TiVo Community Forums Archives - HDD Upgrade under 2.5.5

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HDD Upgrade under 2.5.5
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Posted by: MarkBaron

I am taking delivery of a new 120Gb Maxtor HD tomorrow, and want to use this instead of the current standard 40Gb HD.

I have created myself a cheat sheet, and was wondering whether someone could verify it for me before I start. I gather I have to use mfstool 1.1, which I plan to copy the windows C: root directory before I begin. (i.e. are my paths etc. correct to use version 1.1)...

=============================

Upgrade 40Gb TiVo Single Drive to 120Gb Single Drive running 2.5.5 software

Make a note of the software version and serial number before starting

Copy mfstool version 1.1 into c:\ directory

Connect main windows drive as primary master (hda)
Connect new TiVo drive as primary slave (hdb)
Connect original TiVo drive as secondary master (hdc)
Connect CD-ROM as secondary slave (hdd)

hit <enter> to initiate the default boot option. Series of readouts before prompting you to type root or to answer a question (do not answer). Review output and confirm drives are being recognized at their full size (shift + pageup to review the output).

hda Primary Master - should report the size of your Windows C: drive.
hdb Primary Slave -should report the full size of your new large upgrade drive.
hdc Secondary Master -should report the full size of your TiVo A drive (40GB)
hdd Secondary Slave - reports your cd-rom/cd-rw drive (if applicable)

hit <enter> to bring up # prompt

mount C: drive:

mkdir /mnt/dos
mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/dos

Type the following to perform the backup (as tivo.bak in C Drive root directory):-

/mnt/dos/mfstool backup -6so /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdc
(If screen goes blank before finishing simply hit the shift key to restore screen)

Type the following to restore the backup image to the new drive:-

/mnt/dos/mfstool restore -zi /mnt/dos/tivo.bak /dev/hdb

Finally unmount all drives using the following command:-

umount -f -a -r (umount not unmount)

When finished, press Ctrl-Alt-Del and wait for the 'No more processes ... ' or it reboots then power down.

Change jumpers on new drive to master before putting into the TiVo. Test to check it works!

Remove drive from TiVo and connect to PC as Secondary Master

hit <enter> to initiate the default boot option. Series of readouts before prompting you to type root or to answer a question (do not answer). Review output and confirm drives are being recognized at their full size (shift + pageup to review the output).

hit <enter> to bring up linux # prompt

Use the following command to initiate the TiVoMad script:-

mad/setup.sh

You will then be prompted to answer a series of questions.

Question 1: Enter the device name (hdb, hdc or hdd) of your new TiVo A Drive.
Answer: hdc

Question 2: Will your target TiVo have two drives in it? Answer y or n!
Answer: n

Question 5: Is your A drive a Quantum Fireball?
Answer: n
Question 6: Does your TiVo have version 2.0.1 software (or greater)?
Answer: y

Question 7: Is your target TiVo > 140GB?
Answer: n
Question 8: Do you want to continue? This is the last chance to back out.
Answer: y
This will only takes a few seconds and will report the results and size of your blessed B drive (if applicable) - make sure this value is within about 2-6GB of your B drives actual size. Do not insert a blessed drive into your TiVo that had the size reported substantially wrong. If size is reported correctly then press Ctrl-Alt-Del and wait for the 'No more processes ... ' message or the system starts to reboot, then power down. You are now ready to install your drives in your TiVo.

After it boots (it will do a quick reboot after initializing.. be patient for a few minutes) you should go to the system information menu and verify your new expanded hours.

Thanks in advance,

Mark
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Posted by: Olly

Definitely take a backup but why don't you "dd" your original drive to the new one in order to keep all the existing programmes etc. I did when I replaced my 40GB with a 120GB one.

Posted by: MarkBaron

I'm a bit iffy on that front as when I first got the TiVo I upgraded it with a second 60Gb drive (IBM 7200rpm) and the TiVo killed it before I could use it (wouldn't even spin-up), so got replacement and it worked fine for about 2 weeks and then I unplugged the TiVo to do some wire tidying and when I plugged it back in it just constantly got to the Almost Done... message and then rebooted.

After further investigation (taking it apart!!) the second drive had died again (no spin-up again) which left the main drive unable to boot due to expecting the second drive.. so had to restore my original image and start all over.

I then got a 3rd drive and never had the bottle to try in in the TiVo, it is sat in my PC...

I hope it was just the TiVo not liking the IBM drives or dodgy drives, but the bloke who I got it off said I was the only return (twice!) from a batch of 200 identical drives.... which seems more than just co-incidence..

I might try using just the new 120Gb and then adding the 40 as a second drive if I need it, but I have been sort-of OK for 3 months with 40Gb so 120 should seem massive!!

Cheers,

Mark
====

Posted by: RobBellis

What Olly means is that instead of using MFStool to do the backup / restore, use dd.

dd will copy across your recorded shows as well as thumbs etc...

In your scheme the command would be:

dd if=/dev/hdc of=/dev/hdb bs=32k

It'll take about two hours.

Oh yeah, use NOSWAP as the boot option when using dd or MFStool it'll be much faster, only use default when blessing or running the TiVoMAD scripts.

Other than that you'll be fine.

Rgds,

R.

Posted by: MarkBaron

Sorry! Must learn to read posts properly!!

My initial impression was that Olly was asking me why I don't just add the 120Gb as a second drive.... :o

Posted by: timjon

quote:
Originally posted by MarkBaron
I hope it was just the TiVo not liking the IBM drives or dodgy drives, but the bloke who I got it off said I was the only return (twice!) from a batch of 200 identical drives.... which seems more than just co-incidence..

This would have been an IBM 75 GXP or 60 GXP, correct? They're legendary for being complete ****. The 75 GXP was so bad that in the US there's actually a class action suit outstanding against IBM, and apparently the 60 GXP isn't much better - I've heard rumours of failiure rates approaching 30-40% (!).

This has been discussed to death on StorageReview / ucv and various other places. This isn't to criticise IBM in particular - all manufacturers have produced lemons at some point - but at the moment everyone is avoiding IBM like the plague.

Cheers,

Tim.

Posted by: Olly

quote:
Originally posted by MarkBaron
Sorry! Must learn to read posts properly!!

My initial impression was that Olly was asking me why I don't just add the 120Gb as a second drive.... :o

No I did what RobBellis described and cloned my original 40 onto the 120 before expanding. It gave me loads more space but I now want more!. Unfortunately that means going back to the original backup/clone and starting again (unless someone knows different?). It also means that I would go back to 1.5.2 :(

Posted by: Olly

quote:
Originally posted by timjon

This would have been an IBM 75 GXP or 60 GXP, correct? They're legendary for being complete ****. The 75 GXP was so bad that in the US there's actually a class action suit outstanding against IBM, and apparently the 60 GXP isn't much better - I've heard rumours of failiure rates approaching 30-40% (!).

I have two 75GXPs in a RAID configuration. I really MUST get organised and start backing up!

Posted by: RobBellis

quote:
Originally posted by Olly
No I did what RobBellis described and cloned my original 40 onto the 120 before expanding. It gave me loads more space but I now want more!. Unfortunately that means going back to the original backup/clone and starting again (unless someone knows different?). It also means that I would go back to 1.5.2 :(

Olly,

You can use MFStool to get a new 40GB divorced 2.5.5 backup ( no recordings saved though ) restore this back to the 120GB drive and test :D Then TiVoMAD the 120GB and 40GB drives. Voila 160GB of recording.

Rgds,

R.

Posted by: MarkBaron

I might well clone it then, though the only recordings on the TiVo at the moment are the film Summer Of Sam and the Buffy musical episode, so not sure it even worth the extra few minutes!! (as I already have the buffy on VCD)....

Mark
====

Posted by: Olly

quote:
Originally posted by RobBellis

Olly,

You can use MFStool to get a new 40GB divorced 2.5.5 backup ( no recordings saved though ) restore this back to the 40GB drive and test :D Then bless the 120GB drive and add it back as a B: drive. Voila 160GB of recording.

Rgds,

R.

I though the backup had to be restored to a drive of equal or greater size? or am I getting that confused with the dd copy? I also seem to recall that Gary thinks it better to have the 120GB as drive A. I've not thought about it over much as I wasn't planning on re-using the original 40GB drive just yet. There again it's just sitting here gathering dust so I might as well!

Posted by: GarySargent

No I thought the smaller disc as the A drive is better since you then have:

Disc A: Programs, Database, Swap, A few recordings
Disc B: Most recordings

This frees up Disc A most of the time for exclusive use by TiVo's database, program files, and swap space.

Posted by: mrtickle

But that's not better, that's dangerous, because the swap size won't have been increased.

Posted by: GarySargent

You only need to increase the swap size if you have a total of more than 140GB.

I have a 40 + 80 configuration on both TiVo's.

Posted by: Olly

Right, I see now where I picked up on having my 120GB as drive A. If I used both the new 120GB and original 40GB I end up with 160GB and could make use of the larger swap size. So to recap: If I want to now add the 40GB as drive B I need to go back to the original backup (or dd the original) and in the process revert back to 1.5.2?. I should have done this sooner!

Posted by: GarySargent

You should never have to revert to V1.5.2 - if you do then you are doing something wrong...

Posted by: Olly

Then I must have misunderstood something on the way! I thought that it was not possible to expand further or bless another drive to an already expanded disk?

I'm sorry if this is covering old ground but I haven't come across it elsewhere. (or if I did then I didn't realise it at the time!)

Posted by: GarySargent

You just do an mfstools backup which should give you a 40GB drive image of a V2.5.5 TiVo.

Restore it back to the drive and expand it at the same time as blessing a new drive - answering YES when asked if you have more than 140GB.

Posted by: mrtickle

quote:
Originally posted by GarySargent
You only need to increase the swap size if you have a total of more than 140GB.

I have a 40 + 80 configuration on both TiVo's.

I know. But this was about a 40 + 120.

In the thread last week, someone (RobBellis?) said that the only way to get A=40 B=120 *and* more swap space was if you restore a backup of a 30GB TiVo to the 40GB A drive.

So to repeat - it's a Bad Thing to advise people to keep the 40 as the A drive if they are adding a 120!

Posted by: Olly

quote:
Originally posted by mrtickle

So to repeat - it's a Bad Thing to advise people to keep the 40 as the A drive if they are adding a 120!

I knew someone had said this!

My problem now is finding the time to watch the ten pages of programmes before sacrificing them!

Posted by: GarySargent

Why does the swap space need to be increased when you have >140GB anyway?

Doesn't fsck only check LINUX partitions - of which the large MFS ones are not?...

Another possible solution if we do need to increase the swap size is to reduce both of TiVo's programme partitions and borrow space from those. They seem way overspec'd.

Posted by: RobBellis

quote:
Originally posted by mrtickle

I know. But this was about a 40 + 120.

In the thread last week, someone (RobBellis?) said that the only way to get A=40 B=120 *and* more swap space was if you restore a backup of a 30GB TiVo to the 40GB A drive.

So to repeat - it's a Bad Thing to advise people to keep the 40 as the A drive if they are adding a 120!

Yes it was me. I really should pay more attention to my own advice :D

I've edited my post above to correct my error.

Rgds,

R.

Posted by: mrtickle

quote:
Originally posted by GarySargent
Why does the swap space need to be increased when you have >140GB anyway?

Doesn't fsck only check LINUX partitions - of which the large MFS ones are not?...

I think it also runs the MFS equivalent though, to check the MFS partitions too?

quote:

Another possible solution if we do need to increase the swap size is to reduce both of TiVo's programme partitions and borrow space from those. They seem way overspec'd.

UK English spelling alert! :D

Posted by: mrtickle

quote:
Originally posted by RobBellis

You can use MFStool to get a new 40GB divorced 2.5.5 backup ( no recordings saved though ) restore this back to the 120GB drive and test :D Then TiVoMAD the 120GB and 40GB drives. Voila 160GB of recording.

Oh right. I thought the backup was a once-only thing too!

Does that mean you could do this:

Start with a 40gb 1.5.2 machine.
Create an MFStool backup of that (call it "backup1")
Bless/add an 80gb drive.
Find yourself upgraded to 2.5.5.
Create a new MFStool backup of 2.5.5 ("backup2") which will be a 40gb image
ditch the 40gb drive, restore the backup to the 80gb and TiVomad a new 120gb drive as A and the 80gb as B
?

Posted by: RobBellis

quote:
Originally posted by mrtickle

Oh right. I thought the backup was a once-only thing too!

Does that mean you could do this:

Start with a 40gb 1.5.2 machine.
Create an MFStool backup of that (call it "backup1")
Bless/add an 80gb drive.
Find yourself upgraded to 2.5.5.
Create a new MFStool backup of 2.5.5 ("backup2") which will be a 40gb image
ditch the 40gb drive, restore the backup to the 80gb and TiVomad a new 120gb drive as A and the 80gb as B
?

As long as you use the -s option with MFStool you will be able to do exactly what you describe.

Rgds,

R.

Posted by: GarySargent

fsck is a unix command and doesn't know about MFS. I'll post the question in the underground forum...

Posted by: RobBellis

quote:
Originally posted by GarySargent
fsck is a unix command and doesn't know about MFS. I'll post the question in the underground forum...

Gary,

It doesn't run fsck :D It has its own media check ( aka the Green Screen" ) which checks the MFS partitions for errors. Given my limited knowledge of MFS it would be more of a database consistency checker. To do this I assume that it uses swap as a transaction log whilst it does this. For disks > 140GB the swap space is insufficient to cope with the complete checking and therefore if you suffer a MFS error your TiVo will never recover.

Rgds,

R.

Posted by: GarySargent

Might be worth someone with a spare TiVo for hacking to try it with the latest V2.5.5 code - TiVo might have updated the programme to work without expanded swap space...

Posted by: MarkBaron

Back to the original thread for a second guys....

IT WORKED !!!

I did the upgrade last night so I now have a single 120Gb drive using 2.5.5.

I decided to do the full image backup (dd) which takes a hell of a lot longer but kept my recordings.

Left it going overnight and then Madded it and hooked it all up this morning and it is working a treat (touch wood).

One small glitch was it refusing to change channels on either the Sky or ITV Digiboxes, but that was easily remedied by plugging in the connector which was still stuck on the floor !!:o