Hi All

I have, with your help, set up a Seagate 1tb USB drive to work in conjunction with the Foxsat HDR.

It is formatted to ext3 and using its own power management, switches itself on and off with the Foxsat.

On day one, all seemed well and the 2 files that I loaded on and saved to the drive played OK, I was really pleased. Later in the evening I wanted to play them again, but they had disappeared from the drive. The mystery is: I unplugged the drive from the mains (rebooted I suppose) and the files were back again.

This would be fine if it was just the once, but it keeps happening and I have to keep rebooting to see the files.

I cant associate any particular action with the disappearence of the files, but it's not switching the Humax or the TV on and off that does it nor is it switching the Seagate off. There must be a pattern, but I cant find it.

N.B The Humax always recognizes the USB and I can always see the route directory. Its the contents that keep escaping.

Any Ideas?

Many thanks

Robert

Well, we know that the Humax does not unmount a drive properly when it is disconnected.

Could it be to do with the power management? i.e. when it powers down, it is not unmounting, and requires disconnecting/connecting, or re-booting the Humax, again?

Is it possible to disable power management on the drive to try it without?

Rgds.


Les.

As usual, I think you're on the right path here! My new Hitachi 1TB has power management. If it powers down or reduces its activity it takes ages before the "media" screen is re-displayed. My instant reaction was to press several buttons on the remote coupled with the thought of "Sod it, its locked up!". Then suddenly the "media" screen was displayed. Presumably waiting for the Hitachi to get its act together.:yawn:
The scary part about this is the several presses of button(s) on the remote. The commands are a queue and it would be quite easy to delete a folder or something precious due to frustration! I never had this problem with my trusty Toshiba 1TB drive where the power management consists of an on / off switch on the back.

Thanks, Les, and GC

I cant find a way to disable the power management so I cant test that theory.

I thought it might be happening when the Humax comes out of standby to record or when switching off from a recording session, but this a.m. I tested that idea and everything was as it should be. I just cant pinpoint when it is happening or what operation causes it - Guess I'll have to live with it, unless somebody knows better.......

Thanks

Robert

Robert,

I had a quick look at some Seagate 1TB USB HDDs on the net, and some have a power management facility that powers it down after 15mins inactivity, not just when the host device is powered down.

I'll bet that's what is doing it. I presume this is not configurable on the drive?

Rgds.


Les.

Les, the instructions that came with the drive dont go much beyond plugging the HDD into the mains and then connection with a USB cable. As I said previously the drive is formatted to ext3 so I presume I cant just take the drive to the PC and have a look at properties.

I am not experienced enough with external drives to know how or where to look for anything else. I have, however had a look at "troubleshooting" at Seagate.com, but I'm not sure what to make of it. There is indeed a page about sleeping drives and I wonder if you would mind having a look to see if it's what you are talking about. http://support.seagate.com/kbimg/fla...leshooter.html . I must admit I'm a bit lost

Thanks

Robert

Hi Robert,

Have had a look at the relevant page there. It does seem to indicate that the drive will let it's idle time be set to different values or turned off. But that page it talking about a drive connected to a PC, and configuring it from within Windows XP/2000. I also found a site that told you how to turn it off within a PC running Linux, but can't find anything about it connected to a non-PC device like a STB.

You could try downloading the "Manager" software from that site, and try to alter it from Windows, and see if it has any effect when connected up to the HDR.

Rgds.

Les.

Thanks, Les.

I'll try that, it may work.

If I switch the power management off, I think I'll have to switch the drive on and off manually which will take me back to sqare one. (an in-line switch). Funny isn't it?

I'm very grateful to you, Les

Robert

It wasn't really clear how discrete the configuration on the drive is.

You would hope that you could switch of the idle time check, but leave power management when the host device is powered down - but I don't know.

Good luck.


Les.