# Instant Cake vs. WinMFS



## Cigar Dan (Dec 18, 2001)

I have a brand new Series 3, as well as a new Hitachi 1tb HDD. I want to install the Hitachi as an internal drive.

My question is this--other than having to open my computer, is there any difference between making a truncated backup of the original drive with WinMFS and restoring to the new drive versus using Instantcake?

Is one way better than the other?

I thought that I had read once that upgrading the internal drive made it harder to later add an eSATA drive. Is that true, or an I completely off base?


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

I tried MFSlive after finding out winmfs was not compatible with my Win2000 professional computer. I was confused by their manual copied the command line instruction letter by letter. Got nothing but error messages after booting from their 1.3b CD. I posted help requests this morning which have yet to be answered. 

I have used and own three versions of Instantcake. All you have to type y or yes or ok. Everything happens automaticallyl and it works perfectly. My choice is Instantcake. I would rather watch TiVo than learn Linux.


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## Cigar Dan (Dec 18, 2001)

Thanks.

Unfortunately for me, Instantcake for the S3 isn't so instant. It is not downloadable and must be shipped (adds another $8 or so to the cost).

I'm leaning towards with WinMFS at this point...


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## whitepelican (Feb 15, 2005)

It doesn't get any simpler than using WinMFS. And the mfslive boot CD is almost as easy. The mfslive command generator gives you the exact command line to type in to do the copy.


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## Cigar Dan (Dec 18, 2001)

whitepelican said:


> It doesn't get any simpler than using WinMFS. And the mfslive boot CD is almost as easy. The mfslive command generator gives you the exact command line to type in to do the copy. I'd be worried about taking advice from somebody who can't copy a command line.


Thanks. Do I need to do a full copy, or is the truncated backup and restore sufficient? The S3 is new, so there are no programs that I need to save.


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## whitepelican (Feb 15, 2005)

I would just do the full copy if I were you. If there aren't any recordings on the drive, it won't take long to copy anyway. I've never really used the truncated method, but you should probably also back it up that way just so you have a backup copy.


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## Cigar Dan (Dec 18, 2001)

WinMFS worked like a charm. I now have 1368SD/144HD. Woot!


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

Well WinMFS back up My settings and shows?


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## Cigar Dan (Dec 18, 2001)

Since my S3 had never been used, the only thing on it were the "getting to know your Tivo" shorts that came with it. Those were successfully copied to the new drive. 

This has inspired me. I might go ahead and upgrade the rest of my Tivos in the near future. My wife needs more space on her Tivo--it is nearly full of stuff that she has marked do not delete. 

Thank you WinMFS!


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Enrique said:


> Well WinMFS back up My settings and shows?


Mfslive will I do not know about WinMFS I believe it does but not sure. You must be running XP service pack 2 or higher. WinMFS will not run with Windows 2000 professional or early XP pre support package 2.


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

rbtravis said:


> Mfslive will I do not know about WinMFS I believe it does but not sure. You must be running XP service pack 2 or higher. WinMFS will not run with Windows 2000 professional or early XP pre support package 2.


Looks like you can:
Disk to disk copy (Retain recordings but will take a while if you have many recorded shows)
(If you got a brand new Tivo HD, use this option to transfer short introduction video clips)

1. Download the zip file from here.
2. unzip it to your favorite folder.
3. double click on the icon to launch the program.
4. File->Select and select a hard drive to backup from. 
5. Tools -> Mfscopy
6. select destination drive. (source drive is selected already)
7. Click on start button
8. Wait 10 minutes to ? (depends on mount of recorded shows)
9. File->Select-> select the new drive you just created.
10. Tools->Mfsinfo to check on your Newly created tivo drive
11. File-> Exit.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Great Work, thanks for letting me know


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## Enrique (May 15, 2006)

I just did a upgrade using WinMFS(from 80GB to 250GB) I did have alot of recordings(40% of the HDD was full) started it a 9:50pm was done 8:30am the next day(everything was saved).


very easy to use. 100% A+++ with WinMFS now I have 302 hours on my tivo.


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## TomJHansen (Nov 6, 2000)

Just as a reference point I had a full 80GB drive (well, 78GB full) and using MFSLive (and both drives on the same IDE channel) it took 2 hours to copy to a 250GB drive so I think the advantage (right now over WinMFS) is speed (2 hrs vs 10 1/2 hours).

The key about what you type is after you generate your command, you have to be sure to put a space inbetween the "-" and the "/dev/hda"

So the command for me was
backup -qTao - /dev/hda | restore -s 128 -xzpi - /dev/hdb 

which meant

backup -qTao -(space)/dev/hda | restore -s 128 -xzpi -(space)/dev/hdb 

I finally figured it out by cutting and pasting the command into notepad and noticing the spaces. When I printed it out, it wasn't obvious that it needed spaces. And if you type it in wrong, all you get is the -h help.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

TomJHansen said:


> Just as a reference point I had a full 80GB drive (well, 78GB full) and using MFSLive (and both drives on the same IDE channel) it took 2 hours to copy to a 250GB drive so I think the advantage (right now over WinMFS) is speed (2 hrs vs 10 1/2 hours).
> 
> The key about what you type is after you generate your command, you have to be sure to put a space inbetween the "-" and the "/dev/hda"
> 
> ...


Correct. I experienced the same <space> fault.


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## oddpix (Oct 12, 2007)

I am a newbie around tivo hacking , but i have used instantcake a few times in experimentation and it seems to work good. it really needs the disks exactly as specified in the documentation tho.

Bob


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

oddpix said:


> I am a newbie around tivo hacking , but i have used instantcake a few times in experimentation and it seems to work good. it really needs the disks exactly as specified in the documentation tho.
> 
> Bob


 When you use Instantcake it expressly states that it is not a supported product and you have to get the documentation from their website or from their forums at www.DVRupgrade.com. Their response has always been quick. If you are into hacking you should get PTVnet and enable ftp, telnet, and ethernet. Then you can go to the underground forum here and hack to your hearts content. 
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=8


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## topjazz (Dec 5, 2003)

Cigar Dan said:


> Thanks.
> 
> Unfortunately for me, Instantcake for the S3 isn't so instant. It is not downloadable and must be shipped (adds another $8 or so to the cost).
> 
> I'm leaning towards with WinMFS at this point...


Things have obviously changed in the past few weeks. I purchased and downloaded Instantcake for S3 this past weekend. Burned to cd and worked perfectly.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

Cigar Dan said:


> I have a brand new Series 3, as well as a new Hitachi 1tb HDD. I want to install the Hitachi as an internal drive.
> 
> My question is this--other than having to open my computer, is there any difference between making a truncated backup of the original drive with WinMFS and restoring to the new drive versus using Instantcake?
> 
> ...


Does instant cake preserve your settings? Season passes etc.?


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

No. Instantcake installs a completely fresh image to your drive for a new start.

To keep settings/recordings, you need to copy the drive(s) you have now, with WinMFS or MFS Live.


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## bareyb (Dec 1, 2000)

classicsat said:


> No. Instantcake installs a completely fresh image to your drive for a new start.
> 
> To keep settings/recordings, you need to copy the drive(s) you have now, with WinMFS or MFS Live.


Got it. That's what I thought. FWIW, I think the GUI interface on the WINMFS is nicer than Instant Cake and the software is easier for a novice to understand. I've been checking out both systems' online screenshots and WINMFS looks like a piece of cake. No pun intended. It appears, for my purposes (all I want are my SP's and settings. I'm transferring all my recording to my other TiVo using MRV) in WINMFS all I have to do is: File>Backup (Truncated) with the Original TiVo Drive and then Tools>Restore to the new 1 TB drive. Select "Supersize Me" and it's done. :up:


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

rbtravis said:


> I have used and own three versions of Instantcake. All you have to type y or yes or ok. Everything happens automaticallyl and it works perfectly. My choice is Instantcake. I would rather watch TiVo than learn Linux.


Think of Instantcake as MFS Tools for Dummies. All it does is provide an automated script that installs the image for you after responding to a few simple prompts. The few times I ever downloaded an Instantcake image for a Tivo I always ended up performing the restore manually using the image from the Instantcake CD and then booting with my own MFS Tools CD. I've backed up and restored more images in the past 8 years than most of you would ever do in 10 lifetimes. I still don't know Linux but I don't need to since the backup and restore commands are ridiculously simple to learn and understand. It simply boils down to figuring out how the drives are assigned (i.e., primary master = hda, etc.) and then typing in a command that's already spelled out for you. Hate to break it to you but this stuff really isn't rocket science.


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