I've just replaced the default hard drive with a new Samsung 5400 rpm drive
(120 gig).

I used Steve Conrad's excellent step by step instructions as a guide.

http://www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade2.html

As I bought the drive pre-configured from Pacelink all I had to do was swap
the drives. The swap itself was a piece of ****, BUT I had major hassles
with the wretched TiVo case!

I was aware that the top of the case would be hard to remove but I was not
prepared for the struggle I had to go through. In the end I had no option
but to prise away all the securing tags and lever the lid off using a broad
flat screw driver. There was no way it would slide back at all. The back of
the casing is not a pretty sight, and needless to say I cannot get it back
on properly. You can't tell from the front however!

Who designed this horlicks of a case? They should be shot. The whole job
took 2 and a half hours, of which two and a quarter hours were spent
fighting with the case!

Anyway, I have a query regarding hard drive capacity:

Steve Conrad states that the new recording capacity with a 120 gig drive
should be 39 hours and 58 mins at best quality, and 139 hours and 4 minutes
at basic quality, and there is a screen shot of his system information.

My system information tells me that I have 38 hours and 54 mins at best, and
135 hours and 21 mins at basic.

I'm not overly concerned as this is more than enough, but why should there
be this discrepancy? Is it something to do with how the drives are
formatted?

I am slightly worried that there may be bad sectors on the drive, and TiVo
is taking account of them when it assesses how much capacity it has.

Maybe the capacity will change once TiVo has stopped configuring?

Any advice welcome. TIA.

On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 22:40:38 GMT, "Radiohead"
wrote:

I've just replaced the default hard drive with a new Samsung 5400 rpm drive
(120 gig).

snip tale of woe - they usually come apart easier than that!

Anyway, I have a query regarding hard drive capacity:

Steve Conrad states that the new recording capacity with a 120 gig drive
should be 39 hours and 58 mins at best quality, and 139 hours and 4 minutes
at basic quality, and there is a screen shot of his system information.

My system information tells me that I have 38 hours and 54 mins at best, and
135 hours and 21 mins at basic.

I'm not overly concerned as this is more than enough, but why should there
be this discrepancy? Is it something to do with how the drives are
formatted?

I am slightly worried that there may be bad sectors on the drive, and TiVo
is taking account of them when it assesses how much capacity it has.

Maybe the capacity will change once TiVo has stopped configuring?

Any advice welcome. TIA.

Not all 120 Gb drives are created equal. It's likely that your 120Gb
drive is smaller than Steve Conrad's 120 Gb drive.

(I have three "120 Gb" Deathstars in the house. One is actually 123.5
Gb, the others aren't. Even the drive labels agree that tyhey're not
the same size. Yet they're both the same model of drive. Odd.)

--
QrizB

I sound like I know what I'm talking about, but don't
be fooled.

QrizB wrote:

Not all 120 Gb drives are created equal. It's likely that your 120Gb
drive is smaller than Steve Conrad's 120 Gb drive.

(I have three "120 Gb" Deathstars in the house. One is actually 123.5
Gb, the others aren't. Even the drive labels agree that tyhey're not
the same size. Yet they're both the same model of drive. Odd.)

Agreed, it could be that the drive Conrad bought as counted as
1024Mb/Gb, and Radiohead's was 1000Mb/Gb, that's a joyful trick of
advertisers to sell smaller than stated drives (although there will be
some tiny 4pt font smallprint somewhere saying NB: 1Gb = 1000Mb (which
is does not!)).

As for the case, I recently had to get into mine and it wasn't hard,
once I skillfully removed the torx screws using brite force and mole
grips it came away after a bit of gentle leveing with a flat screwdriver.

Tip: PC case screws are the same bore as the torx screws I found, so
when it went back together I used those instead to save me buying a T10 bit!

Ian.

Radiohead wrote:

As I bought the drive pre-configured from Pacelink all I had to do was swap
the drives. The swap itself was a piece of ****, BUT I had major hassles
with the wretched TiVo case!

You could have saved quite a bit by buying the drive elsewhere and
doing the transfer yourself. Getting the case off is far and away the
longest and hardest part of the job as you have found.

The cases do come off in the end without having to bend the metal but
I find that you need to brace the back of the unit against an
immovable object and then push like the devil to get the case off.
Don't be frightened: just go for it.
I now only have my case cover replaced partially to allow for future
ease of access.

--
Digibox problem? : A reboot solves 90% of these.
The Sky Digital FAQ: http://tinyurl.com/tez5
How to get UK TV overseas: http://tinyurl.com/6p73
Fed up with logos / red buttons? : http://logofreetv.org/
BBC gone? : http://www.astra2d.co.uk/
----
Only the truth as I see it.
No monies return'd. ;-)

"Jomtien" wrote in message
...
Radiohead wrote:

As I bought the drive pre-configured from Pacelink all I had to do was
swap
the drives. The swap itself was a piece of ****, BUT I had major hassles
with the wretched TiVo case!

You could have saved quite a bit by buying the drive elsewhere and
doing the transfer yourself. Getting the case off is far and away the
longest and hardest part of the job as you have found.

The cases do come off in the end without having to bend the metal but
I find that you need to brace the back of the unit against an
immovable object and then push like the devil to get the case off.
Don't be frightened: just go for it.
I now only have my case cover replaced partially to allow for future
ease of access.

--
The trick I've found that works is to take a smallish flat bladed
screwdriver (about 6mm long blade) and insert it between the case and the
cover on one of the sides. Then twist the screwdriver in such a way that it
pushes the cover towards the back of the case. That's not very clear, so
I'll try again:

1) place tivo on its side, left hand side on the floor, right hand side in
the air. For ease of description, assume bottom of unit is on your right

2) insert screwdriver between lip of cover and bottom of case - no need to
force it, a cm or less in will do the trick. Insert it about halfway along
the side of the case

3) with the screwdriver in your right hand, rotate it clockwise. As it
turns, the cover should slip back easilly with it

4) If required, repeat for the left hand side

I've done this on 3 tivos now, and it works a treat. I guess the trick is
that rotating the blade simultaneously loosens the grip between case and
cover, and moves the cover in the right direction

"Kevin O'Donovan" wrote in message
...
"Jomtien" wrote in message
...
Radiohead wrote:

As I bought the drive pre-configured from Pacelink all I had to do was
swap
the drives. The swap itself was a piece of ****, BUT I had major
hassles
with the wretched TiVo case!

You could have saved quite a bit by buying the drive elsewhere and
doing the transfer yourself. Getting the case off is far and away the
longest and hardest part of the job as you have found.

The cases do come off in the end without having to bend the metal but
I find that you need to brace the back of the unit against an
immovable object and then push like the devil to get the case off.
Don't be frightened: just go for it.
I now only have my case cover replaced partially to allow for future
ease of access.

--
The trick I've found that works is to take a smallish flat bladed
screwdriver (about 6mm long blade) and insert it between the case and the
cover on one of the sides. Then twist the screwdriver in such a way that
it
pushes the cover towards the back of the case. That's not very clear, so
I'll try again:

1) place tivo on its side, left hand side on the floor, right hand side
in
the air. For ease of description, assume bottom of unit is on your right

2) insert screwdriver between lip of cover and bottom of case - no need to
force it, a cm or less in will do the trick. Insert it about halfway along
the side of the case

3) with the screwdriver in your right hand, rotate it clockwise. As it
turns, the cover should slip back easilly with it

4) If required, repeat for the left hand side

I've done this on 3 tivos now, and it works a treat. I guess the trick is
that rotating the blade simultaneously loosens the grip between case and
cover, and moves the cover in the right direction

Brilliant, thanks Kevin (and to others who replied).

Radiohead wrote:
I've just replaced the default hard drive with a new Samsung 5400 rpm
drive (120 gig).

I used Steve Conrad's excellent step by step instructions as a guide.

http://www.steveconrad.co.uk/tivo/upgrade2.html

As I bought the drive pre-configured from Pacelink all I had to do
was swap the drives. The swap itself was a piece of ****, BUT I had
major hassles with the wretched TiVo case!

--snip

I used the 2-person "hold and jerk" technique. Put it on a thickish carpet,
get someone to hold the back and push/pull the cover (I forget) in a sharp
movement. Slides right off.