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>140MB and 2.5.5

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Posted by: Boxersoft

I'm a fairly new TiVo owner, and a newbie here. My TiVo was a single-drive unit, and it received its 2.5.5 update in the first few days of use. I used the boot CD to take a backup of the original drive, and add a 120GB drive as the second drive (40+120). I now gather that:

- If the TiVo needs to perform a scandisk (or Linux equivalent) it won't have a big enough swapfile
- My backup is likely to be useless because mfstools misses some crucial files from v2.5.5

I have access to a 1.5.x image. I understand I could start again from scratch, using this image to create a 120A + 40B 1.5.x configuration. Before I do this I thought I'd check here and see if there's a better approach. I don't suppose I could simply create a 120A + 40B using my current 40 as the source, as if it were still a single-drive unit, but is there some approach that would retain some / all of my settings and / or avoids reverting to 1.5.x? I'm not particularly concerned about losing existing recordings.


Posted by: RobBellis

Well:

The backup you have is probably useless. However you should be able to get a good divorced backup from your current set-up using the -l 32 parameter with MFStools ( and the -s option, ) if MFStool reports the backup size as 40GB then you have got a divorced backup, if it reports 160BG you have not.

With this good backup restore it to the 120GB drive, then use the TiVoMAD expansion process to expand the A: drive ( to 120GB ) and add the B: drive ( original 40GB drive. )

It is not recommended to go back to a 1.5.2 backup, this costs TiVo money to download the upgrade again.

There are divorced 2.5.5 images available. For further information read the FAQ thread.

Rgds,

R.


Posted by: sanderton

I'm no expert, but you talk abot using the Boot Cd - the CD AFAIR has mfstoools 1.0 on it, which doesn't work properly with 2.5.5.

Can someone who knows what they are talking about confirm?


Posted by: RobBellis

quote:
Originally posted by sanderton
I'm no expert, but you talk abot using the Boot Cd - the CD AFAIR has mfstoools 1.0 on it, which doesn't work properly with 2.5.5.

Can someone who knows what they are talking about confirm?


Hi Stuart,

Hmm, well I use the Boot-CD, but also a floppy with MFStools V1.1 on :D

Anyways, the main problem with V2.5.5 and MFStools V1 was restoring a divorced backup, it's easier just to say use MFStools V1.1 in all cases rather than trying to explain the differences!

Rgds,

R.


Posted by: Boxersoft

quote:
Originally posted by RobBellis

you should be able to get a good divorced backup from your current set-up using the -l 32 parameter with MFStools ( and the -s option, ) if MFStool reports the backup size as 40GB then you have got a divorced backup, if it reports 160BG you have not.

With this good backup restore it to the 120GB drive, then use the TiVoMAD expansion process to expand the A: drive ( to 120GB ) and add the B: drive ( original 40GB drive. )


Thanks, I'll trawl the FAQs to try to absorb this - the boot CD made everything so relatively straightforward that I'm afraid I don't understand much of the process - and not knowing anything of Linux doesn't help :(

I'm still finding my way around here - could you point me at a sutiable thread / FAQ that will explain the various steps, what the various tools do and the switches available etc.?

quote:


It is not recommended to go back to a 1.5.2 backup, this costs TiVo money to download the upgrade again.


Understood - one of the reasons I'd prefer to avoid the downgrade if possible.


Posted by: Boxersoft

Hmmm... during my trawling I re-read Hinsdale's document. There's mention of a 'Is the total size >140GB' question in there - presumably this relates to the swapfile issue, but I can't see any warnings about needing the larger drive to be Drive A. Is this just an omission from the document, or is it possible that, having answered 'Yes' to this question, I will have a large enough swapfile?

I haven't yet managed to stumble upon explanations of divorced backups, missing loopsets etc. but still looking. In the meantime, are there any downsides to the approach outlined by RobBellis? In particular I'm somewhat nervous about taking the fact that I'll be zapping my original TiVo drive. I guess I can restore onto the 120GB to create a single-drive TiVo to confirm the backup worked OK, then and only Bless the original (and restore again onto 120GB) once I've confirmed it works. Then again, I did that last time - I guess there are no guarantees :(

Can I at least feel comfortable that, should everything go pear-shaped, I'll be able to get hold of a 2.5.5 image from one of the sources mentioned in the FAQs and resurrect my TiVo using it (albeit with the loss of my settings)?


Posted by: groovyclam

quote:
Hmmm... during my trawling I re-read Hinsdale's document. There's mention of a 'Is the total size >140GB' question in there - presumably this relates to the swapfile issue, but I can't see any warnings about needing the larger drive to be Drive A. Is this just an omission from the document, or is it possible that, having answered 'Yes' to this question, I will have a large enough swapfile?


It's a point that should be worked into the Hinsdale FAQ

The reason is this:

Your divorced backup will be as "big" as the primary TiVo drive ( i.e. 40G for single drive TiVos and 30G for 30G+10G double-drive TiVos )

The TiVoMAD swap expansion actually works by *keeping* the original swap space but pointing the TiVo to use a bigger swap space that it makes on the A drive.

Unfortunately if you restore your backup to a drive the same size as the backup then there is no space left to make this new swap space. In my experience the TiVoMAD *doesn't* report a failure if this happens - your disk upgrade appears to work fine until you start to use your TiVo - after a little while all the housekeeping and listings indexing jobs start to take hours and hours since the TiVo now has *no*swap ( well actually a tiny reserve swap but that is irrelevant ). This happened to me when I first did my upgrade - I had to do the restore again with new big drive as the A drive for things to work properly.

At least I think that is the reason - anyone want to confirm ?


Posted by: Boxersoft

Aha! Thanks, groovyclam, that clarifies things considerably.

It certainly does seem to be something that really ought to be in the Hinsdale document.


Posted by: Boxersoft

OK, I'm just about ready to have a go at this, and I'd really like to check a few points before I start:



Is that about right?


Posted by: RobBellis

quote:
Originally posted by Boxersoft
OK, I'm just about ready to have a go at this, and I'd really like to check a few points before I start:



Is that about right?


a. ( divorce ) Correct! You will need to note the disk sizes MFStools report ( should be something like 40GB upgraded with 120GB, 40GB backup size. If it does not report the 40GB size as the backup the divorce has not been able to be made.

b. ( divorce and -l ) The -s option will shrink the MFS partitions to the smallest possible, it *may* not divorce the drives back to 40GB ( but it is almost certain it will )

c. ( swap ) Handled by the TiVoMAD process, don't worry.

d. ( recordings ) No recordings will be backed up. They will show in Now Playing but you will need to delete them as they will not play.

Rgds,

R.


Posted by: Boxersoft

Splendid, thanks very much.


Posted by: Boxersoft

All done now - thanks for all the help, much appreciated.

Search by Title has a grey, semi-transparent bacground that looks normal, so I guess that confirms that issue's OK. Is there any way I can check that a larger SwapFile really was created, or should I just relax?


Posted by: SDV

Are there any known issues with MFStools 1.1?

I ask because I was in the same boat with a 40G+120G B drive, and when I tried to make a divorced backup, MFSTools just crashed at random points when performing the backup - thats with the -l 32 -s -6 -o switches.

I ended up having to restore a 1.5.x backup to a 120G drive, putting it in so it would upgrade itself to 2.5.5 (sorry Tivo!) and then MFStools 1.1 worked fine on the single drive (although it did crash once when I tried to resore the 2.5.5 backup on a 2nd 120G to test it). I then added the second 120G B drive and expanded/blessed them. Its fine now :)

Just wondering because I never had any problems with MFSTools 1.0.......


Posted by: RobBellis

quote:
Originally posted by SDV
Are there any known issues with MFStools 1.1?

I ask because I was in the same boat with a 40G+120G B drive, and when I tried to make a divorced backup, MFSTools just crashed at random points when performing the backup - thats with the -l 32 -s -6 -o switches.

I ended up having to restore a 1.5.x backup to a 120G drive, putting it in so it would upgrade itself to 2.5.5 (sorry Tivo!) and then MFStools 1.1 worked fine on the single drive (although it did crash once when I tried to resore the 2.5.5 backup on a 2nd 120G to test it). I then added the second 120G B drive and expanded/blessed them. Its fine now :)

Just wondering because I never had any problems with MFSTools 1.0.......


Yes, MFStools doesn't currently work ( correctly ) with UK 2 drive TiVi that have been upgraded to V2.5.5 correctly. Look in the FAQ thread and you will see there has been some discussion ( and recommendations ) about this.


Rgds,

R.


Posted by: SDV

Yeah,

I was under the impression that the '-l 32 -s - 6- o' was the fix for dual drives, but my problem wasn't with getting a good backup, its MFStools 1.1 crashing thats my prob. :)

I think I have found the cause for the backup crashes anyway, although the odd crash I get when restoring is still unexplained.

Thx.


Posted by: RobBellis

quote:
Originally posted by SDV
I was under the impression that the '-l 32 -s - 6- o' was the fix for dual drives, but my problem wasn't with getting a good backup, its MFStools 1.1 crashing thats my prob.


The MFStool command line I came up with *may* give a divorced backup. I have heard of one case only where it has worked. However without the -s option and used on a 40GB single drive TiVo you *will* get a good useable backup.

Rgds,

R.




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