At the beginning of the PTVnet installation, you are asked if you are going to prepare a new drive in combination with InstantCake or whether you are using a drive that is already configured with the TiVo operating system. It is not necessary to use InstantCake, but if you are starting with a blank drive, this is the easiest way to proceed. Alternatively, you can use a drive that has already been prepared in a variety of ways.

In this example, we will answer no to the question since we are assuming you've already created a new drive with your own backup, or by using InstantCake at an earlier time.