TiVo Community Forums Archives - Upping the block size without losing shows?

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Upping the block size without losing shows?
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Posted by: bort

Almost a month ago I upgraded my Sony SVR-2000 (previously 30-hour) by replacing its 30-gig drive with 2 120-gig Maxtors.

The upgrade went great, except that the Tivo's getting extremely slow -- it now takes about 30 seconds for the "Now Playing List" to appear, and often while navigating the menus or trying to fast-forward through a show the Tivo gets "stuck" for 10-15 seconds.

I saw the posts about using "-r 4" in the mfsrestore to alleviate the problem, but of course, my upgrade is already complete. However, I do still have the old 30-gig drive which I haven't touched since the upgrade. I could re-start the upgrade from scratch, but I'd very much like to keep the month's worth of shows that have been recorded in the interim.

Is there a way to increase the menu speed and/or the block size without losing all of my shows (without acquiring 2 more hard drives)?

The best solution I've come up with now (assuming it's actually possible) would be to nuke the B drive, then backup the A drive to former B drive (using "-r 4"), then to nuke the former A drive and make it the new B drive (so the drives essentially switch places).

Has anyone attempted (successfully or otherwise) to do something of this sort? Is there any other way to increase menu speed (such as increasing the RAM or swap space)? How great is the performance increase by using "-r 4"?

Many thanks in advance for whatever advice you can share.

Bort.

Posted by: jerrymc

I believe that Hinsdale has reported no difference in menu speeds with larger block sizes. But to answer your question, no, you can't preserve your recordings and just change the block size on your current disk. The only way to do it would be to make a full "dd" copy backup of your current drive and then restore using -r 4.

If the menu speed is irritating enough, you can add more RAM ro the motherboard. Search the Forum for "RAM AND upgrade" and you should find the info. Or go to www.9thtee.com and read about their memory upgrade service through ElectricLegs.

Regards,
Jerry

Posted by: hinsdale

Just to add a note of caution about RAM upgrades to the series 1 standalone units.. these involve tricky soldering, risk to your machine, and have disputed benefits. I would recommend more research before jumping at this option. You may wish to consider the series 2 standalone units which come with more RAM, faster processor, and clearly (without dispute) offer better performance (although I understand many have lifetime subs and this is not an economical option).

Posted by: mrtickle

quote:
Originally posted by jerrymc

If the menu speed is irritating enough, you can add more RAM ro the motherboard.

Adding more ram to a series 1 makes absolutely no difference to the menu speed. The only thing it does it use less swapspace when processing after a daily call so it processes it a tiny tiny bit faster. NOTHING else changes!

Posted by: ClearToLand

quote:
Originally posted by mrtickle
Adding more ram to a series 1 makes absolutely no difference to the menu speed. The only thing it does it use less swapspace when processing after a daily call so it processes it a tiny tiny bit faster. NOTHING else changes!

Adding more RAM to a Series 1 WILL help. But, don't add it to the Motherboard - add it to the TiVo CacheCard !!!

Search the forums for "CacheCard" and read all about it... (like here)

Posted by: mrtickle

Ah yes I know about the cachecard, but that wasn't the original question :D

Posted by: ClearToLand

quote:
Originally posted by mrtickle
Ah yes I know about the cachecard, but that wasn't the original question :D

Sure it was!

quote:
Originally posted by bort
Is there a way to increase the menu speed and/or the block size without losing all of my shows (without acquiring 2 more hard drives)?

---snip---

Is there any other way to increase menu speed (such as increasing the RAM or swap space)? How great is the performance increase by using "-r 4"?

I just gave bort another option. From what I've read in the other thread, putting 512MB on the CacheCard will cache the entire database and speed up the UI (:D including menus :D ) considerably.

Can't wait until March 2003 to read some user feedback...

Posted by: mrtickle

You're right, I read the "such as" wrongly. Sorry :). I'm looking forward to it too!