Figure 1: The Weaknees kit

Figure 1 shows everything that actually showed up, including the "Twinbreeze" mounting bracket, which is needed in "Series 2" TiVos since they don't come with a mounting bracket for a second drive.

The kit packaging is excellent, with the hard drive packed in its own clear plastic box that nestles snugly in the shipping box's thick foam liner. The picture doesn't show the top foam cover, which sits between the drive and parts bag section and the "Twinbreeze" bracket that's packed on top. The parts bag contains fasteners, IDE and power cables and even little Torx T10 and T15 tools that are needed for the upgrade. The only thing not included is a Phillips (cross-head) screwdriver, which if you don't have, you probably shouldn't be attempting the upgrade anyway! My kit, by the way, came with an 80GB Maxtor Diamondmax 16 drive.

The excellent instructions take you step-by-step through the upgrade and seem to be written by someone who has actually done the upgrade and who also supplies information that is usually left to the reader to discover. Lots of close-up photos with descriptive "call-outs" are provided, again, for exactly for the areas where you need them.

The frequent cable pinch and pull warnings might seem a bit much for folks who are comfortable mucking around inside a computer, but I didn't mind them. When I was all done, the completed upgrade looked like a factory job (Figure 2), with nary a piece of duct tape or velcro in sight! (The added drive is the one on the right.)

Figure 2: The finished upgrade

The upgrade itself took about 30 minutes from the time I had assembled all the bits on my dining room table to begin the operation, until I plugged the upgraded unit in for its first "smoke test". I held my breath as the familiar boot-up sequence lit up my TV's screen and resumed normal respiratory functions once the boot completed and the TiVo was once again on the job.