Hi All

I have just bought a new HD video camera and I would like to store my films on an external HDD ready for playing through the Foxsat HDR. I have copied one film so far on a small external HDD and it plays very well on the Foxsat after conversion with AV2HDR.

What I need is a an HDD of at least 1TB (preferably black), and of course it must work well with the Foxsat. I know many of you have bought external HDDs and perhaps you can advise me on what's hot and what's not.

Secondly, I understand that if I want to store files over 4gb the new HD will need to be formatted with Linux, so advice on doing that would be nice too. If I format the HDD with linux will I still be able to transfer the films back to the PC at a later date?

Thirdly, has anybody had experience of Adobe Elements video editing software. The Panasonic software that came with the camera is very basic. Can anybody recommend a good software for editing video?

Any advice gratefully received

Robert

Format info for EXT3 using a Linux boot disc

http://www.avforums.com/forums/frees...ml#post9872803

You can get a driver for windows that can read an ext3 drive but it's been reported that fs corruption is possible so safer to boot a pc into linux

http://www.avforums.com/forums/frees...ml#post9872803

I use a WD10EVDS 1Tb drive in a esata drop in cradle which is black and cover the drive shiny side with black card and it's near invisible behind the hdr

http://www.allcam.biz/catalog/produc...roducts_id=693

I use Premiere Pro 2 (Elements big brother), I have never used elements but I guess it shares many features with Prem Pro. Just make sure that elements supports mpeg4, mpeg2 and ac3 sound.

It sounds as though you are talking about an ext USB HDD rather than replacing the internal disk with an external esata mod disk caddy.

The HDR is only fussy about usb sticks, I haven't seen any reports of USB HDD's not working.

I'm using a Maxtor Basics (black) 500GB disk successfully, but I think the replacement 1TB version is Seagate branded :-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Expa...ef=oor_dp_e_rp

Rgds.


Les.

I should have said the drive is connected by the rear USB port

Graham, I just noticed, your 1st & 2nd links are the same.

Rgds.


Les.

Thanks Les it should of course be

http://www.ext2fsd.com/

Graham

I always thought you had the SATA Mod Graham.

I take it you just use your EXT HD for archiving SD then and not recording.

He's got both

Correct - Greedy aren't I

Yes.

I like the SATA mod. Hardest part though is finding an esata cable with plugs small enough to fit through the base of the box. I pared mine down with a stanley knife until it fitted. My recommendation for anyone goign esata is find the thinnest cheapest nastiest cable you can and you'll save yourself a lot of hassle. Also have plasters on hand as the chassis has ahabit of eating fingers when you push the plug through!

I bought a spare drive when the esata connected drive reached about 75% full and formatted it using the hdr. Then along came the new firmware allowing replay of encrypted material from USB it seemed a good idea to use USB and so bought a second caddy which I can also use with an esata port on my desktop. I already have a relay that turns on the power supply to the esata drive just needed a double adaptor to control the power to both. The cheap and nasty cable that came with the caddy fitted without any mods. Now there appears to be a possibility of recording the buffer using a watch timer including HD channels without encryption by switching the two drives.

http://www.hummy.org.uk/forums/showp...61&postcount=1

Not got round to trying it yet though

Your relay sounds very useful but I haven’t been able to get on to the Hummy website for weeks. Could you let us have more details, including the components used and how you fitted them.
Many thanks

Oh dear I hesitate here because it involves messing with mains electricity. Brief details trip to local computer shop to find a molex plug that connects to the hdr's drive power connector to bring out the 12V power connections. A standard 240V flex connector with a pair of silicone diodes one in the positive line and one pos to neg after it to absorb any back emf of the relay coil and allow the contraption to be disconnected from the hdr A standard 240v extention cable cut in the middle and wired into a plastic standard accessory box. In the box a miniature 12V relay from Maplin wired to switch the live through with an overide switch on the box front to allow the drive to be turned on for access by a PC over USB. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS UNLESS YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

If you want I can knock up a diagram but you do need to be able to use soldering iron.

The link to hummy.org is to a posting that Son-T discovered the time shift buffer is available as as file.

Sounds as if you have a hosts file entry left from the last time there was problems. ggogle hosts file to find where it is on your computer and delete this if you have it

77.74.196.104 www.hummy.org.uk

Thanks Everybody

I've gone for the 1tb Seagate that Les has the baby brother of. (It's prettier)

Thanks for your help

Robert

Thanks very much for the info about your relay but after looking at the details I think I will have to heed your warning. A pity.

On the plus side, your reply prompted me to have another go at getting past the ‘come back after we have changed our server’ message on the hummy website. I didn’t have a 77.74.196.104 or hummy entry in my hosts file, but am pleased to report that flushing the local DNS cache fixed the problem.