Hi all, I've got a Humax HDR-Fox T2 recorder. I'm trying to copy audio/video files to an external hard drive via USB (an iomega eGo Desktop Hard Drive Superspeed USB 3.0), but I just get an error message stating: "Cannot copy files to to the USB storage device because the type of the file system is NTFS".

I'm wondering if there's something I could do that will allow me to copy files from my Humax.

I've tried to find a forum which has an answer, but have come up with nothing. Everybody just states that it's so easy to copy files to a hard drive, and there's no mention of this problem.

Strangely, the Humax manual actually says you can't copy video files, but all the forums say you can. I'm just trying an audio file at the moment, but I just get the above error message.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Bewley

It is a bit hidden but on page 38 of the manual is a brief paragraph about "Supported features according to USB file system"

In there you will notice NTFS is read only. if you want to copy files the drive has to be formatted as FAT32 or ext3.

The HDR FOX T2 has built in ftp capabilities. If you install a ftp client like filezilla on a PC and turn on file sharing and ftp on the HDR FOX T2 you can copy directly to a PC. This would include the ntfs usb 3.0 drive if it was connected to the PC. The HDR FOX T2 has of course to be connected to a home network.

Alternatively adding the Custom Firmware add on enables writing to ntfs amongst a load of other capabilities.

Hi chrisjr, if I reformatted the hard drive, would I not lose the files which are already on it? Also, I don't know how to reformat the hard drive!

Yes you would, and if you format it FAT32 you can't have files larger than 4GB. Is your box connected to a home network ?

HI grahamlthompson, I've also been trying that today and got Filezilla earlier. I've successfully copied an audio and a video recording. However, the copied .ts files won't open or convert on my PC.

The other forums say that the files should be unencrypted unless they're HD recordings, but my PC won't open the ts files, and my converters WMConverter or Audials won't recognise them.

There's a file in the Filezilla download folder (fz3temp) named 'fz3temp-lockfile' which makes me suspicious that the files are locked or encrypted somehow.

Again, the forums seem to have conflicting info - some say that there's no physical way to open these files, others say there's no problem opening with SD recordings but give no clue how to do it (possibly because it would be illegal to describe the process).

The HDR FOX T2 encrypts all recordings but removes the encryption on SD recordings when you copy them to USB (that's why the process is so painfully slow). HD ones aren't decrypted but a small utility by Raydon (Foxy) fools the box into decrypting HD recordings as well. Using Foxy to copy to a local USB drive you still have the issue of FAT32 file limit of 4GB or if using EXT3 (A Linux File System) you need a driver in Windows to use the drive (EXT2FSD).

The Custom Firmware has options for decrypting in situ (I forgot about the encryption, it's been so long that I used a HDR FOX T2 without the CF - I have two of them). Once decrypted you can copy them directly to a PC using ftp or by mapping the HDR FOX T2 drive in Windows Explorer.

There's a thread on Hummy.TV (this site hosts the Custom Firmware) detailing all this.

If you are happy to stick to SD recordings which will generally be smaller than 4GB copy them to a usb stick formatted FAT32 (Large ones are very cheap these days). Transfer them to your USB3 hard drive using your PC. As the box can read ntfs you will still be able to play them back on the HDR FOX T2 direct from usb.