External Hard Drive Questions

Hi,

First post.

I have found the information on the forum loads of help in buying and setting up an external hard drive for my Humax HDR-Fox T2 PVR.

I got a Seagate 2TB HDD yesterday and formatted as per suggestion on the forum to EXT3 using GParted by creating a boot CD for it (the first CD didn't work but it did the second time round).

I then connected the Seagate 2TB HDD to my Humax and wanted to move some recordings from the inbuilt 1TB HDD to the new Seagate 2TB HDD.

The only option I could see to do this was to select the folder and then 'Copy' the file over. Then once it was copied I deleted the folder from the Humax HDD. It seemed to take quite a long time to 'Copy' the files over, I was expecting it to be much quicker especially given how many files I want to move.

There didn't seem to be an option to 'Move' just 'Copy' so each time I move a folder I then have to manually delete it from the Humax HDD. That isn't the end of the world but it is a bit of a pain especially if there is a better way.

(Edit: I should add in case it makes any difference that the Seagate 2TB HDD is plugged via the USB into the back of the Humax PVR and the Seagate 2TB HDD has it's own power supply)

So:

1.
Is there an easier/better way of getting existing recordings from the Humax Internal HDD to the External Seagate HDD?


2. I can't seem to get the PVR to record directly to the new External Seagate 2TB HDD. The recordings keep going onto the internal Humax HDD. Can this be changed? It would then mean I don't have to manually move recordings from one HDD to another.


3. I also want to play back my recordings that are on the External 2TB HDD via XBMC media player. I can 'see' the recordings that are still on the Humax's internal HDD but I can't 'find' the recordings that have been moved to the External HDD. Any help on this would be great.


Many thanks to anyone who can offer advice - as I say I have found the info on here really useful to get this far but couldn't find the above 3 answers anywhere on here (or the web).

TIA.
 
1) Not really, the reason it takes a long time is because the recording is decrypted before it is copied to the USB drive
2) It is not possible to get the HDR-Fox T2 to record direcly to a USB drive
3) The folder system under Media is My Video, My Photo, My Music and drive1, drive1 is the USB HDD

There are a lot more options for getting both Hi-Def and Standard def recordings off your Humax if you install the Custom Firmware, but without it copying to USB is the only way to decrypt the recordings, Note, unless you use FOXY it is not possible to get copies of Hi-Def. files that will play on computer
 
Many thanks for the reply and the links - very useful.

With regards to Question 2 it is a shame you can't record directly to the External 2TB HDD but if it can't be done, it can't be done and that means I don't need to spend anymore time trying to figure it out.

I don't really want to put the Custom Firmware on to my box as I believe it would invalidate the warranty (?) which is a 5 year warranty so has a few years left. Most of the recordings (99%) are Standard Def (SD) that I want to move from the internal HDD to the External HDD. If I forget about playing them back in any way other than via the same Humax Box that recorded them could I use a FTP thing like Filezilla to transfer them quicker? Or could I turn off the decrypting so they are transferred to the USB external HDD encrypted?

Or am I not understanding the whole encryption thing :-s
 
OK, all recordings on the Humax are encrypted before being stored on the internal hard disk, this can't be turned off, when played back by the Humax that recorded it, the recording is decrypted, if you FTP a file from the Humax internal hard drive, it will be encrypted and not playable on anything else. So the only thing that can decrypt a recording is the box it was recorded on, it does this when copying to an external HDD (if it's standard def.) and when steaming to a DLNA device. You could copy to USB HDD and then FTP the file onto a computer from the USB HDD, but you can't FTP directly from the internal HDD
 
Many thanks for the replies - I think I get the whole encryption thing now.

I think I will forget about playing the files on the computer and just keep the External HDD plugged into the Humax via the USB and just use it to turn the box into a 3TB PVR (1TB internally and 2TB externally).

It seems the only option is to transfer the files to the External HDD just by using the 'Copy' feature that is on the Humax box. Shame as it is far from quick - I had hoped I could have done it quicker but guess I can just do a session of it each night for the next few weeks as if I understand correctly what you have said there is no benefit both from a speed or viewing point in transferring the files from the Humax to a PC then from the PC onto the External HDD to use the it to expand the box to a 3TB box.
 
Without the Custom Firmware, the only way to get the file decrypted is copy to USB HDD, it is a special 'decrypt and copy' command that you don't get when copying to a PC
 
If I forget about playing them back in any way other than via the same Humax Box that recorded them could I use a FTP thing like Filezilla to transfer them quicker? Or could I turn off the decrypting so they are transferred to the USB external HDD encrypted?
To turn off decrypting you would have to FTP into the box and change the flag for each recording so that the HDR thinks the encryption its protected similarly to a HD recording. The HMT file for the recording would need to pulled over to your PC edited and then put back. It may not be worth it as it increases the number of steps you have to perform. You would also need some way of easily doing that edit. The foxy exec does the opposite of this edit!
 
Back to basics just to make sure I am not missing anything (excuse my lack of understanding/grasping please):

1. I am going to keep the Seagate External HDD plugged into the Humax PVR turning the PVR into a 3 TB PVR (1TB internally, 2TB on the external Seagate HDD)
2. I currently have the internal HDD at 95% FULL so want to move most of the recorded programs to the External HDD so as to free up space on the 1TB internal HDD as new recordings can only be made to the internal 1TB HDD
3. I will only play back the recorded programs via the Humax PVR that they have been recorded using both from the internal and external HDD
4. The best/quickest way to transfer the recorded programs from the internal to the external HDD to free up the space (without using custom software) is to select them from 'Media' and then Opt+ > Copy > External HDD
5. Once the file has copied to the External HDD I will select the recoded programs on the internal HDD and delete them thus reducing the space taken up on that HDD from 95% to say 5%
6. The process is likely to take a few days to complete but can be left to work away on its own if I select multiple recordings at once as they will be added to the Copy Queue.

Does that sound correct?

Thanks again for your patience and explanations!
 
As long as you only want to play the files from your USB HDD back into the Humax then FTP would be quicker, you could FTP the encrypted files from your Humax to the USB HDD (while it is connected to your PC). The only problem is that your PC would need some a program running that enables the PC to write to a USB HDD formatted in EXT3
 
Thanks for the quick reply!!!

Yes, I have decided that all I want to do is play the files from the USB HDD back into the Humax.

Can you point me in the right direction as to how to do the FTP as my brain is confused with it all now :-s
 
I have added a bit more text to #10 above.

You will need to turn on FTP on your Humax, .g. Menu >> Settings >> System >> internet settings >> FTP server =On. FTP notes at the top of the FOXY notes HERE. You can FTP from your PC browser using copy and paste
 
Cheers for the post - I have read through it, it is a bit over my head but I am getting there I think.

For each recording there are 4 files:

a .hmt
a .nts
a .thm
and a .ts

The .ts file is by far the largest of the 4. Should I copy all 4 files over for each recording? I have read through the links and other stuff I found on Google but I have been unable to find anything that says what to do for certain. I assume all 4 files will be needed but would be good to get some clarification.
 
The .ts file is by far the largest of the 4. Should I copy all 4 files over for each recording?
Yes the Humax needs all 4 files, the small ones hold info. like thumbnail pictures and bookmarks etc.
Once FTP is turned on on your Humax entering something like ftp://10.0.0.200 into your PC's browser should open up a window showing My-Video, My-Photos and My-Music folder (after entering humaxftp 0000 for login and password) and you can then cut and paste files to your PC
NOTE :- replace 10.0.0.200 with the IP address of your Humax, stored at Menu >> Settings >> System >> Internet Settings >> Configure LAN IP Address
 
Thanks for clearing up that all 4 files need to be transferred.

I have been able to navigate to the files and will try transferring one recording later today when I have time.

I was hoping I could copy and paste them directly to the USB External Hard Drive from the internal HDD rather than copying from the internal HDD and pasting them to the PC and then copying and pasting them from the PC to the USB External Hard Drive.

Seems like an extra pointless step.?
 
I wouldn't bother with the small speed increase FTP provides. The transfer can be set up on the Humax and left to get on with it for as long as it takes, so as it is not taking up any of your time why worry?
 
I was hoping I could copy and paste them directly to the USB External Hard Drive from the internal HDD rather than copying from the internal HDD and pasting them to the PC and then copying and pasting them from the PC to the USB External Hard Drive.

Seems like an extra pointless step.?

I think you my have missed a point made by Esra Pound, if you attach the external drive to your PC, and add a tool to allow the PC to handle ext3 format, you can then just copy from Humax HDD directly to, the PC attached drive.

Though Black Hole makes a very good point also.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Thanks for the advice and I think that is what I am going to do. I had thought the speed increase would be significant but from what you say it doesn't seem that will be the case.

I am just going to set it to work each night and after the initial transfer of the majority of the files, from then on it will just be a matter of transferring series once the series is complete which on a series by series basis won't take much time.

I just thought there could be a big time saving to be had in this initial big transfer of files.

Many thanks for all the help and advice both in this thread and in previous threads where I have got info from.
 
Sorry you posted at the same time I was.

I had missed the point/not grasped it. Thanks for clearing it up but I think I will just do the transfer as Blackhole has said, as the time saving doesn't seem to be worth the extra hassle.

Many thanks.
 
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