External Tivo storage

[Stephen]

Ok... Im sure this has been done.... next question is what is it called (then I can do a proper search for it) Im sure that Many of us that extract dump shows to our computers... Now if we have a 500 Gig Raid array next to it (or larger) is there a way to set the Tivo to play off of the Array instead of its own internal disk drive, Basically to play the stored files that we have. This would do away with the need to ftp the files from one place to the other


Im sure it is some type of mount command with a ln -s type command but how to do it I do not know

[captain_video]

The Tivo uses an IDE interface whereas a RAID array is usually SCSI so it is probably not likely that you will get it to work unless you can somehow develop a SCSI interface for the Tivo. There is an adapter (.Tivo Quad Board (http://http://www.9thtee.com/tivoquaddrive.htm) ) that has been developed by the guys over at 9th Tee that will allow up to four IDE drives to be installed in a Tivo. I don't believe they've actually marketed it yet but they are taking requests to see if it's worthwhile going into production. It requires an external power supply since the internal Tivo supply is unable to handle that much of a load. With four 120GB drives (480GB total) you will get close to your 500GB RAID array in storage capacity.

I believe there has also been progress in developing a patch for the Linux kernel that increases the 137GB limit for individual drives in a Tivo. I'm not sure if it's widely available yet or where you can even get it at this point. I've seen it mentioned elsewhere in this forum so a search may turn up more details than I can offer you.

[osetivo]

Originally posted by Stephen
Ok... Im sure this has been done....

Yes, but those "in the know" don't want to support it. cough Riley cough :D

[Stephen]

I guess what I am thinking about should not be that hard (at least if your external box is *nix) would basically be a "redirect" if you would to save the files to another location. (ex the external unix maybe or Windows system box) Ift he drives were hardware raid multiple drives would be able to be seen to the tivo as one drive. I just figured I would not be the only one that would want to save ty+ files and be able to watch them from a archived location without haveing to break out the ftp client (not that it is hard wwork mind you) but for those of us that have ungodley amounts of free hard drive space this would be a great ideal :)

BTW that FTP link doesnt work :)

[mavrcksd]

<QUOTE>

cwingerts hmo should let you stream recordings from a pc that's setup as network attached storage samba or nfs server, mfs_ftp can be used simliarly with a pc ftp server

</QUOTE>

Anyway:
I have attempted samba and nfs before. I'm re-installing Red Hat 7 on a machine that I have here. Is there any doc that someone can point me to that I can attempt to set my tivo to look to it for the new HMO software?? -

I have attempted the past but was working off 3 or 4 different docs..

Or is it as simple as just a few files, and command lines?

Help??

Rob

[toddcurry]

On a purely technical note....

Adaptec makes a family of RAID controllers for IDE/ATA. No need to spend all your hard-earned dollars on SCSI drives.

I know someone with a 1TB (yes, terabyte) media server, and I'm trying to get the specs out of him.

[mavrcksd]

Do you think it could be possible to use a product like http://www.gtweb.net/duplidisk.html

These products are used to mirror / expand the system drive of major video servers (tektronix, etc)

Doesn't care about the OS....Handles up to 4 drives... etc..

[mavrcksd]

I received the following email - as I inquired about the NON PCI version.

this is what their tech support informed me of:


Hi:

The duplidisk is available in several versions. We have one version that
attaches to a 3.5" or 5.25" drive bay. There are connectors for the IDE
drives and it will accept a 4 pin hard drive power plug for power. There
is also the PCI version. This plugs into a PCI slot as it is a convent
place to mount the card. It does take power from the bus. However, it does
not communicate with the bus as most other cards do. All duplidisk models
have a cable that connects to the motherboard IDE controller and two more
cables from the duplidisk card to each hard drive.

I hope I helped to explain how the card connects. If not please let me
know.

Best regards
Lou Cetrangelo Lou@gtweb.net


Maybe this info will help some of us.

[caos1978]

Originally posted by toddcurry
On a purely technical note....

Adaptec makes a family of RAID controllers for IDE/ATA. No need to spend all your hard-earned dollars on SCSI drives.

I know someone with a 1TB (yes, terabyte) media server, and I'm trying to get the specs out of him.

Don't buy Adaptec's IDE RAID Controller. Go with a company that only does IDE-RAID and does it VERY well (3ware). I have a 7500-8 Card w/ 6 180GB drives in a RAID-5.. In plain english 900GB of redundant storage that is fast.

One note though, if you use Western Digitals Special-Edition drives (as I do) you may need to flash the firmware to get reliable performance (WD admitted to having a problem in the firmware of their 180GB & 200GB drives, but they provide a utility to do the updates, and you don't even have to take the drives out of the 3ware array, it will update them on the 3ware card... very slick)


On another note.. My TiVo extraction server runs with 2-250GB,2-200GB and 1-180GB drives all in a linux volume group.. Thats about 1.05TB for those who can't add. It works quite well thankyou :-).. One of these days I am going to have to work on clearing that thing out.. it's almost completely full of TMF/TY+ files... Oy that is a lot of work ahead of me.

[BAHitman]

If only one could create a way to access MFS directly from a NAS device so multiple TiVo's could all access the same MFS Database...

That would be SWEET!

5 DirecTivo's accessing the same DB over Ethernet, and 2G hdd's in the TiVo simply for the OS (unless soneone could remote boot them without problems...)

[sych0]

Hm. I had a different idea when i read the topic. This is about raid, but what about implementing a usb or firewire adapter and using an external usb/firewire hd? Any thoughts on that? Right there you can add plenty of 120 gb drives... Is it even possible or logical?

Just tossing ideas around ;)

[mavrcksd]

What about having the tivo do a "network boot"
?

[mavrcksd]

I know - putting the cart before the horse.

Like the old IBM days, they booted off firmware on the network card, or even off a floppy.

The tivo could have a limited device - floppy / small hard drive that had just a small loader with some drivers for the network nic, and then the rest went from there....

[Will]

Originally posted by rc3105
you can also use hdb removable sleds for moving gigabytes of recordings amongst friends/family

By "hdb" do you mean the second hard drive in a DTivo? Do you mean the second hard drive is portable? I've never been able to do that with a DTivo so it would be great news. My pairs of DTivo hard drive "sleds" (cartridges actually) seem to be joined at birth and inseparable, and I can't use them, alone or as a pair, in any other DTivo (though they work fine in some SA series 1 Tivos). My experience has always been a DTivo hd (or pair) can ONLY be used on the DTivo it (they) was (were) set up on, or in a series 1 SA Tivo.

Unless I missed a class. If so, can I borrow somebody's notes? Moving sleds between DTivos is something I would really like to be able to do. Is the hack done?

[edited to add]
Or perhaps you're talking about moving a HD sled between PC's? And that the family member would then move the shows from HD sled to a DTivo or Tivo to watch? We use firewire drives for that, just buy the high capacity IDE's as they're on rebates and mount them in the cheapest decent firewire cases we can find.

[Will]

Originally posted by rc3105
some utilities I posted that let you backup / restore / delete the DiskConfiguration key that causes the error#51. these let you move drive(s) between dtivos

EXCELLENT!!!

Why are you so good to us?