I have an aging HDR T2 500GB using custom firmware

Does anyone know if it is possible to back up my almost full and before it fails HDD onto a new 1TB HDD (maybe using a PC) Also does anyone have a link where to buy the correct 1TB HDD for the T2

Quickest way is with a PC with EXT2FS and the drive in usb cradle. Just copy the media folders to a PC. Other than that use FTP or map the drive in Windows Explorer.

The CF has a drive check and repair capability.

Recommend WD AV-GP drives

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/av/

Thanks for your reply Ive just looked on Amazon can you tell me which one is suitable http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...GP%2Caps%2C204

The 1TB at the top of the list should be fine. You may need to put a jumper on pins 5 and 6.

Personally I prefer Seagate drives. I fitted a 2TB Seagate drive and it has just passed 10000 power on hours with no problems. See Link to EBuyer for 1TB drive or 2TB drive

Thanks Martin I think I will stick to 1TB whichever make I buy. Will the T2 format a 2TB ?

The latest standard firmware 1.03.12 will format drives up to and including 2TB and will align partitions correctly for 4k sector drives.

I installed a WD-AV 1TB drive in my Foxsat-HDR in November 2008 it's had had no issues since them. HDR1000S was fitted with a 2TB WD-AV about 4 weeks after launch again no issues. There does seem to be a fair number of posts about Seagate Pipelines fitted to Humax freetime boxes.

I had a failed 1TB WD av drive in my Foxsat - soon after the warranty on it had expired...

Funnily enough the only drives that I have owned that have failed (in or out of warranty) have been WD ones... including a NAS drive!

However, I'd still buy a WD if the price was right as these things just happen to all makes.

Do you mean Freetime or Freeview? Inevitably there will be reports about Seagate drives as they were fitted as standard to the Humax HDR-FOX T2. I favored the Seagate drive because although a 4K drive the firmware also provides a 512B emulation mode.

If you fit the new 1TB drive now then you will be able to use a cheap USB/SATA adapter for under £10 and plug it into one of the HDR-FOX T2's USB ports to copy its recordings to the newly installed drive.
Only disadvantage is that you will need to go through a lot of the C/F setup again due to not having the appropriate additional mod files on the new HDD, but as a one off exercise its probably easier than backup and reinstalling the mod files as well as the programmes.
I installed a new HDD a couple of months ago without using my backup and found this method painless.

If you are going to make a habit of it then hummy.tv members should be able to supply a smoother method to maintain all your packages and settings.

[quote=grahamlthompson;80375965]Quickest way is with a PC with EXT2FS and the drive in usb cradle. Just copy the media folders to a PC. Other than that use FTP or map the drive in Windows

I dont have any experience in using EXT2FS or FTP (my PC is on XP) If there is no guide available maybe I should use a USB cradle for the new 1TB drive and plug into one of the USB's on the T2 to transfer the media folders.

If I get the Seagate 1TB is it just a matter of formatting the new 1TB HDD within the T2 and then copying the media files over from the old 500GB HDD via a usb cradle or do I have to partition the new HDD? And do I then have to reinstall the custom firmware ?

Have been reading a guide for a 2TB installation

http://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/2TB_Disk_Installation_Blog

Also is there any advantage to using a 2TB HDD apart from the extra capacity ? Im running 3.0.0 firmware ?

Neither It's a first generation Freesat+ box, I also have WD-AVGP 2TB drive in HDR1000s Freetime box.

If I get the Seagate 1TB is it just a matter of formatting the new 1TB HDD within the T2 and then copying the media files over from the old 500GB HDD via a usb cradle or do I have to partition the new HDD? And do I then have to reinstall the custom firmware ?

Have been reading a guide for a 2TB installation

http://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/2TB_Disk_Installation_Blog

Also is there any advantage to using a 2TB HDD apart from the extra capacity ? Im running 3.0.0 firmware ?

Just the extra capacity.

Did you read the bit about 1.03 up supporting 2TB natively ?

Yes I did but not sure what it means
Can anyone comment on the other points ?

If you install the Custom Firmware from the same site as the link, you can copy the recordings directly to a PC, It will though be a slower operation than directly copying from USB. The box will definitely set up a 1TB drive automatically, with the jury being out on whether a 2TB is supported.

Yes


No, not prior to installing. Once installed in the HDR-FOX T2 you then use the HDR-FOX T2 normal reformat menu.


Some of it will have been retained. But yes you will have to go through an exercise of reinstalling.
I just fumbled through my re-setup and it was fully up and running fairly quickly.


For fitting a 2TB using 1.03.05 software or later you can safely ignore that link. Those details were to help people fitting a 2TB to an HDR FOX T2 prior to the release of 1.03.05.

I not only have a 2TB using a HDR-FOX T2 but also have a 2TB running in a 1.02.20 which does not support the formatting of a 2TB HDD, but even with that installing was very easy as I just temporarily loaded 1.03.12 to format the drive and then reloaded 1.02.20.

Obviously as you are permanently running 1.03.12 you can just fit a suitable 2TB HDD and get the HDR-FOX T2 to format via its normal menus.


In this context what 'supporting' means is that the 1.03.12 is able to format a newly 2TB HDD just by asking it to reformat.

Thanks very much for your replies
Im thinking now I should get a 2 TB after all as I will probably want to record in HD when I get a new bigger (than 32") screen.
So as I understand it.
I unistall the custom firmware
I remove the old 500GB HDD
Fit the new 2TB HDD
Let the T2 format the new 2TB HDD
Reinstall the latest custom firmware
Use a usb cradle to transfer the old media files onto the new HDD

No need to uninstall the custom firmware providing the standard firmware it is based on is 1.03.05 or later.

That's good Im on 1.03.12 so I just follow the procedure for installing 3.02 c/f over the top of 3.00

Yes but possibly better to do it after installing the new hard drive.

Just an update. I installed a new 2 TB Seagate video HDD as above and the latest 3.03 firmware and everything seems to be running well so far.
When I plugged my old HDD into a docking station it looked like I could copy all the media files (almost a full 500GB HDD) over to the new HDD in one go rather than having to do them individually. Does anyone know approximately how long this would take, is it an overnight job ?

That is using the the docking station into the Humax USB