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Memory Upgrade Neccesary when upgrading HD on a SA?
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Posted by: keefer37

I have a 30-hr Sony SA TiVo and am about ready to drop a second hard drive in the system.

I was just looking around over at 9thtee and saw they have a memory upgrade for the SAs, saying that after adding a bigger HD, the menus get more sluggish and the like. How bad is this slowdown? I'm just going to drop a 80GB or 100GB into my SA as the B drive. Is the memory upgrade neccesary?

Posted by: arkham999

The slowdown is not insignificant (my wife complained about it). However, I've seen reports here that the memory upgrade does not help at all. Take that as you wish, but for the amount of hassle and danger involved in soldering RAM onto your TiVo motherboard it's just not worth it to me.

Posted by: stevel

Just adding the larger HD doesn't slow things down. However, when your NP list starts filling up with dozens of shows, that WILL slow down its display. I don't think more memory (and it's only Series 1 SAs that can have memory added) will help in any significant way.

Posted by: keefer37

quote:
Originally posted by arkham999
The slowdown is not insignificant (my wife complained about it). However, I've seen reports here that the memory upgrade does not help at all. Take that as you wish, but for the amount of hassle and danger involved in soldering RAM onto your TiVo motherboard it's just not worth it to me.

Thanks, it's not worth it to me either. I fried not one, but two PSXs back in college trying to get a modchip on there. I'd be terrified to have a soldering iron and my TiVo close together.. or at least if the iron was in my hand.

While the slowdown is not insignificant, is it manageable? I mean, does the speed decrease negate having the extra storage space?

Posted by: keefer37

quote:
Originally posted by stevel
Just adding the larger HD doesn't slow things down. However, when your NP list starts filling up with dozens of shows, that WILL slow down its display. I don't think more memory (and it's only Series 1 SAs that can have memory added) will help in any significant way.

So how would the memory update help a series 1 TiVo? Or would it not really?

Posted by: stevel

Hard to say. There may be some operations where a bit of extra memory would help, but the reports I've seen have suggested that it's not a big difference. My opinion (and it is only that) is that adding memory is done largely because it can be done, by people who love to tinker. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not the sort of thing that everyone should try.

If I recall, from when I had my SA, that 3.0 was a bit faster in the menus than 2.5.

Posted by: keefer37

quote:
Originally posted by stevel
My opinion (and it is only that) is that adding memory is done largely because it can be done, by people who love to tinker. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not the sort of thing that everyone should try.

Yeah that was my inclination when I saw it. I also figured the increased HD space would more than make up for longer load times, or whatever you want to call it.

But I'm like that too with some stuff do it just cause I can.. just not anything that involves soldering. ;)

Posted by: mrtickle

quote:
Originally posted by keefer37

So how would the memory update help a series 1 TiVo? Or would it not really?

It makes the processing after the daily call faster. And that's all!

I have a 160GB TiVo upgraded with TiVoMad and MFStools1.1 earlier this year. It often takes 20 seconds to do a "save longer", get a details screen up, or even move up/down the details pages from Now Playing. Very slow. But worth it for the extra space.

I am HOPING that the -r option on MFStools2.0 will speed things up. When I've watched all my recordings I plan to re-do the upgrade with -r 4. Has anyone else done this yet and did it speed things up?

Posted by: stormsweeper

When I redid my upgrade with 2x 80GB drives and a larger swap partition with MFS Tools 2.0, I ended up with a snappier setup than before (30Gb + 80GB added w/ BlessTiVo).

I've also tweaked the performance of my HD's though.