# Repairing failed drive



## submikester (Apr 3, 2006)

Okay; I always said to myself - hey - Self...you really need to take a few minutes and backup your Tivo...

Years went by and I didn't and now the hard drive has failed. The thing won't even boot - I just get the welcome sign and it starts to try to play the Tivo intro and then I get a 'CLICK!' and it resets.

Lame.

Of me that is; I'm quite familiar with hard drive failure having been in IT for a loooong time now. So - I have another hard drive and am attempting a dd copy as we speak (it's been going since last night and seems to have a lot of errors) but failing that what are my options of restoring this tivo to operational capacity without buying a new one?

I have no backup. Am I um...s.o.l.?


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## ExpectLess (Apr 3, 2006)

Well, you're not s.o.l for sure. At worst, you'd have to download an image that matches your TiVo, install that image on a new hard drive, put that drive in your TiVo, and let the TiVo download a variety of updates, etc. There are third parties online who will provide a pre-configured hard drive replacement (check the stickies at the top of the forum), and the TiVo Underground forum might help too. If you're looking for images, search for your TiVo model or check the various stickied threads.

And good luck!

-Scott


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## epeters (Jun 17, 2003)

ExpectLess said:


> Well, you're not s.o.l for sure. At worst, you'd have to download an image that matches your TiVo, install that image on a new hard drive, put that drive in your TiVo, and let the TiVo download a variety of updates, etc. There are third parties online who will provide a pre-configured hard drive replacement (check the stickies at the top of the forum), and the TiVo Underground forum might help too. If you're looking for images, search for your TiVo model or check the various stickied threads.
> 
> And good luck!
> 
> -Scott


you might try spinrite 6.0 a hard disk utility that can work on TIVO drive that may rescue the dirve and its data. it's a bit pricey @ $89 but might prove useful for any hard drive in your life that fails. a lot of people swear by it. go to spinrite.com

Eric


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## HomeUser (Jan 12, 2003)

Ya, what Eric said. SpinRite saved all the recordings on my TiVo. I ran SpinRite at level 2 and it recovered 9 bad blocks it took about 2hrs to do a 120G hard drive. I then binary copied the failing drive to a new drive. Now to find the time to catch up on 24 and Lost.


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## Rockmin (Jul 3, 2005)

I have a two drive TIVO (a 540 with a 40gig & 300 gig)that is displaying signs of drive failure (freezing, reboots, GSOD). Sometimes it will work for a couple of hours, sometimes only 30 minutes before a reboot. I don't need to keep anything on these drives. Is there a way to tell which drive is failing? Can I just disconnect the 300 and see if the problems stop? Is there an error log somewhere on the TIVO which might tell me which drive is having problems.

Or should I take the 40 out, put my backup kernel on the 300; expand & tpip & initialize as a single drive. And then see if the problems disappear?

Would be nice to pinpoint the bad drive before I started messing around.


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## Barryrod (Mar 17, 2006)

Rockmin said:


> I have a two drive TIVO (a 540 with a 40gig & 300 gig)that is displaying signs of drive failure (freezing, reboots, GSOD). Sometimes it will work for a couple of hours, sometimes only 30 minutes before a reboot. I don't need to keep anything on these drives. Is there a way to tell which drive is failing? Can I just disconnect the 300 and see if the problems stop? Is there an error log somewhere on the TIVO which might tell me which drive is having problems.
> 
> Or should I take the 40 out, put my backup kernel on the 300; expand & tpip & initialize as a single drive. And then see if the problems disappear?
> 
> Would be nice to pinpoint the bad drive before I started messing around.


I would remove them both and run Spinrite on them to find out which drive is the problem drive....If the 40gig is bad (the most likely suspect if it is your original A drive) then I would get the proper Instantcake and convert it back to a single drive system using the 300 gig, leaving the upgrade drive bracket if it has a fan built in. I did just that and my Tivo runs ~10deg C cooler now.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

The best way to check the drives is to run the manufacturer's diagnostic program on it. Spinrite is a great data recovery and repair utility but doesn't have the diagnostic features designed specifically for any particular drive like the manufacturer's software does. Once you've isolated the defective drive, then run the Spinrite data recovery routine. This should identify any bad sectors on he drive and restore any lost data. The Spinrite maintenance routine can be used to repair any bad sectors but is extremely long and time consuming.

I had a DTivo that wouldn't boot and when I checked the drives one of them failed the diagnostic. I ran the Spinrite data recovery routine and it showed several bad sectors but apparently it recovered enough data to allow the DTivo to boot. The DTivo went immediately into the GSOD but after an hour or so it booted back up just fine. I transfered all of the shows over to another DTivo using MRV (over 100 hours' worth) and then installed a new drive with all of the hacks installed. I transferred the shows back over via MRV and the Tivo is now alive and well without the loss of a single recording. I just finished running the maintenance routine on the defective drive and reran the diagnostics on it. The drive now passes all tests with flying colors.


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## dagap (Dec 5, 2003)

Be sure to boot with SpinRite installed. Memory fades, but IIRC it's harmful to boot certain windows operating systems with a Tivo drive attached.


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## submikester (Apr 3, 2006)

I purchased a second Tivo yesterday and got it all configured last night. Tomorrow I will back it up and then try to restore the image to my failed one with a new drive.

That should work right?


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

submikester said:


> I purchased a second Tivo yesterday and got it all configured last night. Tomorrow I will back it up and then try to restore the image to my failed one with a new drive.
> 
> That should work right?


If it is the same model (first 3 digits of TSN)


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## submikester (Apr 3, 2006)

Uh, Oh...they aren't....

Crapola eh?

So...I still need an image then.


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## Barryrod (Mar 17, 2006)

What model did you have and what did you buy?


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## submikester (Apr 3, 2006)

Had a 240, bought a 540.


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## drewcipher (May 21, 2002)

Ok, so Spinrite can take an image of my HR10-250 and then copy it back to a new hard disk so I don't lose much or anything?

Can I test the Tivo drives on a Windows computer and do this imaging?


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## Barryrod (Mar 17, 2006)

drewcipher said:


> Ok, so Spinrite can take an image of my HR10-250 and then copy it back to a new hard disk so I don't lose much or anything?
> 
> Can I test the Tivo drives on a Windows computer and do this imaging?


Spinrite is a Disk diagnostics and repair tool. It "can" in some cases repair the problem areas and get the drive back into service...depending on the root cause of the failure. Spinrite will not transfer anything over. You need to search for the Hinsdale guide for that.

You do not want to boot into windows with your tivo drive attached. It will rewrite the boot sector. You need to use a boot disk and load a version of linux. MFStools is one you can use, I used Weaknees utility disk with large disk support.


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