Direct extraction from a tivo drive in a pc (not networked)

[plaiming]

i need to extract some programs off my tivo because its running out of room (only 14hr) but i dont have tivonet. is there a utility that i can use to extract if i just rip out the hard drive and
attach it to my windows box? i dont see anything like that in the howtos. everything talks about having a network connection to the tivo. i also have a linux server but id prefer to do it on my windows box cause thats where my software is.

-paul


EDIT: - threads consolodated and answers added to this post

Alphawolf did a basic howto & posted it in this thread a while back

here's the 386-binaries to extract video fsids when you boot the pc from a linux utility cd or floppy (thanks to lmurray for hosting these on his site.) I think these have the 2.x schema so mfs_streams (used for listing recordings) won't work on a 3.x drive

if you install mfs_ftp in the tivo before moving the drive to the pc, it caches the xml & fsid numbers needed for extraction to /var/mfs_ftp/cache/ which makes the whole process much easier once the drive is in the pc

[zobetron]

I had a similar problem just recently. No matter what I did the tivo would not boot up completely (I could get a bash prompt).

Anyway it's not too hard, if you know your way around linux. Get vplay (make sure you have the latest source).

edit mfs_streams.c
change both instances of "/Recording/NowShowing" to "/Recording/NowShowingByClassic"

to compile (on a pc running linux):
make proto
make i386

I then copied the i386 folder to a pc running windows, say c:\i386.

I attach my tivo drives to my pc thus:

primary tivo -> primary slave
secondary tivo -> secondary slave

I use Kazymyr's Bootable Utility CD. Got it here: http://www.9thtee.com/tbdv2_6i.iso and burn it to a cd.

I boot up off the cd and then mount the partition (on the primary master) that contains the i386 folder thus:

mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/c

then you can cd into /mnt/c/i386 and run the programs therein.
before you do so however you need to have a correct MFS_DEVLIST (which is the tricky part):

ie.,
export MFS_DEVLIST="/dev/hdb10 /dev/hdb11 etc... /dev/hdd2 ..."

to find the correct devices to add to the above statement you need to type this on the command line:

export MFS_DEVLIST="/dev/hdb /dev/hdd"

and then run:

./mfs_info
it will warn you about some errors or somesuch but in it you will find the needed /dev/hd... strings.

then you can create the correct MFS_DEVLIST statement. For example mine reads:

export MFS_DEV="/dev/hdb10 /dev/hdb11 /dev/hdb12 /dev/hdb13 /dev/hdd2 /dev/hdd3"

type it on the command line.


Then you type:

./mfs_streams

which will return a list of the file parts (fsids) for each show.

edit...
actually it only returns the first part's fsid. So what I do is:
./mfs_ls "/Recording/NowShowingByTitle"
which returns a object fsids for each recording, then I do:
./mfs_dumpobj <fsid of the show I want to extract>
which returns a bunch of stuff. I then make note of the fsid's for each RecordingPart.
end edit...

Then you can extract the ty (to a directory on your c drive, eg, ty_files).

./mfs_export <fsid> /mnt/c/ty_files/recording_partX.ty

I know this seems convoluted but I am no expert. However, it works for me. YMMV.

Z

[jamesq97]

I have the same issue but with a Philips unit that has the kernel patch for extracting. The unit was used for video extraction and now it is dead, the drives appear good and are mountable. I just have not been able to find a step by stop to do what Alphawolf seems to have been doing before (place drive in PC, pull video, put drive back in tivo).

Please help me/us if you can.

Thanks in advance
-J

was running a unscrambled Philips DTivo Xtreme 2.5 with net card....

[osetivo]

Originally posted by bhuddleston
I have a Sony Tivo which I've added a second drive to...really loved it. -Brian

Not an expert, but since they haven't jumped in, I take a stab.

Assuming the problem is not the harddrives. (big assumption) Is your Sony a Standalone (aka SA) or a DirectTV-Tivo Combo (aka DTivo)? If it's a Combo then you must have already installed noscramble.o. Extraction/processing of scrambled DTivo streams is not possible (at this time?). I suspect that noscramble.o was NOT installed.

If it's a standalone "SA" then take a look here for some info.

<edit>dead link removed - the extract process is identical</edit>

Good luck and hope it helps.

EDIT: Do you know anyone with the same type of machine that would let you insert you HD so you could at least "Save to VCR"?

[AlphaWolf]

Well, basicaly it works like this, you take the hard drive out of your tivo, get ahold of (or compile via tridges sources) an i386 version of the vplay libraries. You need to identify the FSID of the specific showing you want to extract, then use tridges mfs_export on it. You can normaly do this with mfs_stream, but for some reason its broken for newer software revisions. Unless somebody fixes it, you aren't going to be able to identify the FSID of the shows you want to extract.

[stew1165]

. You need to identify the FSID of the specific showing you want to extract, then use tridges mfs_export on it. You can normaly do this with mfs_stream, but for some reason its broken for newer software revisions. Unless somebody fixes it, you aren't going to be able to identify the FSID of the shows you want to extract.

I have drives with programs recorded before hacking, that I have removed from my DTivo. I have replaced the drives with new ones and have hacked the Dtivo so future recordings will be "extractable". I have printed out AlphaWolf's hard drive extraction instructions but I don't know what any of the FSID's are for the programs on the pre-hacked drives. Does anyone know of a way to determine what the FSID's are so I can begin the extraction process? Or is there a way to just extract all of the programs! Ultimately, I will be extracting them all anyway. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[BTUx9]

I have drives with programs recorded before hacking, that I have removed from my DTivo. I have replaced the drives with new ones and have hacked the Dtivo so future recordings will be "extractable". I have printed out AlphaWolf's hard drive extraction instructions but I don't know what any of the FSID's are for the programs on the pre-hacked drives. Does anyone know of a way to determine what the FSID's are so I can begin the extraction process? Or is there a way to just extract all of the programs! Ultimately, I will be extracting them all anyway. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Look for a thread on tmfstream by jonbig. That tool makes things much easier. There's also a small support program by me in the thread that lets you get a list of all your recordings, edit it to remove those you aren't interested in, and then run tmfstream for each recording remaining in the file.

[cagey]

I'm having a problem getting vplay to work using Mandrake 10.0. I have followed AlphaWolf's instructions from the beginning of the thread. I get the error below. I am NOT Linux inclined, so this is very alien to me, but I need to get some videos off of a bad drive. What does the error mean? I'm wondering if I need to insall gcc compiler. I looked into it, but Linux is just so different from Windows I'm having problems understanding how to install stuff in Linux. Any help would be appreciated.

[dg132@localhost dg132]$ cvs -d server:cvs@pserver.samba.org:/cvsroot login
Logging in to server:cvs@pserver.samba.org:2401/cvsroot
CVS password:
cvs login: warning: failed to open /home/dg132/.cvspass for reading: No such fil
e or directory
[dg132@localhost dg132]$ cvs -z5 -d server:cvs@pserver.samba.org:/cvsroot co tivo
cvs checkout: Updating tivo
cvs checkout: Updating tivo/ethernet
U tivo/ethernet/3c503.h
U tivo/ethernet/8390.c
U tivo/ethernet/8390.h
U tivo/ethernet/Makefile
U tivo/ethernet/README
U tivo/ethernet/TIVOISA.ISP
U tivo/ethernet/TIVOISA.JED
U tivo/ethernet/dcr.c
U tivo/ethernet/dumpdrc.c
U tivo/ethernet/isr.c
U tivo/ethernet/probe.c
U tivo/ethernet/reset.c
U tivo/ethernet/tcd8390.c
U tivo/ethernet/tivoether.c
U tivo/ethernet/tivoisa.h
U tivo/ethernet/tivone.c
cvs checkout: Updating tivo/ethernet/ispProgs
cvs checkout: Updating tivo/guidekit
U tivo/guidekit/AusTVGuide.pm
U tivo/guidekit/FoxTVGuide.pm
U tivo/guidekit/Makefile
U tivo/guidekit/TivoGuide.pm
U tivo/guidekit/common.c
U tivo/guidekit/daily.cron
U tivo/guidekit/db.pl
U tivo/guidekit/readguide.c
U tivo/guidekit/schema.txt
U tivo/guidekit/slice.h
U tivo/guidekit/weekly.cron
U tivo/guidekit/writeguide.c
cvs checkout: Updating tivo/palkit
U tivo/palkit/Makefile
U tivo/palkit/README
U tivo/palkit/palmod.c
U tivo/palkit/ukchan-2.5.5.c
U tivo/palkit/ukchan-2.5.5.o
U tivo/palkit/ukchan.c
U tivo/palkit/ukchan.o
U tivo/palkit/ukchan_grant.c
U tivo/palkit/ukchan_grant.o
U tivo/palkit/ustuner-2.5.5.c
U tivo/palkit/ustuner3.c
cvs checkout: Updating tivo/vplay
U tivo/vplay/.cvsignore
U tivo/vplay/Makefile
U tivo/vplay/README
U tivo/vplay/bitmap.c
U tivo/vplay/crc.c
U tivo/vplay/export.c
U tivo/vplay/io.c
U tivo/vplay/make-preload-schema.pl
U tivo/vplay/mfs.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs.h
U tivo/vplay/mfs_bitmap.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_dump.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_dumpobj.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_dumpschema.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_export.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_getslice.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_info.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_ls.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_poke.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_purge.c
U tivo/vplay/mfs_streams.c
U tivo/vplay/mkproto.awk
U tivo/vplay/object.c
U tivo/vplay/partition.c
U tivo/vplay/preload_schema.h
U tivo/vplay/proto.h
U tivo/vplay/query.c
U tivo/vplay/schema.c
U tivo/vplay/schema.txt
U tivo/vplay/util.c
U tivo/vplay/vplay.c
U tivo/vplay/vplayer.c
U tivo/vplay/vserver.c
U tivo/vplay/vsplit.c
[dg132@localhost dg132]$ cd tivo/vplay
[dg132@localhost vplay]$ make host
gcc -Wall -g -c mfs.c -o i386/mfs.o
make: gcc: Command not found
make: *** [i386/mfs.o] Error 127

[BTUx9]

cagey: you might want to try mfs_tmfstream (look for its thread). It's a good tool for rescuing recordings.

[wadevb]

Ok, I had a 100Gig drive die on me. Well, mostly die. Tivo went into a neverending reboot cycle. Drive diagnostics shows it needs replaced. However, I can still mount to it, and see partitions with dylan's boot disk.
I don't want or need to recover all the data, just 5 or 6 key episodes.
It was a two drive tivo, with 100gig on A, with a 60 gig on B. I still have the B drive untouched (presumably ok). I have since restored to prior image, onto a new single A drive.
Is there some threads, or posts that might give me enough info to track down the files on the mfs partitions, and get them out as ty's?
I have resolved to myself that they are lost, but I just have to try before I destroy data on the B drive.

Thanks in advance.

[lmurray]

AlphaWolf's info on this type of extraction can be found here:

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/sh...&pagenumber=13


Then there's zobetron info which is here:

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/sh...play#post87426

I've cached both of these articles on my website here:

http://themurrays.homeip.net/downloads/tivo/


hope this helps,
-lloyd-

[wadevb]

Riley, and Lmurray:
Thanks for the info.
I have not attempted ms_ftp, as I have allready got my tivo up and running. Also, I am pretty sure it is not getting very far.

I have looked at the other methods, by compiling mfs_ ... tools. After fighting some lib issues, I got it too work. But, I get a similar error as to when I tried to use mfstools 2.0 to back up the drive.
./mfs_info
Found 4 MFS partitions
Not a TiVo super block! (magic=0xefbeadde)

Do I have any other options? Any ideas on how to trick it into accepting the partitions?

I may go dig through the code, and try some dangerous stuff. See if I can bypass the partition checking.

Thanks

[holnet]

OK... I've had my Tivo for several years now, and it has accrued quite a bit of stuff on it I would like to preserve. I don't have a TivoNet card ($70 seems expensive for a network card.... though I might get one eventually), but I would like to just take the HDs (it is a Philips HDR612 dual drive 60 hour Series one) out and put them into my Linux PC and just extract locally to another HD. I believe that if I set MFS_DEVLIST to the Tivo drives, then the mfs tools will work on them. Assuming I'm right so far, I have to get the FSIDs for the pieces. Everything I've read explains how to do this with TivoWeb... I don't know how to do this without it. Also, I'm pretty confused about the Tystream stuff.... If I've understood right, the files I get from mfs_export will be 'wrapped' as a tystream, and I have to use tyconvert to get them to a mpeg file. OK. So I guess my questions are, am I right so far and how do I get the FSIDs without TivoWeb. I apologize if the answer is already on this forum (I'm sure it is somewhere), but searches have been fruitless, and I already have 23 internet explorer windows open right now . Thank you.

David

[holnet]

OK. Well, been up all night. But so far I've made a backup image from my drives. Then I started playing around with the partitions. I have to be careful, as I really don't want anything to happen to those recordings.... Anyway, I'm becoming acquainted with the mfs but as I feared, I can't get the FSIDs. Been using mfs_export to grab some of the files in the /Recording folder thinking the FSIDs were in there. I gather that the FSIDs given by mfs_ls and inside the files dumped by mfs_export are simply the FSIDs of the DB for that recording, not the recording itself.... Anyway, this was just an update so you know I'm still reading and trying on my own.... Don't want to be a load .

David

[Generiq]

Someones got Turbonet cards for $59 shipped in the for sale forum (in case that sounds a bit better). Extraction and Tivoweb alone make it well worth the $$$.