1st Series2 upgrade - is HD capacity right?

nu2me

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#1

1st Series2 upgrade - is HD capacity right?

10-01-2008, 08:01 PM

Seeing how 'easy' it seems to upgrade tivo yourself, I figured I'd give it a shot but I'm left with a few questions. (considerable pc/windows knowledge; NO linux knowledge, so i hope i haven't trashed my lifetime subscription)

I purchased a western digital 500gb ide hd to use as a new A drive in my 2+ yr old Series 2 tivo - TCD540040 unit. After thoroughly reading the hinsdale guide, downloading appropriate files, etc. I tried to transfer my 40gb to my new 500gb drive with the respective command:

mfsbackup -Tao - /dev/hdc | mfsrestore -r 4 -s 127 -xzpi - /dev/hda

Unfortunately, after hours of transferring I awoke to find the process failed at approximately 46%; not sure why.

At this point I figured I would just make the 500gb drive a new B drive for more storage with the given command:

mfsadd -r 4 -x /dev/hdc /dev/hdb

This was instant and I was then told I now have about 160hrs of space. That seems a bit low for a 500gb drive, and the wk website promises over 600hrs of record time with a 500gb drive. The weeknees boot cd sees all 500gb on post/boot.

Did i do something wrong??

Also, any particular reason the copy/expand attempt failed on first attempt to copy to the new larger drive? (the drive itself is brand new)

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!!

-ps. - i haven't been able to place both drives in my tivo to see if the full capacity is seen with both drives; currently waiting on my custom ide cables from weeknees....
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WK-Michael

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#2

10-02-2008, 09:35 AM

Sounds like you might be using the boot floppy, and not the boot CD, which would be required for Series2 TiVos and later with drives larger than 137 GB.

Also, you shouldn't worry about your lifetime service - that's tied to the motherboard, so if you need to get a pre-formatted drive from us, it'll still work with your lifetime service.

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nu2me

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#3

10-02-2008, 02:27 PM

Hello and thanks for the quick response. I'm using the boot cd from the link below:

http://www.weaknees.com/weaknees_lba_boot_cd.iso

I first tried the MFStools cd but it wouldn't give a 'clear' picture of the drive configurations - hda, hdb, hdc, etc. I then tried the wk cd which gives a clear description of drives, total space, etc. at the top of the screen.
Should I try the 'copy expand' or 'add a new B' commands again with the MFStools cd instead?
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WK-Michael

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#4

10-03-2008, 10:46 AM

That's the right boot CD.

Boot again and do an "mfsinfo" and see how big the partitions are.

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nu2me

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#5

10-08-2008, 08:52 AM

o.k., now i'm really lost; in a nutshell:

as stated above, i wasn't quite sure why the 'total hours added' was only about 160+ hours.

after my tivo upgrade kit arrived, i deleted the partition on my new 'B' drive and decided to start over. i ran the command below:

mfsadd -r 4 -x /dev/hda /dev/hdb.

but now I get this:

/dev/hdb2: success
/dev/hdb3: illegal seek
mfs_load_volume_header: total sectors(xxx) mismatch with volume header (xxx)
mfs_load_volume_header:loading anyway
mfs_load_zone_map: primary zone map corrupt, loading backup
mfs_load_zone_map: secondary zone map corrupt, giving up
mfs_load_zone_map: zone map checksum error!
Unable to open MFS drives.

any advice on what the problem is?

do i need to start with a new B drive, and if so, can i use this B drive to add to another Tivo unit?

if i used this command once, can it not be used again on the same A drive, in which case i have to live with my original 40hr drive?

your help is appreciated (this can't be this difficult)

WK-Jeff:

Does your A drive boot on its own at this point?

REPLY:

at this point, my orginal 40gb tivo A drive just hangs at the 'Powering Up' screen. Is there any way i can still just add a larger 'B' drive and keep my a drive intact with original recordings? thanks again for your help.
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WK-Michael

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#6

10-08-2008, 10:23 AM

Sounds like your A drive is bad here. If you have a backup, we'd recommend restoring it to just the new B drive to see if that boots.

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nu2me

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#7

10-08-2008, 01:04 PM

i was afraid of that.....

i started this project without creating a backup to restore to---unfortunately. what are my options at this point.
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WK-Michael

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#8

10-08-2008, 01:26 PM

You can send us the drive to format - see our miscellaneous services page - or you can get a new "replace" kit from here:

http://www.weaknees.com/t544.php

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nu2me

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#9

10-08-2008, 03:23 PM

-can i just send my original A drive with new A & B drives?

-will the recordings on the original A drive be lost?

-any suggestions as to why the original 'copy' failed or why the original 'mfsadd' only reflected 160hrs instead of 600+ hrs? (i only ask because i have a second tivo i'd like to try this with but i don't want to lose all the recordings again)

-can the tivo drive only be 'added to' or expanded only once?

thanks
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WK-Michael

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#10

10-08-2008, 04:02 PM

We just need the new drives - we have the image here. Recordings will be lost, unfortunately.

Right - the A drive can only be expanded once.

Not sure what happened there with the first expansion.

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nu2me

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#11

10-10-2008, 07:13 PM

I also have a 2nd tivo unit I was planning to upgrade. Would I be able to make a backup of that A drive, and then use that image to restore the A drive on this unit? Also, if I can do that, can I then attempt to 'add' a B drive all over again?

thanks!
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WK-Jeff

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#12

10-10-2008, 08:44 PM

What model TiVos are we talking about?
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nu2me

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#13

10-10-2008, 09:35 PM

My 2nd tivo (currently running fine & not expanded) is a TCD540080, and the one I would like to restore is a TCD540040.
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WK-Michael

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#14

10-10-2008, 10:02 PM

Software-wise, that's no problem. The OS is identical between the two. You'll just need to do a "clear and delete everything" when you have the drive in the new unit, otherwise you'll get an error #51.

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nu2me

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#15

10-11-2008, 06:12 AM

ok, but which drive needs to be cleared? my 2nd (functional) tivo-TCD540080 has recordings on it & it's the drive i'd like to make a backup of (the OS anyway). Do I have to clear/delete all those recordings before making a restore image? My original TCD540040 now just stays on the 'Powering Up' screen and you mentioned in an earlier post that i've lost the recordings (my first attempt to 'expand' this drive backfired and i didn't make a backup), so there's nothing to clear on this drive.

once my 40hr tivo A drive is restored, can i try to 'expand' it again. the drive i'm using to make a restore image from is an 80hr tivo and has never been expanded

also, does that error refer to the drive i'm backing up or the drive i'm restoring? i'm just trying to be thorough before trying this again; i don't want to lose all the recordings on a 2nd tivo.

thanks
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