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Troubles w/ Tiger MFSTools 2.0 Boot CD
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Posted by: jay8dogg

This is my first time trying to upgrade a TiVo and I've never used Linux but I got a basic understanding of the commands after some reading. I have a Phillips DSR704 DirecTiVo. I'm trying to upgrade from the original 40GB Maxtor to a 120GB Seagate. I downloaded the Tiger Tools 2.0 Boot CD from a link in Hinsdale's instructions. I burned the CD with Nero the way Hinsdale said.

The first problem I had was that I was not able to "Page Up" to see the hard drive sizes to verify them. I had to hit pause in order to freeze the screen to view them and they were correct and not locked.

The next problem I had was when I typed in the command:
mfsbackup -f9999 -6so /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc I got an error
sh: mfsbackup: command not found. I read the readme file for Tiger MFS2.0 software and Tiger shows the commnds being entered as "mfstool backup". So I entered the command as:
mfstool backup -f9999 -6so /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc and the program did the backup with no errors.

I proceeded to step 8. I typed in
mfsrestore -s 127 -bzpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdb Once again I got a
sh: mfsrestore: command not found. I typed in
mfstool restore -s 127 -bzpi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdb. I got and error
restore: invalid option -- b.
restore: invalid [options] Adrive [Bdrive]
Options:
- i file Input from file, - for stdin
- q Do not display progress
- qq Do not display anything but error message
- v size Recreate /var as size megabytes (only if not a backup)
-s size Recreate swap size as megabytes
-z zero out partitions not backed up
/#

The list above does not show b or p as an option. I removed the b from the command and got the same error but for p. Reading through Tigers release notes, b and p should be valid commands. I removed the p and ended up entering
mfstool restore -s 127 -zi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdb
and it loaded the image to my new 120GB HDD. I typed umount -f -a -r [using umount -f-a-r, (w/ no spaces) caused another error]. Installed the drive in the TiVo and got stuck on the Powering up screen. I had the jumper configuration set to CS the whole time on the new 120GB HDD since thats what the original TiVo HDD was set to.

I reinstalled the original TiVo drive and it powers backup with no issues.

My questions are:
1) Is my software bad since it does not have options that should be there?
2) Is there a software difference between the boot floppy and Boot CD?
3) Am I typing in something wrong?
4) Could it be the jumper config on the new hard drive.
5) Should I be following Tigers release notes or Hinsdales instructions?
6) Any other ideas or suggestions?

Please Help!!!

Posted by: Robert S

I think you downloaded MFS Tools 1.0.

Posted by: ThreeSoFar

hold down Shift then the page up/down buttons work.

This command is also useful:

code:
dmesg | grep hd

dmesg shows messages shown during boot up. grep searches (in this case) for "hd", and all your drive data has "hd" in it.

Posted by: jay8dogg

The file I downloaded is called mfstools2.iso. I got the file from Hinsdale How-to-featuring Tiger's MFS tools 2.0 as an all-in-one upgrade solution. I got it from the link under Section 4, MFS Tools Boot CD, link "Boot CD" Is there another location i can get it from? Or other software that might work?

Posted by: jay8dogg

hold down Shift then the page up/down buttons work.

This command is also useful:

code:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------dmesg | grep hd
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I tried using shift and the page up with no luck.

Do I type that command in at the Linux # promt??

Posted by: classicsat

Yes, you type that at the prompt.

Posted by: Robert S

Well, I didn't say I knew how you got MFS Tools 1.0, but the missing files (mfsbackup & mfsrestore) and the complaint about -b being an invalid option (new feature in 2.0) definitely suggest that this is not MFS Tools 2.0.

The ISO you want is http://www.tyger.org/MFS/2.0/mfstools2noJ.iso

Posted by: jay8dogg

Finally got it to work but with a different method. :up: :)

First off I would like to thank Robert S for the link to the MFS tools 2.0. It downloaded from the same site as all the other links I tried, but this time it worked. I still wasn't able to shift+page up to see my hard drive sizes, maybe it has something to do with my keyboard (its' an MS Internet keyboard). I don't know if the software working was related to things I did different below, but anyways, thanks again.

I tried a couple different things this time. When burning the boot CD with Nero5.5, i chose "File", "Burn Image...", Selected the File, and Changed the Write Method to "Disk-At-Once". Before I was writing as "Track-At-Once". I don't know if this contributed to the software working, but it might have. Also this time around, I changed my new, larger hard drive's jumper settings from CS to Master for the entire process.

I read some other posts on this site and read one about weakness.com's site that lets you select your options and gives you the commands you need to type for your specific TiVo unit.
weaknees.com
It was much simpler than Hinsdales and was specific to your TiVo unit. I followed the instructions and it worked. It took about 1 hour to restore the image to the drive and when I was done, the image was restored and the hard drive recording capacity had been upgraded all with 3 easy commands.

I mean no offense to Hinsdale as that site provided a lot of info that helped me understand what I was doing. I would like to try their method again sometime to see if i can get it to work.
Hinsdale How to

Now for some more questions.
1) When the restore finished, it said it had upgraded to 128 hours. When i installed it in the TiVo, it reported that the Record Time was "Variable, 105 Hours". Does this sound right? Just curious where the other 23 hours went.

2)I did not format the drive from the first fail to the third successful try. Is there any way to tell if the first attempts are on the drive?

3) Is there a way to format the drive (say using a DOS disk) and turn it back into a regular hard drive after the TiVo upgrade? Or do I need to do a low level format or zero the hard drive? I ask about a DOS disk because i tired to do it once after one of the fails and and it said it was a non-formatable disk.

Thanks to everyone for the help and for posting such useful info. :) :D :up:

Posted by: classicsat

1: that 128 Hrs is Standalone Basic. A DirecTivo uses a bit less than the nominal basic capacity of an SA.

2: The previous attempts will be overwritten.

3: normal OS partitioning schemes should wourk fine, provided the drive is not locked.

Posted by: Robert S

You need to partition the disk with FDISK before you can run FORMAT (other partitioning and formatting utilities are available).