How easy to copy HDD contents to new, larger HDD

A

Al Gordon

New Member
I have a 320GB model and it's nearly full. I think could safely install say a 1TB model as there's lots of helpful stuff on the net about how to do that. However, what I want to do is copy the contents of (clone?) the original HDD to the new HDD. My partner wouldn't be able to handle trying to view old recordings from a separate HDD in a caddy.

How easy would it be to do what I've described? I would describe myself as having basic IT skills.

I've seen posts on this elsewhere but nothing very recent, and I found a lot less than I might have expected generally.
 
You need to put your old drive into a USB caddy, then use the Humax Copy command to copy from the caddy to your 1TB drive. It will take quite a long time to copy 300GB though, and a bit of a nause, but it can be done quite easily.

I'm sure that one of the real experts will come up with a better (quicker/easier) way though.
 
Trev said:
You need to put your old drive into a USB caddy, then use the Humax Copy command to copy from the caddy to your 1TB drive. It will take quite a long time to copy 300GB though, and a bit of a nause, but it can be done quite easily.

I'm sure that one of the real experts will come up with a better (quicker/easier) way though.
Click to expand...

Thanks Trev. Eh - what is the Humax Copy command and where would I find it?
 
Media Opt+ File manager. It's a bit cumbersome but it does work. From memory, you select the destination in the R/H pane, select the file that you want to copy in the LH pane then ??? I forgot.
 
Trev said:
Media Opt+ File manager. It's a bit cumbersome but it does work. From memory, you select the destination in the R/H pane, select the file that you want to copy in the LH pane then ??? I forgot.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, Trev.

Can you recommend a ITB drive that's known to work? I see incidentally that some folks are saying they've managed to get the Foxsat to accept even larger drives.
 
I believe that you can use up to a 2TB drive, but you have to use an external program on your PC to format it. The Hummy will only format up to 1TB. As to recommendations, I can't remember what drive I used, but it was one for PVR use. There may be an expert along in a mo who can advise you on current 1/2 TB drives.

Heres the notes that I used toi do mine, but I used a 1TB drive


FOXSAT 1TB HDD UPGRADE​

These instructions will preserve any recorded programs on your old hard drive. Your scheduled recordings are not kept on the hard drive (they are probably in flash memory on the motherboard). If you don't need to preserve any recordings then it may be possible to just install a new blank hard drive and format it from within the Humax menu - I haven't tried this myself.

Buy a hard drive

The first step is to buy a suitable hard drive. Currently the Samsung F4EG 2TB and Western Digital WD20EARS 2TB drives have been confirmed as working. Both of these drives have the new 4K sectors (advanced format) and so I do not anticipate problems with any other similar hard drives. It is unlikely that the larger 3TB drives will work as they will require the new GPT partition table which isn't compatible with the Humax. These drives are "green" meaning they spin slower and use less power which is good for a PVR.
Scan.co.uk: 2TB Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen Hard Drive - HD204UI/Z4Scan.co.uk: 2TB (2000 GB) Western Digital Caviar Green Hard Drive - HDD - WD20EARS

Remove the old hard drive

Before removing the old hard drive ensure you have turned off the box and disconnected it from the mains. Observe standard precautions when working with sensitive electronics by using an earthing strap etc. Following these instructions is all at your own risk!

To remove the old hard drive you first need to remove the lid which is held by three screws on the rear of the case. You will need to break the warranty void sticker to do this. I recommend using a magnetic tipped screwdriver so you don't lose any of the screws inside the case.

You then need to unplug the hard drive power connector, SATA cable and fan connector. Then remove the four screws holding the hard drive enclosure and then remove the four screws in the enclosure which hold the hard drive. Then remove the combined SATA power/data cable from the hard drive.

Copying to the new hard drive

You will need a PC with two spare SATA power and data cables - you may wish to disconnect the existing drives in a PC for this purpose.

Download PartedMagic ISO image file and burn the image to a CD to create a bootable Linux partition tool:
Download PartedMagic

Connect the old and new hard drives to your PC and boot the PC using the PartedMagic CD. Choose the default start option and run it in RAM - it will then load the Linux image from the CD and drop you into the Linux desktop.

Run the Partition Editor from the icon on the desktop. It will scan your system and on the right has a drop down list of available drives - check that both of the drives are listed.

Select the new Humax hard drive from this list and choose the "Create Partition Table" menu option - you want the default "msdos" option. This will wipe any data on the new hard drive.

Now select the old Humax hard drive from this list (should be shown as just under 500GB in size). You should see three partitions of about 1GB, 460GB and 10GB.

Select the first 1GB partition on the old drive and press the "Copy" button on the toolbar. Then go to the new drive and select the unallocated space and press the "Paste" button.

For the second partition which holds the existing video files you have two choices. If you are unfamiliar with Linux then go with the easy but slow option which is to Copy/Paste the second 460GB partition from the old drive to the new drive. Before pasting the partition you will need to adjust the size to maximise this partition size so enter 10,500MB for the remaining size - this should give you just under 1,900,000MB for the second partition size.

If you are comfortable with Linux then create the second ext3 partition manually - you can then mount it later and copy the video files manually - this is much quicker.

Last step is to copy/paste the third 10GB partition. Looking at the new drive you should see three partitions with a few MB to spare at the end. You now press the "Apply" button to save these changes to the new drive - this will take some time - allow two to three hours if you are copying the whole 460GB partition.

One this operation has completed you can now shutdown the PC and remove the hard drives. You now just need to install the new hard drive in the Humax. Remember to reconnect all three cables including the fan connector. One tip is to install the hard drive in the enclosure on its side - it makes it easier to line up the holes.

When you start your Humax it shouldn't say anything - it will just start as normal. When you go to your Media page it should now show you a significant boost to your free space! If the Humax asks to format the hard drive then something has gone wrong in following the steps above.


Some of the links are wrong/broken though
PS. I would have given credit for the original of the notes, but can't remember from where I got them. My appologies to the original author.
 
I am about to do the same and install a WD AVGP 1TB HDD. I will follow the guide starting here (can't post links yet so look up ffsheffield on YouTube for his guided hdd swap)
Then I am going to use this external caddy here:
allcam(dot)biz/products_id=693, which was recommended by someone on another forum using it.
Difference is that I am going to use the old 320GB drive as an external archive.

Edit: seems the drive I have bought may not be compatible, it's advanced format,(WD10EURX) so I need to find a fix for that problem.
 
Well an update, I installed the 1TB drive, but first I had to put a jumper across pins 5&6 of the new hdd to limit the drive transfer speed, and it worked perfectly, thanks to help around the forums, instructions attached
 

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excollier said:
Well an update, I installed the 1TB drive, but first I had to put a jumper across pins 5&6 of the new hdd to limit the drive transfer speed, and it worked perfectly, thanks to help around the forums, instructions attached
Click to expand...

How would you do what you described and would it require any particular IT skill? I've looked at the doc you attached but it doesn't say.
 
Al Gordon said:
How would you do what you described and would it require any particular IT skill? I've looked at the doc you attached but it doesn't say.
Click to expand...

Just a pair of tweezers and a standard jumper link. On the back of of all pretty well all computer drives since the year dot is a socket with little pins in it with a standard seperation. Jumpers are tiny push on connectors that simply connect two pins together that modify how it works.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=d...AWQpoGQBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEoQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=747
 
Thanks Graham and everyone else.

How will I know if my new HDD needs jumpers? My Foxsat is over two years old, if that helps.
 
Al Gordon said:
Thanks Graham and everyone else.

How will I know if my new HDD needs jumpers? My Foxsat is over two years old, if that helps.
Click to expand...

Install the drive (max 1TB), the box will either recognise it and format it for you or it won't :). If the box sets up the drive then it should be fine. After installing if you never use the Photo/Music partition you may want to reduce the partition size to it's minimum of 1GB to make max space for video. Larger drives need setting up externally first.

Elect to format both partitions from the box menu and use the slider to set the Video partition to maximum.
 
OK, I've now installed the new HDD and it seems to work without the need for jumpers so I'm very chuffed!

But....I can't get the Foxsat to recognise the original HDD. I had bought as suggested by Graham a USB caddy and put the old drive in that but when I go into media and press 'red' I get the sign meaning operation not allowed or not possible. (You know the one I mean.) I've tried the USB cable in both the front and rear ports.

What am I doing wrong? Do I need to do anything special with the USB caddy? What I've done so far is connect the power, connect the USB cable at both ends and stick the drive in the caddy. Have to say the old drive doesn't seem to sit very securely in the caddy and seems to tilt/wobble a bit. I think I saw his mentioned in another forum, in fact.

Help!:(
 
Al Gordon said:
OK, I've now installed the new HDD and it seems to work without the need for jumpers so I'm very chuffed!

But....I can't get the Foxsat to recognise the original HDD. I had bought as suggested by Graham a USB caddy and put the old drive in that but when I go into media and press 'red' I get the sign meaning operation not allowed or not possible. (You know the one I mean.) I've tried the USB cable in both the front and rear ports.

What am I doing wrong? Do I need to do anything special with the USB caddy? What I've done so far is connect the power, connect the USB cable at both ends and stick the drive in the caddy. Have to say the old drive doesn't seem to sit very securely in the caddy and seems to tilt/wobble a bit. I think I saw his mentioned in another forum, in fact.

Help!:(
Click to expand...

When you connect the drive in a caddy and connect it to the Foxsat do you get a message that a usb drive is connected, if not something is wrong.
 
grahamlthompson said:
When you connect the drive in a caddy and connect it to the Foxsat do you get a message that a usb drive is connected, if not something is wrong.
Click to expand...

Nope, don't get that message. I did try a memory stick I've used before and that's recognised.

Just a thought but could I use a SATA to USB adaptor 'cos I think I have one of those kicking about.

Anyway, when you say something is wrong does that mean the caddy might be faulty?
 
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