Tivo HD Upgrade - Australia

[rtfmoz]

Use this topic for Australian Tivo HD Upgrade (TCD663160)

If you cannot find what you need here then search the forums. The American Tivo HD Upgrade thread is likely to have many issues not covered here as this is a relatively new thread. Also check the main WinMFS support forum as well.

If you have done your upgrade then post your experiences.

[rtfmoz]

Tivo HDD Upgrade Procedure

Difficulty
Requires knowledge of computer assembly or experience with External USB enclosures.

Requirements
Australian Tivo HD
Hard Disk Drive for upgrade from recommended list
Spare SATA port in your desktop computer or External 3.5" USB HDD Case

Tools
Torx 10 and Torx 15 screwdrivers.
WinMFS or MFSLive

Procedure
We remove the hard disk from the Tivo. We attach this to an existing computer via SATA internally or external USB enclosure. We clone the drive to a new larger drive. We put the new drive back in the Tivo.

Lets start with a HD Tivo Series 3 from Australia.


We need to remove the six screws as shown by the red circles.


With our Torx 10 screwdrvier


The case slides back towards us about a centimeter then lifts off.


And this is the inside of your Tivo. The red area is the power section and can still shock you even when the unit is not plugged in so keep clear of it. The green area is where you will be working for this upgrade.


This is a top down view of the drive and a shot from the rear. The sata cable highlighted in blue can be disconnected easily by hand. The cable guide highlighted in green just twists undone so you can remove power cables. Now this is done the drive tray can be removed.


Use the Torx 10 to remove the four screws holding the drive tray in place. Note that you need a long shaft for the tricky one at front left.


Now you have the drive tray out flip it over and use the Torx 15 screwdriver to unscrew the four screws shown to remove the drive.

Congratulations. You have just removed a hard disk from your Tivo. Now for the part that takes the longest...


Now we have the new Western Digital 1TB WD10EVCS and the original drive a Western Digital WD1600AVJS side by side. The second picture shows them installed in my desktop computer.



When I started Vista I got the message above after a little while. I loaded the latest WinMFS version 9.3g for Australian Tivo at the time of writing and tried to figure out how to use the software. After it detected nothing I figured it might have to run as Administrator and then it could see the drives.



WinMFS is not very easy to understand first time you use it. The linux boffins may laugh but I have many years experience both Linux and Windows and I was quite unsure of what to do. After a little RTFM I figured out that I am not using dual drives so I just select the original Tivo drive as shown above.

If you have both drives in your system they should both be visible here as 0 and 1 in the top left column. If not then it means WinMFS cannot see the second drive. By default WinMFS will not show any Windows formatted drives.



Now as they suggest open mfsinfo and this will tell you all about your drive. Save this information so if there are problems later you can use this information to help people diagnose the issue.



Now we backup the drive in case we need to restore the information later. This is a truncated backup which means recordings are NOT included. This will get you out of trouble if you need it. Note that all these command do not modify the original drive.



Here we are going to copy the drive from one to another. If you get a warning message that you are about to overwrite a dos or windows drive then cancel, back away from the keyboard and ask for advice.



Now we use mfscopy to clone the drive from the old to the new. There are some new options now and you can copy to a file then restore back to the new HDD. Useful if you only have one spare SATA port.



Naturally I had to clone the entire drive which can get a little bit boring after an hour and a half.... Note that during the copy the HDD light on your computer may turn off for a bit while its planning its next step. Don't panic! Its still running and will come back on. You will know when you are done as it will prompt you when it is finished copying. It asks if you want to expand the drive to use the free space on the new drive to which you answer yes!



Now follow the reverse of the removal procedure above and put the new drive back in your Tivo like above.



Now plug your Tivo back in and note it will take longer to boot than usual so just wait. Finally you should be able to go into System information and get something like the picture above. After another ten minutes, restart your Tivo from the menu. If it comes back up with no problems then your upgrade has been successful!

Feedback on this guide should be posted to this thread.

Note: The official 1TB expander drive has just been released for sale in Australia and as yet we do not know if anyone has tried it with an upgraded drive. In theory it should work.

[rtfmoz]

The following topics exist in this forum related to this topic

Question and Answers
Aussie, just ordered my TiVo few questions plse..=]
eSATA for Australian Tivo HD
Aussie - attempting first copy (questions)

Upgrade Issues
HNP affecting upgraded Tivo
MFSSupersize questions
Upgraded Aus TiVo to 750GB but SD hours low

User experiences
Aussie upgrade to 1TB experience
SOLVED: 1TB Upgrade Australian TiVo Problems
Aussie 160G to 1TB Upgrade ,successful.....but....

[rtfmoz]

HDD: Western Digital WD10EVCS
Connection: SATA internal
Platform: Vista 32bit
Motherboard: Abit AB9
Software: WinMFS 9.3g
Method: mfscopy
HNP: Yes

I did the upgrade last night with lots of worry but no problems. Took approximately 1.5 hours with mfscopy as my 160GB had only %6 space free. While this was happening I was reading about people with Green power drives having problems and was going "Oh no....". It all worked out in the end. I did a restart from the menu this morning and while it took a while to come up, there were no problems and the upgrade is working perfectly. I will be posting a complete upgrade procedure as I photographed the entire process.

[davidw89]

Hey man i just did the exact same upgrade except with a Samsung 1TB F1 spinpoint and it's working fabulously.

Anyhow, do you know whether you could buy the extender drive (the Western Digital 1TB connected via eSata, they generally sell for about $300) and extend the storage even furthur?

Also what did you do with the 160GB Hard Drive?

[rtfmoz]

Anyhow, do you know whether you could buy the extender drive (the Western Digital 1TB connected via eSata, they generally sell for about $300) and extend the storage even further?

Well you should be able to do it. Note that when you do add the extender drive it stripes the data between both drives so you can't remove it. Part of each program is stored on each drive.

Also what did you do with the 160GB Hard Drive?

Its sitting on my desk I recommend people keep the drive in case their Tivo develops a fault and they have to return it for service. You will need to put the old drive back in the Tivo before you send it back.

[philryan]

OK rtfmoz, I didn't think to start a thread here, but here's my experience to add to the crowd:

A number of people have quoted and used the Engadget article on upgrading theTivo's hard disk... (the reference is here:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/17/how-to-upgrade-your-tivo-hd-with-winmfs ).

I'm just chiming in that I've joined the ranks of the Australian 1 TB Tivo-ers.

I had to do a couple of things that may not be for the faint-hearted:

1. I needed to get another SATA disk connection on my PC, since Tivo's original HD is SATA, the replacement has to be SATA, and the hard disk on my PC was SATA as well. Most motherboards have just two SATA connections, but I needed three at the same time. So I bought myself a Silicon Image, SIL-3512, PCI Serial ATA Host Controller Card which has two SATA connections, allowing me to connect a further two SATA drives to my PC.

(although the WinMFS process does allow you to copy your TIVO drive as an image, that would require lots of HD space on the machine that is doing the MFS, and so the preferred option, IMHO, is to do the disk-to-disk copying thing, which here required 3 SATA connections on the PC)

The twin-SATA card cost me $35 from a Computer Swap Meet stall.

2. Once I had the PCI SATA card installed, I then had to find two extra power cables for the extra disks, as well as ensure that I had enough SATA cables. On buying the 1 terabyte drive, I asked for an extra SATA cable, so one thing down... but I still needed an appropriate power connection for the Tivo SATA disk and the replacement SATA disk.

What I did here, and your mileage will almost certainly vary, was to remove the SATA-type power from my internal hard disk, and replace it with a conventional 4-lead internal PC power cable, since luckily for me the internal SATA disk could accept the conventional power connector as well as the SATA-type connector.

Also, luckily, this same SATA-type power connector had two plugs on it. This enabled me to power up both the original 160 GB Tivo disk and the replacement 1 TB disk at the same time (as well as still powering up the Windows PC that this was all going to be done on).

After doing those things, and getting myself a decent SATA disk (a Samsung SATA-2 disk with 32 MB cache, 1 terabyte, for $170... from one of the 'Computer Swap Meet" stalls we have around Melbourne), I was able to complete the process. The process really was as simple as registering on the WinMFS site to download the software for free... downloading it and running it – no 'installation' required – and then following the instructions on the WinMFS pages.

The MfsCopy part of WinMFS took about 45 minutes for a 90% full 160 GB drive - yes, it copies the full TIVO drive, including all of your recorded programs. And as noted elsewhere, WinMFS is single-threaded, so don't bother trying to multi-task while it is running, just be patient and let it run in the foreground.

And yes, again as noted in posts above, you need the Torx-10 and Torx-15 screwdrivers for the Tivo screws... there are two sizes... one for the case's external housing and the platform that holds the disk drive, and the larger size to remove the disk drive from this platform. Got myself a full set of 'Jackly Telecom Tools' including Torx and conventional screwdriver and Allen-key ends, for $25.

So... all up my cost was $230, and about 3 hrs from go to whoa, to go from 160 GB to 1 TB.

The Tivo, once powered back on (the full MfsCopy using WinMFS did retain all of my recordings, and settings for future recordings), did take about 5 minutes to work itself out. So power it on, and leave it for a few minutes before cursing at yourself that it didn't work.

And for those considering this option compared to getting the commercial 1 TB Tivo Expander Drive, my preference would still be on the internal drive upgrade since it doesn't involve yet-another-power-connection at the TV, nor does it mean that my programs are now stored on two disks, married to each other in some funky Tivo way (the internal 160 GB drive and the Expander now work together, meaning that if either one fails, you will lose all of your programs... it also means that the external disk has to remain switched on all the time.) Also, my price for the 1 TB disk, $170, was in March 2009, and so prices will continue to be falling.

[philryan]

Samsung SATA-2 disk with 32 MB cache, 1 terabyte

A couple of updates to my post: firstly, the precise model of the Samsung disk is the HD103UI.

Secondly, after a couple of months of operation, I decided that the noise level was a bit high (the old 'whr whr' of a hard disk accessing, not a constant hum... and this is very very soft, but in a quiet room in the country, it is enough to annoy). So I hunted up and found something called AAM - automatic acoustic management - which has been around for a few generations of hard disk standards, and then found that there is a Samsung utility to modify the sound level of the drive, at some small performance sacrifice. Anyway, tracked down the tool here http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/utilities/ES_Tool.html, a DOS-based tool that you can write to a bootable CD (it is an ISO image), and fired it up with the Samsung drive connected into the PC running the tool... and select the AAM option, choosing "quiet" mode, and after putting the disk back into the Tivo... voila!, I get back to a fully noiseless operation, as per the original Tivo 160 GB drive.

Moral of the story is to find if there are any appropriate disk tools for disks that you may be looking at for Tivo.

[sammyc]

WD10EADS - 1TB Upgrade Success

I just upgraded my Australian THD using a WD10EADS, bought for $110 AUD. Used the above guide and latest Australian WinMFS download to do a full disk copy using MFSCopy and Supersize. Worked like a charm. So easy. Copy took ~30 mins for a fairly empty 160GB drive.

Can confirm there are no software reboot issues with this drive for the Australian THD. Drive is nice and quiet.

Thanks Spike for such a great tool!

[kheaver]

I did the upgrade with a 1TB WD caviar green WD10EADS and its got the software reboot problem, it hangs every time on a reboot.

I've got a 1TB Hitachi drive lying around, I might give that a go.

Kim

[Greystorm]

Thanks for the guide.

Couple of things I would add:

When taking apart the TiVo you need to slide the top cover back about 5mm then pull out slightly at the front of the sides before it will slide all the way back and come off.

After doing the copy you should choose Tools -> Mfssupersize and turn it On. This will increase the recording space available.

[jeffrich]

Hi,

Is anyone able to provide me with a working mfs backup of an Aussie Series 3 (TCD663160)? Preferably without any recordings included, to keep the size down.

My drive has died and I'm looking to replace it with a 1TB. Looks like instantcake have not made one yet so I'm running out of options Unless anyone is aware of an alternative source of an image for this model(?).

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

Jeff

[ozigoo]

Hi, Just revisiting the website after 8 months of trouble free 1TB upgrade....
My upgrade/questions/answersares posted above in the links.
Love the pictured walkthrough added above...

To any Aussie reading this and contemplating the upgrade....DO IT NOW !!!
Im no computer expert, and found it very easy and straightforward, just take your time......

Thanks again to all who make this possible....... =]

[pangalactic]

Recently upgraded my Tivo, as did a friend of mine.

Thanks Spike and all who contributed to this thread.

It all work as described using a WD10EVDS.

[gappleby]

Recently I upgraded to a WD10EVDS (1TB) made after Nov 2009 which appears to have IntelliPark on by default (6300ms). To ensure that after the upgrade restarts in Tivo still worked, IntelliPark needs to be disabled using the WD Utility WDIDLE3. Drey http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7660114#post7660114 posted this article (which included the link to download the bootable ISO) and it is now in the drive expansion FAQ http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=370784 under item 29.

On an old DELL SC430, I had great trouble getting the wdidle3 /D command to work - it kept coming back with the setting of 6300ms for Intellipark. Eventually doing three things got the command recognised - don't know which made it work (don't care now that it works):
1. disconnect all the other SATA drives and connect the new WD10EVDS to the original boot drive SATA cable
2. completely power off the machine (power cable out until motherboard LED went off - approx 10 seconds)
3. removed all the PCI cards

The other problem was with WinMFS. It seemed to hang after 30% (approx 1 minute) progress when running on Windows 2008. The Disk IO rate in Windows went to 0b/s for the WinMFS application according to perfmon which was a bad sign. I switched to using MFSLive ISO which provides very detailed progress messages - something nice about seeing more information. Follow the procedure on http://www.rosswalker.co.uk/tivo_upgrade/. Basically:
1. Create MFSLive ISO from this site
2. Connect only the old Tivo and new Tivo drives. No need to risk making a mistake.
3. Boot off the CD and use Option 1
4. Run the command cat /proc/partitions which shows all the drives and partitions.
- work out if the old drive is sda or sdb. Logically the newer drive has more blocks. Logically it is sdb.
5. Clone the drive - for 1TB drive use the command
backup -qTao - /dev/sda | restore -s 128 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/sdb

And for something totally weird, the new drive was actually sda and the old drive was sdb so I had to reverse the drives
backup -qTao - /dev/sdb | restore -s 128 -r 4 -xzpi - /dev/sda

BTW: A 160GB original Tivo drive with 80GB of programs took 35 minutes to clone into a new 1TB drive

6. Run the command reboot to restart the box.
7. Power down PC and install your new Tivo drive to the Tivo.

During the cloning process, my original Tivo drive appeared to have lots of error which is pretty sad considering it was 4 days old. But it cloned OK using the above process. WinMFS looks easy to use and you should try that first, but if stuck with MFSLive CD - it's also simple for Windows people to use.