I am wondering if the Foxsat hdr can take 2 hard drives.I want to put my hd cam files onto one of them.I have Ext2IFS on my laptop which can read ext2 files in windows.If not would it be possible to remove the Foxsat hard drive and plonk my cam files (after converting with Av2hdr) on it in windows? Will the foxsat hard drive show me the directories,folders etc in windows with Ext2IFS and could I put them in any video folder? I know you can get a hard drive/usb adaptor but need to know a bit more before I get one.
My usb ports on the Foxsat are not working apparently.
Thanks.

The HDR has only one SATA connector internally.
I would suggest that you recheck out the USB connectors with a simple basic USB stick formatted for FAT32 and try both the front and back USB slots. You should see a confirmation message that a USB device has been connected.

The supported filing systems are FAT32 and EXT3 as far as I know. Others may cause the device not to be recognised.

I use a USB hard drive enclosure which also has a e-sata connector for the PC.

Thanks but I've tried usb sticks and an external hard drive formatted to Fat32,ext2 and ext3 but no go on both ports.
Only one SATA connector should not be a problem connecting 2 hard drives if they are daisy chained,but would the Foxsat recognise both.

I think I remember someone did a e-sata conversion which gave some flexability.

If you do an advanced search on this forum you should find some interesting threads - try 'HUMAX HDR DISK EXT3'

Thanks.

Using an esata cable and an external sata box you can use the internal disc externally. If you use a drop in cradle you can cold swap the internal drive for another and/or transfer the disc to a PC for direct access. You can also in effect do both see here

http://foxsatdisk.wikispaces.com/

See Esata loop

I have two drop in cradles on mine one carries a 1TB drive (the internal one) and a second connected by usb for a second 1TB USB archive drive.

Thanks Graham,that seems exactly what I want.

Remember the recording schedule is on the hdd. If you swap drives you will have to rebuild the recording schedule

That wouldn't worry me tbh.Do I need an eSATA Laptop Adapter Card or could I get away with my usb2 ports on my laptop?Would speed be the only benefit?
And basically you are just connecting two sources to the one power plug.
Thanks.

Speed would be the only benefit. The two drive cradles are self powered so the internal power supply is relieved of the hdd load. I have a relay switched by the HDD 12v power line that powers the external drives up/down with the hdr.

Ok thanks Graham.

Well finally got round to looking in the hdr after deciding to try the The eSATA Loop Modification.Because my usb ports were not working I decided to take the front panel off just out of curiosity realy.I wriggled the connection cable from the board feeding the front usb port and put it all back deciding to have a go tomorrow.As an after thought I plugged in an external hard drive in the front port (it would not even light the hard drive previously) to my amazement it lit up but no usb connected notice.I then remembered Grahams "use both leads for more power" so I connected the other lead to my laptop and up popped the notice "a usb device is connected" and played my av2hdr files. So I'm gonna leave it as it is which suits me fine.
Thanks Graham for your help.
Well pleased..........

Thanks for the thanks

Pleased you sorted it out