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-- Windows XP/2000
ReplayTV Upgrade --
The following information will help you perform a Replaytv hard
drive upgrade, upgrading to a larger hard drive to support
increased recording time.
Printable Version
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**All files required for this procedure are
available from our Members
Area
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This set of instructions is for people using Windows XP or
Windows 2000 only. If you are using Windows 95/09/ME, then you
will want to use the Windows
9x ReplayTV Upgrade Guide instead. Should you encounter any
problems during the procedure related to Windows XP/2000 or BIOS
issues, you can also use the Windows
9x ReplayTV Upgrade Guide instead, since it utilizes a Linux
floppy method.
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Step 1 - Initial Considerations
A ReplayTV hard drive upgrade is a rewarding project, however
there are a number of considerations worth mentioning before you
begin. First of all is any modification to your ReplayTV will
void your factory warranty. If you have a brand new unit, you may
want to wait until the warranty has expired to rule out the
chances of a defective unit. The second consideration is risk of
damage or non-success. As with any upgrade of this nature, there
are no guarantees and there is always the possibility of damaging
your unit if you are not careful. Using care and taking your time
will help to limit the risks involved however. The third
consideration is loss of recordings. Although it is possible for
single drive ReplayTV's, it is not highly recommended as it does
not always work and it extremely time consuming. Recordings from
dual drive ReplayTV's cannot currently be backed up.
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Step 2 - Choosing a New Hard Drive
Most newer IDE hard drives on the market will work for a
ReplayTV hard drive upgrade. Many people choose Maxtor or Western
Digital drives because they generally offer the largest
capacities. Your new hard drive must be at least the same size or
larger as the original ReplayTV drive. If you will be upgrading
using the Windows 95/98/ME method or you have a ReplayTV 2xxx or
ReplayTV 3xxx model, you have a ceiling of 137GB per drive limit.
Some older ReplayTV 2xxx and ReplayTV 3xxx came with 2 factory
drives, so you can upgrade to up to 137GB X 2 drives. You can use
a larger drive for the upgrade, however you will be limited to
137GB of usage on the drive and the rest of the space will be
wasted. If you are using the Windows XP/2000 method and have a
ReplayTV 4xxx or ReplayTV 5xxx model, you can add a drive larger
than 137GB as long as you use the special version of the upgrade
utility designed for larger drives (Currently 2.1.3Beta). The
memory in the 4xxx and 5xxx units should be sufficient to handle
up to 320GB of combined storage. Larger upgrades may experience
out of memory errors. As a general rule to minimize potential
problems, we recommend you not use drives larger than 160GB
(137GB actual storage) If you encounter any problems with your
hard drive related to your computers BIOS or the drive size, then
you will want to use the Windows
9x ReplayTV Hard Drive Upgrade Guide instead.
The preferred method is always to use a brand new, never
formatted or partitioned drive. It is possible to utilize a used
drive however, provided that you perform a Low Level
Format on the drive prior to the upgrade and provided
the drive does not have Maxblast, EZ-Bios or any other third
party software to overcome BIOS limitations installed on it. The
upgrade drive should also be completely free of Windows/DOS
partitions as well. If you encounter any problems with your hard
drive related to your computers BIOS or the drive size, then you
will want to use the Windows
9x ReplayTV Upgrade Guide instead.
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Upgrade Method #1 - Single Drive Upgrade
If you are a site Member,
- Logon to the Members Download Area, and download the latest version of the
Win2kRTVPatch program from the
ReplayTVFiles folder. Ensure you download the Win2k
version and not the Win9x version which uses a Linux boot disk.
If you will be upgrading to drive(s) larger than 137GB, you will
want to download the Win2kRTVPatch with large drive support
(RTVPatch2.1.3beta.exe)
- Power down your ReplayTV and unplug the unit. Remove the
cover from the ReplayTV, there are 7 screws to remove on the rear
and bottom of the unit.
- Once the cover is off, the Replaytv hard drive will be
visable. Carefully unplug the power connector and IDE cables from
the hard drive, making note of the orientation of the cable. It
may help to mark the cable with a felt market to prevent a mixup
during re-installation. Be extremely careful not to touch the
power supply as it can still contain an electrical charge even if
unplugged. It is also a good idea to ground yourself by standing
on a wood floor or touching a metal object other than the
ReplayTV to prevent damage to the unit from a static electrical
discharge.
- Carefully remove the hard drive from the ReplayTV. There are
5 screws holding the drive cover down. Use caution around the
screws located near the power supply.
- Once the original ReplayTV drive has been removed, set the
jumpers on the old drive and the new drive. Typically you will
want to set the old drive to Master and the new
drive to Slave.
- Power down your PC and free up any hard drives or IDE devices
from your Secondary IDE cable. Connect both drive to your PC's
Secondary IDE cable. The original ReplayTV drive will be in the
Secondary Master position (As a rule at the end of the Secondary
IDE cable) and the new large upgrade drive should be in the
Secondary Slave position (As a rule in the middle of the
Secondary IDE cable)
- Boot your PC into Windows XP or Windows 2000. Run the
Win2kRTVPatch program. The program display should look something
like this.

- If any of the drives on your computer are showing incorrect
information in the program, (IE: a 80GB drive reporting 33GB
Etc.) then there is a compatibility problem with the upgrade
software and you should close down the program immediately and
not attempt the upgrade using this method. Instead you will want
to use the Windows
9x ReplayTV Upgrade Guide instead. Any questions can be
addressed in our
PVR Upgrade Forum or another knowledgeable source.
- The Win2k version requires you to have administrator
privileges in order to access the drives. IF no drives are
showing up, log off Windows and log back on with an administrator
account.
- If using drives larger than 137GB, you must have a drive
controller that supports the large drives (IE:ATA-100 or ATA-133
controller) If the drive shows up as 137GB, you will want to
verify in your Windows disk management utility that it reports
the correct drive size as well. If you are using an older
computer that does not support large drives, then you will not be
able to utilize any larger than 137GB. You can use a 160GB drive,
but the RTVPatch utility will limit your drive usage to 137GB and
the rest of the drive will be wasted space.
- Make a backup of your original ReplayTV hard drive using the
following method:
- Select the original ReplayTV drive in the RTVPatch
program.
- Click the source drive (original drive) "Set" button.
- Click the "Backup Source Drive" button.
- Enter a file name for the backup. You should save this file
to your main Windows c: and burn a copy of it to a CD if possible
to prevent a loss should your PC ever crash. The backup image
will be a little over 300MB for a ReplayTV2xxx or ReplayTV3xxx
and a little over 500MB for a ReplayTV4xxx or ReplayTV5xxx
- Your new Replatv hard drive should be shown as "Unknown" with
a yellow question mark icon beside it.
** If it shows up as "May be a PC Disk" , stop
immediately as there are partitions present on the drive that
should not be and you will need to use the Windows disk
administrator to remove the partitions from that drive. Another
option is a low level format. After removing all
partitions from the new drive, reboot and return to the RTVPatch
program to continue.**
- Select the ReplayTV Drive in the RTVPatch program and click
the source drive "Set" button.
- Select your new, large upgrade drive and click the Target
Drive (new upgrade drive) "Set" button
- Click the "Copy System Partition" button. You will be asked
the following question: "You are about to mirror disk SOURCE to
disk TARGET" Answer yes if the SOURCE accurately describes the
original ReplayTV drive and the TARGET accurately describes your
new upgrade drive. It will take several minutes to copy the
ReplayTV partition.
- ReplayTV4xxx and ReplayTV5xxx units
only:
If you have a 4xxx or 5xxx unit, you will now want to select the
desired photo partition size. You can choose from the following
sizes of photo partition: 1MB, 2MB, 5MB, 10MB, 20MB, 50MB, 100MB,
200MB, 500MB, 1GB, 2GB, 3GB, 4GB, 5GB, 10GB, and 20GB. Keep in
mind that the larger your photo partition, the less room you will
have left to record shows on your drive. If you do not anticipate
using your ReplayTV for much photo storage, you may want to
choose a moderate partition size. If you have photos on the
drive, you will want to copy them to your PC using the ReplayTV
photo software prior to upgrade.
- Click the "Patch Target" button. You will be asked the
following questions; "You are about to patch the disk TARGET"
Answer yes if TARGET accurately describes your new upgrade drive.
If you are using the older version of RTVPatch with large
drive support, you may also be asked: "Do you want to reset the
partition table?" Answer no to this question.
"Do you want to reset the MPEG partition?" Answer yes to this
question so that the MPEG partition directory will be cleared. It
is possible to copy recordings to the new drive, however the
process is not very reliable so is not recommended.
"Do you want to completely reformat the MPEG partition using a
LARGER cluster size?" If you have a RTV2xxx or 3xxx model, answer
Yes. If you have a RTV4xxx or 5xxx model, answer No.
"Do you want to reformat the Photo partition?"
(ReplayTV4xxx & 5xxx models only) Answer yes so
that the photo partition will be formatted and sized as you
selected previously. It is possible to copy the photo partition
to the new drive, however is will not allow resizing and it is
likely easier to format it and copy them from our PC back to the
ReplayTV.
- Exit the RTVPatch program and shut down your computer. Remove
the old ReplayTV drive and store it somewhere safely for
safekeeping in case you should ever need to return your unit to
factory condition or restore a lost backup file.
- Remove the jumper from the new upgrade drive and set it to
"Master" or "Single" position. Reinstall the new drive in your
ReplayTV and reconnect the IDE and power connectors and re-secure
it with the drive screws. Replace the cover on the ReplayTV and
re-secure it with the cover screws.
- Test the ReplayTV by plugging it in and turning it on. It
should power up and show the "Please wait a few moments" screen
for a minute, then the screen will go blank and the unit will
power off. Power the unit back on and verify that the proper
available space is shown in the ReplayGuide. If is is, you are
finished. Any questions can be addressed in our
PVR Upgrade Forum or another knowledgeable source.
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Upgrade Method #2 - Dual Drive Upgrade
In this method, you will be adding a second hard drive to your
ReplayTV in addition to your original one. This will give you all
the recording capacity of the first drive, plus the additional
capacity of the second drive. It is also possible to upgrade to 2
new large drives as well. If your ReplayTV came with 2 factory
drives, you will use your original Drive A as your source drive.
This method is not generally recommended for factory single drive
ReplayTV's as you will need to fabricate a bracket or other way
of securing the second drive to your ReplayTV and the upgrade
procedure makes changes to your original drive. If something
should go wrong, you will have to restore your drive from the
backup image saved on your computer.
If you are a site Member,
- Logon to the Members Download
Area, and download the latest version of the
Win2kRTVPatch program from the
ReplayTVFiles folder. Ensure you download the Win2k
version and not the Win9x version which uses a Linux boot disk.
If you will be upgrading to drive(s) larger than 137GB, you will
want to download the Win2kRTVPatch with large drive support
(RTVPatch2.1.3beta.exe)
- Power down your ReplayTV and unplug the unit. Remove the
cover from the ReplayTV, there are 7 screws to remove on the rear
and bottom of the unit.
- Once the cover is off, the hard drive will be visable.
Carefully unplug the power connector and IDE cables from the hard
drive, making note of the orientation of the cable. It may help
to mark the cable with a felt market to prevent a mixup during
re-installation. Be extremely careful not to touch the power
supply as it can still contain an electrical charge even if
unplugged. It is also a good idea to ground yourself by standing
on a wood floor or touching a metal object other than the
ReplayTV to prevent damage to the unit from a static electrical
discharge.
- Carefully remove the hard drive from the ReplayTV. There are
5 screws holding the drive cover down. Use caution around the
screws located near the power supply.
- Once the original ReplayTV drive has been removed, set the
jumpers on the old drive and the new drive. Typically you will
want to set the old drive to Master and the new
drive to Slave.
- Power down your PC and free up any hard drives or IDE devices
from your Secondary IDE cable. Connect both drive to your PC's
Secondary IDE cable. The original ReplayTV drive will be in the
Secondary Master position (As a rule at the end of the Secondary
IDE cable) and the new large upgrade drive should be in the
Secondary Slave position (As a rule in the middle of the
Secondary IDE cable)
- Boot your PC into Windows XP or Windows 2000. Run the
Win2kRTVPatch program. The program display should look something
like this.

- If any of the drives on your computer are showing incorrect
information in the program, (IE: a 80GB drive reporting 33GB
Etc.) then there is a compatibility problem with the upgrade
software and you should close down the program immediately and
not attempt the upgrade using this method. Instead you will want
to use the Windows
9x ReplayTV Upgrade Guide instead. Any questions can be
addressed in our
PVR Upgrade Forum or another knowledgeable source.
- The Win2k version requires you to have administrator
privileges in order to access the drives. IF no drives are
showing up, log off Windows and log back on with an administrator
account.
- If using drives larger than 137GB, you must have a drive
controller that supports the large drives (IE:ATA-100 or ATA-133
controller) If the drive shows up as 137GB, you will want to
verify in your Windows disk management utility that it reports
the correct drive size as well. If you are using an older
computer that does not support large drives, then you will not be
able to utilize any larger than 137GB. You can use a 160GB drive,
but the RTVPatch utility will limit your drive usage to 137GB and
the rest of the drive will be wasted space.
- Make a backup of your original ReplayTV drive using the
following method:
- Select the original ReplayTV drive in the RTVPatch
program.
- Click the source drive (original drive) "Set" button.
- Click the "Backup Source Drive" button.
- Enter a file name for the backup. You should save this file
to your main Windows c: and burn a copy of it to a CD if possible
to prevent a loss should your PC ever crash. The backup image
will be a little over 300MB for a ReplayTV2xxx or ReplayTV3xxx
and a little over 500MB for a ReplayTV4xxx or ReplayTV5xxx
- Your new upgrade hard drive should be shown as "Unknown" with
a yellow question mark icon beside it.
** If it shows up as "May be a PC Disk" , stop
immediately as there are partitions present on the drive that
should not be and you will need to use the Windows disk
administrator to remove the partitions from that drive. Another
option is a low level format. After removing all
partitions from the new drive, reboot and return to the RTVPatch
program to continue.**
- Check the "Dual-drive system" setting to select a 2 drive
upgrade. Select the original ReplayTV drive (Source) and click
the St drive "Set" button.
- Select the new upgrade drive (Target) and click the 2ND drive
"Set" button.
- ReplayTV4xxx and ReplayTV5xxx units
only:
If you have a 4xxx or 5xxx unit, you will now want to select the
desired photo partition size. You can choose from the following
sizes of photo partition: 1MB, 2MB, 5MB, 10MB, 20MB, 50MB, 100MB,
200MB, 500MB, 1GB, 2GB, 3GB, 4GB, 5GB, 10GB, and 20GB. Keep in
mind that the larger your photo partition, the less room you will
have left to record shows on your drive. If you do not anticipate
using your ReplayTV for much photo storage, you may want to
choose a moderate partition size. If you have photos on the
drive, you will want to copy them to your PC using the ReplayTV
photo software prior to upgrade.
- Click the "Make 2 drive System" button. You will be asked the
following questions; "This will attempt to create a 2-drive
system where 1STDRIVE is the first drive and 2NDDRIVE is the
second drive" Compare the disk names and sizes shown and verify
that they accurately describe both your drives. If so, Answer
yes.
If you are using an older version with large drive support,
you will be asked if you want to reset the partition table.
Answer no to this question.
"Do you want to reset the MPEG partition?" Answer yes to this
question so that the MPEG partition directory will be cleared. It
is possible to copy recordings to the new drive, however the
process is not very reliable so is not recommended.
"Do you want to completely reformat the MPEG partition using a
LARGER cluster size?" If you have a RTV2xxx or 3xxx model, answer
Yes. If you have a RTV4xxx or 5xxx model, answer No.
"Do you want to reformat the Photo partition?"
(ReplayTV4xxx & 5xxx models only) Answer yes so
that the photo partition will be formatted and sized as you
selected previously. It is possible to copy the photo partition
to the new drive, however is will not allow resizing and it is
likely easier to format it and copy them from our PC back to the
ReplayTV.
- Exit the RTVPatch program and shut down your computer.
- Remove the drives from your computer and set the jumper on
the original drive to the "Master" position and the jumper on the
upgrade drive to "Slave" position. Connect both drives to your
ReplayTV and secure them. You will have to find a way to secure
the second drive to the unit. See Here for
some ideas.
- Replace the cover on the ReplayTV, plug it in and test the
unit by powering it up. You should see a "Please wait a few
moments" screen for a minute and the the screen should go blank
and the unit will power off.
- Power the unit back on and verify that the proper available
space is shown in the ReplayGuide. If is is, you are finished.
Any questions can be addressed in our
PVR Upgrade Forum or another knowledgeable source.
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Printable Version

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08/04/2008 11:20 AM
In order to give the website a better focus, we are phasing out the less popular areas of the site, including the high definition and digital video recorder areas and forums. This will leave the site focused on digital satellite television and satellite radio.
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