Help formatting 2 TB external HD

C

CRA1970

New Member
Hi,
I have been tearing my hear out trying to get this drive to work with my HDR FOX T2

I have a WD 2 TB external USB HD, the only way I can get the HDR to see it is to format it FAT 32, which suffers from the 4Gb file limit, NTFS doesn't support writing, so I have tried formatting it using the HDR, that doesen't format drives above 1 TB, I have also formatted it as EXT 2 and EXT3 using EASEUS Partition Master 9.1.0 Home Edition and the HDR doesn't see that either, I have also look on the glossary here and am none the wiser as to what else I can do, so if someone could explain how this is done or point me to the correct thread I would be a happy man.

Many thanks

Calvin
 
CRA1970 said:
I have also formatted it as EXT 2 and EXT3 using EASEUS Partition Master 9.1.0 Home Edition and the HDR doesn't see that either
Click to expand...

If you format the disk as EXT2 or EXT3 and make sure that the partition type is hex 83 (Linux) then the Humax should see it. It should only be hard if you're using the Humax HD and trying to use the external disk for recording.

Check the partition type and try GPartEd as BlackHole suggests if you have no luck.
 
Thanks for the help though I have had only limited success, the only way I can get the hummy to see the drive is to format it with a partition under 1TB, after formatting it with EASEUS Partition Master 9.1.0 it is seen by the hummy, and works fine, (the partition type is 83 Linux and under 1Tb).

I have tried to get the hummy to format the drive as under 1 TB but gets stuck again and scraps the format (not sure if it then trys to make it 2tb again), I tried formatting a flash drive to get the hidden files but that option greyed out so will still have the problem of getting hold of the hidden files.

After downloading GPart Ed it appears I need to make a boot disk and boot my PC from that, is there a windows version of GpartEd, couldn't find one on the net?

I dont need to record directly to the external, just want to achive my stuff by copying it and play back later over the USB

Calvin
 
GPartEd is a special live Linux distribution - you use the iso to burn a bootable CD, and then you can boot from it and your PC becomes a hard drive utility without affecting your normal Windows or whatever. Also useful for system maintenance outside Windows.

The Humax will attempt to format any drive as a single partition, so yes it was trying to make it 2TB again and failing.
 
OK tried formatting the drive with GpartEd, still no joy.

Are the hidden files just for the HD rather than the HDR, as I cannot find any after formatting a 1TB drive and plugging it into my PC.

I can't see what I'm doing different, though if other people have done it it must work and its me being crap!

Calvin
 
On the HDR there is no need to create any files hidden or otherwise. A straight forward format is all that is required.

Check that the partition table type is set to msdos, the partition type should be set to Linux (83) as mentioned by af123 above. Having said that I did have problems in creating a new partition after deleting the old one in gparted.

In the end I formatted a 2TB drive using the custom firmware but that is another story for another forum ;)
 
CRA1970 said:
I dont need to record directly to the external, just want to achive my stuff by copying it and play back later over the USB
Click to expand...
Unless you are seriously averse to running the custom firmware, I recommend installing the NTFS driver and using a standard NTFS-formatted drive for this. The HDR-FOX can't record to an external drive anyway.
 
I'd agree - follow black holes advice and stick to NTFS - this will also give good windoze compatability.

Most of the free tools work better on a windoze platform so there are real advantages.
HOWEVER - When I did this I discovered that NTFS formatted from windows Vista or Win7 did not work with my Humax
My fix was to use the program you just tried - GParted from partedMagic
I have been using this for a couple of years now and consider it invaluable - I also use it to do full disk cloning.

I'd advise you to partition your drives to no bigger that 1GB after which they can become cumbersome if you ever need
to scandisk or manually defrag them. Personally I'd go for one big one and 2 smaller ones I think.

But Gparted will do a good partition/NTFS format that is compatable with both windoze and humax.
I prefer to boot partedMagic from a ram stick I use it that often but a CD is all you really need for it.

Just delete any previous attempts until the whole disk shows up grey - click on the grey areas and create
the relevant partions by clicking Partition/New then apply. You can create up to 4 primary partitions.
You shouldnt need to adjust any flags or anything.
Once the partitions are created just click Partition/FormatTo then select NTFS and apply for each.

You shouldnt have any problems.
 
jack616 said:
I'd advise you to partition your drives to no bigger that 1GB after which they can become cumbersome if you ever need
to scandisk or manually defrag them. Personally I'd go for one big one and 2 smaller ones I think.

.
Click to expand...

I think you mean 1TB. 1000 partitions on a 1TB drive might be a tad overkill
smile.png
 
Thanks for the replys,
How do you install the custom firmware to support NTFS, the software version on my machine is FHTCP 1.02.20.

Cheers

Calvin
 
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