Ext3 format drive plugged into USB

severs1966

severs1966

New Member
My dead 9200, my other dead 9200, and my dead 9300 all have internal drives in Ext3 format.

I bought a 2000T and I'm very pleased with it, and I am having fun with the ftp server and the ability to use external USB "sticks" and drives. I dragged all my old .avi and .mp4 stuff off my Mac and banged it on an external 500GB (independently powered) and am happily watching it, bit by bit.

So I thought, can I get the drives out of my old dead Humax PVRs and extract the contents?

A quick read around the Mac discussion forums reveal that it is a bit of a pain to get Macs to read the Humax (and Linux) native Ext3 drive format. So I have shelved the idea of putting the old drives in cheap USB housings and plugging them into a Mac to extract their contents.

But here is the question:

Can I take the drives out of old 9200 and 9300 machines, put them in cheap USB housings (powered separately, not powered through the USB socket) and plug them straight into the Humax 2000T USB socket, so that it is reading them directly as an external drive? Will the new Humax understand the Ext3 format through its USB connection?

Answers gratefully received. And while I am at it, can anyone recommend a USB housing/adapter/basic skeletal connector that I can plug the drives from 9200 or 9300 into?
 
If the dives really are Ext3, then it would work on a HDR-FOX and therefore very likely to work on a 2000T, if the recordings are stored in a compatible file format.

However, from what I remember reading on this forum (see the 9200/9300 sections), I don't think these drives are Ext3, I think they are some special Humax format. A PC utility exists which can read the drive when connected by USB, but it does not mount the drive into the operating system - just allows files to be copied on and off. If this is the case, then connecting the drives to a 2000T won't work.
 
severs1966 said:
My dead 9200, my other dead 9200, and my dead 9300 all have internal drives in Ext3 format.
Click to expand...
The format of the 9200 and 9300 drives are not ext3. It is Humax's HD recorders that are ext3.
The 9200 and 9300 (and 9150) use a proprietary file system. However, using software humaxrw you will be able to copy off the recorded programmes from the 9200 and 9300 HDDs.

For details of humaxrw and to download start by looking at http://humaxdisk.wikispaces.com/HumaxRW.
If you are not use to line command utilities then there is a Windows front end for HumaxRW which will enable you to pull the programmes off.

Astronomy said:
Here is v1.01 of the front-end for HumaxRW that I was talking about above. I made it for my own use, but if others find it useful then I'm happy to share.
Click to expand...
Astronomy said:
Windows only, .net framework 3.5 required and you need HumaxRW.exe (not provided) to be in the same folder as the Front-End. Some features:
- Auto detect humax disk drive
- Easy selection of files - can even be based on keyword (e.g. 'Peppa Pig')
- Download to any folder on your PC
- Option to keep only the .ts files (deleting the other 3 files created for each .ts file) [note, this option deletes all the .epg, etc files in the download location, it's not selective]
- Upload .ts files to the humax disk drive (have ts2hrw.exe in the same folder as the Front-End if you have no hre file for the .ts file)
- No knowledge of DoS required to use it

As this Front-End simply controls HumaxRW, all the same warnings apply when using this as they do when using HumaxRW normally. In addition, I accept no responsibility for any undesirable outcomes of using this Front-End software - i.e. use at your own risk.

One other thing is that the Front-End waits for HumaxRW to finish whatever it's doing before continuing, so when downloading, uploading, etc it may say "Not Responding" but this is normal and the Front-End will recover when HumaxRW finishes it's current operation.

I've not provided any instructions as I think it's pretty straight forward to use, but any questions, just ask me. It's not 100% idiot-proof so please don't try to break it as you will likely succeed but any genuine bugs or improvement requests, again just ask.

Cheers
--
Thomas

Edit: Uploaded a version HERE that you can press 'enter' in the 'select files by keyword' text box so you don't need to press the button after typing.
Click to expand...

severs1966 said:
I have shelved the idea of putting the old drives in cheap USB housings and plugging them into a Mac to extract their contents.
Click to expand...
The Humaxrw front-end runs off a windows pc. There is no need to put the HDD into a housing to attach them to a PC via USB. The 9200 is a PATA drive the 9300 is a SATA drive. For £10 pounds there are plenty of SATA/PATA drive usb adapter cables available online. Make sure that you buy one that can cope with both types of drive.
This link is an example http://www.amazon.co.uk/Generic-Adapter-Converter-Optical-External/dp/B00DEL5NU4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388565517&sr=8-2&keywords=sata+pata+ide+usb+drive+adapter
For the 9200 drive change the jumper connections to 'master'. The 9200 disks normally show which position this is on the drive's label. If you have a Windows 7 or Windows 8 PC you won’t need any further drivers, but may do if you use XP. Once you have a drive connected to the adapter and powered it up then connect the USB adapter to the PC. If the PC says that the drive is unformatted and offers to format make sure that you decline the offer! The PC should not assign a drive letter if somehow the PC assigns a drive letter then post back for instructions of what to do next.
Then start up the humaxrw front-end. I tried the humaxrw front-end for the first time last week on a Windows 7 machine and a 9300 disk and found it very easy to use without referring to any documentation.

If you only have a mac but no Windows PC then you will not be able to use the front-end. I guess that running the linux version of humaxrw through a linux start-up disk would be the solution but that will need confirming by someone else – not me.

severs1966 said:
Can I take the drives out of old 9200 and 9300 machines, put them in cheap USB housings (powered separately, not powered through the USB socket) and plug them straight into the Humax 2000T USB socket, so that it is reading them directly as an external drive? Will the new Humax understand the Ext3 format through its USB connection?
Click to expand...
After you have extracted your programmes you will then be able to format the old drives and place them into caddies. The HDR-2000T does recognise external ext3 drives.
 
Black Hole said:
... if the recordings are stored in a compatible file format.
Click to expand...
The 9200 and 9300 ts files do run off an HDR-2000T without any more work, but lack the ability for fast forward or rewind and lack the info plate details.
Last weekend I converted a couple of 9300 recordings using AV2HDR-T2 so that FF & RW work on an HDR-FOX T2 and have details in the info plate. As HDR-FOX T2 recordings work on an HDR-2000T (and vis-versa) I'd expect AV2HDR-T2 to also work for the HDR-2000T.
 
The HumaxRW software is available as a custom firmware package. But this does not help as this is the 2000T forum....;)
 
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