Winmfs Download
Matilda Equiluz
I am trying to make a backup of my TiVo disk using winmfs. The destination disk I want to use was previously formatted for Windows. Winmfs did not recognize it. So I used Disk Management to "remove" the drive, so it is now shown as not initialized and has no drive letter, but it is still not recognized by winmfs.
If you're using Windows 8 or 10, you'll need to start winmfs as an elevated Administrator before winmfs can see your hard disks. Just right-click the shortcut or executable of winmfs, and choose "Run as Administrator". From memory, I don't think this was necessary with Win7, but that was a while ago now.
Running as Administrator, and Elevated Administrator are not the same thing. Try doing what I suggest maybe. Also, is the disk connected to a SATA port in your PC, or some form of USB to SATA adapter or similar? I know some people had trouble with some brands of the the latter. Maybe also do a quick erase of the target disk using WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics first (free from the WD site). A quick erase which just takes a few minutes is fine. When running winmfs (and you should be using Beta build 9.3G) , in Elevated Administrator mode, you need to go to File/Select Drive to select your source drive. You should see source and target drives listed if you've followed the advice above.
I am trying to make a backup of my TiVo disk using winmfs. The destination disk I want to use was previously formatted for Windows. Winmfs did not recognize it. So I used Disk Management to "remove" the drive, so it is now shown as not initialized and has no drive letter, but it is still not recognized by winmfs.
The destination drive no longer appears in Disk Management and so does not have a drive letter. So any suggestions about running an erase or other program on this drive cannot be adopted.
When I go into "Select Drive" in winmfs, initially it only shows the TiVo source drive. There is a box at the bottom of the screen "Show Mounted Drive". When I check this, the destination drive appears also and is shown with the drive letter F. This is strange, because drive F is listed by Windows as a recovery partition on the C drive.
Anyhow, with both drives showing on the Select Drive screen, I select the correct TiVo source drive. Then I go into mfscopy, and the source drive appears OK, but there is no destination drive available. It just says "none".
In Windows 7,8 and 10 there are two account types, Standard and Administrator. Most home users will by default have an Administrator account, but this account doesn't have absolutely full privileges - it's slightly neutered. To see any drives, winmfs must be run in Elevated Administrator mode as described above, or as a true Administrator. I don't think this was a thing back in Vista, and I didn't think anyone still used that awful OS. There are other tasks that need this mode also, e.g. activating MS Office 2010 Pro Plus.
I've copied and backed up hundreds of Tivo drives using winmfs Beta 9.3g in Windows XP, Win7, and Win10 with no issues. I also clone unmodified Tivo drives with a bootable JMFS CD, but this won't work with pre-modified Tivo disks. There's no need to dig out any other software. I have suggested what you could try by erasing the disk first using the free WD program, which does work for me, but you don't seem keen to try this.
BTW, in winmfs, you only select the source drive from the File/Select menu. (You don't select the destination drive at this point, although if it's properly erased it should be visible in the list at this point)
You then choose Tools/mfscopy, and if the target disk is truly erased, it should appear in the list of target drives in the droplist. If the disk isn't properly erased as I suggested, it won't appear in the droplist. Simply deleting partitions in Windows Disk Management won't clear the disk adequately to work with winmfs.
I followed Spong's helpful suggestion, and downloaded WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics. This program was able to see the target disc, even though Windows did not recognize it. I ran quick erase, and then holding my breath reran winmfs, and YES!!! it saw both drives and mfscopy is running as I write this.
In Windows 7,8 and 10 there are two account types, Standard and Administrator. Most home users will by default have an Administrator account, but this account doesn't have absolutely full privileges - it's slightly neutered.
@K8Toledo, you're right, however this is a forum relating to Tivo problems, not Windows Servers and networking. I was trying to keep things simple for a home user running Vista. Most home users don't need to get into the detail you've given, and most standalone Home PCs do in fact end up with a User account that's listed as being an Administrator account, but isn't really a full Administrator. I suspect your background is in Client/Server networks. Home PCs have a choice of Administrator or Standard. A Standard account needs an Administrator password to do anything that affects other users or the security of the PC, so the primary user is normally an "Administrator" with close to, but less than 100% control, as I mentioned in my previous postings. Two things that simply won't work correctly on Windows 7,8 and 10 despite the single active account being "Administrator" is winmfs or activation of Office 2010 Pro Plus. You need to right-click the executable or shortcut, and choose "Run as Administrator". This takes you to Elevated Administrator when executing the program.
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