I'm curious if the new replacement hd will retain all the same background colors, text sizing and setup options that I had on the original factory hd. I saw where it said the "latest software" was installed and I'm just hoping that doesn't change the layout and options I'm used to.

This is a DirectTV R10 with original Maxtor 80gb HD, replacing it with the appropriate R10 500gb HD from Weaknees.

Also, my symptoms were sporadic but usually non-frequent and random reboots (for about a year), light snow in the background (for several years) and eventually it got stuck on the welcome screen for hours last week, then moved on to welcome screen then totally blank grey screen after one time of displaying the "serious error" screen. Now it just goes to Welcome, then blank.

I am concerned that this could possibly be signs of a mother board issue vs HD and I'm curious how Weaknees will work with me in the event my replacement HD doesn't fix the problem?

Also, since this R10 unit was designed for such a small HD originally, will putting a 500gb in it put too much strain on the other components trying to process all that data?

One last question, what is the typical lifespan for one of the Weaknees 500gb drives? My current 80gig lasted 6+ years. I love my Tivo...

Thanks a bunch.