Are upgrades safe?

I see a lot of companies offering upgrades to TiVo (weaknees, tvrevo,
9thtee, etc.)

Are these safe (no damage to tivo) and reliable?

Is there any downside?

Are any of these companies better than the others?

It would be cool to have 700 hours instead of 40.

Thanks

--
For email, use Usenet-20031220 at spamex.com

The short answer:

YES !



In article ,
Top Spin wrote:

I see a lot of companies offering upgrades to TiVo (weaknees, tvrevo,
9thtee, etc.)

Are these safe (no damage to tivo) and reliable?

Yes (unless you're all thumbs or don't follow directions), yes.


Is there any downside?

Depends how much cost is a factor for you.

If you're handy with PC hardware, you can save money by buying Hard
Drives mail-order, and configuring them yourself.

http://www.upgrade-instructions.com


Are any of these companies better than the others?

The three you mentioned all have good reputations.


It would be cool to have 700 hours instead of 40.

Thanks

Unless you get an HD DirecTiVo and use it for SD stuff, your maximum is
about 240 hours (with two 160 Gig Drives). The Linux kernel in the non
HD TiVos only recognize up to 137 Gig per HD.

Are these safe (no damage to tivo) and reliable?

Yes. They add little more than what's already in the box. They add a second
drive, a very nice quality bracket (weaknees) and a pair of MUCH quieter fans.
Using better fans means keeping the unit cooler (mine now runs cooler than
stock) and this helps in keeping the drives from burning up. DO NOT LET YOUR
UNIT OVERHEAT, upgraded or not! The bane of any IDE drive is heat so don't cook
it!

Is there any downside?

Potentially warranty issues. By adding stuff to the unit you're voiding it's
warranty. If/when something died you'd either have to send it back to the
upgrade company or pull out the upgrade stuff and send the unit back in
'factory' condition. Most folks who do their own upgrades are prepared to do
the latter. If the upgrade portion is the part that dies most of the upgrade
companies understand how to work with people pulling the stuff and sending it
back for replacement.

Are any of these companies better than the others?

I got mine from weakness and it's been great. Granted, it's little more than a
very nice plastic bracket, a pair of fans, some nice instructions AND the hex
tools to open the box and remove the drive. But it's all very nicely done and
was a breeze to upgrade myself with a drive I purchased locally (compusa).

If/when my unit dies I'll figure out if it was a factory drive or the upgrade.
If it's the upgrade then I'll send it off to western digital (3 year warranty).
If it's the factory drive then I'll either just toss the drive or pull out the
upgraded stuff and send it back for repair. I'm more likely to just do the
drive myself.

It would be cool to have 700 hours instead of 40.

Eh, I find that I'm never filling up the 120/40gb combination I've got now. I
just don't bother keeping stuff for any appreciable amount of time (no more than
3 weeks usually). That and having a TON of stuff on the drive sometimes makes
it tedious to scroll through page after page on the Now Playing List.

I usually suggest folks upgrade like I did, add a 120gb drive with a weaknees
kit.

-Bill Kearney

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In article ,
James wrote:
Unless you get an HD DirecTiVo and use it for SD stuff, your maximum is
about 240 hours (with two 160 Gig Drives). The Linux kernel in the non
HD TiVos only recognize up to 137 Gig per HD.

You can replace the kernel on a Series 1 TiVo with one that includes LBA48
support. I have full use of the single 200GB hard drive in my HDR112.

ptvupgrade.com has a downloadable CD image that includes an LBA48 kernel and
other related disk-upgrade tools at this page:

http://www.ptvupgrade.com/support/bigdisk/

This page is also a useful reference on how to do the upgrade:

http://www.courtesan.com/tivo/bigdisk.html

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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James shaped the electrons to say:
Unless you get an HD DirecTiVo and use it for SD stuff, your maximum is
about 240 hours (with two 160 Gig Drives). The Linux kernel in the non
HD TiVos only recognize up to 137 Gig per HD.

The Pioneer DVD units have LBA48 support for large drives. As do the
*new* standalone units (the silver ones with the glowing logo on the
front, as seen on TiVo's site now). They all run 5.x software which
has a new kernel.

The existing S2 SA units should get that upgrade at some point to
allow them to handle large drives as well.

-MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

In article ,
(MegaZone) wrote:

James shaped the electrons to say:
Unless you get an HD DirecTiVo and use it for SD stuff, your maximum is
about 240 hours (with two 160 Gig Drives). The Linux kernel in the non
HD TiVos only recognize up to 137 Gig per HD.

The Pioneer DVD units have LBA48 support for large drives. As do the
*new* standalone units (the silver ones with the glowing logo on the
front, as seen on TiVo's site now). They all run 5.x software which
has a new kernel.

The existing S2 SA units should get that upgrade at some point to
allow them to handle large drives as well.

Don't buy promises.

Oren shaped the electrons to say:
Don't buy promises.

Who's buying promises? Buy one of the new units out *now* and you
have LBA48 support. That's fact.

If you *already own* an S2 you should get it eventually too.

And if you buy a Pioneer unit you have it.

-MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

In article ,
(MegaZone) wrote:

Oren shaped the electrons to say:
Don't buy promises.

Who's buying promises? Buy one of the new units out *now* and you
have LBA48 support. That's fact.

If you *already own* an S2 you should get it eventually too.

Thats not EVEN a promise.

Peter shaped the electrons to say:
Thats not EVEN a promise.

What part of "If you buy a new unit now you'll have LBA48 support" is
hard to understand? They are out, in stores, shipping from TiVo,
etc. And the Pioneer units have had LBA48 support since last year.

If you already own a box what are you 'buying'? You didn't buy it for
LBA48 support, so if you do get it - bonus.

BTW, TiVoPony has indicated the upgrade will hit existing S2 boxes.

-MZ, RHCE #806199299900541, ex-CISSP #3762
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

In article ,
(MegaZone) wrote:

Peter shaped the electrons to say:
Thats not EVEN a promise.

What part of "If you buy a new unit now you'll have LBA48 support" is
hard to understand? They are out, in stores, shipping from TiVo,
etc. And the Pioneer units have had LBA48 support since last year.

If you already own a box what are you 'buying'? You didn't buy it for
LBA48 support, so if you do get it - bonus.

BTW, TiVoPony has indicated the upgrade will hit existing S2 boxes.

Thats what I'm objecting to. This rumor you're treating like FACT.