TiVo Community Forums Archives - Successful upgrade-hints & Thanks

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Successful upgrade-hints & Thanks
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Posted by: rablaw

I have suceessfully upgraded my Tivo Series 2-60 hr to add a Samsung 120gb B drive and a USB network connection.
Much thanks to Hinsdale & dozens of posts on this site.

Here are some hints to those attempting to do it.
I got the Samsumg 120 Gb at Nexthardware.com for $107 - got it in 4 days.

As for the ATA ribbon cable I thought I had a spare one and had to get one on the weekend at Best Buy for $17-still better than the $27 CompUSA wanted.
I tried the The round cables but they were so bulky I have to put undue pressure on the drive bracket to get it back in.

To get my PC to recognize the tivo and Samsung drives at the proper size I set those drives to "NONE" in the Bios/Cmos setup.
Linux had no problem recognizing the drives.

Samsung should fire their instructions writer. Bottom line when putting the drive back into the Tivo put the 2 jumpers across the bottom row of pins, connecting B to D and F to H. (SEE samsunghdd.com for more details).

Also found great pictures of the internal Tivo showing how to upgrade at
http://www.ptvupgrade.com/site/supp...s2-capacity.pdf

The network setup was almost a snap. I already had a Linkys router.
After the Microsoft USB network adaptor I bought failed to work, didn't I say Microsoft, I got the Belkin USB network adapter from Buy.com. The free shipping optiion says it takes 2-3 weeks to get it but I got it in 2 days. (Buy.com also has the Belkin ata/66 80 wire ribbon cable for under $10).
As soon as I reset the system and put in the ,#401 dialing prefix, it worked the 1st time.
Now I guess Tivo knows I hacked and has cancelled my warranty.

Now I have to figure out how to find 220hrs of decent programming. Is there a bulletin board for that problem?

Thanks to all.
/rab

Posted by: Sandtigrr

I just finished the upgrade on my HDVR2 as well. I installed a Western Digital 120GB with 8MB Cache in the Tivo with not one problem.

I now have a 105hr HDVR2 Tivo! Much thanks to Tiger and the many individuals here who helped with all their observations. It went easier then I expected! :) The cover slid off without one bit of problems and no styrofoam inside either (thank god!)

Oh BTW did everyone see the daredevil trailer on their tivo's today? It looks like it might actually be good.

Posted by: DevilDogs

Wow, that's funny. I too just bought a Samsung 120GB drive from Nexthardware. :-)
I replaced my 30 gig with the 120. I think my SA Tivo is even quieter than before. I also changed the quality from Basic to Medium. I may try to increase the quality to High. At Best quality, I'll still have 6+ more hours than I did at Basic with my 30 gig! The toughest part truly is removing the cover! Thanks Hinsdale and all for making it a breeze!

Posted by: BikerScum

Was that really http://www.nexthardware.com ? That site appears to be a mostly Italian-language news site, not a hardware vendor.

A little Googling found http://www.nexthardwareshop.com/ and their price seems to match yours. But after checking them on Reseller Ratings, I think I'll look elsewhere. A 3.08 rating (on a scale of 10) doesn't inspire much confidence.

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1708.html

Posted by: flyersfan

Biker - you might want to check out Esystor.com for the Samsung 120gb drives. The drive is reasonably priced with the free ground shipping, and they have a good reseller rating. I've ordered from them 4 times and have been happy with every order.

Posted by: dsm363

I would first like to thank Hinsdale for offering such a great service for free and even offering to do it for you if you buy a drive kit.
I just upgraded my TiVo 60GB Series 2 model with a Samsung 120GB drive from esystor.com and it's working perfectly for over 2 weeks now so I'm happy. I have only ordred from them once but esystor.com seems fine to me.

Posted by: rablaw

Based on the feedback on nexthardwareshop.com posted on rellerratings it looks like they have had some problems. Maybe they have improved.

The Samsung I bought is working fine but I am glad I didn't have to return it.
I have looked at esystor but I don't think it was offering free shipping when I bought.

Thanks for the info.
/rab

Posted by: BikerScum

Thanks for the info, esystor.com seems to have a much better ranking on resellerratings.com.

I'm still trying to decide between the Samsung 120GB and the Western Digital WD1200JB. The Samsung is supposed to be very quiet, but that's probably not much of an issue where my HDVR2 is installed. And I've seen a couple of reports that menus & such are a bit faster with a WD1200JB as the first drive.

Sandtigrr, how loud is the WD1200JB you installed?

Posted by: dsm363

I've noticed no difference in menu speed with the Samsung drive and it's silent which is nice. I'm sure you can't go wrong with either one though.