# Copying disk



## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

I replaced the standard 500GB disk in my THR22 with a Seagate Barracuda 2TB. Unfortunately, this seems to have resulted in recordings with repeatable stutter, blackouts and more. I have ordered a Seagate Pipeline AV disk (also 2TB), which is the same model as came with the THR22.

Is there a straightforward way to copy the old disk to the new? I figure it would probably work with a "dd" copy, or some other sector-by-sector method. This would also probably take ages... I am hoping to avoid setting up all my wife's season passes again, and it would be nice not to lose recordings.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Hi Steve,
I think that there are only users here on this forum, no software guru's.
You might post over at the AVS TiVo underground forum. You may get an answer over there.
Hope that someone comes out with a program like WinMfs to do what you need.
Post if you are able to copy your programs over to a larger drive and have the expanded space available.
Found a seller on Ebay that sells the 2GB pipeline drives for less than $120 and a 1GB pipeline drive for less than $80 so if recordings can be moved to a larger drive, these drives make a very inexpensive way to upgrade the THR22.
Good luck on your project!


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Steve,
Wonder if Weaknees could answer your question, or offer a service to move your recordings to a larger drive. 
If they can do this, then they might use your new drive to do this and just charge you a fee for the service.
You could just put another drive in your 22 so you could use it until they shipped your drives back.
Thought that you would get an answer to your question by now, guess the "Techies" around here haven't played with this unit, or they don't want to admit that they have.
I am guessing that if you do a bit copy of the drive, then use Linux to enlarge the partition space for the recordings if it is using Linux as its operating system. Nobody has talked about what operating system the THR22 is using, but guessing that it is Linux. I'm not a software guy. The last time I wrote a software program was back in 1978 using DR Dobbs tiny basic on an IMSAI 8080 with a 33ASR. Guess that dates me!


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I recall someone (or a couple guys) posted here, they did replacement HDD in THR22 ... or used external instead ...


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Any luck Steve?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

The problem may lie in using Seagate drives. They aren't typically on the recommended list for eSATA use with the HR series so there's not much reason to expect that they are particularly well suited to THR use.

I absolutely cannot explain why drive choice is so critical but there's overwhelming evidence that there are numerous unsuitable drives on the market. One should not casually dismiss the experiences of those with HR2x receivers.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

He is talking about replacing the internal drive, not using an external one. 
Why use an external drive and burn another 25 watts of power 24x7. Its bad enough to be burning 45 watts 24x7 with the DVR. 
The problem is that he wants to save the recordings that he has. He needs a procedure for copying his original drive over to the larger drive and expanding the partition to take advantage of the extra recording space.
I have never had any problems running the standard seagate drives. Have been using them in my HR10's for years without any problems. Like the eveready bunny, they just keep going. On the other hand, I have used Western digital drives, and they have failed after a few years of use.
Haven't tried the Seagate pipeline drives, but they are a low power consumption drive and built for 24x7 use.


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## BAHitman (Oct 24, 2007)

sbl said:


> I replaced the standard 500GB disk in my THR22 with a Seagate Barracuda 2TB..


The OP already replace the 500G with the 2TB according to his post... he simply is changing to an AV drive.



sbl said:


> Is there a straightforward way to copy the old disk to the new? I figure it would probably work with a "dd" copy, or some other sector-by-sector method. This would also probably take ages... I am hoping to avoid setting up all my wife's season passes again, and it would be nice not to lose recordings.


dd is one way, otherwise, you might consider looking at something like clonezilla (http://www.clonezilla.org/).

that program will, if the filesystem is supported, only copy the used sectors, else will clone all sectors with dd.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

Correct - I am, at this point, replacing an internal drive with another of the same capacity, with the new one being the exact same line as came with the THR22, just bigger.

I will be trying it this coming weekend. Interesting suggestion to use clonezilla - had not thought of that.

My experience with Seagate drives is mixed, but in this application, I am seeing dropouts and freezes on many HD channels (though, curiously, not HGTV). The errors are in the recordings, they repeat when played back. It isn't a satellite problem as my HR21 has no issue with these, and the problem started as soon as I installed the Barracuda drive. I also suspect part of the problem is that the Barracuda has various "green" features which are probably inconsistent with what a DVR needs. I have used Seagate, Maxtor, WD, Samsung and Hitachi drives in the past without issues.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

I connected an external drive to my THR22, the DVR configured it then I set it up. I then made several recordings. I took the drive off of the DVR and connected it to my computer and tried to look at the drive, but Linux did not recognize the file system. 
Thought that it was a Linux operating system like the HR10. Wonder what TiVo used for the operating system on the THR22. 
Anybody know?


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

There are many partitions on the THR22 disk, similar to other TiVos, but unlike those there is no Linux directly on the disk. Some of the partitions are TiVo's proprietary MFS. You won't be able to make much sense of it. Here is a partition map I found elsewhere:

Partition map (with 512 byte blocks) on '/dev/sdb'
#: type name length base ( size )
1: Apple_partition_map Apple 63 @ 1
2: Version 1 1 @ 2148865904
3: Rsvd 1 @ 2148865905
4: Rsvd 1 @ 2148865906
5: Rsvd 1 @ 2148865907
6: Ext3 mdi 15626240 @ 2148865908 ( 7.5G)
7: Ext2 Devl 524288 @ 2164492148 (256.0M)
8: Swap Linux swap 262144 @ 2165016436 (128.0M)
9: Ext2 /var 524288 @ 2165278580 (256.0M)
10: MFS MFS application region 589824 @ 2172094324 (288.0M)
11: MFS MFS media region 1733755196 @ 2173273972 (826.7G)
12: MFS MFS application region 2 589824 @ 2172684148 (288.0M)
13: MFS MFS media region 2 2148865840 @ 64 ( 1.0T)
14: Ext3 SQLite 6291456 @ 2165802868 ( 3.0G)


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Is it THR22's drive or TiVo Premiere ? 

Seems to me it is not the THR22...


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Hi Steve,
Do you know what program you would have to use in order to view the partitions on the drive?
Guess there isn't much of a chance of copying your original drive recordings over to a larger drive and gaining more recording space without what ever software program that allows you to view and modify the partitions.
Not even sure witch one of those partitions you would need to enlarge.
Perhaps, down the road, the software guru's will come up with a program to copy the recordings over to a new drive and expand the partition(s) like the winmfs program does, but for now, guess that all you can do is put the larger drive in and start from scratch then re record the programs you want to save.
With the THR22, the the best thing for anyone to do is put a larger drive in the unit when you get it.
Too late for me as my drive is loaded with movies and programs that I don't want to loose, so will have to more closely manage my remaining space available on the drive.
Would hate to have to start all over reloading my programs and movies that I like to have resident on my DVR.
Down the road if you find a way of getting your programs copied over to a larger drive and expand the partition, post the method. 
It took a while for the Guru's to develop the process for the HR10, so hopefully in time they develop a program for the THR22.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Use MFSLive CD or JMFS, connect the drive to PC, boot from CD and take the info; don't forget to post here - I'm still puzzled if we seen real THR22's drive info here ...


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

BAMCAT said:


> He is talking about replacing the internal drive, not using an external one.


The failing in your argument is that in the grand scheme, there isn't much procedural difference between an internal and an external drive. The logical assumption is that how a drive works on the outside should be a good indicator of how it will work on the inside.

What was the case with old Humax hardware has little to do with with the (T)HR22 and the demands it places on mass storage. If a drive is fitful under an HR22 externally, there's a pretty good chance it is going to behave similarly on an THR22 internally. It neither case is it reasonable, but the compatibility issues are pretty well documented nonetheless.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Non sequitur statement.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

A friend of mine looked at this and said that:

ext2 is the old orig Linux partition type. Not used much anymore.
ext3 is the newer journaling partition still used currently
swap is still the standard Linux swap and also for Solaris, BSD, etc




> Partition map (with 512 byte blocks) on '/dev/sdb'
> #: type name length base ( size )
> 1: Apple_partition_map Apple 63 @ 1
> 2: Version 1 1 @ 2148865904
> 3: Rsvd 1 @ 2148865905
> 4: Rsvd 1 @ 2148865906
> 5: Rsvd 1 @ 2148865907
> 6: Ext3 mdi 15626240 @ 2148865908 ( 7.5G)
> 7: Ext2 Devl 524288 @ 2164492148 (256.0M)
> 8: Swap Linux swap 262144 @ 2165016436 (128.0M)
> 9: Ext2 /var 524288 @ 2165278580 (256.0M)
> 10: MFS MFS application region 589824 @ 2172094324 (288.0M)
> 11: MFS MFS media region 1733755196 @ 2173273972 (826.7G)
> 12: MFS MFS application region 2 589824 @ 2172684148 (288.0M)
> 13: MFS MFS media region 2 2148865840 @ 64 ( 1.0T)
> 14: Ext3 SQLite 6291456 @ 2165802868 ( 3.0G)
>
>


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

We knew that for old TiVo drive.

The first thing first: we need to know if the partitioning info from THR22's drive ?



BAMCAT said:


> A friend of mine looked at this and said that:
> 
> ext2 is the old orig Linux partition type. Not used much anymore.
> ext3 is the newer journaling partition still used currently
> ...


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Just going on what Steve said as I am not a software guy.
I only have a Linux boot disk, and tried to look at the drive that I formatted on the external port, but couldn't read anything.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

I will be starting this tonight and will see if I can display the partition map myself. The map I copied was alleged to be from a THR22.

I am not looking to enlarge any partitions - 2TB is the largest drive that can be used. I have not looked to see if tools exist to enlarge partitions on the THR22.

I *am* a software guy.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

BAMCAT said:


> Just going on what Steve said as I am not a software guy.
> I only have a Linux boot disk, and tried to look at the drive that I formatted on the external port, but couldn't read anything.


You don't need to read it; just run : fdisk -l.
It will give you partitioning of all your drives. The letter is L in lower case.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

sbl said:


> I will be starting this tonight and will see if I can display the partition map myself. *The map I copied was alleged to be from a THR22*.
> 
> I am not looking to enlarge any partitions - 2TB is the largest drive that can be used. I have not looked to see if tools exist to enlarge partitions on the THR22.
> 
> I *am* a software guy.


Could be, at least counting total size it show size >1 TB.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Steve,
If you want to copy your 500GB drive over to the 2TB drive to gain more recording space and keep your recording, wouldn't you need to enlarge the MFS(?) partitions to gain more recording space?
If you were just going to put a larger drive in, the box would just format it to take advantage of the larger drive.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

As I understand TiVo's utilities/scripts for expand space on bigger drive, it just create new partition of proper type to allocate additional space after done copy of existing drive's partitions.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

The 500GB disk was replaced weeks ago. I was hoping to copy the Barracuda 2TB disk to avoid having to set up all my wife's season passes again. The recordings would have been nice to keep but not a calamity if they were lost, as my HR21 is recording many of the same shows.

Clonezilla did not like the TiVo disk at all - it was unable to make sense out of the partitions. So I decided not to bother with dd and just stuck the new disk in and set it up again. That would take less time than a dd. It takes about 20-30 minutes for the box to "prepare" a new disk, then one goes through the usual setup.

Maybe sometime this weekend I'll poke at the Barracuda to see what I get as a layout. I didn't feel like messing with it tonight.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

no worry, you will not mess - you're the sw guy ! 

just connect it to Linux PC or use any Linux CD to boot from it, run "fdisk -l" press x/p and copy the screen here - done ! no harm to you or the drive


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

P Smith said:


> just connect it to Linux PC or use any Linux CD to boot from it, run "disk -l" press x/p and copy the screen here - done ! no harm to you or the drive


I assume you meant "fdisk -l". I fired up a copy of Kubuntu I had lying around but it complained "no valid partition table was found". Hmm...


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

That's what I saw when I tried.
Makes me wonder if it is encrypted to make it tamper proof.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

A friend of mine just told me that a while back he read that the THR22 doesn't run Linux, but a proprietary D* operating system which is the same as the HR22.
All TiVo did was to create the TiVo application for it.
There was a copy program to copy the HR 21 drive and expanded it, but it didn't see this drive so it must be a different operating system.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

The one thing that I wish TiVo did was when you used an external drive to have more storage, that it worked with the internal drive or copy the programs from the internal drive to the external drive so you wouldn't loose your programs that you wanted to keep.
Just doesn't make sense that you loose all of your recordings if you want to add a larger hard drive to your DVR. Don't think that TiVo thought that one out when they were writing the software application. They could have had a option in the system menu move recordings to the external drive.
It would be nice if they would add a routine to do this in one of the upcoming software updates, if they ever have one.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

BAMCAT said:


> A friend of mine just told me that a while back he read that *the THR22 doesn't run Linux, but a proprietary D* operating system which is the same as the HR22.*
> All TiVo did was to create the TiVo application for it.
> There was a copy program to copy the HR 21 drive and expanded it, but it didn't see this drive so it must be a different operating system.


Hehe, say to him - he is wrong. HR22 does run Linux as do it HR21, HR20 and all other DVRs.

Bring the drive to any place here - I'll give you all the info next day.

The copy/expand process has been developed here and proved many times, we have three major threads dedicating to the process. It use XFSDUMP and XFSRESTORE program to copy files and folders with attributes.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Thanks for your input and help


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

The thread P Smith refers to is this one - I had not seen it before and wish I had. Oh well.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Steve,
Good, finally a procedure.
So the process is, have the THR22 format the drive, and then copy the original drive to the new larger drive using the Linux command lines.
If the new drive is to be installed internally, I would format the new large drive in the internal port, not the external one.
This still doesn't explain why you couldn't view the file system when you formatted your drive though.
Are you going to try it?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

BAMCAT said:


> Oh yea?
> Why did you wait so long in this thread to reveal this when Steve was the one that started this thread and was working on this issue?
> With over 1200 views of this thread, why didn't someone else come forward with this information?
> You didn't even make the correct statement of fdisk -l, but said disk -l.
> ...


Umm, should I say sorry ... my thoughts was - you are a member here from 2007 and probably seen these threads and more then that ( if you interesting in such process) ... I did post first system logs from HR20 here, in GPL discussion thread, what is clearly demonstrate it is Linux. I did spun up working procedure of coping the drives - you can find credits to my nick in initial thread. As to mistyped name of the command, well you pick it as an argument just to discard me from the thread - your goal achieved... Keep searching and reading. It will help be knowledgeable. Adieu.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Yes, been on this forum for some time now, but never had a need to expand my 2 HR 20 drives a I did all my recordings on the HR 10's. 
The only reason I got the 20's was to view the HD programing that my HR 10's were cut off from when D* shut down the streams to the HR10. Otherwise the HR 20's were powered down until something was on HDnet or HDnet movies then I would fire them up.
I hated those boxes. When the THR22 came out, I ordered 2, put them in service and promptly took the 2 HR20 to the E waste depot, and tossed them into the bin. Sent the access cards back to D* 
So the bottom line is, I never saw that thread until recently. 
I still don't understand why when I format the new drive and connect it to the computer with Linux running, Linux doesn't see it.
Could there be something different with the THR22 version that doesn't really isn't compatible standard Linux?


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

I read in the other thread that it is important to let the box shut down gracefully. I didn't do that and perhaps that caused my problem, and maybe yours.

P Smith, I know you are a super-helpful guy in this forum. While I wish I had been pointed to the upgrade thread earlier, I now realize that I had seen it once upon a time but it didn't show up in my searches. Now that I know it is there, I'll use it if I should need to in the future. (Maybe I'll stick a 2TB in my HR21 which currently has a 750GB drive,) BAMCAT does not speak for me.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I propose to give it to me for a night - you're here, nearby ...
Or I can give my spare 1/1.5 TB drive to init it in your box, then you'll return it to me for partitioning analysis.


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

P Smith,
Guess I got the wrong impression from your post. 
Any input from you is welcome, so don't go away.
Although I have been registered here sense 2007, I "hang out" at the TiVo community forum. Didn't start looking at the threads here until I picked up the THR22, so I was not familiar with your posts or knowledge of software.
Sorry for the insult.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

OK, we buried it.

What about my offer [third time like a charm ?


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Thank You for the offer and help.
Now that I found the thread with the procedure, will give it a try Monday or Tuesday.
Will see what happens.
Don't think that I did the graceful shutdown when I tried the format the last time, so will give it another try.
Hope Steve reports back here with success using the procedure and upgrade.
Looking forward to hearing back from him.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

I will not be trying the upgrade process on my THR22 now that I went ahead and just let it initialize the disk. Even as an experiment, at this point it's too much hassle to pull out the THR22 again. Besides, that's "my wife's DVR" and she always gets nervous when I start playing with upgrades and the like. At least she didn't have more than a couple of weeks into the 2TB Barracuda before I swapped in the Pipeline.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

Interesting observation - recordings made in the few hours after the disk swap was made are pretty much unwatchable - playback freezes, stutters, picture goes blank, or tears, or more. Same sort of symptoms I was seeing from the Barracuda all the time. But after a day or so, things seem fine. Played through a HD recording made a day later and it was perfect. My guess is that the CPU can't keep up with recording and doing the initial guide data fill and sorting at the same time.

I'll see how it goes over the week.


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## frankygamer (Jul 1, 2006)

P Smith said:


> We knew that for old TiVo drive.
> 
> The first thing first: we need to know if the partitioning info from THR22's drive ?


The partition table posted is for the THR22. It looks like a Premiere with some of the partitions moved to flash.

Just hook up an external drive, let the DVR format it, shutdown, hook up to linux box, run tivopart, pdisk, and you'll get what is posted.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

frankygamer said:


> The partition table posted is for the THR22. It looks like a Premiere with some of the partitions moved to flash.
> 
> Just hook up an external drive, let the DVR format it, shutdown, hook up to linux box, run tivopart, pdisk, and you'll get what is posted.


If I would have it ... I did ask BAMCAT a few times to make my disk formatted to get out the partitioning, but it was unnoticed.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

Turns out that the reason the show recorded a day after disk install was ok was that it was SD. An HD show recorded that day does not play back well. I hope this isn't a trend.


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## mike-h (Jul 15, 2012)

I have been carefully reading all of the threads related to the new DirectTiVo unit since 2008 when we were promised the first delivery date. After my share of highs and lows, hoping and pining & anger at TiVo haters and nay-sayers on this forum I was beyond thrilled when the final announcement was made. I was very tempted at the time to create my account just to gloat to all of the haters who said the day would never come. Through years (literally) of complaining to DirecTV about their lying and stalling on releasing a HD TiVo unit, I had built up quite a log of calls to different departments, supervisors etc. I was finally able to procure two THR22-100 units in March. Now for the relevant info on this thread. I own my TiVo units outright. Before anyone asks, I have confirmed in writing that the units in question are owned and not leased. Therefore, I am within my rights to upgrade the internal disks. Upon initial inspection of the THR22, I noted that the original disk, as stated by SBL, is a Seagate Pipeline HD.2 500GB *ST3500312CS*. After careful review I decided to purchase a Seagate SV35 *ST2000VX002 *2TB disk. I have used a similar series (DB35) in my trusty HR10-250 since 2007 (still running like champ) so I figured these disks would be a good selection. I conferred with Seagate to verify that the SV35 series is designed for 24x7 write use in commercial surveillance DVRs and are designed to a higher standard than the Pipeline series. The installation, format and setup of the THR22 with the new disk went off without a hitch. I started to notice on some channels the exact behavior explained here: freezing, dropping out, black screen, etc. I naturally thought this was signal related and went through the motions of replacing LNBs, having DTV re-aim the dish, re-terminating all RG6 connections, etc. After weeks of this useless troubleshooting I realized that the stock unit with the 500GB disk never had these problems. I even recorded the same shows at the same time and the stock unit would have no issues. I swapped cables and BBand converters to be sure. On the upgraded unit I can watch a show that's being recorded live with no issues, but if I play back that recording all the corruption occurs, ruling out a signal issue. At this point I have come to the realization that the new disk has a compatibility problem. I verified the disk was not faulty before installation by using HDAT2 on a PC in "most powerful test" mode (write, read, write, read, verify). _Now to the action:_ can anyone confirm an exact model of 2TB internal disk that works correctly? Weaknees is selling WD Green disks, but Seagate has a big brother to the *ST3500312CS*: the 2TB Pipeline HD *ST2000VM002 *which would be my first choice. Also, I would like to retain the content and settings from the "broken" 2TB disk. I am proficient in Linux and all of the "old" TiVo "enhancement" tools. I am ready to use my receivers, time, and money in the interest of helping the community find a definitive answer to both questions (which disks work correctly and how to migrate content and settings). If someone could point me in the right direction of how to duplicate the disks (specifically for THR22) I would be most appreciative. Thank you for reading my four-years-in-the-making long winded first post.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Nice post ! Excellent for first one ! :up:
Welcome to the site and forum.

I can give you a hint from other provider - they has approved drives list for internal and in the list seen 2 TB models: *ST2000VM002*-9UY166, *ST2000VM003*-1CT164 and WDC *WD20EURS*-57 and *HCS5C2020ALA632*.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

I would recommend passing over the 2TB Seagate Pipeline - it gave me the same trouble the Barracuda did. I'm reluctant to buy yet another 2TB disk....


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

I used the ST1000VM002, and it worked fine, no dropouts, records just fine. It was less than $75, new sealed OEM drive on ebay.
Nice to have a 1TB drive which D* should have used in the 1st place.
Very short sited of D* not to realize that people like to have a lot of storage space.
The only trouble I had was that the % disk space used doesn't show. the space Used bar is there though. Rebooting didn't help.
If there is ever a software update, it might come back, but as long as the space used bar is there, no big deal.
No one has been able to look at the hard drive format, some sort of encrypted file system.
Doesn't seem to be anyone that can "hack" it, so you will just have to start from scratch re recording your programs that you want to save.


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## mike-h (Jul 15, 2012)

sbl said:


> I would recommend passing over the 2TB Seagate Pipeline - it gave me the same trouble the Barracuda did. I'm reluctant to buy yet another 2TB disk....


Steve - what exact model did you use that doesn't work?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

BAMCAT said:


> I used the ST1000VM002, and it worked fine, no dropouts, records just fine. It was less than $75, new sealed OEM drive on ebay.
> Nice to have a 1TB drive which D* should have used in the 1st place.
> Very short sited of D* not to realize that people like to have a lot of storage space.
> The only trouble I had was that the % disk space used doesn't show. the space Used bar is there though. Rebooting didn't help.
> ...


Really ?! 

Try to read more, at least here - for start "Copy ..." thread(s). Duh !


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

mike-h,

Just came to my mind: newest DVR [Hopper] from dish (it's a server actually) using *ST2000VM002*.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

mike-h said:


> Steve - what exact model did you use that doesn't work?


Seagate ST2000VM002. I can't say with certainty that it doesn't work - it didn't when I first put it in, but my system got a lot changed since then. I will probably try to put it back in within a few weeks and see how it goes. I do know that the stock 500GB Seagate drive had been fine and is still fine.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

I'm betting that the later WD drives mentioned in the eSATA thread are going to give you better service than anything from Seagate. There has been a lot of testing that has gone in to the drives recommended there and the system software likely isn't the reason for differences in performance as the low level software is probably the same.

Seagate seems to be assuming the attributes of the companies that it acquires (Conner; 2/1996, Quantum; 12/2005, Maxtor; 5/2006, Samsung; 12/2011) and that's not a good thing.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

I would at least expect that a Seagate drive from the same model line as the stock drive would work.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Sure, if other company have it in approved list for own DVRs ... and using in latest h2k.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

sbl said:


> I would at least expect that a Seagate drive from the same model line as the stock drive would work.


How's that workin' out for you?

If you look at the agonizing that has gone into what the eSATA thread arrived at, there are at least as many WD EAR? drives that don't work all that well as those that do. All of the planets need to be in alignment or you have to be really lucky. It is best to go in with a mechanism that is tried and true than to tinker with a bunch of "I reckon they should be the same" drives.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would give him a chance. If he will find other model what is working, then all will benefit it.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

P Smith said:


> If he will find other model what is working, then all will benefit it.


I didn't suggest otherwise. At the same time, you don't have to reinvent the wheel if all you want to do is record and play back programs.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I wouldn't define his question as reinventig weel, because HDD market is volatile (Thailand) and constantly changing (new models coming, old disappearing),


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

P Smith said:


> I wouldn't define his question as reinventig weel, because HDD market is volatile (Thailand) and constantly changing (new models coming, old disappearing),


Volatile market or not, your daily driver DVR is probably not the place you want to be experimenting. Leave that to the people that have a handful of DVRs to try things out on.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I did ask to give slack to the guy. Would you ?


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

For what it's worth - the disk copying/expansion method P Smith points to, for the DirecTV-Plus DVRs, does NOT work for the THR22. The THR22's disk structure is much closer to a TiVo "Series 4". A user at the DDB forum said he successfully copied a THR22 disk to a larger disk, but he left some of the steps incomplete and has not responded to my requests for more details. Ah well...

I've also given up on the Seagate drives and bought a WD disk recommended by many here. I'll use that to expand my HR21.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Well, I did propose it long time, before THR22 came to us, for DTV models exactly and these guys who followed me had success. I didn't test it for THR22, so it was shooting in a dark, not real solution. If I would have the THR22 in my hands I could try to find new correct method ...


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Hi Steve,
Hope you can get the complete procedure from that person that claims that he was able to do the copy.
Did he say what software he was using to read the drive?
Could you post a link to the forum and thread?
Thanks


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

Let's see if the host name for the other forum is censored here as it is in TCF:

http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/s...Premiere-(Support-Thread)&p=316512#post316512

Guess not!


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Perhaps webdeck will not object the repost... then local members would benefit...


> puffdaddy, thanks for the tools and explanation. I was able to migrate all of my recordings and settings off of my stock THR-22 internal drive and onto a larger eSATA drive. The new backup and restore programs don't work for the THR-22, but this is what I was able to get working:
> 
> 1. Duplicated old drive to new one using dd.
> 2. Booted the MFSLive CD, put your programs on an SD card so I could mount them.
> ...


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Hi Steve,
Checked out that thread.
Wonder why that person has not responded to your request for clarification on the procedure?
Hope he does. Sure would like to get a larger drive in place in my THR.


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## sbl (Jul 21, 2007)

I suspect he just doesn't visit the forum often. I sent him a PM but he probably doesn't have email notices on. Shrug...


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## BAMCAT (Nov 24, 2007)

Hopefully he will see your pm and provide more info...
Please post it if he does.
Regards


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## LazLong (Oct 23, 2008)

So, has anyone successfullly replaced the original internal drive of their THR22 with a larger drive while saving the original content and taking advantage of the new drive's expanded capacity?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I did re-post his successful procedure - see post#68; time to repeat it here and tell us


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## LazLong (Oct 23, 2008)

P Smith said:


> I did re-post his successful procedure - see post#68; time to repeat it here and tell us


Yeah, that's a copy from the post on dealdatabse.com that Steve linked to. Have you used these instructions to successfully upgrade a THR22? In post #64 Steve states that those instructions are incomplete, that he is stuck on steps 4 and 5, and he is waiting for the OP of the instructions to provide clarification. As far as I can tell the OP never responded. At least Steve doesn't mention it here or in the thread on dealdatabase.com. Steve also said he isn't familiar with dd, so perhaps that is the real issue and the instructions do indeed work.

I ordered a WD20EURX for the upgrade and it is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I guess I can just try the instructions myself and see what what happens.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I didn't get the model on my workbench yet ...


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