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Diary of a TiVo Hack
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Posted by: drew

The following is a description of my (successful) attempt to upgrade my Sony SAT-T60 with an additional hard drive. It's pretty long, and details some bonehead mistakes, but I thought it might be interesting to someone who hasn't tried it yet. If I can do this, just about anyone can.

Some background: I'm an engineer (the gears and motors kind, not a programmer) and I definitely wouldn’t consider myself a hacker, but I'm a strong user (albeit Windows user). I can remember the DOS days. I was an AutoCAD draftsman in college, and I do remember the exciting day when I got the upgrade to DOS 5.0. I have had my TiVo unit (a Sony SAT-T60) for about a year now, and it is one of the best thing I’ve ever bought. It really changed the way I watched television. End of commercial. Initially I balked at paying money for a service that I felt I already had, in the DirecTV guide, but I broke down because of the longer recording times and convenience of digital recording. I was hooked from the first time I used it. A friend told me about upgrading the unit, so I searched the net and came across Hinsdale’s How-To. After reading through it initially, I thought that this was something that I probably wasn’t qualified to do, but after a couple of months of ruminating, and seeing all the positive posts on the TiVo community site, I went ahead and ordered a hard drive. I bought a Maxtor 120G drive for about $200 going through Shopper.com.

Saturday, May 25, 2002
I decided that today is the day. I am upgrading the TiVo unit. I have a long holiday weekend, made a list of things to do, and TiVo upgrade is first on the list. I bought the hard drive about a month ago, but have been out of town every weekend since, and haven’t had a chance. Here goes:

2:30 pm First, I downloaded all the applicable files to my computer, including the documentation and utility files. This was a relatively slow process on dial-up. I also printed out most of the things I needed. All told, I probably printed more than 100 pages, and I didn’t even print out the FAQ (71pages). The sites that are important are Hinsdale’s How-to, the Hack the TiVo FAQ, and the TiVo Community site. I also downloaded the qunlock program just in case. I bought a Maxtor HD but sometimes they have Quantum firmware. I downloaded all the documentation from the hard drive from Maxtor.

4:30 Creating the TiVo upgrade disk requires that you burn the CD as an image, and not as a file on the CD. There didn’t seem to be that option in Windows XP, but I decided to give it a try and see if it recognized that the file was an image. It didn’t. After making a coaster, I downloaded Nero CDR tools (this was the longest download, about 13 Meg). I also downloaded the manual, just in case.

5:30 Opening the Sony T-60 was easy. I almost got the sticker off without breaking the seal, but it did break (as designed). I removed the HD with no problems, but the third screw behind the power supply was a little tricky. I had to use a smaller size Torx screwdriver because I had to get at it at an angle. Luckily, I already had several sizes of Torx. It seems like they’ve been at the top of my tool box, because every time I reach for a regular screwdriver, I get a Torx, but as soon as I need them they tunnel to the bottom of my toolbox and I have to dump the whole thing to find them.

5:36 My computer runs Windows XP, but it already had a FAT32 partition. I didn’t need to do that step, at least, but all the instructions assume that you have a DOS primary drive, and I will have to be careful about all the commands. I also had to download a DOS boot disk from bootdisk.com.

6:02 I installed the Nero software (quick and painless), rebooted, and burned the CD-ROM without any trouble. It worked the first time. I double-checked the BIOS to see if the CD-ROM would boot. My CD-ROM is set up as default bootable ahead of the hard drive, but the CD-RW won’t boot at all. No problem, write the CD and then put it in the other drive. Then, I rebooted to check if the boot CD worked okay, and it didn’t recognize my USB keyboard. I happened to have another keyboard (and the adaptor to connect from the old AT style jack to the PS2 style jack).

6:57 When I booted to the DOS boot disk to run FDISK, the version wasn’t the same as described. The instructions say to run FDISK –L, and when I tried that, I got an incorrect parameter error. I didn’t think I could see the partition information I needed with it, so I downloaded another (version 5.00) that I am more familiar with. Both CD-ROM drives did mount, though. Very cool. I recall years ago spending days trying to get a DOS boot disk to mount a CD-ROM drive (in the old Windows 3.1 days).

7:10 I’m having second and third thoughts about buying the ready-made service package. I guess I feel that doing it myself makes me more a man. That’s the only thing keeping me going.

7:23 I went to bootdisks.com and downloaded new file (639k). I created a new boot disk with DOS version 5.00, and remembered to copy qunlock to the disk as well. Then I tested the boot disk and ran FDISK again. Not only am I a dumba**, FDISK is the same in version 5.00 as 6.22, the version 5.00 disk didn’t mount the CD-ROM drives, even though the site says that all the versions have CD-ROM drivers. I then copied the FDISK utility to the HD and tried to run it (of course it won’t run under Windows, I got an Application is attempting to access to the disk directly error) and the DOS boot disk won’t recognize the hard drive. I looked up the utility in an old manual that I have, but there wasn’t much help there. The manual didn’t tell me anything about the command-line parameters. FDISK –L definitely does not work in any version known to man. I am just going to assume that my FAT32 partition is the first extended partition (which I later verified by using Disk Management under the Administrative Tools) and use the settings Hinsdale recommends. I assumed that I needed to know the addresses of the partitions or some other stuff. It turns out I just needed to know which partition is which. Now to recreate the DOS version 6.22 boot disk (luckily I saved all the downloads). About 5 minutes to write a new boot disk, then a reboot to test it. Back come the CD-ROM drives.

7:30 It’s been about five hours and I still haven’t cracked the case on my computer. Now that I’ve got the original drive out of the TiVo, I need to connect and download the settings for that drive as well. Since Quantum doesn’t sell hard drives anymore, I had to go back to the Maxtor site to find the documentation. They didn’t have the exact drive listed, but I found one similar, and downloaded it (2.4 Meg for the manual, just to be sure that I have everything). The settings are listed on the drive, but I couldn’t really understand the diagram, and the manual as a very explicit drawing. Once I saw the picture in the manual, I understood the diagram on the hard drive. Downloading the documentation for the original TiVo hard drive at this point was a real good suggestion on the Community board, since your computer will usually be apart once you start to put the TiVo drive into your computer, and you won’t be able to download the settings from the net when you need them. Also, now that I’ve created the CD-ROM, I need to print out the manuals for blesstivo, TiVoMad, and TiVoNet. It would help to have a second computer online, so that you can search and view the documentation while you’re working on the other computer. I had a laptop just sitting next to me, but I didn’t load any of the stuff onto it, and I didn’t want to take the extra time, so I went with the paper copies.

7:52 It will be a miracle if this thing works.

8:15 I tried to extend the FAT32 partition so that I had enough space to do the backup, but Windows won’t let you do that (Partition Magic will, I’m sure, but I don’t want to have to buy it). I needed about 500 Meg more space to get the recommended 1.5 Gig. I decided just to move some stuff from the FAT32 partition to the NTFS partition temporarily so that I had enough room. I think that I am going to miss out on recording SNL and Austin City Limits tonight.

8:20 I opened the case to my computer. I didn’t even need to take off any screws, pretty nifty, but I had to find the damn manual to figure out how to get it open. The computer is still copying about 2 Gig from the FAT32 to the NTFS partition.

8:37 I think I’m ready to put the drives in my computer. I’m going to take a break and eat dinner. Another good suggestion was to have a well-lit workspace, and mine was fine until the sun went down. I need more light.

9:37 Back on the job. Shut down the computer, hook up the old drive, and boot into Linux on the TiVo Upgrade CD.

9:40 Horror!!! The first boot the computer not only didn’t recognize the secondary hard drive, it didn’t recognize ANY hard drives. Not only did I screw up my TiVo, I trashed my computer hard drive as well. And I don’t have a backup yet (the computer is only a couple of weeks [well, months] old). Reboot and still no hard drives. Then a quick check of the cables shows that I pulled the primary IDE cable loose from the motherboard. Push it in and reboot, and success. The computer recognizes the original hard drive. But still no secondary. Reboot again to see if the BIOS just didn’t catch the second one. Nope. Then as a last resort, I re-read the instructions. Jumper settings? Check. Right cable? Check. IDE cable snug? Check. Power connecter snug? Ohhhhhhhh, it needs power? Connected the power cable, reboot, and the BIOS sees both hard drives. Excellent!!! I go through the Linux boot messages (very cool, btw, my first experience with Linux) and see that it recognizes the drive with the correct size. The last time I put a new hard drive into a computer, you had to tell the BIOS how many heads, sectors and cylinders. Now, the BIOS knows exactly what kind of hard drive you’re sticking in. Very cool.

10:10 Now to enter the commands to back up the image. This is the trickiest part, since I have to change the commands listed in the instructions to reflect my DOS partition, and not a DOS primary drive. The drive mounts without error, and then… the backup starts counting down. Success!!

10:25 The backup takes about 15 minutes. Then I unmount the drives (nice comment to prevent my certain error on UMOUNT versus UNMOUNT), change to the new drive, set the jumpers, and reboot. Success!! The computer sees the new drive and with the correct size.

10:56 The restore takes about 10 minutes, and I get a Restore Successful! message. Very cool messages in this Linux world. The backup file completely restored to the new drive Now the moment of truth. I’ll install the new drive into the TiVo as the only drive and see if the image works.

11:18 Don’t forget to change the jumper settings. One gripe, the new hard drive didn’t come with screws. I have some screws that will work from an old computer, I don’t know why I ever kept them, but I threw them in a drawer, and miracle upon miracle, I found them again. The old screws are Phillips and not Torx, but that’s okay. One more trip to the tool bag. Whoops, just attached the old drive, need to put the new one in. Don’t forget to attach the fan, too. Also, the power, dumba**. It’s getting late. I better be careful.

11:34 I put the TiVo back together and hooked it up to the TV. Every thing appears to be working. I got a scare when it seemed to take forever to boot up, and then the screen went blank after a message “Press UNKNOWN to turn on receiver” but when I turned it back on, not only was everything working, it was recording SNL. The new hard drive sounds pretty loud, but that was with the cover off and the screws attaching the bracket were not tightened. Now, to bless the new hard drive, install both, and enjoy the sweet smell of success.

11:48 First I pulled the new drive out of the TiVo unit, and remembered to reset the jumpers. I had to shut down the computer for that. Then I just ran the BlessTiVo program (it took less than a second) and Voila!

12:26 Still buttoning up the case. The third screw, near the power supply, is a bear to get back in. I tried removing the power supply board but there were too many connections. I finally took some electrical tape and taped up the shaft of my Torx screwdriver and a pair of needle-nose pliers, held the screw with the pliers and tightened with the screwdriver at about a 45 degree angle. I spent about 5 minutes almost stripping out the Torx screw (supposedly not possible) until I realized I was trying to put the wrong screw in (too long). When I got the right screw, everything went together without a hitch. All the cables were exactly the right length. I checked all the connections; jumpers, fan, power, IDE, everything looks good.

12:31 I AM THE BADDEST MAN IN THE WORLD!!! I calculate 160 hours of recording time. No more “Save until space needed.” No more “These programs will be deleted earlier that scheduled.” I AM KING HACKER OF TIVO’S!!!

In summary, the instructions were EXCELLENT, thanks to Hinsdale, Dylan, Silviu Tamasdan (aka kazymyr), Mike Hill (aka Belboz), Tiger, et al. They really addressed everything I needed to know, and all of the above problems were my own.

Tools and equipment needed – Torx screwdrivers (several sizes), pocket knife, Phillips screwdriver, electrical tape, keyboard, screws to attach the hard drive, blank CD-R’s (I needed two), blank 3 ½ floppy disk

Number of reboots about 18
Number of files downloaded about 16
Number of manuals printed 6
Total pages printed about 100
Total time spent about 9 hours
Total cost $200
Total recording time 140 hours

If I had to do another one, it would take about an hour. Most of the time was spent downloading and fixing boneheaded mistakes.

Posted by: bidger

Thanks, Drew. I downloaded and burned the boot CD from Hinsdale's "How-to" early Sat. AM & went to Staples for the Maxtor 80 gig HD that was on special yesterday afternoon. I'm looking at upgrading a 14hr. Philips SA and if that goes well, I've got two DirecTiVo's I'd like to try.

Posted by: Robin

Wow. That made me tired just reading it!

For the other fence-sitters out there, I *highly* second the suggestion to have a second computer available.

We connect to the internet through my computer, so we used my husband's for the backup. Another advantage to this approach: while his computer is still in pieces under his desk, mine's still up and functioning ;-)

Secure in the knowledge that the power of the internet was ready to solve any problem, I delved into *my* Saturday backup with the following equipment:

80 GB hard drive
TiVo
Boot CD
Hinsdale's instructions
A towel

And of course, one quick jog down to the garage to find the right size torx bit (after the project had begun, naturally =)

And to my pleasant surprise, nothing else was needed. I didn't even need the towel, but it seemed like tempting fate otherwise.

Posted by: ToonArmy

This seems to be the weekend for upgrades.

Anyway, wanted to report another successful upgrade, and another vote of thanks to all the folks who provide the tools.

Started with a Phillips DirecTiVo DSR6000 with two disks (30+15 Quantum fireball). Replaced with a Maxtor 120/5400. Bought from Fry's (SF Bay Area) for $179 in-store (with $50 mail-in rebate = $129).

I flip-flopped between re-using my original 30G plus the new 120G several times. Eventually went with the single disk upgrade because

1) Chicken - this way I have the original drives untouched if necessary
2) My PC (HP Pavilion) was a royal PITA to add/remove drives to, and this
required one less drive swap (and one less operation with four drives
connected, which was the most painful - the power for the fourth disk
is impossible to get at.

Used the nuboot6.iso CD image, didn't need qunlock (although I had it available just in case).

The instructions are wonderfully comprehensive - very helpful, especially if things don't go according to plan.

I had one scary moment - when I started up the TiVo with the new disk, it whirred and clicked, but the video was completely blank. I had plugged in the wrong video cable to the TV . Oops!

If this looks good after a couple weeks I may get the courage to add my original 30G A drive (or a second 120G, maybe!) as a second drive.

So I now have 109GB space reported, and a To Do list with every World Cup Soccer game!

Thanks again to the forum and especially the instructions and tools providers!

Posted by: feldon23

Just knocked mine out yesterday. 35 -> 126 hours. :)

quote:
The new hard drive sounds pretty loud, but that was with the cover off and the screws attaching the bracket were not tightened.

That was my first reaction too. Geez is this thing going to bother me? But it's not bad with the case on.

The toughest part for me was getting the hard drive connections sorted out and the jumpers! I hooked up all the drives and did the backup-restore without rebooting.

I still need to get some jumpers to put my other drives back in as I donated some to the TiVo drives, I'm limping along without my 20GB right now. :)

Very nice instructions from Hinsdale & others

Posted by: Continuum37

quote:
2) My PC (HP Pavilion) was a royal PITA to add/remove drives to, and this

Ok, seems like I've noticed lots of people talking about this. You don't need to actually put the drive in the comp at all. I just take the side off my tower, plug an IDE cable into a spare connector on the motherboard, or in the alternate, unplug it from something you won't need for the upgrade, and fish out a power connector. I usually leave the HD sitting on the floor on the antistatic bag it came in.

No need to go to any trouble mounting the drive in a bay and closing the computer back up, just don't stick your fingers into any of the fans, or inside the pwer supply (that would be difficult).

Ken

Posted by: arkham999

I did my upgrade Thursday (30GB -> 130GB). It went alright for the most part, but I did have some PC-related problems. I solved them eventually, and took pics with my digital camera alogn the way. They're posted here if you want to take a look:

My TiVo Upgrade

Posted by: ICMB

I'm somewhat gratified to see that I wasn't the only one to have a few missteps in my upgrade.

I was backing up my existing dual drives to restore to larger single drive, as I've been having rebooting problems. After *lots* of messing around getting the environment to use the tools successfully, I did the restore of my image. And it went into a reboot loop. I guess the old HD's were bad, as the image was no good.

Happily I downloaded an image off the net and was able to restore that successfully. I'm up and running now, after one final misstep of closing up the case before I had the jumper in the right spot.

Oddly, it *doesn't* display the extra space I expected. I did do the TivoMad step, and it reported success, but I'm a little concerned. I'm going to record a bunch of stuff to see if I expanded from ~35 hours to the ~45 I expect. (45 GB to 60 GB)

Should I see the extra hours listed? Do I need to backup this image and restore again and do the TivoMad expansion, or is this normal?

- ICMB

Posted by: feldon23

I had all the hard drives sitting on top of the PC.

Thank god for long IDE and power cables.

Posted by: sguthrie

My problems were mostly self inflicted, but I also had a successful upgrade this weekend. 130 hours of TiVo bliss.

One thing I found on my own is that you can make an XP boot disk simply by formatting a floppy and checking the "make system disk" box (or maybe it's "make boot disk").

Posted by: charles_d

Did my third upgrade over the weekend. Things went _very_ smoothly and the upgrade was done in about half an hour from start to finish ( I already had a backup of the same model). Good thing, since this was the frst time that I upgraded somenone else's tivo -- all of my boneheaded mistakes were made on my own hardware.

Posted by: Darthnice

quote:
Originally posted by Continuum37

I usually leave the HD sitting on the floor on the antistatic bag it came in.

*shiver* The reason an antistatic bag is antistatic is because it is coated with electrically conductive material. In short (pun not intended): A Bad Idea. Use something non-conducting instead.

Posted by: VoR

Did mine yesterday (DTiVo to 108hrs!). Had my own bonehead mistake too when I forgot to plug fan back in on the final mounting, went to system info and say 61 degrees! Bout crapped my pants as I ran to unplug the Tivo!

all is good now 47-48 degrees!

Posted by: Worf

Actually, contrary to popular belief, antistatic bags are not conductive on the outside! They're actually multilayered plastic bags - the outer bag which is there for protection and structural integrity, a middle barrier layer, and the inner high-resistance layer. So putting it on a bag doesn't really do much.

Posted by: Continuum37

If you saw the shape of my floors or desks, you would know why the bag is much safer than those alternatives, or (shudder) cleaning off a proper workspace.

Posted by: yasko

Man, this weekend was the weekend for upgrades. Alas, not all were successful though. I started about 9pm Friday night. By Saturday midnight, I had my TiVo back together, and one of my PCs back on-line. But, still only 30 hours of record time.

I have a 30 hour Sony SVR-2000, with a 13-partition A-drive. I had bought 40GB and 120GB drives to replace the original 30GB drive. I figured I would store the original 30GB in case my TiVo ever has to go in for repair.

My first mistake. My P2-233 cannot properly use my new Ultra DMA-133 IDE drives I bought. I found this out when my second attempt at copying my A-drive with the "dd" command.

I let each attempt run for 9 or 10 hours each before giving up. Mind you, I'm a DOS/Win32/VMS user, not a Linux user. So, I probably had to do something special with the new drives.

I resigned myself to using my newer WinME PC. So, on my newer PC, I was able to backup my TiVo. Hurray! It was only 20 hours later!

Then, as it turns out, the original 30GB A-drive is actually a 40GB A-drive. In fact, it is ever so slightly larger than my new replacement 40GB A-drive, so I can't restore my image to it. So, I decided to use my new 120GB drive as my new A-drive and restored my backup image to it.

But, as I stated above, my original A-drive is a 13-partition image. I didn't realize this right away, and after I TiVoMad expanded my 120GB A-drive, I got the TiVo green screen of impending moron-hood.

Then, I fell back to regroup. I reassembled my TiVo with its original A-drive, and reassembled my WinME PC. Monday, I reassembled my older PC, but I still haven't put it away. My wife is getting mad.

It wasn't until yesterday, that I realized that I can TiVoBless my new 120GB drive as a new B-drive without needing to TiVoMad expand my A-drive! Eureka! I'm such a dullard! I've tested my backup, so unless I'm mistaken, I can still add my 120GB B-drive without needing to obtain an 11-partition image for my original A-drive.

Thanks to everyone involved in making the utilities and on-line docs. I should have a 150+ hour Sony TiVo before Good Eats tonight!!!

Yasko