Hi, We have had this machine for years since they were new (so way out of warranty) and it has been really good. Have many recordings on it. Today, out of nowhere, after no issues at all, there was a green screen. So I rebooted. It came to life but told me I could not record unless I reformat the HDD.

Obviously did not want to as we have loads of unwatched recordings. I assume a reformat would kill these?

Did an HDD test and after a bit it came up with Error Code 8 and said I had to reformat.

This sounds worryingly terminal.

I cannot find anything about this error code by Google searching.

Anyone have any suggestions or has it gone kapput?

It's not necessarily terminal.

With exactly the same symptoms I took an HDR-FOX T2 out of its case, attached a USB/SATA cable to it and plugged it into another HDR-FOX T2. That 2nd HDR-FOX T2 then allowed my to copy everything from the sickly HDD to the 2nd HDR-FOX T2.

Obviously most people will not have a USB/SATA cable (£10) or a friend who also has a HDR-FOX T2. But there are other methods. It depends what you have, and how much time you want to spend on this.

To be honest I'd format and just forget about the old recordings. But if your HDD is on the way out then the issue will just come back again.

I doubt very much I would have a clue how to do this. As a 62 year old female my knowledge of digging around inside hard drives is about nil. There were many, many things on there that I had recorded for my mum who had had a stroke. Hence I was hoping there was some moderately easy way to try to recover as this problem came out of nowhere. The box was working fine up to this morning.

It still works fine as all the channels and set recordings are there. Just no hard drive with dozens of programmes on it. And nothing set will record unless I reformat - it tells me.

I guess you are right and I will have to just reformat and hope it actually works. But from searching the net it suggests that even doing that often fails to bring the HDD back into use.

Which I guess means the box is stuffed if so as well out of warranty.

But thank you for taking the trouble to respond.

There are two possible problems: either the disk has failed in which case the only option is to replace it or more likely the disk has suffered a minor problem and the file system has become read only. The read only file system can be corrected by installing the custom firmware and running a utility called fix-disk. It will require a bit of effort on your part but it is feasible. Doing this will retain the vast majority of the recordings. I am happy to give more advice on how to do it. To summarise: if you want an easy life but no recordings the format the disk; if you want to save the recordings and are prepared to put in effort then ask for further advice.

I am willing to give this a try tomorrow if you can advise me how to install the custom firmware.

Very kind of you to be so helpful.

First you need to know what version of the standard firmware your Humax is using; press Menu the select Settings>System>System Information and note down the software version; I am guessing it might be 1.02.29 but you need to check.
You need to go to Custom firmware installation, download the matching custom firmware version and follow the installation instructions.

Next question; is your Humax connected to the Internet eg have you used BBC iPlayer?

Hi, unfortunately I cannot check any of this as the Humax is in my mum's bedroom and she is asleep. So it will have to be tomorrow, sadly before I can do anything.

However, the software is 1.02.28.

No, it is not connected to the net, but my broadband router is close by and I should easily be able to run an ethernet cable from there to the Humax.

Will try to follow your advice tomorrow morning. Thanks.

I have now downloaded the software for that number onto my computer from the link that you posted above, ready for tomorrow.

I assume I will have to transfer that to the Humax somehow then?

Yes you need to transfer it to the Humax via a USB memory stick. The instructions area at Instructions to install Custom Firmware

At this stage you need to connect the Humax to the router. Then you need to connect to the Humax via Telnet. Don't worry it is not difficult. The instructions are at Connect via Telnet Instructions

Finally you need to enter Maintenance mode see Instructions on maintenance mode. Once you are in maintenance mode Type 1 and press return to start fix-disk. Depending on the nature of the problem it will run for several hours and hopefully it will all be fixed. Come back with questions as you hit problems.

Thanks for these notes. Sadly, I have fallen at the first hurdle by not having a USB stick.

I had to look up what one was, as have never used one. Then I called the only local store within 10 minutes walking distance and they have none.

As a full time carer on my own there is no way I can leave the house to go get one until Crossroads send a carer to look after my mum so that I get 2 hours to do shopping. She cannot be left alone for as long as it would take me to get to a store by bus.

As the Crossroad call is on a Wednesday I will now not be able to do this until next week, unless there is another way to transfer the file from my laptop to the Humax.

But thank you for trying and I will get hold of one as soon as I can otherwise.

You have to use a USB stick for this operation. PM me with your postal address and I will put one in the post to you complete with the software.

That is so kind, let me know how much and I will refund any way you wish.

PM sent.

[Deleted] Posted in error. Apologies.

Okay, the USB stick arrived superfast. Many many thanks. Connected the Humax up and followed the instructions you sent. Software downloaded fine.

But.....It then says 'Success Downloading! Press STANDBY button to restart - and that is it. It will not press. Nothing on the remote seems to work now (even with new batteries). And the box is not going into standby.

I am trying to search for other occurrences like this for help. So far not sure what to do next.

I tried turning the box off and then on, but it just reloads the software.

Should I maybe take the USB out and try turning off that way?

Okay, after checking if it was safe (seemed so from searches). That was the right thing to do and it brought the box back to working with the update (it seems, as it has a new version number and install date to before).

Now I am about to see if I can get Telnet to link with it and repair the disk.

Fingers crossed.

Still working on the telnet link. It keeps saying that it cannot connect to the host. So I must be doing something wrong. Will do some reading to see if I can figure out what.

In putty have you got Connection type (on the right below Host name) set to Telnet?

After a lot of messing about I succeeded in getting the programme to run. What was occurring was that the router kept losing the network connection and renaming the IP. I followed a thread on BT about Hubs as this was a common issue with Foxsat's apparently. That gave an IP to add manually and it worked.

Been on the test now for over an hour now and it is finding and correcting lots of bad sectors. At least 30 so far, I guess.

Bit frustrating how it reverts to the same higher count down point each time. I expect it might take all night at this rate. But I am keeping my eye on it to tick off Y as to repair each time. It says it has done so each time so I guess that is good.

Noticed it found none for a long time and now only jumps back to about 3873 seconds in the countdown. So that is something! It was jumping to 6406 before!

Way to go yet but I am really grateful for your help so far. Fingers crossed and will keep you posted.

Ok that sounds promising. It will take as long as it takes I am afraid.

Indeed! I think I could be up all night.

Must be over 100 bad blocks corrected now and the countdown is still only reverting to 3840 seconds.

But hey, it is an experience pressing Y every 3 minutes or so.

I am now getting seriously worried that this IS going to take all night. Or days! In one and a half hours the countdown is down just 9 seconds and has over an hour left.

Must be 200+ bad sectors now and that presumably means the HDD is a mess.

Why it resets two minutes into the future of the count every time I do not know but is incredibly frustrating as it makes this process far more time consuming than if it went back only 30 seconds say.

What happens if this has not finished by midnight (a real possibility I suspect as it has run 4 hours + now). I assume I cannot just stop it?

Six hours into the 'test' and still on 3716 in the countdown with maybe 300 Y button presses. Is this a test or torture I am starting to wonder. I have no idea what happens if I just stop but this is really not something to be recommended IMO unless you can stay watching your computer screen permanently for what feels like - and yet may be - days!

I do appreciate all of the help, but this seems a hopeless task. It is - as you can see - after midnight. I have spent 9 hours just pressing Y to repair bad bits watching the countdown clock till I was dizzy. Then, suddenly, it looked like all was well and it sailed through the last 3000 seconds in real time....

Until seconds from the end when it started printing all sorts of gibberish about blocks and superblocks and checking for inodes.

Not the foggiest what that means, but it pauses on each inode search for ages. After an hour of this I think it has searched for two. There must be 300 more to search for if it is going through from the start - as, given the block numbers, it seems to be. It has been searching for its inode on the current one for half an hour now.

I will leave it on overnight as it does not seem to require action from me. And I would have no clue what to do if it did ask.

But I suspect even 8 hours from now it will be still searching for its inodes somewhere near the start of the many bad blocks I thought that pressing Yes was successfully repairing.

At the rate it is doing this veeery sloooow checking I expect we might be finished by Easter. 2014 hopefully.

Surely this is not how this is supposed to work?

After all those hours, it appeared to just give up and told me to press return. I did. It rebooted.

And nothing at all has changed.

Still has the screen on telling me to reformat the HDD. And shows 0 in all the readings. With nothing when you press Media.

Thanks so much for trying. But that was nothing short of a nightmare and all, it seems, for nothing, sadly.

I assume if I tried again tomorrow it would take another 9 hours to get back to the same position. Unless you can think of something I did wrong that would speed it up (a lot!) I do not think I can face that again.

I have asked the expert on file system errors (xyz321) to have a look at the thread and offer advice. I suggest waiting to see if he comments. In many cases fix-disk will sort out problems with very little user intervention but every failure is different and your problem seems to be a difficult one.