TiVo Series3 to 1TB hack

An intrepid modder named lightrunner with a long and housebound winter in his sights has posted his experience of expanding the capacity of his Series3 TiVo from the standard 250GB to a whole terabyte, which takes the S3's total recording capacity up to a possible 131 hours of HD recording, or a whopping 1244 hours -- 52 days! -- of standard definition television. Like a lot of other modifications, the process of getting the TiVo to accept the array of hard drives was a long and complicated one: if you want to emulate this effort, you better be comfortable dealing with a nekkid TiVo, a RAID 5 setup, and several user-unfriendly Linux and Mac disk utility applications. Despite the well deserved kudos that lightrunner gets from this job, we've still got to wonder where the guy is going to find the time to watch a working week of high definition TV re-runs.

[OPTICAL OUT PLEASE @ Oct 16th 2006 10:56PM]

What the heck ... the pics of his room; looks like he still lives with his parents.

[Hugh Jass @ Oct 16th 2006 11:21PM]

Exactly how do you come to the conclusion that he lives with his parents? What's strange about his room? But who cares anyway? Maybe he does. For all we know, he could be 17.

[Ben Keppers @ Oct 16th 2006 11:00PM]

He can watch it during the summer lol.

[Angel @ Oct 16th 2006 11:01PM]

How would you come out with that assumption?

52 days worth of re-runs? He's gonna have quite a winter this year.

[HughJass @ Oct 16th 2006 11:24PM]

Anyhow, sweet setup. But I think I'll stick with my usual 70 hours.

[jbaxt2217 @ Oct 16th 2006 11:32PM]

someone cough Hugh Jass Cough must still live w/ his parents. its ok so do i. difference is i'm 15

[Aaron Parker @ Oct 17th 2006 12:10AM]

This is hardly breaking news. Folks over on the Tivo Community Forum (a forum I am a regular on) have been doing this since virtually day one.

[John @ Oct 17th 2006 1:02AM]

I don't think the title said "Breaking News". They just made the information available as it first came to them. Your smug, I'm a tivo community forum regular reply, was really not needed.

[James @ Oct 17th 2006 12:26AM]

Couldn't he got away from using RAID 5 by using just two 750 GB drives?

[HughJass @ Oct 17th 2006 12:31AM]

So would jbaxt2217 or someone else mind telling me what's strange about this room? I must not get out enough anymore...

Aaron, has anyone made a RAID5 array with 1TB of storage on their TiVo before? That's the first I've heard of it.

[jonCHwong @ Oct 17th 2006 9:17AM]

HughJass, I think they're all referring to his wooden TV cabinet... it seems pretty old school to me.

However, if you all look at the rest of the pictures, I'd say this is most likely the master bedroom of his house, which he sleeps in. In the vertical mirror (which is pretty snazzy) shows a bunch of shoes (some of which are womens), so I guess hes also married.
You people gotta stop thinking that just because someone has the brains to come up with something like this, they still live in their parents house.

[andy @ Oct 17th 2006 9:21AM]

The real trick is putting features back on the s3 from the s2 like TiVoToGo and multi-room viewing.

[sarantiss @ Oct 17th 2006 10:11AM]

How about Tivo or the Dish like I have) offer a box that has a higher capacity already. I'd be willing to pay the higher price. HD gives me 25 hours. Not good. Always running out.

[Mike @ Oct 17th 2006 12:19PM]

Yeah, I really don't think this is anything special. The DirecTV / TiVo HD box has been upgradable for some time now, with Weaknees (www.weaknees.com) offering a 200 hour HD / 1300 hour SD setup for $1799 currently. You could also do it yourself with a unit-specific copy of InstantCake from PTVupgrade (www.ptvupgrade.com).

[Lee @ Oct 20th 2006 8:24AM]

No Mike...sounds like you're defensive for sure. Perhaps a little jealous you weren't able to come up with something quite as innovative just off the cuff of your sleave? Certinly entitled to your opinion but should definately consider others opinions before re-re-re-stating your own. By the way is all you do is spend time reading and responding to this type of thing? You have an answer for everything but so far you have few supporters in your opinion and it certainly seems as though your "bashing the guy". Very pompous you seem...just my very humble opinion...and you did say we're all entitled to one.

As far jonCHchow's comment, I agree, he MUST be marraied as the female shoes in the background look like a bunch of Jimmy Choo's & Manolo Blaniks to me...at least $500 a pop & there were stacks of them, so I agree jonCHchow, married guy and sitting pretty to be able to provide such amazing shoes for his wife, I bet the rest of her closet is to die for (I'd love to see her handbags). This guy must be rolling in it (cash I mean). Probably high up in the field of technoloy & the reason he came up with such an innovative idea within a day or so of recieving the new Tivo's. Who knows though, but I doubt anyone cares, for those of you so concerned with his room, clearly torn apart because of the Tivo project, maybe those of you so fixated on it should get to work on your own projects.

[jason @ Oct 17th 2006 12:55PM]

im more impressed with voiding the warrany on a 700 box...

[theorus @ Oct 17th 2006 1:15PM]

The Tivo Series 3 only has one SATA port and a non active eSATA port. So if you wanted to have storage larger than 750GB then you have to go outside the box. Direct TV tivo's are easy to upgrade because they have the ability to support two drives the Series 3 only supports one. So if you wanted to beyond the current largest drive size of 750GB then you have to do something like lightrunner did. You guys should read the tivocommunity forums before you come here and judge a persons work. What lightrunner did was only talked about (and the topic was very recent since the S3 just came out) in the forums but he was actually able to do it.

[Mike @ Oct 17th 2006 2:21PM]

no one is bashing the guy and I don't think it is necessary to have to read other discussion threads on other boards to be entitled to express your opinion here. maybe, if you like the tivocommunity forums so much, you should spend more time there and less here. but again, this is just my opinion, which as far as I'm aware, is still within my right to express.

[shootedit5 @ Oct 17th 2006 4:17PM]

MIKE if you would have read the series 3 forums at tivocommunity you would understand, "Yeah, I really don't think this is anything special. The DirecTV / TiVo HD box has been upgradable for some time now, with Weaknees (www.weaknees.com) offering a 200 hour HD / 1300 hour SD setup for $1799 currently.", why this was an accomplishment. And I think THEORUS was just stating an opinion as well. And is it wrong to post on multiple threads and forums? Why you sounding so defensive? Were all just posting our opinion. But I think and thats my opinion that one should know the facts before posting.

[Mike @ Oct 17th 2006 5:33PM]

Here we go again. To sum up, I have no intention of reading other forums to simply post my opinion here - especially when none are referenced from the outset. This is Engadget, not the Psychic Friends Network.

Also, I wouldn't call it being defensive - just restating my point.

[Chris @ Oct 18th 2006 10:29AM]

Weakknees offers the upgrade on __DIRECT TV___ HD Tivo's. They are a completely different type of machine than this one. This machine has cablecard slots in, it's for people who have cable tv, not satelite.

[Jimtech @ Oct 18th 2006 3:23PM]

I dont know what your point is here with the psychic friends network and all but I think their just telling you to go look at other sites to get a better understanding of what your posting about. I personally live by Pluck and go to alot of news feeds, forums and blogs. Why limit yourself to just one place.

[shootedit5 @ Oct 18th 2006 3:11PM]

Thank you Chris. You are absolutely right!
I just don't get some people. I guess some people don't want all the facts before they form their own opinion and make uneducated contributions to a thread. And for those of you who can't search for a thread on a forum well here is a couple links to the S3 drive limitations.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=318632
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=318604

[Mike @ Nov 25th 2006 5:57PM]

See, the funny thing is, Lee, that the purpose of my comment was not to gain supporters. To be honest, I couldn't care less who agrees with me or not. This isn't a popularity contest. Maybe from a technical standpoint, this was an impressive accomplishment. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it's still not that special - from a practicality standpoint.

Sorry to hear that you feel I'm being pompous. Unfortunately, as I've already stated, your opinion of me and my own opinions mean nothing to me. I will agree with you on one point, however - going back and forth with this is a huge waste of time. So far, this has been like having a debate with a field of sheep.

Thanks.

----------------------------------
The following is a translation, for those of you who still have trouble comprehending. For those who have had no trouble - the vast majority, I'm guessing - please accept my apologies and disregard the following.
----------------------------------

Baa, baa baaaa baaaa ba, Lee, baaa baa baaaaaa ba ba baaaaaa baa baa ba baaa baaaaaaaaa. Ba ba baaaaa, B baaaaa'a baaa baaa baa baaaaa baaa ba ba baa. Baaa baa'a a baaaaaaaaa baaaaaa. Baaaa baaa a baaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaa, baaa baa ba baaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaaa. Baaaaaaaaaaaa, ba ba baaaaaa, ba'a baaaa baa baaa baaaaaa - baaa a baaaaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaa.

Baaaa ba baaa baaa baa baaa b'a baaaa baaaaaa. Baaaaaaaaaaaa, ba B'aa baaaaaa baaaaa, baaa baaaaaa ba ba baa ba baa baaaaaaa baaa baaaaaa ba ba. B Baaa baaaa baaa baa ba baa baaaa, baaaaaa - baaaa baaa baa baaaa baaa baaa ba a baaa baaaa ba baaa. Ba baa, baaa baa baaa baaa baaaaa a baaaaa baaa a baaaa ba baaaa.

Baaaaa.

----------------------------------
End Translation. Sorry, Lee, I couldn't find the proper translation for your name into Sheepish so I thought it best to leave it as is. I thought it might be "Baa" but I just didn't want to risk offending you again. Thanks.
----------------------------------

[Mike @ Oct 20th 2006 12:30PM]

by the way, nice comments about the shoes, you fruit.

[shootedit5 @ Oct 20th 2006 4:07PM]

Mike, if you don't care about anyone's opinion then why waste your time commenting at all. That seems more like what a sheep would do. Just bah bah bahing away.
As for it being not practical, how about if someone had some important recordings that haven't been watched yet and just wanted some fault tolerance incase of a drive failure. It wasn't just the storage increase it was also the fact that lightrunner implemented RAID5.
And what an ignorant trashy thing to call Lee a fruit. Are you a homophob? How do you know he is not a she? I know alot a girls named Lee. But my guess is, since you bah bah away in a field of sheep as you put it, you're not that bright to think that far ahead or do you care to.

[Megs @ Oct 20th 2006 4:24PM]

Mike your an idiot. Why don't you do us all a favor and stop dragging down the intelligence level of engadget readers, leave and don't come back. No one here understands what your saying. Maybe thats because we don't speak sheep.
As for the Tivo RAID build, I wish I had this setup when our Series 2 crashed a few months ago.

[bigbri @ Oct 20th 2006 5:05PM]

HAAAhhhhhh..... dude whats funny is the guy actually took the time to type two whole paragraphs of sheep talk

"Baa, baa baaaa baaaa ba, Lee, baaa baa baaaaaa ba ba baaaaaa baa baa ba baaa baaaaaaaaa. Ba ba baaaaa, B baaaaa'a baaa baaa baa baaaaa baaa ba ba baa. Baaa baa'a a baaaaaaaaa baaaaaa. Baaaa baaa a baaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaa, baaa baa ba baaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaaa. Baaaaaaaaaaaa, ba ba baaaaaa, ba'a baaaa baa baaa baaaaaa - baaa a baaaaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaa.

Baaaa ba baaa baaa baa baaa b'a baaaa baaaaaa. Baaaaaaaaaaaa, ba B'aa baaaaaa baaaaa, baaa baaaaaa ba ba baa ba baa baaaaaaa baaa baaaaaa ba ba. B Baaa baaaa baaa baa ba baa baaaa, baaaaaa - baaaa baaa baa baaaa baaa baaa ba a baaa baaaa ba baaa. Ba baa, baaa baa baaa baaa baaaaa a baaaaa baaa a baaaa ba baaaa.

Baaaaa."

damn dude you killin me. Y you apologizing if you dont care about anybodies opinion
"----------------------------------
The following is a translation, for those of you who still have trouble comprehending. For those who have had no trouble - the vast majority, I'm guessing - please accept my apologies and disregard the following.
----------------------------------"

And your awfully chatty for some one who thinks its a waste of time going back and forth.

hahahaaaaa dude stop it your killin me maaaan haahhhhh

[AussieDownUnder @ Oct 22nd 2006 1:10AM]

This really sucks.
In Australia we are still using VHS tapes.

[docsharp01 @ Mar 30th 2008 1:16AM]

Good article about TiVo Series3.
http://www.1-satellite-tv-facts.com