Initial Setup
From TivoZA
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Downloads
First things first, hop on over to the Downloads section of this site and get the following:
- TivoZA installer (http://wan.to/tivo/TivoZA-installer-20051112.iso) - a modified version of the ozTivo installer & image containing the required adjustments for using Tivo in South Africa
- ATA Acoustic Management Utility (http://tivoza.nanfo.com/downloads/ATAAC.zip) - used to make your hard drive as quite as possible
If for whatever reason you wish to use the origional ozTivo installer, you will need the following two files (note the ozTivo installer has some extra install steps as listed on the OzTivo Install page):
- ozTiVo installer (http://minnie.tuhs.org/TiVo/files/images/iso/ozTiVo_installer_HDRX12-20050524.iso) - it contains the image to be installed to the TiVo drive and the installer to put it there
- TivoZA stuff (http://tivoza.nanfo.com/downloads/TivoZA.tar.gz) - Files needed specifically for the TivoZA setup
TivoZA (ozTiVo) installer
Burn the TivoZA (ozTiVo) installer iso to CD using Nero or your preferred cd burning software.
DOS boot disk
Next you need to create a DOS boot disk, this can be done in most version of Windows except Windows 2000 and Windows NT. If you are using Windows XP, insert a disk with nothing important on it as it will be erased. Then right click on the floppy drive icon in "My computer" and select format. When the format display comes up, select "Create an MS-DOS startup disk" and then select "Start".
Once done formatting you need to copy the following files you downloaded onto the disk:
- ATA Acoustic Management Utility (ATAAC.zip)
- TivoZA stuff (TivoZA.tar.gz) - only if using the ozTivo installer
You will need to unzip "ATAAC.zip" before copying it across, do not unzip "TivoZA.tar.gz" as it needs to be unzipped in a special way later.
Mounting the drive
You are now ready to begin you installation.
Firstly you need to get the existing drive out of your TiVo. For this you will need a Torx 10 and a Torx 15 screwdriver bit available at most hardware store.
There are a couple of guides available on the PTVupgrade site (http://www.ptvupgrade.com/installation/instructions.html#s1standalone) which have pictures of exactly how to remove your TiVo drive as well as how to install a network card (if you have purchased one). Select the guide for your specific TiVo model (i.e. Philips HDR and Sony SVR-2000) as well as for your network card, if you have one. There are more guides available at the WeaKnees site (http://www.weaknees.com/upgrade_instructions.php) and they give a bit more detail on how to remove the screws and drive from your TiVo, look at their guides under the "Series1 Standalone TiVo Personal Recorder" section.
Once you have the drive removed you need to install it into your PC, it doesn't matter which IDE cable you connect it to. One thing to note however is that it’s best to set the drive jumper to "Cable Select", the jumper is at the back of the drive and their should be a picture on top of the drive indicating which setting the jumper needs to be in for cable select. If you don’t set it to “cable select” and it is set to the same setting as the other device on the same IDE cable your computer will just hang until this is corrected.
As a precautionary measure it is recommended you temporarily disconnect your normal PC drive as you don't want to accidentally overwrite it.
Once you have the drive installed, boot up your PC but go into your bios settings. There you just need to make sure that the boot order of your drives is floppy, then CD-Rom then Hard Disk.
Note: If you boot into Windows with your TiVo drive connected after having completed this install Windows will write a parity bit to the drive and you will need to repeat the entire install process again.
Determining the drive device name and making the drive quiet
Once you have made the changes to your bios you are ready to boot your PC with the DOS disk you created earlier. If you haven’t already done so insert the DOS boot disk with the downloads on it and boot up the PC.
Once you are at the DOS prompt, you need to launch the "ATA Acoustic Management Utility". To do this type the following (you may need to move to the directory you extracted the zip file too, if it’s not in your root path):
ATAAC
This will display a list of all the drives you have connected as well as which adapter they are connected too. Have a look at the returned drives and determine which is the TiVo drive based on the drive size, model, etc (i.e. look for the drive that isn't you default PC drive). There are 4 adapters and they correspond to device names that you will be using later, you need to make a note of the device name which your drive is connected to. The device names you will need to remember are as follows (make a note of whether you are connected to hda, hdb, hdc or hdd):
hda = PRIMARY MASTER hdb = PRIMARY SLAVE hdc = SECONDARY MASTER hdd = SECONDARY SLAVE
The next thing to do is make sure that the drive runs relatively quietly. Have a look at details returned about your drive after running "ATAAC". If your drives "AAM enabled" = "Yes" and "Current AAM value" = "128" then your drive is already set at the quietest mode. If not then you can set it to run quietly assuming your drive support AAM, old drives as well as the newer Seagate drives do not support AAM. This is not a problem but if this unit is sitting in your living room and the noise from your drive is to loud you may want to consider getting a drive which does support AAM such as Western Digital or Maxtor, among others.
To set the drive in to run in quite mode run ATAAC followed by a parameter for the drive and the AAM level you would like to run it at. Note, "128" is the quietest and "254" the noisiest. Running a TiVo at "128" is fine, running your PC at "128" may result in a bit of a speed decrease but somewhere in the middle for a PC would be fine.
Examples for setting the AAM value, type the following from the DOS command prompt:
ATAAC p0=128 (When setting PRIMARY MASTER) ATAAC p1=128 (When setting PRIMARY SLAVE) ATAAC s0=128 (When setting SECONDARY MASTER) ATAAC s1=128 (When setting SECONDARY SLAVE)
Below is an example screenshot of performing the above steps:
Continue on:
You are now done with setting your drive noise and can continue on to "Preparing the TiVo drive".
