Replacing HDD in Humax HDR-FOX T2

[Dave Hay]

Hi
I'm having plenty of fun, trying and failing to replace a failed HDD in a HDR-FOX T2.

The old unit is a 500 GB Seagate Pipeline ( ST3500312CS p/n 9GW132-191 ).

Alas, the Humax fails to properly recognise the old drive any longer, and I can't even read it using a SATA-to-USB adapter on my Mac, either using macOS or a VM running RHEL.

The old disk does spin up, but the RHEL VM shows: -

...
[175905.612733] usb 1-2: USB disconnect, device number 12
[175905.614175] sd 42:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronizing SCSI cache
[175905.704471] sd 42:0:0:0: [sdc] Synchronize Cache(10) failed: Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK
[175921.914236] usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 13 using ehci-pci
[175922.053319] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=174c, idProduct=55aa
[175922.053325] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
[175922.053329] usb 1-2: Product: Ugreen Storage Device
[175922.053332] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: Ugreen
[175922.053335] usb 1-2: SerialNumber: 000004004257
[175922.076467] scsi host43: uas
[175922.081861] scsi 43:0:0:0: Direct-Access ST350031 2CS 0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[175922.105172] sd 43:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[175922.108268] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] 976773168 512-byte logical blocks: (500 GB/465 GiB)
[175922.121059] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[175922.121063] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
[175922.126303] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[175923.482114] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[175923.482131] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 Sense Key : Illegal Request [current]
[175923.482136] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 Add. Sense: Invalid field in cdb
[175923.482142] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 08 00
[175923.482147] blk_update_request: critical target error, dev sdc, sector 8
[175923.482189] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 1, async page read
[175923.598100] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[175923.598155] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 Sense Key : Hardware Error [current]
[175923.598165] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 Add. Sense: Internal target failure
[175923.598173] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] tag#0 CDB: Read(10) 28 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 08 00
[175923.598181] blk_update_request: critical target error, dev sdc, sector 8
[175923.598244] Buffer I/O error on dev sdc, logical block 1, async page read
[175923.598327] Dev sdc: unable to read RDB block 8
[175923.598340] sdc: unable to read partition table
[175923.602718] sd 43:0:0:0: [sdc] Spinning up disk...
[175923.684826] usb 1-2: stat urb: no pending cmd for uas-tag 0
[175924.606247] .ready
[175924.608995] usb 1-2: stat urb: no pending cmd for uas-tag 0
...

I bought a replacement ST3500312CS drive for £16.90 (!) on Amazon; alas, the Hummy doesn't appear to recognise it - it doesn't show up in fdisk or, in Maintenance mode, via fix-disk which simply returns: -

...
fix-disk -d
Running /bin/fix-disk
PART: [3 1 2]
FSCKOPTS: []
Unable to find a disk
...

and gptf fails similarly: -

...
Problem opening Could for reading! Error is 2.
The specified file does not exist!
Problem opening '' for writing! Program will now terminate.
Warning! MBR not overwritten! Error is 2!
Problem opening Could for reading! Error is 2.
The specified file does not exist!
Problem opening '' for writing! Program will now terminate.
Warning! MBR not overwritten! Error is 2!
Process failed, it may work after a restart.
...

It does work perfectly (!) in

However, I noticed the new drive is a different p/n - 9GW132-012 - and I read: -
...
The disk fitted to my T2 was P/N 9GW132-191 and that has a SATA II interface. Most of the disks on eBay are P/N 9GW132-012 with a SATA I interface. Be sure to check that you are buying the correct P/N version by inspecting the photograph of the disk label.
...

https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/replacement-hdd-not-detected.8102/page-2#post-114983

I'm using this custom firmware: -

1.03.12/3.13

which, I think, is reasonably recent.

Am I on a hiding to nothing to try and get -012 working ?

Should I stop wasting my time ?

Cheers, Dave

 

[MartinLiddle]

I'm having plenty of fun, trying and failing to replace a failed HDD in a HDR-FOX T2.

I bought a replacement ST3500312CS drive for £16.90 (!) on Amazon; alas, the Hummy doesn't appear to recognise it - it doesn't show up in fdisk or, in Maintenance mode, via fix-disk which simply returns: -

I have said before £16.95 is too cheap for the correct type of drive.

Should I stop wasting my time ?

Yes. I would send the drive back as unsuitable and spend more money on the correct type of drive eg https://www.ebuyer.com/337318-seagate-1tb-3-5-sata-video-hard-drive-st1000vm002

 

[prpr]

Rather than repeat myself, read this.
If that doesn't show anything, then there is no point urinating around with partitioning tools.

 

[/df]

If the item was bought by the OP from this Amazon listing, it should be fine for an HDR as evidenced by one of the reviews. At least these people think it has SATA II and I can't imagine such a major change without changing the model number, unless @Leicray can point to other evidence*.

As to the quality of the disk, it might be the case that these well-priced (cheaper than eBay) disks may include some that have been "recovered" from old set-top boxes and which may have been shipped to you by "accident" as new. Sometimes the pay TV operators lock the drives so that they can only be used by their own firmware (or anyone who has extracted the password from it, or hacked the disk via a serial connection to the drive controller, ...).

So you could return it and try again, or go with @Martin's advice to get a bigger disk. In either case, run a SMART report on the disk to verify its age and quality, as described in some post hereabouts on disk commissioning, as I thought but can't easily find.

* Update 2019-01-19 10:37
The linked thread states that the output of smartctl --identify, as below (obvs not the model in question)

smartctl 6.4 2015-06-04 r4109 [7405b0-smp-linux-2.6.18-7.1] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-15, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== ATA IDENTIFY DATA ===
Word     Bit     Value   Description

...
  27-46   -     .        Model number (String)
  27-30   .     0x5354:3230:3030:564d  "ST2000VM"
  31-34   .     0x3030:332d:3145:5431  "003-1ET1"
  35-38   .     0x3634:2020:2020:2020  "64      "
  39-42   .     0x2020:2020:2020:2020  "        "
  43-46   .     0x2020:2020:2020:2020  "        "
...
  76      -     0x850e   Serial ATA capabilities
  76     15          1   READ LOG DMA EXT as equiv to READ LOG EXT supported
  76     10          1   Phy Event Counters supported
  76      8          1   NCQ feature set supported
  76      3          1   SATA Gen3 signaling speed (6.0 Gb/s) supported
  76      2          1   SATA Gen2 signaling speed (3.0 Gb/s) supported
  76      1          1   SATA Gen1 signaling speed (1.5 Gb/s) supported
...

shows only word 76 bit 1 set for the "-012" version of the ST3500312CS and bits 1 and 2 set for the later version. Even the 2009 Product Manual shows 300MB/s transfer rate, requiring SATA II. Perhaps as this manual hints it's possible for the firmware to be configured or corrupted into a SATA I mode?

 

[MartinLiddle]

As to the quality of the disk, it might be the case that these well-priced (cheaper than eBay) disks may include some that have been "recovered" from old set-top boxes and which may have been shipped to you by "accident" as new.

Clearly everybody is free to buy whatever they want. However over the 35+ years I have been buying hard drives, I have had far too many problems with cheap drives, secondhand drives and recertified drives to waste any more time and I will always buy a new drive.

 

[Dave Hay]

@MartinLiddle Thanks for the feedback; to be honest, the exercise has been worth the marginal amount of money that the drive cost, and there's no such thing as too much storage - if needed, I'll use it in my VMware boxen.
@prpr Cheers, I'll check the MBR etc. out and report back
@/df Yeah, I was surprised to see that the p/n seemed to make a difference re SATA 1 and SATA; as per my reply to Martin, I'll fiddle around some more and see if/where I get

Thanks all, feedback is always gratefully received

 

[prpr]

Cheers, I'll check the MBR etc. out and report back

That was not the point. The point was whether you could see the disk at all, rather than trying to p1$$ about with the MBR, which is what the partitioning tools do.

 

[Eric Carter]

How appropriate that there is a disk replacement thread I've just got my 2GB seagate Pipeline Job installed, the Hummy boots and displays the format storage banner.
I said yes and confirmed but sadly the device didn't work.. The hummy was on for 3 hours then went to standby....

The format banner says there is 0 Available Used or Reserved... Am i right in thinking the CFW boots from the existing HDD and so if its new I cannot use it to format a large drive over 1 TB ? My original disk was dodgy so before it collapsed I bought a replacement whilst I can still access it on a dock sled..


Disk Problem ? It was from Amazon so its an easy return

I've just tried the gpft format from telnet menu but no joy....

 

[Black Hole]

Am i right in thinking the CFW boots from the existing HDD

No. The low level stuff and utilities such as the maintenance tools on the Telnet menu, plus the installation "wizard", are in Flash (the same as the OEM Humax code) - otherwise it would never start up. That's what you do when you initially install a Flash image from USB - update the firmware in Flash with our own version of firmware instead of an official Humax firmware update.

Also, a HDR-FOX continues to function without a HDD connected, so clearly it can't be running code from HDD! However, spare room in Flash is at a premium so the WebIF etc is stored and executed from HDD - but that's the fancy stuff on top, not the executive that makes it all happen.

The standard Humax firmware is happy with drives up to 2TiB-1 bytes - which is a lot bigger than 2TB (see Glossary [click], entry "KiB"). Beyond that you need the CF's GPT support. There is a possibility your drive was supplied with GPT partition management instead of MBR - that might confuse the Humax, you need to check it out on a PC and set it to MBR if not already.

See Things Every... (click) section 12.

 

[Eric Carter]

Thanks buddy, i finally got it working after reflasing the latest firmware so I am guessing i was on an older version.... Working fine now

 

[Black Hole]

Only very old firmware might not have worked, way too old to have been reasonable.

 

[Luke]

Only very old firmware might not have worked, way too old to have been reasonable.

Some of us do find 1.02.32 or 1.02.20 useful.
See https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Which_Version for why.

 

[Black Hole]

Or, indeed, Things Every... (click) section 1. I mistakenly thought 2TiB support had been available for longer than it has.