# Just upgraded my hard drive in my HDVR2



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Full writeup later this week, but for now.

I just finished upgrading my HDVR2, and now I have up to 120 hours of recording capacity instead of up to 35 hours. However, if you plan on preserving all your recordings, make sure you do it on a night where you can miss programming. Even with a AMD 2200+ and 512MB of RAM, it took me from 7 PM until about midnight to crack open the case, make the image backup, test the backup, then do a full drive copy with recordings from the stock 40GB Maxtor Fireball to the 160GB Samsung. 

However, the original Tivo drive, along with three copies of the image and tools on CD, are now in storage. When I add in a second drive, it will be a quick upgrade since I will just be adding capacity. 

Now, I don't have to worry about watching something before it's deleted.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Well, I still have to complete the writeup, but now, the second drive is in place, and I'm getting 243 Hours. I'm max-ed out. While the full drive copy took a evening to perform for the first drive, most of my time for adding in the second drive was spent taking apart and putting together the TiVo and the PC. The command for linking up the second drive took only about 5 seconds... and I didn't format the drive beforehand!


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## beejaycee (Nov 1, 2003)

Mark, keep us posted on what happens to response time in the menus, now that you've added all of this capacity. I'm still at 40 Gigs and want to upgrade but I'm concerned about the already pokey response slowing down to "same day service" when there is 3 times the amount of info to sort & display.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

There is a slight slowdown in the "Now Playing" list because of the number of entries in the menu. It is screaming for folders, and I think that's in version 4 of the TiVo software (but don't hold me to it). We're still at version 3.


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## beejaycee (Nov 1, 2003)

Mark Holtz said:


> There is a slight slowdown in the "Now Playing" list because of the number of entries in the menu. It is screaming for folders, and I think that's in version 4 of the TiVo software (but don't hold me to it). We're still at version 3.


I'm working from a very superficial understanding of the upgrade but is there a swapfile setting that you changed?


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Yes. It is recommended that you expand your swap file as part of the drive upgrade procedure in case of Green Screen Of Death (GSOD) that results in a repair of the hard drives. When you put in two large hard drives (like I have), it is necessary. See the web site.


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## cnsf (Jun 6, 2002)

But the swap increase does not impact performance, correct (better or worse)?


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## cnsf (Jun 6, 2002)

If I can't remember if I increased my swap file and have 160GB, what should I do? Recommendations?

1) How do I determine existing size?
2) How do I determine what the size "should" be?

Thanks.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

As noted by Dan Collins on DBSforums, increasing the swap space does increase menu spead.

As for my own experience on my T-60 which I added a 120 gb drive to a couple years ago, things definately go a lot slower once your Now Playing list fills up and you have a ton of season passes. It just wasn't optimized for such large lists in the first place. But a larger swap definately helps.

By the way, the link Mark provided was to Hinsdale and I highly recommend him. I got a preconfigured drive from him when he started out. I just plopped the drive in and 20 minutes later had 149 hours. Took me more time to remove a stubborn screw then it did the whole rest of the upgrade. There are several threads including one dedicated to Hinsdale's how to guide on the Underground forums at Tivo Community.


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## cnsf (Jun 6, 2002)

Yeah, I used his instructions for my upgrades too.

My issue now is how to I go back into my 160 (120+40 -original) Tivo and increase the swap file?

The instructions mention it, but are hard to follow.


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## buzzdalf (Jan 27, 2003)

Mark - did you do anything special to fit the 2nd drive in?
Did you use special bracketing? Any other special hardware?

I upgraded my DSR7000 to a 120 gig in Sept. and have been thinking of plunking another 120 in there since hd's just keep getting cheaper.

Also - I want to know more about this swap file thing, too. I don't remember doing anything like that when I upgraded.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I don't know how to upgrade the swap file on a existing drive (sorry). The first upgrade that I performed was transferring the entire contents of the 40GB hard drive into the 160GB hard drive and, in the process, upgraded the size of the swap file. At the time, I had anticipated adding two drives, not one, but circumstances prevented me from adding the second drive at the last minute. Maybe the next time I get a good deal on Total Choice Premium (yeah, right... all the Pan and Scan movies I want.)

If you doing a swap of the main drive, no kit is necessary. You just remove the old drive from the bracket and install the new drive. You will need to pick up some Torx screwdrivers from Sears or a hardware store.

For the second drive, I used the Weakness Twinbreeze bracket with fans. While the kit costs $50, it is worth it, partially because the cable includes all the pins. (Many IDE cables have a cable hole plugged to prevent the cable from being inserted backwards.)

My TiVo is now filling up the drive with suggestions which include movies, Charmed, The Pretender, and Pensicola: Wings of Gold. A lot of the movies are from TCM.... I wonder why?


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## buzzdalf (Jan 27, 2003)

So you didn't get the PowerTrip add-on?
I've been wondering if that was necessary or not.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

The Powertrip isn't necessary on a HDVR2 because the power supply is large enough to handle the powerup of two hard drives. It's only needed on certain models on standalones.


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## buzzdalf (Jan 27, 2003)

OK, thanks.


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## cnsf (Jun 6, 2002)

I used the http://www.9thtee.com bracket on my HDVR2s and was happy. They also include the ribbon.


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