not so instant cake with samsung 750gb hd

[bob1xxx]

Well so far my experance with your software being extermely disappointing the software is a pain in the ass and it took forever x15 tries doing excactely what the instructions said before it recognized my dvd/rw and then "sucessfully converted the drive" after on maybe 30seconds , samsung 750gb was supposed to be converted, installed in my tivo hd and it refused to recognise the drive my hd tivo would boot for 5 to 10 seconds and then grey screen BOOOO! and were the easy mode that is shown on cnet tivo upgrade video? So far IM pissed I going back to frys and see if I can find a westy or seagate 750 that will work with is cake but now Ive really got my doubts:( really bumed so far. BTW you didnt brick my hd tivo, because the stock drive still works. I think I just flushed 20.00 down the toliet for this iso download , hopefully a different 750gb might work but I doubt it.:mad::(:mad:

[Lou Jacob]

Well so far my experance with your software being extermely disappointing the software is a pain in the ass and it took forever x15 tries doing excactely what the instructions said before it recognized my dvd/rw and then "sucessfully converted the drive" after on maybe 30seconds , samsung 750gb was supposed to be converted, installed in my tivo hd and it refused to recognise the drive my hd tivo would boot for 5 to 10 seconds and then grey screen BOOOO! and were the easy mode that is shown on cnet tivo upgrade video? So far IM pissed I going back to frys and see if I can find a westy or seagate 750 that will work with is cake but now Ive really got my doubts:( really bumed so far. BTW you didnt brick my hd tivo, because the stock drive still works. I think I just flushed 20.00 down the toliet for this iso download , hopefully a different 750gb might work but I doubt it.:mad::(:mad:

Difficult to follow exactly what you are saying here...

Sounds like you might have a compatibility problem with your PC if you are having problems with the software recognizing your DVD; perhaps you are not specifying the device name properly?

You may want to recalibrate your expectations on using DIY software if you are not familiar with the internals of your PC or willing to experiment a little (We don't sell Samsung 750GB drives for the Series3 or TiVo HD, so we really don't know if those drives will work correctly).

Patience is a virtue when using DIY software products, but if you are not up to the task, please consider a pre-configured kit; we do offer full trade-in of your software purchase towards the purchase of a kit, that will certainly save you some time and energy!

[bob1xxx]

Difficult to follow exactly what you are saying here...

Sounds like you might have a compatibility problem with your PC if you are having problems with the software recognizing your DVD; perhaps you are not specifying the device name properly?

You may want to recalibrate your expectations on using DIY software if you are not familiar with the internals of your PC or willing to experiment a little (We don't sell Samsung 750GB drives for the Series3 or TiVo HD, so we really don't know if those drives will work correctly).

Patience is a virtue when using DIY software products, but if you are not up to the task, please consider a pre-configured kit; we do offer full trade-in of your software purchase towards the purchase of a kit, that will certainly save you some time and energy!

Ok what brand of hard drive do you recommend for tivo hd upgrade. :confused: also how long on average does the instant cake formate of 750gb hardrive take less than a minute? 10 minutes , hour? Im not look for a excate time just a average thanks. Oh btw I tried the free linux boot disk on my conversion pc and it booted up and listed all the decives hook up to the pc, dvd rw, 750gig samy , 2 gigs of ram, etc.... so I dont think it a via mobo issue. The system is based on stock 754 3000+ amd sempron64 cpu with 2gig of pc3200 ram and a pioneer dvd rw burne with a asrock mobob K8Upgrade-VM800 so no it not brand new but its not a anique ethier.

[bob1xxx]

It wasnt my imaging PC that was the issue it was the POS samsung 750gig hd.;). Went back to Frys in industry ca and returned the Samsung 750gig (I tried formating for a test windows xp install and it would not sucessfuly run a NTFS format ethier). So it slim pickings these days at fry for ethier oem or boxed retail HD's. The Samy 750 gig was 109.00 but all the other 750gig hd oem or boxed were 160.00 range wtf? LOL but Frys has a nice Western Digital 1tb on sale for 159.00 Hmmmm you deceided what the better deal is ;). (btw the stock 160gb in my tivo is WD) So I figure buying the 1tb western digital would be a save bet. Got home and with a little tinkering dvd rw hdb and sata hd sda I was formating and done in about 15 minutes. Unhooked from my pc and then cracked open my tivo hd and install the drive in about 10 minutes. I hooked it back up with the top off so see if the tivo gods would smile on me and it would recognize the new harddrive and it did and began the the firstime set again (the real pain in the arse in this process if you get a good HD the first time :p) lord the wait I , but Im glad Ive got my tivo hook up to my dsl with cat 5 cable with phone line it might take days :eek: LOL. It sucessfully complete the 1st time setup with the WD 1tb and I know have 131 hours of hd programing that so cool I can leave the whole seasons of four of my favorite tv show and still have room for daily random watch once and dump recordings. Ok I spent more than I though on the upgrade (about 180.00) but it still so much a better deal than the wonkie 180.00 500gig wd external storage drive that will get hosed in the first power outage and for the same price I get double the stoarge. Instant cake, new hard drive and a little high tech "sweat equity" I ve got great kick arse companion for my new vizio vx32l hdtv. Hmmmmm 131 of high def goodness LOL:);):D::D:):))

[bob1xxx]

It wasnt a imaging pc issues , it was the POS samsung 750gb hardrive issues. Before I returned samy 750gb hd to Fry's in Industry Ca I tried to do a standard windows xp ntsc formate, no go, it would punk out with error messages (x3 trys) so the Hd was a dud. Back to fry's and prices for the other 750gb drives were bad, boxed seagate 169.00, boxed maxtor also 169.00 and a WD oem for 179.00, were as the samsung oem 750gb I returned was only 109.00 blech! Luckly frys had one of their usual crazy weekend ad loss leaders, western digital 1tb for only 154.99 Hmmmm I bit more than I was hoping to spend, but hey the workout .155 cents a gb so I could not pass on the extra hours.:) Also I was almost 100% sure the WD would work because my hd tivo's stock 160gb is WD. Got home and went to work with instant cake 15 minutes later with some futzing with the setings (ide dvd rw hdb and sata hd sda) it flew threw the formating of my new 1tb WD hd. Next was the install into my tivo HD swaping out the stock drive with my new instant cake baked 1tb western digital hd (5 mins), reconnected the cables and BOOM! my tivo recognized the new drive, Bliss! Then came the slow boring part, tivo's formating and "new" first time startup with the new drive:p it seemed like hours but I think it took 45mins total, this is on a cat5 cable hook up to my dsl, wow it must take hours by conventional phone line:eek:. Any how it sucessfully completed the "new first time started up" and in system information I know have 131 hd hours or the insane 1241 sd hours LOL:D. Ok so now that the install is sucessful I pull the cables again and reinstall the cover. One thing with the larger hard drive the powerup sequence is alot longer but hey for 131 hours of hd recording I can live with it:). The via mobo issues were really a red herring in this case it was a POS hard drive behind the failure of software and not much else. And it was worth the time, effort and high tech sweat equity make it work now I can season pass four of my favority tv shows and still have plenty of room for random one time watch and erase programs, very cool and the fun part about is I did myself and at about 170.00 its a much better deal than tivo's 500gb external storage drive which from what Ive read is one power outage away from the loss of all your saved progams on the both the tivo and the external drive. Instant cake and new high capactity internal hard drive is Better and cheaper solution. This is so Cool.:)

[BruceS]

I am not sure about the only external drive that Tivo allows with the Tivo HD, but I have experienced numerous power outages with the Hitachi Deskstar 1TB drive in an Antec MX-1 enclosure that I used with my S3 with no problems.

I have both the external drive and the S3 connected to a UPS. I don't know whether this makes a difference or not, but it just seemed to make sense.

[Rick Travis]

Try disconnecting the UPS and connecting directly to the wall outlet, see if the problem goes away. If it does your UPS is not big enough for the load. If it does not, check the power rating on your external box, Hitachi drives draw a lot of power. 2nd only to Seagate. Good Luck :)
PS: your problem has nothing to do with Instantcake

[bob1xxx]

Ok well I still think for every day use I happy with my 1tb upgrade of tivo's internal hard drive. Ive got 131 hours hd recording that I dont have to worry loosing every time there a power outage and I dont un hook my tivo and the external hardrive in the magic orderhttp://www.tivo.com/mytivo/howto/getconnected/howto_add_recording_capacity.html and several months of recording go down the drain due So Cal Ed brain fart. And from what I readed you could not use and other brand of external harddrive other than the western digital sold for tivo. Or can you instant cake a sata drive of any size and put it in a sata external hd case and would that work? LOL.;) That would be cool when I add my next 1tb of storage I can use better price off the self sata hd :D. . Although I need a APU then for the tivo and the external HD , hmmmm by the 3TB hd's might be on loss leader at fry and it still be cheaper than the power sensitive external hd expansion? Food for though:)

[BruceS]

I was just trying to say that I have no problems with both the tivo and external drive connected to a UPS.

I agree that this has nothing to do with InstantCake.

[bob1xxx]

Well I just going by what tivo had list on their own website , their support faq for wd external drive, clearly indicates if you dont disconnect the external drive in a very specific sequence you'll loose all the programs you stored on the westy extrenal drive and run the risk of also loosing what is on tivo hd (or series 3) internal hd as well.:(. Also from what Ive read on other HD forms and user reviews of WD tivo external hd data loss due to power failure is a major pitfall for Tivos. But not for other brands of dvr's which can also use WD 500gb external hard drive, they can "refinded" the WD hd and its data after a power failure were Tivo dvr's can't? :confused: . Dont know why but is seems to be true. But that beening said Im curious with the user "do it your self" external hardrive upgrade did you formate the new external hitichi 1tb drive with instant cake and tivo recoginsed your external hd? That would be a cool solution for more space up the road but by the time I get there 4tb hd drives maybe so cheap I might do another instant cake internal drive up grade;)

[BruceS]

Check out tivocommunity.com, where there is a long thread about adding external drives to the S3.

In the case of the S3, you just pull the power cord from the S3, connect your external drives esata cable to the S3, power up the external drive, and then power up the S3. The S3 performs all formatting necessary and then recognizes the extra space.

I believe the Tivo HD has slightlly different software, which will only recognize the WD drives.

The reason tivos can have problems with external drives during a power failure is that during the formatting process, both the internal drive and the external drive are combined in one file system.

The external drive must be powered on and up to full speed before power is applied to the tivo. APC sells a type of power conditioner that had some outlets which receive power before others, but I believe they are very expensive.

It is possible that the WD drives require more time after power is applied before they are ready.

At this point, you are certainly safer using an internal 1TB drive. You can do this using InstantCake. If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself, dvrupgrade will do it for you.

Another option is to purchase a Tivo HD XL, which comes with a 1TB drive. This has just been announced and AFIK is currently only available from tivo.com.

[bob1xxx]

Yeah I really had zero problems with cracking open my tivo and swaping out the harddrive Ive built from from ground up atleast 7 pc's and replaced numerious hardrives, video cards, memory etc.... so I was not worried about damaging my tivo eventhough my opening it voided the warrenty. I had issues with the software but it turned out the really issue was the pos first samsung hardrive I had not instant cake. :)