I recently bought a Humax Freesat PVR and want to replace the hard drive - what is the maximum size the Humax will work with and which hard Drive would you recommend?

Not reccomended to go larger than 1TB. I have two Western Digital EV range 1TB HDD's Both work fine.

Latest model WD10EVDS

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/productcatalog.asp?t=1

Graham, did the WD10EVDS simply plug into the HUMAX through USB and work right away. Or did you need to fiddle around with connections and formatting etc ? Thanks.

It has to be formatted EXT3 . In my case the internal drive is mounted externally in a esata drop in caddy. To format the drive I simply slotted the new drive into the caddy and let the hdr format it. It's now connected as a Archive drive to the rear usb port. You need a PC to format the drive in EXT3 either by booting it into Linux or using something like gparted to format it under windows.

OK thanks. If I buy the drive and the caddy so I have exactly the same set up as you, and plug it in via USB, will the HUMAX do the formatting, ...or are you explaining that I would need to do the EXT3 formatting bit myself ?

If you in effect replace the internal hhd with the new one (mines externally mounted connected by an esata cable - I have two caddies) then the hdr will format it for you. It won't format a drive purely connected by USB, you have to do that yourself. Because my internal HDD is externaly accessible I simply stuck the new drive in the esata connected cradle and let the hdr format it before moving it to the usb connected cradle.

Is there an external esata socket or do you have to take the lid off to find it?

If it is plugged internally, did you cut a hole in the case for the cable to come through?

The esata cable goes through an existing hole in the base.

More info here

http://foxsatdisk.wikispaces.com/

I simply replaced the drive with the same make (Spinpoint?) but at 1 TB capacity.

Seems the most likely to work, if you want to take the fewest risks.

The cable will fit through the bottom PROVIDED you get a rubbish cable. Esata cables tend to be thick and have large plugs. Mine caused me a lot of grief getting it through as I had to pair excess plastic off the esata plug with a stanley knife to make it fit through the hole. Easy way out is to use normal SATA. If you want to use esata, find a very cheap thin cable with small plugs.


Not sure about the fewest risks, When you put it internally you increase the power demand on the Humax's power supply. Mine failed approx 2 months after I installed a 1TB drive. Consequently, when I got the replacement box, I bought the same Esata caddy as Graham and mounted mine externally. It works quite happily there and because the caddy powers it theres no strain on the Humax, in fact non at all because I disconnected and removed the internal drive so the Humax isn't powering any HD at all now.

Surely if both HD are powered and run externally the size can be higher than 1TB ???

Is it possible to move the original drive into a caddy and view it either by USB or e-sata? Using a new WD10EVDS as the prime drive?

Surely the easy way out is to just use USB - what's the advantage of SATA over USB for an external drive now?

Yes, that's what I do (using a USB cable).

I have seen one post by somenone who got a 1.5TB drive working but it's not straightforward like the 1TB swap. If you have the internal drive in an external esata usb caddy then yes you can access it via usb from a PC with the hdr in sby.

The esata connection lets you use an external drive as if it was in the machine (ie record directly to it). To use a usb connected external drive you have to copy the recordings to it after they are recorded. For BBC HD this takes about 15 mins for 1hr of video with my WD drive.

I connected my hard drive caddy with 160gb drive formatted to EXT3 by gparted. the usb drive was recognised and I can access it via the media button but there is no option to copy from the HDR ( the green button is faded out). Help please!

Enter file manager (opt+ from media list). The usb drive icon should be on the right hand side. Cursor right to open the drivea nd click OK on the icon. Cursor left to the hdd list move to a file the green copy buton should be active. For multiple files press yellow and select them all by clicking OK. Green will copy them all. You can't copy ITV 1 HD recordings.

Thank you the green button option is there and I am now copying a program hopefully to my external drive. Thanks again