# WinMSF or Instantcake?



## aztex999 (Jan 8, 2009)

I'm trying to upgrade my series 2 (40) on a budget - I got laid off last November.
The reason I need to upgrade is because my paused live TV and many of my recordings are tiling and freezing so bad they're almost unwatchable. In fact, I missed all but the first 5 minutes of last night's 2nd _Scrubs_ episode.

I found a good deal on an IDE Seagate Barracuda 80GB ($20), and I'm wondering which method of putting the TiVo image on the new HDD is better - WinMSF or Instantcake?

Okay - I know the first person to respond might say, "No brainer if you're on a budget - WinMSF is free; Instantcake is $19.99." And that's certainly a consideration. I've seen lots of threads by people having problems with both. Of course, I've also read lots of threads where people swear by each of them.

My financial situation is bad, but it's not yet at the point where I wouldn't mind spending 20 bucks if the product is better or easier to use.

Has there ever been a consensus on this forum on which way is better? It seems that the level of computer proficiency is about the same for each - either way I've got to hook up my original TiVo hard drive, copy the image to my desktop's hard drive, then re-copy it to the new hard drive, right? I'll probably connect them via an IDE to USB adapter - another $20.

Is Instantcake worth paying the extra $20? If so - why?
Has anyone used both and prefer one over the other?

Thanks for any input.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Is the Seagate drive new or used? What is your skill level? winMFS should be installed by someone who knows what he is doing. If you know what you are doing use winMFS. If this is the first time ever, use Instantcake. Remember if the drive is used, it will have a shorter life. Seagate went to a five year warranty because of so many failures in the field. Check the label on top of the drive to see how much if any of the warranty is left. If none, be ready for the chance of an early failure. Remember you must use a current version of XP to install with winMFS. You cannot use SP1 or prior versions of windows.


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## aztex999 (Jan 8, 2009)

The drive is used - guaranteed no bad sectors, warranty still good for another year. I am currently re-thinking this - I've found new, WD Caviar 160 GB IDE drives for $45 (+shipping) Skill level? Well, I haven't done anything to a computer I couldn't undo in the twenty years I've had one. This will be my first upgrade, though. OS is XP SP3.

Oh - one thing I forgot. Instantcake _does_ eliminate one of the steps, right? With Instantcake, the image is on the specific CD you buy (or download); you don't even use the original TiVo hard drive, right?

Thanks for your input, *rbtravis*.


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## whitepelican (Feb 15, 2005)

The two software packages you're comparing actually serve two completely different purposes. WinMFS (or the mfslive linux boot CD) can be used to copy an existing Tivo drive to a new one or restore an existing backup image to a new drive. Instantcake provides that same functionality, plus it includes the backup image to be restored. So the only question you have to answer is, do you have a backup drive image or a good working Tivo drive that you can copy? If yes, then the smart decision is to use WinMFS. If no, then buy Instantcake.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Just so you understand, the drive does have bad sectors, when the error correction hardware encounters a bad sector, it attempts to recover the bad sector, after recovering the bad sector it rewrites it to a spare sector, relabels the spare sector to the old sector address and puts the bad sector on the bad sector list. The drive appears to have all good sectors but in fact contains remarked & recovered spare sectors.


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## aztex999 (Jan 8, 2009)

rbtravis said:


> Just so you understand, the drive does have bad sectors. . . .


Well, what I should have said was it was advertised on Craigslist as "all good sectors." As I've said, with only one year left on its warranty, I've decided to buy a new HDD anyway. Newegg has 160 GB WD Caviars (IDE) for $45.

As far as the hard drive that came with the TiVo - yes, I think it has more bad sectors than good ones at this point. Some recordings have frozen video and audio that last well over 30 seconds; then three seconds of good recording, followed by another 30 seconds of frozen. It's getting quite bad. Paused TV pixelates so bad I always end up fast-forwarding to "live." I still haven't had other symptoms of bad hard drives though, like the constant rebooting or failure to get past the booting up page.

Considering my budget, I think I'll try WinMSF. Between the new HDD and the IDE / USB adapter, I'm already in for $75, including shipping. Oh, wait - I need a set of torx wrenches, too! Make that $85.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Micro Center www.microcenter.com has PATA drive part # 782409 for sale at 49.99 for a Western Digital 160 GB drive (New). You may have to pay shipping if no store is near you. They are a nationwide chain. It is their February sale so you may have to wait a few days. Good Luck


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## aztex999 (Jan 8, 2009)

Thanks for the Microcenter tip, but I'm in Phoenix - so I'd still have to pay shipping.

I can get the HDD and adapter thru Newegg - maybe save on shipping if they ship from the same place. The torx set I can get at my local Ace Hardware, or maybe even borrow from a neighbor.

I'll look around for cheaper deals, but these look pretty good without going 'used.'

Thanks to all who have (and still might) replied. :up:

Please look forward to my "WTF happened when I tried WinMFS?" thread in a few days.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Consider this 500GB @ newegg and it's cheaper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136111


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## aztex999 (Jan 8, 2009)

rbtravis said:


> Consider this 500GB @ newegg and it's cheaper
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136111


Unless I need to clean my cookies, it's $28 more - it's showing up as $73, compared to $45 for the 160GB. But at 14.6 cents per gigabyte, it's definitely the better deal.

In any case, since the initial decision to upgrade is based on impending drive failure (?) - not necessarily more storage space - I think I _may_ wimp out and just order a 160GB Seagate DB35 preloaded from Weaknees for $109, which includes shipping. That's only $20 more than the cost of ordering everything, paying for shipping, and doing the computer work myself (and probably starting another "Help Me!" thread). I was going to consider their 80GB for $89, but it doesn't list the brand - so I'm assuming it's a Maxtor, since that's what brand is shown on their instruction sheet. Even if it wasn't twice the size, I'd still pay $20 more for a Seagate.
(If anyone knows which 80GB hard drive Weaknees puts in their TiVo TCD540040 replacements, let me know)

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions.


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## rbtravis (Aug 9, 2005)

Sorry I was considering your total cost

"Considering my budget, I think I'll try WinMSF. Between the new HDD and the IDE / USB adapter, I'm already in for $75, including shipping. Oh, wait - I need a set of torx wrenches, too! Make that $85."

you are the one who said his total coast was $85.00, by the way you only need a torx 10 and torx 15 driver. This is a PATA drive that will plug in with no adapters. 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136112
for the product you selected. You are better off with DVRupgrade because they have not been having the problems with 6.4a that Weaknees has. I have made purchases from both and think they are both good companies. Just do a google search on 6.4a

http://www.wkblog.com/tivo/2008/07/directv-tivo-os-version-64a-add-kits-fail/


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## txporter (Sep 18, 2006)

Before ordering from Weaknees, consider something off of Ebay. I upgraded my first couple of Series2 using someone from Ebay. Same results as Weaknees, but cheaper.

320G drive - $100

160GB drive - $77.5

160G bare drive - $35 (will need winMFS)

Jason


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## aztex999 (Jan 8, 2009)

*rbtravis*, I would need the IDE to USB adapter in order to hook up the hard drives to my computer to copy and paste the TiVo image - I only have one IDE controller ribbon on my computer. I think USB would be easier than hooking up to the ribbon and messing with the jumper settings to put it in the slave slot. I'll look at DVRuprade vs Weaknees, but I think the link you provided concerning 6.4A deals with DirectTV TiVos - mine is a standalone model. Please correct me if I'm wrong about that.

*txporter*, have you bought from that eBay seller before? That sounds like a great deal!!! His 160GB price is basically the same as the price for an 80GB from Weaknees. I'll send him an e-mail and ask what brand of HDD he uses.

Many thanks to both of you, and to *whitepelican* way above.

EDIT LATER: - BTW, he uses the WD 1600AAJB Caviar SE on his 160GB drives. From what I've read, they're good for DVRs. I think is my solution. For another $4, he throws in the #10 and #15 torx wrenches.


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## txporter (Sep 18, 2006)

I haven't bought from that particular seller. My purchases were years ago. I didn't look through the post carefully just checked to see if they were IDE tivo drives or SATA (Series3). The 160gb drive for $77.48 is a 7200rpm drive which will work FINE for a Series2, but will likely be louder than your current drive. If noise is a concern for you, the 320gb DB35.3 drive will be your best bet.

Good luck!

Jason


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## aztex999 (Jan 8, 2009)

I e-mailed the guy a few times - he seems honest and a nice guy. He's giving me a break on the price of the 160GB ($70) due to my unemployed status, and says it will boot up and use the wireless network with no problem - I just have to go through the guided setup after restart. I don't think noise will be a problem, although I would have preferred a Seagate DB35, and wish I could justify yet another $30 for the larger drive.

Coincidentally, this is the same HDD I was going to buy from Newegg for $45. So it's basically costing me $25 for the pre-recorded image. I would have spent that much on the IDE to USB cable. And then I'd _still_ be at the _WinMSF or Instantcake? _phase, with an hour or so of computer time ahead of me.

Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope that the problems I've been having are truly due to the disk, and not the board. If so, I'll be quite happy that I'll once again have reliable recordings, watchable paused TV, and 4 times the storage - all for $70 (+ $8 shipping).


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## txporter (Sep 18, 2006)

:up:

Jason


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## spike2k5 (Feb 21, 2006)

rbtravis said:


> You are better off with DVRupgrade because they have not been having the problems with 6.4a that Weaknees has.


If you use BlessTivo and add a drive on a DTivo with software 6.4a, mfsadd crashes with the following error:

assert: OutOfMemoryCrash, line 147 ()
Tmk Fatal Error: Thread mfsadd <98> strayed!

So DVRupgrade solved this problem?


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## chillout24 (Jan 13, 2009)

One problem I had when trying to backup or copy my tivo drive that had bad sectors was that it would not successfully backup or copy. I tried backing up and copying to a new HDD but it would either freeze when it got to a partition with bad sectors or would say it finished but the backup finished way too fast and was not complete. I ended up having to scrap the disk and buy instant cake. It was pretty simple but I wasn't happy about having to spend the 20 bucks. I'd just try WinMFS first and if the backup or copy it makes doesn't boot then try instant cake.


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## aztex999 (Jan 8, 2009)

I just wanted to wrap up this thread with my results. I bought the 160 GB WD Caviar off eBay, as indicated in my most recent post. I paid for it on a Friday; received it on Monday. It took approximately 15 minutes to switch out the drives (after I went to Ace Hardware to buy T-10 & T-15 torx screwdrivers). My TiVo powered up and I went straight to the "Repeat Guided Setup" screen - it recognized my wireless network flawlessly.

Two things I want to mention, though - number 1, although I will get used to it, and it is minor, this HDD is _much_ noisier than the original Maxtor TiVo used.

And secondly, for others who may find themselves in the same situation, I got stuck repeatedly during the guided setup at the screen where it asks "Do you see video behind this text?" I never saw video, and ended up replacing my RCA cables 3 times; substituted an RF cable, and was considering going out to buy an S-Video cable. Finally, I came on this site and was about to start a thread, when I found a similar thread - it seems it's just a glitch in the S1 and S2 (I think) models. The next time through the setup, I just selected "Yes - I see video," - even though I didn't - and everything worked fine from then on. Just an FYI.


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## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

whitepelican said:


> The two software packages you're comparing actually serve two completely different purposes. WinMFS (or the mfslive linux boot CD) can be used to copy an existing Tivo drive to a new one or restore an existing backup image to a new drive. Instantcake provides that same functionality, plus it includes the backup image to be restored. So the only question you have to answer is, do you have a backup drive image or a good working Tivo drive that you can copy? If yes, then the smart decision is to use WinMFS. If no, then buy Instantcake.


Instantcake does not allow you to copy a drive.

Basically with both programs you need the same skill level. I would say WinMFS seems to be easier then Instantcake(Cdrom can be tricky) That said , I used instantcake twice.

Here is to how to screen shots of both programs.

Instantcake

WinMFS


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## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

aztex999 said:


> Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope that the problems I've been having are truly due to the disk, and not the board. If so, I'll be quite happy that I'll once again have reliable recordings, watchable paused TV, and 4 times the storage - all for $70 (+ $8 shipping).


Good luck!!


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## Alessan (Feb 23, 2002)

With instacake, does anyone know if you are suppose to use the correct version of the software for the correct model#? They told me yes but I was able to use the software for the 240 on the 140. It would not work on the 540. So then I tried it on my TCD230 and it worked but it still has not downloaded the newest software upgrade after 3 days. Is there something different on each version of the tivo that we should be using the correct image of instacake?


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## tivoupgrade (Sep 27, 2000)

Alessan said:


> So then I tried it on my TCD230 and it worked but it still has not downloaded the newest software upgrade after 3 days.


Please don't do that!

Lou


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## GISJason420 (Feb 9, 2009)

If we went the WinMSF route which I did the other day and it was successful in setting up this other 80GB HDD I was setting up for the TCD240040a Tivo box of mine... Booted up right away w/o errors or getting stuck which it did for me when I used the insantcake image route....

How could we apply the SApper method? Or any of the other hacks available for the model of our Tivo Boxes?

Is there a known way of being able to add apps and so on via some program like WinMSF??


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