Copy/Move recordings to External HDD

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Copy/Move recordings to External HDD

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crashcris

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I've been diligently copying and moving many much loved recordings to a Western Digital 2TB HDD as a way to free up space on the Humax 2000T as well as to have a back up should the HDD in the 2000T fail. For instance, last weekend I recorded many Glastonbury programmes and then Copy/Moved them to the WD HDD. However, just gone back into the WD HDD and tried to play stuff and I've just realised that only bits of each long recording have been copied. Generally about 1 hour 17 mins. Having hooked up the WD HDD to my Mac, I now see that the max file size that's ever been moved to the WD HDD is 4.29Gb. Which translates to about 1:17 of 1080p, or 1:45 of 1080i, or 2:02 of Standard Definition TV broadcasts. I'm really upset that most of the films and concerts I'd thought were saved have actually been truncated and for the most part are useless.

My question would be, is there anyway I can set the size of a file to be copy/moved to higher than 4.29GB, or is there anyway to copy/move the bits of large files in sections (eg, of a 4hour recording, I have only successfully copied the first 1:17, can I copy/move the next 1:17 and so on)?

I really wish I'd spotted this restriction before as I'd have set timers to split long recordings up, I'll be doing that in future, unless there's a way round this.

Anyone have any solutions?

Many thanks. x

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 11:29:17 #1 |
Martin Liddle

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crashcris - 1 hour ago »

Anyone have any solutions?

At a guess the Western Digital USB drive is formatted as FAT-32. This limits the maximum file size to 4GiB. If you reformatted the drive (or used a different drive) formatted as NTFS it should copy programmes of any length.

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 12:44:04 #2 |
crashcris

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At a guess the Western Digital USB drive is formatted as FAT-32. This limits the maximum file size to 4GiB. If you reformatted the drive (or used a different drive) formatted as NTFS it should copy programmes of any length.

Thank You so much! I guess I'll be buying myself another HDD and start the process again. Much much appreciated.

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 13:02:01 #3 |
Luke

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crashcris - 15 mins ago »
I guess I'll be buying myself another HDD and start the process again.

New HDD tend to be formatted FAT32 because it can be recognised by a large number of operating systems.

Rather than look for one pre-formatted for you, you cold just reformat your current Western Digital yourself. When you do reformat it you will lose everything on the HDD. Make sure hat there is nothing left on it that you want to keep.

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 13:21:10 #4 |
crashcris

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If you reformatted the drive (or used a different drive) formatted as NTFS it should copy programmes of any length.

...............

I've just tried formatting a memory stick on my Mac and NTFS didn't appear, do you know if ExFAT would also allow unrestricted file size copying? Thanks.

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 13:34:18 #5 |
crashcris

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@Luke, yes, that's why I'll need to buy another HDD because there's a lot that I do want to keep even if I don't have complete programmes. I'm not going to format it till I've saved on another drive

@Martin Liddle, I think I'm a little stumped on this as so far I've tried formatting a memory stick in ExFAT and Mac OS Extended. When I put the stick into the Humax it can't write to it or read it. Only when I reformat it back to FAT32 does it work as before (but with a 4GB restriction). Oh the joys of a Mac. If I get a mate to format it into NTFS on a PC, will it then be able to be read on my Mac or will it only work with a PC? Thanks.

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 14:03:29 #6 |
grahamlthompson

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crashcris - 44 mins ago »
@Luke, yes, that's why I'll need to buy another HDD because there's a lot that I do want to keep even if I don't have complete programmes. I'm not going to format it till I've saved on another drive
@Martin Liddle, I think I'm a little stumped on this as so far I've tried formatting a memory stick in ExFAT and Mac OS Extended. When I put the stick into the Humax it can't write to it or read it. Only when I reformat it back to FAT32 does it work as before (but with a 4GB restriction). Oh the joys of a Mac. If I get a mate to format it into NTFS on a PC, will it then be able to be read on my Mac or will it only work with a PC? Thanks.

https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 14:48:07 #7 |
Luke

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crashcris - 1 hour ago »
I've just tried formatting a memory stick on my Mac and NTFS didn't appear, do you know if ExFAT would also allow unrestricted file size copying? Thanks.

The formats that the HDR-2000T will recognise are ext3, FAT and NTFS.
According to the manual NTFS can not be copied to, but in practice it can be, although at even slower rate than FAT32 drives.

Ext2 will also work and is more suitable for USB sticks than ext3.

You choice of ext3, FAT32 or NTFS will depend on what additional devices you want to connect the HDD to.

An alternative would be to FTP the files across to the drive via a computer. The disadvantage of this is that while a USB copy will make decrypted SD copies, and leave the HD recordings encrypted, if FTP is used then both SD and HD will stay encrypted.

crashcris - 1 hour ago » Oh the joys of a Mac. If I get a mate to format it into NTFS on a PC, will it then be able to be read on my Mac or will it only work with a PC?

Read only unless you add extra drivers/software to the MAC.

For the HD recordings your question may be irrelevant as they will be encrypted and not be playable on a MAC, linux or windows PC. The HD recordings can only be played the on the very same HDR that recorded them.
Was the reason you want to connect to your MAC to use the recordings, or was it to make use of any spare space?

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 15:14:11 #8 |
crashcris

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@Luke. Thanks, so the Ext2 and Ext3 are for a linux PC, so without extra s/w the recordings wouldn't be read on my mac, so I'll discount using those (I don't know anyone with a Linux PC anyway). The FAT32 is limited to 4GB size (no good for a 2 hour HD movie unless recorded in two parts). So it looks like I have to format a HDD in NTFS. Any idea how much longer it takes to transfer a 1 hour HD recording? It already takes about 1 hour to copy a 1hour HD recording using FAT32.

I'm saving stuff onto an external HDD as a way to free up space on the Humax 2000T as well as to have a back up of other stuff should the HDD in the 2000T fail. Even if the internal HDD fails as long as the 2000T still switches on, it should still be able to play from my external HDD, also should the internal HDD fail, I'd be able to replace it and transfer progs from my (back up) external HDD back on to the newly installed internal HDD (I hope I never have to do that, but I don't think it would be too difficult). I'm aware of the HD recordings being encrypted, but as long as the 2000T box is alive then there shouldn't be any problems.

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 18:03:13 #9 |
Luke

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crashcris - 39 mins ago » Any idea how much longer it takes to transfer a 1 hour HD recording? It already takes about 1 hour to copy a 1hour HD recording using FAT32.

If I recall correctly about 40-50% slower.

| Sat 6 Jul 2019 18:48:06 #10 |