Help! My hard disk is disappearing...

P

Poundbury

New Member
I have a Humax Foxsat HDR which I have upgraded to a 1TB hard disk myself. I have the latest firmware. All has been well for many months. When 'Media' was reporting 60% full I decided to cull a few programmes I would never get time to watch. Using the file manager I deleted about 1o episodes of a series in one go, plus a few other things and got it down to 50% full. The following night it was back to 60% full, and the night after that (tonight) its 70% full!

What could possibly be going on? and, more importantly, how can I fix it?

The recordings I scheduled for each of these nights can't possibly be consuming 10% of a 1TB disc can they? (only a few hours of mixed SD/HD recording).

Thanks in advance for any ideas...
 
This sounds horribly like file system corruption (assuming the box is not recording all night :eek:). Not seen this on a foxsat-hdr. Is the drive a CE (consumer electronics) type or a normal PC drive. If I were you I would connect the drive to a PC by usb using a drop in sata cradle and copy the video folder contents to a ntfs drive using AV2FS. Return the drive to the hdr and reformat it. Copy back the contents after the format.
 
Hi Graham, thanks for the reply. File System corruption was my biggest fear! I think it is a 'consumer electronics' HD as it specifically intended for use in PVRs. I'll monitor closely and follow your advice at the weekend when I get more time if it continues.
 
Hi,

I have the FTP/Server bundle firmware adaptation on my HDR so I can browse the disk over FTP using my PC and use other tools. On further investigation with a programme which finds what is taking up your HD space I have found a HD recording from 27th June which is supposed to be just 1 hour long, but when I examine the disk the file is 216GB in size! It was a failed recording (clashed) but still looked to be largely intact. When I deleted it (which took an absolute age) my disk space went from 68% full to 41%. -Much more like I was expecting following an additional bit of panicky housekeeping!

I hope this has fixed the problem. What do you think?
 
Sounds a good explanation to me. The failed recording normally only means that you have missed a bit of the start due to an overrun. I have heard of the non stop recording problem but touch wood only experienced it once over 12 months ago. Noticed the box was still recording the following day :eek:. It's not happened since. You will have to see what happens next. :). If it's any help about 5 -10% of my 1TB is about a weeks recording of only HD channels.

At least with ftp access you can back up the video folder without removing the HDD.
 
MartinLiddle said:
Why do you suggest doing it that way? Surely this is a Linux file system and Linux has competent tools for file system repair. I would be tempted to try e2fsck from a live CD version of Linux.
Click to expand...

Having no idea as to the technical knowledge of the poster using the hdr to format the disc seems to be the safest option. There are posts around of EXT2FSD corrupting Humax drives.
 
Hi Both, Firstly deleting the troublesome recording file does seem to have fixed the problem. Secondly whilst I do have the know how to format a HD under Linux, I'd feel much happier letting the HDR do it itself - then I know it's completely happy with the formatting. I'm not confident enough to use file system repair tools in Linux.
 
Hi Poundbury and Graham.

I bought a Humax Foxsat HDR Freesat + Receiver (1TB) 7 months ago. Over the past week or so I noticed the hard disk filling up at an alarming rate. Despite deleting unwanted files it eventually reached 97% full. After several fruitless efforts to obtain advice from my supplier and Humax I started to look at support sites and found yours. I noted that Poundbury's problem was similar to mine. Lacking his technical expertise, I simply plodded through every recording - a tedious and time-consuming chore - and eventually found the culprit.

What helped me recognise this faulty file was:
Firstly, I had begun to record it a week earler.
Secondly, there was a button to the left indicating that recording was continuing.
Thirdly, the button was purple instead of the normal red.
Finally, the duration of the file was 57 minutes instead of the two hours expected.

So I played the file; it turned out to be 25 hours long, recording from BBC HD. Naturally, I then deleted it, which took 65 minutes. The hard disk then reported itself 27% full and all is now well. I thank you both - especially Poundbury, and note that you and your colleagues are doing Humax's work for them.

I remain baffled as to how this happened in the first place, having expected that the Humax box would be imbecile-proof. Any ideas?

With renewed thanks,

PaulG
 
Hi PaulG,

I'm still baffled too - but the good news is that deleting the troublesome file fixed it and it hasn't happened again since. The Humax box has been trouble free for over a year now and with the enhancements offered by the custom firmware is a delight to use. We even have remote recording (like Sky+) and loads of other useful features as a result (so thank you all involved!).

Regards,

Poundbury
 
I've had mine not stop a recording once. It was when Strictly Come Dancing was on. It just carried on recording. I have it set to 'accurate timing' (or whatever). Luckily I noticed it after it had been recording for about 3 hours, so was able to just delete the quite large file that it generated. It did give accurate recording times in the media list, indicating it was a three hour recording though.
 
I suppose that someone could write a little app that runs in the background to detect runaway recordings and kill the file automatically?
 
Hi Poundbury,

Thanks for your encouraging message. You've also reminded me to check on my firmware, which I'll do.

Kind regards,

PaulG
 
Only of you could relate X hours to the Y hours the recording is scheduked to be. For example, BTCC live coverage is six or seven hours as is The Open golf coverage this weekend.
 
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