question re Humax hdr

Norman Hubner

New Member
Hi Guys,,, newbie so be gentle!!! lol

Problems with foxat hdr...about 5 years old has worked faultlessly since new but now starting to be a little random....recorded material being lost from the media screen but a reboot returns it...recordings failed...wont delete programs because of file "restrictions" etc etc...factory reset and formatted twice still the same...considereing maybe hard drive is getting a little unreliable...I am considering changing the hard drive...not a problem as I used to build my own pc`s...however I want to use a spare drive that I have here.
Now I noticed some people are specing certain drives..I dont want to buy a drive at the minute in case that is not the problem...anyone already done this and any problems.

Cheers Guys
 
PC type drives will work when new but tend to produce problems after a while due to the inbuilt data error checking kicking in. Best to use a Consumer Electronics/AV specced drive. Avoid sata3 as seen reports even AV specced sata3 drives aren't recognised. Your box can't be 5yrs old. The first ones were delivered late November 2008 (like mine :))
 
Hi Graham...thanks for the prompt reply...yep you are probably right with the purchase date..I remember seeing the "blurb" when these pvr`s first came out, and they were "impossible" to get hold of!!!..The reason I am wanting to try this with an "existing" drive is to keep the "fault-finding" to a zero cost option..I am clearing a 500 gig seagate baracuda drive...I will put this one in and find out if the above problems sort themselves...if so, what drive would be best to replace it with would you think....got to be a 1tb I suppose!!!...I use a couple of samsung 1 tb drives in my daw in the studio!.any further advice gratefully accepted...I will have a further play with this machine as it is outside warranty and probably try the "alternative" firmware updates...cheers...just a though do you think this is a hard drive problem?
 
Hi Graham...thanks for the prompt reply...yep you are probably right with the purchase date..I remember seeing the "blurb" when these pvr`s first came out, and they were "impossible" to get hold of!!!..The reason I am wanting to try this with an "existing" drive is to keep the "fault-finding" to a zero cost option..I am clearing a 500 gig seagate baracuda drive...I will put this one in and find out if the above problems sort themselves...if so, what drive would be best to replace it with would you think....got to be a 1tb I suppose!!!...I use a couple of samsung 1 tb drives in my daw in the studio!.any further advice gratefully accepted...I will have a further play with this machine as it is outside warranty and probably try the "alternative" firmware updates...cheers...just a though do you think this is a hard drive problem?

The Foxsat-Hd came out around June 2008 followed by the HDR some months later.

My hdr had a WD 1TB drive in it within 2 or 3 weeks

It does sound like HDD problem. you can use larger than 1TB but you have to partition and format EXT3 yourself.

It's getting hard to recommend drives, Normally the WD AV-GP range is OK but check the new ones aren't Sata 3.

As you are computer literate, connect the drive to a Linux booted PC and run a Linux Disk checker to confirm if there are duff sectors. You could also try a linux disk restoration utility.
 
Hi Graham...just swopped out the hard disk....it was really easy....I have set the humax to record 2 hd channels to give the drive a "working" and see how it behaves....at least if it works ok for a while it will tell me that the disk was the problem!!!!!I might just try the old drive in the caddy that I used for the drive I have just put in...my pc runs good old windows XP....some of my progs wont get out of bed on anything newer lol...I will try error checking on the drive from there...thanks for your advice...Norman
 
You can download a Linux boot CD image that will boot your PC into Linux from a CD without affecting windows at all. Ubuntu is very popular. Linux will run on very low specced PC's.

Windows won't read a ext3 drive at all without a linux driver like EXT2FSD.

http://www.ext2fsd.com/?page_id=16

This will enable you to copy recordings to your PC, but not run any disc check or disc repair utilities. EXT3 is a Linux file system.

Best of all install the custom firmware

http://www.avforums.com/forums/free...r-bundle-foxsat-hdr-release-4-0-part-3-a.html

This will let you access the Foxsat's drive direct from your PC. No disc repair utility yet (might be one along in a while).
 
Hi Graham...just tried to format the old hard drive on my pc...it got to 43% then "fell over" so I guess its terminally ill lol...I have asked about the pipeline drives...they seem to come in at just short of £100...i will stick with the one i put in then change it for a new one when it gives out..I will also try the custom firmware...cheers Norman I
 
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