Series 3 Information

[Supafly]

I started this thread to collect preliminary information about the new Series 3 Standalone TiVo. I will be posting what I encounter, and I invite anyone else to post their experiences.

MFSInfo

/# mfsinfo /dev/hdx
mfs_load_zone_map: Primary zone map corrupt, loading backup.
MFS volume set contains 4 partitions

   /dev/hdx10
     MFS Partition Size: 288MiB
   /dev/hdx11
     MFS Partition Size: 105833MiB
   /dev/hdx12
     MFS Partition Size: 288MiB
   /dev/hdx13
     MFS Partition Size: 131161MiB
Total MFS volume size: 237570MiB
Estimated hours in a standalone TiVo: 282
This MFS volume may be expanded 4 more times

Bootpage -p:

/# bootpage -p /dev/hdx7
root=/dev/hda7

MFSBackup:

/# mfsbackup -f 9999 -6so /mnt/tivo/tivo.series.3.virgin.mfs /dev/hdx
Scanning source drive. Please wait a moment.
Source drive size is 282 hours
Backup image will be 282 hours
Uncompressed backup size: 2869 megabytes
Backing up 2869 of 2869 megabytes (100.00%)
Backup done!

MFSRestore:

/# mfsrestore -s 127 -zxpi /mnt/tivo/tivo.series.3.virgin.mfs /dev/hdx

Mounting /dev/hda7 worked fine, and I was able to get into the MFS filesystem.

The image restored fine on the 250gb SATA drive, I know there's no difference in space, but the accomplishment here was that the image was valid and can be used on any SATA drive.

How did I get around the WD SecureConnect™ cable? Since I was just testing the method, I had an external power source hooked up to the HD and had it powered at all times. This isn't something that will work in a real environment, but I just wanted to get the information out to the real geniuses and maybe they can get something rolling.

That's about it, nothing special, but I didn't see anything posted for the S3 either here or the *other* forum, so I decided to take a dive myself. Expect the MFS image to be in the usual places in a few hours.

[Supafly]

It never occured to me that you don't probably don't to replace the connectors at ALL.

Yeah, there's nothing special about the SecureConnect assembly, it worked fine on the Segate drive and tested. It never occured to me to even TRY it!

So there you have it, nothing special about the connector, plugs fine into any standard SATA drive.

[justdoit]

Wow!!! So much incompatibility with the power connections itself for SATA drives?

[cheer]

Yeah...naturally some have speculated that Tivo did this to discourage drive replacements and/or lock folks into a particular brand, but more likely they felt that the standard Sata power connector wasn't secure enough -- and I don't blame them.

Supafly: excellent info! Keep us posted as you continue to explore.

[Supafly]

Information about the SecureConnect Assembly modifed above.

Also, the image is on BitTorrent as promised, PM me for details or search in the obvious places. I've set up some seeders to get things moving along.

[monkeyboy1010]

Great info, looking forward to moving some shows off the S3 soon to my PC for backup to HD-DVD.

Thanks!

mb1010

[AbMagFab]

So where did you get the MFS boot disk with the SATA drivers? I can't get my machine to see the drive attached to my SATA port.

[Supafly]

So where did you get the MFS boot disk with the SATA drivers? I can't get my machine to see the drive attached to my SATA port.

You can download the free version here:
PTVupgrade LBA48 CD with MFStools (version 4.04)

The two pay versions are available here:

PTVupgrade LBA48 CD v4.04 Enhancements ($5)
PTVupgrade Universal Boot CD 11c ($20)

[muddy]

Has web server running on it with welcome screen and links to tivo site,
http://series3ip

[Narf54321]

I am also afflicted by a motherboard with the rather early-generation SiliconImage 3114 SATA controller chip. SATA seems to be made specific for HDD units, and they forgot to include ATAPI support for things like CD-ROM, or possibly home Tape backup units.

Anyway, a few of the modern Linux Live Boot CDs seem to work fine these days with my computer. I suppose if you can get the machine to boot, and then can get tivopart on it (ftp from a nearby machine, thumdrive, floppy) it should hopefully then "see" the tivo partitions on the tivo drive.

[AbMagFab]

I am also afflicted by a motherboard with the rather early-generation SiliconImage 3114 SATA controller chip. SATA seems to be made specific for HDD units, and they forgot to include ATAPI support for things like CD-ROM, or possibly home Tape backup units.

Anyway, a few of the modern Linux Live Boot CDs seem to work fine these days with my computer. I suppose if you can get the machine to boot, and then can get tivopart on it (ftp from a nearby machine, thumdrive, floppy) it should hopefully then "see" the tivo partitions on the tivo drive.

So okay, I booted to 4.x MFSTools CD, and it booted up, saw all the drives (SATA drive at hdf or hdh, depending on which port I use), but after it found the IRQ of my DVDRom drive, it hung. It said the 2 SATA chains were actually IDE chains, and the only difference from the real IDE chains were that it said "100% compliant" or something like that for the SATA chains.

There's nothing in my BIOS about legacy mode, except for the USB ports.

Any ideas? Any alternative Linux builds I can try? I can always stick the MFS CD in after booting a kernel that works, I assume, and run the MFS commands?

Help please... I'd really like to get this 750GB into my S3.

[AbMagFab]

Okay, I'm guessing it's because it's greater than 320GB? I see that the CompUSA external SATA enclosure supports only up to 320GB drives.

Any hope for me?

[Narf54321]

Any ideas? Any alternative Linux builds I can try? I can always stick the MFS CD in after booting a kernel that works, I assume, and run the MFS commands?

Help please... I'd really like to get this 750GB into my S3.

I've had good luck with Ubuntu 5.10 on my SATA PC and using the tivopart to load the tivo drive's partition table into memory. This of course is with older S2 IDE tivo drives, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for you as long as linux "knows" there is some sort of device where your tivo drive is attached. Instead of /dev/hdc (for example) it'll probably look like /dev/sdc.

[AbMagFab]

I've had good luck with Ubuntu 5.10 on my SATA PC and using the tivopart to load the tivo drive's partition table into memory. This of course is with older S2 IDE tivo drives, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for you as long as linux "knows" there is some sort of device where your tivo drive is attached. Instead of /dev/hdc (for example) it'll probably look like /dev/sdc.

Quick question - What do I download to create just a bootable CD? I see a bunch of install images, but I just want a bootable ISO image.

And do I need to use tivopart if all I want to do is mfsrestore?

[Jamie]

Quick question - What do I download to create just a bootable CD? I see a bunch of install images, but I just want a bootable ISO image.

Download the Desktop CD here.

And do I need to use tivopart if all I want to do is mfsrestore?

No. tivopart is uneeded if you are just doing a restore.