My Humax Forum » Freesat HD » HB 1000S, 1100S

Recordings not available on sideways HDD

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    Totnes

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    Suddenly my Freesat HP humax box won't recognise my hard drive, plugged in through the usb port. I've checked the hard drive by plugging it into my computer. It said it needed 'fixing' which I did, and I could read the list of all the films etc which were recorded and stored on the drive.
    Briefly when I plugged it back to the humax box it flashed blue, but again I got the error message from the humax "Recordings not available. If you want to record connect an HDD via the USB port". I've tried disconnecting the Humax box for several minutes but to no avail. Is the fault in the Humax box (so I need to replace it?). I tried another HDD (used to back up my computer files) but it wouldn't recognise that one either, so I think the HD is OK. I'd appreciate any help/advice. Thanks.
    Freesat HD HB1000S

    | Wed 22 May 2019 18:01:23 #1 |
  2. Trev

    Trev

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    I think you have possibly borked the filing system on the drive that you use on your 1000S by 'fixing' in in Windows (Windows assumed as you didn't say).
    An expert will be along in a mo to confirm/ridicule my suggestion.
    But do nothing else to the drive until you have had a definitive answer on the subject.

    To what exactly does the 'sideways' in your thread title refer?

    | Wed 22 May 2019 18:06:10 #2 |
  3. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    Firstly lets establish which box you actually have.

    You have posted in a thread for the Foxsat-HD. This is a single tuner first generation box thar cannot record to a USB HDD.

    At the end of your post you mention a HB-1000S. This is a single tuner second generation box. This can record to a usb hard disk, to do this the HB-1000S formats the drive in a propriety system that a PC cannot read (for copyright reasons).

    Firstly where you expecting to be able to find and play back recordings on a PC made from the HB-1000S ? if so you have reformatted the drive in a format Windows can use (FAT32/NTFS), which will have made the drive unusable as a recording drive on a HB-1000S and removed any recordings in the process. You cannot play back recordings on the drive on anything but the original HB-1000S that made the recordings.

    Guessing that's the box you actually have.

    To make it usable again on a HB-1000S you will have to re-initalise the drive on a HB-1000S as the dedicated recording device.

    This will have

    | Wed 22 May 2019 18:45:30 #3 |
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    Totnes

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    Thanks Graham Thompson. When I connected the drive (sideways because it is separate, not integrated in the box) to mmmy windows computer I immediately saw all the saved recordings listed by name. I did nothing this first time but seeing everything there I assumed that it must be the humax box that was at fault. When it still didn't work I tried defragmenting the hard drive which was almost full (94%), again to no avail. What do you propose?

    | Wed 22 May 2019 19:23:48 #4 |
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    Totnes

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    ... I didn't try to play the files I saw on the hard disc, my computer just registered thet the files (with funny .labels) existed and it was able to read the names "Poirot" etc.

    | Wed 22 May 2019 19:28:56 #5 |
  6. grahamlthompson

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    Totnes - 3 minutes ago  » 
    Thanks Graham Thompson. When I connected the drive (sideways because it is separate, not integrated in the box) to mmmy windows computer I immediately saw all the saved recordings listed by name. I did nothing this first time but seeing everything there I assumed that it must be the humax box that was at fault. When it still didn't work I tried defragmenting the hard drive which was almost full (94%), again to no avail. What do you propose?

    To get the drive working again as a recording drive you will need to connect it to a Windows PC. Use Windows Drive management to delete all partitions on the disk.

    https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-open-disk-management-2626080

    Then use Windows file manager to format the whole HDD using NTFS.

    Now connect the now blank drive to your HB-1000S and set it up as a recording drive as you will have done when you first connected it to your HB-1000S.

    Do not attempt to use it with a PC again. If you want to use a Humax box to use recordings on other kit you need a different earlier model.

    | Wed 22 May 2019 19:33:39 #6 |
  7. grahamlthompson

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    Totnes - 42 minutes ago  » 
    ... I didn't try to play the files I saw on the hard disc, my computer just registered thet the files (with funny .labels) existed and it was able to read the names "Poirot" etc.

    The file names are Windows compliant. it's just the content that is encrypted.

    You did the damage by running a windows file system utility. Apparently defrag in your case. Windows would not be able to follow the different parts of a encrypted file to re-build the file in consecutive file sectors (there is no FAT- file allocation table that windows can read). The Humax uses a Linux file system that doesn't need refragging.

    | Wed 22 May 2019 20:17:20 #7 |
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    Totnes

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    Thanks for all your useful advice. Before I wipe the hdd I need to know why the humax box suddenly sopped working. The night before we vax watched something we'd recorded then the next morning it suddenly said there was no hdd attached?? Could there be something wrong with the humax itself?
    If I have to lose all our recorded stuff can the humax box not format the hdd as it did when we first connected it, I'm not sure about how to format it using the windows computer? Can I drag the saved (recorded) tv programmes onto my computer and reload them once the diasc is refornatted?

    | Wed 22 May 2019 21:17:23 #8 |
  9. grahamlthompson

    grahamlthompson

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    Totnes - 16 hours ago  » 
    Thanks for all your useful advice. Before I wipe the hdd I need to know why the humax box suddenly sopped working. The night before we vax watched something we'd recorded then the next morning it suddenly said there was no hdd attached?? Could there be something wrong with the humax itself?
    If I have to lose all our recorded stuff can the humax box not format the hdd as it did when we first connected it, I'm not sure about how to format it using the windows computer? Can I drag the saved (recorded) tv programmes onto my computer and reload them once the diasc is refornatted?

    You can't watch the recordings on anything else. Only the HBxxxxS that recorded them can play them back. It most likely stopped recording because you connected the drive to a PC and destroyed the propriety file system.

    | Thu 23 May 2019 13:23:27 #9 |
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    Totnes

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    Thanks Graham,
    No, it stopped working for no apparent reason - we watched a recorded programme one night and when we tried to watch another the following day the error message came up. It was only then that I decided to see if the HDD was at fault and only then did I connect it to my PC. So what could have caused the mal-function?
    Keith.

    | Thu 23 May 2019 13:37:01 #10 |

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