I have a three year old 1 TB drive (Seagate Pipeline) in my HDR. Now I think it's starting to fail - because sometimes when the HDR starts it thinks the disk is unformatted and asks to format it (which I don't do). It's also making ominous clicking noises.

I have a lot of recorded material (about 75% full), that I don't want to lose.

I tried installing the Raydon firmware so I could back it up over the network but it refuses to start with this firmware other than with the "format HDD" prompt. It starts OK when I revert to the standard firmware.

What's the best way avoid loss of data? If I remove the disk and put it in an SATA enclosure and attach to my PC - will I be able to read the files? Is there a driver for Windows 7?

Yes there is,

http://www.ext2fsd.com/?page_id=16


assuming you can read the disc copy all the folders and files from the video folder except the pair of 0.xx files (the timeshift buffer).

OK, that's good thanks.

When I double click on the XXXX.ts files, they play in Windows media player fine.

SO what is the purpose of the XXXX.hmt and XXXX.nts files?

(Where XXXX is the name of a recording.).

I assume that HD recordings won't be playable on Windows?

They contain info on program info (description, etc) and playing position etc, HD programs generally will not be playable - depends on a broadcaster flag - generally set for HD.

You need all 3 related files to restore them to a new hdd. Repassac has explained their purpose. HD recordings won't play on a PC due to encryption (unless recorded in non-freesat after a reboot in that mode) but they will if copied back to a replacement HDD on the Foxsat that recorded them. The other .thm files are thumbnail images for the chapter images. The Foxsat will re-create these during overnight housekeeping so all you need is the 3 related files.

If I copy some of the HD recordings to a USB stick - will they play on the original Foxsat box?

Yes. But you will need a usb hard disk formatted EXT3 for recordings larger than 4GB.