Hard Drive fail on Topfield TRF-2460 + Extended Warranty query

Started by Drexl, January 06, 2014, 01:15:33 PM

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Drexl

I have the Topfield TRF-2460. Progressively my hard drive has been slow to 'check' when switching on the device.

Sometimes it cannot be found (and I can't click on my recorded programs). But switching 'off & on' seemed to sort that out.

Now it can't find the hard drive and a new message appears 'Cannot Verify Files' and the device asks if I want to reformat the hard drive.

I cannot view existing recordings or make new recordings which makes the device useless as a PVR.

Is this my only option (to reformat). Doing so will delete all of my existing recordings and about 70% of the hard drive has recordings that I (and my family) want to watch.

Also, I am not confident that this will be more than a short term solution. I have no TAPS on the device.

I have sent an email to Ice Tv support last Thursday (no response as yet) and I tried to call both contact numbers 1300 654 803 (this number is disconntected) and 02 8424 7555 (this number seems dead).

I purchased the Toppy 23 months ago. I also purchased Extended Warrany (5 years). But this extended warranty was with United who have gone bust.

How does Ice Tv arrange extended warranty in this case?

IanL-S

It is diffuclt to work out in these situation what is going on. It could be a failing HDD or just that the file system has substantial problems. Reformatting via the Toppy may not solve the problem as part of the problem may be on partition 0 which is not reformatted by the Toppy.

I had a similar problem last Friday (TF-T6000); it turned out to be a file system problem.

Warranty rarely, if ever, extends to data recovery. So, if you want to recover the data you will have to do so yourself.

It may be that all recordings are OK, in which case it is a simple matter of taking the HDD out and attaching it to a PC and copying the files. The PC will need to have an OS that recognises drives formatted using the JFS file system. Some Linux build do so natively, and for those that do not you can get a package that will allow you to do so. Not sure if MAC can read JFS.

Windows does not support JFS. You can recover files by booting to a Linux live CD (a bit messy) or use an program that will allow you to read JFS file system. I use USF Explorer Standard - this can also recover recordings if the file system is damaged. I think it cost me 39 Euro. There is a discussion on alternative ways of recovering data on the oztoppy wiki:

http://oztoppy.wikidot.com/replacing-the-internal-hard-drive

http://oztoppy.wikidot.com/external-hdd

Once you have recovered the files on the disk, delete all partitions, and run a disk check utility (both Seagate and WD have on) to find and correct any problems. I have never had an AV drive die; on two of three occasions I have had corrupted file system and needed to recover files via my PC using ESF Explorer Standard or some other utility.

Hope this helps

Ian
IceTV: IceBox + BYOB IceBox + 2xTRF-2400 + 2xTF7100HDPVRtPlus + SKIPPA [RIP] + T2 + U4 + V2
No IceTV: a few Toppys and T2
Synology NAS
Check out the oztoppy wiki and oztoppy Forum for Toppy help

Fester

I also had the United warranty, which i"m afraid is now worthless. IceTV will not honour it, I made enquiries, as they were only selling the option, they are not the provider of the warranty.

Paul55

Quote from: Fester on January 09, 2014, 07:28:51 AM
I also had the United warranty, which i"m afraid is now worthless. IceTV will not honour it, I made enquiries, as they were only selling the option, they are not the provider of the warranty.

That's disappointing. I NEVER get ext warranty because I've always considered it a scam so it doesn't affect me. But, from what I understand, the seller gets a commission on sales.

Fester

I'm usually the same, but having issues with Topfields in the past I took up the option. My 2460 died after United when through the hoop and I got it repaired by a local electronics chap.
I agree with you, I would say that IceTV would have received a commission.

prl

Go to Choice and search on "extended warranty". They don't seem to be big fans. In particular, you often have more rights under the statutory warranty than what many extended warranties offer, even if the company underwriting them doesn't go bust.
Peter
Beyonwiz T4 in-use
Beyonwiz T2, T3, T4, U4 & V2 for testing

Dave at IceTV

Fester and Drexl, can you guys please contact IceTV support to arrange getting your PVRs repaired under extended warranty.

If you have a current United extended warranty that you purchased through IceTV then IceTV will honour that warranty and arrange for your product to be repaired. The only cost to the customer would be the postage, as per the United extended warranty.

Of course you should first confirm that the product actually has a hardware fault, and not an issue that can be solved by a factory reset or a HDD format or reloading the firmware.
cheers

Dave
Customer Service

Paul55

Quote from: Dave at IceTV on January 16, 2014, 06:52:51 PM

If you have a current United extended warranty that you purchased through IceTV then IceTV will honour that warranty and arrange for your product to be repaired. The only cost to the customer would be the postage, as per the United extended warranty.


Excellent response IceTV!!

IanL-S

Just had a 2400 loose all recordings - the recordinf partition is completly empty. The Toppy thinks it is recording, but nothing is recorded. Probably due to the absece of a data directory.

Probably not a physical problem with the HDD, as it is an new HHD and has only been in the Toppy for about a week. The Toppy itelf is over 3 years old and has had a hard life.

Ian
IceTV: IceBox + BYOB IceBox + 2xTRF-2400 + 2xTF7100HDPVRtPlus + SKIPPA [RIP] + T2 + U4 + V2
No IceTV: a few Toppys and T2
Synology NAS
Check out the oztoppy wiki and oztoppy Forum for Toppy help