Replaytv Upgrade - Replaytv Hard Drive Upgrade - Increase Replaytv Recording Time

The following information will help you perform a Replaytv hard drive upgrade, upgrading to a larger hard drive to support increased recording time.

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**All files required for this procedure are available from our Members Area

This set of instructions is for people using Windows 95/98/ME or users of Windows XP or 2000 that have problems using the Win2k version. This version will use a Linux boot disk.

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.

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)

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.

Upgrade Method #1 - Single Replaytv Drive Upgrade

If you are a site Member,

Logon to the Members Download Area, and download the latest version of the Win9xRTVPatch program from the ReplayTVFiles folder. Ensure you download the Win9x version and not the Win2k version which is for Windows XP or 2000.

Extract the downloaded files to your Windows C: drive. Insert a blank floppy disk in your floppy drive. From the Windows DOS prompt, run the makeboot.bat script. Answer the prompts and it will write the Linux boot disk to your floppy. If you encounter errors using Windows ME, you may need to create a seperate windows boot disk and reboot to true DOS, then insert the blank disk and run the script. If you need to, you can download a Windows boot disk from bootdisk.com

After you are finished, power down your PC.

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 hard 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)

Insert your new Linux boot floppy that you created earlier in your floppy drive and boot up your PC to the floppy.

At the A: prompt, type root and hit enter. If you are prompted for a password, hit enter again.

Make a backup of your ReplayTV hard drive using the following method;
This procedure assumes that your Windows C: drive is the first partition on the Primary Master IDE drive and your original ReplayTV drive is connected to the Secondary Master IDE position. For most configurations, this will be correct. If you have 2 operating systems on your C: drive (IE:Windows & Linux) or have more than 1 partition on your C: drive) this may not be the case and you need to substitute the hda1 with the number of your windows partition.
1. Mount your PC's C: Drive by typing mount/dev/hda1/mnt
2. Backup your ReplayTV drive:
  ReplayTV2xxx or 3xxx models type:
  dd if=/dev/hdc of=/mnt/backup.rtv bs=1M count=310
  
  ReplayTV4xxx or 5xxx models type:
  dd if=/dev/hdc of=/mnt/backup.rtv bs=1M count=510
  
  The backup will take a few minutes to complete.

Unmount your PC's C: Drive by typing: umount/mnt

At the A: prompt, type RTVPatch and hit enter. (RTVPatch is case-sensitive)
If any of the drive sizes do not look correct (IE: a 80GB drive reporting 33GB), you have a compatibility problem, so exit from the program immediately and consult with a knowledgeable source for help. Any questions can be addressed in our PVR Upgrade Forum or another knowledgeable source.

Select the original Replaytv hard drive as the source by entering S and then selecting the ReplayTV drive number.

Select your new large upgrade drive as the target by entering T and then selecting the new drive's number.

Copy the partition from the original ReplayTV drive to the new upgrade drive by pressing M. You will be asked the following question;
- "You are about to mirror disk SOURCE to disk TARGET" Answer yes if SOURCE accurately describes the original ReplayTV drive and TARGET accurately describes your new hard drive.
It will take a few minutes to copy the partition information to your new drive.

Patch the target drive by pressing P. You will be asked the following questions;
- "You are about to patch disk TARGET". Answer yes if TARGET accurately describes your new upgrade drive.
  ** If you are using and older version of RTVPatch, you will be asked if you want to reset the partition table. Answer no to this.
- "Do you want to reset the MPEG partition?" Answer yes to this so that the MPEG partition will be cleared. It is possible to copy your recordings, however it is not very reliable so it is 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.
- RTV4xxx and RTV5xxx models only:
  "Do you want to reformat the photo partition?" Answer yes to this so that the photo partition will be sized and formatted as you had selected earlier. 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. It is possible to copy the photos to the new drive, however it is easier to copy them to your PC and from your PC to your ReplayTV instead.

Exit the RTVPatch program by pressing X and power down your PC.

Remove the original ReplayTV drive and store it for safekeeping. Remove the new upgrade grade drive from the PC, and set the jumper to "Master" or "Single" position.

Re-connect the new upgrade drive to your ReplayTV, re-connecting the IDE cables and power connectors and secure the drive using the drive screws.

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.

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 Win9xRTVPatch program from the ReplayTVFiles folder. Ensure you download the Win9x version and not the Win2k version which is for Windows XP or 2000.

Extract the downloaded files to your Windows C: drive. Insert a blank floppy disk in your floppy drive. From the Windows DOS prompt, run the makeboot.bat script. Answer the prompts and it will write the Linux boot disk to your floppy. If you encounter errors using Windows ME, you may need to create a seperate windows boot disk and reboot to true DOS, then insert the blank disk and run the script. If you need to, you can download a Windows boot disk from bootdisk.com

After you are finished, power down your PC.

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)

Insert your new Linux boot floppy that you created earlier in your floppy drive and boot up your PC to the floppy.

At the A: prompt, type root and hit enter. If you are prompted for a password, hit enter again.

Make a backup of your ReplayTV drive using the following method;
This procedure assumes that your Windows C: drive is the first partition on the Primary Master IDE drive and your original ReplayTV drive is connected to the Secondary Master IDE position. For most configurations, this will be correct. If you have 2 operating systems on your C: drive (IE:Windows & Linux) or have more than 1 partition on your C: drive) this may not be the case and you need to substitute the hda1 with the number of your windows partition.
1. Mount your PC's C: Drive by typing mount/dev/hda1/mnt
2. Backup your ReplayTV drive:
  ReplayTV2xxx or 3xxx models type:
  dd if=/dev/hdc of=/mnt/backup.rtv bs=1M count=310
  
  ReplayTV4xxx or 5xxx models type:
  dd if=/dev/hdc of=/mnt/backup.rtv bs=1M count=510
  
  The backup will take a few minutes to complete.

Unmount your PC's C: Drive by typing: umount/mnt

At the A: prompt, type RTVPatch and hit enter. (RTVPatch is case-sensitive)
If any of the drive sizes do not look correct (IE: a 80GB drive reporting 33GB), you have a compatibility problem, so exit from the program immediately and consult with a knowledgeable source for help. Any questions can be addressed in our PVR Upgrade Forum or another knowledgeable source.

Select the original ReplayTV drive as the TARGET (1st Drive) by entering T and then selecting the ReplayTV drive number.

Enter A to marry a second drive to the TARGET drive and then select the number for your new large upgrade drive as your 2nd drive.
You will then 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." Answer yes if 1STDRIVE accurately describes your original ReplayTV drive and 2NDDRIVE accurately describes your new large upgrade drive.
  If you are using an older version of RTVPatch, you will be asked if you want to reset the partition table. Answer no to this.
- "Do you want to reset the MPEG partition?" Answer No to this, so the MPEG partition is left as is. This should work fine since all the original files should still be intact.
- RTV4xxx and RTV5xxx models only:
  "Do you want to reformat the photo partition?" Answer yes to this question to that the photo partition is sized and formatted as you selected. 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. It is possible to copy the photo partition from the original drive to the second drive, but it is easier to just reformat it and copy the photos from your PC to the ReplayTV.

Enter X to exit the TRVPatch program and power 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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