Martin - yet more apologies - just seen there's a thread on changing hard drives which answers these questions. Thanks. Fred

Ok, so it's been a while since anybody posted here, but I'm sorry to say that the problem still exists, and I'm using version 1.00.21.

All new recorded programs started appearing with the dreaded yellow rectangle / green circle combination, so I connected the cable and tried to salvage what was left, and when that's when everything disappeared.

But, thanks to the 1-minute-recordings idea, I managed to recover the one irreplacable file that I didn't want to lose. So thanks very much to all of you.

Long-time PVR-9200T user with few previous problems experienced, but:

all my recorded programmes had disappeared when I switched on today (my partner noticed that scheduled recordings weren't being made yesterday evening). The HDD showed (and still shows) about 90% full.

My software is shown as PGXTF 1.00.23.

I've tried manually recording in 1min bursts on several TV and one radio channel but have not been able to recover any recordings so far (in most cases even these "1 minutes" don't play).

Can anyone offer advice before I reformat the HDD? (I don't think I'd be up to transferring any files to a PC, I wouldn't know how to begin).

MTIA.

As you have already ruled out the only way with any realistic chance of success (copying recordings to a PC using humaxrw) then you might as well get on and format the drive. If it happens again in the near future then it indicates that the hard drive is running out of spare sectors and should be replaced.

My 9200, after being lent to my son, now no longer shows the recorded programme list although there is a credible amount of disc space still showing as 'used'. I am assuming that I have to copy off the files and format the disc before replacing the files on the newly formatted disc (a 500Gb ex-Sky box disc). However the only computer I have with sufficient free space is running Windows 10. Do the collective's experts know, please, whether humaxRW will run in Windows 10? Thanks.

p.s. Any other work around to recover the files would be welcome!

In theory, should work, since the problem is reading the humax disk despite encyption, not windows itself, if the prog wont install on win10 you could try ''legacy settings'', it still might not work, but i dont see how trying this could either wreck the pc or the humax .......

Thank you spiney2, I'll give it a go - or I will use an old XP machine and add an external drive to make up for the drive capacity shortfall.

Looking back it seems that I have used humaxRW before when I fitted the bigger disc. The computer I had then, though, is long since rotting a land fill somewhere...

In fact that probably wont work, please forgive short posts, am on my phone .......

Ist problem, the ext2 or Ext3 linux file system on humax may have been corrupted. If you can put the humax disc in a usb caddy, then access it on your pc, there are several windows free utilities which read a linux partition (not necessarily write, but you only want to copy)

If the linux partition seems unreadable or corrupt, you could try to recover it. Some utilities will run on windows and try to to rebuild a broken linux partition. Examples are r-linux for windows, minitool, etc, google search will maybe find 5 or 6 Different freeware progs ......

Note that, if u find a linux partition recovery prog for windows, probably youll have to leave it running overnight, for a 500g drive .... assuming no power cuts ........

Assuming the partition structure can be recovered, then the actual data has been encrypted on the humax, and the humaxrw utility is still the only way to decrypt while copying any recordings, far as i know, on that particular model ..........

Obviously, if the linux partition is readable to start with, its a good idea to make an ''as is'' copy if possible, before attempting any repairs .......

If u can see a coherent looking linux filesystem, and the intact files can be copied onto a windows partition, then back onto reformatted linux partition, then IN THEORY the humax should decrypt during replay exactly like before ....... ho hum ........

You don't appear to have the faintest idea what you are talking about. To answer a few of your previous points: there is no encryption involved, humaxrw is a command line utility and isn't installed just uncompressed into a convenient folder.

There is no Ext2 or Ext3 file system involved; the 9200 (and the 9150 and 9300) use a proprietary file system and the ONLY way to access the data once the list of recordings has been lost is with humaxrw in recovery mode.

Interesting theory but these machines use linux, and must use standard linux drivers, to load the operating software from linux, to work at all.

We are talking about the 9200T here and it uses a proprietary operating system and a proprietary file system. All the later Humax boxes use Linux.

The SD boxes do not use Linux. It's not a theory and unlike your fiction it's a fact.

Have you tried accessing the recorded programme list using Menu > Record > Recorded Programme? A while ago my friend's 9300 didn't display any recordings using the Playlist button under the flap but showed all recordings when accessing the list via the menu as above, the Playlist button then worked again.

Hardly a theory.
The online analysis of PVR-9200T first started back in 2006.
See http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=373680

The file system was almost fully documented at the now expired http://humaxdisk.wikispaces.com/wiki under the 'FileFormat' tab'.
None of the PVR-9200T, PVR-9300T or PVR-9150Ts are Linux based either in their operating system or their file system.

With the additional demise of the hummy.org.uk a lot more reference material was lost from easy access.
Humaxrw was written utilizing the gained knowledge about the proprietary file system used in the 9000Ts.

The 9200 at least had a usb port that connected directly to a PC, not a mass storage device. Copying content used software on the PC (The Humax version was unreliable) to copy .ts files directly to the PC. Connecting a USB mass storage device, flash or a proper HDD regardless of file system would do precisely nothing.

Similar to the much more reliable system used on Topfield pvrs.

This is complete rubbish, and is not helping anyone either. The people making such claims clearly have no idea what's involved in writing an operating system.

Yes, Les, I have and to no avail. In fact I removed the hard drive and put it in a caddy this afternoon and even the GUI for humaxRW (Front End) saw only the list of one-minute long recordings I have made to try to kick the drive into action - it saw none of the 200Gb+ I know was on there before. I also tried the command prompt route and hummyreadfiles all with the same result. I have yet to format the drive and it is back in the machine. I'll use it normally for a while but only for unimportant recordings. I also have a HDR-2000T 1TB/WD for more important stuff. Thanks for the thought though.

What is complete rubbish, the only rubbish here is your posts. I take it you never owned or used one of the Humax SD boxes. Try and read a usb hard disk used for recording on a smart TV.

It's your posts that are the ones that are unhelpful because they are incorrect and made using false assumptions. The 9200 had a device usb port it would only connect to a host controller. That's why you have to remove the hard disk unless the box has been modified to give direct access to the drive ide port. A simple mod enabled high speed copying of files direct from the hard disk.

A bit of light reading for you

https://myhumax.org/wiki/index.php/H..._Modifications

Thanks graham, you couldnt be bothered to help the original poster, but will happily post an insult. How nice of you. Happy New Year.