# upgrade from 2 drives to one?



## flyersfan (Nov 11, 2002)

I have an old Series 2 60gb model that has two drives - the original and a married 120gb upgrade. At least one of the drives, probably the original, seems to be on its last legs. Rather than wait until it's too late, I'd rather upgrade now.

I can't seem to find out if I can just upgrade to a single large drive and keep all recordings. My wife would be quite disappointed if the shows are lost, and moving all the shows via T2G would be painful in the extreme.

Is this possible with MSFLive or any other package?


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## spike2k5 (Feb 21, 2006)

Going from two drive one and save recording is the only option not supported yet w/ MFSLive.


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## wscannell (Dec 7, 2003)

You should be able to do this at least partially with mfstools 2.0. Since you have not expanded your original drive, you should be able to copy and save recordings to a 200GB drive. You will not be able to expand to fill the rest of the drive. I am not sure whether mfslive will support then adding space to use the rest of the drive.


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## spike2k5 (Feb 21, 2006)

wscannell said:


> You should be able to do this at least partially with mfstools 2.0. Since you have not expanded your original drive, you should be able to copy and save recordings to a 200GB drive. You will not be able to expand to fill the rest of the drive. I am not sure whether mfslive will support then adding space to use the rest of the drive.


Come to think of it, you are right. Original A + upgraded B so you should be able to use either mfstools 2 or mfslive.

If you use mfslive, you should be able to expand to full capacity using -f option.


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## flyersfan (Nov 11, 2002)

spike2k5 said:


> Come to think of it, you are right. Original A + upgraded B so you should be able to use either mfstools 2 or mfslive.
> 
> If you use mfslive, you should be able to expand to full capacity using -f option.


Excellent... it took some digging but I found that info in the mfslive full guide. Copying 180gb of data will take a while but at least we won't lose anything.

Now to find a nice DB35 drive. The whine of the original drive is driving us insane.


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## flyersfan (Nov 11, 2002)

I just wanted to confirm this was a success.

mfslive had no trouble handling the above scenario. I moved from 180gb to 250gb without a hitch. The new drive is so quiet I can't even tell it's running, and the available hours are reported properly.

So for anyone considering an upgrade from two drives to one, it can be done.


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## hoyty (Jan 22, 2003)

Could you share the command you used for 2 -> 1 on mfslive. Also as I understand it this only works with an original A drive and added B drive that neither have been expanded? After merging to one disk can a second disk be added later?


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## flyersfan (Nov 11, 2002)

Sorry I didn't see your reply earlier, hoyty.

I used mfslive and executed the following command: 
*backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdb | restore -s 128 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hdd*

hda= original drive
hdb= add-on/2nd drive
hdd= new drive for single drive use

I have no plans on doing so, but according to mfsinfo I can upgrade 3 more times.


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## Moebius (Nov 25, 2002)

flyersfan said:


> Sorry I didn't see your reply earlier, hoyty.
> 
> I used mfslive and executed the following command:
> *backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdb | restore -s 128 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/hdd*
> ...


As I'm nearly the exact same spot, I wanted to confirm a couple of things on this.

Does this command do the 2-1 move and re-size all in one shot or was there anything else involved in getting the right size report? In my case, I'd be going from a 40+120 in a 130 Series 2 model and was thinking of getting a single 300gb.


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## spike2k5 (Feb 21, 2006)

To go from 40+120 to 300GB and save recordings:

backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdb | restore -s 128 -fzi - /dev/hdd

It does everything in one shot. Goto mfslive.org/cgen.php if you are not sure.


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## Moebius (Nov 25, 2002)

spike2k5 said:


> To go from 40+120 to 300GB and save recordings:
> 
> backup -qTao - /dev/hda /dev/hdb | restore -s 128 -fzi - /dev/hdd
> 
> It does everything in one shot. Goto mfslive.org/cgen.php if you are not sure.


Spike, a couple quick follow ups. I cross posted at the mfslive forum, but as you responded here, I'll use this thread.

First, does this apply to the stable 1.1 version, or do I need beta?

Second, would the same command apply to a 320 gig (300 was out of stock)?


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