You'd have to use the Upgrade Instructions website to copy the entire of the drive onto the new one, and if the copy fails, then your new drive won't work at all...so it's dicey.

That was what I thought. Guess I'll just wait until re-runs start.

Thanks.

Salvaging data from old disks

Hi, 1st, thanks to the FORUM & Hinsdale How to.
In 2005, I upgraded my 540040 to 250Gb WD.
That 250Gb ran like a champ until this week.
Thanks again to forum, endless "powering up"=dead HD
I took our other (unupgraded) 540040 from family room & used Interactive Upgrade-mfsbackup/restore-- to get a new WD320Gb HD running,,

Again ,thanks to the FORUM,both 540040 TIVO's are running & networked just like they used to be.

Now for my question, the old 250Gb was full, & I should/could have backed it up.
I have gotten user HD's to spin up one last time & it's usually 'one chance' after the covers come off.

But all I know is NTFS or FAT HD with Windows...IF I can get this HD to spin one last time, am I better off using the TIVO 5.1 Desktop software on my desktop PC to transfer shows across the draft N router?
( I'm thinking that will take too long)
Or should I try the Linux boot CD with MFS commands which I think would be quicker & more likely to succeed before the drive spins down for good.

I have enough space on my C: drive and an external drive on my desktop PC.....but I don't have a spare drive that will hold it all.

Is there an MFS command that will back up the old 250Gb HD to a folder on my desktop PC?

My desktop PC has some TIVO shows on it already, Will TIVO 5.1 desktop read that new folder as TVshows that I can watch??????
Thanks again to the forum for all the help.

Linux MFS is a much better choice than a network transfer. There are ways to do a backup with files, but a much better option is to just go right to a new, blank drive.

Okay , so MFS it is, Could you help with the rest of the question please?.
I have enough space on my C: drive and an external drive on my desktop PC.....but I don't have a spare drive that will hold it all.

Is there an MFS command that will back up the old 250Gb HD to a folder on my desktop PC?

My desktop PC has some TIVO shows on it already, Will TIVO 5.1 desktop read that new folder as TVshows that I can watch??????
Thanks again to the forum for all the help.

I'm not sure where your TiVo files came from, but why don't you just download the free software and see if you can use it? It might very well work.

I would not recommend using your PC drive as the target for a TiVo backup.