am I safe to put the transferring of my recordings to one side for now?
Yes, as said earlier in the replies to your own questions.
Or should I deal with this first?
No
incase the new firmware affects me playing my recordings.
It won't.
My issues are the recording facility has stopped working, cannot rewind live tv.
Constant deleting symbol
We know that. The problem is that the file system on your HDD has become corrupted and "read only" (cannot be written to). That means any attempt to record or delete is unsuccessful. The corruption can be corrected with no more damage than has already occurred.
I've read through now i'm stuck am I reading correctly the the Firmware download could make my device loose or make worse other aspects which are not a problem on my device
Certainly not. You are imagining problems where there are none. Any problems with the CF versions of the Humax firmware are already there in the equivalent version of the original Humax firmware, and the CF is about work-arounds to other problems as well as adding functionality (including access to file system recovery).
My Version is FHTCP 1.03.12
So you need the CF version of 1.03.12
Slow TV Guide, poor audio?
Not poor audio – poor Audio Description (the visually-impaired service you get by selecting
Menu >> Settings >> Preferences >> Audio >> Audio Description = ON). Regarding the "slow" TV Guide, it is reportedly so by comparison with earlier firmwares, but if you don't have a problem with that then it isn't a problem.
First issues i need to format my 16GB flash drive to Fat32 mbr? Save the files from the stick & put them back after the format is that correct?
No. My guides are totally explicit about this: you need a normal DOS format UPD (USB Pen Drive / Stick / whatever, formatted FAT32 – generally as supplied); download the CF update file; unzip it to the UPD; plug the UPD into the HDR-FOX; reboot the HDR-FOX. If the screen doesn't show the firmware update process taking place, either you haven't downloaded and unzipped the file correctly or the UPD isn't compatible.
For the sake of completeness, here's the link again:
Quick Guide to Disk Recovery (click)
This is a learning process. You will not learn without dipping your toe in the water – if you actually try to do these things instead of questioning them, I believe it will all become clear. When I said "let us know where you are stuck", that didn't mean before you start at all.
What I really need is a step by step guide for Dummies with (pictures)
It is a very labour intensive process adding pictures for a "Dummies Guide in Colour" – however,
@MattC made a YouTube video of the installation process (but it is out of date - the installation file is delivered as a zip, and it needs unzipping not renaming):
(The original post, with more videos, is here:
https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/custom-firmware-video-guide.1024)
Would it be possible to speak to someone who could talk me through each stage?
I wouldn't want to talk you through it, (a) because that implies a long time on the phone and finding a mutually convenient appointment, (b) because that involves telling you exactly the same as has been written down for you or can be written down
for future reference by all, and (c) I know by experience how difficult it is to explain things over the phone without "eyes on" – just because you think you've done what I said doesn't mean you actually have, and I wouldn't be able to see what the misunderstanding was. Anything else is simply hand-holding.
If you really can't stomach all this, Martin offered to do it all for you for the price of postage (or I will) – where are you with that?