How to backup your TiVo

Well, after my TiVo crashed, I have gotten back in and learned how to recreate the system from scratch. 🙁 I am able to start with a brand new drive, use the 25xtreme image, then upgrade it to upgrd310. But this leaves me with a basic config.

Update: Well it seems that I need to run the upgrd252.sh script, since 3.1 doesn't work with my TiVo. Also key to the upgrade process is ensuring you have a compatible drive. I am now using the 40Gig ST340810A. It work much better than the IBM. The IBM would get through the first install pass of just 25, but then would not upgrade giving me some funky error. BTW, also use a good motherboard. The system I have at home is now going into the trash. POS machine cost me 2 days of my life fuckin with the TiVo. Its onboard IDE1 channel is flaky.

Update 2: Don't upgrade with another tivo in the same room. I ran the commands to wipe my TiVo, and another one in the room was listening, and it wiped too. 🙁 I feel like a total heel. On another note. You may lose your local channels, if this is the case, just wait several days (argh), or call your local provider and say you reset your system and you don't have them. They put you in a priority que, and the programing comes down in about 15-30 minutes. Call: 1-800-DIR ECTV

I have started this system up. Added the xPlusz commands. They were:

#21,1 - NOPHONE

#22,1 - T30SS 30 Second skip

#43,1 - TELNET

#45,1 - TIVOWEB (1.9.4)

#46,1 - TIVOFTPD

#47,1 - NOSCRAMBLE

#54,1 - Activate NOSCAMBLE

#28,1 - CRON

#30,1 - CALLERID
might need

#53,0 - noscramble.o

It takes a while for all these services to start up... once the TiVo boots. So be patient. So now that it was setup this way, I wanted to save all my hard work. So i found the MFSTools2.ISO, and used it to boot up. A good reference on what commands to backup your TiVo can be found in an article written by TomsHardware.com. It basically states what I did. Boot with the MFSTools CD then type:

mkdir /mnt/dos

mount /dev/hdd1 /mnt/dos

mfstool backup -9vso /mnt/dos/mytivo.bak /dev/hdc

This is assuming you have a FAT32 drive as the SLAVE on the SECONDARY drive chain, and your TiVo drive as the MASTER on the SECONDARY drive chain. My CDROM boots as the master on the PRIMARY.

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