very basic HD question

I have a Humax machine with the standard hard drive which never seems to
have enough room.

I would like to upgrade the size of the hard drive but do not want to
jeopardize my lifetime subscription.

I see two choices. One is just but a fully formatted drive from Weaknees
and pay a little more or pick up a 300 gig HD and try to do the install
myself. The later is less expensive but I have never been able to find a
simple step by step instruction sheet,

While I feel comfortable replacing a drive, I know nothing about Linux or
Tivo's programs.

Any suggestions or directions?

Thanks

On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 16:46:15 -0500, "Art's Antique Radios"
wrote:

I have a Humax machine with the standard hard drive which never seems to
have enough room.

I would like to upgrade the size of the hard drive but do not want to
jeopardize my lifetime subscription.

I see two choices. One is just but a fully formatted drive from Weaknees
and pay a little more or pick up a 300 gig HD and try to do the install
myself. The later is less expensive but I have never been able to find a
simple step by step instruction sheet,

While I feel comfortable replacing a drive, I know nothing about Linux or
Tivo's programs.

Any suggestions or directions?

Thanks


You don't mention the model number of your Humax, so check and see if
it's included he

http://tivo.upgrade-instructions.com/step1.php

If so, you can download step-by-step instructions for replacing the
hard drive. You will also need a PC that you can boot from a CD, to
use to set up the new drive and copy the operating system and
recordings over to the new drive from the old one. The CD you boot
from can be downloaded from the link given in the instructions, so you
also need the ability to burn an image to a CD.
Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/
Message board:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?ht...ames.hoffpauir
Mail list:
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surn...hoffpauir.html
DNA project:
http://www.familytreedna.com/(153dme45ewxtrs45rzxk5z2x)/public/Hoffpauir/index.aspx

You might want to try InstantCake. I do not know whether or not they
support your particular unit.

InstantCake is a self-booting Linux CD that does most of the work for you.
It still can be a little tricky though.
http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/instantcake/

Perhaps someone else can speak to the lifetime subscription issue.
Changing hard drives automatically voids warrantees, but if your upgrade is
successful, I do not know if the subscription service would know or care.

- David


"Art's Antique Radios" wrote in message
. ..
I have a Humax machine with the standard hard drive which never seems to
have enough room.

I would like to upgrade the size of the hard drive but do not want to
jeopardize my lifetime subscription.

I see two choices. One is just but a fully formatted drive from Weaknees
and pay a little more or pick up a 300 gig HD and try to do the install
myself. The later is less expensive but I have never been able to find a
simple step by step instruction sheet,

While I feel comfortable replacing a drive, I know nothing about Linux or
Tivo's programs.

Any suggestions or directions?

Thanks

read both options plus one that was emailed to me

Given that my PC is not easily accessible to add and remove drives (why oh
why cant usb drives be used?), it looks like I will just buy a weaknees
formatted drive. This plus the fact that the 300gig is only about $60 more
than buying a blank drive, the $60 seems cheap to me.

Thanks for input


"David D." wrote in message
. ..
You might want to try InstantCake. I do not know whether or not they
support your particular unit.

InstantCake is a self-booting Linux CD that does most of the work for you.
It still can be a little tricky though.
http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/instantcake/

Perhaps someone else can speak to the lifetime subscription issue.
Changing hard drives automatically voids warrantees, but if your upgrade
is
successful, I do not know if the subscription service would know or care.

- David


"Art's Antique Radios" wrote in message
. ..
I have a Humax machine with the standard hard drive which never seems to
have enough room.

I would like to upgrade the size of the hard drive but do not want to
jeopardize my lifetime subscription.

I see two choices. One is just but a fully formatted drive from Weaknees
and pay a little more or pick up a 300 gig HD and try to do the install
myself. The later is less expensive but I have never been able to find a
simple step by step instruction sheet,

While I feel comfortable replacing a drive, I know nothing about Linux or
Tivo's programs.

Any suggestions or directions?

Thanks

"Art's Antique Radios" writes:
read both options plus one that was emailed to me

Given that my PC is not easily accessible to add and remove drives (why oh
why cant usb drives be used?)...


The format of the database is such that you can't really remove a drive.
If you do, things blow up, and none of your shows are available.

Its not simply a matter of writing new code to support it, but
requires a total redesign of the lowest guts of the TiVo code...

Then there's the whole user perception. If a USB drive goes away,
you can't really control what shows get put where in any user friendly
sort of way? If the database code did support removeable drives
cleanly, you unplug it and randomly lose x% of your shows? Not very
user friendly response.

Also, the database is stored in raw format on the drive. If a user
wants to archive those shows, but then accidently plugs it into a PC
or Mac, its probably going to be friendly and format the drive for
them since they don't recognize the format. Bye bye recordings.

Its pretty much a lose-lose situation for TiVo to support such a thing.

On 2006-07-26, Doug McIntyre wrote:
"Art's Antique Radios" writes:
read both options plus one that was emailed to me

Given that my PC is not easily accessible to add and remove drives (why oh
why cant usb drives be used?)...


The format of the database is such that you can't really remove a drive.
If you do, things blow up, and none of your shows are available.

Its not simply a matter of writing new code to support it, but
requires a total redesign of the lowest guts of the TiVo code...

Apparently, it never occured to the Tivo people that end users
might want to make little changes like adding more resources to the system.
It all rather reminds me of the old console machines where everything was
just soldered onto one large board and something like DIMM sockets was
considered a wild idea.

You should have seen some of the hacks that led too...

[deletia]

--

Nothing today, likely nothing since we tamed fire,
is genuinely new: culture, like science and |||
technology grows by accretion, each new creator / | \
building on the works of those that came before.

Judge Alex Kozinski
US Court of Appeals
9th Circuit


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
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In article s.com, Doug McIntyre wrote:
"Art's Antique Radios" writes:
read both options plus one that was emailed to me

Given that my PC is not easily accessible to add and remove drives (why oh
why cant usb drives be used?)...


The format of the database is such that you can't really remove a drive.
If you do, things blow up, and none of your shows are available.

Its not simply a matter of writing new code to support it, but
requires a total redesign of the lowest guts of the TiVo code...

Then there's the whole user perception. If a USB drive goes away,
you can't really control what shows get put where in any user friendly
sort of way? If the database code did support removeable drives
cleanly, you unplug it and randomly lose x% of your shows? Not very
user friendly response.

Also, the database is stored in raw format on the drive. If a user
wants to archive those shows, but then accidently plugs it into a PC
or Mac, its probably going to be friendly and format the drive for
them since they don't recognize the format. Bye bye recordings.

Its pretty much a lose-lose situation for TiVo to support such a thing.

The OP meant that he wishes you could use an external USB case to do a hack on
the tivo drive while attached to the PC so that he didnt have to open up the
PC and rearrange drives etc.

In article s.com, Doug McIntyre wrote:
"Art's Antique Radios" writes:
read both options plus one that was emailed to me

Given that my PC is not easily accessible to add and remove drives (why oh
why cant usb drives be used?)...


The format of the database is such that you can't really remove a drive.
If you do, things blow up, and none of your shows are available.

Its not simply a matter of writing new code to support it, but
requires a total redesign of the lowest guts of the TiVo code...

Then there's the whole user perception. If a USB drive goes away,
you can't really control what shows get put where in any user friendly
sort of way? If the database code did support removeable drives
cleanly, you unplug it and randomly lose x% of your shows? Not very
user friendly response.

Also, the database is stored in raw format on the drive. If a user
wants to archive those shows, but then accidently plugs it into a PC
or Mac, its probably going to be friendly and format the drive for
them since they don't recognize the format. Bye bye recordings.

Its pretty much a lose-lose situation for TiVo to support such a thing.



Old PII or PIII based systems are usually $10-20 at places like the salvation
army thrift stores and other charity places like that, I keep a cheapo PIII
to use for TIVO upgrading....

Absolutely the best value for the weak kneed folks. I did it, and it was
simple. A snap. And my lifetime subscription never had a hiccup over it.
(isn't lifetime subs great if you have 3+ years into it? If the Tivo
company doesn't die, if the hardware stays running? smile.)

--
DAve

Art's Antique Radios wrote:
read both options plus one that was emailed to me

Given that my PC is not easily accessible to add and remove drives (why oh
why cant usb drives be used?), it looks like I will just buy a weaknees
formatted drive. This plus the fact that the 300gig is only about $60 more
than buying a blank drive, the $60 seems cheap to me.

Thanks for input


"David D." wrote in message
. ..
You might want to try InstantCake. I do not know whether or not they
support your particular unit.

InstantCake is a self-booting Linux CD that does most of the work for you.
It still can be a little tricky though.
http://www.ptvupgrade.com/products/instantcake/

Perhaps someone else can speak to the lifetime subscription issue.
Changing hard drives automatically voids warrantees, but if your upgrade
is
successful, I do not know if the subscription service would know or care.

- David


"Art's Antique Radios" wrote in message
. ..
I have a Humax machine with the standard hard drive which never seems to
have enough room.

I would like to upgrade the size of the hard drive but do not want to
jeopardize my lifetime subscription.

I see two choices. One is just but a fully formatted drive from Weaknees
and pay a little more or pick up a 300 gig HD and try to do the install
myself. The later is less expensive but I have never been able to find a
simple step by step instruction sheet,

While I feel comfortable replacing a drive, I know nothing about Linux or
Tivo's programs.

Any suggestions or directions?

Thanks

In article ,
says...
Absolutely the best value for the weak kneed folks. I did it, and it was
simple. A snap. And my lifetime subscription never had a hiccup over it.
(isn't lifetime subs great if you have 3+ years into it? If the Tivo
company doesn't die, if the hardware stays running? smile.)


FYI. The lifetime subscription wouldn't have a hiccup over the do-it-
yourself method either. The serial ID used for the subscription is read
from a chip on the MB not from the hard drive.
--
Jud
Dallas TX USA