Recording on USB Stick « My Humax Forum

My Humax Forum » Freeview HD » HD FOX T2

Recording on USB Stick

(3 posts)

MrPuddington

new member
Joined: Jun '13
Posts: 2
offline

Hello

I managed to get my HD T2 to record on a USB stick. The problem is that the HD will not format a USB stick, and therefore it is not usually available for recording.

However, I formatted the stick on a Linux system as ext2, and then put the UUID of the partition into the file /var/lib/humaxtv/ext_hdd_info. On the next reboot, it recognised the USB stick just like a hard disk prepared for recording. It seems to work ok, although the box can be slow to respond - probably the USB stick is a lot slower writing than a hard disk, causing some delays.

Please don't ask me how to find out the UUID without Linux - although there is probably a way to read it from the HD itself.

| Sat 15 Jun 2013 9:40:10 #1 |
af123

senior member
Joined: May '11
Posts: 50
offline

Assuming custom firmware (which seems safe since you've managed to write to that file) then either run the assignhd diagnostic or:

opkg install e2fsprogs /mod/sbin/blkid /dev/sda1

You can also do the format using the maintenance mode telnet menu, see http://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Converting_a_USB_Flash_Drive_to_EXT2_on_a_HD-Fox_T2

Out of interest, how big is the flash disk?

| Sat 15 Jun 2013 10:55:41 #2 |
damian

special member
Joined: Jan '12
Posts: 597
offline

I quite like the idea of using one of the really small usb sticks, it makes a lot of sense, low power, discreet, no cables or noise etc; however there are a couple of issues. They are a lot slower and the MLC type are only good for around 3,000 - 5,000 erase cycles (SLC around 100,000).
I'd be tempted to switch off the time shift recording in preferences if I were using a usb stick as I guess it'd only last around a year before wearing out, maybe a lot less if it were a no-name stick. As a result I'm still using an old 2.5" drive as I find the chase play (time shift recording) my main use.

| Sun 16 Jun 2013 23:19:23 #3 |