Swap HDD into replacement box?

[SiHa]

I've been nursing my beloved Hummy for about ten years now. I've replaced the HDD (twice), and the fan. But now I fear it's terminal; The box takes about five attempts to fully turn on, and crashes occasionally. After having replaced all the electrolytic caps on the board, and also the power-supply. I've followed the steps in the 'Crashing / Not Booting' guide, and have now given up, as I think it's probably some dry-joint-y thermal effect that'll be nigh-on impossible to track down.

Yesterday, I acquired a box which has allegedly had extremely light use. I'm thinking that the simplest thing to do would be simply swap the HDD out of my old box into the new one. The only fly in the ointment I can think of is the encryption key. I don't have auto-decrypt enabled currently, so most of the HD recordings will be encrypted.

Is the encryption key stored on the HDD (so will move with it)? Or is it a hardware thing, and I'll have to make sure all the recordings are decrypted one way or another before transferring them to the new box?

Thanks.

 

[MymsMan]

Is the encryption key stored on the HDD (so will move with it)? Or is it a hardware thing,

Its in hardware so won't move with the disk but if you install the custom firmware on the new machine you will be able to set the encryption key to match that of your old machine allowing access to the recordings

 

[SiHa]

...set the encryption key to match that of your old machine...

Ooh. I do run custom FW, but was not aware I could do this. I've just had a look on the old one and have just found the Encryption Key setting, Nice!

Thanks. That's the job for tomorrow evening sorted then.

 

[SiHa]

Apologies. A cursory search found another detailed thread on this subject, which I completely missed first time round.

 

[Black Hole]

Be aware that any non-standard key has to be applied (automatically by CF) each boot, so if you do apply a different key you have to keep CF. Going back to standard firmware would return to the original key.

All these wrinkles generally mean it is advisable to routinely auto-decrypt - then there are no limitations now or in the future, whatever the circumstances.

 

[SiHa]

Be aware that any non-standard key has to be applied (automatically by CF) each boot, so if you do apply a different key you have to keep CF. Going back to standard firmware would return to the original key.

All these wrinkles generally mean it is advisable to routinely auto-decrypt - then there are no limitations now or in the future, whatever the circumstances.

Thanks. Yes, I do routinely run auto-decrypt. Except for after my last-ditch attempt at recovery over Christmas, when I reset it, and re-installed the CF. I just didn't get round to installing the usual set of plugins as I realised it was terminal, and I'd have to replace it. Since I disabled auto-power-off it's become more stable, and so I now have some encrypted recordings to deal with.

Side note: Last night I thought, "Oh what the heck, I'll just enable recursive auto-decrypt on all the folders I care about, and then it'll be done in the morning, no need to mess about with keys". The box now crashes reliably after about 2 mins!

 

[Black Hole]

OK, so: transplant the HDD and change the key for the new box to match the old; install autounprotect and set recursive auto-decrypt on My Video; then when it's finished restore the original key for the new box.

 

[SiHa]

OK, so: transplant the HDD and change the key for the new box to match the old; install autounprotect and set recursive auto-decrypt on My Video; then when it's finished restore the original key for the new box.

Indeed - that's the plan, now.