Question about transferring recordings from old HDD to new HDD via PC

M

mikej2005

New Member
Hi - I'm thinking about replacing a failing HDD in my Humax HDR-Fox T2 with an identical drive (a 1 or 2TB Seagate Pipeline) and have a question about transferring old recordings (almost 1TB-worth) to the new drive.

I intend to install the new HDD, let the Humax format it, then remove it, connect both drives to a Windows 10 PC (via internal motherboard SATA cables) and (presuming the PC can 'see' both the drives and the files), transfer the recordings directly from the old drive to the new one using Windows Explorer.

Will this work ?

It'll save me having to source a SATA->USB adaptor or HDD caddy and I imagine it should be a lot quicker too ?
 
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mikej2005 said:
Will this work ?
Click to expand...
No.

The formatting used by the HDR-FOX is Ext3, and Windows cannot recognise Ext3 unless you take special measures (and might even wreck the data on the drive if you connect it).

If you wish to use a PC for the transfer, I strongly recommend you boot from a Live Linux CD (I suggest Linux Mint, because the UI is familiar to Windows users) and not allow a Windows boot for the entire time the drive(s) are connected. Linux works fine with Ext3, NTFS, FAT32...

For the sake of £10 or so to buy a USB SATA adapter / caddy (make sure it comes with a PSU), you would be better off accessing the old drive from the HDR-FOX's USB port. You will be able to view recordings directly from USB (Media >> Storage >> USB), or copy them onto the new disk (do it in small batches, because the USB transfer borks large transfers).

More info: Things Every... (click) section 12.
 
Great - thanks for your reply and the useful info.

The powered SATA-USB enclosures I've found so far seem to be quite a lot more than £10 - would you mind giving me a quick example of what you mean, so that I know I'm searching for the right thing ? I'm not keen to spend too much because the drive really is on it's way out and I won't have a use for the enclosure beyond this.

I've actually got an old SATA-equipped PC knocking about that I'm in the process of resurrecting. Linux is something I've thought about having a play about with in the past, so I might have a go at installing Linux Mint on it although this would presumably take quite a lot of work to set up, with regards to the drivers (etc) I would need to get up and running, even at a basic enough level to transfer the recordings.
 
Trev said:
Just as an aside, why do you want to swap the drive anyway?
Click to expand...

The drive is clicking repeatedly in a rather alarming manner when recording and I've started to get failed recordings, too. It also seems to lock-up when navigating the recording menu.

It's the original 1Tb drive, so around 8 years old I think.
 
mikej2005 said:
I might have a go at installing Linux Mint on it although this would presumably take quite a lot of work to set up
Click to expand...
Try it - you'll be pleasantly surprised. Download the Mint Live DVD iso, then burn a disc and boot from that... you can play with Mint from there and install it properly (when you are ready) from the resulting desktop icon. Modern Linuxes (the mass-appeal ones, anyway) auto-detect just about any hardware.

USB-SATA (OK, so it's £15, but still useful to have in the tool kit): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SATA-to-...-Disk-Converter-Cable-Adapter-UK/303509942122
 
mihaid said:
what is unclear about that?
Click to expand...

I hadn't mentioned the obvious physical issues I'm having with the drive (constant clicking) in my initial post so it's possible Trev might have been going to suggest installing the custom firmware and troubleshooting the drive, if it was simply issues with failed recordings or a sluggish OS ? Just a hunch :)
 
Trev said:
And who gives a toss where the company is based if you get the goods in three days?
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If. At least twice recently, I've ordered stuff supposedly located in the UK which has then taken a couple of weeks to arrive (despite an estimated delivery within the week). Even within the UK, something arrived on time but was faulty, and when I raised an issue the vendor is "unavailable".
 
I did check the vendor details, which mihaid quoted above, before ordering. But I've been fairly successful with UK stock Chinese before, so wasn't too worried - it wouldn't be a big problem if it had taken a few weeks, but they'd certainly have got a negative review. It was also a cheaper supply - the prices were going into the £20+ not much beyond.

The only times I think I've had 'from way over there' deliveries were where I knew and accepted that, like from aliexpress, or where I failed to tick the UK only box and then didn't check the supplier.
 
For transfers using a USB to SATA link from FOX to/from HDD is there any difference using the front or back USB port on the box?
 
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