Recent content by MikeJH

Thanks Dino yet more options to consider.

Thanks Martin forgot about Freecycle worth bearing in mind if I don't feel like exploring Linux.

Hi, the innards looked absolutely fine much to my relief the outside was dusty but it had only been in there 2-3 years I think in a thick plastic canvassy bag-for-life from Sports Direct so it wasn't directly on the floor. It didn't indicate where the problem was but it asked if I wanted to go...

Suspected it might have been busy doing nothing thanks BH.

Yes in the Settings menu when System is highlighted Data Storage is one of the options but when System is selected Data Storage is greyed out and inaccessible. Similarly when Preferences is selected Recording is greyed out and inaccessible.

Thanks I'm having great difficulty detaching the power cable from the pc's drive and getting it out. I might find it easier getting the humax's drive in but not sure.

Thank you for that load of very useful info. I'ved looked on the PC's hard drive and it says SATA II so SATA 2 yeah? The idea of just fitting the hard drive and seeing if it offers to format you mean as it starts up rather than as part of the factory default option? That seems a great idea...

Thank you very much Martin another very kind offer. :) Did you mean 500 GB if it's from a Humax recorder? Something else to consider thank you.

So it's a Celeron 430 @1.8GHz, 2.5 GB RAM Intel 82945G chipset if that's any relevance to the Linux distribution I should try if needed. It doesn't have wi-fi even.

Thanks could you just explain what you mean by swapping the SATA cables please? I've dug out the old PC from the garage it has a celeron 1.8 GHz processor and a 80 GB hard drive and seems like 2.5GB RAM which I was surprised at for its age. On start-up it recommended I go into start-up repair...

Thanks I'm not sure if I've got the equipment I haven't got a USB to SATA adapter I've just remembered I've got an old Windows Vista tower pc but don't know if the disk would slot straight in without any additional caddy. I would need quite a bit of help with installing and using a version of...

Thanks Martin

I'm sorry I didn't mean any disrespect. I'm grateful for your help it seems my only option is to install a new disk assuming that gptf on the maintenance mode menu (which I don't know the consequences thereof) wouldn't help.

Thanks prpr it came back with ls: /sys/block/sd*: No such file or directory

Thanks Black Hole for the first 2 bits of info. I just thought chances are they were members of both forums and you would know eachother. I couldn't get the custom firmware to download so Martin told me to right click and download in a new window so perhaps this should be made clear on that...