Very Large Internal Hard Disk, over 4TB

free30

Member
Hi,

So I've been trying to fit a very large HDD (10tb) to the hummy.
I followed the instructions to format using GPTF command in the maintenance mode. This gave an error saying 4tb is max, I think, but still complete.
The disk then showed up as 1tb in the TV browser but showed up as 10tb inside the webif.
I loaded it up with recordings from my last drive and it filled up over the 1tb showed on the TV browsers.
It now shows as full in the TV browser although I can still add to it in the Webif and the Webif still shows the correct size. Also it does not always initiate and so the humax boots but does not show the HDD at all, then on other boots it works.

Looks like I've push it too far and will need to downgrade. Is there anything else I could try, is there a way to flush the part of the HDD that the humax sees as full, is there a way make it boot more reliably.

Thanks for any advise :)
 
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10TB??? I never knew there was such a thing - this is certainly the largest I've ever heard of.

I wonder whether this behemoth is overdoing the supply current capability.
 
I've recordings from over 5 years ago and my 2tb drive has been too small from a couple of years now.
Films and documentaries take most of the space.
 
Well you could try partioning it down to a smaller size to see how big you can get it before the Humax software gets upset.. we know 4TB is fine so maybe you could go to 8?

You would do it something like this from the CLI, in maintenance mode.

Code:
umount /dev/sda1
umount /dev/sda2
umount /dev/sda3

sgdisk --zap /dev/sda
sgdisk --new=1:0:+1G --new=2:0:-2T --new=3:0:+10G /dev/sda

hdparm -z /dev/sda

mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super -T largefile /dev/sda2
mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda3

assuming the internal disk is /dev/sda.

That's saying to create three EFI partitions - 1 at 1G in size, one at rest of disk - 2TB size and the third at size 10G. Play with the -2T until it works - it would be great to find the threshold.
 
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Well you could try partioning it down to a smaller size to see how big you can get it before the Humax software gets upset.. we know 4TB is fine so maybe you could go to 8?
OK so the only way I know how to do this is to take it out and connect to a linux machine and reduce the size down. I'll do it soon and try. thanks
 
No, you can do it on the Humax - see previous post (that I edited after posting)
It will erase anything you have on the disk though so if you want to keep it then using a tool on Linux which can shrink the partition would be better.
 
I've tried your commands but need to zap-all to get it to create partitions but then it wanted to format the disk its self on reboot.
I think its the 'protective MBR partition' that I'm deleting be using zap-all.

When it formats the disk its self it sees the whole 10tb but only uses 1tb and puts the rest in reserve.

When I use the GPTF command in maintenance mode I get the error below but I think its ok

When I boot after GPTF command it does not want to reformat the disk, so I wonder whether its doing it a slightly different way.

Anyhow I'll look at this again tomorrow, thanks.

FjH6ZrJ.png
 
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I paid 100 pounds. Yes, not nothing but cheap for 10tb.

When I follow af123's instructions above I get the error below. Which is why I did the zap-all command, to make it work.
Yet like I say this seems to be deleting the MBR part as well as the GPT.

So I guess I need to know how to change size of the GPT partition alone.
When ever I try, resizing it in linux or use 'zap-all' to then recreate the 2tb partition, it wants to reformat the disk on boot.

0vlbhqM.png
 
If you're using zap-all, you will also need to create a specific protective MBR to keep the Humax software happy - here's how the gpt script does it:

Code:
sfdisk --quiet --label-nested dos /dev/sda <<-EOM
        /dev/sda1 : start= 1, size= 1GiB, type=ee
        /dev/sda2 : size= 1GiB, type=83
        /dev/sda3 : size= 1GiB, type=83
EOM

You can read the create_gpt functon in /mod/tmenu if you want to see the code.
 
sorry,
I can't see /mod/tmenu
running the code above just brings up a '>' prompt. Don't think i understand the EOM bit
 
Okay, I'm getting that you're not inclined to share your source for us all to benefit. I've not bought drives for my Zen PC yet...
It was from a mate and a one off.

Ok so I still can't find /mod/tmenu, or see the whole script.
I've figured out the EOM bits. But then it will not create the GPT partitions. Could I see all the code from /mod/tmenum create_gpt.
Thanks
 
ok so I've got the /bin/tmenu but how do I display it in maintenance mode , CLI
I've try, nano, type, display, echo, ls......
sorry I'm not good on linux

OH its cat.....sorry disregard message
 
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Code:
umount /dev/sda1
umount /dev/sda2
umount /dev/sda3

sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sda 2>&1 > /dev/null                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
sgdisk --zap-all /dev/sda

sgdisk --new=1:0:+1G --new=2:0:-3T --new=3:0:+10G /dev/sda
sfdisk --label-nested dos /dev/sda                                                                                                                                                                                                        
                /dev/sda1 : start= 1, size= 1GiB, type=ee                                                                                                                                                                                                                
                size= 1GiB, type=83                                                                                                                                                                                                                          
                size= 1GiB, type=83
        write
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
sfdisk -l -Y dos /dev/sda                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
sfdisk -l /dev/sda                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

hdparm -z /dev/sda
mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super -T largefile /dev/sda2
mkfs.ext3 -m 0 -O sparse_super /dev/sda3

So this is the code working for me, changing the size of the partitions.
3T is 3TB from end of disk, so 3TB smaller than before.

So far 2TB (7.1TB or 8TB) was not enough, the TV browser showed the drive as 3146 GB.
-3TB (6.1TB or 7TB), was also not enough, the TV browser showed the drive as 2122 GB.
-4TB (5.1TB or 6TB), showed as 1099 GB
-5TB leaving a 4.1TB partition showed as 75G
I'll keep making it smaller and see what happens.
Thank for all the help. :)
 
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