Interrupting a bulk copy from HDD to USB

M

MikeMax

New Member
Please can anybody tell me how can I safely interrupt a bulk copy from HDD to USB? My hard drive is showing signs of giving up, so I am trying to copy everyting onto an external SSD. So far it has taken over 36 hours, and still running.
 
How did you initiate the copy? You can probably stop at any point, but how to Resume later without recopying what you have already done will depend on the method used.

Do you have HD recordings to be copied? Have they had the ENC flag removed? Have the recordings been decrypted?
 
How much was / is being copied?

A quick search suggests the USB port files transfer rate (thank you Black Hole) is circa 200 MB/minute... so 0.2 GB... *60*36 = 432 GigaBytes in that 36 hours time (if maintained at that speed all the time)...

A fullish 500GB drive might be nearing completion? A 1TB is only half-way.
 
MikeMax said:
Please can anybody tell me how can I safely interrupt a bulk copy from HDD to USB?
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Try turning it off with the power button on the remote, or on the front panel. If that doesn't abort it, then you'll just have to use the switch on the back or at the socket.
My hard drive is showing signs of giving up,
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What signs?
so I am trying to copy everyting onto an external SSD. So far it has taken over 36 hours, and still running.
Click to expand...
So why do you want to interrupt it if you are trying to copy everything?
The fundamental question is: how big is the disk and how full is it?
And then: What are you going to do next, with (possibly) a partial copy of your recordings?
 
Thank you very much MymsMan, Rodders53 and prpr for your responses to my query.
How did you initiate the copy?
I stared the copy by opening the media window, selecting all files and activating copy to the attached USB folder.
Do you have HD recordings to be copied?
There are no HD files involved.
How much was / is being copied?
The total source disc is about 750 GigaBytes.
What signs?
I have a number of folders with sports recordings, some of which refuse to play and give the same 'scrambled' message seen if the antenna is disconnected. ITV seems to be more affected more than BBC.
So why do you want to interrupt it if you are trying to copy everything?
I wanted to stop it because I realised I was probably copying loads of stuff which would never work anyway, so I would try and recover a sample before completing them all.
And then: What are you going to do next, with (possibly) a partial copy of your recordings?
I don't know how I will recover the corrupted files but, as an octogenarian hardware engineer who used to write software in various versions of Basic, assembler and Liberty Basic, I thought it might be worth a try.
Try turning it off with the power button on the remote, or on the front panel. If that doesn't abort it, then you'll just have to use the switch on the back or at the socket.
I was wary about doing anything sudden to the copy operation in case it left any rubbish lying around to corrupt the SSD, hence my question about ending it 'safely'. Any suggestions on how to set about repairing the fauly files would be most welcome.
 
MikeMax said:
I have a number of folders with sports recordings, some of which refuse to play and give the same 'scrambled' message seen if the antenna is disconnected. ITV seems to be more affected more than BBC.
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Disconnecting the aerial shouldn't give a scrambled message. Nor should playing things back, assuming they were recorded properly in the first place.
Problems with one mux over another point to aerial issues.
Without any other evidence I wouldn't necessarily suspect the disk.
I was wary about doing anything sudden to the copy operation in case it left any rubbish lying around to corrupt the SSD, hence my question about ending it 'safely'.
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What filesystem is on the SSD?
The Humax UI isn't terribly great at this stuff, as you've found out.
I would probably let the copy operation complete as you've gone so far and then at least you'll have a backup. The good thing is that the recordings will be decrypted as well, as they're all SD.
Any suggestions on how to set about repairing the fauly files would be most welcome.
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Depends what's wrong with them. It's difficult to say.
In my opinion, the best thing to do is to install the Custom Firmware, which will at least allow you to assess the state of health of the hard disk and then go from there.
 
Hello again, prpr, thanks for your quick response. I am new at this game on the forum and haven't cracked the protocols and how to insert quotes yet, but I've just found the '+quote' button so will try that. No, I couldn't get that to work so please excuse me and I will continue with italics for the moment.
What filesystem is on the SSD?
EXT3
I would probably let the copy operation complete as you've gone so far and then at least you'll have a backup.
Copy has now completed and looks OK.
In my opinion, the best thing to do is to install the Custom Firmware, which will at least allow you to assess the state of health of the hard disk and then go from there.
Custom firmware has been on all my recorders for years and disc diagnostics on this machine has no complaints., I have been on 3.13 so far, but I've now got one of the spares up to 3.14, so I will play with that.
 
MikeMax said:
I have a number of folders with sports recordings, some of which refuse to play and give the same 'scrambled' message seen if the antenna is disconnected. ITV seems to be more affected more than BBC.
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That message is also produced when the recording was made with a different encryption key than the one that the HDR-FOX T2 is now expecting.

Sometimes it has been reported that the HDR-FOX T2 has forgotten its encryption key. If that has occurred, then a reboot from full standby (or total mains power off) should reinstall the correct encryption key. Any recordings that were made when the box got confused about its encryption key will remain unplayable. Similarly if the encryption key was adjusted via the custom firmware without taking full account of the implications that could also result in the same scrambled message for some recordings.
 
prpr said:
I assumed you were running standard
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The OP said "media window", so I guessed and was about to comment. Trying to copy that much using the SUI would probably have bombed out before it got very far.

Query: does a copy to USB by WebIF invoke decryption?
 
Black Hole said:
The OP said "media window",
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Not in his original post. And "media window" might have meant using the TV interface/remote.
Query: does a copy to USB by WebIF invoke decryption?
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No. I'm surprised you of all people is asking this.
So my previous comment about everything being decrypted is possibly wrong, depending on other things we haven't been told. Anyway it hardly matters as far as the original point goes.
 
Hello Luke, and thanks for your input. I think your post of 20:23 on 17 March has almost certainly identified the cause of the problem, if not the solution. The whole story is that the recorder I had in use at the time started getting more and more unstable when viewing live on ITV channel 4 until it just kept on rebooting every couple of minutes. It did, however, play anything from the hard drive without a problem. Not being aware that each recorder had it's own encryption (and decryption?) key, I swapped the hard drive from the original recorder into one of my spares, and all was well with channel 4 and replaying recent recordings. However, I now probably have a mess of files encrypted differently on a single drive.

Unless you think otherwise, I will try putting that drive back into the original recorder and, if I can view the currently unplayable files, see if the new direct copy facility in firmware 3.14 can move them onto a new disc on another machine. Does that sound doable, please?
Thanks again. MikeMax.
 
Hello everybody, very sorry for getting things wrong and putting things in the wrong place. My printer is currently busy printing out 40 pages of the newbies guide. I will try to do better next time.
 
MikeMax said:
Unless you think otherwise, I will try putting that drive back into the original recorder and, if I can view the currently unplayable files, see if the new direct copy facility in firmware 3.14 can move them onto a new disc on another machine. Does that sound doable, please?
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If you've got the other machine, you can work out its (no apostrophe!!) encryption key and add it to your machine in the file /mod/etc/keys (create it if necessary).
Then you should try decrypting one of the problem recordings. If that works then do all the rest - it'll take a while, but saves much mucking about shifting hardware between boxes.
 
prpr said:
If you've got the other machine, you can work out its (no apostrophe!!) encryption key and add it to your machine in the file /mod/etc/keys (create it if necessary).
Click to expand...
The HDR Fox T2 can support multiple decryption keys? How does that work? Does it try each one in turn until the decrypted data makes sense?
 
Owen Smith said:
Does it try each one in turn until the decrypted data makes sense?
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Yep, in software decryption. I believe that was courtesy of @/df, although it's not got a UI which makes it hard(er) to use.
I used to use it on occasion, but finally got round to changing my keys to be the same (having made sure I'd decrypted everything first).
 
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