I stoopeedly hosed the MySQL database on my Myth box the other day (don’t ask). I didn’t feel like spending several hours manually identifying recorded shows. And since I was faced with re-creating all my schedules, essentially starting over, I figured now would be a good time to apply some upgrades.

Previously, I’d managed to upgrade the CPU to the 3.2GHz Celeron and get it working at acceptable temperatures by adding a new slot cooler (the one that came with the Aria case was defective) and installing a Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu CPU cooler. The box ended up being a little noisier than I wanted but after applying the 7 volt hack* on the slot cooler everything quieted down nicely.

This time out, I wanted to upgrade to the latest version of KnoppMyth (R5C7) and upgrade to a 500GB harddrive.

I had a few problems with the install: It was difficult to install the new drive using only my left arm; I had to burn the install CD twice because the first one was a dud; The new drive wasn’t happy being set to cable select I had to explicitly set the jumper to master.

Once I got passed those hurdles though, the install went swimmingly and with the help of my notes, I was up and running in no time. At the end of the process I ended up netting 460GB of media storage (about 225 hours worth). A nice little upgrade. Maybe I’m showing my age but it still feels a little weird to have half a terabyte of storage sitting in my living room.

* My mod is actually a little different than that article, I installed a switch so I could choose between 7 or 12 volts.