# Mfstools "incorrect number of partitions found" - Failed upgrade an 8TB HDD for Tivo Roamio Pro use (using mfsadd and mfsaddfix(. Please help, thanks.



## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

Hi jmbach / all,

Hopefully you can help me!
In Dec 2020 (per my prior posts, I successfully used mfstools to upgrade from 3TB to 8TB (that time I also did an mfscopy first (to copy 3TB of data to 8TB drive), then I did an mfsadd and mfsaddfix (twice) to get to 8TB). It worked fine (although I had to do a ks 57 aferward).

*Fast forward to today where I was not so successful with a slightly different scenario with mfstools*:
I switched from a Roamio to a Roamio Pro (motherboard pin issue on the former forced me to get another Tivo, albeit a Roamio Pro this time)

*Steps taken (so far) and issue in red:*
1) I took a new 8TB HDD (shucked) and inserted it into the 'new' Roamio Pro today.
I then let TiVo do it's thing to prepare the drive for use in the Tivo...
(Note - I decided to keep my recordings on my Roamio, which still works fine [aside from the cable card reader, which is why I got the Pro], so I do not need to copy over any recordings this time).
.
2) Once the TiVO was done with the above, I took the 8TB HDD out of the Roamio Pro again again and hooked it up to my laptop and started up msfstools 3.2.
I planned to run mfsadd, followed my mfsaddfix (twice each) to get from 3TB to 8TB (correct me if I am wrong regarding the steps and number of times they need to be done, since last time I also did an mfscopy first, but not this time since I did not need it as I was not copying the recordings over).

3) I ran *mfsadd -xcm 2040 /dev/sdb (where b is my 8TB drive)*.
_As you noted previously, "this will add about 2 TB of recording space and place the partitions in order to allow them to be coalesced when moved. If you have less than 2 TB of space, it will use whatever space you have left to add recording time."_

4) Once the mfsadd ran successfully, I then started to run *mfsaddfix /dev/sdb* ,
but I am getting the following error after the 'pruning' starts, stating
*"incorrect number of partitions found: 
expected 16 and found 14*
*unable to process drive"*

Hope you can:
1) Help me figure out what I did wrong to get the "*incorrect number of partitions found" *and how to recover from it

2) (Assuming #1 gets solved), I also wanted confirmation that I need to run the 2 commands below a total of twice each to go from 3TB to 8TB or?
I.e,
Run *mfsadd -xcm 2040 /dev/sdb (where b is my 8TB drive)*
Run *mfsaddfix /dev/sdb*
Run *mfsadd -xcm 2040 /dev/sdb *(again)
Run *mfsaddfix /dev/sdb* (again)

Thanks in advance for any help!


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## Willie A (Aug 28, 2018)

So you are starting fresh and using TE3 (not TE4/Hydra/New experience). If so should be easy. Put in the blank 8TB. Let the Roamio format. When it finishes and gets to guided setup pull the drive and run MFSR (not MFST) on it in computer. That should be it, no adds/add fixes needed since it is 8TB only. Search for latest MFSR download.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

Willie A said:


> So you are starting fresh and using TE3 (not TE4/Hydra/New experience). If so should be easy. Put in the blank 8TB. Let the Roamio format. When it finishes and gets to guided setup pull the drive and run MFSR (not MFST) on it in computer. That should be it, no adds/add fixes needed since it is 8TB only. Search for latest MFSR download.


Thanks a lot! Yes, I am starting fresh this time (unlike with my Roamio in Dec 2020). 

Even though I dropped in a fresh 8 TB drive, it looks like it is on TE4 / Hydra since the UI looks different on the Roamio Pro than my TE3 Roamio...
So does that mean I would need to somehow downgrade to TE3 for this upgrade to 8TB to work, or?

While I am waiting for a confirmation to my question regarding whether I needed to be on TE3, let me start to read up on MFSR and how to use that (as opposed to MFS Tools) to get the Tivo Roamio Pro to recognize the 8TB. 
I have not used MFSR, so any tips would be greatly greatly, thanks.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

njweb said:


> Even though I dropped in a fresh 8 TB drive, it looks like it is on TE4 / Hydra since the UI looks different on the Roamio Pro than my TE3 Roamio...
> So does that mean I would need to somehow downgrade to TE3 for this upgrade to 8TB to work, or?


From my understanding, if you are on TE4, then it has already formatted the whole 8TB. Have you checked the available space?
And from what I've recently learned, you can not downgrade to TE3 once TE4 has formatted the drive greater than 3TB. The only way to downgrade to TE3 would be to use a smaller drive (3TB or smaller), let TE4 format that, then downgrade to TE3. Once downgraded to TE3, you would need to wipe the 8TB drive and let TE3 format it, then use MFSR to expand to 8TB.

EDIT: TE3 version number starts with 20, TE4 version number starts with 21.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

njweb said:


> Hi jmbach / all,
> 
> Hopefully you can help me!
> In Dec 2020 (per my prior posts, I successfully used mfstools to upgrade from 3TB to 8TB (that time I also did an mfscopy first (to copy 3TB of data to 8TB drive), then I did an mfsadd and mfsaddfix (twice) to get to 8TB). It worked fine (although I had to do a ks 57 aferward).
> ...


Run mfsinfo -d on your drive and post the results. In both TE3 and TE4 the Roamio will format it correctly but TE3 has a bug which does not allow the summation of the partition sizes correctly (it is a 64/32 bit issue) which causes the disconnect. So it is likely that mfsadd did not add any partitions because the partition structure encompassed the whole drive and did not leave any free space to add. Hence mfsaddfix gave you that error. 

Since you are making a new 8TB for the Roamio and if you want to be on TE3, then use MFSR on that drive and it will resize the existing partitions to allow the whole 8 TB to be used for the Roamio. If anything is currently on the drive, it will be erased with this process. MFSR creates a new partition structure that allows TE3 to format correctly. 

If you are running TE4, there is nothing to do but use the TiVo. 

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

That is correct, if on TE4 it should have formatted the entire 8TB itself. And yeah, would be a bit tricky to get back to TE3, just as Pl1 says, not TOO bad, just good it is a Roamio and you are starting fresh, could not do with a Bolt. Not completely sure letting TE4 format the 3TB would work though, for rollback. It might, but drive would be in the "new" TE4 format which may not be able to be rolled back, even though 3TB. May need a drive that had TE3 on it already at one point, it may need a "remnant" of TE3 to be able to roll back to it. Interesting.

MFSR is super simple, runs on Windows, just pop in the drive, run and done. After you let the Roamio format it, but before you run guided setup, pull at the guided setup screen after format. 

Maybe put the original 3TB in the Roamio as is. It is probably on TE4 as you say. But may have been on TE3 in the past, ie it has the remnant of TE3 on it. So try rolling back the original drive to TE3 as it is now, don't format it or anything. Hopefully it works, then you would have TE3 on the flash drive. Then the format of the blank 8TB and MFSR.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

tommage1 said:


> Hopefully it works, then you would have TE3 on the flash drive. Then the format of the blank 8TB and MFSR.


Make sure you BLANK the 8TB before putting it back in, assuming the rollback to TE3 works with the original drive. Since you've already let the Roamio format the 8TB in the "new" TE4 format, want it to be blank before letting the Roamio format it to TE3.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

jmbach said:


> Run mfsinfo -d on your drive and post the results. In both TE3 and TE4 the Roamio will format it correctly but TE3 has a bug which does not allow the summation of the partition sizes correctly (it is a 64/32 bit issue) which causes the disconnect. So it is likely that mfsadd did not add any partitions because the partition structure encompassed the whole drive and did not leave any free space to add. Hence mfsaddfix gave you that error.
> 
> Since you are making a new 8TB for the Roamio and if you want to be on TE3, then use MFSR on that drive and it will resize the existing partitions to allow the whole 8 TB to be used for the Roamio. If anything is currently on the drive, it will be erased with this process. MFSR creates a new partition structure that allows TE3 to format correctly.
> 
> ...


(Need to go to urgent care shortly, so will try to finish this before I leave).

Thanks a lot! That would make sense if nothing got added.
I am okay with TE4 if I have no choice. To be sure, understood the "if you want to be on TE3" and "if you are running TE4" part:

Is that to say that if I use MFSR, I can decide whether to be on TE3? (Sorry not versed in the nuances between TE3 and TE4 since I have not played around with the version; my old Roamio (non Pro) is on TE3 and I never did research how to upgrade to TE4 since TE3 was working well for me).


The 8TB drive in question (for the new Roamio Pro) is shown as 'sdb' (after I run the usual command to list all the drives on the machine running mfstools).
Given that, what is the full syntax of the mfsinfo command to get the details for that drive (I see the '-d' option is to provide detailed info). I see the syntax 


Have to run to urgent care, so hope I finished the above well enough for now...


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

Hope everything is OK. 

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

jmbach said:


> Hope everything is OK.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk


Thanks a lot for the wishes! 
Back, spent a lot longer at the pharmacy than at urgent care.
Luckily it turned out to be nothing serious - Diagnosed as a middle ear infection - prescribed antibiotics and also ear drops. 
Before I went to urgent care, one of the possible reasons listed for my symptoms online (along with ear infection) was a disease that is not curable, albeit treatable, so I am relieved it is "just" an ear infection..
Got the antibiotics but have to pick up one of the medications elsewhere since they were out of stock.

*When you get a chance, if you can please share the full syntax for the mfsinfo command (my 8TB drive is listed as 'sdb'), I can run the command and share the results before we head out* to pick up the ear drops at another pharmacy (went home in between to take the antibiotics and refrigerate that in the meantime).


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> Make sure you BLANK the 8TB before putting it back in, assuming the rollback to TE3 works with the original drive. Since you've already let the Roamio format the 8TB in the "new" TE4 format, want it to be blank before letting the Roamio format it to TE3.


Thanks a lot!
Yes, I was planning to format it first with a Windows laptop, thanks!
Does it matter if it is FAT32, NTFS? (or EXFAT)?

So, to be sure I got it, are these the high level steps?

Do I need to first put the original (3TB HDD) back in the Roamio Pro
Then manually (via the UI / or steps - will read up online) roll back to TE3
Then insert the blank re-formatted 8TB drive into the Roamio Pro
(Then check capacity reported by Tivo Experience in the UI to see if ALL 8GB are reflected and if not, use MFSR to get Tivo to recognize it as 8TB?.

Feel free to correct / add!
Thanks again!


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> That is correct, if on TE4 it should have formatted the entire 8TB itself. And yeah, would be a bit tricky to get back to TE3, just as Pl1 says, not TOO bad, just good it is a Roamio and you are starting fresh, could not do with a Bolt. Not completely sure letting TE4 format the 3TB would work though, for rollback. It might, but drive would be in the "new" TE4 format which may not be able to be rolled back, even though 3TB. May need a drive that had TE3 on it already at one point, it may need a "remnant" of TE3 to be able to roll back to it. Interesting.
> 
> MFSR is super simple, runs on Windows, just pop in the drive, run and done. After you let the Roamio format it, but before you run guided setup, pull at the guided setup screen after format.
> 
> Maybe put the original 3TB in the Roamio as is. It is probably on TE4 as you say. But may have been on TE3 in the past, ie it has the remnant of TE3 on it. So try rolling back the original drive to TE3 as it is now, don't format it or anything. Hopefully it works, then you would have TE3 on the flash drive. Then the format of the blank 8TB and MFSR.


Thanks for the help.
Did not get a chance to reply to all the replies earlier (urgent care and pharmacy visit for 2 prescriptions).

Regarding the above steps, when you say "then you would have TE3 on the "flash drive", you mean the 8TB would then start off as TE3?
I think I m_ay_ be missing a nuance / a step here. 
See the steps I just posted in my other reply a few minutes ago. Am I missing something?


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

pl1 said:


> From my understanding, if you are on TE4, then it has already formatted the whole 8TB. Have you checked the available space?
> And from what I've recently learned, you can not downgrade to TE3 once TE4 has formatted the drive greater than 3TB. The only way to downgrade to TE3 would be to use a smaller drive (3TB or smaller), let TE4 format that, then downgrade to TE3. Once downgraded to TE3, you would need to wipe the 8TB drive and let TE3 format it, then use MFSR to expand to 8TB.
> 
> EDIT: TE3 version number starts with 20, TE4 version number starts with 21.



Thanks a lot! Missed this post.
I did not check the space on the Tivo at the time (thought I had to do the other steps like last time, not realizing that it was on TE4 / that TE4 did not require the extra steps.

So, based on your reply above and everyone else's responses today (thanks again all), IF it is not already showing the 8TB on the Tivo (will first check that in a bit, after lunch - I have been out most of the day [home once in between for a little while]), then I think I have 2 options? Note - NOT listed by order of preference:

Option1 - If it does not work in the Tivo anymore / does not show up as 8TB of space in the Tivo, that would suggesy the mfsadd impacted it (but like jmbach stated it is perhaps / likely fine), then I can format it again on my Windows PC, then let the TiVO do its thing and confirm that it shows all 8TB (this assumes it is on TE4).
Correct me if I am wrong)

Option 2 - Put the 3 TB drive in, roll back to TE3, then insert the 8TB drive (freshly formatted in Windows first), let the Tivo do its thing and see that it shows 8TB in the Tivo.

Option 3 - Run MFSR if it is working not showing the 8TB despite option 1 or 2 having been performed ...

Hopefully I am on the right track!


If anyone can confirm the full syntax of the following command since I am missing a required parameter
_mfsinfo -d_ 
Then I can post the results as requested by jmbach


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

PS: I just ran the following msinfo -d /dev/sdb
Attached is the result:


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

njweb said:


> Thanks a lot! Missed this post.
> I did not check the space on the Tivo at the time (thought I had to do the other steps like last time, not realizing that it was on TE4 / that TE4 did not require the extra steps.
> 
> So, based on your reply above and everyone else's responses today (thanks again all), IF it is not already showing the 8TB on the Tivo (will first check that in a bit, after lunch - I have been out most of the day [home once in between for a little while]), then I think I have 2 options? Note - NOT listed by order of preference:
> ...


Really this is very simple. You are going to have a fresh 8TB drive in the new Roamio. You have two choices, one just let the Roamio format it TE4 and be stuck with TE4 forever. Two, put in the original 3TB and try to roll back to TE3. If it works, blank the 8TB and do the Roamio format, then pull and run MFSR. In that case you would have an 8TB which can be switched back and forth with some limitations, TE3 or TE4. I myself prefer as many options as possible. Either way a simple project, permanent TE4 just format blank drive, a few other steps if you want to try getting the TE3 option but in no case should it take much over an hour total.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> Really this is very simple. You are going to have a fresh 8TB drive in the new Roamio. You have two choices, one just let the Roamio format it TE4 and be stuck with TE4 forever. Two, put in the original 3TB and try to roll back to TE3. If it works, blank the 8TB and do the Roamio format, then pull and run MFSR. In that case you would have an 8TB which can be switched back and forth with some limitations, TE3 or TE4. I myself prefer as many options as possible. Either way a simple project, permanent TE4 just format blank drive, a few other steps if you want to try getting the TE3 option but in no case should it take much over an hour total.



Perfect, thanks! So the 2 options were indeed aligned with what you confirmed. Appreciate it.
Let me choose the TE3 route...

For the "Blank the 8TB drive" step, I believe it does not matter whether it is FAT32 or NTFS since Tivo can detect either one (in order to then automatically format it as MFS)...


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

njweb said:


> For the "Blank the 8TB drive" step, I believe it does not matter whether it is FAT32 or NTFS since Tivo can detect either one (in order to then automatically format it as MFS)...


I myself would do a quick format to NTFS. If quick format does not work then just do a full format, THAT would take awhile.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> I myself would do a quick format to NTFS. If quick format does not work then just do a full format, THAT would take awhile.



Thanks.

I just checked my screenshot and it seems to show 8TB of MFS space.
So let me hook the drive back up to the Roamio Pro and verify the recording capacity in hours reported by the TiVO, (Settings and Messages, Help, Account and System info, System Information' and scroll down to verify Recording Capacity (and free Disk Space).
I can then decide if I want to stick with TE4 or downgrade to TE3.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

njweb said:


> Thanks.
> 
> I just checked my screenshot and it seems to show 8TB of MFS space.
> So let me hook the drive back up to the Roamio Pro and verify the recording capacity in hours reported by the TiVO, (Settings and Messages, Help, Account and System info, System Information' and scroll down to verify Recording Capacity (and free Disk Space).
> I can then decide if I want to stick with TE4 or downgrade to TE3.


That is up to you of course. But I don't know why you would not want to TRY the original drive, see if can get to TE3. This is a somewhat permanent project, once done you will be sticking with it. The process of putting in the 3TB, seeing if it can be rolled back to TE3, less than an hour. If it doesn't work then just go with the permanent TE4 option. But less than an hour to see if you can have both options on the new drive, why not?


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

Just put the drive back in the Roamio Pro.

As jmbach surmised (and others mentioned), it indeed already sees all 8TB, which explains why the msaddfix 'failed' since it was not needed (note - the mfsadd command, which was run prior to the mfxaddsfix command, did not report any error)

Per system info rec capacity shows 
1281 HD hours
8830 SD hours
which equates to 8TB.

Now I just need to decide whether to stick with TE4, or downgrade to TE3 using the 3TB original drive as noted by tommage1 and then insert the 8TB drive into the Roamio, let it format it, remove the 8TB drive again and connect to my laptop and run MFSR.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

njweb said:


> Now I just need to decide whether to stick with TE4, or downgrade to TE3 using the 3TB original drive as noted by tommage1 and then insert the 8TB drive into the Roamio, let it format it, remove the 8TB drive again and connect to my laptop and run MFSR.


TiVo Experience 4 (TE4) also comes with pre-roll advertisements. They run on the TiVo before any show plays. You can skip them by remote, or, you can call TiVo to opt out. Just thought I would mention that while you are deciding.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> That is up to you of course. But I don't know why you would not want to TRY the original drive, see if can get to TE3. This is a somewhat permanent project, once done you will be sticking with it. The process of putting in the 3TB, seeing if it can be rolled back to TE3, less than an hour. If it doesn't work then just go with the permanent TE4 option. But less than an hour to see if you can have both options on the new drive, why not?



Yes, you're right (what is 1 more hour now ).
One point though, the old 18.4" Acer 8943G laptop which I am using to run the mfstools image each time is USB 2.0 (my 3 far newer computers all do not easily boot off the MFStools image). 

Hopefully that will not make the MFSR command take (much) longer. I know for the copy in Dec 2020 when I took my old Roamio's 3TB hard drive and copied all the recordings over to the new 8TB drive using mfscopy, it took forever.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

njweb said:


> Yes, you're right (what is 1 more hour now ).
> One point though, the old 18.4" Acer 8943G laptop which I am using to run the mfstools image each time is USB 2.0 (my 3 far newer computers all do not easily boot off the MFStools image).
> 
> Hopefully that will not make the MFSR command take (much) longer. I know for the copy in Dec 2020 when I took my old Roamio's 3TB hard drive and copied all the recordings over to the new 8TB drive using mfscopy, it took forever.


Without copying any recordings, the procedure will complete within minutes.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

pl1 said:


> TiVo Experience 4 (TE4) also comes with pre-roll advertisements. They run on the TiVo before any show plays. You can skip them by remote, or, you can call TiVo to opt out. Just thought I would mention that while you are deciding.



Good to know, thanks! I thought I read something like that in a TE3 vs TE4 pros vs cons thread.
My very next call to Tivo will be to activate the cable card again but now for the Roamio Pro (same cable card I was using with my Roamio till now). The Xfinity automated cable card activation portal could not authenticate me despite having my entering the correct account # and phone number.
They were closed at 1:30 this morning (not surprisingly) and did not get back to that step yet today given all of the above... I assume they are not open today either, but may try just to see.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

njweb said:


> Good to know, thanks! I thought I read something like that in a TE3 vs TE4 pros vs cons thread.
> My very next call to *Tivo* will be to activate the cable card again but now for the Roamio Pro (same cable card I was using with my Roamio till now). The Xfinity automated cable card activation portal could not authenticate me despite having my entering the correct account # and phone number.
> They were closed at 1:30 this morning (not surprisingly) and did not get back to that step yet today given all of the above... I assume they are not open today either, but may try just to see.


I'm sure you meant Comcast, not TiVo. But, the reason the automated cableCARD system would not process your request is because the card is already paired in their system. So, you have to get Comcast to un-pair the card and then use your new hardware to pair the card again.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

pl1 said:


> Without copying any recordings, the procedure will complete within minutes.



Okay, great thanks, going to do all that now then as suggested by tommage so I can have the option of switching between TE3 and TE4.

Ideally, the only thing I want to have pending tomorrow (since Xfinity support is not open) is the cable card activation part (this is the same card I have been using with my Roamio, till the motherboard pins incident last weekend that is).








Cable card issue (Moving Cable card from old Tivo Roamio...


Updated / Edit - see my last post - I called and Comcast cable card phone support was able to unpair the card from the old TiVO and pair it to the new TiVO... Original Post: Background: I have Comcast Xfinity cable TV. I have a cable card that I was using successfully to watch live TV with...




www.tivocommunity.com


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

pl1 said:


> I'm sure you meant Comcast, not TiVo. But, the reason the automated cableCARD system would not process your request is because the card is already paired in their system. So, you have to get Comcast to un-pair the card and then use your new hardware to pair the card again.


I did indeed mean Comcast. Long day / not enough sleep. 

I thought I read a thread / post by someone who was able to automatically pair the new one without needing to unpair the old one, but I can't recall for sure whether that was Comcast...

The downgrade (from TE4 to TE3) is running now on the 3TB drive... Fingers crossed.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

njweb said:


> I did indeed mean Comcast. Long day / not enough sleep.
> 
> I thought I read a thread / post by someone who was able to automatically pair the new one without needing to unpair the old one, but I can't recall for sure whether that was Comcast...
> 
> The downgrade (from TE4 to TE3) is running now on the 3TB drive... Fingers crossed.


I've heard some people say it works for them so it could be regional. I've always had the same results as you whenever I tried the online tool to change my TiVo.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

njweb said:


> I thought I read a thread / post by someone who was able to automatically pair the new one without needing to unpair the old one, but I can't recall for sure whether that was Comcast...


The card has to be unpaired first, then paired to the new device. With Comcast. An ACTIVATED cable card may get MOST of the channels without being paired but not all. May be some obscure channels you are missing, almost for sure all PREMIUM channels. Just call Comcast, when get to appropriate part of the voice menu ask for "cable card pairing", should get to a specialist. May want to wait for business hours during a weekday, less chance of getting routed overseas. Has gone well for me, and they did tell me it has to be unpaired first.

Good luck on the roll back (I refuse to call it a downgrade, "I" think it is an upgrade). If it rolls back you will be 1/2 hour to an hour to being up and running on 8TB with TE3, and could move back and forth in the future (with some limitations)


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

pl1 said:


> Without copying any recordings, the procedure will complete within minutes.


Yeah, copying not even an option with MFSR, it's just run and go, minutes or less.


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## jmbach (Jan 1, 2009)

njweb said:


> PS: I just ran the following msinfo -d /dev/sdb
> Attached is the result:
> View attachment 73529


The Roamios fully formatted the 8TB drive and there is no room left. 

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

Another nice thing is since both your Roamios would be on TE3 you can actually transfer directly between them, no Tivo online needed. Use the one with broken pins for storage, maybe just shut down when not in use, transferring or watching recordings.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

Quick interim update:

Rollback to TE3 completed successfully on the 3TB drive on the Pro. 
For the 8TB drive, I used Windows to allocate the 'unknown' drive and then formatted it as NTFS (used quick format to save time).
Will now insert the 8TB into the Roamio Pro, let it do its thing *
Then hook it back up to my laptop one last time to run MFSR (required since it will be TE3 not TE4) and then put it back into my Roamio Pro.

_* I guess as soon as the 8TB gets to the start of guided setup, rather than complete it, as some noted, I can remove it from the Pro, run MFSR on it via laptop and then reinsert the 8TB drive into the Pro and complete guided setup, aside from the cable card part (will call Comcast tomorrow for that)._


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> Another nice thing is since both your Roamios would be on TE3 you can actually transfer directly between them, no Tivo online needed. Use the one with broken pins for storage, maybe just shut down when not in use, transferring or watching recordings.


True.
Actually, I am not sure whether I indicated my plan here last night (it was 2:20 AM or so when I got done for the night).

In short, my plan (decided last night) is to do the following since I had 2 more NEW 8TB drives, bought before prices went up, that I was originally going to use for another purpose:

Roamio (no cablecard support anymore) - Has an 8TB drive 95% full of recordings. Will keep using this for watching those recordings (old favorites, most of which I have not seen yet). 

Roamio Pro - The one which is the subject of this thread, also with an 8TB drive. This will be used for creating new favorites and hence storing additional (new) recordings.

I tested last night and both Roamios are showing in my TE UI and I was able to watch Roamio shows.

Each of the above 8TB drives will continue to be backed up to other 8TB drives using my stand-alone duplicator dock. 
The Roamio 8TB is already backed up in fact.
I may back up the Pro after I get to 5% of 10% full (or so) to create the base backup and then back the drive up periodically (every few months to every 6 months)...


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

njweb said:


> I may back up the Pro after I get to 5% of 10% full (or so) to create the base backup and then back the drive up periodically (every few months to every 6 months)...


Not a bad idea, more people should do that, at least ones that want to keep recordings. Great the TE3 rollback worked  Now a format, MFSR and guided setup and you should be good to go, optimum result IMO. You can transfer some of the 95% to the new 8TB Pro if you want. Directly since on TE3. Can always stream, I'm talking about actual transfers.

Yes, put in the blank 8TB, it will get to guided setup, shut down, pull, run MFSR, then put back in.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> Not a bad idea, more people should do that, at least ones that want to keep recordings. Great the TE3 rollback worked  Now a format, MFSR and guided setup and you should be good to go, optimum result IMO. You can transfer some of the 95% to the new 8TB Pro if you want. Directly since on TE3. Can always stream, I'm talking about actual transfers.
> 
> Yes, put in the blank 8TB, it will get to guided setup, shut down, pull, run MFSR, then put back in.


Thanks, I saw your post after I went ahead.
I went ahead based on my confidence level, having seen a post about doing it when guided setup starts).
I am sure it would work anyway, but since the drive gets reformatted by MFSR, all that setup info would have to be repeated anyway so why bother wasting time on guided setup when it has to be repeated...

I saw there was a new version of MFSR (version 1004), in the 2nd post of the master MFSR thread, which adds support for 8TB drive, so ran that one as Administrator (note - did not need compatibility mode).
It completed successfully. Will reinstall it in the Roamio Pro.

Then I will change the CR2032 battery in the Pro (it is 7 years old, although my relative maintained it as well as I would have, so it looks NEW).
I will probably also replace the fan (I bought a new Evercool 3 pin ball bearing fan that arrived yesterday. I will need to only connect the 2 relevant pins since the connector on the Roamio Pro has 2 pins.

My last 8TB drive only lasted 19 months - stopped working last week (I used the cloned backup and swapping them out was easy). BUT this is when I decided to proactively also replace the fan in the Roamio (non Pro) given mine was also 7 years old. 
That is when the bent pins fiasco occurred (thanks to the Roamio design for the fan requiring removal of the motherboard and more specifically removal of the cable card bracket), which is where the problem occurred - upon reinstallation of the cable card bracket, the alignment was slightly off and the pins got bent (1:30 AM last weekend)...
Luckily the Pro is more straight forward - much better physical design, not to mention the metal case, easy fan removal (since, unlike the Base Roamio, does not have 2 screws under the motherboard).


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## WVZR1 (Jul 31, 2008)

Well - you're this deep into the TE4 now maybe just get a CableCARD and use the TE4 to see how you actually adapt to it I've never attempted a TE4 'experience!


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

WVZR1 said:


> Well - you're this deep into the TE4 now maybe just get a CableCARD and use the TE4 to see how you actually adapt to it I've never attempted a TE4 'experience!


I am on TE3 now actually per above posts. 
I have the cable card, just need to get it unpaired from the Roamio now, so it can then be paired with the Roamio Pro, but this requires a phone call to Comcast Xfinity cable card support (at least the first half) and they were closed when I called at 1:30 AM this morning.
I will call once more today, once the guided setup is all done, to see if they are open today during daytime hours,

In the meantime, everything else is just about done (guide setup and downloading of info are in progress).


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

njweb said:


> My last 8TB drive only lasted 19 months - stopped working last week (I used the cloned backup and swapping them out was easy). BUT this is when I decided to proactively also replace the fan in the Roamio (non Pro) given mine was also 7 years old.


So did you run Crystal Disk Info on the problem drive, just to see if an actual problem with the drive or something happened to the Tivo software? 19 months for a CMR 3.5 drive is incredibly low, should last 5-10 years, though it CAN happen...............

Do remember if you put the drive in the computer to run the Crystal Disk, DO NOT INITIALIZE OR FORMAT IT, computer does not recognize because it's Tivo/Linux partitions. Just run the Crystal Disk on the drive as is.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> So did you run Crystal Disk Info on the problem drive, just to see if an actual problem with the drive or something happened to the Tivo software? 19 months for a CMR 3.5 drive is incredibly low, should last 5-10 years, though it CAN happen...............
> 
> Do remember if you put the drive in the computer to run the Crystal Disk, DO NOT INITIALIZE OR FORMAT IT, computer does not recognize because it's Tivo/Linux partitions. Just run the Crystal Disk on the drive as is.


Thanks for the reminder. I did not get a chance yet, but will do so after I get the Pro all set up - replacing the fan in a bit and the CR2032 lithium battery.
I was surprised too, especially since the Tivo is located in the coolest part of the house (in summer at least), but the drive may be running hot.


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## WVZR1 (Jul 31, 2008)

This link used to, if you already have CableCARD(s) allow you to 're-pair' a CableCARD. If you had multiple cards it actually asked you which.





__





Welcome Page






cablecardactivation.xsp.comcast.net


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

WVZR1 said:


> This link used to, if you already have CableCARD(s) allow you to 're-pair' a CableCARD. If you had multiple cards it actually asked you which.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks, but unfortunately it is not even authenticating me (account # and phone #), so I cannot get past the 1st step. Seems others have the same issue. As someone mentioned, it might be region-specific though.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

jmbach said:


> The Roamios fully formatted the 8TB drive and there is no room left.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk



Thanks again!
Yes, indeed, I had noted this in one of my later posts.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

njweb said:


> Thanks for the reminder. I did not get a chance yet, but will do so after I get the Pro all set up - replacing the fan in a bit and the CR2032 lithium battery.
> I was surprised too, especially since the Tivo is located in the coolest part of the house (in summer at least), but the drive may be running hot.


Should not matter much, heat, even if 7200RPM in a Roamio. There are LOADS of 7200RPM drives running 24/7 in NAS, surveillance DVRs etc, no problems. I am curious about the battery in Roamios and back. There are none in Edge and Bolt. May not even be used anymore, might have kept time/date/settings in past, now all handled by internet connection. But does not hurt to replace, I thought about doing it myself but battery did not just pop out like computer motherboard so I passed, for now.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

Thanks again to everyone who helped.
A special thank you to Jmbach, tommage1 and pl1

Final update:
Also capturing the steps for future reference. This will save time in case I ever have to do this again in several years 
Hopefully it might help some others (who may be reading this thread / find it with a google search too:

1. The Roamio Pro's ORIGINAL 3TB was downgraded to TE3, using the method posted online (this was so that I could have TE3 on my 8TB replacement drive. 
_"i) Go into Menu- Help- Reset to Defaults- Repeat Guided Setup- Select
ii) Press Thumbs Down 2 times (NOT 3!), now press Rewind 2 times, Now press Select (not Enter)
iii) Roamio will immediately go to that right arrow screen, then screen blank, then you'll get a message letting you know that the rollback process has begun."_

2. The 8TB drive (shucked) was installed in the Roamio Pro, after which I allowed the Roamio's format process to get to the start of the Guided Setup.

3. Then I removed the 8TB drive from the Pro (T10 screws) and connected it to my Windows laptop Using my (UGreen USB to SATA adapter). 

4. Since the 8TB is on TE3, I had to run MFSR *v1004* on Windows laptop (run as Administrator).

5. Inserted the 8TB drive back into the Roamio Pro and completed the guided setup process. 

Optional steps:
6. Connected a new fan to the Pro (using T10 screwdriver) - EVERCOOL 50mm x 10mm Case Cooling Fan 3pin FAN-EC5010M12CA. Important - Only connect the red and black wires.

7. Replaced the CR2032 lithium battery.

Now I just need to wait for Comcast phone support to open tomorrow so I can call them to unpair my existing Motorola cable card from the old Roamio and pair it to the 'new' * Roamio Pro.
The automated online site was not working (would not authenticate mem same issue as some others) - Pair or Activate Your CableCARD — Self-Installation Setup


Welcome Page


(* Actually used - relative had one and asked me to make an offer, but new to me).


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

Final update:

Spoke to the cable card support team today. Call was only about 15 mins. I had all the info handy which saved time and the rep was efficient...
They unpaired the card from the Roamio and then paired it to the Roamio Pro.
I then checked a bunch of TV channels and all are working fine. 

Great support experience!


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

njweb said:


> Thanks for the reminder. I did not get a chance yet, but will do so after I get the Pro all set up - replacing the fan in a bit and the CR2032 lithium battery.
> I was surprised too, especially since the Tivo is located in the coolest part of the house (in summer at least), but the drive may be running hot.


I ran CrystalDiskInfo on the drive in question. Below are the results.

I am wondering which tool is best to run tests on the sectors and check the drive for errors etc....


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

njweb said:


> I ran CrystalDiskInfo on the drive in question. Below are the results.
> 
> I am wondering which tool is best to run tests on the sectors and check the drive for errors etc....
> 
> ...


Your drive is fine, no sector problems. And only about 1.5 years use (should get 5-10 years.) Not sure what you want to do with it, blank/format it and reuse? Either copy another working Tivo 8TB on to it and keep as backup or use for another purpose. The Tivo software must have got corrupted in some way which caused initial problems, nothing to do with drive itself that I can see. If going to copy/clone another Tivo drive on to it I would blank it first, to be safe maybe a full (not quick) format, will take awhile but should be good to go whatever you want to use it for. If you do a full format it should write zeros, would not hurt to do another Crystal disk info after the format.

If you are going to keep it as is in your original Tivo, I'd be careful about TRANSFERING recordings from it to your "new" Tivo. If there is corruption in the Tivo software/recordings the corruption may transfer to the new Tivo, probably not the OS but maybe some recordings.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> Your drive is fine, no sector problems. And only about 1.5 years use (should get 5-10 years.) Not sure what you want to do with it, blank/format it and reuse? Either copy another working Tivo 8TB on to it and keep as backup or use for another purpose. The Tivo software must have got corrupted in some way which caused initial problems, nothing to do with drive itself that I can see. If going to copy/clone another Tivo drive on to it I would blank it first, to be safe maybe a full (not quick) format, will take awhile but should be good to go whatever you want to use it for. If you do a full format it should write zeros, would not hurt to do another Crystal disk info after the format.


Thanks a lot for the confirmation! 
Yes, corruption was one of my initial suspicions too.

I'll use it for data backup of one sort or another. I will format it first though; yes, a Full format might be a good idea in this particular case to be extra safe.


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## tommage1 (Nov 6, 2008)

njweb said:


> Thanks a lot for the confirmation!
> Yes, corruption was one of my initial suspicions too.
> 
> I'll use it for data backup of one sort or another. I will format it first though; yes, a Full format might be a good idea in this particular case to be extra safe.


Yeah, I added a bit to my last post (if you were going to use it as is in original Tivo), maybe not transfer any recordings from it to the "new" Tivo. But if blanking and reusing should be no problems.


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## njweb (Aug 23, 2015)

tommage1 said:


> Yeah, I added a bit to my last post (if you were going to use it as is in original Tivo), maybe not transfer any recordings from it to the "new" Tivo. But if blanking and reusing should be no problems.



The full format is at 50% done after about 6.5 hours or so (give or take an hour).
The drive temperature is 59 degrees Celsius (138.2 degrees Fahrenheit) and it is shucked (connected to a SATA USB adapter), so it is less restricted in terms of air flow, hope it will not climb any higher...


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