Dead Disk - Replacement options

G

Gary

Member
Good Morning,
Looks like my HDD is gone. Lots of crashes yesterday, and the gui is showing this :

1588576875681.png

Any suggestions for a replacement? I don't need a huge 1 or 2TB disk as I've never had a capacity problem with the 500GB.
 
Gary said:
Any suggestions for a replacement?
Click to expand...
There are plenty of discussions about this already, but those stats look fine to me - just install the fan package to keep it cooler than the standard firmware provides for.
Black Hole said:
fan *

As standard, Humax chose to minimise noise over longevity. The internal temperature is assumed from the reporting built into the HDD, and the fan remains off until the temperature gets critical... then it comes on full blast (very audible) and gradually throttles back as the temperature falls. This results in the system temperature oscillating between extremes, and this isn't very good for the HDD (or the system).​
​
fan is one of the early packages, created specifically to address the sudden onset of fan noise, but also the better regulation of cooling is good for longevity. The user sets a constant minimum fan speed (eg 30%) so the fan never turns off (but can increase from that if necessary). Low fan speeds are barely audible (the HDD makes a constant noise anyway), and the constant air flow (if set high enough) prevents the 'turbo' ever kicking in.​
Click to expand...

Regarding crashes, see Steps for Resolving HDR-FOX Crash/Reboot Issues (click).
 
If you suspect disk problems boot into maintenance mode and run the fix disk tool (it can take many hours to complete so ensure you dont have anything that must be recorded planned)
Ensure you have version 3.13 of the Customised firmware installed first
 
I'll copy everything off and then try the maintenance mode disk tool.

How do I know if it is a fan problem (which presumably has caused the disk to fail)?
 
sorry missed some of those replies. I will try the disk check in maintenance mode and the fan package
 
I did search for threads for disk replacement ideas but without much luck (found one that mentioned a 2TB one)
 
I've installed the fan package and rebooted - do I need to do anything else. I tried searching for "fan" but it is too short a word
 
Gary said:
I'll copy everything off and then try the maintenance mode disk tool.
Click to expand...
Not needed, it is better to run fix-disk before copying everything, it is non-destructive unless you have an unrecoverable fault in a file
 
Gary said:
I've installed the fan package and rebooted - do I need to do anything else. I tried searching for "fan" but it is too short a word
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You can set the fan speed on the settings page, around 50% works for most keeping the disk around 40C.
The sysmon and/or tempmon packages are useful for keeping and eye on the actual temperature ( but ignore the fan full/ fan fanoff colour coding - that is based on Humax norms rather than actual fan speed)
 
MymsMan said:
Not needed, it is better to run fix-disk before copying everything, it is non-destructive unless you have an unrecoverable fault in a file
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ok thanks. Just downloaded the latest firmware.

Do I just type fix-disk in putty and that's it?
 
Gary said:
Do I just type fix-disk in putty and that's it?
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Essentially, reply -y when it asks for additional options since that stops it prompting you every time it wants to fix something
Usually maint mode starts up prompting for your pin (usually 0000 unless changed) and then displays a menu which includes fix-disk
 
Gary said:
I'll copy everything off
Click to expand...
No! Just run the diagnostics and repair tool as described in my links.

Gary said:
Do I just type fix-disk in putty and that's it?
Click to expand...
No, you go from the menus presented to you over Telnet. It's all explained in the links from post 2.

Gary said:
I've installed the fan package and rebooted - do I need to do anything else.
Click to expand...
MymsMan said:
You can set the fan speed on the settings page, around 50% works for most keeping the disk around 40C.
Click to expand...
That's WebIF >> Settings >> Settings for fan package. I find 40% more than adequate. The higher you set it, the noisier it will be.

Gary said:
How do I know if it is a fan problem (which presumably has caused the disk to fail)?
Click to expand...
The only problem in the stats you posted was the over-temperature alarm, and that's all it is - an alarm. The standard Humax fan control allows it to reach that temperature as a routine. I don't want to seem a pain, but do please read the stuff we've spent thousands of hours writing for this forum and the wiki, especially when you've been directed to them.

Setting up fan will solve that problem, but if it doesn't you can check your fan works - see Commissioning, Disassembling, and Repairing an HDR-FOX (click).

Your crashes might well have had nothing to do with temperature. Usually they are the consequence of glitches in the network transactions (because Humax didn't test it well enough). It is all covered in my link.

Gary said:
I tried searching for "fan" but it is too short a word
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You're not using the forum! At the top of every section of the forum are pinned topics, the relevant one here being https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/index-of-package-primary-topics.8005/.

Newbies' Guide to the Forum (click)
 
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An update :

I've updated to the lastest firmware

I've installed the fan package and managed to find the setting in the gui and set it at 10%...although the log file doesn't seem to be there in /tmp

I've disabled DNLA and the box has not crashed since...so looks like may just need to rebuild the DB and it will be ok

fix-disk is running now...
 
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Gary said:
I've installed the fan package and managed to find the setting in the gui and set it at 10%...although the log file doesn't seem to be there in /tmp
Click to expand...
10% seems a bit low. Why choose that when we recommend something higher? Install sysmon so you can monitor the HDD temperature over time, and if the temperature plot still ramps up set fan higher.
 
Gary said:
I've disabled DNLA and the box has not crashed since...so looks like may just need to rebuild the DB and it will be ok
Click to expand...
You need DLNA active on the humax if you are using auto-decryption and/or detectads
DLNA servers on other boxes are a known cause of frequent Humax crashes but this can be prevented by the dlna_filter package
 
Gary said:
I've installed the fan package and managed to find the setting in the gui and set it at 10%...
Click to expand...
Did you not even bother to read the posts by MymsMan and BlackHole that suggester to set it to 40 - 50%?
The idea is to keep the fan going fairly briskly (but quietly) so that the disk is permanently cooled rather than waiting for it to get up to max temp then switch on fully making a jet engine type noise.
Setting it to 10% will achieve only slightly more than nothing and not keep the disk cool enough to prevent Humax taking over
You asked for help.
 
I couldn't see what was the recommended setting for fan. I've set it to 30% now as that is what is mentioned earlier in this thread and also installed sysmom.

I guess I assumed it was the disk as the disk diagnostics was the thing that was displaying the temp error.

Another update then. The fix-disk has finished fine.

When I disabled DNLA the box seemed stable, but once I rebuilt the DB an re-enabled it the crashes started again.

Could this mean that I need to format the disk?
 
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