DB35 Drive Availability/Upgrade

[davidwsica]

I purchased a stock Seagate 750GB drive to upgrade my Series3 but based on the noise level I would like to "upgrade" to the new DB35 drives. Two questions:

1) I heard from CDW that they will get some in stock 11/17. Do you have a projected availability date for your DB35 drives?

2) Any idea if I can simply boot off a Linux CD and run the "dd" command to copy my current 750GB drive to the new DB35 model?

Thanks,
David

[WK-Michael]

1) We expect them to come in today, actually. To be honest, we really doubt CDW will have them soon also, but we could be wrong.

2) Should work without a problem.

[davidwsica]

1) We expect them to come in today, actually. To be honest, we really doubt CDW will have them soon also, but we could be wrong.

Great! Any idea when I can order one? Will you need time to "tune" these new drives?

[WK-Michael]

Bare drives are ready to order here (http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-dvr-hard-drive.php).

Kits are ready to order here (http://www.weaknees.com/s325.php).

[davidwsica]

Bare drives are ready to order here (http://www.weaknees.com/tivo-dvr-hard-drive.php).

Kits are ready to order here (http://www.weaknees.com/s325.php).

It looks like these are the same price so I suppose I would go with the Kit. However, the kit does not indicate this is a DB35 drive like the first link you gave. Is the $499 750GB upgrade kit actually the DB35 drive? Do I specifically need to specify it?

[WK-Michael]

We just haven't changed the kit page, but your order would be a DB35 drive. We'll change it as soon as they get delivered.

[WK-Michael]

Just arrived! We'll change the site once we finish getting the orders out.

[gostan]

Hopefully, UPS will be delivering mine today.

Of course, before installing it, my wife and I will need to undertake a little mini-marathon to view some of the recordings that we must see that are located on the current stock drive.

[davidwsica]

Hopefully, UPS will be delivering mine today.

Of course, before installing it, my wife and I will need to undertake a little mini-marathon to view some of the recordings that we must see that are located on the current stock drive.

Mine is out for delivery. I'll be transferring over my recordings to the new drive after it arrives later today.

[WK-Michael]

Sounds good. You're doing a Linux DD? Or a "Tao"?

[gostan]

Unfortunately, the recordings transfer is a bit out of my league. I do not even have a windows desktop computer. Just an Apple Powerbook and and IMac.

[WK-Michael]

I'm a big Mac user myself (on my MacBook Pro now). There's not a lot for Macs in the TiVo world, unfortunately, even though there seems to be a big correlation in the user-base.

Anyway, if you want us to, we can figure out getting your recordings transfered, but you'd have to send us both drives, so it may not make sense.

[davidwsica]

Sounds good. You're doing a Linux DD? Or a "Tao"?

I just got the drive. I plan to do Linux DD though I'm a little concerned when I hook up both drives how I will be able to tell in Linux which is the new one and which is the old one. Any ideas?

[WK-Michael]

Try getting the size with:

hdparm -I /dev/sda

changing the "sda" as necessary.

[davidwsica]

Well the 'dd' is on it's way. I THINK I got the source and destination correct but since they're both 750GB drives it was a little tricky. I'm hoping my assumption regarding how linux maps sda/sdb to the first/second SATA controller cables is correct. Crossing my fingers. When I upgraded the stock 250 drive with this 750 I also needed to run mfstools but since the drives are the same size I'm assuming also that I don't need to run this in this scenario.

[WK-Michael]

The hdparms should also have shown a firmware version, which might have helped differentiate. But since you bought a prepped drive, worst case, you are just back in Guided Setup.

Tell us how it goes!

[WK-JSP]

smartctl -i /dev/sdX will show you the serial number. It may also be printed on the drive. If not, you can hook up one drive at a time and check each for their serial number. The serial number is a good unique identifier that should distinguish different drives, even if they are otherwise identical.

The new weaknees_sata.iso boot has smartctl. It also supports hotplug if your sata controller supports it, so you can plug and unplug the drives without rebooting. You do need to be careful to check the drive letter after hotplug, since it may change if you unplug it then plug it back in.

There's a little shell script on the bootcd, listdrives that will list all the drives attached and display their serial number and smart status ("health").

[gostan]

I'm a big Mac user myself (on my MacBook Pro now). There's not a lot for Macs in the TiVo world, unfortunately, even though there seems to be a big correlation in the user-base.

Anyway, if you want us to, we can figure out getting your recordings transfered, but you'd have to send us both drives, so it may not make sense.Thanks for the offer. But, I just got back to the office and the new HD is already here so that really makes no sense. And, we will just do some heavy watching tonight and tomorrow and I will do the upgrade on Sunday. That is really the hard part as I would simply like to open up the S3 tonight. Patience will win out.

With the new intel chips on the Mac and BootCamp and Parallels, there should be a lot more Macs in the Tivo world of the future.

[WK-Michael]

I hope so too - but I'm a little concerned that the compatibility issues aren't so much in the hardware as in the software. I'd really like TiVoToGo for my Mac . . .

[davidwsica]

I hope so too - but I'm a little concerned that the compatibility issues aren't so much in the hardware as in the software. I'd really like TiVoToGo for my Mac . . .

Same here, I'm working on a MacBook myself here.

Anyway, back on topic....the 'dd' command just finished (took about 5 hours) and I put the new drive in the S3 and .... it works! I have all my programming transferred over and everything appears to be functioning...AND so far it seems considerably quieter than the 7200.10 750GB drive I had in before.

[WK-Michael]

Excellent! Glad to hear it worked, and that the noise (or silence) is what you were expecting. These drives really are night and day from the desktop models.

[gostan]

Michael:

Install is a cinch. And drive is very quiet. My only issue is that my digital and premium channels no longer come in. When I go to any digital and premium channel the initial cablecard screen comes up advising me to contact my cable provider. The cablecard number, host and data infor is shown. By the way, all of my premium channels are checked in the guide.

I have Comcast in Boston.

Suggestions on what to do? Like remove the cablecards or something similar, besides calling Comcast. Maybe it is a simple telephone call to Comcast, but I certainly would not want to have to have another installer appointment to reset cable cards.

Thanks.

[gostan]

Well, some HD upgraders are having issues with encryted content and cablecards after hard drive upgrade. http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=323639 I was under the impression that this was should not be the case as the cable cards are not supposed to be set to the hard drive, but to the Tivo motherboard itself.

Meanwhile, I have Comcast scheduled to come back out and, likely, reset the cablecards, on Wednesday. :( That is, unless there is some other interim solution. And my situation seems a bit more confusing as I not only receive no premiums, but no digitals. Luckily, I do have the local HD's via cable and ota as the Patriots play the Packers at one pm today. That is why I am reluctant to just removing the cable cards and reinserting them.

Stan

[WK-Jeff]

We are indeed aware that some (and for better or worse, very few) people are having issues like yours. Some have been able to solve the problem by calling their cable companies and asking for a cold hit.

Given how infrequent the problem is, we don't yet know for sure what is happening with some cable companies. There is nothing about the software that we are sending that is causing the problem. For example, we use the same software on fully-upgraded units that we sell, yet no customer of a complete unit has had the problem.

As an interim step, I would recommend that you work with Comcast. As we have more information, we will post it and keep everyone apprised.

[gostan]

Earlier in the day I called Comcast and asked for a cold hit. They advised me that they would have to send a technician out to deal with any cable card issues. I have an appointment for this Wednesday morning.

And, I do understand that, os far, these issues appear to be random with little uniformity between cable service providers. But, it must be likely that it is related to how particular cable companies set up the pairing of their cablecards.

[gostan]

We are indeed aware that some (and for better or worse, very few) people are having issues like yours. Some have been able to solve the problem by calling their cable companies and asking for a cold hit.
Comcast in Boston will not cold hit cablecards and this particular issue is not likely solvable by a cold hit based upon a read of the TivoCommunity threads.
Given how infrequent the problem is, we don't yet know for sure what is happening with some cable companies. There is nothing about the software that we are sending that is causing the problem. For example, we use the same software on fully-upgraded units that we sell, yet no customer of a complete unit has had the problem. The problem may be intermittent with no yet known pattern, but it only occurs after installation of the cablecards by the cable company and a subsequent hard drive upgrade, so there would not be any issues with your sales of complete units as the cc's have not yet been paired by the local cable company.

As an interim step, I would recommend that you work with Comcast. As we have more information, we will post it and keep everyone apprised.That is what I am doing. I certainly hope that there is no charge from Comcast for this service.

Thanks for your response(s). I will let you know what happens.

Stan

[WK-Jeff]

From what we understand, Comcast marries each CableCARD to a specific host id. Each card slot in the TiVo has a separate ID. If you swap the cards around, certain channels might not work properly until the cards are re-paired (re-married) even if the cards have been put back into the correct slot. Similarly, if for some reason the host id changes, then the card has to be married back up to the new host id.

In order to re-marry the cards, the cable company has to send out another signal. In order to re-marry the card, Comcast actually has to have the new data number that is visible in the "CableCARD(tm) Pairing" screen, and that would need to be entered into their records.

If you have trouble, you could simply tell the cable company that the S3 had to be repaired so it would need to have the cards "paired up" (married) again.

[gostan]

Jeff,

I guess that I will advise Comcast that the premiums and digitals simply stopped coming in and that I do not know why - the cable cards must have been defective. If I advise them that the S3 was repaired, there will definitely be a service charge as the S3 is not Comcast equipment.

But, I did not swap cards out. I swapped the hard drive out. So, I assume that a swap out of the hard drive without a full copy of the existing disc image causes the need for a new pairing up of the new host id in Comcast cable systems as the host id is tied some how tied to the hard drive. I understand that there is no uniformity between the cable cards in the USA, but it seems to me that WK needs to advise purchasers of hard drives that a re-pairing of the cable cards might be necessary depending upon the implementation of the cable cards by each individual cable company.

Happy Thanksgiving.

[WK-Jeff]

You might consider calling Comcast and telling them that they need to re-pair/re-marry your cards to the host ids. Tell them that your data number has changed. You can find the new number in the "CableCARD Pairing" screen of your TiVo. Have them enter the new number in their records, and we're told that should solve the problem.

[gostan]

You might consider calling Comcast and telling them that they need to re-pair/re-marry your cards to the host ids. Tell them that your data number has changed. You can find the new number in the "CableCARD Pairing" screen of your TiVo. Have them enter the new number in their records, and we're told that should solve the problem.I actually did attempt this by telephone yesterday. But, regular Comcast customer service will not put you in communication with the customer service folks that deal with the cablecards. Pretty darn inefficient and costly customer service approach.

[gostan]

You might consider calling Comcast and telling them that they need to re-pair/re-marry your cards to the host ids. Tell them that your data number has changed. You can find the new number in the "CableCARD Pairing" screen of your TiVo. Have them enter the new number in their records, and we're told that should solve the problem. Having this information when the Comcast tech (and TG it was a real Comcast guy and not an independent) made the re-pairing much easier and quicker. I handled the remote and the tech handled the telephone and the Comcast cc folks. The Comcast office cc folks did not really understand why the data numbers would change, but all is well now. Thanks!!

[WK-Jeff]

For the benefit of others, can you tell us what you had to do to talk to the right person? And once you talked to the right person, I assume you just had to give the tech the new data id?

[gostan]

I tried to keep it simple. I told the Comcast tech that my cable cards had been working correctly, but that the premium and digital channels disappeared about a week ago. I did not know why, but some other folks on various Tivo AV forums had had the data id change after their original installation and I was sure that this had happened to my cablecards.

I showed him that I was receiving the premiums on my other cable box and this helped to get the Comcast office to even look at the existing data id numbers - which were different. Yes, I just gave the tech the new numbers. He gave them to the office and they re-entered them and voila - all was fine.

To be honest, I had a very cooperative tech, who could tell that I knew what I was talking about. In fact, when he was leaving, he indicated that Tivo must have changed the data id's because the home office of Comcast would not change them.

He did tell me to write down my data id numbers and that if this happened again to call customer support and have them put me through to the cc folks and tell them that my data id's had changed and have them re-enter them. I would suggest that anybody who has this issue should call their provider and be affirmative and specifically state that they were sure that the data id's had changed - this might avoid a service call.

[Bierboy]

When will your 500GB upgrade drives be the DB35s (or will they be offered in the DB35 configuration)?

[WK-Michael]

We still don't have an ETA on the 500 GB SATA DB35 drives. We sell many more of the 750s, so we made those our highest priority with Seagate, and they came first.

[wackymann]

I just wanted to say that I received a bare Seagate DB35 in the mail from WeaKnees today, and that the install in my Tivo S3 went very smoothly. I used the bumwine method with a Knoppix boot CD. Everything took about 2 hours (including 90 minutes for the dd). Pay channels (HBO, Starz, etc...) are all coming in fine after the upgrade. Disk copy is the way to go! I now have my original 250 GB drive standing by as a backup if the 750 GB drive ever dies *knocks on wood*.

I had to buy a PCI-SATA card to do the copy because my computer's mobo doesn't support SATA, but that was a nice upgrade to my computer anyways, so I consider that money well spent.