TiVo Community Forums Archives - Adding second drive-unforseen problems?

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Adding second drive-unforseen problems?
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Posted by: rjom

If I add a second drive (120G kit thru Weaknees) to my Series 2 Tivo 40G, will it automatically reconfigure to recognize the slave, and automatically store programs? Or is there programming and BIOS settings etc. that have to be modified. I am hoping that I can just physically add the drive, and everything else will just happen naturally. Am I being naive about this? Also, is it as easy as the instruction imply, or are there frustrating little things I have to be aware of, such as not being able to have easy access to screwing, unscrewing, and placing components etc. I have no problems replacing and following instructions to add and resplace computer hard drives. Is this as simple, or should I send away to have it done. Also, I am assuming that by adding the second drive, that my settings and programs remain in tact. True?

Posted by: Robert S

If you get the drive from Weaknees, all you have to do is plug it in to the TiVo and it'll add the extra storage automatically. I don't think the screws are particularly awkward, although they have Torx heads rather than Posidrive.

If you can add a hard drive to a PC, you could easily prepare the drive yourself. That opens up some more options, for example, you could copy the existing drive and replace it, rather than adding a second drive.

Posted by: rjom

That's a good thought. I am assuming Tivo acts just like another computer drive when connected to the USB. If I replace the drive, rather than add another one, would Norton Ghost do the trick in transferring the image to the new hard drive? Or is there more to it than that? I would copy the image to my computer hard drive, then copy the image back to the Tivo new hard drive? It would be nice if were that simple. I'm also assuming it would take much less time and effort to simply replace the existing drive rather than add another. Thanks for your responses.

Posted by: Robert S

Adding a drive means changing the drive bracket, whereas a replacement drive can use the mounting hardware from the original. In terms of preparing the drive software, adding is much easier than replacing (although this should not be a major factor in deciding which upgrade to do).

We seem to be in the middle of a flurry of Ghost questions at the moment. It's weird how we can go for weeks without bother and then suddenly lots of people have the same 'bright idea' at the same time. Anyway, no Ghost is not a particularly useful tool for upgrading a TiVo. Copying the drive image to a Windows drive and then back on to a new hard drive would take forever. If you read Hinsdale you'll see there are several well thought out methods for preparing new TiVo drives and Ghost doesn't figure among them.

I didn't quite get what you were saying about USB. All you can officially do with the TiVo's USB ports is make your Guide calls over the Net and the Home Media Option. There's no way to make the TiVo function like a USB hard drive caddy.

Posted by: rjom

Thanks, that is very helpful. Re the USB, I guess I was mistaken. I see people entering commands, and talking about loading software from floppies. I assumed that was through a computer connection. I thought the Tivo drive would operate like a computer drive. Where are people writing all these commands to if not through a connection to the computer; and if it is thru a computer, how does it connnect. I am very new at the Tivo upgrade discussions.

Posted by: Robert S

The TiVo's hard drive is just a normal IDE disk, so you take it out of the TiVo, plug it into your PC's IDE bus and boot a CD or floppy that contains the tools you need to work on the TiVo disk.

These things will be a lot clearer to you after you read Hinsdale.