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Drive replacement
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Posted by: ejnewton

I was given a Phillips HDR312 dual drive system with a bad drive. There is nothing on the existing drive that I am aware of that I want to keep. (Unless you tell me otherwise) The subscription has been discontinued and I don't care about old boat races. That's all that's on it. I know nothing about Linux!! I did create the boot floppy and I can boot to Linux. The BIOS sees my drives but Linux doesn't seem to. Is there really anything on this that I need MFSTOOLS for? The more I read from Hinsdale the more confused I get. Is there a Linux command to show drive capicaty? I use shift - page up and do not see what he says I should see. I do see the drives in the BIOS boot but not the Linux.

What would happen if I just install the drive right out of the box? Would that hurt anything? Would it work?

Please help before I pull out the rest of my hair! (not much left!)

Posted by: Robert S

If you want the TiVo to work, you'll have to get a copy of the TiVo software on to its hard drive. Hinsdale tells you how to copy this from the old drive(s) to the new one (this is where MFS Tools comes in handy).

How bad is the 'bad drive'? If it's completely dead then you will have to start from an existing TiVo backup file. You may be able to find a backup online, but that's quite tricky these days. PTVUpgrade will sell you a recovery CD called InstantCake that will reimage your hard drive automatically.

If it's working a bit then you may be able to make your own backup. If you find Hinsdale confusing, try Weaknees interactive upgrader: tivo.upgrade-instructions.com

Posted by: ejnewton

The old drive will work for about 15 minutes at a time. It then starts booting into a loop that never stops until you turn it off for a while.

Posted by: ejnewton

Is there a Linux command I can use to at least see the files on the cd rom?

Posted by: Robert S

There are Linux tutorials at www.tldp.org - see chapter 3 of Installing Linux and Getting Started, for example.

I'm not sure why you'd want to do that, though. As long as the drive runs long enough, you should be able to make a backup by following Hinsdale or Weaknees. (15 minutes should be enough, particularly if you cut the compression level. Where you see -6so or -9so, try -1so or even -so to reduce the compression and speed up the backup process).

Posted by: ejnewton

I just want to use the command to confirm Linux is seeing the new drive and how much of the old it sees.

I do not see the hda: XXX, ATA, DISK drive, or hdb: etc. that the Hinsdale instructions say I should see during the Linux boot or when I shift - page up to look at it.

Linux says ide_setup: hdb=bswap
and the same for hdc and hdd

How can (or how do I ) I run MFSTOOLS from the CD ROM? I cannot make Linux see hdd? or HDA, B or C?

Posted by: lajohn27

As with my posting in my other thread.. I suggest you slow down and read all the documentation provided. Read the forums here.. look for old threads.. and read through the HOW TOs clearly posted at the top of the forums. Read all the FAQs as well.

This will answer a lot of the very basic questions you're asking here. The forum crowd is a patient lot but bluntly speaking - nobody wants to help someone who isn't taking the time to help themselves.

You'll find if your questions portray you've done the above; are specific in anture and can include as much detailed information as possible, you'll get better answers.

That said...

You're not seeing EITHER of your drives? Or just the bad one or ? Check your drives are installed per the Hinsdale instructions.. check the jumper settings.. there are a lot of small points that can easily be missed even by an experienced user. Go point by point in the instructions.. do each step - check it, recheck it - and then move to the next..

Worst case scenario.. you can always buy a pre-prepared drive from Weakness.com or ptvupgrade.com and then all you have to do is plug it in.

Given your panic with Linux - that might not be a bad idea.

J

Posted by: ejnewton

LaJohn I appreciate your reply! I really do... and will heed your advise and re-read Hinsdale again and again (as I already have). My problem right now is that when I boot to Linux I do not believe my computer is seeing the drives. Perhaps I am getting Hinsdale and WeaKnees inter-mixed causing my confusion. On WeaKnees there is a section titled "Verify Drive Sizes" under that section it shows what you should expect to see to verify the drive sizes. I do not see that at all. I cannot launch MFSTOOLS from the CD because I cannot (or do not know how to) access the drive in Linux.

Please have patience...... I really am reading and trying to learn....

Posted by: Robert S

Give up on MFS Tools for a bit and use the drive manufacturers' diagnostic disks to check that the drives are OK.