Can I upgrade my full 2 drive Dtivo?

[micktravis]

I think I've pretty much figured out how to hack a virgin drive from my CD backup, but the problem is that I have about 60 hours of stuff sitting on my HDVR2.

My setup is the stock 40 gig plus a 120 added using Hinsdale's how to.

Question: Is it possible to pull drive #1, use killhd... to prevent the changes being overwritten, then enable bash, install ftp, telnet, etc, unscramble using the new method, stick the drive back in and have it networked with all my recordings intact?

If so, could someone point me in the right direction? I'm more than willing to search and learn, but most of the stuff here seems geared to virgin drives.

thx

mick

[PlainBill]

If you upgraded using Hinsdale's HowTo, with one exception, you can use the procedure for a virgin drive. I STRONGLY suggest you use mfstools to make an exact copy of your present 'A' drive, and work with that.

PlainBill

[micktravis]

Hm. What's the exception?

And yes, I will make a backup of the 40. If what I end up doing to a new 40, or whatever, is incorrect, will it foul up whatever's sitting on the 120? Or should I back that up too?

Thanks for the help.

[PlainBill]

Hm. What's the exception?

And yes, I will make a backup of the 40. If what I end up doing to a new 40, or whatever, is incorrect, will it foul up whatever's sitting on the 120? Or should I back that up too?

Thanks for the help.

On a virgin system you don't have to worry about recordings. :)

You SHOULD be able to hack the 'a' drive without endangering the 'b' drive. A potential problem could occur when you put the hacked 'a' drive in the TiVo and use it. At this point, if anything is recorded, it could be on either drive, and I'm not sure what the consequences are if you have to go back to the original 'a' drive.

All things considered, if I were doing this, I would scrounge up a 40 Gig or larger hard drive, restore an image to it, and hack away, keeping good notes. Most of the files you add should be in their own directory, and the exceptions obvious. Once you get the 'test' drive working, duplicating the work on the original drive should be a matter of less than an hour.

PlainBill

[micktravis]

That sounds like an excellent idea. Thanks for your help - I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot from me as I get into this. My Unix days are almost 20 days behind me at this point, so I'm sure I've forgotten a lot.

Let's suppose I get a virgin 40gig working. I've pulled my two working drives and stored them safely. If I've used the hacked setup for a while, and I put my two original drives back, will my system be exactly as I left it, pre-hacks? In other words, does anything get flashed onto the board (or the like) which will cause problems with my original drives?

(off to buy a 40...)

[PlainBill]

That sounds like an excellent idea. Thanks for your help - I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot from me as I get into this. My Unix days are almost 20 days behind me at this point, so I'm sure I've forgotten a lot.

Let's suppose I get a virgin 40gig working. I've pulled my two working drives and stored them safely. If I've used the hacked setup for a while, and I put my two original drives back, will my system be exactly as I left it, pre-hacks? In other words, does anything get flashed onto the board (or the like) which will cause problems with my original drives?

(off to buy a 40...)

Switching drives has never been a problem. BTW, if it doesn't cost too much more, pick up an 80 gig. Some images won't fit on a 40.

PlainBill

[bjp999]

My Unix days are almost 20 days behind me at this point, so I'm sure I've forgotten a lot.

That long, huh? ;)

I want to do something very similar. I have a Sony T60 with the original 40G and a 100G which I added when it was new (several years ago). It is unhacked. I am getting a new HD-Tivo and would like to transfer some of the recorded programming from the T60 (including a news broadcast about my daughter) to the HD-TIVO. I plan to hack the HD-Tivo so will be able to transfer programming from there to my PC and burn from there.

I guess there are two ways - one is to somehow attach the T60's drives to the PC and extract the videos (not sure if this is possible). The other is to hack the T60 which I know is possible but I'm scared of losing the recordings. Also, hacking the T60 is not a priority right now. I'd much prefer to get the HD Tivo all hacked and working before hacking the T60.

I have a backup of the very original T60 drive if that helps somehow.

What's the easiest way to get the programming off the T60 and onto the PC or the HD-Tivo in a usable format?

[micktravis]

I'm not sure why I typed 20 days. I meant 20 years.

I just picked up a 40 gig and an 80 gig drive. Here's what I'm hoping to do.

1. Format the 40 gig as FAT32. Format 80 gig as FAT32. Install 40 as drive A and 80 as drive B.
2. Boot my computer using mfstools.
3. Restore a clean image to the 80.
4. "open up" the 80 to use all the drive space.
5. install the hacks I want onto the 80. Telnet, ftp, mfs ftp, etc.
6. Stick the 80 into my tivo, removing the existing 40 and 120.
7. See if it works. If not, repeat 5 and 6 until it does.
8. Once it's working, I want to backup my Tivo 40 gig onto the 80, plug it into the tivo, make sure it works, and then apply the same hacks to the 40, reverting back to what's on the 80 if (when) I screw things up.

At this point I hope to have a networked HDVR2 with all my recordings intact.

Comments, anyone? Will this work?

[PlainBill]

That long, huh? ;)

I want to do something very similar. I have a Sony T60 with the original 40G and a 100G which I added when it was new (several years ago). It is unhacked. I am getting a new HD-Tivo and would like to transfer some of the recorded programming from the T60 (including a news broadcast about my daughter) to the HD-TIVO. I plan to hack the HD-Tivo so will be able to transfer programming from there to my PC and burn from there.

I guess there are two ways - one is to somehow attach the T60's drives to the PC and extract the videos (not sure if this is possible). The other is to hack the T60 which I know is possible but I'm scared of losing the recordings. Also, hacking the T60 is not a priority right now. I'd much prefer to get the HD Tivo all hacked and working before hacking the T60.

I have a backup of the very original T60 drive if that helps somehow.

What's the easiest way to get the programming off the T60 and onto the PC or the HD-Tivo in a usable format?
One big obstacle is the recordings are encrypted. I know it is possible to decrypt existing recordings; I'm not sure of the details. I suggest reading the Seies 1 Support forum, and the Extraction forum.

PlainBill

[PlainBill]

I'm not sure why I typed 20 days. I meant 20 years.

I just picked up a 40 gig and an 80 gig drive. Here's what I'm hoping to do.

1. Format the 40 gig as FAT32. Format 80 gig as FAT32. Install 40 as drive A and 80 as drive B.
2. Boot my computer using mfstools.
3. Restore a clean image to the 80.
4. "open up" the 80 to use all the drive space.
5. install the hacks I want onto the 80. Telnet, ftp, mfs ftp, etc.
6. Stick the 80 into my tivo, removing the existing 40 and 120.
7. See if it works. If not, repeat 5 and 6 until it does.
8. Once it's working, I want to backup my Tivo 40 gig onto the 80, plug it into the tivo, make sure it works, and then apply the same hacks to the 40, reverting back to what's on the 80 if (when) I screw things up.

At this point I hope to have a networked HDVR2 with all my recordings intact.

Comments, anyone? Will this work?

1. No need to format the 80. MFS Tools will do that for you.

3&4 Combine these by using the -xzpi option to restore the image and expand it at one time.

5. Start with killhdinitrd.

Everything else looks good. I see no reason it won't work.

PlainBill

[micktravis]

Thanks, that's great news. I see that the image backup I have is 3.1.1e, which killhdinitrd doesn't support. I've downloaded a virgin 3.1.1c from elsewhere here, but it's a .px file, which I don't know how to use. Searching around was fruitless, although I'm sure it's here. How do I use it?

[malfunct]

Thanks, that's great news. I see that the image backup I have is 3.1.1e, which killhdinitrd doesn't support. I've downloaded a virgin 3.1.1c from elsewhere here, but it's a .px file, which I don't know how to use. Searching around was fruitless, although I'm sure it's here. How do I use it?

You can use 3.1.1e with the 3.1.1c kernel and all is well.

[micktravis]

Let me see if I have this straight. I can put the vmlinux.px for 3.1.1c into the appropriate partition for 3.1.1e after killhdinitrding it, and this will allow me to install hacks into a /hack directory without having the OS kill them?

It certainly sounds easier than tracking down a full 3.1.1c image.

[JohnSorTivo]

Let me see if I have this straight. I can put the vmlinux.px for 3.1.1c into the appropriate partition for 3.1.1e after killhdinitrding it, and this will allow me to install hacks into a /hack directory without having the OS kill them?

It certainly sounds easier than tracking down a full 3.1.1c image.Yep. That's how it's done.