TiVo Community Forums Archives - Should I use MFStoos 1.0 or 2.0?

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Should I use MFStoos 1.0 or 2.0?
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Posted by: bkc56

I've got a 20 hour Series I Tivo (it's been on hold as a spare for some time) that I'm going to put into service. I picked up one of the $100 120G drives from Circuit City to add as an additional B drive.

I plugged the Tivo in last night and it upgraded to 3.0. I've use MFStools to get a backup and (just for "fun") have run the extended tests on the new drive to make sure everything looks good.

I'm now ready to marry/bless. I've been reading threads here like crazy (catching up on all the latest since the last time I did an upgrade) and I can't figure out if I should use the old-faithful 1.0 MFStools or the new-and-improved 2.0 version.

1.0 seems safer (people have been using it for a long time) but there's talk that the 2.0 version may result in an upgrade that has a little better menu response. But I can't figure out if that would apply to a simple upgrade by adding a B drive of if it's related to doing a restore/upgrade. In addition, there seem to be some potential problems with 2.0 and swap etc, but again, I can't tell if that would be an issue for me or not. I'll be at 20G + 120G = 140G which seems to be the threshold for swap issues.

So, anyone have a definitive answer as to which way I should proceed?

Posted by: Robert S

You should definitely proceed the way you think is best - it's your TiVo, afterall.

Our recommendation is that you use MFS Tools 2.0, we've figured out the safety issues and it does give you a better upgrade. The latest version of New Hinsdale describes how to use it properly.

At 140Gb, you won't invoke any swap issues whatever you do. However, it would be better to use your new drive as a sole A drive rather than as a B drive. Do a pipe transfer (see MFS Tools README) if you want to keep your recordings (include '-s 127' in the restore options, this makes it safe to add a big B drive later).

We believe the speed improvement comes from the larger block size that MFS Tools 2.0 uses, thus you should get the benefit if you use mfsadd to add a B drive.

Posted by: bkc56

quote:
Originally posted by Robert S However, it would be better to use your new drive as a sole A drive rather than as a B drive.

Why? I mean I understand two drives doubles the odds of a drive failure taking out your Tivo. On the other hand why wouldn't I want the extra 20 hours or so the current A drive would give me?

quote:
Do a pipe transfer (see MFS Tools README) if you want to keep your recordings (include '-s 127' in the restore options, this makes it safe to add a big B drive later).

It's a clean drive (no programs) so I can just do a restore from my backup.

I assume the -s127 is so that if I were to add another drive in the future,
I'd exceed the 140G limit and that would have the swap space setup correctly?

Posted by: Robert S

If you desparately want that extra 20Gb (I don't think you'll notice, TBH), it would safer to use that as the B drive so you can expand swap on the A drive. If you then want to add a big B drive, you can do so without losing your recordings by dd'ing your B drive onto a new drive and then using mfsadd to expand it.

'-s 127' (you will need the space between s and 1), expands your swap to the largest currently possible (127Mb), which is enough to avoid the 'green screen' problem on the largest drive set currently possible for a TiVo.

Posted by: bkc56

quote:
Originally posted by Robert S
If you desparately want that extra 20Gb (I don't think you'll notice, TBH), it would safer to use that as the B drive so you can expand swap on the A drive. If you then want to add a big B drive, you can do so without losing your recordings by dd'ing your B drive onto a new drive and then using mfsadd to expand it.

I see. It isn't that there's anything wrong or bad about just adding the 120G as a B drive. But using it as an A drive instead makes it much easier to do a future upgrade.

I can't say I'm "desparate" for that extra 20G, but it seems that it's of more use in my Tivo than setting on a shelf somewhere (along with the two 13+G drives from my first 2-drive 30h Tivo).

Posted by: Nihilator

I have 90GB in my current setup, and my fiancee and I haven't filled it yet. For a moderate user, 120GB is plenty of space. Of course, with three or four units, you probably don't count as "moderate". :-)

How much are 20GB drives going for on eBay these days? It's used, sure, but why not help pay for the 120GB that you're replacing it with?

Add it to your current computer, as mp3 storage space.

Or make it a "porn drive". ;)

Paperweight.

Any other suggestions, folks?

--Chris

Posted by: mrtickle

Nope. You included the porn drive idea, so there are no more uses left :D

Posted by: stormsweeper

The only problem is your WD drive will be much faster than your Quantum drive.