Copying large files

[The_Hawk]

It seems that HDD format is limited to Fat32 (which has a 4GB file size limit) and ext3 (which won't mount on a Mac) and even then is limited to 16GB file size.

It seems what trying to copy a file to a USB HDD formatted in Fat32 only copies the first 4GB which is no good to me and ftp-ing into the PVR results in an encrypted file

How the hell do you copy off large files for editing/playback on a Mac (or even a PC)?

[swamprat96]

According to the manual ntfs is supported. I have yet to try copying large ts files off the Humax but others have. Scottb's posts indicate that it's possible. You must have the current firmware

[The_Hawk]

I have the latest FW, but my read of the manual says NTFS is good for reading, not writing... which has been my experience with an NTFS drive hooked up.  The copy icon is greyed out.

I even tried partitioning a drive with one Fat32 and One NTFS and only the Fat32 drive allowed copying.

[swamprat96]

damn thats a pain. I haven't tried it yet. Try sending a PM to scottb. I know he's done lots of this stuff

[prl]

Read-only NTFS is not unusual on PVRs that run uClinux. It's also the case on Beyonwizes (which definitely runs uClinux; not sure about Humax). I'm not sure what Topfield has done, because they can write NTFS, IIRC.

[The_Hawk]

It's just strange that copying over USB removes encryption but not over FTP :S

[scottb]

Hi,

I have the same problem, I have an external WD drive that was formatted with NTFS. When I put it on the Humax the Humax said it wanted to format it so I let it do it's thing and then copied a recorded program onto it. When I plugged the drive into my PC the PC (Windows XP) would not recognise the drive so I use Disk Manager to reformat it and then the FAT32 utility pointed out previously to format it as FAT32.

The drive can now be seen on the Humax and the PC but... you can only copy 4GB files, larger files are just truncated.

The weird thing is that I have a 32GB SD card in a USB adapter that seems to work Ok but I must admit I am not totally sure that I was getting large files onto it so maybe it wasn't.

Is there a solution?? FTP is slow and of course doesn't remove the encryption (from the forums the encryption is removed during the copy process so that the copy is un-encrypted, as you have to Ok to a copyright screen this is probably how Humax feel they deal with the copyright issue). I could put the external drive on the Humax and copy the file to that and then FTP off that drive but again FTP is slow and it is much easier just to start a batch copy and let it go overnight.

Any ideas?? Overall the box is great and at this stage I would recommend it, just need to solve this one.

Thanks,



Scott.

[scottb]

Hi,

I am going to try the EXT3 route, that is put the EXT3 driver on my PC, format the external drive as EXT3 and then try it on the Humax with a larger file. EXT3 is supposedly limited to 16GB but this is a big advance over FAT32's 4GB.

Will try tonight and let you know how it goes.


Scott.

[scottb]

Ok, I think I have cracked this one... I used the Ext2Fsd project to install drivers for Ext2/Ext3 drives and I can see the drive in Windows Xp and can copy it off the drive onto my NTFS drive...

This is what I did:

1. Using my WD external USB drive I attached it to the Humax (front port) and got the Humax to format it, it uses Ext3 as the format, copied a file that is over 4GB to the drive, Humax can see it fine.

2. Downloaded the Ext2Fsd software from:

http://ext2fsd.sourceforge.net/projects/projects.htm

instaled it, got it to start as a service and automatically assign drive letters, Rebooted my XP machine

3. Booted with the USB drive attached, opened Explorer and the Ext3 drive is there as per any other drive and can now copy to and from it as per an NTFS / FAT32 drive.

I will test this more by putting the drive back on the Humax and copying a whole set of files across and then see tomorrow if they come across but am hopeful that this will work.


Cheers,



Scott.

[swamprat96]

Nice work. Let us know how tat final test works. This should be a sticky

[scottb]

Hi,

just to confirm that the final test worked, I move a 34Gb file off the Humax onto the external drive and then onto my PC with no problems so the solution seems to work.

Happy to provide more detail but my previous post has the essential bits. This should work on a Mac if you can get Ext3 drivers.


Cheers,




Scott.

[prl]

... This should work on a Mac if you can get Ext3 drivers. ...

There is ext2fsx for the Mac, but it hasn't been updated for some time. When I used it (quite a while ago, but it's still the same version available now, 1.4d4), it was OK for reading Ext2/3 drives (formatted by a Topfield 7000), but it tended to crash at the slightest provocation when I tried to write to the Ext2 drive. Its download page has only 21% of users recommending it

[milkwood]

It appears the limitation of not being able to write to an NTFS formatted drive has been fixed at some stage. I have been able to write a 14GB recording to a NTFS HDD removed from an old laptop and play the file with VLC on my Windows 7 machine. Does anyone know when this was fixed?

[Dave at IceTV]

It appears the limitation of not being able to write to an NTFS formatted drive has been fixed at some stage. I have been able to write a 14GB recording to a NTFS HDD removed from an old laptop and play the file with VLC on my Windows 7 machine. Does anyone know when this was fixed?

Awesome! Thanks for the info milkwood.

To confirm, I just formatted a USB stick in NTFS, plugged it into the Humax, and sure enough I was able to copy a recording to the NTFS formatted USB stick, and then play the .ts file in Windows Media Player. The Humax PVRs just got a lot more user friendly.

No idea which software version added 'NTFS write support', or why Humax didn't list it in their software changes list.

[Doctor Whatuwant]

Just a couple of observations:-

I've got a permanent rear mounted usb stick (ouch that makes my eyes water) formatted in ext3. Last night I tried to re-format it in NTFS using the Humax but that menu option was greyed out. Formatted in on the PC ok but have not tried to copy to it yet.

When I delete everything from the usb stick via the Humax, there are remnant files left on it which I can see from my PC. Seems the only way to remove everything is to re-format the stick or plug it into the PC.

Doc.