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Need to replace existing (2TB) drive. What's best way to clone?

I

Ian Manning

Member
My HDD is showing signs of failing, so I have bought a new drive to replace it. What's the easiest way to clone the old drive to the new one?
 
OK that sounds sensible. Is there any way of copying over the recording schedule if I connect the old HDD via a USB caddy?
 
What are "The signs of failing" that you are observing.
The CF has a few tricks up it's sleeve to fix HDDs that are "showing signs of failing".
 
These are the things that have caused the concerns:
1. Repeatedly getting high termperature alerts (even though the fan is working)
2. Frequent brief pauses in playback of both recordings and live TV
3. Frequent crashing of box
4. Frequent failed (e.g. zero length) recordings
5. Frequent missed recordings (i.e. scheduled recording not done, and no audit trail of why it didn't record)
That's all I can think of for now...
 
So I'm trying to use the rsync method mentioned in your linked post to restore my settings from the old HDD, which is now connected via USB. I'm getting a "no such file or directory error" for /media/drive2/mod/. This is the command that I'm trying:
Code: 
rsync -avr /media/drive2/mod/ /mnt/hd2/mod/

And these are the storage volumes:
20181023 humax disks.jpg
What rsync command should I use to restore my settings and schedule from the old drive, and can I also use rsync to restore recordings?
 
Ah yes I see what you mean...thanks.

So in the meantime I've used the Media menu on the box to copy my recordings across from the old (USB-connected) drive. Looks like it'll complete some time in 2022. Is there anything else that I would normally need to salvage from it?
 
Black Hole said:
Do you have the fan package installed, or are you relying on the Humax default algorithm?
Click to expand...
I can't remember. I was getting temperature warnings at the top of the Web IF several times a day, but not sure what was generating them.
Would you recommend using the fan package?
 
Silly not to. Keep the fan running at about 50-% and never have an overheat again, let alone the 747 at take off when the fan kicks in at full speed as it does when the default software decides the HDD is at 55C
 
fan let's you set the minimum speed of the fan, so there is a constant air flow instead of stop-start, and the fan speed is then boosted if the Humax algorithm demands (based on the temp reading in the HDD SMART data). You can log and monitor the system with the sysmon package.

fan was created to stop the noise. Humax decided to make the HDR "silent" by not running the fan at all until the HDD reached the high temp threshold, at which point the fan is enabled full-blast (definitely audible!) and then throttled back as the temperature falls. Many people find a fan speed around 40% (set using fan) practically inaudible, and by having that much air flow from the start the temperature excursions on the HDD are reduced, and often the fan is not required to run faster than that at all.
 
OK that sounds like good advice. I've set it to 50% and will see if I get any complaints from the other side of the sofa....
 
Ian Manning said:
These are the things that have caused the concerns:
1. Repeatedly getting high termperature alerts (even though the fan is working)
2. Frequent brief pauses in playback of both recordings and live TV
3. Frequent crashing of box
4. Frequent failed (e.g. zero length) recordings
5. Frequent missed recordings (i.e. scheduled recording not done, and no audit trail of why it didn't record)
Click to expand...
None of those necessarily point to the hard disk. This all seems like guesswork and supposition.
Why don't you post the SMART stats. instead?
Have you run the fix-disk procedure in maintenance mode?
 
Last edited:
Ian Manning said:
What rsync command should I use to restore my settings and schedule from the old drive, and can I also use rsync to restore recordings?
Click to expand...
Partition 2 is the one containing media and /mod so you need /media/drive1 in this case, based on the output of df.
 
prpr said:
None of those necessarily point to the hard disk. This all seems like guesswork and supposition.
Why don't you post the SMART stats. instead?
Have the run the fix-disk procedure in maintenance mode?
Click to expand...
I did run fix-disk a few months ago, but nothing really changed. The SMART stats didn't show anything obvious as far as I can remember, but I was running out of ideas and was aware of temperature warnings over the last few months. As I've now removed the original drive I can't re-run the SMART test.

What's contained in the mod folder? Is it something that I need to restore?
 
prpr said:
All your installed packages and most of their settings.
So you can either reinstall and re-configure, or restore and carry on as before.
Click to expand...
Excellent - thanks.
So if the drive replacement doesn't resolve things, what are the other potential causes (and possible fixes)?
 
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