replacing hard disk

The parameters that are recommended in the 2TB Blog page will make the system use the large partition where recordings go more efficiently, but you can apply them after letting the Humax format the disk (before filling it with recordings): search the forum for "tune2fs".
You don't need to. You may (or may not) wish to. Filesystem checks are quicker if you do.

I don't think you can change the directory hash algorithm or number of inodes except at format time.

Thinking ahead (could be 8 years time if my replacement is as good as the previous), if I do change the formatting in partition 2, when(!) there are problems next time, would this cause more issues in fixing / retrieving the data off it? I've read the rational part but also noted that
I had to do some shuffling around to work out the sector boundaries
has made me think that this might not be for the normal user. Who else has done this and who else have just used the drive as it came?

Any notes on what folder(s) to copy over with the webif and package settings?

If you want a suggestion for what hard drive to use I would suggest a Seagate Skyhawk bought from a reputable supplier.
As for drive yes it looks like the 2TB seagate seahawk (amazon, ebuyer - currently same price £59) is the one to get as I'm not managing to find the Pipeline. I could push the boat out though and get 1TB Sandisk (Amazon) as I do know from my "spare" humax it seems to be working ok and runs cooler, Power_on_hours: 5429 - over about 2 years now. Decisions decisions! :D

I'll probably make the order later today - no rush what with 10MB/s transfer speed, it's going to take a while to grab my recordings (some I can tell haven't copied over the full registered size on the drive so glad I'm doing this now rather than later - pity, this drive (original seagate pipeline has been fine until now but has now seemed to fall off a cliff even though the number of reallocated sectors is still very low - I think it must be more to do with the LBA 0 issue I've written about in other another thread)

Thanks

Rodp
 
I've read the rational part but also noted that has made me think that this might not be for the normal user. Who else has done this and who else have just used the drive as it came?
I used the af123 suggested formatting scheme and found it easy to do and it has given no problems. I suspect most people will just let the Humax do the formatting.
As for drive yes it looks like the 2TB seagate seahawk (amazon, ebuyer - currently same price £59) is the one to get as I'm not managing to find the Pipeline. I could push the boat out though and get 1TB Sandisk (Amazon) as I do know from my "spare" humax it seems to be working ok and runs cooler, Power_on_hours: 5429 - over about 2 years now.
I can't find the lifetime TBW (TerraBytes written) figure for the Sandisk. For a Samsung Pro it is 600TBW for a 1TB drive but the Sandisk will be a lot lower. If you take a worst case of recording 2 HD channels whilst watching a third HD channel 24 hours a day with an assumed HD bit rate of 7Mb/s (in practice it will vary) then my calculation is:
(7*3*3600*24*365)/8 = 82.78 TBW per year. So the Samsung should last at least 7.2 years under a heavy PVR load ( warranty is 5 years or 600TBW).
 
Do traditional hdds have an equiv TBW?
No. Magnetic domain flipping does not have a wear component, shoving electrons through an insulator does.

Can you help with a link to that?
Be aware that this was written before the Humax standard firmware supported 2TiB. The principles remain sound, but all you really need to do it stick it in and let the HDR-FOX format it.
 
Last edited:
Oh sorry, that's what I've read already, thought it was a different set of instructions.

Can anyone provide notes on what folder(s) to copy over with the webif and package settings?
 
Can anyone provide notes on what folder(s) to copy over with the webif and package settings?

Just came across this: https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/backing-up-the-webif-settings.9032/

mod/etc/anacrontab (cron)
mod/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root (cron)
mod/var/backup/* (schedule/favorites backups)
mod/webif/html/css/EXTRA.css
mod/etc/sweeper.conf
mod/boot/tunefix.conf
mod/boot/redring.conf
mod/boot/fanspeed
mod/etc/webif.db (EPG Settings & Detect ads & Fan Settings)
mod/monitor/monitor.db (Auto processing & Detect ads & Fan Settings & Red Ring & tempmon)

So it looks like I just need to copy over various files from the [mod] folder found on drive 2 / sda2 (which seems to be the same drive as the My Video and My Music folders are storedin)?

I would plan to let everything reinstall and then copy over specific config or db files as above. I can't remember 100% what packages I had installed, is this in a file that can be easily viewed to get this? I did try to plug the old HDD back into the Humax to bring up webif but it's just hanging and rebooting now so the HDD is not good as a bootable device now, working ok in a USB caddy for the time being.

From memory...
-I have amended the mediatomb config to convert / stream files with an extension of mp3L2 to wav for Chromecast audios so I'll add that to the list (<drive2> /mod/mediatomb/config/config.xml)
-I have a some network share settings setup, where would the setup for these be?
-Is the RS config included in the list above?
-Sweeper rules by directory - are they all stored in the sweeper.conf file above?
-betaftp, I can't recall if there are any settings for this. It's on the service page of webif so the ON/OFF settings for the different services would be what I'm after but i guess this is pretty simple so perhaps I don't need to worry about this part.

Are there any other files or areas of the HDD I've missed that I should refer to?

Thanks

Rodp
 
/media/My Video/[ModSettings]

I checked that before but it's empty. [shares do not delete] is also empty but I defo have a share called Asus setup in there when the humax boots up normally. Is thst the only place they would be?
 
Just came across this: https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/backing-up-the-webif-settings.9032/
mod/etc/anacrontab (cron)
mod/var/spool/cron/crontabs/root (cron)
mod/var/backup/* (schedule/favorites backups)
mod/webif/html/css/EXTRA.css
mod/etc/sweeper.conf
mod/boot/tunefix.conf
mod/boot/redring.conf
mod/boot/fanspeed
mod/etc/webif.db (EPG Settings & Detect ads & Fan Settings)
mod/monitor/monitor.db (Auto processing & Detect ads & Fan Settings & Red Ring & tempmon)

So it looks like I just need to copy over various files from the [mod] folder found on drive 2 / sda2 (which seems to be the same drive as the My Video and My Music folders are storedin)?
Personally I'd copy the entire /mod to a /mod-old or similar on the new disk, to be purged once you're happy that you've reproduced your previous settings. You could exclude /mod/boot/... whose files are actually on the flash filesystems, not on the hard disk. (And so you could eliminate 3 items from the list above). Then copy stuff from old to new as needed. You'll probably want most of what's in /mod/etc.
I would plan to let everything reinstall and then copy over specific config or db files as above. I can't remember 100% what packages I had installed, is this in a file that can be easily viewed to get this? ...
This command at a shell prompt: opkg list-installed
From memory...
-I have amended the mediatomb config to convert / stream files with an extension of mp3L2 to wav for Chromecast audios so I'll add that to the list (<drive2> /mod/mediatomb/config/config.xml)
-I have a some network share settings setup, where would the setup for these be?
NFS: /mod/etc/exports?
SMB: /mod/etc/samba.conf (guess)?
-Is the RS config included in the list above?
Not qualified.
-Sweeper rules by directory - are they all stored in the sweeper.conf file above?
And in .sweeper files in each media directory.
-betaftp, I can't recall if there are any settings for this. It's on the service page of webif so the ON/OFF settings for the different services would be what I'm after but i guess this is pretty simple so perhaps I don't need to worry about this part.
...
betaftpd uses the same setup as the native ftpd (in the setup DB on flash).

The auto-start setting for services (like betaftpd) isn't stored in a convenient way. On the old system run service at the shell prompt; note the Auto settings for services that have Yes under Installed. Then once the packages have been installed on the new configuration, run service again: for each installed service whose Auto setting doesn't match the old setting, run: service <service_name> auto
 
Thinking ahead (could be 8 years time if my replacement is as good as the previous), if I do change the formatting in partition 2, when(!) there are problems next time, would this cause more issues in fixing / retrieving the data off it? I've read the rational part but also noted that has made me think that this might not be for the normal user. Who else has done this and who else have just used the drive as it came?

Any notes on what folder(s) to copy over with the webif and package settings?


As for drive yes it looks like the 2TB seagate seahawk (amazon, ebuyer - currently same price £59) is the one to get as I'm not managing to find the Pipeline. I could push the boat out though and get 1TB Sandisk (Amazon) as I do know from my "spare" humax it seems to be working ok and runs cooler, Power_on_hours: 5429 - over about 2 years now. Decisions decisions! :D

I'll probably make the order later today - no rush what with 10MB/s transfer speed, it's going to take a while to grab my recordings (some I can tell haven't copied over the full registered size on the drive so glad I'm doing this now rather than later - pity, this drive (original seagate pipeline has been fine until now but has now seemed to fall off a cliff even though the number of reallocated sectors is still very low - I think it must be more to do with the LBA 0 issue I've written about in other another thread)

Thanks

Rodp
Hi there,

Did you install the 2TB seagate seahawk? Did it work OK? I need to get a new drive as my mine has died.

Cheers

Jason
 
Hi there,

Did you install the 2TB seagate seahawk? Did it work OK? I need to get a new drive as my mine has died.

Cheers

Jason

Hi Jason,

Yes, the 2TB seagate seahawk was installed and I did the extra change to partiton 2 to make it scan and run fix disk quicker. If i was to do it again I'd probably run a badblocks test before installing just to be sure I knew where i stood - there should be zero bad blocks for a new drive but always worth checking! I didn't do this in the end as it was difficult to do as had no linux distro with it on.

All seems good and will just wait i guess for SMART to tell me when there are problems. I also installed the fan speed app and put it to 50% which now keeps the hdd below 50 degrees which should help prolong the hdd's life a little.

Hope that helps

Thanks

Rodp
 
Hi Jason,

Yes, the 2TB seagate seahawk was installed and I did the extra change to partiton 2 to make it scan and run fix disk quicker. If i was to do it again I'd probably run a badblocks test before installing just to be sure I knew where i stood - there should be zero bad blocks for a new drive but always worth checking! I didn't do this in the end as it was difficult to do as had no linux distro with it on.

All seems good and will just wait i guess for SMART to tell me when there are problems. I also installed the fan speed app and put it to 50% which now keeps the hdd below 50 degrees which should help prolong the hdd's life a little.

Hope that helps

Thanks

Rodp
Thanks very much for your reply Rodp, I'll get a 2TB or maybe a 1TB ordered but get the seahawk series. If I get the 1TB, I'll let Humax format it and just take the defaults.
 
I'd probably run a badblocks test before installing... I didn't do this in the end as it was difficult to do as had no linux distro with it on.
But it's built in to the HDR with a modern CF...
 
I'll get a 2TB or maybe a 1TB ordered but get the seahawk series. If I get the 1TB, I'll let Humax format it and just take the defaults.
I haven't heard of a Seagate Seahawk and neither has Google; if it really is a Seahawk then could you post a link. My guess is that it is a Skyhawk.
 
It doesn't matter. You can always re-format. And badblocks doesn't necessarily destroy the data anyway.
CF (and badblocks) is in flash and nothing to do with any packages you may install later on to the disk.
 
If the disk is about to be or has just been formatted, just run the short or even long SMART test, which should run happily in the disk firmware while the system is running, and be much quicker than badblocks.
 
Back
Top