Help where's my recordings gone

[mitrowguy]

Got up this morning turned on my HDR-FOX T2 only to find a popup asking me to format the hard drive and all the recordings seemed to have dissapeared, I have not tried anything as yet, thought I would use this forum for the very first time so please be gently with me and please help cos the wife is threatning divorce as all her recordings have gone. Thanks

 

[Black Hole]

The glimmer of hope you have is that this is an instance of a fault that has occasionally been reported where the file system mysteriously makes itself read-only. There is a possible fix that will involve installing the custom firmware to make OS-level tools accessible - what version firmware are you on? Are you familiar with Telnet and/or the Linux command line? (The answers will help pitch the instructions at the right level.) Alternatively the latest (beta) firmware 1.02.27 has a check disk function in the service menu.

Do nothing, keep the machine turned off at the back, until the OS guru comes along with detailed instructions (I won't do so myself in case I make a slip).

 

[mitrowguy]

Hi, thanks for the fast response. The firmware is Ver. 1.02.20 and i am not familiar with anything technical I just about manage the firmware upgrades. But seem to be having problems with the latest firmware? Regards

 

[Ezra Pound]

If you do end up having to format the hard disk, it is possible to copy off your recordings to a P.C. / Laptop first and then copy them back after a format. It really depends on how much your Humax will let you do, you will need a P.C. / Laptop and a LAN cable

 

[Black Hole]

As nobody seems to have taken up this gauntlet, I'll point you in the right direction - although this is likely to be a baptism of fire (in at the deep end!).

First off, for safety we'll try to rescue anything we can. If your Humax is connected to your home network, disconnect it because we will use a direct one-to-one connection. If it will let you, go into the system settings from the menu button on the RC:

Menu >> Settings >> System >> Internet Setting >> FTP Server >> On
Menu >> Settings >> System >> Internet Setting >> Configure LAN >> Configure IP >> Manual
Menu >> Settings >> System >> Internet Setting >> Configure LAN >> IP Address >> 192.168.1.100

You will need an FTP program on your PC, In my signature panel below click on "Trail Guide" and scroll down to "Stage 1.1 - FTP Access"

Now connect the Humax to your PC directly with a Cat5 cable (network connectors), and using whatever FTP facility you have installed access 192.168.1.100 and see what there is in terms of your old recordings - each one comprises a set of four files .nts, .thm, .hmt, .ts (the main recording file). Copy everything to your PC but note they are huge and will take a long time, also if any of them are 4GB or more in size they have to be copied to an NTFS partition not a FAT32 one. Disconnect the network cable.

What to do now? Probably the easiest to tell you is the HDD test in standard firmware 1.02.27. Visit THIS PAGE (click) and download HDR-FOX firmware 1.02.27 (make sure you get the right one) and unpack the zip to a USB stick (must be FAT formatted). Install it on your HDR (for instructions see the Wiki).

Now try the disk test:

Menu >> Settings >> System >> Data Storage >> HDD Test

Note that the recordings you FTPed to your PC will only be playable if copied back to the original recorder.

 

[mitrowguy]

Thanks for all the help everyone. I have bit the bullet and just formatted the hd, thanks again for your time and trouble.