"The HDD storage must be formatted..."

abraham

New Member
Just had this message when I witched on this morning "the HDD storage must be formatted to use the recording functions", clicked OK, all settings are showing 0%. Ran the test thing and nothing (seemed to) happened. (I unplugged it etc) Dead HDD do you think?
 
I took out the HDD and slaved it to my pc, dead as a dodo, ran some recovery software to have a look but still nothing.
Fitted another HDD which is very straightforward job* and it did recognise and format it as well so back working now.
Lost my recordings but lesson will be learnt.

* remove 3 screws at the back, remove lid.
remove fan connector, undo 4 screws holding HDD to unit then the four attaching it to base, disconnect wiring to HDD.
remove and swap. then screws back as before
genuinely straight forward, one decent Philips screwdriver needed.
 
I took out the HDD and slaved it to my pc, dead as a dodo, ran some recovery software to have a look but still nothing.
It may indeed have been as dead as a dodo, but on the other hand the HDR-FOX internal HDD is formatted Ext3 which a Windows PC wouldn't have the faintest idea what to do with. What might have worked is to use a Linux PC, or boot a Windows PC into Linux from a live CD. See Things Every... (click) section 12.
 
That depends on your definition of 'Dead as a Dodo'. Obviously it means a different thing to BH than it does me. To me that would mean that absolutely nothing happened. No spin motor activity (whirring) and no head servo activity (clicking).
That's the problem with peeps using euphemisms and/or similes when describing faults on electronic (or any other) type devices etc. Still, I suppose it's marginally more informative than 'it doesn't work' or 'it's broken'.
 
Fitted another HDD which is very straightforward job* and it did recognise and format it as well so back working now.
Which drive model was it? If it was not designed for AV use you may find that it is not as reliable long term due to its inbuilt error handling and potential extra heat.
Or am I talking rubbish, anyone?
 
Still, I suppose it's marginally more informative than 'it doesn't work' or 'it's broken'.
Barely. It really was a load of virtually worthless non-specific waffle, not worthy of a response.
 
Which drive model was it? If it was not designed for AV use you may find that it is not as reliable long term due to its inbuilt error handling and potential extra heat.
Or am I talking rubbish, anyone?

A Seagate ST2000VM003, I bought it as recommended on here so hopefully OK if I had been able to fix the other I would have used it as an external, thanks
 
It may indeed have been as dead as a dodo, but on the other hand the HDR-FOX internal HDD is formatted Ext3 which a Windows PC wouldn't have the faintest idea what to do with. What might have worked is to use a Linux PC, or boot a Windows PC into Linux from a live CD. See Things Every... (click) section 12.

If there has been any sign of life, noise, whirring etc I would have maybe tried to fix using the method you kindly suggested but I think I may have been on the edge of my knowledge but thanks for reply
 
Sorry but I don't understand part of this thread, is it me with the waffle, 'not worthy of a response'? If so, sorry for being so unspecific.
 
If you are saying that there is no whirring or clicking when you connect the HDD to either the box (which is obviously OK as the other HDD works in it) or a computer powers supply, then, however unlikely the failure mode as I've personally never heard of a spin motor failing, it seems to me like it's pretty dead. If you want a couple of really strong magnets, strip it down and remove the head arm linear motor magnets. (It's fairly obvious what I am talking about once you have the top off).
 
I had a dead drive, killed by a power supply spike (actually, the spike killed my two drives in a mirrored RAID!). It wasn't the drive motor itself - the driver chip had failed. I extracted a drive chip from a sacrificial drive and replaced it on one of the failed drives, and it managed to run the drive for long enough to pull the contents off before overheating (due to my inability to solder the heat sink pad hidden underneath).

Moral: you can't rely on a mirrored RAID for data security - unless the drives in the RAID have independent power supplies.
 
Sorry but I don't understand part of this thread, is it me with the waffle, 'not worthy of a response'? If so, sorry for being so unspecific.
I suspect the part that you don't understand are thw comments on your use of the expression 'Dead as a dodo'.
Because a HDD is an electro mechanical device, there are two possible failure modes. Electronic and mechanical. Re. the mechanical part failure. I asked you this with my 'whirring/clicking' question. Had you said that the disk was spinning and there was possible clicking coming from the head servo, we could have done some investigation into the electronics side. However, if there is no spin or head servo motor activity then there is no point going further.
Surely, if someone brought a device to you and said 'it is dead as a dodo', or it doesn't work, or 'it's broken' you would ask them 'what exactly is dead, not working, broken about it? or something similar, wouldn't you?
But you had changed the HDD in your box and fixed the problem before we could get the answer to the questions.
That's a good result. And as long as you are happy that the other HDD is beyond repair, that that's OK also.
 
I suspect the part that you don't understand are thw comments on your use of the expression 'Dead as a dodo'.
Because a HDD is an electro mechanical device, there are two possible failure modes. Electronic and mechanical. Re. the mechanical part failure. I asked you this with my 'whirring/clicking' question. Had you said that the disk was spinning and there was possible clicking coming from the head servo, we could have done some investigation into the electronics side. However, if there is no spin or head servo motor activity then there is no point going further.
Surely, if someone brought a device to you and said 'it is dead as a dodo', or it doesn't work, or 'it's broken' you would ask them 'what exactly is dead, not working, broken about it? or something similar, wouldn't you?
But you had changed the HDD in your box and fixed the problem before we could get the answer to the questions.
That's a good result. And as long as you are happy that the other HDD is beyond repair, that that's OK also.

OK, I'll be more detailed next time, though hopefully everything will be fine now! thanks again.
 
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