I would have thought any IDE USB Disk enclosure would be fine.?

Just IDE
http://www.amazon.co.uk/EXTERNAL-DRI.../dp/B0037JW1Y4

IDE & SATA (for future proofing)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Value-Combo-.../dp/B000TV3TN0

These are just initial finds, there are plenty of other enclosures.

Guys,

You're trying to solve the wrong problem

I can plug my disk into my PC, what I can't do (yet) is read its formatting.

I've seen the instructions that say that I need some special software but even then how does that help me?

It seems that the video information isn't in any standard format that can be played back using any PC media player (note the small letters) so I'm going to then have to copy the files back onto a new Vestel box.

Would that even work?

I'll wait to see if you need my help.

Didn't get any notification of a PM and there I am asking you if you had read yours.

Tim,

Check your PMs.

psteel

I did reply to your first PM.

Did you not get it?

As to the second, I am closly watching all of the auctions, but they all go for more than I am am prepared to pay for a 4year old 80GB PVR with an inherent fault that may go POP any minute

Even if it does enable me to get my archives back first.

tim

Yes I got the PM, just didn't get any notification of it.

Oops, I thought that Spiney was talking about a miracle Vestel recordings reader, not just a disk-holder - thought it sounded too good to be true

The Maplin enclosure plugs into USB port, and includes a power supply for the Vestel IDE disk (not needed for Sata). It's good value for £24, half original price (becuase it's not a "caddy").

To read disk, use Linux disk internals (for Windows).

http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/

That works to see the Vestel files. What you THEN do with them, I don;t know!

Here's the rest ...... I haven;t tried it myself!

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...php?p=18460367

What Maplin enclosure? I've tried, honest! Your original post said "USB disk cradle" - a search on Maplin leads to flash drives only. I already own hard drive caddies and USB cables, if that's what you are referring to

I think this is whatt he means

http://www.maplin.co.uk/sata-hard-dr...station-222999

Thanks for the thought, Gastro, but I don't think so because it would need to support IDE as well as SATA - and it's reduced from £50-ish to £24-ish

The digihome Vestel uses old style IDE drives. Why the heck would I recommend a device that only reads SATA drives?

The particular device I was thinking of was this, but has risen back to original price!

http://www.maplin.co.uk/ide-sata-to-usb-2.0-48965

However, an IDE only version is also available.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-2.0-to-ide-adaptor-35057

With Linux disk internals, i can confirm this reads the Vestel T810/816/825 disks, but I've not tried to re-edit the recordings myself! I've got all 3 of these. which replay fine, but none now records properly ...........

Presumably, the method suggested in above link I gave will allow reading and editing the trp files used in Vestels, although I very much suspect it's horribly tedius ........

(oh yeah, as Maplin site says, to read the IDE disk out of Vestel you'll have to set it as master, using jumper pins plug ...... http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/image...ive-jumper.gif ).

Quote from another DS thread:

I found this on another forum. credit to AJ on the digihome forum on pvruk, and John from Blackpool who set the ball rolling. Hope it helps. Think PVRUK is down ATM.

'Extract and save recordings from Digihome PVR onto your PC using free software'

'John (Blackpool)' gave a guide below to 'Extract and save recordings from Digihome PVR onto your PC', but I have achieved this using only free software as I did not have the R-studio or Sony Vegas software. I have revised his article.

1. Make a note of the program you're interested in and write down the date/time of the recording (you will see why in a moment).

2. Remove hard disk from Digihome box and connect to your PC - and if you don't know about disk jumpers then this project certainly isn't for you.

3. Use 'DiskInternals Linux Reader' to read view the linux hard drives (in EXT2fs format) the .trp files. It is found at http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/ and displays the linux hard drives correctly (as they are in Ext2fs format).

4. Access the larger partition and locate your recordings in the correct drive. You should see another list of folders in the format: ~dvr20070119002235000901.rec

5. These folders contain your video data and other files saved by the PVR (program info etc). The name of the folder is the date/time of the recording e.g year/month/day/hour/mins (hence the reason you needed to make a note of it earlier). One point... the months run 00 to 11 and NOT 01 to 12.

6. Select the correct folder(s) and extract/recover the entire folder (with files) to your computer.

7. You can now return the hard disk to the PVR.

8. The video files you saved are 188,000KB blocks named... dvr(date/time).rec00.trp and following on with rec01.trp and rec02.trp etc (the number of files depending on the length of the recording). You can simply ignore the other non-video files.

9. Use 'Mpeg Stream Clip' to convert the .trp files into a single mpg file. It can be found at http://www.free-codecs.com/download/MPEG_Streamclip.htm and processes the files without problems.

10 To remove commercials etc use 'ProjectX'. It can be found at http://www.videohelp.com/tools/ProjectX and it has a link further down the page to a guide.

I hope this helps others, as I have successfully extracted recordings to my PC. Thanks again to 'John (Blackpool)' for his article.

End of quote.

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...php?p=18460367 (2nd post).

Thanks for everything, Spiney

As said, i can personally confirm it's at least possible to read & transfer the files.

The recorded files format is identical across the IDE disks on the T810/816/825 (and, presumably, also the SATA disk on the T835!). Only the operating software version is different, as listed at Futaura's PVR website.

What worked for the orignal Digihome PVR80 should work for any of these IDE disks, so presumably you can edit the files, then, say, use something like DVDflick ..........

Does anybody know if this will allow me to connect (and read) my drive with a new Vestel?

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/dynamo...96375-pdt.html

As long as the new Vestel uses SATA, then yes.

any Vestels currently on sale should be SATA !

I thought we'd already established that I couldn't plug my IDE disk into a new Vestel because it needed a SATA disk.

So the question I was really asking is, is the file structure used for recordings on the two disks the same?

Personally, I can't be sure of that as I've never tried, and don't recall anybody who has. Largely the structure is identical, but the T825, T845R and T835 models store timers on the drive unlike your T810 model, although this probably isn't a problem (on the T816 for example, the release software doesn't use the HDD for timers, but the v6.8 software does, and these both work with the exact same HDD).

Are you thinking of this as a permanent fixture? I would be worried of the size limitations inside the T835 models - I think I suggested earlier that the IDE HDD may not physically fit inside, but actually I think I was probably wrong about that, height-wise at least. The T835 models tend to use Western Digital AV-GP drives which are actually standard form factor at just under 25mm high, which leaves approx 5mm clearance above and below the drive, so the drive itself will probably fit perfectly fine. The bigger problem is that if you you fit an IDE HDD in there with a SATA/IDE adaptor is where that adaptor and the required IDE ribbon cable will be placed because there is a serious lack of space inside. The adaptor will probably fit in the front right corner where there is a largish space on the PCB presumably for a CI slot assembly, but a ribbon cable is going to be a bit of a squeeze.

In theory, yes. However, it's hard to make out from the tiny photo, but it depends on whether the IDE connector on that adaptor is male or female. Normally these are designed to either plug directly into the back of an IDE drive or onto the the motherboard/card IDE socket. This is not an option in a T835 because there is just 20mm space between the connectors on the HDD and the front panel - i.e. no way to fit the adaptor to the drive. So, you would need an IDE extension cable too so that the adaptor can be positioned elsewhere. But, as I mentioned above, all these extra bits are going to be a very tight squeeze.