Registered: Jun 2002
Location:
Posts: 2311

I will personally never use a Maxtor drive again. Please see this thread.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Mass
Posts: 54

Is there even a dd command line for copying just the operating system (everything but the recordings) if I did go with the Samsung 120?? I think the dd method is the only one I can use given that it is from a drive (160mb) I upgraded from the original (40mb)... Adding the B drive after that seems pretty easy by itself so not worried about that...

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Mass
Posts: 54

Well thanks for all the help guys...

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Registered: Jul 2002
Location: San Francisco CA
Posts: 15

no there is no a dd command to copy the OS only, but there are tools to do what you're asking, but you will loose you recordings.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Mass
Posts: 54

Losing the recordings seem a better evil at this point... It is either that or send the Samsungs back and lose 30 some odd dollars... That combined with the money I lost on the original 250 I tried to use first is getting to be a huge problem... My feeling now is that I might dd copy the stuff from my original 40mb drive which I still have... The software on it is 2 years old but newer than 2.5 so should still work... It seems much easier than working from my current 160mb drive down to the new 120...

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Registered: Jul 2002
Location: San Francisco CA
Posts: 15

I've decide to go with two 160gb samsung drives for several reasons.

1) I can do a dd copy of my old 120gb maxtors w/o loosing my data.
2) as cheap as the new 120gb maxtor and the extra capacity will come in handy if i ever decide to use them in something else.
3) better warranty than the maxtor.
4) slight chance i'll bump the capacity up to 137gb per drive if i feel like it.

thanks for all the info everyone.

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Long Beach
Posts: 29

Jedi, a good choice in my opinion. Although my Samsung 160GB drive failed (I am currently awaiting the replacement) I know many people who have had great experiences with this drive.

In the end, I agree with everyone else -- which is to say, find the best deal and buy it. I personally choose Samsung because they offered the best value without a rebate.

I would recommend anyone looking for a good deal on a drive to visit Price Watch at www.pricewatch.com and search for 160G drives. You can usually find them for $88 without need for a rebate.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Mass
Posts: 54

I still don't get this thing about the trouble with the DD copy procedure... I just went from a single 120mb (WD) drive to Dual 120mb (Samsung) drives and used the DD to copy the old A to the new A first... I added the B later with MFSADD so that was really not a factor but the drive went off without a hitch... I went from 116 hours on my WD drive to 230 hours on my Samsungs... So far, the Samsungs are running fine at 52c (new cables and fan from Weaknees)... So what is the DD copy problem that people are talking about here??

P.S. The WD drive that was in there I changed for piece of mind only... It had been running at 58c for over 2 years and I just did not feel comfortable letting it go for another year... That was a 5400 spin 120 and so far, I see no difference in the speed of anything on the TiVo so the new 120s (7200 spins) seem just fine... More importantly, the old WD was a great drive too...

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Registered: May 2001
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3155

The potential 'dd' issue is that this does a direct copy, bit for bit, from one drive to another. If the starting drive is bigger - at all - than the destination drive, then a 'dd' makes an incomplete copy. That's the issue - it just won't work in that circumstance.

Michael

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Mass
Posts: 54

Are we talking something other than 120 for 120 or is this down to some 120's won't even work on other 120's?? And is it Samsung or just all drives??

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Registered: Jul 2002
Location: San Francisco CA
Posts: 15

How many bytes does/did your WD drive hold? Not GBytes but bytes. How many bytes does your new Samsung hold? If WD>Samsung then you made an incomplete copy and somewhere down the road the Tivo will try and reference the missing data and most likely crash. If WD<=Samsung then you should be okay.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Mass
Posts: 54

No clue, those screens flashed by like a rocket...

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Registered: May 2002
Location: Baltimore
Posts: 2708

type this at your Linux boot cd's boot prompt (with the HDs attached):

code:
dmesg | grep hd

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I think ThreeSoFar's advice is by far the best...gregpr

Four TiVos now, all with single Samsung drives:
Humax DRT800 w/DVD-R (174hrs)
Two older Series 2's (142hrs and 157hrs),and a newer nightlight
Series 2, a stupid case design IMO (174hrs)
All but the last are lifetimed. TiVite since 2000. There is a Good IR solution.

Got Vonage 4/9/03--need a referral credit?

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Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Tujunga, CA
Posts: 257

ahhfoo, just to add a little more fuel to the fire. I've used Maxtor 80/120GB drives exclusively for a few years now. The all seem to fail in about a years time. Now, my envirorment is not that nice to them, In the summer it gets pretty hot in my house. Luckily their warranty procedure has been wonderful. (the sad part is that one of those 120GB HD's died on a PC in my A/C controlled office at about a years time also, so the DTiVo's aren't always the 'cause)

I've finally given up and am going to try the Samsung 160GB for my DTivo's. I have actually added the thermostat controlled fans to all my DTiVo's, which seems to have helped in keeping the internal temp down. It used to run in the low 50's (on hot days), now they are in the low 40's.

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Philips DSR7000/17 - 120hrs
Hughes HDVR2 - 107hrs
2 Philips DSR6000's - 109hrs, 35hrs
Humax DRT800
Add about 1500 posts to my count...

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Mass
Posts: 54

I got 2 Samsung 120s in my Hughes DirecTV Tvio unit and so far (month or so) they are running cooler (52c) than did my 1 WD 120 ever did (58c)... That is 2 7200 rpm 120 drives as compared to 1 5400 rpm drive... As far as I am concerned, that seems a pretty good selling point for the Samsungs with the FDB and as we all know, the big enemy is the heat so I feel good about the future possibilities... I should add however that I also used the Weaknees upgrade fan and dual drive cable which I would bet helps a great deal... The fan is self explanatory but the cable was a bit harder to see before I had it in front of me... I used a PC dual cable the first day because my Weaknees order had not yet arrived... I would have called it a short one but even so, there was alot of excess in there tucked under the drives... That setup ran at 54c and once I got the Weaknees cable in, I saw why... Their cable is a perfect fit with no excess and allows for much more air to circulate... If anyone out there is running or thinking about running some old PC cable they have, I would seriously advise against it... In time I am sure it would have added more heat and in the end, greatly reduced the life of the drives... In all, the fan, drive cable and power connectors cost me 40 bucks and if it spares me having to do this all over without the luxury of unlimited time (as I had doing mine) then it is a small price to pay... So far my unit is happy, healthy and running smooth (knock on wood)...

Thanks to whoever told me to go with the Samsungs... They are really quite perfect for this application... Beyond all that I have said, they are also silent...

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Chicago, IL USA
Posts: 851

quote:

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Originally posted by ahhfoo
I got 2 Samsung 120s in my Hughes DirecTV Tvio unit and so far (month or so) they are running cooler (52c) than did my 1 WD 120 ever did (58c)... That is 2 7200 rpm 120 drives as compared to 1 5400 rpm drive... As far as I am concerned, that seems a pretty good selling point for the Samsungs with the FDB and as we all know, the big enemy is the heat so I feel good about the future possibilities... I should add however that I also used the Weaknees upgrade fan and dual drive cable which I would bet helps a great deal... The fan is self explanatory but the cable was a bit harder to see before I had it in front of me... I used a PC dual cable the first day because my Weaknees order had not yet arrived... I would have called it a short one but even so, there was alot of excess in there tucked under the drives... That setup ran at 54c and once I got the Weaknees cable in, I saw why... Their cable is a perfect fit with no excess and allows for much more air to circulate... If anyone out there is running or thinking about running some old PC cable they have, I would seriously advise against it... In time I am sure it would have added more heat and in the end, greatly reduced the life of the drives... In all, the fan, drive cable and power connectors cost me 40 bucks and if it spares me having to do this all over without the luxury of unlimited time (as I had doing mine) then it is a small price to pay... So far my unit is happy, healthy and running smooth (knock on wood)...

Thanks to whoever told me to go with the Samsungs... They are really quite perfect for this application... Beyond all that I have said, they are also silent...

---

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Registered: May 2002
Location: Baltimore
Posts: 2708

Might have been me, too, in which case, you're welcome.

Just ordered a new 160G Samsung for $93 shipped from newegg.com. No rebate hassle. Woohoo!

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I think ThreeSoFar's advice is by far the best...gregpr

Four TiVos now, all with single Samsung drives:
Humax DRT800 w/DVD-R (174hrs)
Two older Series 2's (142hrs and 157hrs),and a newer nightlight
Series 2, a stupid case design IMO (174hrs)
All but the last are lifetimed. TiVite since 2000. There is a Good IR solution.

Got Vonage 4/9/03--need a referral credit?

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Chicago, IL USA
Posts: 851

Actually, it was you who suggested the Samsungs first; sorry to steal your fire, ThreeSoFar. Unfortunately, there are so many of these "hard drive" threads now, its like swatting flies to deal with the misconceptions and FUD being created surrounding the issue of using standard hard drives, and I lost track. Cheers!

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Mass
Posts: 54

quote:

---

Originally posted by tivoupgrade
7200RPM is not going to be a problem; it hasn't been a serious concern for the past several years (about 4 years ago, many 7200RPM drives ran significantly hotter, and somewhat noisier - this was a concern in the Series1 DirecTiVo due to limited airflow).

Maxtor is A brand that TiVo uses. Many TiVo system also contain Western Digital drives, and older Quantum drives (Quantum was acquired by Maxtor a couple of years ago). As far as brands are concerned, Seagate is known to be a bit more of a 'premium' brand.

I'll reiterate - for the most part, the comparison among drives for this application is splitting hairs - its not going to make a huge difference - the chance of you getting a bad drive is more dependent upon "luck" unless you choose one from a vendor who mishandles or ships the drive in a less-than-appropriate mailer (newegg has had a reputation for poor packing materials, for example).

Personally, I run dual Samsung 120GB 7200RPM drives in my Series1 DirecTV unit; no issues. Samsung is our current preferred brand due to their high quality, three year warranty and competitively priced drives.

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