How do I retrospectively decrypt a whole folder of files?

[to max a humax]

We want to retrospectively decrypt a folder of files. These files have not yet been decrypted, as they were recorded off the TV back when we knew even less ,-) re what we were doing with a Humax than we do now - LOL! ,-)

So we now need to decrypt all these files, after the files have already been recorded on our Humax HDR-FOX T2 & stored in their undecrypted format.

We have already moved them onto a NAS drive, that is connected to our Humax HDR-FOX T2. Of course, should it be advised to get this retrospective decryption to work on these files, then we can move them back onto the Humax.

The 192... location (pardon any incorrect terminology!) of the folder where the undecrypted files are located, is now on the NAS drive at the Webif placement of:
media/My Video/[Shares] Do not delete!/NAS.

We see that there is an "Opt+" web button next to that "NAS" folder.

My question is, in order to get a decryption working on the folders contents:
If I right-click on the "Opt+" web button next to that "NAS" folder, then should I select one of the following options:
(i) Enable Auto-decrypt
(ii) Recursive Auto-decrypt
?
And if so then which of the 2 options should I go for? And do I need to change any other settings to get the files decrypted?
Or what is the correct process?

 

[Black Hole]

(i) Enable Auto-decrypt
(ii) Recursive Auto-decrypt

Enabling auto-decrypt on a folder means that any encrypted .ts files in that folder (now or in the future) will be added to a processing queue for decryption. Recursive means that the same will apply to any folders in that folder (instead of only that folder and no sub-folders). Thus, enabling recursive auto-decrypt on My Video sets it up to decrypt everything.

media/My Video/[Shares] Do not delete!/NAS.

Oo-er!

Folders prefixed "[" are automatically excluded from blanket auto-processing, so a recursive flag set on My Video will be ignoring the shares folder (good - see below) and you have to explicitly flag it (don't!!!).

There is a possible issue here: by making a virtual USB mount appear in the My Video folder tree, lots of processes have no idea the files are not on the internal HDD. This is likely to screw up the free space calculations, and the DLNA indexer will be trying to access your NAS every time it runs. I do not recommend it, and I have my [ModSettings] with shareFolder=off so that external shares are accessed through Media >> Storage (blue) >> USB. Slightly less convenient, but any problems are avoided.

In particular, I have no idea whether WebIF auto-decryption is going to work properly on a remote share, but even if it does there will be a lot of network activity while it is happening and the HDRFOX is not good at handling a lot of network activity - the slightest little thing that goes wrong is liable to crash it.

Or what is the correct process?

My recommendation is to move the undecrypted recordings back to the HDD, and decrypt them there. Alternatively, decrypt them in place using off-line decryption (ie with a computer rather than the 'Fox): https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/windows-version-of-offline-decryption-hfodu.8770/

On the other hand, do you really need to decrypt them at all? We used to strongly recommend decryption, because we had no way to decrypt files and make them useable if the original recorder was no longer available (eg dead). Now however, so long as you have a record of the original unit's serial number and MAC, decryption is available on demand regardless of the original recorder. So you could leave these recordings as they are, and only decrypt as circumstances demand.

Decryption Guide (click)

 

[MymsMan]

An alternative to using the (recursive) Auto decrypt flags is to view the folder in the Webif, Select All, choose Decryption in the list next to Queue For and then press Queue For button.
This will do a one-off Decryption of the selected recordings without the Humax scanning the NAS drive folder every few minutes looking for new recordings to decrypt

 

[Black Hole]

without the Humax scanning the NAS drive folder every few minutes looking for new recordings to decrypt

Indeed, but still with lots of network activity.

 

[to max a humax]

Thanks for all your advice - will look into this matter.

 

[to max a humax]

Have finally found more time, post the summer months, to carry on, after hitting a problem.

Had successfully been decrypting. But have now hit an error. The error message the Webif states in the (Decryption) Queue is, in the Log column:
"File size mismatch"

What does this mean? How do I remedy it?

 

[Black Hole]

It's a post-decryption check - if the decrypted file isn't the same size as the original file, something has gone wrong and that is your cue to recover the original file rather than accept the decryption. Retry that file, and if it still fails the chances are the recording is corrupt.

 

[to max a humax]

Retry that file, and if it still fails the chances are the recording is corrupt

THanks. All part of the learning curve!

Now we have come across, in same Log column, another couple of error messages:
"Could not load .ts file"
&
"DLNA Server not running"

I have searched at this forum for these terms, but cannot find any quick-glossary type of list explaining what they mean. Is there any such glossary?

I have a feeling "Could not load .ts file" = this file was recorded on our other HDR-FOX T2 (we own 2 such Humaxes), & this file thus needs decrypting on that other unit (as that of of course has a different encryption key). And i believe - if we are learning at all through all these problems/solutions, LOL! - that "DLNA Server not running" might = the Humax unit is actually switched off. Ha-ha! ,-)
But we could be wrong.

Can someone explain what these error messages mean, & point us in the direction of any glossary re the Webif.

Thanks.

 

[MymsMan]

"Could not load .ts file"

This usually means the file can't be found

"DLNA Server not running"

Decryption require the use of the DLNA server which runs when the box is fully on but not when recording in half awake state - it should be automatically be retried later

 

[Black Hole]

Can someone explain what these error messages mean, & point us in the direction of any glossary re the Webif.

1. Decryption Guide (click). When you understand the decryption process, you will understand its requirements. For your purposes, you are particularly interested in Method 2.

2. As much as we might like it to be, as a hobby project the Custom Firmware & Software is not fully documented and much information can only be gleaned from searching the forum for existing discussion (see Newbies' Guide to the Forum , section Searching the Forum). However, the official repository for what documentation does exist is the Wiki (click).

 

[Andy Herbert]

An alternative to using the (recursive) Auto decrypt flags is to view the folder in the Webif, Select All, choose Decryption in the list next to Queue For and then press Queue For button.
This will do a one-off Decryption of the selected recordings without the Humax scanning the NAS drive folder every few minutes looking for new recordings to decrypt

Thanks for this - the drive on my HDR Fox T2 is about to go and for some reason regardless of my setting the Auto-Decrypt option on the folder or my moving recordings in/out it's resolutely refused to decrypt the recordings, whereas this has finally worked a treat!

 

[MymsMan]

Thanks for this - the drive on my HDR Fox T2 is about to go and for some reason regardless of my setting the Auto-Decrypt option on the folder or my moving recordings in/out it's resolutely refused to decrypt the recordings, whereas this has finally worked a treat!

Strange, Auto-decrypt flag should have worked so perhaps there is something wrong with your Auto-processing settings or the Scan phase of auto processing.
Normally folders are scanned for recordings to be decrypted every few minutes though you can disable it at peak times and during recordings, what are your settings?


If you are sure you had left recordings in the folder long enough for scan to run check the auto.log file on the diagnostics page to see if there any failure messages there.

the drive on my HDR Fox T2 is about to go

What is your evidence for this?

We have seen similar assertions in the past made for perfectly healthy disks!
Have you tried running fix-disk?
Can you post the output of the disk diagnostics page?

 

[Andy Herbert]

Something very odd's going on with stuff, that's for sure!

My settings were similar, but the logging of scan information wasn't set.

What is your evidence for this?

Recordings (old and new) suddenly repeatedly stopped playing, locking the entire recorder up until I pulled the power. When I logged into the WebIf to see about backing stuff off it I was presented with an error regarding the disk. I then followed the steps on the forum for putting the device into Maintenance Mode and running the fixdisk command, which did some fixes but either repeatedly crashed-out (likely because the recorder kept turning itself off for no apparent reason) or hung. At this point I stopped trying to fix it and just accepted that my 8+ year old HD would benefit from a replacement, so I've purchased a 2TB Seagate Video HDD and started trying to copy everything off (wanting to decrypt it first as I was unaware of the recent improvements to enable decrypting outside of the physical device).

Below is my current drive details from WebIf - the only thing that overly concerned me was that the date was clearly wrong - but I realised whilst updating the post that it's because I'd unplugged the aerial whilst tinkering, and when I put it back in and rebooted the device it's now showing correctly.

 

[MymsMan]

There is nothing in the SMART data that to me (others may spot otherwise) shows any signs of physical problem with the disk. You have no reallocated, pending or uncorrectable sectors, disk has been a bit warm but that is normal and easily fixable with the fan package.

You may well have logical errors in the file system that could could only be resolved by persevering with fixdisk with -y option.

Since you have a new, larger disk you may as well install it and get it working OK then copy stuff from your old drive onto the new drive using a caddy for the old drive

 

[/df]

...
Below is my current drive details from WebIf - ...

Apparently you had (a) potential bad sector(s) in the past but the disk recovered without remapping.

For confirmation of the current status at the "physical" (ie disk firmware and below) level, you could run the extended SMART self-test. In Webif>Diagnostics>Webshell or at a telnet CLI prompt (# in either case), type smartctl --test=long /dev/sda. Much later (maybe a few minutes, maybe overnight) bring up the disk diagnostics display as attached above and there should be a new "Completed" entry at the top of the Self-test Logs.

That would show whether there is any disk badness that hasn't previously been noticed. Per MM above, there may also be file system issues, either consequent or separate.

 

[Ezra Pound]

Andy Herbert :wanting to decrypt it first as I was unaware of the recent improvements to enable decrypting outside of the physical device)

You don't need to decrypt any recordings, they will play when played from the new HDD as long as the new disk is in the original Humax

 

[Andy Herbert]

disk has been a bit warm but that is normal and easily fixable with the fan package.

That makes me a little nervous as it looks like the fan’s not turning at all, and the old disk was definitely warm when I removed it - is that due to the custom FW, or potentially a hardware fault?

You don't need to decrypt any recordings, they will play when played from the new HDD as long as the new disk is in the original Humax

I realised that too late too - but equally I was concerned that the old disk might go at any time, and didn’t want to risk it with all the kids’ stuff on there...

 

[MartinLiddle]

That makes me a little nervous as it looks like the fan’s not turning at all, and the old disk was definitely warm when I removed it - is that due to the custom FW, or potentially a hardware fault?

It isn't a hardware fault or the custom firmware. The standard behaviour is for the fan to be off until the temperature reaches 55C and then the fan is turned on full speed. The Fan package in the custom firmware allows this behaviour to be changed so that the fan is running continuously but at a lower speed and keeps the temperature down.

 

[Black Hole]

From the Custom Firmware Quick Start Guide:

fan *

As standard, Humax chose to minimise noise over longevity. The internal temperature is assumed from the reporting built into the HDD, and the fan remains off until the temperature gets critical... then it comes on full blast (very audible) and gradually throttles back as the temperature falls. This results in the system temperature oscillating between extremes, and this isn't very good for the HDD (or the system).​

​

fan is one of the early packages, created specifically to address the sudden onset of fan noise, but also the better regulation of cooling is good for longevity. The user sets a constant minimum fan speed (eg 30%) so the fan never turns off (but can increase from that if necessary). Low fan speeds are barely audible (the HDD makes a constant noise anyway), and the constant air flow (if set high enough) prevents the 'turbo' ever kicking in.​