P2 wiz HDD problem - and what's the best replacement PVR now?

[dddp]

My old P2 has had a HDD fit and now it shows as only half full and only 9 recordings. It should be about ¾ to 7/8ths full

It has a 1tb drive in it that Mark, Warkus, put in a few years ago. At the time he also did all the repairs needed to make it last as lng as possible

I'm wondering if anyone repairs these now. What I'd like is to have the HDD examined to see if the remaining data on it holds my music video collection (at the very least – more would be lovely but I'll take whatever comes) and if that data could be copied across to a new HDD preformatted that I can just slot back into my old P2

I don't think Mark is repairing these now as sometime back he announced that he had health issues and so was giving up the repairing business.

So it'll need to be sent to someone else I guess

Last option would be I guess updating to a new wiz of some description so I'm wondering what Wiz, or perhaps not a Wiz maybe another Toppy? Used to have an old 5000pvrt years ago, that was a good unit

[grumpy_geoff]

Have you done a recordings reindex via the Audio/speaker button (01.05.nnn firmware) or via the HDD check (01.07.nnn f/w)?

[dddp]

yes, i did a HDD check when i first noticed this problem. It proceeds fairly fast until 3/4 of the way and then appears to stop. As i had other things to do i couldn't keep watching but later when i was back it had either completed the check or maybe, i don't know if this is possible, exited without completing the check

another check this morning and it appears the same thing is happening again. I don't remember the HDD make that was installed but it was rated for PVR use.

Anyway, it's looking like the problem is HDD related to ideally what i'd like to do is try to copy files that i would like to keep off of it and instal them on a new HDD to stick in the P2, of course these are files that the P2 isn't showing the names of but is showing that HDD space is being taken up. These files are in a music  folder created on the P2.

Are there windows programs that can do what i'm wanting to do?

Or, is there somewhere i can send the HDD to get this done?

Or am i better off forgetting it and getting a new PVR that can at least do most all that the P2 can do

[dddp]

snip
Anyway, it's looking like the problem is HDD related to ideally what i'd like to do is try to copy files that i would like to keep off of it and instal them on a new HDD to stick in the P2, of course these are files that the P2 isn't showing the names of but is showing that HDD space is being taken up. These files are in a music  folder created on the P2.

after this mornings HDD check HDD free space is now showing as something appropriate to what it should be with regard to how many recordings are showing - looks like the files i wanted to keep are gone or at the very least not visible to the P2

[Dave at IceTV]

Hi dddp,

Over the last decade I have replaced HDDs in my DP series Beyonwiz PVRs a number of times. I have often kept each old HDD with the intention of plugging them into a USB HDD dock and plugging the dock into a Beyonwiz to access whatever is still playable from the Beyonwiz. A couple I kept "untouched" with the intention of connecting them to a Linux computer to try to recover or repair the damaged or corrupt recordings. After many years they have never been connected to anything except for maybe a cursory inspection before giving up. A month after removing each drive I had completely forgotten them. All of the SATA drives were recently tested for bad sectors and thrown out during a spring clean. The IDE drives were also thrown out.

After a decade of replacing HDDs and keeping the old drive with the intention of plugging them into a USB HDD dock and plugging the dock into a Beyonwiz to access whatever is still playable from the Beyonwiz... and never doing anything about it I now just forget about whatever is on the old hard drive and get on with recording new shows. The only downside is that initial wishing you could remember exactly what shows you had lost.

These days I don't upload or keep anything on my PVRs' HDDs unless I have a copy of it somewhere else. And any TV shows that I want to keep (and cannot buy a copy of) I back up to a computer or NAS server (and convert them to a different format).