a location on my PC where I can then retrieve them and restore them to the new, 2 TB drive?

You do understand that I ultimate goal is to replace my TiVo Bolt's present hard drive with a new, larger capacity hard drive, right? I mean, if I lose my "One-Pass" settings in the process, that's fine, I don't care.

*I just don't want to make the transfer of all my backed up recordings, (once I have backed them up), to my new drive only to find that they are all deleted because the TiVo Bolt reformatted the new drive that I installed when I booted up.*

This is why laid out the 2 scenarios that I was hoping would give you a clear idea of what I was doing, or hoping to accomplish when I used DvrBARS. I'm still hoping that you will read the two scenarios, *(really, it's not more than 1.5 minutes of reading time)*, and confirm which is correct.

There are several USB ports in the back of a TiVo Bolt so I thought if I can connect a USB cable from one of those ports and run it to the PC, I could then run the "Modify" option in DvrBARS.

But let's just forget all that if it doesn't make sense to you and *let's just work with the 'basic concept', (which is scenario #2 BTW).*


Can you confirm that I should remove the 'old' TiVo Bolt HDD, place it in a PC connected docking station, and transfer the recordings to a 'backup drive' of my choosing, using DvrBAR
If so, can you then confirm that I can restore those same recordings that I have backed up to the new HDD and, which I intend to install in the TiVo Bolt, (ultimately, replacing the present HDD in the Bolt), with DvrBARS?
Finally, if you can confirm that stage is correct, then can you confirm or assure me that the TiVo Bolt will not overwrite the recordings that I've now returned to the new 2TB HDD via the "Restore" procedure in DvrBARS?

I'm concerned with that because when I boot up the TiVo Bolt for the first time after the drive has been installed, *I don't know if it will run a 'formatting process', do you?*

That's really what I've been asking except in a shorter way by using the two 'scenario examples' (and I think if you read "Scenario #2", you'll see that's what I've been asking). Most digital recording devices tend to format a newly introduced HDD and if I do what I just outlined, I will have lost hours of my time trying to avoid that very problem.

This is why I'm just trying to get someone to give me a clear idea of what I should expect and how to go about avoiding the problem in the first place.

I read about MFSTools and I'll save you the long version, but the short version is that I've lost too much time already and I don't want to add another day or two searching for a developer of the version that hasn't gotten out of the beta stage.

So once again, can you (or someone), tell me that I have the method I outlined above, correct and if not, what part is wrong?
Thank you,
Rich


----------



## ggieseke

Rich,

DvrBARS does NOT work with Bolts. It won't even recognize a Roamio or Bolt drive.

Even if it did, there is no way to restore just the recordings and there never was. It was written as a backup/restore system for Premieres back when that was considered impossible, and long before drives over 2TB existed. I made a fancy user interface and threw in every safeguard that I could think of, but it's still just a way to backup and restore to the exact state that the backup image came from.

The beta version of MFSTools 3.2 will do exactly what you're looking for, and if you start a private conversation with jmbach you'll probably have a copy within a few hours.

Sorry,
Greg


----------



## wingclip

I see, thank you Greg. I reread this statement "DvrBARS only works on Series 1 through Series 4 TiVos. Roamios and Bolts made some significant changes to the file system." and realized that you were indicating why Roamios & Bolts would not work with DvrBARS. 

Not what I understood it to imply that; Roamios & Bolts would work if I was willing to make some significant changes to the file system. 

Please note of course, that it was definitely my 'forced interpretation' of that statement that caused my confusion, and not your reply itself. 

I was tired when I read that and as you may have noted, a little worn-out from the frustration of what I still think is an over complicated requirement to accomplish something I've been doing with every computer I've built for the last 12 years.

I guess I’ll check in on that MFSTools.
Thanks again,
Rich


----------



## ThAbtO

Roamio is Series 5.
Bolt is Series 6.


----------



## HerronScott

wingclip said:


> I was tired when I read that and as you may have noted, a little worn-out from the frustration of what I still think is an over complicated requirement to accomplish something I've been doing with every computer I've built for the last 12 years.
> 
> I guess I'll check in on that MFSTools.


Rich,

Yes, this may seem overcomplicated when compared with what you can do with a PC, but none of it is officially supported by TiVo and everything that went into even making this possible was through dedicated TiVo users who reverse engineered the file system and created tools to make this possible.

Scott


----------



## wingclip

I should clarify that it's the ultimate idea of moving or copying data from point A to point B that I see as "simple". Personally, I couldn't write the first string of a program like that if it was to save my life. I certainly don't mean to imply that the actual program to accomplish this requires anything less than people who are gifted in that kind of thing.

When it comes to this particular kind of data, I must assume, (and I'm pretty sure), that the process is very different than the much simpler and general act of 'HDD to HDD' on a PC. 

I'm guessing here, but I imagine the permissions and various copy securities that are in place will cause a lot of problems even though the actual goal, (to transfer recordings to another hard drive for exactly the same uses as the source drive) is not violating any copyright laws. It's just the security that prevents that kind of thing, which makes it difficult to accomplish an otherwise, perfectly legitimate goal. Am I even close?


----------



## ggieseke

wingclip said:


> I should clarify that it's the ultimate idea of moving or copying data from point A to point B that I see as "simple". Personally, I couldn't write the first string of a program like that if it was to save my life. I certainly don't mean to imply that the actual program to accomplish this requires anything less than people who are gifted in that kind of thing.
> 
> When it comes to this particular kind of data, I must assume, (and I'm pretty sure), that the process is very different than the much simpler and general act of 'HDD to HDD' on a PC.
> 
> I'm guessing here, but I imagine the permissions and various copy securities that are in place will cause a lot of problems even though the actual goal, (to transfer recordings to another hard drive for exactly the same uses as the source drive) is not violating any copyright laws. It's just the security that prevents that kind of thing, which makes it difficult to accomplish an otherwise, perfectly legitimate goal. Am I even close?


It's pretty tricky, even for a case like yours where the drive is going right back into the same TiVo. The MFS file system is proprietary and even after 18 years of study there are still unknown fields in some of the header structures. They also use a proprietary database consisting of thousands of "tyDb" files scattered all over. When the Series 4 Premieres came out they added an SQLite database partition and moved a lot of the data there, but nobody knows the schema or how much is still in the old database. Bolts moved most of the SQLite partition into flash memory, which makes it impossible to access. The actual recordings are also encrypted to the motherboard, and that encryption has never been cracked.

MFSTools 3.2 can copy and expand a drive up to 4TB, which should work for you.


----------



## wingclip

Thanks Greg,
If I wasn't quite convinced what I was going to do before, I can say that I definitely am now! Frankly, before these last few posts, I have to admit that I didn't understand why there were so few choices to find a way to do this on line. I think I counted 4 of which one was TiVo's own desktop program and another was DvrBARS.

I must ask you about something I only now came upon in the forums. From what I've read in this particular thread, (I copied the post and the page link below), it seems there may be some problem with the cable card pairing if any Tivo Bolt's original HDD is replaced with another.

Even with or without saving the recordings, are they saying that the mere fact the HDD is replaced will cause a problem with the cable company and/or cable card in any way at all?

I didn't think that the Comcast cable card would 'see' anything differently. One of the people replying to the OP in that thread said that he has always had an easy time of it with the Tivo Pairing option (Tivo Cable Card Pairing). That's good but why would it even be an 'issue' if that worked for anyone switching out an HDD?

It's beginning to look like transferring my recordings to the new drive is the least of my problems. At this point, it seems I need to just focus on getting the new 2TB HDD to be accepted in the Bolt. I can always set the One Pass to re-record the programs.

*So, is this a 'real thing' I need to concern myself with, or are they talking about something that hopefully, is isolated to a few specific circumstances not of my concern?*
Thanks
Rich
_PS To anyone who may know the answer to this, please feel free to reply_

This is that post and link I mentioned:
(Cloning Tivo Hard Drive)
[The post below is located near the bottom of the page in the link above]
_

That would still leave me losing the cable card pairing. I want to preserve that if possible because when the cable card was installed, it took the Comcast tech 2 hours working on his phone with an engineer to get it to work in my Tivo. I am afraid that if I lose the pairing, I will not be able to get it to work again on my own and don't want to pay to have a tech come out. This is actually the main reason want to clone my HDD. Well, that and not wanting to do all transfers in real time._

For CableCARD pairing portion, see if your region can use the online CableCARD pairing tool

*Welcome Page*

I used to hate pairing on Comcast until they put out this tool. It works (for me) every time with no fuss. No agent trying to "fix" my account causing days of calls with support to undo what they did.

I sometimes pair a couple of times a day to test out units.

Also another mitigating factor is you won't necessarily lose all channels when your pairing is busted. In particular the channels you do lose are the CCI non-zero channels like HBO, SHO, etc. If most of your channels are basic cable, you won't lose those right away. This will give you time to get things fixed.


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## ggieseke

wingclip said:


> I must ask you about something I only now came upon in the forums. From what I've read in this particular thread, (I copied the post and the page link below), it seems there may be some problem with the cable card pairing if any Tivo Bolt's original HDD is replaced with another.
> 
> Even with or without saving the recordings, are they saying that the mere fact the HDD is replaced will cause a problem with the cable company and/or cable card in any way at all?


Using the mfscopy command in MFSTools _should_ preserve the CableCARD pairing, but if it gets unpaired the folks at Comcast's 877-405-2298 CC hotline are fantastic. They even have an online pairing tool. Putting in a new drive and letting it auto-format would break the pairing because the drive would get a new unique ID, which may be what that post is referring to.

If you're looking at tools like TiVo Desktop for individual recordings, I recommend Dan203's pyTivo Desktop. You should also check out kmttg to copy from the TiVo. It can't send recordings back but it does lots of other cool stuff.


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## wingclip

Thanks a lot Greg (and all)! You have been a great help. I'm going to go with MFSTools. I did download pyTivo and I may have even tried to run it, a lot has happened in a very short time and I may be 'mixing up' several events with each other, but I seem to remember that there were too many 'blind spots' about it that just left me with more questions than answers and that's when I started looking into DvrBARS. Thanks to all!
Rich


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## HerronScott

wingclip said:


> I did download pyTivo and I may have even tried to run it, a lot has happened in a very short time and I may be 'mixing up' several events with each other, but I seem to remember that there were too many 'blind spots' about it that just left me with more questions than answers and that's when I started looking into DvrBARS.


Rich,

I'm pretty sure you downloaded pyTivo and not Dan's pyTivo Desktop which is a frontend/self-contained version of pyTivo with an easy to use GUI interface.

Easier to use pyTivo

Scott


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## wingclip

Thank you Scott! In fact, you're definitely right! I assumed that when Greg said "Dan203's pyTivo " he was identifying the developer for "pyTivo, (which may be one and the same dev), not as a specific pyTivo version.

Anyway, I didn't know there was a distinct difference until your reply. In fact, the dev for MFSTools was good enough to send me information that he/(she?), requires to help me with the TiVo Bolt. I have just had a chance to see the email so I need to answer that. If it works, then I need not go any farther.

My initial plan is to transfer all the recordings presently on the original drive of the Tivo, to a new, larger (2TB), drive. I prefer to transfer the entire drive. I have no plan to transfer any individual, 'select' recordings and if I can't move the majority of the drive to another HDD, then I'll probably just forget about the plan entirely and replace the HDD without any transfers.
Thank you,
Rich


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## wingclip

Hey folks,
Just an FYI:
JMbach got with me and hooked me up with the MFSTools (Beta version) and I ran it per his instruction last night. I'm here to tell you, (or anyone who wants to know), that the MFSTools program made the entire transfer from my Source drive to my Target drive as easy as I could have possibly hoped for!

Seriously, the process went smoothly and I successfully transferred the Source drives entire content (the drive was 82% filled), to my 2TB target drive with *NO PROBLEMS!* Now my "new Source drive" has all the recordings and is only 22% filled.

I asked JMbach where I could send a $10 donation and he directed me to use the DvrBARS program and got to the "About" tab to get there, so I'll be heading that way.
Thanks to all for your help and ultimately, placing me where I needed to be.
Rich


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## swechsler

OK, folks, what am I doing wrong? I can't get dvrbars 1007 to run on my Windows 10 pro (64 bit) machine. I downloaded and unzipped it, right click and choose run as administrator, and...nothing. Tried double clicking, nothing. Tried running from an elevated privileges command prompt, nothing. I even tried compatibility mode with Windows XP, 7 and 8. Still nothing. Is there any other way of restoring a vhd image to a new disk?

Anyone?


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## ms602

It's been a while since I used that, as I now have a bolt and have no need. But if my memory is accurate, I had a similar if not the same problem when I had a card reader connected on USB. I know, WTF would a memory card reader have to do with a drive formatting program, but that's it right there.. A memory card reader logically appears to the os as a drive. I unplugged the card reader from USB, then had no problem. If there's an internal reader, disconnect or disable, retry. That'd be my best guess at the problem.



swechsler said:


> OK, folks, what am I doing wrong? I can't get dvrbars 1007 to run on my Windows 10 pro (64 bit) machine. I downloaded and unzipped it, right click and choose run as administrator, and...nothing. Tried double clicking, nothing. Tried running from an elevated privileges command prompt, nothing. I even tried compatibility mode with Windows XP, 7 and 8. Still nothing. Is there any other way of restoring a vhd image to a new disk?
> 
> Anyone?


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## jmbach

Make sure windows is not blocking the file to run because it was downloaded from the internet. Trying to remember how. I think you can right click on the file and look either in the general or security section and see if there is a box that needs to be checked or unchecked for the program to run.


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## ggieseke

swechsler said:


> OK, folks, what am I doing wrong? I can't get dvrbars 1007 to run on my Windows 10 pro (64 bit) machine. I downloaded and unzipped it, right click and choose run as administrator, and...nothing. Tried double clicking, nothing. Tried running from an elevated privileges command prompt, nothing. I even tried compatibility mode with Windows XP, 7 and 8. Still nothing. Is there any other way of restoring a vhd image to a new disk?
> 
> Anyone?


As ms602 noted, it's probably an SD card reader. You can temporarily disable it in Device Manager or BIOS.


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## swechsler

Yup, that was it. Thanks guys.


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## swechsler

OK, now another question. I've restored my Premiere backup to a 640GB drive using DVRBARS (I used "quick restore"). Now how do I get it to use the rest of the space (with MFS Tools, I assume, but what command)? mfsinfo shows it's using only about 300GB.


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## jmbach

swechsler said:


> OK, now another question. I've restored my Premiere backup to a 640GB drive using DVRBARS (I used "quick restore"). Now how do I get it to use the rest of the space (with MFS Tools, I assume, but what command)? mfsinfo shows it's using only about 300GB.


Just follow the latter half of the instructions in the 6 TB Premiere thread starting with the mfsadd instruction. Make sure you download MFSTools 3.2 to do this.

Alternatively for this size drive, JMFS should work as well.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## swechsler

Thanks, I tried the MFSTools method but got stuck in a reboot loop. I had been stubbornly trying to get JMFS to run from a USB drive, rather than burning a CD (since I haven't burned CDs in years and wasn't sure if I had any around), but the latter did the trick.


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## muerte33

I saw my Tivo XL4 reboot today for no reason, so I thought I better get ready for the inevitable (I have never swapped out this drive, it is the original).
I took a raw WD20EARS drive sealed in the bag made in 2014 (Sata 64mb 2tb drive) and used DVRBARS 1.0.0.7 to restore TCD758250.vhd (supposed to be a Tivo Elite XL4 image provided in a link in this thread to me on 3/10/2018, it was 1,689,644kb).
All went fine using a Windows 10 64bit machine (current with updates).
I am not going to put this drive into my Tivo Elite XL4 until it dies, but I want to be ready!
My name would be dirt around here if the Tivo dies (the mini depends on it).
I would assume that this will NOT allow me to use the whole 2tb of the Drive (which I will need)?
I saw instructions to use WINMFS (MFSADD) to supersize it, but when I run version 9.3f beta of WINMFS it says "NOT A TIVO DRIVE".
So it will not continue.
Any ideas on what I should do?
GGieseke, do you have an image file for the TCD758250 that will get it to 2tb without using MFStools, is the one I received on 3/10/2018 good enough?
Thanks everyone!


----------



## ThAbtO

muerte33 said:


> I saw instructions to use WINMFS (MFSADD) to supersize it, but when I run version 9.3f beta of WINMFS it says "NOT A TIVO DRIVE".


WinMFS does not work on Premiere (Series 4) and newer Tivo.

DVRBars does not expand and would need to use MFSTools 3.2 to expand and use the full capacity. Premiere can use up to 8TB.

The WD20EARS is old, no longer made but it may not work right without disabling the Intellipark.

Recommended is the WD Red line of drives, not the Pro series or 7200 RPM.


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## muerte33

ThAbtO said:


> WinMFS does not work on Premiere (Series 4) and newer Tivo.
> 
> DVRBars does not expand and would need to use MFSTools 3.2 to expand and use the full capacity. Premiere can use up to 8TB.
> 
> The WD20EARS is old, no longer made but it may not work right without disabling the Intellipark.
> 
> Recommended is the WD Red line of drives, not the Pro series or 7200 RPM.


Thanks for the help!
I know how to use the "wdidle3 /s300" command to deal with the intellipark.
The MFStools part concerns me though.
I created the boot DVD for MFStools 3.2, but I don't know the actual commands to do the MFSADD/supersize .
I would be doing it via a USB connection, so the command line nature of mfstools (vs the WINMFS easy way) may be problematic.
Most of these tips around here are for people going to the bigger 3 or 4tb drives, I just want to do the 2tb (which I thought would be easy).
Thanks again for all the help!
I may just buy one already imaged and supersized off EBAY or Weaknees (but they charge a LOT).


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## ThAbtO

Commands and such can be found on the first few post in the MFSTools thread.


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## ggieseke

The TCD758250 image is already 2TB, so there's no need to expand it.


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## muerte33

ggieseke said:


> The TCD758250 image is already 2TB, so there's no need to expand it.


Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So the one I loaded from 3/10/2018 should boot up and have complete use of the 2tb?
Man, that makes my day!
With all the streaming options available now-a-days, if I lose the current recordings, it will not be so bad.
I would assume the onepass settings could come down tivo.com?
I did a backup of them in KMTTG just in case.


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## ggieseke

muerte33 said:


> So the one I loaded from 3/10/2018 should boot up and have complete use of the 2tb?


Yes. The 758s typically came with a WD20EURS drive, so your WD20EARS should have the exact same number of sectors.


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## waynomo

I'm in the process of repairing a TiVoHD. I'm unfamiliar with DvrBARS. I have 2 TiVoHDs. (Same model number) TiVoHD 1 is currently working and has a 1 TB drive in it. TiVoHD 2 has the original 160 GB drive in it and is not working. I want to replace the 160 GB drive in TiVoHD 2 with a 1 TB drive. 

Are these the steps I should follow?
1) Backup the 1 TB drive in TiVoHD 1 using DvrBARS to a HD on my Win 10 PC.*
2) Restore the 1 TB image from the HD on my Win 10 PC to the new 1 TB drive.
3) Install the freshly imaged HD in TiVoHD 2

Plug in TiVoHD 2 and away we go. (I assume I might have to do a fresh guided setup or clear and delete everything for this HD to work properly. I'll also have to repair the cable card.)

Would I be better off downloading a fresh image? Would this require the use of MFStools?


----------



## jmbach

Your steps as outlined should work just fine. I would do a quick backup and restore. You will have to do a C&DE to marry the image to the new unit.


----------



## Surevalla

I think I need an image for my tivo premiere xl 748000, can you send me one?


----------



## ggieseke

Surevalla said:


> I think I need an image for my tivo premiere xl 748000, can you send me one?


Sent.


----------



## MrJedi

I have a Premier TCD746320 (upgraded to a 2TB drive) sitting in my basement that is 60% full with no One Passes and Suggestions are turned off that I use as storage for old recordings. I want to make a backup of the drive prior to me having any issues (So far it seems fine). If I understand correctly I would do the following.

1) Backup the 2 TB drive using DvrBARS to a HD on my Win 10 PC.
2) Restore the 2 TB image from the HD on my Win 10 PC to the new 2 TB drive. (I have a WD Red on the way) 
3) Expand the drive with MFStools 3.2
4) Stick in the Premier when the old 2TB dies.

Am I missing anything?


----------



## ggieseke

MrJedi said:


> I have a Premier TCD746320 (upgraded to a 2TB drive) sitting in my basement that is 60% full with no One Passes and Suggestions are turned off that I use as storage for old recordings. I want to make a backup of the drive prior to me having any issues (So far it seems fine). If I understand correctly I would do the following.
> 
> 1) Backup the 2 TB drive using DvrBARS to a HD on my Win 10 PC.
> 2) Restore the 2 TB image from the HD on my Win 10 PC to the new 2 TB drive. (I have a WD Red on the way)
> 3) Expand the drive with MFStools 3.2
> 4) Stick in the Premier when the old 2TB dies.
> 
> Am I missing anything?


If the new drive is the same size you don't need step 3, but you'll need about 2TB of temporary storage on your PC.


----------



## ThAbtO

MrJedi said:


> Am I missing anything?


Yes, A Tivo is not a good long term storage device. A better device is a NAS and you can copy the shows off the Tivo in a usable form (MPEG2 or MPEG4)

Tivo VS PC/NAS drive: If a Tivo drive fails, you lose everything. If a PC/NAS drive fails, you can recover most of the file/content.


----------



## MrJedi

ThAbtO said:


> Yes, A Tivo is not a good long term storage device. A better device is a NAS and you can copy the shows off the Tivo in a usable form (MPEG2 or MPEG4)
> 
> Tivo VS PC/NAS drive: If a Tivo drive fails, you lose everything. If a PC/NAS drive fails, you can recover most of the file/content.


I realize this. That is why I am making a backup now. But what I forgot to mention in my post is many of the recordings were on Time Warner cable who is notorious for setting everything but locals to copy "NO" on the respective flag. I have already backed up everything that does not have that flag when I was temporarily using a different provider. I would say most of the content is flagged as copy"NO" this is why I am going this route.


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## MrJedi

ggieseke said:


> If the new drive is the same size you don't need step 3, but you'll need about 2TB of temporary storage on your PC.


Okay thank you for letting me know. I appreciate it.


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## Doug G

Using DvrBARS to try and restore a clean (500MB Premiere/4 image) to a WD 2TB. I can run it using admin privs, open .vhd file, see and select the proper drive (already has what I believe is a corrupt image) and when I confirm I get "Error 0x00000020 (32) CreateFile" In a small dialogue box with just "OK" button. WTH? I tried running in compatibility mode for 7/x64 and no joy.

Anyone know how to fix this problem? Just using Windows Defender, tried turning it off and still same error.


----------



## ggieseke

Doug G said:


> Using DvrBARS to try and restore a clean (500MB Premiere/4 image) to a WD 2TB. I can run it using admin privs, open .vhd file, see and select the proper drive (already has what I believe is a corrupt image) and when I confirm I get "Error 0x00000020 (32) CreateFile" In a small dialogue box with just "OK" button. WTH? I tried running in compatibility mode for 7/x64 and no joy.
> 
> Anyone know how to fix this problem? Just using Windows Defender, tried turning it off and still same error.


That's a sharing error, which means that when it tries to open the drive for exclusive access some other program already has it open.


----------



## Doug G

Yeah, I just figured that out....but how can any other process have it open, its not even a valid FS!!!

I can't eject the drive, says its "in use". It shows up as a "device" but can't remove that either because its "in use". I don't want to open Disk Management to remove it there since I don't want to corrupt the boot sector like you mentioned.

I've stripped away all the third party apps I had, which were quite minimal, and its _still_ in use. I absolutely don't get this.

I'll keep looking but any ideas would be appreciated.


----------



## Doug G

OK, I used the task manager to stop just about every non-vital OS service and app and restarted explorer and now it allowed me to eject the drive! I removed and replaced it and now I was able to do a restore.

I restored the 1.6GB (TCD750500) image using "quick" mode but it completed in about 30s? Is that expected? Should I have used "full" restore mode? I figured no programs exist and my drive (when new in Oct of last year) scanned 100% clean so no need to do all those 0 writes?

I guess I'll expand it to 2TB using MFS Tools 3.2 and then throw it in the unit and power it up and see what happens.


----------



## Doug G

Ugh, I had no idea an existing image couldn't be expanded in-place!! New disk powered up but then complained about "missing external storage". I chose to remove it which I suspect is removing the 1.4GB partition I created with mfsadd.

How do I use a clean image (500MB) and then expand it to my 2TB? I don't have the original 500MB drive any longer. Can this be done without two drives?

HELP!


----------



## jmbach

Doug G said:


> Ugh, I had no idea an existing image couldn't be expanded in-place!! New disk powered up but then complained about "missing external storage". I chose to remove it which I suspect is removing the 1.4GB partition I created with mfsadd.
> 
> How do I use a clean image (500MB) and then expand it to my 2TB? I don't have the original 500MB drive any longer. Can this be done without two drives?
> 
> HELP!


If you download the latest MFSTools ISO, there are several ancillary programs on it.

First restore the image and get married to your unit by doing a c&de on it. Make sure it boots up completely.

Then use mfsadd to add a partition pair to the image. Once it completes, run ampfix on the image.

Then boot it in the TiVo. It may ask you to divorce an external unit, go ahead and let it do so. When it is done, you will have the whole 2TB recording space.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Doug G

@jmbach Thanks! That was the piece I was missing. I re-restored the 500GB image, booted it (it automatically did a c&de), then it upgraded itself and I finished guided setup. Once it was fully up I pulled it, ran mfsadd followed by apmfix, put it back in, divorced the phantom external storage and I'm back up an running with the full 2TB available.


----------



## richlee91

Looking for a Drive image for a TCD746320. Can anyone help?


----------



## ggieseke

richlee91 said:


> Looking for a Drive image for a TCD746320. Can anyone help?


Sent.


----------



## Dambro1978

Doug G said:


> @jmbach Thanks! That was the piece I was missing. I re-restored the 500GB image, booted it (it automatically did a c&de), then it upgraded itself and I finished guided setup. Once it was fully up I pulled it, ran mfsadd followed by apmfix, put it back in, divorced the phantom external storage and I'm back up an running with the full 2TB available.


I am having a very similar problem except I cant get past the a boot up loop.
I did not use dvrbars to clone the drive though. I used a docking station with the clone function because i couldnt get the command mfscopy to work in mfstools 3.32. After that I tested the drive and it worked fine but wasnt utilizing the extra space. (2TB green) I used mfs tools to expand the drive. mfs -x/dev/sda
then
ampfix /dev/sda
this worked fine. but when I inserted the drive into the tivo I got the same message as above external drive missing. and prompted me to remove it. however it never booted up after that. it got stuck in a cycle between the startup screen and the a few minutes more screen. I let it do that for 2 hrs. now I'm going.to clone again. without ampfix. I dont know what to try next.


----------



## jmbach

Dambro1978 said:


> I am having a very similar problem except I cant get past the a boot up loop.
> I did not use dvrbars to clone the drive though. I used a docking station with the clone function because i couldnt get the command mfscopy to work in mfstools 3.32. After that I tested the drive and it worked fine but wasnt utilizing the extra space. (2TB green) I used mfs tools to expand the drive. mfs -x/dev/sda
> then
> ampfix /dev/sda
> this worked fine. but when I inserted the drive into the tivo I got the same message as above external drive missing. and prompted me to remove it. however it never booted up after that. it got stuck in a cycle between the startup screen and the a few minutes more screen. I let it do that for 2 hrs. now I'm going.to clone again. without ampfix. I dont know what to try next.


We probably should take this to the MFSTools thread and you can answer these questions there. What command did you use for mfscopy and what error messages did you get.


----------



## Dambro1978

I appreciate the quick response. I dont know how you guys do this. I should have probably quit while I was ahead but i am having way too much fun. The previous post is very similar to the reboot situation I am having. I was tempted to let the reboot go on all night to see if that helped but i was too impatient. Perhaps reformatting the drive. I have now used DvrBars to backup. (middle option) It was surprisingly fast (5min) compared to a exact clone via docking station (2hrs). I will attempt mfscopy again.
The command I used for mfscopy is 
mfscopy -ai/dev/sdb/dev/sdc
I did not get a error instead I got a menu of commands. ex 

-h Display this help message
-q Do not display progress
.
.
Source options:
....etc
Target options ...

ok. and sdb is a drive that i scavenged off similar unit I bought on offerup. sdc is a 2tb WD green drive I bought on Amazon "brand new". sdc is a exact clone of sdb. Except only that it has been initialized in the tivo and gone through setup. not sure if that is the issue. i have bought so many spare parts etc so that i can experiment with all of this.
1)I wonder if there is a market for them the old upgraded drives.
? think about it.
2)also is the something different about a cloning docking station that is causing my problem. (if so I will use dvr bars for that as well. and we can startup a new thread on that.)


----------



## jmbach

Dambro1978 said:


> I appreciate the quick response. I dont know how you guys do this. I should have probably quit while I was ahead but i am having way too much fun. The previous post is very similar to the reboot situation I am having. I was tempted to let the reboot go on all night to see if that helped but i was too impatient. Perhaps reformatting the drive. I have now used DvrBars to backup. (middle option) It was surprisingly fast (5min) compared to a exact clone via docking station (2hrs). I will attempt mfscopy again.
> The command I used for mfscopy is
> mfscopy -ai/dev/sdb/dev/sdc
> I did not get a error instead I got a menu of commands. ex
> 
> -h Display this help message
> -q Do not display progress
> .
> .
> Source options:
> ....etc
> Target options ...
> 
> ok. and sdb is a drive that i scavenged off similar unit I bought on offerup. sdc is a 2tb WD green drive I bought on Amazon "brand new". sdc is a exact clone of sdb. Except only that it has been initialized in the tivo and gone through setup. not sure if that is the issue. i have bought so many spare parts etc so that i can experiment with all of this.
> 1)I wonder if there is a market for them the old upgraded drives.
> ? think about it.
> 2)also is the something different about a cloning docking station that is causing my problem. (if so I will use dvr bars for that as well. and we can startup a new thread on that.)


So if that is the command line you used, you did not use the very important spaces.

mfscopy_-ai_/dev/sdb_/dev/sdc

Where '_' demarcates a space


----------



## Dambro1978

can re retype the code with the correct spacing. I cant see the difference of where you are pointing to.


----------



## jmbach

Dambro1978 said:


> can re retype the code with the correct spacing. I cant see the difference of where you are pointing to.


Unfortunately dpending on what vehicle you look at the post it is off. On my computer it is correct but on my phone it is way off. Will edit it to try to make it clearer.

A space between 'y' and '-', 'i' and '/', and 'b' and '/'


----------



## Dambro1978

thanks it worked

mfscopy -ai /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

I inserted 2 spaces here just to make it visible. but I thought I'd post it if someone else needs it. where I found it it was not typed the right way. although I'm not done I dont think anything else I have belongs I this thread. I will take this to the mfstools thread if it dosent work


----------



## Allen1371

TCD746320 image to help restore a premiere?


----------



## ggieseke

Allen1371 said:


> TCD746320 image to help restore a premiere?


Sent.


----------



## Stephen Murphy

ggieseke said:


> 2013/04/14: Version 1.0.0.2 Patched for DeviceIoControl error reading SD cards.
> 2013/04/15: Version 1.0.0.3 Patched for yet another DeviceIoControl error during restore on some computers.
> 2014/11/27: Version 1.0.0.6 Added the ability to restore VHD images that it doesn't recognize.
> 2017/11/09: Version 1.0.0.7 patched for SquashFS partitions.
> 
> **WARNING**
> 
> 1. This software is provided "as is" with absolutely no warranty of any kind.
> 2. Opening your TiVo will void the manufacturer's warranty.
> 3. While every effort has been made to prevent data loss, the ultimate responsibility is yours.
> 
> OVERVIEW:
> 
> This is a Windows program designed to backup and restore TiVo DVRs. It will run on XP or later, and it should work on anything from a Series 1 to a Premiere. It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives, and it will not expand or "supersize" your drive (yet).
> 
> THE BASICS:
> 
> 1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.
> 2. Connect a TiVo drive to your computer. USB adapters will work, but are generally much slower than a SATA or PATA direct connection.
> 3. Read step 2 again. DvrBARS only scans the drives once when it first starts up. If you add, remove or change your drive configuration while it's running you will confuse the poor thing. I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.
> 4. Run DvrBARS with an account that's a member of the Administrators group or right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
> 5. If you like it and want to help support future development, find the donate option in the System Information screen.
> 
> NOW WHAT?
> 
> There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).
> 
> Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.
> 
> Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.
> 
> Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).
> 
> All three backup methods will preserve your settings, CableCARD pairing, Season Passes, guide data etc.
> 
> There are two restore options (Full and Quick).
> 
> Full restores write all of the information in the backup image to the target drive, including the sectors that weren't backed up. They get zeroes.
> 
> Quick restores only write the sectors that contain data. The rest of the target drive is untouched.
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> There's a roughly 2.2TB limit inherent in the VHD file format. If you try to do a Full backup of a 2TB drive that has been in use for a while it will probably run for about 10 hours and die.
> 
> You cannot make a Modified or Truncated backup of a dual drive TiVo unless both drives are connected. It has to be able to scan the entire MFS file system to figure out what sectors to include.
> 
> For adventurous souls, you can use the VHD files with VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. Use the VHD as the source drive, boot the virtual computer with the mfstools or jmfs ISO file and you can expand, supersize, etc to another drive.
> 
> If you have Vista or later you can also mount a VHD file in Disk Manager and use it as the source drive for further operations like turning a Full or Modified backup into a Truncated backup, but be careful to check the Read Only box.
> 
> PLEASE HELP!!!!
> 
> I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.
> 
> Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.
> 
> KUDOS:
> 
> Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.
> 
> The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.
> 
> AND FINALLY:
> 
> I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> Greg


Good day. I generally use macOS on a day-to-day basis but can find my way around Windows when needed. I am trying to run DVRBars on Windows 7 but no app appears to run after opening the .exe as an administrator. Is it not compatible with Windows 7?


----------



## jmbach

Stephen Murphy said:


> Good day. I generally use macOS on a day-to-day basis but can find my way around Windows when needed. I am trying to run DVRBars on Windows 7 but no app appears to run after opening the .exe as an administrator. Is it not compatible with Windows 7?


It is compatible. Sometimes depending on security levels set, will not run programs downloaded of the internet. Might have to check the security setting for the program and change it.


----------



## ggieseke

Stephen Murphy said:


> Good day. I generally use macOS on a day-to-day basis but can find my way around Windows when needed. I am trying to run DVRBars on Windows 7 but no app appears to run after opening the .exe as an administrator. Is it not compatible with Windows 7?


Some computers have a specific brand of SD card reader that kills DvrBARS without even giving an error message. Try disabling the card reader with Device Manager long enough to run DvrBARS.

It was written on Windows 7, and as long as you are logged in using an account that's a member of the Administrators group you shouldn't have to fiddle with permissions or compatibility settings.


----------



## ldue2541

ggieseke said:


> 2013/04/14: Version 1.0.0.2 Patched for DeviceIoControl error reading SD cards.
> 2013/04/15: Version 1.0.0.3 Patched for yet another DeviceIoControl error during restore on some computers.
> 2014/11/27: Version 1.0.0.6 Added the ability to restore VHD images that it doesn't recognize.
> 2017/11/09: Version 1.0.0.7 patched for SquashFS partitions.
> 
> **WARNING**
> 
> 1. This software is provided "as is" with absolutely no warranty of any kind.
> 2. Opening your TiVo will void the manufacturer's warranty.
> 3. While every effort has been made to prevent data loss, the ultimate responsibility is yours.
> 
> OVERVIEW:
> 
> This is a Windows program designed to backup and restore TiVo DVRs. It will run on XP or later, and it should work on anything from a Series 1 to a Premiere. It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives, and it will not expand or "supersize" your drive (yet).
> 
> THE BASICS:
> 
> 1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.
> 2. Connect a TiVo drive to your computer. USB adapters will work, but are generally much slower than a SATA or PATA direct connection.
> 3. Read step 2 again. DvrBARS only scans the drives once when it first starts up. If you add, remove or change your drive configuration while it's running you will confuse the poor thing. I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.
> 4. Run DvrBARS with an account that's a member of the Administrators group or right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
> 5. If you like it and want to help support future development, find the donate option in the System Information screen.
> 
> NOW WHAT?
> 
> There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).
> 
> Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.
> 
> Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.
> 
> Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).
> 
> All three backup methods will preserve your settings, CableCARD pairing, Season Passes, guide data etc.
> 
> There are two restore options (Full and Quick).
> 
> Full restores write all of the information in the backup image to the target drive, including the sectors that weren't backed up. They get zeroes.
> 
> Quick restores only write the sectors that contain data. The rest of the target drive is untouched.
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> There's a roughly 2.2TB limit inherent in the VHD file format. If you try to do a Full backup of a 2TB drive that has been in use for a while it will probably run for about 10 hours and die.
> 
> You cannot make a Modified or Truncated backup of a dual drive TiVo unless both drives are connected. It has to be able to scan the entire MFS file system to figure out what sectors to include.
> 
> For adventurous souls, you can use the VHD files with VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. Use the VHD as the source drive, boot the virtual computer with the mfstools or jmfs ISO file and you can expand, supersize, etc to another drive.
> 
> If you have Vista or later you can also mount a VHD file in Disk Manager and use it as the source drive for further operations like turning a Full or Modified backup into a Truncated backup, but be careful to check the Read Only box.
> 
> PLEASE HELP!!!!
> 
> I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.
> 
> Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.
> 
> KUDOS:
> 
> Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.
> 
> The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.
> 
> AND FINALLY:
> 
> I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> Greg


can you send me the iso file on the premiere tcd746320 please.. thank you.. [email protected]


----------



## ggieseke

ldue2541 said:


> can you send me the iso file on the premiere tcd746320 please.. thank you.. [email protected]


Sent.


----------



## bbauman99

ggieseke said:


> 2013/04/14: Version 1.0.0.2 Patched for DeviceIoControl error reading SD cards.
> 2013/04/15: Version 1.0.0.3 Patched for yet another DeviceIoControl error during restore on some computers.
> 2014/11/27: Version 1.0.0.6 Added the ability to restore VHD images that it doesn't recognize.
> 2017/11/09: Version 1.0.0.7 patched for SquashFS partitions.
> 
> **WARNING**
> 
> 1. This software is provided "as is" with absolutely no warranty of any kind.
> 2. Opening your TiVo will void the manufacturer's warranty.
> 3. While every effort has been made to prevent data loss, the ultimate responsibility is yours.
> 
> OVERVIEW:
> 
> This is a Windows program designed to backup and restore TiVo DVRs. It will run on XP or later, and it should work on anything from a Series 1 to a Premiere. It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives, and it will not expand or "supersize" your drive (yet).
> 
> THE BASICS:
> 
> 1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.
> 2. Connect a TiVo drive to your computer. USB adapters will work, but are generally much slower than a SATA or PATA direct connection.
> 3. Read step 2 again. DvrBARS only scans the drives once when it first starts up. If you add, remove or change your drive configuration while it's running you will confuse the poor thing. I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.
> 4. Run DvrBARS with an account that's a member of the Administrators group or right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
> 5. If you like it and want to help support future development, find the donate option in the System Information screen.
> 
> NOW WHAT?
> 
> There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).
> 
> Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.
> 
> Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.
> 
> Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).
> 
> All three backup methods will preserve your settings, CableCARD pairing, Season Passes, guide data etc.
> 
> There are two restore options (Full and Quick).
> 
> Full restores write all of the information in the backup image to the target drive, including the sectors that weren't backed up. They get zeroes.
> 
> Quick restores only write the sectors that contain data. The rest of the target drive is untouched.
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> There's a roughly 2.2TB limit inherent in the VHD file format. If you try to do a Full backup of a 2TB drive that has been in use for a while it will probably run for about 10 hours and die.
> 
> You cannot make a Modified or Truncated backup of a dual drive TiVo unless both drives are connected. It has to be able to scan the entire MFS file system to figure out what sectors to include.
> 
> For adventurous souls, you can use the VHD files with VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. Use the VHD as the source drive, boot the virtual computer with the mfstools or jmfs ISO file and you can expand, supersize, etc to another drive.
> 
> If you have Vista or later you can also mount a VHD file in Disk Manager and use it as the source drive for further operations like turning a Full or Modified backup into a Truncated backup, but be careful to check the Read Only box.
> 
> PLEASE HELP!!!!
> 
> I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.
> 
> Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.
> 
> KUDOS:
> 
> Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.
> 
> The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.
> 
> AND FINALLY:
> 
> I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> Greg


----------



## bbauman99

When I download via the dropbox link, unzip and run the DvrBARS executable it reports itself as version 1.0.0.6 but the version history mentions 1.0.0.7.
Is there a place to grab a newer version? Do I need a newer version for TCD758250?

Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

bbauman99 said:


> When I download via the dropbox link, unzip and run the DvrBARS executable it reports itself as version 1.0.0.6 but the version history mentions 1.0.0.7.
> Is there a place to grab a newer version? Do I need a newer version for TCD758250?


Both the System Information screen within DvrBARS and the Details tab if you right-click the exe in File Explorer and choose Properties should show 1.0.0.7. Where else is it reporting itself as 1.0.0.6?

1.0.0.7 is needed if you want to make your own backup image of a Premiere that's running the latest software. If you're restoring an existing image it doesn't matter.


----------



## bbauman99

ggieseke said:


> Both the System Information screen within DvrBARS and the Details tab if you right-click the exe in File Explorer and choose Properties should show 1.0.0.7. Where else is it reporting itself as 1.0.0.6?
> 
> 1.0.0.7 is needed if you want to make your own backup image of a Premiere that's running the latest software. If you're restoring an existing image it doesn't matter.


I accidentally downloaded the old image. After a couple of cups of coffee I got the correct image.

Thanks and sorry for my stupidity.


----------



## idaharry

So I am attempting a backup of my Tivo Premiere even though the Drive appears to be unbootable. In about 20 minutes I should have a 300Gb DVRbars backup file, but it's a backup after a failure occurred.

After the Tivo stopped working today, I took the 320GB drive out, cleaned the dust from the case, put the drive back in and then there was a boot loop after the 2 TIVO welcome screens. Has anyone had success repairing a compromised TIVO disk image like mine? I saw earlier that this was a solvable problem to reload the original boot sectors. Was the problem solved and if so what are the tools needed to do it?


----------



## idaharry

Also, on the first post on this thread there is a dropbox link to DVRBARS 1.06 but the file attached the the post is DVRBARS 1.07. Just to be clear, we need to download the 1.07 one (attached to the thread) when backing up a premier? Confusing as the 1.06 version was able to recognize my drive (see attached):


----------



## ggieseke

idaharry said:


> Also, on the first post on this thread there is a dropbox link to DVRBARS 1.06 but the file attached the the post is DVRBARS 1.07. Just to be clear, we need to download the 1.07 one (attached to the thread) when backing up a premier? Confusing as the 1.06 version was able to recognize my drive (see attached):


If you want to back up your own drive use 1.0.7 or it will skip the actual software partitions and restoring it to another drive wont work.

I also have a clean TCD746320 image that's already running version 20.7.4.


----------



## idaharry

Thanks, I realized, reading the earlier posts, that the 1.06 would be no good so I aborted half way through and ran a full backup again using 1.07. I am ready to restore, I just have to do some other upgrades in the house to free up a good 500Gb drive. Interesting, the current Tivo drive is a western digital GreenPower 320Gb drive from 2011. Whatever I put in SHOULD be an improvement over the original.

You sent me the TCD746320 Friday, Thank you. It dawned on me that I might even be able to put two drives into the Tivo case, like a 128Gig SSD for system and 512K drive for data, using an $8 mounting bracket. I don't know whether the TIVO software can use a SATA drive as the extra drive as opposed to an external USB.


----------



## apparition6

bbauman99 said:


> I accidentally downloaded the old image. After a couple of cups of coffee I got the correct image.
> 
> Thanks and sorry for my stupidity.


 I made this same mistake. It looks like the link in the text of the original post is out of date. Missed the attached file at the bottom of the post the first time I downloaded.

Thanks for the great software tools and the great community.



ggieseke said:


> 1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.


----------



## ggieseke

apparition6 said:


> I made this same mistake. It looks like the link in the text of the original post is out of date. Missed the attached file at the bottom of the post the first time I downloaded.


Old link removed. Sorry about that.


----------



## idaharry

so it looks like I will have to use the image provided by Gary. After cloning the drive I get the same issue. after the "few more minutes" screen the video shuts off and says I need to use the remote to power on.

question: can I try the "emergency software reinstall" procedure at this point? could that get me working software and not delete the recordings?


----------



## ggieseke

idaharry said:


> question: can I try the "emergency software reinstall" procedure at this point? could that get me working software and not delete the recordings?


Can't hurt.


----------



## idaharry

well, some good news is that I have my TiVo working again. I have installed a brand new Toshiba laptop drive, 500Gb, which should be reliable. Thank you Greg for the image and for your help.

I still have the clone of my original drive. After running a test (attached) I think the drive may actually be fine. It is probably a software corruption, not a problem with the disk itself. So I need to obtain an original Tivo remote to do the reinstall procedure -- ours was lost somewhere in the house.

As for installing two laptop drives inside the case, I hope to test that soon, have some brackets on order from Amazon!


----------



## heuer1370

Hello Tivo friends. I could really use an image for a Premiere TCD746320. Had it on a cd but lost it :-( Also I use DVRBars for this right??? It's been a while. Using a new 1tb drive. Thanks

Update: I Found my image. used DRVBars for the image and jmfs to extend the drive. started the setup and when it tries to load the initial online data the wheel stops spinning and it goes into a start up loop wanting me to do it all over again and again. tried 3 diff drives.

Current version would be very much appreciated


----------



## idaharry

you will probably get this from gary... here is a head start
Dropbox - TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42.zip - Simplify your life


----------



## heuer1370

idaharry said:


> you will probably get this from gary... here is a head start
> Dropbox - TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42.zip - Simplify your life


Thank You!!!!


----------



## UsernameNeedHelp

ggieseke said:


> 2013/04/14: Version 1.0.0.2 Patched for DeviceIoControl error reading SD cards.
> 2013/04/15: Version 1.0.0.3 Patched for yet another DeviceIoControl error during restore on some computers.
> 2014/11/27: Version 1.0.0.6 Added the ability to restore VHD images that it doesn't recognize.
> 2017/11/09: Version 1.0.0.7 patched for SquashFS partitions.
> 
> **WARNING**
> 
> 1. This software is provided "as is" with absolutely no warranty of any kind.
> 2. Opening your TiVo will void the manufacturer's warranty.
> 3. While every effort has been made to prevent data loss, the ultimate responsibility is yours.
> 
> OVERVIEW:
> 
> This is a Windows program designed to backup and restore TiVo DVRs. It will run on XP or later, and it should work on anything from a Series 1 to a Premiere. It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives, and it will not expand or "supersize" your drive (yet).
> 
> THE BASICS:
> 
> 1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.
> 2. Connect a TiVo drive to your computer. USB adapters will work, but are generally much slower than a SATA or PATA direct connection.
> 3. Read step 2 again. DvrBARS only scans the drives once when it first starts up. If you add, remove or change your drive configuration while it's running you will confuse the poor thing. I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.
> 4. Run DvrBARS with an account that's a member of the Administrators group or right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
> 5. If you like it and want to help support future development, find the donate option in the System Information screen.
> 
> NOW WHAT?
> 
> There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).
> 
> Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.
> 
> Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.
> 
> Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).
> 
> All three backup methods will preserve your settings, CableCARD pairing, Season Passes, guide data etc.
> 
> There are two restore options (Full and Quick).
> 
> Full restores write all of the information in the backup image to the target drive, including the sectors that weren't backed up. They get zeroes.
> 
> Quick restores only write the sectors that contain data. The rest of the target drive is untouched.
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> There's a roughly 2.2TB limit inherent in the VHD file format. If you try to do a Full backup of a 2TB drive that has been in use for a while it will probably run for about 10 hours and die.
> 
> You cannot make a Modified or Truncated backup of a dual drive TiVo unless both drives are connected. It has to be able to scan the entire MFS file system to figure out what sectors to include.
> 
> For adventurous souls, you can use the VHD files with VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. Use the VHD as the source drive, boot the virtual computer with the mfstools or jmfs ISO file and you can expand, supersize, etc to another drive.
> 
> If you have Vista or later you can also mount a VHD file in Disk Manager and use it as the source drive for further operations like turning a Full or Modified backup into a Truncated backup, but be careful to check the Read Only box.
> 
> PLEASE HELP!!!!
> 
> I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.
> 
> Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.
> 
> KUDOS:
> 
> Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.
> 
> The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.
> 
> AND FINALLY:
> 
> I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> Greg


----------



## UsernameNeedHelp

Will any of this work for a roamio?


----------



## ThAbtO

UsernameNeedHelp said:


> Will any of this work for a roamio?


What do you hope to achieve?


----------



## ggieseke

UsernameNeedHelp said:


> Will any of this work for a roamio?


No.


----------



## jimlau

Once I have the VHD file, how do I install that onto a clean drive? Is that what Quick Restore does? Would I need MFTools for any reason?

The backup drives I have are not empty, though I don't need to save anything on there.

I have Premiere 4.

Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

jimlau said:


> Once I have the VHD file, how do I install that onto a clean drive? Is that what Quick Restore does? Would I need MFTools for any reason?
> 
> The backup drives I have are not empty, though I don't need to save anything on there.
> 
> I have Premiere 4.
> 
> Thanks.


Either restore mode will write the VHD file onto a clean drive.


----------



## jimlau

ggieseke said:


> Either restore mode will write the VHD file onto a clean drive.


So it's just 1 step, onto a drive that isn't empty (but fully erasable)?


----------



## ThAbtO

"Clean" drive means no format, partitions, Nothing.


----------



## ggieseke

jimlau said:


> So it's just 1 step, onto a drive that isn't empty (but fully erasable)?


As a safety precaution, it won't overwrite a drive that's already formatted for Windows. Other than that it doesn't care what's on the drive - it will restore over it.


----------



## Terminate&Stay Resident

ggieseke said:


> Sent.


does the size of the target drive affect which image file should be used? I downloaded the 746320 image (VHD) from the dropbox link, but it's only 3GB. Am replacing my failed 360GB drive with a 1TB drive


----------



## jmbach

Terminate&Stay Resident said:


> does the size of the target drive affect which image file should be used? I downloaded the 746320 image (VHD) from the dropbox link, but it's only 3GB. Am replacing my failed 360GB drive with a 1TB drive


No. The image is compressed and will expand to the original drive size no matter how big of a drive you restore it to.


----------



## Terminate&Stay Resident

jmbach said:


> No. The image is compressed and will expand to the original drive size no matter how big of a drive you restore it to.


Thanks for the quick response. I gave this a shot, using the quick restore option, and the Tivo unit failed to boot at all (all blinking lights). Should I have used the Full restore?


----------



## jmbach

Terminate&Stay Resident said:


> Thanks for the quick response. I gave this a shot, using the quick restore option, and the Tivo unit failed to boot at all (all blinking lights). Should I have used the Full restore?


Did you use the latest DvrBARS version?

Do you get any boot screen to appear or does all the lights just flash?


----------



## ThAbtO

Terminate&Stay Resident said:


> Thanks for the quick response. I gave this a shot, using the quick restore option, and the Tivo unit failed to boot at all (all blinking lights). Should I have used the Full restore?


What make/model drive did you use? Is it brand new?


----------



## Terminate&Stay Resident

ThAbtO said:


> What make/model drive did you use? Is it brand new?


WD 1TB that I pulled from the WD My book . I tested it with WDC diagnostics and it had no errors, mfg 2015. Am running the Full Restore now with DvrBARS v1.007 to see if that makes a difference


----------



## Terminate&Stay Resident

jmbach said:


> Did you use the latest DvrBARS version?
> 
> Do you get any boot screen to appear or does all the lights just flash?


No boot screen - drive didn't spin up as far as I could "hear" .... :-( I did use latest DvrBARS (v1.007)


----------



## jmbach

Some drives in that era need the puis mode disabled


----------



## ThAbtO

Terminate&Stay Resident said:


> WD 1TB that I pulled from the WD My book


Drives inside varies. What model was in there?


----------



## Terminate&Stay Resident

ThAbtO said:


> Drives inside varies. What model was in there?


WD10EURX - "greenPower"


----------



## ThAbtO

Those drives may most often have Power Up In Standby (PUIS) enabled even though the jumpers say otherwise. You would need to download the UBCD, burn to CD, boot from it, run HDAT to disable. Make sure its connected to SATA, with no other HDs connected.


----------



## Terminate&Stay Resident

ThAbtO said:


> Those drives may most often have Power Up In Standby (PUIS) enabled even though the jumpers say otherwise. You would need to download the UBCD, burn to CD, boot from it, run HDAT to disable. Make sure its connected to SATA, with no other HDs connected.


thanks for the heads-up. I was able to use HDAT2 to confirm that the PUIS feature set was *not* active on this drive, and that the power mode was "active" , so that does not seem to be the issue...


----------



## ggieseke

Terminate&Stay Resident said:


> thanks for the heads-up. I was able to use HDAT2 to confirm that the PUIS feature set was *not* active on this drive, and that the power mode was "active" , so that does not seem to be the issue...


Where did you get the image?


----------



## Terminate&Stay Resident

ggieseke said:


> Where did you get the image?


I downloaded it from a dropbox link in one of these threads, it's file TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42.vhd


----------



## ggieseke

Terminate&Stay Resident said:


> I downloaded it from a dropbox link in one of these threads, it's file TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42.vhd


That sounds like my image, but I have never posted a public link to it. Curious.

You should get at least the first Welcome screen even with no drive installed. No boot screen and all lights flashing is very unusual for Premieres and probably indicates some other hardware failure. You might check the power supply voltages.


----------



## Terminate&Stay Resident

ggieseke said:


> That sounds like my image, but I have never posted a public link to it. Curious.
> 
> You should get at least the first Welcome screen even with no drive installed. No boot screen and all lights flashing is very unusual for Premieres and probably indicates some other hardware failure. You might check the power supply voltages.


yes, I figured that it's more than just the drive. I've packed it in - I found a replacement unit on eBay. Thanks for all the help though!


----------



## PeterHomer

Hello all (Greg)! I'm new to this forum and also have a recently deceased Premier 746320 following a power outage (it was plugged into a surge protector). The TiVo unit gets past the initial start screen then goes into alternating flashing lights/black screen. I have pulled the disk (original circa 2010) and get no response/no noise when hooked up to a PC, so have ordered a replacement 1TB WD drive. I have also downloaded and installed the DvrBARS app. I guess I need a compatible disk image to write to the new disk? Thank you for your assistance!


----------



## ggieseke

PeterHomer said:


> Hello all (Greg)! I'm new to this forum and also have a recently deceased Premier 746320 following a power outage (it was plugged into a surge protector). The TiVo unit gets past the initial start screen then goes into alternating flashing lights/black screen. I have pulled the disk (original circa 2010) and get no response/no noise when hooked up to a PC, so have ordered a replacement 1TB WD drive. I have also downloaded and installed the DvrBARS app. I guess I need a compatible disk image to write to the new disk? Thank you for your assistance!


Sent.


----------



## PeterHomer

ggieseke said:


> Sent.


Thanks! I will be creating the new disk in a few days, will let you know how it all goes. I donated to help keep the lights on too.


----------



## PeterHomer

PeterHomer said:


> Thanks! I will be creating the new disk in a few days, will let you know how it all goes. I donated to help keep the lights on too.


I was able to create the new disk in just minutes from the ISO file using DVRBARS. Plugged into TiVo unit and she fired right up! [Of course, I had to get a cable company tech to come and replace an aged cable card and digital decoder in order to get all of our channels, but that's no fault of anyone here!]

Thanks again for maintaining this database of disk images. Saved my bacon ;-)


----------



## MPSAN

Hello! I have a Premiere 4 and I believe it would need an image for it. I believe it is a Model 75050 but am confused as to the image name. I hope that an image will help me. I see DVRBars will backup the drive. However, if you just want to restore an image that I can get, do I just select that? I have an issue as I have a TIVO with NO ISSUES and the HDD is fine. Then I was told to fix the guide with a CPI&TDL and it is now bricked. So, I can try a KickStart but was told that it would probably not work. So, can I get an image that would put me back? If I backup the old drive, can I then put the new image on it and then restore only my shows from the backed up image or should I just assume all is lost. I believe that my lifetime service is still preserved as it is tied into a rom on the motherboard. Sorry for all of the questions!


----------



## ThAbtO

MPSAN said:


> I believe it is a Model 75050


Confirm that, look on the label in the back, begins with TCD. Or Look in System Information, first 3 of the service number, last 3 in the software version.


MPSAN said:


> If I backup the old drive, can I then put the new image on it and then restore only my shows from the backed up image


No, because the shows are encoded to that image, you will not be able get the shows off it unless that image is running in the same Tivo.


MPSAN said:


> I believe that my lifetime service is still preserved as it is tied into a rom on the motherboard.


No, lifetime service (or any service) is tied to the Tivo service number.


----------



## MPSAN

Thank You. TIVO is frozen so can not look in System Info. The TIVO site shows they sent me the TIVO and it was called an R75050. So, I assume that if I do get a clean image and restore it, my TSN will not change as I have not heard of anyone saying that their Lifetime went away, just shows and cable card info, etc!
So, where can I request an image for this Dead, thank you very much TIVO, unit?


----------



## ggieseke

TiVo changed something recently, and boxes running software from before the conversion to Rovi guide data no longer update properly. They download data, reboot and repeat forever.

My only recent Premiere image is for a TCD746xxx. My 748, 750 & 758 images are too old and no longer work. If anyone out there has one of those models and can help out it would be greatly appreciated. The best way to get a clean image is to run Clear & Delete Everything, then pull the power during the first reboot. After that, hook the drive up to a PC and run a Truncated Backup with DvrBARS 1.0.0.7. Please contact me if you can help.

Edit: I now have an updated 748 image (courtesy of jmbach).


----------



## MPSAN

ggieseke said:


> TiVo changed something recently, and boxes running software from before the conversion to Rovi guide data no longer update properly. They download data, reboot and repeat forever.
> 
> My only recent Premiere image is for a TCD746xxx. My 748, 750 & 758 images are too old and no longer work. If anyone out there has one of those models and can help out it would be greatly appreciated. The best way to get a clean image is to run Clear & Delete Everything, then pull the power during the first reboot. After that, hook the drive up to a PC and run a Truncated Backup with DvrBARS 1.0.0.7. Please contact me if you can help.


The problem is that I can NOT run Clear and Delete as the unit is just stuck on that Clearing Guide Data screen and will not respond to anything. I believe that a power cycle will just bring me back there! I can try a KS but do not think it will respond to that either! I sure hope someone somewhere has a good 750 image.
Thank You


----------



## jmbach

MPSAN said:


> The problem is that I can NOT run Clear and Delete as the unit is just stuck on that Clearing Guide Data screen and will not respond to anything. I believe that a power cycle will just bring me back there! I can try a KS but do not think it will respond to that either! I sure hope someone somewhere has a good 750 image.
> Thank You


Try kickstart 76543210 on your unit. That will run a clear and delete everything from boot.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## MPSAN

jmbach said:


> Try kickstart 76543210 on your unit. That will run a clear and delete everything from boot.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


Thank You, Yes, I am going to try that but have been told that with the TIVO in the condition that it is in it will no longer let me get into KS...however, I would think that the software is stiil OK so I will try it. I do have the RF dongle so need to be sure it is in IR mode. Too bad no one has an updated image I can use!


----------



## MPSAN

ggieseke said:


> TiVo changed something recently, and boxes running software from before the conversion to Rovi guide data no longer update properly. They download data, reboot and repeat forever.
> 
> My only recent Premiere image is for a TCD746xxx. My 748, 750 & 758 images are too old and no longer work. If anyone out there has one of those models and can help out it would be greatly appreciated. The best way to get a clean image is to run Clear & Delete Everything, then pull the power during the first reboot. After that, hook the drive up to a PC and run a Truncated Backup with DvrBARS 1.0.0.7. Please contact me if you can help.


OH, one dumb question on my part is why would a downlevel 750 image not work? Wouldn't it update the software once it contacted TIVO? I am just trying to salvage this. Tomorrow I will try the KS.


----------



## ggieseke

MPSAN said:


> OH, one dumb question on my part is why would a downlevel 750 image not work? Wouldn't it update the software once it contacted TIVO? I am just trying to salvage this. Tomorrow I will try the KS.


It should just update to the latest software, and that's what it has always done in the past. It appears to be boot looping on a guide data download before it ever gets to the updating stage.


----------



## MPSAN

ggieseke said:


> It should just update to the latest software, and that's what it has always done in the past. It appears to be boot looping on a guide data download before it ever gets to the updating stage.


So, if a KS will not start would your 750 image, that you said is too old, load and then update? I guess I do not understand why it would not work.
Also, thank you for your help!


----------



## ggieseke

MPSAN said:


> So, if a KS will not start would your 750 image, that you said is too old, load and then update? I guess I do not understand why it would not work.
> Also, thank you for your help!


My existing 750 image does not work because it's too old and gets stuck in a reboot loop while trying to update to the latest version.


----------



## MPSAN

ggieseke said:


> My existing 750 image does not work because it's too old and gets stuck in a reboot loop while trying to update to the latest version.


Thank you. I am surprised that it would not update no matter how old it is. Could that be something I may want to try here to see what happens? It could not hurt my system any more than it already is! See, I actually wanted to use this as a test to prove I can do this and actually use dvrbars to do a backup with windows configured to NOT have Automount enabled. More in a PM when I get a chance if this works.


----------



## ggieseke

MPSAN said:


> Thank you. I am surprised that it would not update no matter how old it is. Could that be something I may want to try here to see what happens? It could not hurt my system any more than it already is! See, I actually wanted to use this as a test to prove I can do this and actually use dvrbars to do a backup with windows configured to NOT have Automount enabled. More in a PM when I get a chance if this works.


Image sent. It's worth a try, and if you can get it to update that would help others stuck in the same situation.

The Automount setting in Windows doesn't matter because TiVo drives use a proprietary format and Windows will see it as an unknown drive without any file system at all. If you have Disk Manager running it will ask if you want to "initialize" the drive, but just tell it no.


----------



## MPSAN

ggieseke said:


> Image sent. It's worth a try, and if you can get it to update that would help others stuck in the same situation.
> 
> The Automount setting in Windows doesn't matter because TiVo drives use a proprietary format and Windows will see it as an unknown drive without any file system at all. If you have Disk Manager running it will ask if you want to "initialize" the drive, but just tell it no.


OH!!! I thought it would try to init the TIVO drive before asking ANYTHING! Great, if it just comes up and I can just tell it NO! I guess I can turn automount back on.


----------



## ggieseke

MPSAN said:


> OH!!! I thought it would try to init the TIVO drive before asking ANYTHING! Great, if it just comes up and I can just tell it NO! I guess I can turn automount back on.


Nah, the last version of Windows that formatted new drives automatically was Windows 2000.


----------



## MPSAN

Great. Anxious to try but may have to wait for tomorrow AM!


----------



## RyanG34

ggieseke said:


> PM sent.


Hi,

Could you also send me a link/image to the TiVo Bolt Vox running Hydra? It's the 500GB version and I want to setup a new 2TB WD drive I got for it.

Thank you,
Ryan


----------



## ThAbtO

RyanG34 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Could you also send me a link/image to the TiVo Bolt Vox running Hydra? It's the 500GB version and I want to setup a new 2TB WD drive I got for it.
> 
> Thank you,
> Ryan


You do not need an image for Bolts, they are capable of making a blank drive workable.


----------



## RyanG34

When I swap out the old hard drive for the new one, it just sits on the "Starting up" screen. So I must need to do something else in order to get it to work, right?


----------



## ThAbtO

What make/model drive? Tivos are very specific about drives as the power supply is not strong enough for any regular drives. Mostly recommended is WD Red (not Pro or 7200 RPM)


----------



## RyanG34

ThAbtO said:


> What make/model drive? Tivos are very specific about drives as the power supply is not strong enough for any regular drives. Mostly recommended is WD Red (not Pro or 7200 RPM)


Product WD Blue Blue EIDE Mobile Hard Drive 2 TB
WD20SPZX-75UA7T0


----------



## HerronScott

RyanG34 said:


> Product WD Blue Blue EIDE Mobile Hard Drive 2 TB
> WD20SPZX-75UA7T0


And are you running TE4 (21.x software) as that has more restrictions on supported drives? I believe that drive is SMR and would not be recommended for a Bolt.

I used a WD20NPVZ whch is PMR when I upgraded my son's Bolt running TE3 (20.0 software) and it's still working 2 years later but I'm not sure if that's supported with TE4.

Scott


----------



## RyanG34

HerronScott said:


> And are you running TE4 (21.x software) as that has more restrictions on supported drives? I believe that drive is SMR and would not be recommended for a Bolt.
> 
> I used a WD20NPVZ whch is PMR when I upgraded my son's Bolt running TE3 (20.0 software) and it's still working 2 years later but I'm not sure if that's supported with TE4.
> 
> Scott


Yah, it's the latest TiVo software Hydra or whatever it's called. 21.9.6.v7-USC-11-849


----------



## HerronScott

RyanG34 said:


> Yah, it's the latest TiVo software Hydra or whatever it's called. 21.9.6.v7-USC-11-849


You might try the Toshiba 2TB drive.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08231HZPW/

Scott


----------



## Mikeguy

HerronScott said:


> You might try the Toshiba 2TB drive.
> 
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08231HZPW/
> 
> Scott


Dang--still at its bargain basement price!


----------



## BDM351

ggieseke said:


> 2013/04/14: Version 1.0.0.2 Patched for DeviceIoControl error reading SD cards.
> 2013/04/15: Version 1.0.0.3 Patched for yet another DeviceIoControl error during restore on some computers.
> 2014/11/27: Version 1.0.0.6 Added the ability to restore VHD images that it doesn't recognize.
> 2017/11/09: Version 1.0.0.7 patched for SquashFS partitions.
> 
> **WARNING**
> 
> 1. This software is provided "as is" with absolutely no warranty of any kind.
> 2. Opening your TiVo will void the manufacturer's warranty.
> 3. While every effort has been made to prevent data loss, the ultimate responsibility is yours.
> 
> OVERVIEW:
> 
> This is a Windows program designed to backup and restore TiVo DVRs. It will run on XP or later, and it should work on anything from a Series 1 to a Premiere. It is not intended as a recovery tool for corrupt or failing drives, and it will not expand or "supersize" your drive (yet).
> 
> THE BASICS:
> 
> 1. Download DvrBARS and unzip it to somewhere on your drive.
> 2. Connect a TiVo drive to your computer. USB adapters will work, but are generally much slower than a SATA or PATA direct connection.
> 3. Read step 2 again. DvrBARS only scans the drives once when it first starts up. If you add, remove or change your drive configuration while it's running you will confuse the poor thing. I also strongly recommend that you do not run Windows Disk Manager while a TiVo drive is connected, because it will try to "initialize" it, which will damage the boot sector.
> 4. Run DvrBARS with an account that's a member of the Administrators group or right-click it and choose Run as Administrator.
> 5. If you like it and want to help support future development, find the donate option in the System Information screen.
> 
> NOW WHAT?
> 
> There are three backup options (Full, Modified Full, and Truncated).
> 
> Full is perfect if you have a drive that's straight from the factory because most of the drive is all zeroes. A Full backup "xeroxes" the entire drive, but due to the way dynamic VHD files work you'll get a byte-for-byte copy of the entire drive in a relatively small file. For Premieres that's usually about 2.5GB and you can zip it down even further.
> 
> Modified Full backups selectively copy all of the sectors that are in use, including your recordings. You'll need a lot of disk space if you have a lot of recordings.
> 
> Truncated backups are like Modified backups, but your recordings are excluded. The final backup file will be about the same size as a Full backup of a factory drive that has never been booted, especially if you exclude the alternate Root partition (see the Settings screen).
> 
> All three backup methods will preserve your settings, CableCARD pairing, Season Passes, guide data etc.
> 
> There are two restore options (Full and Quick).
> 
> Full restores write all of the information in the backup image to the target drive, including the sectors that weren't backed up. They get zeroes.
> 
> Quick restores only write the sectors that contain data. The rest of the target drive is untouched.
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> There's a roughly 2.2TB limit inherent in the VHD file format. If you try to do a Full backup of a 2TB drive that has been in use for a while it will probably run for about 10 hours and die.
> 
> You cannot make a Modified or Truncated backup of a dual drive TiVo unless both drives are connected. It has to be able to scan the entire MFS file system to figure out what sectors to include.
> 
> For adventurous souls, you can use the VHD files with VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. Use the VHD as the source drive, boot the virtual computer with the mfstools or jmfs ISO file and you can expand, supersize, etc to another drive.
> 
> If you have Vista or later you can also mount a VHD file in Disk Manager and use it as the source drive for further operations like turning a Full or Modified backup into a Truncated backup, but be careful to check the Read Only box.
> 
> PLEASE HELP!!!!
> 
> I have a perfect image of a TCD748000 Premiere XL straight from the factory. I also have a nearly pristine TCD746320 Premiere image, but it's larger because it came from a drive that had already been through one upgrade. If you have a "virgin" drive laying around somewhere, run a full backup and send me a PM. Someday I hope to have clean images of every recent model available to the community.
> 
> Donate if you can. An awful lot of time and money has gone into this project so far, and the 100GB Dropbox account I set up for the images wasn't free either.
> 
> KUDOS:
> 
> Two members here (retiredqwest and jmbach) deserve a LOT of thanks and a big chunk of the credit. Their support and patience made it possible.
> 
> The pioneers who developed mfstools and jmfs also have my deepest thanks. DvrBARS is an entirely new work, but the basic knowledge of the MFS file system came from them.
> 
> AND FINALLY:
> 
> I'll shut up now. If you have any problems (and there are bound to be some) post the details here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> Greg


Thank you for your time and effort.


----------



## 1Rider

i get this error when i run the software


----------



## lprimak

Add me to the list of people unable to use the Premier XL image.
It doesn't get past "configuring" during the initial guided setup.


----------



## jmbach

lprimak said:


> Add me to the list of people unable to use the Premier XL image.
> It doesn't get past "configuring" during the initial guided setup.


Before restoring the image on the drive, did you run the manufacturer diagnostic on it and did you do a full read-write-read? The TiVo OS does not handle and respond well to flaky spots on the drive.

What drive are you using?

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## lprimak

My drive isn't the issue, software corruption is what led me to re-image the drive (the never-ending "clearing and deleting everything" screen that other people were mentioning)
Saying that, I did run the SMART tests and everything passed.
I am using the original drive that came with my TiVo P-XL



jmbach said:


> Before restoring the image on the drive, did you run the manufacturer diagnostic on it and did you do a full read-write-read? The TiVo OS does not handle and respond well to flaky spots on the drive.
> 
> What drive are you using?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

I was wondering if I could get a copy of a image for a TCD746320 and a TCD750500. 

Ideally 20.7 if possible. I booted up a offline TCD746320 with 20.4 and it is stuck in the guided setup loop and is making no attempt to auto update.

Thanks


----------



## lprimak

let me know if you have any progress with this, so we can figure out what works and what doesn't
thank you


----------



## jmbach

lprimak said:


> My drive isn't the issue, software corruption is what led me to re-image the drive (the never-ending "clearing and deleting everything" screen that other people were mentioning)
> Saying that, I did run the SMART tests and everything passed.
> I am using the original drive that came with my TiVo P-XL


Smart tests fail after a certain amount of blocks fail. So when your drive is close to a catastrophic failure it will fail. Until then it will act flaky as the bad blocks add up.

I still recommend the read-write-read with the manufacturer diagnostic to recertify the drive before copying an image onto it and putting it i to service.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

Just tried a Kickstart 51 (Software Update) did not push a update. Think its possible multiple servers/addresses have changed with the Rovi transition.


----------



## lprimak

This tivo is only used to stream from the main Bolt to SlingBox, so the HDD is barely used.
Smart tests ran overnight and show no failures. The tivo was working just fine before I accidentally deleted
the bolt from the account and tried to clear everything and reboot.



jmbach said:


> Smart tests fail after a certain amount of blocks fail. So when your drive is close to a catastrophic failure it will fail. Until then it will act flaky as the bad blocks add up.
> 
> I still recommend the read-write-read with the manufacturer diagnostic to recertify the drive before copying an image onto it and putting it i to service.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

Just tried a Kickstart 56. Still took me back to guided setup. No attempt at an upgrade and still at 20.4.


----------



## lprimak

and you can't get past the guided setup either? Do you get error N18 too?



CantDecideOnOne said:


> Just tried a Kickstart 56. Still took me back to guided setup. No attempt at an upgrade and still at 20.4.


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

I get through the setup to the download section, it fully downloads, and then reboots during Loading Info. I don't get a error. This was after a C and DE.


----------



## lprimak

ha... perhaps a different problem but same result... dead tivo 



CantDecideOnOne said:


> I get through the setup to the download section, it fully downloads, and then reboots during Loading Info. I don't get a error. This was after a C and DE.


----------



## ggieseke

CantDecideOnOne said:


> I was wondering if I could get a copy of a image for a TCD746320 and a TCD750500.
> 
> Ideally 20.7 if possible. I booted up a offline TCD746320 with 20.4 and it is stuck in the guided setup loop and is making no attempt to auto update.
> 
> Thanks


746 image sent. I don't have a working 750 image at this time.


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

ggieseke said:


> 746 image sent. I don't have a working 750 image at this time.


Thank you for the image! It was a bit of a roller coaster but I got it working.

Restored Image with DVRBars
Booted up
Went through guided setup and boot looped
Went through guided setup a second time and it went through this time
Had a system update. Installed it
Everything was working except activation... Then realized I did all of this to my 746 parts Premiere that doesn't have lifetime...Doh :disrelieved:
Moved drive to my 746 lifetime premiere, did a C and DE to pair drive.
Appears to be up and working now.

Not sure if it is intentional or not, but definitely starting to see the early starts of TiVo moving away from its pre-Rovi hardware.


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

ggieseke said:


> 746 image sent. I don't have a working 750 image at this time.


Does the 750 image not work because of a technical reason, or just because you don't have a 750 with 20.7.4 to take the image from (as in you only have older versions that guided setup reboot loop. I have your 750 image from 2015, sure it is like 20.4 or older)?


----------



## ggieseke

CantDecideOnOne said:


> Does the 750 image not work because of a technical reason, or just because you don't have a 750 with 20.7.4 to take the image from (as in you only have older versions that guided setup reboot loop. I have your 750 image from 2015, sure it is like 20.4 or older)?


My only 750 image boot loops because it's too old. If you can get it to update, PLEASE let us know how you did it and consider making a fresh truncated backup for other people around here.


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

My 750 is my primary TiVo, so has been online through all of the updates. Assuming it is not a busy recording week, I can take it offline, clean out the dust (probably needs it again) and take a truncated back up. It will not be fresh though, since I cant C and DE it (Has all my recordings on it, spent last night trying to get it down from 100% ). If I get you a dirty truncated backup, can you take it load it up in yours, do a C and DE and capture a clean one on yours?


----------



## jmbach

CantDecideOnOne said:


> My 750 is my primary TiVo, so has been online through all of the updates. Assuming it is not a busy recording week, I can take it offline, clean out the dust (probably needs it again) and take a truncated back up. It will not be fresh though, since I cant C and DE it (Has all my recordings on it, spent last night trying to get it down from 100% ). If I get you a dirty truncated backup, can you take it load it up in yours, do a C and DE and capture a clean one on yours?


You could restore the backup to a spare drive the minimum size of the current image, pull the cableCARD (so you don't lose your original cableCARD pairing) and boot the drive in the TiVo. Do your C&DE then pull the drive and make another back up. When you put your original drive back in, make sure you push the cableCARD back in before you boot it up so you do not lose your pairing.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## zekemorris

Can anyone help me out with an image for the TCD 746500? Stuck at clearing and deleting data. Thanks in advance?


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

jmbach said:


> You could restore the backup to a spare drive the minimum size of the current image, pull the cableCARD (so you don't lose your original cableCARD pairing) and boot the drive in the TiVo. Do your C&DE then pull the drive and make another back up. When you put your original drive back in, make sure you push the cableCARD back in before you boot it up so you do not lose your pairing.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


I don't have any spare 500 GB+ drives and also want to limit the risk to this TiVo as much as possible, since this is the hub of the entire house. As much as I would like to provide a clean image, I will have to leave that to the expert. Hopefully my image can get him up enough to do a C and DE on his and plus he can do everything exactly as it needs to be. It is my only TiVo that can power my TiVo Minis. I don't want to risk any pairing issues and have to call the dreaded Comcast or TiVo. My 746 I just got setup, was to basically use it as a TiVo Mini to the Premiere 4 as well since it had lifetime.


----------



## ThAbtO

CantDecideOnOne said:


> My 746 I just got setup, was to basically use it as a TiVo Mini to the Premiere 4 as well since it had lifetime.


Minis will not connect with any 2 tuner Tivo models.


----------



## dougdingle

I think he meant "as if it were a TiVo Mini"...


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

dougdingle said:


> I think he meant "as if it were a TiVo Mini"...


Indeed, I am using it to play recordings from the Premiere 4 (as if it were a TiVo Mini minus the tuner borrowing). That is exactly why I am cautious with my Premiere 4, because I cannot use my 2 tuner Premieres if something happens to the Premiere 4.


----------



## CantDecideOnOne

ggieseke said:


> My only 750 image boot loops because it's too old. If you can get it to update, PLEASE let us know how you did it and consider making a fresh truncated backup for other people around here.


Sent you a PM to with an image to try. Was also able to clear out all of the Easter Dust Bunnies


----------



## RedMan8

My TiVo Premiere Hard Drive just died and I would like to get a copy of the image for it. Can someone send me a link to download an image for TCD 746320?
I did this whole process years ago when I upgraded it to 2TB, but I can't find the image I used back then. There have been several updates to the software over the years so it may not have worked anymore anyway.


----------



## ggieseke

RedMan8 said:


> My TiVo Premiere Hard Drive just died and I would like to get a copy of the image for it. Can someone send me a link to download an image for TCD 746320?
> I did this whole process years ago when I upgraded it to 2TB, but I can't find the image I used back then. There have been several updates to the software over the years so it may not have worked anymore anyway.


Sent.


----------



## RedMan8

Thanks ggieseke!
I see a very similar conversation in my PM's with you back in 2013!!

Glad to see you're still around and still awesome.


----------



## RedMan8

OK... it worked and my TiVo works again - Woo Hoo!
EXCEPT... it only shows "47 Hours" of recording capacity.
I tried downloading WinMFS but I don't have a forum login and it's not letting me create one for some reason.

How do I "expand" the drive to use all 2tb?


----------



## RedMan8

I found an older copy of WinMFS but it says mine is "not a TiVo drive". I'm sure it's because this version was only for series 3 or less and mine is a series 4 (Premiere).

Looks like I need JMFS?


----------



## jmbach

RedMan8 said:


> I found an older copy of WinMFS but it says mine is "not a TiVo drive". I'm sure it's because this version was only for series 3 or less and mine is a series 4 (Premiere).
> 
> Looks like I need JMFS?


You can use JMFS or MFSTools. If you use MFSTools, read the 8 TB Premiere thread to get an idea of how to use mfsadd and apmfix to expand.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## RedMan8

Got it! 318HD hours... that's MUCH better!


For the record - I found JMFS, burnt the iso and booted from the CD, then it walked me through it all.
I did the "Supersize" after the "Expand", but I don't think it made any difference.

Doesn't matter - 318 is wonderful!
Thanks ggieseke and jmbach!


----------



## RedMan8

Hmmmmm
I got a brand new hard drive and started a "Full Restore" - but there is no green bar showing at all. It's been running for a half hour and still looks like zero progress at all?
As a quick test earlier - I reboot and created a windows partition, but then DVRBars said there were no usable drives. So I deleted the partition and now DVRBars is running again - but the full restore is still at zero percent.

What does that mean?

ETA: I gave up and started a "Quick Restore" - which immediately shows a tiny bit of green in the bar, but then that doesn't move either.


----------



## jmbach

RedMan8 said:


> Hmmmmm
> I got a brand new hard drive and started a "Full Restore" - but there is no green bar showing at all. It's been running for a half hour and still looks like zero progress at all?
> As a quick test earlier - I reboot and created a windows partition, but then DVRBars said there were no usable drives. So I deleted the partition and now DVRBars is running again - but the full restore is still at zero percent.
> 
> What does that mean?


What is the size of the image being restored.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## RedMan8

It's small - it's an "empty" image from ggieseke - which I JUST used on my old drive successfully.
This new drive is the same size (2TB).

Now it's getting worse - I ran the Western Digital diagnostics on the new drive and all the tests passed just fine. But now when I select "Quick Restore" I don't get any green bar at all.
It's still going though - cross your fingers - but no progress at all yet.

The old drive consistently showed slow progress throughout the whole Restore process, so I didn't expect this behavior.


----------



## RedMan8

I got it!
Seems there was a "bad sector" near the beginning of the drive (I think).

The reason I say that is because I started a full scan from the western digital tool. After about 10 minutes I noticed it would take over 10 hours to complete - so I cancelled it - but now the "Full Restore" is moving along!

I'm just guessing that in those 10 minutes of scanning, the WD tool must have marked some sectors as "bad" - so now DVRBars is skipping those bad sectors?

Either way I'm going to start a full deep scan on my way to bed tonight!


----------



## jmbach

RedMan8 said:


> I got it!
> Seems there was a "bad sector" near the beginning of the drive (I think).
> 
> The reason I say that is because I started a full scan from the western digital tool. After about 10 minutes I noticed it would take over 10 hours to complete - so I cancelled it - but now the "Full Restore" is moving along!
> 
> I'm just guessing that in those 10 minutes of scanning, the WD tool must have marked some sectors as "bad" - so now DVRBars is skipping those bad sectors?
> 
> Either way I'm going to start a full deep scan on my way to bed tonight!


Which is why I recommend a full read-write-read with the diagnostic program before putting any drive in a TiVo.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## dougdingle

RedMan8 said:


> I got it!
> Seems there was a "bad sector" near the beginning of the drive (I think).
> 
> The reason I say that is because I started a full scan from the western digital tool. After about 10 minutes I noticed it would take over 10 hours to complete - so I cancelled it - but now the "Full Restore" is moving along!
> 
> I'm just guessing that in those 10 minutes of scanning, the WD tool must have marked some sectors as "bad" - so now DVRBars is skipping those bad sectors?
> 
> Either way I'm going to start a full deep scan on my way to bed tonight!


That's interesting. My experience with the WD tool has been that once it is done fully scanning the drive, it tells you it found some bad sectors and asks permission to mark them as bad.

I did not think it marked bad sectors on the fly, but maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly.


----------



## jmbach

dougdingle said:


> That's interesting. My experience with the WD tool has been that once it is done fully scanning the drive, it tells you it found some bad sectors and asks permission to mark them as bad.
> 
> I did not think it marked bad sectors on the fly, but maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly.


Sometimes the SMART system will automatically reallocate the blocks.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## ~kyle

I have a TCD 746320 that I purchased new in 2010 and immediately upgraded the hard drive to a 2TB. The drive just started dying a couple of weeks ago so I thought instead of trying to buy a new 2TB I'd just put the original 320GB drive back in. I found out real fast that it would not update when it went into the guided setup loop. I searched and found this thread that seems to have the answer to my problem. Could someone send me a link to an image with a newer version that will take the update please? Thanks in advance!


----------



## ggieseke

~kyle said:


> I have a TCD 746320 that I purchased new in 2010 and immediately upgraded the hard drive to a 2TB. The drive just started dying a couple of weeks ago so I thought instead of trying to buy a new 2TB I'd just put the original 320GB drive back in. I found out real fast that it would not update when it went into the guided setup loop. I searched and found this thread that seems to have the answer to my problem. Could someone send me a link to an image with a newer version that will take the update please? Thanks in advance!


Sent.


----------



## ~kyle

ggieseke said:


> Sent.


Thank you so much, ggieseke!


----------



## ~kyle

Just to follow up, both the software and the image I received from ggieske both worked as expected and without a hitch and my lifetime premiere is back up and working like new again. Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

I now have a clean TCD750500 image.


----------



## ThAbtO

ggieseke said:


> I now have a clean TCD750500 image.


I hope its with v20.7x.


----------



## ggieseke

ThAbtO said:


> I hope its with v20.7x.


It has 20.7.4b.RC3 and I made the image myself from a 750 that I found on eBay.


----------



## lporter1

I am in need of a TCD 746320 image. I upgraded to a larger drive years ago and the drive failed. After installing the original drive it won't update. I found this can only be fixed with an updated image. Can someone help me out please.


----------



## ggieseke

lporter1 said:


> I am in need of a TCD 746320 image. I upgraded to a larger drive years ago and the drive failed. After installing the original drive it won't update. I found this can only be fixed with an updated image. Can someone help me out please.


Sent.


----------



## ggieseke

I used the mfscopy command in MFS Tools 3.32 and VirtualBox to create pre-expanded DvrBARS images for Premieres. The following images are now available, and all of them are version 20.7.4 or later.

TCD746320: 320GB*, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 3TB & 4TB
TCD748000: 1TB*, 2TB, 3TB & 4TB
TCD750500: 500GB*, 1TB, 2TB, 3TB & 4TB
TCD758250: 2TB*, 3TB & 4TB

* Factory drive sizes


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> I used the mfscopy command in MFS Tools 3.32 and VirtualBox to create pre-expanded DvrBARS images for Premieres. The following images are now available, and all of them are version 20.7.4 or later.
> 
> TCD746320: 320GB*, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB & 4TB
> TCD748000: 1TB*, 2TB & 4TB
> TCD750500: 500GB*, 1TB, 2TB & 4TB
> TCD758250: 2TB* & 4TB
> 
> * Factory drive sizes


Thanks for hanging in there and making the lives of TiVo users looking to upgrade or replace drives easier.


----------



## MediaTechGuy

I noticed there is an option in settings to exclude the root partition when making backups?

Just curious, what exactly does the Tivo OS store on the root partition (specifically for a Premiere TCD746320)?

Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

The option to exclude the *alternate* root partition was intended to save a little space (256MB) in the backup image. It doesn't do anything in the latest version because when they switched that partition from Ext2 to Squashfs I added a few lines of code that automatically includes it in the backup and forgot all about that option.

TiVos use two sets of boot, kernel & root partitions. When an update comes out it writes the new software to the set of partitions that's not currently in use, then switches a byte in the first sector that tells it which set to use when it reboots. That way there's always a working set on the drive in case in case something goes wrong. Note that Roamios and all later models keep the software in flash memory on the motherboard instead of the platter drive.

The root partition contains the Linux OS and all the custom TiVo software.


----------



## kpeters59

Roamios do too? I thought that was Bolt's, which was why you couldn't switch Drives back and forth?

-KP'


----------



## jmbach

kpeters59 said:


> Roamios do too? I thought that was Bolt's, which was why you couldn't switch Drives back and forth?
> 
> -KP'


Bolts put the /var and sqlite partitions on the flash drive as well. That is why you cannot swap drives in the Bolts without losing programs. When it formats a new drive, it wipes the sqlite partition in the flash which clears recording information.


----------



## MediaTechGuy

ggieseke said:


> The option to exclude the *alternate* root partition was intended to save a little space (256MB) in the backup image. It doesn't do anything in the latest version because when they switched that partition from Ext2 to Squashfs I added a few lines of code that automatically includes it in the backup and forgot all about that option.
> 
> TiVos use two sets of boot, kernel & root partitions. When an update comes out it writes the new software to the set of partitions that's not currently in use, then switches a byte in the first sector that tells it which set to use when it reboots. That way there's always a working set on the drive in case in case something goes wrong. Note that Roamios and all later models keep the software in flash memory on the motherboard instead of the platter drive.
> 
> The root partition contains the Linux OS and all the custom TiVo software.


Excellent explanation. That makes sense thanks for the thorough answer.

Last question, just out of sheer curiosity. Does Tivo run a mostly unmodified Linux kernel (aside from including the necessary modules/drivers tivo requires) from the public source, or is it a custom kernel they built from the ground up?


----------



## ggieseke

It's mostly an unmodified Linux kernel, but the main application and the MFS file system is proprietary. You can download the open source stuff from TiVo.

https://tivo.pactsafe.io/legal.html#open-source-software

Edit: Looks like most of the links are dead since the Xperi takeover.


----------



## howie rappaport

In need of TCD758250: 2TB

TY


----------



## ggieseke

howie rappaport said:


> In need of TCD758250: 2TB
> 
> TY


Sent.


----------



## howie rappaport

ggieseke said:


> Sent.


The promptness of your reply is beyond appreciated. How can I buy you a cup of coffee?


----------



## mge00

Hello,
@ggieseke ?
TIA.
I have two dead TCD746320 s after a power surge.
I have 2 WD 3TB drives.
Could you please send me links to appropriate images?.


----------



## ThAbtO

mge00 said:


> I have 2 WD 3TB drives.


What model are these drives? They may or may not work in a Tivo.


----------



## mge00

WD3003FZEX "Black" - that's what I had around.
In reality, I dont care what size they're formatted to. Just want the Tivos back working.
Thanks


----------



## ThAbtO

mge00 said:


> WD3003FZEX "Black" - that's what I had around.


Sorry, this will not work in the Tivo. It would use too much power to even boot up. The power supply is not strong enough for anything other than Green (not made any more), Red (ending in EFRX), or purple.


----------



## terpfan1980

howie rappaport said:


> The promptness of your reply is beyond appreciated. How can I buy you a cup of coffee?


Look for his earlier messages. One of the first messages (I think this same thread) offers up info on making a donation via PayPal. That should do what you want to do.

This thread starts out with info on how you can donate.


----------



## ggieseke

mge00 said:


> Hello,
> @ggieseke ?
> TIA.
> I have two dead TCD746320 s after a power surge.
> I have 2 WD 3TB drives.
> Could you please send me links to appropriate images?.


Sent.


----------



## mge00

Really, the W3200AVVS drives are rated as pulling 0.65A @ 5V, and 0.5 @12V. The black drives are at 0.52 and 0.63 respectively.
Does it make that much of a difference?
If so, I have some 400GB SSD drives that dont draw more than that, and people claim to have used them succesfully.


----------



## mge00

ggieseke said:


> Sent.


Thanks! Much appreciated.


----------



## ggieseke

mge00 said:


> Really, the W3200AVVS drives are rated as pulling 0.65A @ 5V, and 0.5 @12V. The black drives are at 0.52 and 0.63 respectively.
> Does it make that much of a difference?
> If so, I have some 400GB SSD drives that dont draw more than that, and people claim to have used them succesfully.


A 746 power supply can probably handle those Black drives, but they will be noisier and generate more heat than the factory AV Green drives.


----------



## dougdingle

ggieseke said:


> A 746 power supply can probably handle those Black drives, but they will be noisier and generate more heat than the factory AV Green drives.


The WD Black drives are 7200 RPM and run a lot warmer than the WD Reds and are noisier as well. I have a bunch of the 640GB versions here that I used for a while in a Raid array. But I agree - if the power supply can spin it up, it should run OK. OP also mentioned using an SSD, which used to be a bad idea but I don't know if that has changed. Back in the day, the constant read/write of a TiVo would kill early ones in pretty short order.


----------



## bwiencek

Needing the links to the image for an old TiVo TCD748000 - Premiere XL Trying to revive an old one and needing a current image as this one has quite an old software image and it's stuck in a setup loop (which from reading here it is because it can't read the download properly so looking for a more recent image file that works...)


----------



## ggieseke

bwiencek said:


> Needing the links to the image for an old TiVo TCD748000 - Premiere XL Trying to revive an old one and needing a current image as this one has quite an old software image and it's stuck in a setup loop (which from reading here it is because it can't read the download properly so looking for a more recent image file that works...)


Sent.


----------



## kod4krome

I'm so glad I found this thread to give me hope that my old Premiers might be revived. I'd really appreciate images for TCD758250 and TCD746320 if you have them.


----------



## ggieseke

kod4krome said:


> I'm so glad I found this thread to give me hope that my old Premiers might be revived. I'd really appreciate images for TCD758250 and TCD746320 if you have them.


Sent.


----------



## KT88

Needing the links to the image for an old TiVo TCD746500 - Premiere. Trying to revive an old one and needing a current image as this one has quite an old software image and it's stuck in a setup loop (which from reading here it is because it can't read the download properly so looking for a more recent image file that works...)


----------



## InspGadgt

I downloaded DVRBARS and it doesn't seem to run on my Windows 10 system...has anyone gotten it to run on Windows 10?


----------



## ggieseke

KT88 said:


> Needing the links to the image for an old TiVo TCD746500 - Premiere. Trying to revive an old one and needing a current image as this one has quite an old software image and it's stuck in a setup loop (which from reading here it is because it can't read the download properly so looking for a more recent image file that works...)


Sent.


----------



## ggieseke

InspGadgt said:


> I downloaded DVRBARS and it doesn't seem to run on my Windows 10 system...has anyone gotten it to run on Windows 10?


Dvr Backup And Restore Software for Windows (DvrBARS)


----------



## dougdingle

InspGadgt said:


> I downloaded DVRBARS and it doesn't seem to run on my Windows 10 system...has anyone gotten it to run on Windows 10?


Loads here and I can change various options. I don't have a TiVo drive at the moment with which to test it fully, but it seems to load and run. Unplug any card readers you may have running and try it then.


----------



## Nola111

@ggieseke got DVRBars up and running on Windows 10 Pro and am getting the following error when kicking off a Quick Restore:


----------



## ggieseke

Nola111 said:


> @ggieseke got DVRBars up and running on Windows 10 Pro and am getting the following error when kicking off a Quick Restore:
> 
> View attachment 50752


Error 5 is an access denied error. Some other program is accessing the drive, and even if it's doing it in read-only mode that's enough to prevent DvrBARS from writing to the drive.


----------



## Nola111

ggieseke said:


> Error 5 is an access denied error. Some other program is accessing the drive, and even if it's doing it in read-only mode that's enough to prevent DvrBARS from writing to the drive.


Thank you, I'll figure out what else is accessing it.


----------



## Nola111

@ggieseke well I'm stumped. I've closed everything except DVRBars itself but still getting the Write error. I have no idea what else could be accessing the disk. Any suggestions on how else to determine this?


----------



## jmbach

Nola111 said:


> @ggieseke well I'm stumped. I've closed everything except DVRBars itself but still getting the Write error. I have no idea what else could be accessing the disk. Any suggestions on how else to determine this?


Disable any anti-virus programs running.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## Nola111

jmbach said:


> Disable any anti-virus programs running.


Thank you for the suggestion. I have disabled Windows Defender, which is the only anti-virus-type software that was running. I am still getting the write error. Any other suggestions would be much-appreciated.


----------



## ggieseke

Nola111 said:


> @ggieseke well I'm stumped. I've closed everything except DVRBars itself but still getting the Write error. I have no idea what else could be accessing the disk. Any suggestions on how else to determine this?


Windows Defender shouldn't bother it, and usually closing out everything else but DvrBARS does the trick. Can you try booting it into safe mode?


----------



## Nola111

ggieseke said:


> Windows Defender shouldn't bother it, and usually closing out everything else but DvrBARS does the trick. Can you try booting it into safe mode?


Safe mode did the trick. Thanks so much!!!


----------



## slickest

Can I get a boot copy for Tivo Premiere TCD746320. Thanks in advance, my drive arrives tomorrow and I cannot get the current one to run.


----------



## ggieseke

slickest said:


> Can I get a boot copy for Tivo Premiere TCD746320. Thanks in advance, my drive arrives tomorrow and I cannot get the current one to run.


Sent.


----------



## TiVoToo

Requesting link to boot copy for TiVo Premiere TCD746320. Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

TiVoToo said:


> Requesting link to boot copy for TiVo Premiere TCD746320. Thanks.


Sent.


----------



## Nevada1K

I'm going to try and update my TCD746320 with a Western Digital 2TB Red. Is there a separate image for the 2TB? Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

Nevada1K said:


> I'm going to try and update my TCD746320 with a Western Digital 2TB Red. Is there a separate image for the 2TB? Thanks.


Sent.


----------



## Joe Auriemma

DVRBARS ran fine for me under Win 10 Pro. But, first I had to go into device manager and disable other drives (e.g., card reader drives, usb drives on an attached printer, etc.) Not sure, but safe mode might have a similar effect with not loading all drivers.


----------



## zangetsu

can this be used to back up a Tivo Bolt ?


----------



## ggieseke

zangetsu said:


> can this be used to back up a Tivo Bolt ?


No.


----------



## wingclip

I Personally used this to replace my small TiVo Bolt drive that was almost full with saved recordings, with a larger capacity drive, over a year ago. It worked perfectly, (and FYI, I thankfully donated too! 

... Oh,... wait... This may not be the program offered by an individual, which would give the ability to replace the 500GB TiVo Bolt Drive with a larger capacity drive. He was some kind of program genius and was offering it for free but users were asked to donate a little something if they were happy with it.

I thought this was the thread having to do with that program but when I reread the first post, I realized I didn't recognize it. Apparently I had subscribed to this thread and it opened in my email. It's possible that this is the thread I thought it was, but was updated by the Thread Starter and now I don't quite recognize it.
FWIW
Rich


----------



## Brushape

Hi for some reason I can't get DVRBars to start. I am using Windows 8.1. After I install it and try to run it (as administrator) Windows does the permission thing, I click yes and wait and wait. I tried safe mode. It looks like it starting then I just wait and wait. Any ideas?


----------



## kpeters59

Click this:

Dvr Backup And Restore Software for Windows (DvrBARS)

or this:

Dvr Backup And Restore Software for Windows (DvrBARS)

-KP


----------



## Brushape

kpeters59 said:


> Click this:
> 
> Dvr Backup And Restore Software for Windows (DvrBARS)
> 
> or this:
> 
> Dvr Backup And Restore Software for Windows (DvrBARS)
> 
> -KP


Disabling the card reader did it. Thanks


----------



## Brushape

It was the reader hanging things up. I got DVRBARs to work, and replaced the 1T WD green drive with a WD red drive 1T of the recommended model number. I tested and wipe it. The guided setup went fine. I did a clear and delete everything. It's going on three hours since I first started. How long should I give it?


----------



## kpeters59

What's taking 3 hours?

The C&DE?

On what Hardware? A Premiere?

It probably ought not take that long.

Maybe give it overnight. If it doesn't finish, pull the power cord. Maybe it will start up OK after that.

If not, a KS57 or even a KS76543210 may be necessary.

-KP


----------



## Brushape

The C&DE is taking 3+ hours. Its a lifetime Premiere XL.


----------



## ThAbtO

It would take overnight at least.


----------



## Brushape

It never did come out it. I did a KS57 this morning and eventually it brought me back to the guided setup screen. I set it up and will give it a try. Thanks


----------



## dougdingle

I've done several C&DE in the past on various HD boxes, and the chances of completion hovered around 30%. Most of the time, I had to eventually pull power. 

It's a stupid procedure that no doubt has to do with overwriting already heavily copy protected content with ones or zeroes to satisfy the paranoid content owners. The personalized info on there, as well as the old partition info, could be zeroed out in about 30 seconds.


----------



## leonfredericks

looking for a 750500 image. my hard drive took a dump and I can't find my backup. any help would be appreciated.
Please list what software is needed if you send the file. I have used mfstools in the past but that was several years ago.

Thanks


----------



## djgrabo

Hello all, I ran the dvrbars program and restored the image to fix a guided setup look on a premiere, I did a quick restore. The new image got me out of the guided setup loop, I then went through the guided setup and did a C&DE. When I go to the guide it looks like an old version of the tv guide. The data is loaded but the guide graphics look like the windows 3.1 version of a tv guide instead of the guide on my Roamio. The premiere with the old school guide is running the software version 20.7.4b.RC3.746-2-746.

Any idea why the old school guide is showing up on my Premiere after the image restore? Should I try a full restore instead? The image I loaded is from gieseke so I am sure that is good to go.


----------



## dougdingle

Read the bottom of the screen. Press Enter to change to the other guide.


----------



## kpeters59

Or you're in the SD Menus.

Switch to HD Menus in Settings.

-KP


----------



## djgrabo

dougdingle said:


> Read the bottom of the screen. Press Enter to change to the other guide.


Thanks Doug, I see that but the graphics still look old, like an older version or something is happening with not having the latest version of something.


----------



## dougdingle

There are two guide options in TE3 (TiVo's older user interface): the one you posted and what they call the Grid Guide. The newer interface (TE4) is much different. I don't know if that's available on a Premiere, nor how you can get it.


----------



## djgrabo

kpeters59 said:


> Or your in the SD Menus.
> 
> Switch to HD Menus in Settings.
> 
> -KP


This looks like it is right, but I am not getting that option when I go to displays. So I am guessing I should do a full restore and maybe that will clear things up.


----------



## ThAbtO

djgrabo said:


> This looks like it is right, but I am not getting that option when I go to displays. So I am guessing I should do a full restore and maybe that will clear things up.


Go to your tivo.com account and make sure you are Opted in. Connect to Tivo service again, then your should have the HD menu option.


----------



## Michael333

Looks like images are specific to Hard Drives, can i please get an image for 500 gb for Tivo premier 4 (tcd746500)


----------



## ThAbtO

Michael333 said:


> Looks like images are specific to Hard Drives, can i please get an image for 500 gb for Tivo premier 4 (tcd746500)


Images are specific to models not the hard drive. What @ggieseke provides are images already expanded to a specific size, 1tb, 2tb, 4tb, 6tb, etc. so you would not need to do the extra step of expanding with MFSTools.


----------



## Michael333

ThAbtO said:


> Images are specific to models not the hard drive. What @ggieseke provides are images already expanded to a specific size, 1tb, 2tb, 4tb, 6tb, etc. so you would not need to do the extra step of expanding with MFSTools.


Thank you for clarification. So the one I received was for 2TB but now i need for 500gb since i have this drive available now. When i tried it said image size was too large. Can you provide?


----------



## ThAbtO

Michael333 said:


> Can you provide?


Only @ggieseke can.


----------



## ggieseke

Michael333 said:


> Thank you for clarification. So the one I received was for 2TB but now i need for 500gb since i have this drive available now. When i tried it said image size was too large. Can you provide?


Sent.


----------



## RUSHMAN

All, so I am in the same boat here. TiVo Premier Series 4, TCD750500. Back in 2012 moved to a 2TB drive, which died. I still have the original TiVo Drive which I then used to re-image to a 2TB drive (WD20EURS Green). Now in the guided setup loop. Software version on the drive is 20.2.2.1-01-2-750. My guess is that it's too old and won't accept the updates via download. Can anyone point me to where I can find a base image for a more recent version and try to salvage my TiVo w/ Lifetime? Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

RUSHMAN said:


> All, so I am in the same boat here. TiVo Premier Series 4, TCD750500. Back in 2012 moved to a 2TB drive, which died. I still have the original TiVo Drive which I then used to re-image to a 2TB drive (WD20EURS Green). Now in the guided setup loop. Software version on the drive is 20.2.2.1-01-2-750. My guess is that it's too old and won't accept the updates via download. Can anyone point me to where I can find a base image for a more recent version and try to salvage my TiVo w/ Lifetime? Thanks!


Sent.


----------



## luckyduo

This drive is mounted by windows and i won't wipe it for you.
you can close this program and use Disk manager to remove the drive letter if you REALLY want to overwrite the data on it.

How can I do this?


----------



## jmbach

luckyduo said:


> This drive is mounted by windows and i won't wipe it for you.
> you can close this program and use Disk manager to remove the drive letter if you REALLY want to overwrite the data on it.
> 
> How can I do this?


What are you wanting to do?

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## luckyduo

Hello, Do I have to pay a monthly subscription to use the recorded antenna TV program?


----------



## dougdingle

luckyduo said:


> Hello, Do I have to pay a monthly subscription to use the recorded antenna TV program?


Yes


----------



## dakota sanford

hello.i accidently formatted my series 4 premiere hdd, and now winmfs wont see it. and it was initalized.it is mbr now


----------



## dougdingle

dakota sanford said:


> hello.i accidently formatted my series 4 premiere hdd, and now winmfs wont see it. and it was initalized.it is mbr now


Get the Western Digital disk diagnostics software from their site, install it, then run the Erase utility from the Test menu on the drive (make SURE you select the right drive) for about 10 minutes, which will clear the drive.

After it's done, do not let windows initialize the drive or do anything else to it, or you'll have to erase it again.

And it goes without saying, anything that was on the drive is gone now.


----------



## ThAbtO

dakota sanford said:


> hello.i accidently formatted my series 4 premiere hdd, and now winmfs wont see it. and it was initalized.it is mbr now


WinMFS does not work for Series 4/Premiere. What model is it from? Look on the label in the back, it begins with TCD.


----------



## dakota sanford

dougdingle said:


> Get the Western Digital disk diagnostics software from their site, install it, then run the Erase utility from the Test menu on the drive (make SURE you select the right drive) for about 10 minutes, which will clear the drive.
> I fixed it. Someone sent me a image
> After it's done, do not let windows initialize the drive or do anything else to it, or you'll have to erase it again.
> 
> And it goes without saying, anything that was on the drive is gone now.


----------



## Jon Kranes

Hi, I'm looking for a 4TB image for a Premiere 748000. Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

Jon Kranes said:


> Hi, I'm looking for a 4TB image for a Premiere 748000. Thanks!


Sent.


----------



## thgirwskram

vectorcatch said:


> I tried running this on Windows 8 x64 and I get the following attached error screen.
> 
> I did a quick bit of testing and discovered that if I put an SD card in my memory card reader, the program starts fine.
> 
> My guess is that you are enumerating all the physical drives and trying to get their geometry. However, this call fails on the card reader when nothing is inserted. Should be an easy enough fix, you can either check to see if media is inserted or just assume the drive is offline if the call fails.


THis was so helpful. I could not get DVRBars to start, but when I unplugged my USB card reader the software fired up immediately, now if I can just figure out where to go from here ;-)


----------



## ggieseke

thgirwskram said:


> THis was so helpful. I could not get DVRBars to start, but when I unplugged my USB card reader the software fired up immediately, now if I can just figure out where to go from here ;-)


Just restore the image I sent you, then put the drive in your Premiere. Once it updates to the latest software run a Clear & Delete Everything on the TiVo to "marry" the drive to the motherboard.


----------



## thgirwskram

Just to be clear, I could not directly restore the image provided to a blank drive. I don't know if this has worked for others, but I was able to mount the image and then I did a backup of the that image to a new file. Then, I rebooted with a blank drive attached and restored that backed up image to the blank drive. Basically the nerd in me tried a bunch of crap and got it to go. I am back in business. As I write this my failed drive is attached to my PC and attempting a backup. Hope it works, as there was 200 hours + of recordings i'd really like to keep.


----------



## ggieseke

thgirwskram said:


> Just to be clear, I could not directly restore the image provided to a blank drive. I don't know if this has worked for others, but I was able to mount the image and then I did a backup of the that image to a new file. Then, I rebooted with a blank drive attached and restored that backed up image to the blank drive. Basically the nerd in me tried a bunch of crap and got it to go. I am back in business. As I write this my failed drive is attached to my PC and attempting a backup. Hope it works, as there was 200 hours + of recordings i'd really like to keep.


The image I sent you should have restored straight to the new drive. And details including error messages would be helpful.


----------



## thgirwskram

ggieseke said:


> The image I sent you should have restored straight to the new drive. And details including error messages would be helpful.


My memory is good, just short and I don't recall the error message.

Out of curiosity I took another 2tb drive out of the cupboard and tried to duplicate the problem so I could report back to you. It worked fine this time from the downloaded image. It more than likely was operator error.

Thanks for your support...I did use that donation button!


----------



## tuvoc55

Hello. I am looking for an image for a TCD746320. I tried using TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42-500GB.vhd and TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42.vhd that I got from another site and I was able to get a restore from the 500GB version to start once but for the most part the Tivo just keeps on rebooting after it get to the initial Welcome - Starting Up screen. I have tried to use 1TB and 2TB Hitachi drives and a 3TB WD Green. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!


----------



## ggieseke

tuvoc55 said:


> Hello. I am looking for an image for a TCD746320. I tried using TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42-500GB.vhd and TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42.vhd that I got from another site and I was able to get a restore from the 500GB version to start once but for the most part the Tivo just keeps on rebooting after it get to the initial Welcome - Starting Up screen. I have tried to use 1TB and 2TB Hitachi drives and a 3TB WD Green. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!


What size drive do you plan to use?


----------



## jmbach

tuvoc55 said:


> ....I tried using TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42-500GB.vhd and TCD746320-20.7.4.RC42.vhd that I got from another site....


That was a mistake.

Now that you have come to the source, you have a great chance on getting up and running again.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk


----------



## tuvoc55

Thanks guys. Ideally I would like to be able to use the WD Green 3TB drive if possible but I am just hoping to get it functioning right now.


----------



## ggieseke

tuvoc55 said:


> Thanks guys. Ideally I would like to be able to use the WD Green 3TB drive if possible but I am just hoping to get it functioning right now.


Image sent.


----------



## tuvoc55

Thanks again !! The drive with the image from the other site eventually came back and I had a drive that could hold 75 HD hours. After using your image I now have a drive that can hold 479 HD hours !!


----------



## Zimtech

Hi, I'm looking for a 2TB image for a Premiere 748000. Mine has older software version and is stuck in the setup loop. Thanks!


----------



## ggieseke

Zimtech said:


> Hi, I'm looking for a 2TB image for a Premiere 748000. Mine has older software version and is stuck in the setup loop. Thanks!


Sent.


----------



## Zimtech

ggieseke said:


> Sent.


Thank you!!!


----------



## jfreidin

Hi, many thanks to Greg for the image for my TiVo Premiere XL.
The only machine I have with SATA interfaces uses them all in an Intel RAID configuration for running Windows.
For jmfs-rev104 I was able to burn the ISO and boot from that, leaving the SATA interfaces available for the TiVo drives.
Now I need to run dvrbars which would be easy enough if I could boot Windows from some media.
I can try installing an old copy of Windows onto a USB drive, but I was wondering what tools folks usually use in a situation like this.


----------



## ThAbtO

The image uses DVRBars to restore, and you would need MFSTools 3.3 to expand the new space. JMFS is out of date and limited to a small size, about 2-3 TB.


----------



## jfreidin

Is there an easy way to make a bootable MFSTools?
Or is the DVRBars image I've downloaded bootable itself?


----------



## ThAbtO

Did you download off from post #131?


----------



## jfreidin

If you mean this post #131, no--thanks for pointing me to it.
The first image, "Live ISO" can be burned to bootable CD/DVD?


----------



## yummygummies

hi

does anyone have an image for original TiVo premiere (320), premiere4, and premiere elite? all of them 2 tb


----------



## ggieseke

yummygummies said:


> does anyone have an image for original TiVo premiere (320), premiere4, and premiere elite? all of them 2 tb


Do all of those Premieres have active subscriptions?


----------



## yummygummies

ggieseke said:


> Do all of those Premieres have active subscriptions?


yes! I believe they have lifetime


----------



## ggieseke

yummygummies said:


> yes! I believe they have lifetime


Sent. Please note that these images are not for commercial use or redistribution.


----------



## ThAbtO

Extraction is a banned subject on these forums.


----------



## Michael Wetmore

I must be missing something obvious. I have a vhd file from ggieseke (thanks, btw). I have the latest mfstools iso and a "test computer" to run it on. I can mount the windows drive, the memory stick with the vhd and have copied the file from there to the windows disk (/dev/sda1). I try to recover but that wants a bak file. The new disk has no partitions thus no /dev/sdb1. In my work life I have managed both UNIX and Windows servers. What next? Thank you.


----------



## Michael Wetmore

Oops, wrong forum. I can run DVRbars on a laptop. The "test machine" has Windows XP that does not recognize a keyboard or mouse.


----------



## ggieseke

Michael Wetmore said:


> I must be missing something obvious. I have a vhd file from ggieseke (thanks, btw). I have the latest mfstools iso and a "test computer" to run it on. I can mount the windows drive, the memory stick with the vhd and have copied the file from there to the windows disk (/dev/sda1). I try to recover but that wants a bak file. The new disk has no partitions thus no /dev/sdb1. In my work life I have managed both UNIX and Windows servers. What next? Thank you.


Use DVrBARS to restore the VHD file, not MFS Tools.



Michael Wetmore said:


> Oops, wrong forum. I can run DVRbars on a laptop. The "test machine" has Windows XP that does not recognize a keyboard or mouse.


That sounds like a missing driver in your XP machine. If it has any USB 1.0 ports you might be able to get it to recognize a keyboard or mouse.


----------



## Michael Wetmore

OK. I installed a new WXP on the system. I run dvrBARS as administrator and when trying to restore I am told that no usable drives have been found. Device Manager shows the target drive as unmounted. Thanks for being so helpful.


----------



## dougdingle

Michael Wetmore said:


> OK. I installed a new WXP on the system. I run dvrBARS as administrator and when trying to restore I am told that no usable drives have been found. Device Manager shows the target drive as unmounted. Thanks for being so helpful.


Did you allow Windows to initialize the disk? Even if unmounted, a Windows initialized disk will not be seen as a TiVo compatible drive by anything, including dvrBARS.

If you did allow Windows to initialize it, you have to revert it to non-initialized by using a utility like WD Disk Diagnostics (available on the Western Digital site) to do an 'erase'. You can stop the process after a few minutes (left alone, it will run for hours), close the utility, and then try it again with dvrBARS.

If the disk was never initialized by Windows, I don't know why dvrBARS wouldn't see it.


----------



## Michael Wetmore

OK. I erased the disk and now dvrBARS lets me Restore. I select the vhd file and "ERROR: Invalid Apple ID Block0". OK to that then "This does not appear to be a Tivo Series Image, Restore anyway? N/Y".
I have learned a lot these last few days including that the disk has to be mounted! Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

Michael Wetmore said:


> OK. I erased the disk and now dvrBARS lets me Restore. I select the vhd file and "ERROR: Invalid Apple ID Block0". OK to that then "This does not appear to be a Tivo Series Image, Restore anyway? N/Y".
> I have learned a lot these last few days including that the disk has to be mounted! Thanks.


That means the image is corrupted, probably caused by trying to mount the VHD file in Windows. Download a fresh copy and just restore it with DvrBARS.


----------



## Michael Wetmore

Now what? WD Lifeguard reports the drive as 1000 GB. I select it in dvrBARS and at the bottom of the screen it says that the drive is 128GB. Double click the drive name (WD10EFRX) and I'm told that the drive is too small for the image. You were right about the .vhd being corrupted. I started again from the .zip that you provided.


----------



## ggieseke

Michael Wetmore said:


> Now what? WD Lifeguard reports the drive as 1000 GB. I select it in dvrBARS and at the bottom of the screen it says that the drive is 128GB. Double click the drive name (WD10EFRX) and I'm told that the drive is too small for the image. You were right about the .vhd being corrupted. I started again from the .zip that you provided.


I have no idea why DvrBARS would show the drive as only 128GB. How is it connected to the computer, what OS is it running, etc?


----------



## Michael Wetmore

Windows XP, connected directly, in an open slot. Dell Optiplex 755. I'll see if there is anything in the BIOS, but then there is WD getting it right.
No luck with the BIOS. Windows does not see the drive, but it is in device manager, and that is where the problem shows up. The Volumes tab has it wrong. The XP is b/c I can't get dvrBars to do anything on this W10 machine except exit, w/o message. (Still can't even w/o firewall).
Found it! To install XP I had to set the SATA mode to ATA, 128GB Max. Into the BIOS and set to the other choice (forgot the name) and a Blue Screen on boot. Dell does not have drivers for W10 on the 755. Time to find the old Vista Disks. Much later, Michael.


----------



## ggieseke

Michael Wetmore said:


> The XP is b/c I can't get dvrBars to do anything on this W10 machine except exit, w/o message.


I'm betting that you have an SD card reader in that W10 machine. If you disable it temporarily in Device Manager or BIOS, DvrBARS should run. Vista won't work.


----------



## Michael Wetmore

I disconnected all the USB hubs in the monitors where the card readers are without effect. All that is left is the keyboard/mouse dongle. Meanwhile the full restore on the Vista machine is about 1.5 of 10 inches done (15%?). The morning will tell. This has been much more interesting than tidying the garden.


----------



## dougdingle

Michael Wetmore said:


> Windows XP, connected directly, in an open slot. Dell Optiplex 755. I'll see if there is anything in the BIOS, but then there is WD getting it right.
> No luck with the BIOS. Windows does not see the drive, but it is in device manager, and that is where the problem shows up. The Volumes tab has it wrong. The XP is b/c I can't get dvrBars to do anything on this W10 machine except exit, w/o message. (Still can't even w/o firewall).
> Found it! To install XP I had to set the SATA mode to ATA, 128GB Max. Into the BIOS and set to the other choice (forgot the name) and a Blue Screen on boot. Dell does not have drivers for W10 on the 755. Time to find the old Vista Disks. Much later, Michael.


DvrBARS, being a windows program, seems to use proper system calls gets its info from the BIOS, and the XP machine's BIOS is reporting it as 128GB.

The WD Diagnostics are using hardware calls to get the actual drive size, ignoring the BIOS.

Pretty sure that's the discrepancy.

It is at least likely that Win10 ships with enough built-in drivers to install and boot on the Dell. I have installed it on many systems that had 'no Win10 support'.

Also, try what ggieske suggested if you have a card reader on the existing Win10 machine. If it unplugs, do that. If not disable it in Device Manager. That trick has made a lot of machines regain DvrBARS support.


----------



## Michael Wetmore

The Vista machine restore works perfectly. Thank you ggiseke and dougdingle for your patience as I worked my way through everything.


----------



## Michael Wetmore

I spoke a little soon. In the GS it gets as far as Loading info 99% and stops on Error SO2. I have done a Kickstart 57 and it still does it. The image that I used was newly extracted from the .ZIP. Hmm...


----------



## dougdingle

Michael Wetmore said:


> I spoke a little soon. In the GS it gets as far as Loading info 99% and stops on Error SO2. I have done a Kickstart 57 and it still does it. The image that I used was newly extracted from the .ZIP. Hmm...


This is an issue some TiVo customers are having. I had it on my Roamio Pro for about 18 months, then it stopped for about six months, then it returned and is still happening. It continues to log in daily and fail to load 100%. However, I have guide data for 11-13 days out, and the device operates otherwise normally. Once or twice a year, it pops up an error message saying I haven't connected for more than 30 days and it won't record anything else until I do. I connect _*from the connect button in that popup*_, the connection of course fails to load the downloaded data, but the Roamio then continues to work.

Several threads about this in various places here. A not insignificant number of older TiVos have the problem.

TiVo is aware of the problem, and their 'solution' is to buy a new unit, despite it being clearly something they've done in software that causes it. The hell with that.

This (among other reasons) is why my current setup with the lifetime Roamio Pro and four Minis will be my last TiVo once the Roamio dies after more than 20 years as a loyal TiVo customer and evangelist.


----------



## Michael Wetmore

The connecting is just fine. It gets to 99%, then







. Dare I ask, could it be in the image?


----------



## dougdingle

Unlikely. What is more likely is that at some point in the initial connection, more than just guide data came down (a software patch that borked the guide database index is my theory), and now the data downloaded won't load 100%. On mine, sometimes it reaches 99% and sometimes just 35-40%. Keeps working regardless.

You can try a different image if you can find one, but I suggest the issue will likely return after the first few connects.

I would try a few more connects to make sure the guide is current (they will all fail to load to 100% properly), then see how far out it goes (should be at least 10-11 days), see if it will do a few programmed recordings, then if everything except the actual error message seems OK, just shrug and carry on.


----------



## Larsenv

@ggieseke I ran across some old forum posts claiming you written subroutines years ago to dump all contents of an MFS partition.

Are you able to PM me that tool for my personal use, please? (not to share with others if you don't want me to)

I would appreciate it a ton. I've spent countless hours unsuccessfully trying to do that, and I want to get clean copies of the startup intros used on older TiVos without wasting my time.

In return I would be more than happy to donate to you.


----------



## ggieseke

Larsenv said:


> @ggieseke I ran across some old forum posts claiming you written subroutines years ago to dump all contents of an MFS partition.
> 
> Are you able to PM me that tool for my personal use, please? (not to share with others if you don't want me to)
> 
> I would appreciate it a ton. I've spent countless hours unsuccessfully trying to do that, and I want to get clean copies of the startup intros used on older TiVos without wasting my time.
> 
> In return I would be more than happy to donate to you.


Sorry, that experimental code was invalidated by later changes to the old tyDb database as they switched more of the recording data to the SQLite database. It also had to run in the debugging mode of Visual Studio 2000 and that computer died several years ago.


----------



## Larsenv

ggieseke said:


> Sorry, that experimental code was invalidated by later changes to the old tyDb database as they switched more of the recording data to the SQLite database. It also had to run in the debugging mode of Visual Studio 2000 and that computer died several years ago.


Thanks anyway. Do you know if there's other tools available that can extract? It doesn't seem like MFS Tools, MFS Live, etc. has an option to extract, to my knowledge.

I'm looking to get assets mainly on Series 1-3 TiVos, not the Premiere, and not looking to grab recordings.

I managed to have a little luck extracting the ext2 partitions, but I couldn't find much of interest.


----------



## dougdingle

You might be able to extract a few things from the old analog Series 1 and 2 boxes, but Series 3 went digital and with the cable cards the encoding/encryption on its digital output was cranked up to "11" to make sure people couldn't do exactly what you want to do.

If the assets you seek are actual videos (like the TiVo welcome), you should be able to play them back and record them on some external device using the analog video/audio outputs of the boxes (composite/S-video, component).

Amazon, B&H, and ebay should have an endless variety of capture hardware/software that can be used to feed to a USB connection on a computer.


----------



## ggieseke

Larsenv said:


> Do you know if there's other tools available that can extract?


Not that I've ever heard of, and even if you could pull the raw stream directly from the MFS file system it's still in a proprietary format.


----------



## Larsenv

@ggieseke Just curious - do you know if DvrBARS works with the DirecTV, Virgin Media, and Canal Digital Series 4 TiVos? Latter being exclusive to UK and Canada, respectively.


----------



## ggieseke

Larsenv said:


> @ggieseke Just curious - do you know if DvrBARS works with the DirecTV, Virgin Media, and Canal Digital Series 4 TiVos? Latter being exclusive to UK and Canada, respectively.


I don't know.


----------



## Hajster

Looks like this is the place I've been looking for. Drive died on my Premiere TCD746320. Tried installing new 1TB drive expecting I could simply install new hardware and format on the TiVo. I now installed the DvrBARS tool, but need an image to install on the new drive. Anyone have a working image they can share?


----------



## ggieseke

Hajster said:


> Looks like this is the place I've been looking for. Drive died on my Premiere TCD746320. Tried installing new 1TB drive expecting I could simply install new hardware and format on the TiVo. I now installed the DvrBARS tool, but need an image to install on the new drive. Anyone have a working image they can share?


Image sent.


----------



## Hajster

ggieseke said:


> Image sent.


Thanks, Greg, you're a life saver! New image installed and TiVo is starting up now. Plus your DvrBARS software is excellent - so much easier than the other tools out there. You'll be seeing my donation soon. Thanks again!


----------



## estacionsj

any help will be gratefully appreciated , im a newb.
so does anyone have or know of a tutorial on how to burn the image on a new Hard drive, i recived a file for a 500gb premier and would like to burn it or install it on a 500gb hard drive, or can someone direct me on witch page to start reading for the 102 pages. Thanks


----------



## jmbach

estacionsj said:


> any help will be gratefully appreciated , im a newb.
> so does anyone have or know of a tutorial on how to burn the image on a new Hard drive, i recived a file for a 500gb premier and would like to burn it or install it on a 500gb hard drive, or can someone direct me on witch page to start reading for the 102 pages. Thanks


Have you read the first post of this thread and downloaded the software it describes?

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## ggieseke

estacionsj said:


> any help will be gratefully appreciated , im a newb.
> so does anyone have or know of a tutorial on how to burn the image on a new Hard drive, i recived a file for a 500gb premier and would like to burn it or install it on a 500gb hard drive, or can someone direct me on witch page to start reading for the 102 pages. Thanks


Download and unzip the image.
Download and unzip DvrBARS.
Connect the new drive to a Windows computer.
Run DvrBARS and choose Restore from the main menu.

There isn't a written tutorial because the program will lead you through the rest of the restore process from there.


----------



## dougdingle

The drive you use must be unformatted and unitialized for DvrBARS to recognize it as a potential TiVo drive. 

If it isn't in that condition, you can download the WD disk diagnostics package from the Western Digital site, install it, then use its Erase function on that drive. You only need to run it for a couple of minutes, then you can cancel it, exit back to Windows, and run DvrBARS to restore your image to it.


----------



## estacionsj

ggieseke said:


> Download and unzip the image.
> Download and unzip DvrBARS.
> Connect the new drive to a Windows computer.
> Run DvrBARS and choose Restore from the main menu.
> 
> There isn't a written tutorial because the program will lead you through the rest of the restore process from there.


thank u so much i read it, so basicaly DvrBARs does everything from copiying the old file from HDD any coping it to a new drive, much easier than i remember for 2010 , thanks so much


----------



## estacionsj

dougdingle said:


> The drive you use must be unformatted and unitialized for DvrBARS to recognize it as a potential TiVo drive.
> 
> If it isn't in that condition, you can download the WD disk diagnostics package from the Western Digital site, install it, then use its Erase function on that drive. You only need to run it for a couple of minutes, then you can cancel it, exit back to Windows, and run DvrBARS to restore your image to it.


thanks for the help i will download WD disk diagnostics package also


----------



## dougdingle

Be aware that DvrBARS will not do a one step copy from one drive to another. 

You have to save the image from the old drive (if that's your image source) to a Windows drive, then restore that image to the new drive. If you already have suitable image on a Windows drive, you can copy it to the new drive in one step.


----------



## brycepowell

Does anyone have a different TCD652160 VHD image? Yes, I'm asking for more images again. But come on, I tried uploading my VHD file via pretty much every popular cloud-sharing website. However, they all have account storage limits to something like 2GB, unless if I pay for more. I don't want to spend a lot of money on extra storage. For me, they are something to avoid because I'm not planning on exporting files that are too large. Here's my opinion: I only like to upload TiVo backup images between 200 and 600MB, and the last thing I want is expensive bills for storage that isn't even worth buying in the first place. Plus, I'm not sure if I can even afford that.

All the other ones I received are .tbk files. I don't want to use my own VHD image for now because I'd like to see what other images are out there and use them to my advantage. I've tried DvrBARS and have always had success with my own TCD652160 image. But other models' images are a no bueno. So can someone please either retrieve a fresh image from their unit or just send one out to me ASAP? If not, any standard Series1 or Series2 image would be greatly appreciated. I have many of those units and need a few of them fixed with a new image anyway.


----------



## ThAbtO

brycepowell said:


> Does anyone have a different TCD652160 VHD image?


No, only WinMFS images are available.

With Series 1/2, you would also need a compatible IDE-to-SATA adapter. Not many of those around that work.


----------



## ggieseke

michael j said:


> I'm having trouble running dvrbars. windows ask if i want to run from an unknown publisher, i select run anyway and nothing. Any ideas?


Try method 2 in this link (you must be logged in to an account with administrator rights).

How to Allow App From Unknown Publisher to Run in Windows 10


----------



## michael j

while trying to load the image I get a createfile() error 32 message. What would cause this?


----------



## michael j

here's a quick quiston, i have to dvrs that are the same can i clone the hard drive from the working one to the new hard deive, using a disk cloner


----------



## michael j

ggieseke said:


> Try method 2 in this link (you must be logged in to an account with administrator rights).
> 
> How to Allow App From Unknown Publisher to Run in Windows 10


Fixed. I had to unplug my external hard drive reader.


----------



## ggieseke

michael j said:


> while trying to load the image I get a createfile() error 32 message. What would cause this?


That's a sharing violation error, which means that the drive or file is in use by another application.



michael j said:


> here's a quick quiston, i have to dvrs that are the same can i clone the hard drive from the working one to the new hard deive, using a disk cloner


Yes, but you need to run Clear & Delete Everything to "marry" the cloned drive to the new motherboard. This also applies to a drive that you create using one of my images because in both cases you're basically duplicating a drive that was from a different TiVo.



michael j said:


> Fixed. I had to unplug my external hard drive reader.


Good catch.


----------



## MrRuben

Hi. I'm a new member so I hope I'm in the right thread. My hard drive died and trying to figure out best way to recover it or replace. I was told I need an image and some software. Can anyone help out? Thanks in advance


----------



## ThAbtO

You need to provide your model number. See back label next to fan, starts with TCD, =OR= if its still running, Under System Information, the 1st 3 digits of your Tivo service number, or last 3 of the software version.


----------



## MrRuben

I will. Thanks so much!


----------



## MrRuben

Model is TCD746500


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## ThAbtO

Someone else will provide an image.

Recommended drives are WD Red Plus with models ending in EFRX, EFZX because only CMR type drives will work in a Tivo. You can use up to 8TB.
You would use DVRBars on a Windows machine to restore the image to a new drive, no formatting needed, just leave blank. Next, you would need to use MFSTools 3.3 (from another forum here) to expand to use the full size of drive.


----------



## MrRuben

Got it. Which form would you recommend I go to?


----------



## MrRuben

Forum


----------



## ThAbtO

MFS Tools 3.2

The first few posts should get you started, and also see post #131 for anything additional.


----------



## MrRuben

Thanks! I do have one last question. I have a 500 gig from my old computer. Can I use that? It's a Western Digital blue


----------



## ThAbtO

I don't think so because the power consumption may be more than the Tivo provides. Also, sector-wise, it may not have enough sectors to store the entire image, if its from a 500gb image.


----------



## ggieseke

MrRuben said:


> Model is TCD746500


Image sent.


----------



## dougdingle

MrRuben said:


> Thanks! I do have one last question. I have a 500 gig from my old computer. Can I use that? It's a Western Digital blue


I would not recommend it. They are not rated for this sort of 24/7 service. Also, the two I used to own were loud, vibrated, and ran hot. The Red Plus is the drive you want. The 1TB version is $50 at Amazon.


----------



## MrRuben

I understand. Thanks, I will order the red


----------



## ThAbtO

MrRuben said:


> I will order the red


That's Red Plus, EFRX (old version), EFZX (new version) ... avoid EFBX (WD Red Pro, or similar) because its 7200 RPM.

You can also use EFAX that's 8TB and up. As long as its CMR and not SMR.


----------



## MrRuben

Got it. Thanks for all the useful information!


----------



## MrRuben

hi. i tried downloading the image i got from ggieseke but just when its about to finish it fails. i tried twice. same thing. any ideas?


----------



## MrRuben

im new to this so my question may be an easy one. i was trying to run DVRBARS but the hard disk i wanted to load image onto is not being recognized.


----------



## ThAbtO

Are you on an administrator user account?
Did you unpack the .zip file into an empty folder? and direct DVRBars to that folder?


----------



## MrRuben

yes administrator and no to empty folder. it started ok, then i tried looking for the hard drive. my computer does recognize the hard drive


----------



## MrRuben

checked again. DVRBARS in its own f0lder. message says no usable drives found


----------



## ThAbtO

MrRuben said:


> my computer does recognize the hard drive


This is why. It has been formatted or something. it needs to be blank.
Are there other devices, card reader on there? disable them.


----------



## MrRuben

yes. this hard drive was formatted. no card readers. any suggestions on fixing this?


----------



## ThAbtO

Tivo does not use any formats our computer uses. Windows uses FAT, FAT32, NTFS. Tivo uses a kind of apple format called MFS. The image file contains everything from formats to files, data.

There may be a 'show' mounted drives in DVRBars.


----------



## MrRuben

ill try show. i know drive was formatted ntfs.


----------



## ggieseke

MrRuben said:


> yes. this hard drive was formatted. no card readers. any suggestions on fixing this?


If Windows recognizes it as a formatted drive and assigns a drive letter to it, DvrBARS will ignore it. It's a safety feature to prevent accidental loss of data. You need to wipe the drive first (I recommend the Erase test in WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostics).



ThAbtO said:


> There may be a 'show' mounted drives in DVRBars.


There is a "Show mounted drives" option in DvrBARS, but all it will do is show the drive. It still won't overwrite a formatted drive.


----------



## MrRuben

looks like WD data lifeguard is no longer supported. any other programs you recommend?


----------



## ThAbtO

Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows has been DEPRECATED and replaced with the Western Digital Dashboard utility. Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows is no longer supported. Please use the Western Digital Dashboard utility available at Software and Firmware Downloads | WD Support

You didn't read the whole paragraph.

Data Lifeguard can still be downloaded below.


----------



## MrRuben

yep...of course you are right. does the whole disk need to be wiped


----------



## ThAbtO

Part or whole doesn't matter, at least part of it.


----------



## dougdingle

MrRuben said:


> yep...of course you are right. does the whole disk need to be wiped


No. You can stop the process after about 5 minutes. Just enough needs to be wiped to remove the Windows signatures at its beginning.

Personally, after stopping it, I would run the full test just to make sure the drive is stable and sound before I deployed it..


----------



## MrRuben

first off, want to thank all who have helped me in my tivo journey. i recently bought a WD ttb drive. to intall an image i got from here, i connected my new hard drive to DVRBARS and started a full restore...that was over 24 hours ago and it not even a quarter of the way completed. not sure if this is normal or i am doing something wrong. can any one enlighten me?


----------



## ThAbtO

MrRuben said:


> i recently bought a WD ttb drive.


What is a WD ttb drive? What is the exact model number?


----------



## MrRuben

WD1DEFRX


----------



## ThAbtO

Do you mean WD10EFRX, then it should restore rather quickly.
How old is the drive. New and you still have issues? then the problem might be the drive.


----------



## MrRuben

Brand new straight out of the anti static bag


----------



## MrRuben

can i test iy with data lifeguard and would stopping the recover process cause any damage?


----------



## ggieseke

MrRuben said:


> first off, want to thank all who have helped me in my tivo journey. i recently bought a WD ttb drive. to intall an image i got from here, i connected my new hard drive to DVRBARS and started a full restore...that was over 24 hours ago and it not even a quarter of the way completed. not sure if this is normal or i am doing something wrong. can any one enlighten me?





MrRuben said:


> can i test iy with data lifeguard and would stopping the recover process cause any damage?


You can and absolutely should test the new drive with Data Lifeguard Diagnostics before using it. I recommend running the full erase test, followed by the long read test.

Restore speed varies depending on how it's connected. Using a direct SATA connection to the motherboard or a USB 3.0 adapter should result in write speeds of at least 500GB per hour, so something is definitely wrong even if you're using USB 1.0. If you test the drive thoroughly first you can also use the Quick Restore method, which should only take a few minutes to complete.

I just sent you a pre-expanded image for a 1TB drive. That way you can skip the expansion step with MFS Tools and put the drive straight in the TiVo after restoring the image with DvrBARS.


----------



## ThAbtO

MrRuben said:


> can i test iy with data lifeguard and would stopping the recover process cause any damage?





ggieseke said:


> I recommend running the full erase test,


That should erase the whole drive.


----------



## MrRuben

thank you guys i will try that


----------



## bmgoodman

So WD has discontinued Data Lifeguard and no longer has it available to download. I have found a number of places to download it, but I'm not familiar with the sites. Is there a "known good" location for that download, or does someone have a checksum I can verify to be sure I'm not getting a version with malware inside?

[edit]
I found I have version 1.27 from 2016. It sees the 4 TB WD Plus OK, so this should work, correct?


----------



## pl1

bmgoodman said:


> So WD has discontinued Data Lifeguard and no longer has it available to download. I have found a number of places to download it, but I'm not familiar with the sites. Is there a "known good" location for that download, or does someone have a checksum I can verify to be sure I'm not getting a version with malware inside?
> 
> [edit]
> I found I have version 1.27 from 2016. It sees the 4 TB WD Plus OK, so this should work, correct?


It's still available for download. 
*Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows 
File Size: 606 KB
Version: v1.37
Release Date: 02/27/2020 |*


----------



## Lemur42

I have a brand new 4tb WD red plus that I tested with data lifeguard tools (it all passed). After throwing a clean tcd748000 image on it, I get stuck with S02 error when going through initial network setup and trying to update. The update install gets to 99% and then throws the error. Any ideas how to fix?

I disconnected power and booted up again, but the box gets stick on “welcome” screen and won’t read the HDD. I tried disconnecting the HDD and reconnecting it, same welcome screen. Won’t even get to the “still loading” screen.

Reimaged drive. Same S02 error as before.


----------



## ggieseke

Lemur42 said:


> I have a brand new 4tb WD red plus that I tested with data lifeguard tools (it all passed). After throwing a clean tcd748000 image on it, I get stuck with S02 error when going through initial network setup and trying to update. The update install gets to 99% and then throws the error. Any ideas how to fix?
> 
> I disconnected power and booted up again, but the box gets stick on “welcome” screen and won’t read the HDD. I tried disconnecting the HDD and reconnecting it, same welcome screen. Won’t even get to the “still loading” screen.
> 
> Reimaged drive. Same S02 error as before.
> 
> I also have an image of my original 1TB drive, but can’t seem to find a single comprehensive (not spread over 20 posts) set of instructions on how to get to 4 tb.
> Trying in VM workstation and failing for now.
> Any help with links would be greatly appreciated.


I assume you got that image from another user. It has S02 issues updating to the current software.

I just sent you a newer version that actually works, and it's already pre-expanded for a 4TB drive.


----------



## Lemur42

ggieseke said:


> I assume you got that image from another user. It has S02 issues updating to the current software.
> 
> I just sent you a newer version that actually works, and it's already pre-expanded for a 4TB drive.


That was quick!
Thank you! I’ll check it out later today when home.


----------



## SuperGonz

This is silly. 105 pages of posts. How about TIVO just plays nicely, or is that expecting too much?
Same old story, machine pulled from mothballs startup loop

ggieseke, would you mind sending another image for a Premiere TCD746320? Thanks


----------



## ggieseke

SuperGonz said:


> This is silly. 105 pages of posts. How about TIVO just plays nicely, or is that expecting too much?
> Same old story, machine pulled from mothballs startup loop
> 
> ggieseke, would you mind sending another image for a Premiere TCD746320? Thanks


Sent.


----------



## Trademark

Hi all. Long time lurker, but new to the community.

I’m in need of an image for a TiVo Premier TCD746320 in both 2TB and 3TB expanded sizes. One just died from a power outage and the other was donated to me from a family member which also won’t boot.

Hoping ggieseke can help. Thanks in advance!


----------



## ggieseke

Trademark said:


> Hi all. Long time lurker, but new to the community.
> 
> I’m in need of an image for a TiVo Premier TCD746320 in both 2TB and 3TB expanded sizes. One just died from a power outage and the other was donated to me from a family member which also won’t boot.
> 
> Hoping ggieseke can help. Thanks in advance!


Sent.


----------



## Trademark

ggieseke said:


> Sent.


Most appreciated! I’ll post my results when completed. Cheers!


----------



## dmaurer47

I did the quick restore of an image of a tcd748000 that i got here. I went from 1tb to 1tb drive and had already formatted the new drive. I did it as quick restore. Is there anything else that needs to be done after the restore.


----------



## ggieseke

dmaurer47 said:


> I did the quick restore of an image of a tcd748000 that i got here. I went from 1tb to 1tb drive and had already formatted the new drive. I did it as quick restore. Is there anything else that needs to be done after the restore.


It's done.


----------



## lngnkr

Hi ggieseke,
My Premiere XL TCD748000 hard drive died last night. Is there any chance you could send me an image?

Thanks.


----------



## ggieseke

lngnkr said:


> Hi ggieseke,
> My Premiere XL TCD748000 hard drive died last night. Is there any chance you could send me an image?
> 
> Thanks.


Sent.


----------



## JohnL88

Hi ggieseke,

My Premiere XL TCD748000 hard drive died. Can you please send me an image? 


Thank you!


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## ggieseke

JohnL88 said:


> Hi ggieseke,
> 
> My Premiere XL TCD748000 hard drive died. Can you please send me an image?
> 
> 
> Thank you!


Sent.


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## pb13ln

ggieske, thanks again for the XL4 image. (Trying to get my TCD758250 going again with a new WDC WD30 EURX HDD.) I got locked up in the SO2 error the first time I restored the image to this drive and could not recover (including Kickstart 76543210), so took JMBach's suggestion to zero out the whole drive and try again. Now get error message in DvrBARS when I try to restore the image: _ 'CreateFile' error 0x00000020 (32)_. Tried different formats, volume/no volume, USB external connect, SCSI internal connect--I either get the error message or the drive is not recognized. Cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. Thanks for any suggestons on what to do right! [PC running Win10 Pro with all updates--have not tried safe mode.]


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## ggieseke

pb13ln said:


> ggieske, thanks again for the XL4 image. (Trying to get my TCD758250 going again with a new WDC WD30 EURX HDD.) I got locked up in the SO2 error the first time I restored the image to this drive and could not recover (including Kickstart 76543210), so took JMBach's suggestion to zero out the whole drive and try again. Now get error message in DvrBARS when I try to restore the image: _ 'CreateFile' error 0x00000020 (32)_. Tried different formats, volume/no volume, USB external connect, SCSI internal connect--I either get the error message or the drive is not recognized. Cannot figure out what I am doing wrong. Thanks for any suggestons on what to do right! [PC running Win10 Pro with all updates--have not tried safe mode.]


Error 32 is a sharing violation, which means that another process is accessing the drive. Closing any other programs like disk utilities or a simple reboot will usually fix it, but there's always safe mode.


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## pb13ln

DvrBARS only worked in safe mode on my PC, so thanks.


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## mseller

*ggieseke, 

Could you please send me image for Model TCD746320? Thanks!*


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## ggieseke

mseller said:


> *ggieseke,
> 
> Could you please send me image for Model TCD746320? Thanks!*


Sent.


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## Jee Man

Hi, I have a TCD746320 that had been upgraded to a 2TB drive. After being shelved awhile I am getting the S02 error on guided setup.

So I gather this is the recommended flow to fix this:
1. Run the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics and test the drive's health.
2. Zero out the drive using the above diagnostics.
3. Obtain and install a new image using DVRbars1007.

Thank you.


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## ggieseke

Jee Man said:


> Hi, I have a TCD746320 that had been upgraded to a 2TB drive. After being shelved awhile I am getting the S02 error on guided setup.
> 
> So I gather this is the recommended flow to fix this:
> 1. Run the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics and test the drive's health.
> 2. Zero out the drive using the above diagnostics.
> 3. Obtain and install a new image using DVRbars1007.
> 
> Thank you.


Unfortunately, my most recent TCD746320 image (20.7.4.RC42) also gets the S02 error now. I don't have a solution.


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## Jee Man

Hi ggieseke, sounds scary.
So during the process of "Getting Setup Info", what is actually being downloaded? Updates + Guide info?


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## ggieseke

Jee Man said:


> Hi ggieseke, sounds scary.
> So during the process of "Getting Setup Info", what is actually being downloaded? Updates + Guide info?


I don't know exactly when updates to the TiVo software are downloaded, but I _think_ that first download is just minimal guide data. What I really need is a lifetime 746 that's already running the latest software so I can get a new 'clean' image, but I'm on a very limited budget that doesn't include buying Series 4 TiVos that I would only use for that purpose.


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## Jee Man

OK let me explain my setup and maybe I can help. So I have two of these lifetime 746's exactly the same. Only reason I was seeking to fire up the spare 746 was because my main one was hit with 10 power outages in about a 2-hour period. After that, it started rebooting intermittently, especially while recording shows. So I unplugged the antenna and ethernet cables and it completely stopped rebooting. I have a bunch of shows I've been watching on it now to catch up. Afterwards I planned to wipe the drive and shelve it as the new spare.
In the meantime, my plan was to run this spare 746 and continue recording my live shows, eventually switching over to it as my new main unit. Never knew the software will go stale like that, and appears Guided Setup is something to avoid like the plague.

So, I have read there is some utility that will diligently read, and reread if necessary, each sector of the source drive and make an image of it. If I did that to the limping unit, maybe I can save the "image" you're talking about? Thoughts?


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## ggieseke

Jee Man said:


> OK let me explain my setup and maybe I can help. So I have two of these lifetime 746's exactly the same. Only reason I was seeking to fire up the spare 746 was because my main one was hit with 10 power outages in about a 2-hour period. After that, it started rebooting intermittently, especially while recording shows. So I unplugged the antenna and ethernet cables and it completely stopped rebooting. I have a bunch of shows I've been watching on it now to catch up. Afterwards I planned to wipe the drive and shelve it as the new spare.
> In the meantime, my plan was to run this spare 746 and continue recording my live shows, eventually switching over to it as my new main unit. Never knew the software will go stale like that, and appears Guided Setup is something to avoid like the plague.
> 
> So, I have read there is some utility that will diligently read, and reread if necessary, each sector of the source drive and make an image of it. If I did that to the limping unit, maybe I can save the "image" you're talking about? Thoughts?


If you have another 746 that's up to date I would use the dd or ddrescue command in MFS Tools to duplicate the the drive in the limping unit to your spare, then run a Clear & Delete Everything on the spare to 'marry' the replicated drive to the motherboard. If it works reliably after that I could walk you through the steps I use to get a truly clean image.


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## CWSpangler

Jee Man said:


> OK let me explain my setup and maybe I can help. So I have two of these lifetime 746's exactly the same. Only reason I was seeking to fire up the spare 746 was because my main one was hit with 10 power outages in about a 2-hour period. After that, it started rebooting intermittently, especially while recording shows. ...


I had a Premiere (XL) have power supply problems after a couple of blackouts, fixed by replacing the power supply. In my case, the disk was still fine, it was apparently just not working with the 12VDC line supplying under 11.8VDC. Here is a link to what happened with mine:
Premiere XL power supply problems (after blackout) with low voltage on the 12V lines - resolved by replacement
If you are safe and comfortable probing voltages on a Premiere power supply while the cover is off and with 120VAC power applied, you might want to check that, while attempting a cold start (no power to it for several hours).


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## bschift

2 questions:
I don't have my new disk yet but I but I ran the program to look at the interface with no spare drives attached. It asked if I wanted to make changes to system and I said yes and nothing seemed to happen. Is this what you'd expect?

Also, do you have an estimate how long it will run on a USB 2.0 connection with 2 1 TB drives. The old drive is about 40% full. Thanks very much.


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## ggieseke

bschift said:


> 2 questions:
> I don't have my new disk yet but I but I ran the program to look at the interface with no spare drives attached. It asked if I wanted to make changes to system and I said yes and nothing seemed to happen. Is this what you'd expect?
> 
> Also, do you have an estimate how long it will run on a USB 2.0 connection with 2 1 TB drives. The old drive is about 40% full. Thanks very much.


DvrBARS doesn't make any changes to your system, but it does require certain elevated rights beyond even a standard administrator to run. When it asks Windows for those rights the User Account Control system pops up that dialog asking for your permission to grant them. That's normal and you won't see anything else after saying yes.

I'm not sure what you mean by 2 1 TB drives. If you're trying to copy one drive directly to another one MFS Tools is a much better choice. With DvrBARS you would have to back up one drive to an image file on your computer, then restore it to the other drive. That's time consuming and takes a lot of disk space. USB 2.0 tops out at 480 Mbps, so I would expect each operation to take at least 2 hours on a 1TB drive that's 40% full (with nothing in the Recently Deleted folder). Including deleted but still recoverable recordings you would be looking at about 5-6 hours.


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## Jee Man

ggieseke said:


> If you have another 746 that's up to date I would use the dd or ddrescue command in MFS Tools to duplicate the the drive in the limping unit to your spare, then run a Clear & Delete Everything on the spare to 'marry' the replicated drive to the motherboard. If it works reliably after that I could walk you through the steps I use to get a truly clean image.


OK I ordered a new WD20EURX (same as old) and it finally arrived. After imaging, ddrescue reported 0 errors, so I was concerned I didn't identify the problem and also swapped power supplies in the limping box. I figure with TiVo reporting I haven't connected in over 30 days that I may have too old an image? So I put the newly imaged drive back into the limper and plugged the network back in. The sw version says 20.7.4d.RC15-746-2-746, is that new enough to be useful, or should I wait until the box updates?


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## ThAbtO

Jee Man said:


> OK I ordered a new WD20EURX (same as old) and it finally arrived. After imaging, ddrescue reported 0 errors, so I was concerned I didn't identify the problem and also swapped power supplies in the limping box. I figure with TiVo reporting I haven't connected in over 30 days that I may have too old an image? So I put the newly imaged drive back into the limper and plugged the network back in. The sw version says 20.7.4d.RC15-746-2-746, is that new enough to be useful, or should I wait until the box updates?


Yes, the version is as current as it is now. The drive may be new to you, but its old stock and may be out of warranty. You may find that the drive runs a bit noisey soon.


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## Jee Man

I was unaware that drive was discontinued, can you recommend a good premier replacement?

Now I have a stable copy of the original, so I imaged it to the unit stuck in S02, performed the clear & delete and it's running. How do I get the clean image?


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## ThAbtO

Recommended drives are WD Red Plus, CMR type, models ending in EFRX, EFZX, purple ending in PURX or Z. You can go up to 8TB.
Backup and restore use DVRBars which is a windows program, but it does not expand to use the full size. MFSTools 3.3 will copy and expand to use the full size, but its a lengthy process. It can take overnight or longer. It does not backup images.


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## Jee Man

Thank you ThAbtO for the recommendations! I'll remember to pay attention to the product's life cycle next time


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## Lotus0

Hello, 
Just joined, but read a lot before posting. 

I have a TiVo Premier model TCD746320 that I have not connected to the Internet in about 6 months. I just connected to Internet and I'm seeing the S02 error. 

I did a Kickstart 76543210 by Powering down, Powering on, When I saw the Amber light , I press Pause, then enter 76543210. I saw amber/Green flash back and forth then Tito started saying its doing a "clear and Delete everything" 
That process took about 2 hours. 

Then it walked me through the Guided setup, Entered my zip, setup Internet, Connected to TiVo service. Still getting the S02 error. 

At this point according to TiVo help it says I should leave it sit for 3 days with no Internet access. 

Does leaving it sit for 3 days actually fix the S02 error, or do I need to re image the drive with a known good image? 

Thank you for any help.


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## ggieseke

Lotus0 said:


> Does leaving it sit for 3 days actually fix the S02 error, or do I need to re image the drive with a known good image?


It hasn't fixed it for me, or anyone else that I know of. This isn't a problem clearing out old data, it's a fairly new issue where Premieres with anything but the current version of software won't update. My current 746 image is also too old and gets the same S02 error but I'm working on an updated version with the help of some other TCF members. Stay tuned...


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## Lotus0

ggieseke said:


> It hasn't fixed it for me, or anyone else that I know of. This isn't a problem clearing out old data, it's a fairly new issue where Premieres with anything but the current version of software won't update. My current 746 image is also too old and gets the same S02 error but I'm working on an updated version with the help of some other TCF members. Stay tuned...


Ah kind of figured that was the case. Well just for kicks I will leave mine disconnected from the Internet for 2 more days just to see and report back. It's really a shame since I paid for lifetime service which granted I have got my use out of it throughout the years, but would like to use it again. 

Well thank you again for the reply. 
Merry Christmas and happy holidays !!!!


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## piemuffin

Does anyone have a 1TB TCD746320 image?


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## ggieseke

piemuffin said:


> Does anyone have a 1TB TCD746320 image?


Sent.


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## DeLorean

I need a TCD750500 3TB image please. Thanks and happy new year.


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## ggieseke

DeLorean said:


> I need a TCD750500 3TB image please. Thanks and happy new year.


Sent.


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## littletikes

my tcd750500 is green screening and I've tried everything from putting the hard drive 1tb in the freezer to kickstarting it. could dvrbars give me an image to fix it?


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## ggieseke

littletikes said:


> my tcd750500 is green screening and I've tried everything from putting the hard drive 1tb in the freezer to kickstarting it. could dvrbars give me an image to fix it?


Sent.


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## ZebraStriped

just had a TCD750500 die on me, just bought this hard drive, all I need now is the image.


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## ggieseke

ZebraStriped said:


> just had a TCD750500 die on me, just bought this hard drive, all I need now is the image.


Sent.


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## Racket

It's finally the day that I thought would come. My TCD746320's stuck at the startup screen and I have a cold spare Western Digital 3TB to put in it. May I please have an image?


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## ggieseke

Racket said:


> It's finally the day that I thought would come. My TCD746320's stuck at the startup screen and I have a cold spare Western Digital 3TB to put in it. May I please have an image?


Sent.


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## IceCube

Need a 1TB TCD746320 image.


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## ggieseke

IceCube said:


> Need a 1TB TCD746320 image.


Sent.


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## iamwind

Need a 3TB TCD849300 image. My WD30NPRZ drive failed, but I have a spare of the same model.


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## ThAbtO

iamwind said:


> Need a 3TB TCD849300 image. My WD30NPRZ drive failed, but I have a spare of the same model.


Roamio and Bolts do not need an image. You just install the drive in it and it will self-initialize it. Just make sure the drive is a low-power usage and CMR.


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## iamwind

Thanks for the response. Hmm… I get 4 flashing lights with the old and new drive. Any special preparation that needs to be done to the drive? I ran the WD full erase on it thinking if it saw a blank drive, it would try to format it.


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## ThAbtO

iamwind said:


> I get 4 flashing lights with the old and new drive.


You need to replace the wall wart OEM 2amp is just barely enough power to run even the OEM drive.



Amazon.com


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## CWSpangler

ThAbtO said:


> You need to replace the wall wart OEM 2amp is just barely enough power to run even the OEM drive.
> 
> 
> Amazon.com


One review for that Facmogu product: Possible Fire Hazzard.
For any non-TiVo-brand power adapter, one should really check the reviews to become aware of possible issues.

A 3 amp TiVo Bolt power adapter can be used with a Roamio (basic) or Roamio OTA: TiVo BOLT Power Adapter
TiVo Bolt Receiver AC Power Adapter by NetBit NBS40C120300VU 12V 3.0A 100-240V White
A Bolt Power Adapter will be a loose fit on a Roamio (2.5mm socket on a 2.1mm pin), and may or may not work fine without a connector adapter such as this:
SinLoon 5PCS 90 Degree Angle 5.5x2.1mm Male Jack to 5.5x2.5mm Female Plug Adapter
I use this connector adaptor on mine, as I want the most reliable possible electrical connection.


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