Most effective way to back up Fox Sat HDR2

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Most effective way to back up Fox Sat HDR2

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alanm

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Hello all.

With Christmas approaching the PVR needs to be backed up, but having just hooked up my Samsung External 1TB drive I have noticed that simply using Windows Explorer to "move" the content to the USB drive (which is connected directly to the PVR) I am getting a transfer rated reportedly around 780kbs which I thought was pretty lame.

I have custom firmware version 4.09 (Raydon latest)

Are there quicker ways? (without physically dismantling the PVR and cloning the disk)

Apologies if this exists in other topics.

Thanks!

| Thu 20 Dec 2012 22:41:36 #1 |
dino

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Quickest way I've found to move data off the HDR is to use the network, not USB.

FTP or Samba direct to a workstation. You'll need to preserve the directory structure if you transfer back or use the rename trick to ensure the HDR will acknowledge the recordings exist.

Using FTP and 100Mbit/s LAN you could expect around 45Mbit/s HDR to workstation. It's generally slower when pushing data back in my experience.

| Fri 21 Dec 2012 8:44:23 #2 |
alanm

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Thanks Dino

Whats the rename trick? I noticed there are essentially a number of files associated to the actual programme recording but I am new to this custom firmware business!

Alan

| Fri 21 Dec 2012 13:09:02 #3 |
grahamlthompson

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alanm - 21 minutes ago »
Thanks Dino
Whats the rename trick? I noticed there are essentially a number of files associated to the actual programme recording but I am new to this custom firmware business!
Alan

The foxsat uses 4 files, .ts (the one with the video in) and two sidecar support files (.hmt and .nts) the other one .thm contains the graphics for the chapter thumbnails.

The .hmt contains a filepath to the .ts file. If you move the 3 main files without using the box the .hmt has the wrong filepath.

If however you select rename on the Foxsat (no need to change the name) the box corrects this for you.

| Fri 21 Dec 2012 13:35:30 #4 |
dino

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Alan,

Just to add a bit more information to what Graham supplied, when copying program files back in order to watch them, you may not put them in exactly the directory they were originally made in. In this state, the HDR will not display the program in the media view as the location information in the .hmt is invalid.

The rename trick sorts this out. Using the web interface, click 'browse media files' and navigate to the directory then, click on the OPT+ button and select 'rename', then 'update'. This will rewrite the .hmt file and the program will now appear to be watched on TV.

I thought it was worth mentioning - if you are used to using the USB method I don't think the problem arises. The HDR is less fussy about the .hmt file being right when displaying the media on the USB.

Clearly when files are on it's own internal disk the HDR expects them to be correctly set up. Not an issue until the custom firmware allowed us to transfer files like this, but the rename fixes it.

You need to keep the .ts .hmt and .nts files as a set. The associated .programname_datetime directory with the .tac files is optional. These are the thumbnails.

Dino

| Fri 21 Dec 2012 15:21:02 #5 |
alanm

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Thanks, I will give this a go when I reload.

FYI, I am using a linksys ADSL router and cabled on both sides.. using Filezilla and getting about 4Mb/s which is better than 800kbps which was yesterdays effort.

Thanks for your tips!

alan

| Fri 21 Dec 2012 22:07:04 #6 |
dino

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A rate of ~4MBytes/sec reported by Filezilla (not Mbits/s) sounds about right for a 100Mbit LAN.

You may get a bit more by making the HDR do as little as possible. It has to be on obviously, but if it's not recording anything explicitly (I don't know a way to stop the 0.nts file being recorded) and tuned to either a radio channel or a station just displaying an ident like BBC4 during the day it seems to go a bit quicker.

Only makes a slight difference, but if you are copying a lot of data off, every little helps.

| Sat 22 Dec 2012 7:28:06 #7 |
alanm

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All very helpful and informative....

One problem for me though is that I moved 70 episodes of Peppa Pig (for my son) into a folder and as they are not recognised I was hoping there was a quick fix to get the Humax to recognise them again rather than using the Humax controller and rename feature.. any pointers on this?

Thanks again

| Fri 18 Jan 2013 18:09:50 #8 |
dino

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Renaming takes 5 seconds per program.

I know of nothing quicker.

| Sat 19 Jan 2013 15:32:19 #9 |
alanm

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Ok, so renaming takes 5 seconds, is this using the controller? Can I do this via my computer where the keyboard is easier to use? If I can use my computer, which file should I rename?

Thanks

| Wed 23 Jan 2013 12:32:01 #10 |