Installation guide

With today's large drives, there might be a slight drive performance gain by forcing 1 MB clusters in RTVPatch rather than using
the default 256 KB cluster size. The gain, if any, would be observed when a drive contains many recorded shows. To force
RTVPatch to use 1 MB clusters, start RTVPatch with the command line: "RTVPatch 0 1048576" (without the quotes). (There is
no definitive evidence that forcing 1 MB clusters will result in better performance of a ReplayTV, however using 1 MB clusters
should not cause any problems.) Click here for a thread that discusses the issue of 256 KB versus 1 MB clusters.
(*Although I was involved in some of the early testing of RTVPatch, many thanks to FlipFlop, et al - all those involved in
actually writing and/or debugging the program. Space is provided here for easy access to RTVPatch.)
• Replacing the hard drive / RTVPatch drive upgrade/replacement documentation:
RTVPatch for Windows, runs only on Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. If you're running any other version
of Windows, you'll need to use the Linux boot disk method with RTVPatch. For direct links to the RTVPatch/Hard drive
replacement documentation, see below*.
Do not allow Windows to write to or manage a ReplayTV drive (including Windows Disk Adminstrator) - when this happens
Windows may add a signature to the boot partition of the drive which will leave it unable to boot in a ReplayTV even after
running RTVPatch. If Windows has managed the drive, you may need to low level format at least the first 100 MB or so of the
drive (using the manufacturer's utility) and then use RTVPatch.
RTVPatch works best when used with a standard IDE controller - usually the motherboard controller or an add-in PCI controller
card. (You may also avoid problems by making sure the drive is on an IDE cable by itself - for example: remove the cable from
the CD or DVD drive so the target hard drive is the only thing on the cable while you're using RTVPatch). Some have had
success using external USB or firewire enclosures, although some people have not been able to do a successful upgrade using an
external enclosure. Generally, if Windows can see the drive size properly, then RTVPatch should work. You should avoid
trying to use any type of RAID controller with RTVPatch, even if the RAID features have been disabled for the controller.
Pay close attention to drive jumpers. The 5XXX series of ReplayTVs use the cable select setting, while older series ReplayTVs
may need to have the drive set to master. Some hard drives have only master/slave/cable select jumper settings, while some
drives (particularly Western Digital) have an additional "master/single" drive jumper setting. When hooking the drive up to
your computer, if it's the only drive on the cable, you should use the cable select or single drive setting, if available, or the
master jumper setting. In a single drive ReplayTV, you usually want it set to cable select or master (master/single).
The RTVPatch documentation covers copying from an existing ReplayTV drive. You can choose to copy only the system
partition, which will retain all your original set up information from the original drive and choose to reset the mpeg partition -
this does not retain any recorded shows from the original drive, although the shows will still be listed in the Replay Guide, they
will not physically exist on the new drive. OR you can choose to copy the system partition AND the mpeg partition, which will
then retain your original set up info as well as copy your existing recorded shows to the new drive. (The original RTVPatch
documentation recommends not copying the mpeg partition, but under the current version, copying shows is a very reliable
process. About the worst that can happen is some shows will not transfer to the new drive.)
When going from an existing two drive system to a single drive or new two drive system, you must first patch the original drive
1 to become a single drive system. Using RTVPatch, set the original drive 1 as the target, make sure "Single-drive system" is
checked, then choose "Patch Target Drive", then exit. That's really all there is to it. Any shows that exist on the original
second drive cannot be transferred to the new drive(s). Then you can use the single drive to copy to a new single drive
system, (or, for a new two drive system, copy as a single drive, verify it boots, then patch the new drive with the new second
drive to make a new two drive system). You could use extract_rtv to recover the shows from the original second drive to a
computer and then either burn them to DVD or, with 4XXX and 5XXX series ReplayTVs, use DVArchive to stream them back the
ReplayTV. RTVPatch cannot copy a 2 drive system and all recorded shows to a new 2 drive system or new larger drive.
If you have a functional ReplayTV drive, RTVPatch can also be used to make a backup image of the drive. While recorded
shows are not saved to the image, all existing set up information is saved. You choose "Backup source drive" and then point to
a location on your PC's hard drive.
When you put the drive back in the ReplayTV, I would recommend routing the drive cable other than under the drive. There's a
cooling vent directly under the drive, that is at least partially obstructed when the cable is routed under the drive.)