HDR-FOX T2 HDD Replacement

[Ian Manning]

...sorry - ignore my previous post...a reboot has restored the web IF
phew.....

 

[prpr]

Ah sorry I'd forgotten than you specified cp -R rather than rsync.

No I didn't. Read the linked post in #130

Any ideas for how I can recover the web IF and start again?

Probably something like this to get rid of the mess:

humax# cd /media
humax# rm -r mod
humax# cd /mnt/hd2
humax# rm -r mod

and be very careful with "rm -r" that you're in the right place. I would disconnect your old drive first, just to prevent any unfortunate slip-ups.
Once you've tidied up, reboot, reconnect the drive and then execute the correct rsync command.

 

[MymsMan]

I wonder if it easier/safer to install the new disk into the caddy and copy from fully installed and and working webif environment to the new disk rather than booting with an empty disk and having to install rsync etc before copying can start.

 

[Black Hole]

I wonder if it easier/safer to install the new disk into the caddy and copy from fully installed and and working webif environment to the new disk rather than booting with an empty disk and having to install rsync etc before copying can start.

Of course it is, but that means three disc swaps.

 

[Ian Manning]

Hmmm...this is strange...I left rsync copying files last night and this morning it had stopped (presumably interrupted by the Humax powering itself off overnight). Now when I try to restart the rsync job I get:

rsync: not found

If I re-try the install I get this:

humax# opkg install rsync
Package rsync (3.0.8) installed in root is up to date.

???

 

[Ian Manning]

Hmmm...this is strange...I left rsync copying files last night and this morning it had stopped (presumably interrupted by the Humax powering itself off overnight). Now when I try to restart the rsync job I get:

rsync: not found

If I re-try the install I get this:

humax# opkg install rsync
Package rsync (3.0.8) installed in root is up to date.

???

Ah OK....maybe it hadn't reloaded my profile - I disconnected and reconnected the telnet session again and rsync is back...

 

[prpr]

I left rsync copying files last night and this morning it had stopped (presumably interrupted by the Humax powering itself off overnight).

The /mod folder should only take a matter of seconds, so I presume you were copying the video files as well.
Yes, remember to turn off the sleep option while doing long operations like the latter. The good thing is that you can just re-run the rsync command and it will pick-up where it left off.

 

[neilski]

However, with CF installed, the standard software can't get exclusive access to the HDD to be able to format it, and because it was never programmed to expect such an eventuality it puts up the misleading error message "Cannot format the hard disk. The capacity is too large." (or words to that effect). The solution is to is to enter Safe Mode first: WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Safe Mode (or use the Telnet menu).

I'm prepping for a HDD upgrade, but am unable to work out how to activate safe mode.
It's not listed under Diagnostics on my system. I have an old version of the WebIF (details below), and maybe that's part of the issue.

I also found information on the Wiki (https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Custom_Firmware_Package_Notes#Safe_Mode) - see pic below - which sent me to the firmware download page for the packages to use for safe mode, but those links don't work (e.g. http://hpkg.tv/rpc/cfwget.html?file=ENABLESAFEMODE), failing with a 403 error.

It may be worth updating the guide in post #2 to address this (and perhaps the Wiki page needs an update as well, to fix the broken links, or remove them if they have been superseded).

However (based on the bit that comes right after the quoted text above) it sounds as though the standard software is able to do the partitioning without problems, and it's just the filesystem creation step that fails, so I'll probably just do that (but see below).

My system reports: Web interface version: 1.2.3-5, Custom firmware version: 3.03 (build 2368), Humax Version: 1.03.12 (kernel HDR_CFW_3.03)

One final question for @af123 - the Wiki page cited in various places, with your blog of an early 2TB upgrade, mentions using 'half_md4' for the directory hash, but the mkfs commands listed (both on the wiki page and in post #2 above) don't seem to mention it (I had expected a '-E' option to set that). What am I missing here?

 

[prpr]

I'm prepping for a HDD upgrade, but am unable to work out how to activate safe mode.

You probably don't need to.

I have an old version of the WebIF (details below), and maybe that's part of the issue.

You could always try updating it first.

I also found information on the Wiki (https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Custom_Firmware_Package_Notes#Safe_Mode) - see pic below - which sent me to the firmware download page for the packages to use for safe mode, but those links don't work (e.g. http://hpkg.tv/rpc/cfwget.html?file=ENABLESAFEMODE), failing with a 403 error.

The ones in the top row of the table work and don't go via the mentioned links. You really want to be running CF 3.13.

(and perhaps the Wiki page needs an update as well, to fix the broken links, or remove them if they have been superseded).

I'm afraid the Wiki is mostly abandoned because of petulance.

However (based on the bit that comes right after the quoted text above) it sounds as though the standard software is able to do the partitioning without problems, and it's just the filesystem creation step that fails, so I'll probably just do that (but see below).

All of it works in the standard firmware with 1.03.12

your blog of an early 2TB upgrade, mentions using 'half_md4' for the directory hash, but the mkfs commands listed (both on the wiki page and in post #2 above) don't seem to mention it (I had expected a '-E' option to set that). What am I missing here?

Nothing. The commands do that by default.
Install the new disk, let the Humax partition and format, then telnet in to it, select maintenance mode, reboot, reconnect, go to comand line and re-format partition 2 (and 1 and 3 if you so desire).

 

[Black Hole]

I have an old version of the WebIF (details below), and maybe that's part of the issue.

Does it make sense to expect instructions to apply to outdated software?

Regardless, "safe mode" should be available on the Telnet menu (as stated), which is embedded in the firmware and not dependent on the WebIF software. Bear in mind you are preparing for a contingency which might not happen (according to circumstances)

 

[prpr]

Regardless, "safe mode" should be available on the Telnet menu (as stated)

But possibly (or even probably) not on 3.03 CF.

 

[Owen Smith]

CF 3.13 is over 5 years old, why attempt this running anything older?

 

[neilski]

The ones in the top row of the table work and don't go via the mentioned links. You really want to be running CF 3.13.

Not sure which table you mean but I can't find any working links. (I was talking about the links to the files which enable/disable safe mode - e.g. http://hpkg.tv/rpc/cfwget.html?file=ENABLESAFEMODE)
However that's moot now, since you were right about it not being necessary

All of it works in the standard firmware with 1.03.12

Yup, you nailed it! I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Humax built all of the filesystems by itself, though I did have to go to the relevant system menu to "format" the disk.

Nothing. The commands do that by default.
Install the new disk, let the Humax partition and format, then telnet in to it, select maintenance mode, reboot, reconnect, go to comand line and re-format partition 2 (and 1 and 3 if you so desire).

Aha, fair enough. I wonder if that's true even of the (really old!) busybox version on my system (I have no idea when the default directory hash was changed) but I didn't get to find out, since I rebuilt the filesystem on my PC.

Does it make sense to expect instructions to apply to outdated software?

Hell no. I had simply misjudged the age of the guide relative to the age of my CF.

CF 3.13 is over 5 years old, why attempt this running anything older?

Why indeed
It's because I had been meaning to update the CF for quite a while (longer than I realised in fact!) but some potentially-disk-related odd behaviour, combined with me being really rusty around the CF installation in general, led me to prefer having the old disk in storage and the new one installed before making that kind of change.

Meanwhile, I can report that the HDD upgrade was successful (yay), and I'm hugely grateful for the instructions here which made it much smoother than it would otherwise have been

Spoiler: Quick report on how it went:

Having dropped in the 2TB disk (Seagate Skyhawk) and asking the Humax to reformat it as mentioned above, I hooked both it and the old disk to my Windows 10 PC.
I had originally planned to do the normal thing and boot to a USB stick with Linux, but then it occurred to me that I could probably do it all in Windows with VMware (and multitask, lol) so I had a go with my Ubuntu VM.
Long story short, I couldn't get VMware to work with a physical disk, despite it being meant to cope with them.

I then installed WSL for the first time ever, and played with that. After much faffing (more on that below) I got it to work, and to be fair to MS the disk read/write speeds were probably just as high as I would have expected from a native Linux installation. That might have been true for VMware as well, had I ever made it work at all.

I went with "-T largefile4" (4MB/inode) for the new filesystem on the big partition (as the Wiki blog originally suggested), since even that should provide way more inodes than I'll ever need.
There were a few hiccups and squeaks from the drive during the copy, some of which had sequences of "click, squeak, pause" lasting a few tens of seconds (never a good sound from a HDD), and this is where a native Linux might have displayed sector read errors in the diagnostic log. However, the 'dmesg' output under WSL didn't give any hints of hardware read issues, but instead some weird errors I've never seen before ("p9_client_clunk ... Trying to clunk with invalid fid", combined with stack traces) and Googling didn't help me to understand them. Even the Windows system log didn't show any disk read errors, but that's certainly what they sounded like. Happily the copy kept going after each pause... I may do some checksums on the old & new drives at some point to see if I can work out what was going on. (Needless to say, the presence of these scary moments during the copy made me all the happier that I finally replaced the drive, even though the SMART data was showing no issues at all.)

For others planning a disk upgrade: if I were doing it again, I probably wouldn't use WSL the next time. Although it did work in the end, the mere fact that (what I believe to have been) disk read errors were masked/obfuscated is enough for me to recommend against it.

For anyone still wanting to try the WSL route:
I expected to be able to do it all from my normal user account with the help of a few UAC prompts along the way when elevated permissions were required. In the end, I was totally unable to make that work. I also found that running WSL as as administrator would only work if I actually logged in with an admin account - it wouldn't function for me from an admin CMD/Powershell window. One of the key commands you'll want will be something like "wsl --mount \\.\physicaldrive2 --bare", where the disk path(s) needed can be determined from the drive numbers shown in the Windows Disk Management tool. Once the physical drives are attached to the WSL subsystem, the steps required are pretty much identical to what you'd do on a native Linux system. NB: weirdly, despite only having installed WSL today, I had to do a "wsl --update" to get the WSL version that knew about the mount/unmount commands!

 

[Black Hole]

I had originally planned to do the normal thing and boot to a USB stick with Linux, but then it occurred to me that I could probably do it all in Windows with VMware

I don't recommend trying to do low level disk stuff working through multiple layers of virtualisation, you can't be sure what's real. A proper bare-metal Linux boot would be much better.

 

[Owen Smith]

I'm afraid the Wiki is mostly abandoned because of petulance.

That's a shame. On the occasions in the past I've followed the wiki it's been very helpful.

 

[Victoria]

I think my HDD in my HDR Fox T2 has given up. It has done well.
I get the message "the HDD storage must be formatted to use recording functions. Press OK to go to data storage menu"
I’ve installed CF 1.03.12_mod_3.13 and have run fixdisk but am not having any success.
(I have not installed WebIF and have not -as yet- used it. I just never got round to it).
So, time to upgrade the HDD, or at least give it a go..

Sorry for going over this, but my brain is mush so I need to spell everything out... or maybe its just a need to completely check exactly what I'm going to do! I have a little techie ability, but limited. I (generally) can follow instructions.

If I can get hold off one of:
ST2000VX017 - Seagate SkyHawk 2TB
Or
WD23PURZ - WD Purple Surveillanc 2TB
Or
HDWT720UZSVA - Toshiba S300 2TB (does size of cache matter?)
These all correct drives? Any preference?
(is amazon a bad idea for getting what you expect? I may be limited in shops as they rack up the p&p or don't post to N.Ireland) :

Then,
Put in new HDD
Turn on Fox T2
(will the Humax format the HDD itself, or because I have the CF it won’t?)

Connect via ethernet cable to router.
Telnet in (putty),
Select maintenance mode
Select(?) reboot,
Reconnect,
In Telnet just enter the 3 lines of code: (I don’t know exactly what these 3 lines do)

Code:
humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda1
humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super -T largefile /dev/sda2
humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda3

and that should be it? The HDD will be formatted;

If I want to now use WebIF. Since I haven’t used it before or installed it, is it packaged in with the CF waiting for me to install via the ‘yellow button’ or the telnet command:
opkg install webif –force-reinstall

Or do I need to do something else?

I don’t know if anything is recoverable from the old disk, and I probably had most stuff backed up anyway. So I’m not too worried about what I have lost. Probably not be too bothered trying to recover anything anyway… unless I get really bored and find the time somewhere...

Ta.

 

[Black Hole]

ST2000VX017 - Seagate SkyHawk 2TB

Preferred

WD23PURZ - WD Purple Surveillanc 2TB

Second choice

HDWT720UZSVA - Toshiba S300 2TB

Clutching at straws. We have a report of someone installing this, but no subsequent knowledge of long-term results (lack of reports could indicate no problems).

will the Humax format the HDD itself, or because I have the CF it won’t?

It will. Or if it doesn't, you can use the menus Menu >> Settings >> System >> Data Storage >> Format Storage.

In Telnet just enter the 3 lines of code: (I don’t know exactly what these 3 lines do)

humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda1
humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super -T largefile /dev/sda2
humax# mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda3

That is an optimisation and not essential to do.

If I want to now use WebIF. Since I haven’t used it before or installed it, is it packaged in with the CF waiting for me to install via the ‘yellow button’ or the telnet command:
opkg install webif –force-reinstall

Or do I need to do something else?

Sort of... neither. Connect to the network address with your web browser and you'll get a web page telling you what to do.
https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Install_Full_Web_Interface

I don’t know if anything is recoverable from the old disk

It doesn't sound like it.

 

[Victoria]

Thank you so much @Black Hole
That is very reassuring.
Will go off now and see which HDD I can get and then have a play

(And then make notes for my foxsats.... just in case... a kind of 'don't want to change anything as its working but realise the lifecycle of the HDD are running out, though might read up on the WEBIF for the Foxsats since I think I saw something about getting HD recordings off, and since most of the channels are now or going HD.... )

 

[Owen Smith]

My understanding is Foxsats are a bit different. The hardware is older and quite a bit slower, and the custom firmware has a different history having started as an entirely separate effort by Raydon who appears to have vanished off the scene a few years ago.

 

[MartinLiddle]

(And then make notes for my foxsats.... just in case... a kind of 'don't want to change anything as its working but realise the lifecycle of the HDD are running out, though might read up on the WEBIF for the Foxsats since I think I saw something about getting HD recordings off, and since most of the channels are now or going HD.... )

On a Foxsat I think you need Nowsters patch to remove the encryption when the program is recorded. It won't help with existing recordings.