External HDD 600 Gb limit for HDR FOX T2?

crazyfeet

New Member
Can someone clarify what is the official recomendation are for external USB HDD please. I have an external 1 Terrabyte HDD formatted for EXT2 and this is not being seen as a device on the HDR Fox T2. I have however previously been able to get the external HDD seen by another Fox T2 box. I assumed that the replacement Fox T2 box supplied had a problem with the USB interface. However on contacting Humax Support I'm told that I would need to have attach an externally powered external USB HDD if the device is greater than 600 MB. I've not seen anything written on their website mentioning this. Can someone please confirm or deny that this is the case please ?

Many thanks ..

Crazyfeet
 
This is only a question of the power drawn from the USB port to run the drive, and 600GB can't be considered a hard-and-fast rule. There may be a variation in the supply capacity of any particular unit, but unless you can show that it does not meet the stated specification there is no cause for complaint.

More info: Things Every... (click) section 12.
 
Thanks for your prompt reply Black Hole. I have a recently purchased Seagate 1Tb external HDD I've no idea what the power drain is on this device. Do you know what the maximum power drain is for a supported HDD you can use on a Humax FOX HDR T2 ?
 
Sorry Luke can you clarify this information. When you refer to 500 and 800 I assume you refering to Gb rather than mA ? Second not clear on when you refer to one and or two ports, since my Fox T2 only has one USB port.
 
He is referring to the current available from a USB port. This is measured in mA. There is a USB on the front and one on the back.
There is probably not enough current (mA) to drive the HDD from 1 USB port is the problem.
 
Sorry Luke can you clarify this information. When you refer to 500 and 800 I assume you refering to Gb rather than mA ? Second not clear on when you refer to one and or two ports, since my Fox T2 only has one USB port.
If you really only have one USB port, you probably have an HD-FOX not an HDR-FOX (one on the back under the Ethernet port, one on the front behind a small flap). I'm not sure where the 800mA figure came from, but the 500mA spec is in the HDR-FOX user manual (click to enlarge):

image.jpg

This is the current that Humax effectively guarantees will be available from the USB port to power an external device. An external disk drive draws current to power the electronics and the motors, and requires more current while starting up than when in continuous operation. The start-up current may exceed the supply capability of the USB port.

Either way, you cannot make a generalised association between power requirement and drive storage capacity. The drive current requirement is a specification the manufacturer of the drive will state.

Supposing that the drive specification says it draws less than 500mA maximum, you still have the problem of demonstrating whether the drive is drawing more current than its specification or the HDR-FOX is supplying less current that its specification.

It is also possible that this 1TB drive is fitted with a USB3 interface. While USB3 has a fall-back mode which is data-compatible with USB2, a USB3 port has a higher supply current specification than USB2 and it is possible that the drive has a USB3 appetite. If the drive works on one HDR-FOX but not another, it is possible that the drive is drawing a little in excess of 500mA worst case and one HDR-FOX is capable of supplying it but the other is not - simply through normal tolerances. One cannot conclude that the HDR-FOX is faulty without further examination.
 
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I'm not sure where the 800mA figure came from, but the 500mA spec is in the HDR-FOX user manual .
To quote the user manual for the HDR-FOX
"USB ports on your product supply 800mA in total. This 800mA is shared among all devices connected to product."
It's on the Media List page, just below the supported fetaures according to USB file system. (It's also in the HD-FOX documentation and the HDR2000T/1800T user manuals.)
 
Do you think they meant 600mA limit? I have had a 1TB portable WD drive running on a HDR-FOX for about 2 years. On another, I have a 2TB portable WD drive on one port and a wireless dongle in the other. Last night I was copying files to it over the network for two hours without issue. Why choose EXT2 as the format and how did you do this? The HDR-FOX will format an external drive as EXT3, though it should read an EXT2 drive.
 
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