Before I reformat....

I am saying that it should not be installed using the untar method since untar does not correctly reproduce the structure. The preferred method now is to install CF 2.12 (if it is not already installed). This installs all the fix-disk files in /bin & /sbin which appear in the path. It is therefore no longer necessary to 'cd' into a directory or specify the full directory when running the fix-disk command.

fix-disk performs a serieas of checks to work out which disk to check (it only checks the internal disk of an HDR). It also checks that all of the partitions on that disk have a magic number indicating that they are EXT2/3. In MarkHT's case this check is failing because of an initial corrupt superblock. The 'sed' commands above will comment out that check because e2fsck will be able to fix it by using a backup superblock. At some point in the future there will be an update to the custom firmware to remove this overzealous check from the fix-disk script.
 
xyz321 - Thanks of the help. I'm currently on Humax firmware version 1.02.28 and I see that you cannot install CF 2.12 over this (I'm currently on CF 2.11). I just wanted to check that, given the state of my machine, is it ok to go ahead and update the full firmware to 1.02.29 and then do the CF 2.12 update? Also do I need to do anything to remove the existing fix-disk installation or can I just ignore that?
 
If you load CF2.12/1.02.29 it will upgrade the standard software at the same time, but to be absolutely sure there's nothing left behind in Flash memory you could load the official 1.02.29 first. This will do no further harm to your hard drive, then you can Telnet in and use xyz321's instructions.
 
OK thanks. I'll play it safe and load the official 1.02.29 first and report back once I've run xyz321's instructions
 
I am saying that it should not be installed using the untar method since untar does not correctly reproduce the structure.

O.K. I will remove the Fix-Disk (USB) notes completely, I guess that if 2.12 is installed, then there is no need for a USB version
 
xyz321 -- I updated the firmware to version 1.02.29 and then installed CF 2.12. While doing this I discovered the Humax seems to be able to see the disk and programmes, however it is not quoting the correct amount of free space and I assume it is not fully fixed though clearly something has improved. I went ahead with the commands you suggested but aborted it at the last minute due to a warning claim the file system was mounted and I would cause damage to continue. How would you advise me to proceed? Thanks again.

Here's the telnet input/output:

humax# fix-disk
Warning: This procedure will freeze the Humax for anything up to 2 hours.
Please ensure that no recordings are currently in progress or scheduled
during this time.
Do you wish to continue [Y/N]? Y
The Humax will now reboot into maintenance mode
After reboot please telnet in and type this command:
fix-disk
Rebooting........Connection closed by foreign host.
macintosh-109:~ Muse$ telnet 192.168.1.76
Trying 192.168.1.76...
Connected to 192.168.1.76.
Escape character is '^]'.
humax# sed -e '/seq 1 3/,/done/s/^/#/' /bin/fix-disk > /tmp/fix-disk
humax# chmod 755 /tmp/fix-disk
humax# /tmp/fix-disk
Checking disk sda


Checking partition /dev/sda1...
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
/dev/sda1 is mounted.

WARNING!!! The filesystem is mounted. If you continue you ***WILL***
cause ***SEVERE*** filesystem damage.

Do you really want to continue (y/n)? no

check aborted.

Checking partition /dev/sda3...
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
/dev/sda3 is mounted.

WARNING!!! The filesystem is mounted. If you continue you ***WILL***
cause ***SEVERE*** filesystem damage.

Do you really want to continue (y/n)? no

check aborted.
mount: mounting /dev/sda3 on /mnt/hd3 failed: Device or resource busy
humax#
 
It may be that you are being a bit quick to run fix-disk in maintenance mode - i.e. before the maintenance mode boot has finished, but it is equally likely that maintenance mode isn't coming up properly because of the disk corruption. The Humax can see the programmes now because the previous disk check fixed the superblock.

Get it back into maintenance mode then check that the filesystems are not mounted, try:

Code:
humax# umount /dev/sda1
humax# umount /dev/sda2
humax# umount /dev/sda3

If they are already unmounted then it will tell you so, otherwise it will hopefully unmount them. The other alternative is that it could say Busy which means that something is using the filesystem

You can see what is mounted with the df -h command - look for anything with /dev/sdaX (where X is 1, 2 or 3).

If you get to the stage where none of them are mounted again, then try running fix-disk (just the standard version without xyz321's modification).
 
Sorry there was an error with the sed command. It may be that the disk has already been repaired sufficiently to run fix-disk.
Try running fix disk without the modification it should attempt to unmount all three partitions before running the checks and will abort if it fails to do this.

I have updated the sed command in my original post in case you need to run it again.
 
Good news, I think the disk is fully repaired. I can see and play my files on the Humax. The Humax's system menu HDD Test claims the disk is OK and the media list is displaying the free disk space I would expect. It'll take me a while, but do you think for safety I should copy everything off the disk and reformat it or (barring an underlying hardware fault) should I be ok to continue as normal?

Many, many thanks to Ezra Pound, xyz321, af123 and Black Hole for their help with this. You've made my day -- it would have been a bit distressing to have lost all my recordings.

For those interested, here's what I did following my last post:
1) I ran the instructions as posted by af123 a couple of posts back to unmount the filesystems. It took a couple of attempts separated by a reboot but was successful.
2) I ran fix-disk unmodified. It generated a lot of output as it fixed the errors. If anyone is interested I have saved the output to a text file which I can post, just let me know if you want it.
3) As a final question it asked me "Are you having problems with a delete loop?". I assumed not, answered no and it terminated.
4) I rebooted the Humax and all seemed well. I ran Humax's system menu HDD test and it passed.
5) As a precaution I ran fix-disk again. It generated much less output and seems to have run cleanly. I understand from xyz321's last post that manually unmounting the disks was unnecessary but won't have done any harm. Here's the output from this final run:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
humax# fix-disk
Warning: This procedure will freeze the Humax for anything up to 2 hours.
Please ensure that no recordings are currently in progress or scheduled
during this time.
Do you wish to continue [Y/N]? y
The Humax will now reboot into maintenance mode
After reboot please telnet in and type this command:
fix-disk
Rebooting........Connection closed by foreign host.
macintosh-109:~ Muse$ telnet 192.168.1.76
Trying 192.168.1.76...
Connected to 192.168.1.76.
Escape character is '^]'.
humax# umount /dev/sda1
humax# umount /dev/sda2
humax# umount /dev/sda3
humax# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs 16.9M 16.9M 0 100% /
/dev/root 16.9M 16.9M 0 100% /
tmpfs 61.0M 40.0k 61.0M 0% /tmp
tmpfs 61.0M 0 61.0M 0% /media
/dev/mtdblock1 2.0M 520.0k 1.5M 25% /var/lib/humaxtv
/dev/mtdblock2 2.0M 1.2M 812.0k 60% /var/lib/humaxtv_backup
humax# fix-disk
Checking disk sda

Partition /dev/sda1 is already unmounted
Partition /dev/sda2 is already unmounted
Partition /dev/sda3 is already unmounted

Checking partition /dev/sda1...
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
hmx_int_stor: 16/65808 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 14711/263064 blocks

Checking partition /dev/sda3...
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
hmx_int_stor: 12/655776 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 79732/2622611 blocks

Creating swap file...
Setting up swapspace version 1, size = 1073737728 bytes

Checking partition /dev/sda2...
e2fsck 1.41.14 (22-Dec-2010)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
hmx_int_stor: 3625/60334080 files (15.7% non-contiguous), 227922031/241304332 blocks
Are you having problems with a delete loop [Y/N]? n

Finished - type 'reboot' to return to normal operation
humax# reboot
Connection closed by foreign host.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks again for your help.
 
do you think for safety I should copy everything off the disk and reformat it or (barring an underlying hardware fault) should I be ok to continue as normal?

I personally wouldn't do a re-format, It may be worth running the Humax HDD check occasionally, but if that comes up O.K. I would leave it at that. I'm glad it worked out for you with a positive outcome :)
 
I would look through the previous output, you mention, for any filenames which are referenced since these may not have been recovered. If they are recordings then you may have lost them but if these files are part of the mod then it may be appropriate to reinstall the affected package(s).

To get an idea of the state of the disk it may be worthwile to install the smartmontools package. Then run it over telnet using:

Code:
smartctl -a /dev/sda
 
I would look through the previous output, you mention, for any filenames which are referenced since these may not have been recovered. If they are recordings then you may have lost them but if these files are part of the mod then it may be appropriate to reinstall the affected package(s).

To get an idea of the state of the disk it may be worthwile to install the smartmontools package. Then run it over telnet using:

Code:
smartctl -a /dev/sda

I looked through the many thousands of lines of corrections but I only came across one file which was named. It was a programme recording's .ts file. The file seems to play ok on the Humax.

I installed smartmontools and ran it over telnet as suggested. I'm not sure how to interpret the output so I'm including it here. Please let me know what you think:

humax# smartctl -a /dev/sda
smartctl 5.41 2011-06-09 r3365 [7405b0-smp-linux-2.6.18-7.1] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-11 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Seagate Pipeline HD 5900.2
Device Model: ST31000424CS
Serial Number: 9VX141E2
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000c50 02d13c825
Firmware Version: SC13
User Capacity: 1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
Sector Size: 512 bytes logical/physical
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 8
ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4
Local Time is: Sun Sep 23 12:52:27 2012 GMT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
See vendor-specific Attribute list for marginal Attributes.

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: ( 643) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate.
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
No Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 228) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x103b) SCT Status supported.
SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 120 099 006 Pre-fail Always - 236507329
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 095 095 000 Pre-fail Always - 0
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 827
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 31
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 081 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 157900132
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 088 088 000 Old_age Always - 10562
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 417
184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0
187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 097 097 000 Old_age Always - 3
188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 096 096 000 Old_age Always - 4
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 052 041 045 Old_age Always In_the_past 48 (0 132 55 47)
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 048 059 000 Old_age Always - 48 (0 16 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x001a 048 033 000 Old_age Always - 236507329
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
ATA Error Count: 3
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

Error 3 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 10296 hours (429 days + 0 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 e9 8d 22 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00228de9 = 2264553

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 e3 8d 22 e0 00 02:36:56.244 READ DMA
ca 00 08 1b 59 15 ec 00 02:36:56.244 WRITE DMA
35 00 60 ff ff ff ef 00 02:36:56.243 WRITE DMA EXT
ca 00 08 23 59 15 ec 00 02:36:56.242 WRITE DMA
35 00 08 ff ff ff ef 00 02:36:56.242 WRITE DMA EXT

Error 2 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 9180 hours (382 days + 12 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 2c ae 23 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x0023ae2c = 2338348

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 2b ae 23 e0 00 2d+14:13:42.521 READ DMA
ca 00 08 93 5d d6 e1 00 2d+14:13:42.521 WRITE DMA
35 00 60 03 1b d9 e1 00 2d+14:13:42.519 WRITE DMA EXT
25 00 18 ff ff ff ef 00 2d+14:13:42.485 READ DMA EXT
25 00 88 ff ff ff ef 00 2d+14:13:42.482 READ DMA EXT

Error 1 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 8352 hours (348 days + 0 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.

After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 ea 8d 22 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00228dea = 2264554

Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 e3 8d 22 e0 00 7d+13:41:56.147 READ DMA
ca 00 38 ab 8d 22 e0 00 7d+13:41:56.146 WRITE DMA
ca 00 08 4b 91 2c e1 00 7d+13:41:56.145 WRITE DMA
35 00 08 ff ff ff ef 00 7d+13:41:56.145 WRITE DMA EXT
35 00 30 ff ff ff ef 00 7d+13:41:56.144 WRITE DMA EXT

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 10551 -
# 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 10531 -
# 3 Short offline Completed without error 00% 6953 -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

humax#
 
MarkHT : Question, Do you place your Humax in stand-by when not in use e.g. at night etc.? I only ask because your HDD has been 'awake' for 10562 Hours which is 1.2 Years of continuous use or 3.6 Years for 8 Hours per day
 
MarkHT : Question, Do you place your Humax in stand-by when not in use e.g. at night etc.? I only ask because your HDD has been 'awake' for 10562 Hours which is 1.2 Years of continuous use or 3.6 Years for 8 Hours per day

I generally don't put it in standby. I record quite a bit when I am away from the house or late evening when I am asleep. My understanding is that if I put it in standby it will shut down completely after a few minutes and will require rebooting to start up again. I have assumed that it won't wake from standby to make recordings. Am I right about that?
 
No, The Humax will definately record from Standby. There is a Custom Firmware package called Redring that did prevent recording from standby in it's early days but that has been fixed, so even if you had that running it will still record from standby - And save wear and tear on you Hard Disk
 
I looked through the many thousands of lines of corrections but I only came across one file
which was named. It was a programme recording's .ts file. The file seems to play ok on the Humax.

It will probably have a glitch in it somewhere when you play it back. Not a major problem, just short interruption of video and sound.

Code:
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 827
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 088 088 000 Old_age Always - 10562
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 417

As Ezra has mentioned, that's a low stop/start to power on ratio. I doubt there is a consensus on whether that's a good or bad thing. It's often the spinning down and up that triggers a failure in my experience but these drives are only designed to spin for 8760 hours per year according to the manufacturer.

Code:
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 31
 187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 097 097 000 Old_age Always - 3
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0

The only number here that's relevant is that you had 31 sectors reallocated at some point. Most drives have some reallocation in their lifetime and this isn't a high number or anything to worry about.

Code:
SMART Error Log Version: 1
 
Error 3 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 10296 hours (429 days + 0 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
 
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
40 51 00 e9 8d 22 00 Error: UNC at LBA = 0x00228de9 = 2264553
[/quote]
 
You have had disk errors in the past as shown by this log event, but the [i]Current_Pending_Sector[/i] count (above) is zero so you don't have any issues now.
 
If you have the inclination and time, I would run some drive selftests:
 
[code]
humax# smartctl -t short /dev/sda

to start a short test and:

Code:
humax# smartctl -l selftest /dev/sda

to see the results. This is the same test that the Humax software does if you select HDD test from the on-screen menus.

Output while test is running...

Code:
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Self-test routine in progress 40%       297         -

followed hopefully by:

Code:
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       297         -

If that's ok, run a long test (smartctl -t long /dev/sda) but note that a long test can take several hours.
 
Ezra -- I've tested it and it did a scheduled recording just fine whilst in Standby. There is one catch though, which is one reason I remember I originally got nervous of putting it in standby. If you put it in standby when an external HDD is attached via USB while at the same time the wifi dongle is attached, then when you come out of standby the machine hangs with the HUMAX logo on the screen. The only way out of this is to disconnect the HDD and power off and on again via the main switch. If you are connected via ethernet there is no problem even if the external HDD is attached. FYI, the disk is formatted NTFS and I run the NTFS 3g customised firmware package to be able to write to it.

af123 -- I'll run the tests and report back on the results.
 
I think that's the first time this problem has been mentioned. Installing the wireless helper package might help.
 
I have a USB (30GB) HDD permanently attatched to the Humax, it is formatted by the Humax in EXT3 and all files are transferred from the USB HDD to a P.C. using FTP so the EXT3 incompatability with P.C.s in not a problem, however I have only ever used a wired LAN connection rather than USB Wi-Fi. this setup has never 'hung' on start-up. If you have to use the Wi-Fi dongle the only suggection I can make is to use EXT3 on the USB HDD and FTP or alternativly install ext2fsd on the P.C. so that EXT3 can be read.
 
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