Formatting a USB hard drive with Paragon ExtFS for Mac

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Tony B

I am having problems with this.

I used Paragon ExtFS for Mac, to format the drive as Ext3. This seemed to check out OK when I ran the normal verify disk utility on my Mac.

I then connected the drive to the Humax, and tried to copy recordings to it. I followed the instructions about navigating to and identifying the target directory and then selecting the files to copy, but then got a warning message which said something about "not enough space" (750GB, unused..).

So I then ran another verify disk process on the Mac. No problems found.

Tried again in the Humax, and this time it gave me an error message as soon as I connected it, saying that the disk needed to be formatted.

As my trial copy of Paragon ExtFS has now timed out, I need to pay £25 to continue using it, but I am reluctant to do this if it is not formatting the disk correctly for the Humax.

Has anyone else used this formatting tool successfully?

Needless to say - I am getting absolutely no response from Paragon....
 
I haven't used Paragon ExtFS. I used an Ubuntu Live CD. You boot up from the Live CD and and it loads up a temporary version of Ubuntu. I then used the Gparted app in Ubuntu to format my drive to Ext3.

The first time I did it it didn't work because the partition scheme needed to be Master Boot Record instead of GUID. I think I actually did that bit with OS X Disk Utility. I created a new MS-DOS (FAT) partition and set its scheme (via the options button) to Master Boot Record.

Then I booted up using the Ubuntu Live CD and formatted the partition to Ext3.

I also installed MacFuse and fuse-ext2 (That allows OS X to read from the ext3 disks) But Your Paragon ExtFS may remove the need for MacFuse and fuse-ext2

*I just re-read your post and saw that Paragon ExtFS was just a trial. I wouldn't bother buying it. All the software above is free.
 
Fantastic - it works perfectly!

the process was much easier than I thought, Ubuntu was straightforward, and did the formatting job properly (Paragon had formatted the disk as Ext2, for some reason).

I am now archiving Planet Earth in 1 batch. My test HD material (BBC HD) is still in HD and can be replayed as such, from either drive.

It would be good if someone could make the Humax functionality a little more intuitive, but that might be too much to ask.

Many thanks again, Get Go, for perfect advice!
 
Tony, as a fellow OS X user, you don't happen to know of any free software for re-muxing .ts HD files? I wrote up a tutorial on demuxing/remuxing SD .ts files with free software on OS X but I haven't been able to do similar with HD files.

I was able to get as far as getting tsmuxer to demux the HD .ts file into 2 separate audio and video files but I cant get any free software that can remux them.
 
Oh dear. Dont get me started on Mac OS and HD ts files....

This has been a source of major aggro for me as my expensive top of the range Macbook Pro has been unable to play HD material properly (without hesitations, freezes, smearing, pixellation) ever since the nvidia chip started to degrade after about 6 months use.

I will check on what I have used to convert files, but I know that all of them result in a major increase in file size (5-6x).

I am still hoping that my 3rd logic board will go into meltdown/failure before December so that Apple will be forced to replace my Macbook Poo (as I have now renamed it) with a product that is fit for purpose....
 
Sorry for the really slow response. I am not sure if what I did actually demuxed the AVCHD files, or merely converted them to a different format. What I used was Voltaic HD. As I have archived all my video onto an external hard drive (which is now slightly lost...) I cannot tell you what the file extension was after conversion, unfortunately....

Not just a slow response, but verging on pathetic too....
 
Sorry for the really slow response.
Not just a slow response, but verging on pathetic too....

No worries. I didn't mean to put you under an obligation...it was more of a shot-in-the-dark kind of question, seeing as you were a fellow Mac user. I'll take a look at Volatic HD.

I'm actually wondering if what I'm looking to do [demux a HD .ts file then re-mux it as .mp4 or .mkv] is even possible. I've tried various combinations of apps but I'm getting nowhere. My latest test app is Media Converter but not getting any where with that either.

Thanks.
 
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