I have a directv tivo unit and pulled the hard drive. Is there any way to hook up to computer to convert files before reformatting so I can use the 40g hard drive it had inside?
No, it's too late. Your files are encrypted as recorded and useless outside of your TIVO.
You must first turn off the encryption to your directv tivo unit (requires a tivohack), then your files recorded to the TIVO can be used elsewhere (requires knowledge of Linux operating system).
Sure, it's an IDE drive, just reformat it in DOS, or use one of the disk CD ROM utilities that come with hard drives, and you'll be able to use the 40g hard drive in windows. If you pulled the hard drive to upgrade the TIVO with a bigger hard drive, you could have copied the old hard drive onto the new hard drive, and expanded the new (if you wanted to) - that way you would have kept your old files onto the new drive in the TIVO, and then have an extra 40g hard drive for you Windows system. Most TIVO websites that tell you how to upgrade a TIVO hard drive will tell you how to retain the old files to the new upgrade drive.
No I gave up directv and went back to cable I need broadband anyway. I did of course stay with a DVR though. Thanx for the 2 heads up. I will reuse the HDD when I have a spare IDE spot hahaha.