FVP-5000T Internal Hard Disk problem

[Anonymous]

Hi, I’m after some ideas as I’m all out of them.

I have a friends FVP-5000T where all recordings have disappeared. Recording menu shows no recordings, HDD indicator is greyed out with nothing showing where hours remaining once were. Anything to do with recording or timeslip fails.

I assumed the HDD had died but when I plugged the (ST500VM) into a Debian (Linux based) machine I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to mount all 4 partitions. I copied all her recording onto another drive just in case the drive was playing up.

Back to the PVR: I installed an unused WD Green 1TB I had sitting around still sealed. Sadly there was no change in the PVRs behaviour. The format PVR option was not available (with the new or old drive).

I then downgraded the firmware from 103.54 to 103.53 from the Humax site just in case something was corrupted, again no joy so I allowed it to re-upgrade over LAN afterwards.

Oh I also tried factory reset with format HDD but as the PVR doesn’t seem to see the HDD so no formatting took place. The drive does spin up however.

I don’t know what else to try. If anyone has any suggestions, please suggest away. I see the HDR1000S had a problem with a resistor, but I haven’t found anything similar here regarding the 5000T that wasn’t cured with a reboot.

I have to say I’m pleased that the files were in a normal EXT partiton. Other manufacturers’ PVRs that I’ve encountered seem to use strange block sizes for their partitions making them unmountable by me.

If I have no luck getting the PVR to recognise an internal drive, she can at least watch what she has recorded via an external drive. I’m unsure if her HD recordings will work that way though?

Thanks for your help.

Best wishes.

[Martin Liddle]

TW8 – 36 mins ago  » 

Oh I also tried factory reset with format HDD but as the PVR doesn’t seem to see the HDD so no formatting took place. The drive does spin up however.

I don’t know what else to try. If anyone has any suggestions, please suggest away. I see the HDR1000S had a problem with a resistor, but I haven’t found anything similar here regarding the 5000T that wasn’t cured with a reboot.

The HDR-1000S problem was at one time suggested to be a resistor but the current thought is that the CPU needs reballing. I haven’t seen it suggested for the FVP-5000T.

If I have no luck getting the PVR to recognise an internal drive, she can at least watch what she has recorded via an external drive. I’m unsure if her HD recordings will work that way though?

There is certainly some capability for playing video from attached USB storage, see page 16 of the user manual. My concern is that the content (both SD and HD) will be encrypted and I am not sure if playing from the USB storage will remove the encryption.

[Anonymous]

Hi Martin,

I’ve not considered that SD recordings would also be encrypted as I hadn’t tried to play any of the TS files recordings until you mentioned it. On test just now, I found VLC won’t play them whereas the ones from my Foxsat play okay. Hmmm. I will have to copy the ts, hjtsm, hjm and nts files of one recording to a flash drive and see if the box will play it, else I guess all is lost.

Thanks for the warning.

[Anonymous]

Martin Liddle – 7 hours ago  » 

There is certainly some capability for playing video from attached USB storage, see page 16 of the user manual. My concern is that the content (both SD and HD) will be encrypted and I am not sure if playing from the USB storage will remove the encryption.

If the USB drive is a mirror of the original drive, or the original in an external caddy it’s possible that it could work, My investigations (details can’t be discussed on this forum) suggest that recordings with correct sidecar files in the .recordings directory will be recognised as a recording and should be able to be viewed or copied back to the internal disk. Only saving the original .ts files will not work.

[Anonymous]

TW8 – 8 hours ago  » 

I will have to copy the ts, hjtsm, hjm and nts files of one recording to a flash drive and see if the box will play it, else I guess all is lost.

I skipped over this on first reading – oops!

If you have all those files for one recording, place them in a folder named .recordings on the flash drive. Insert the flash drive into the Humax and the recording should/might appear in the recordings list. If not obvious get it to list recordings by device. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Hi EEPhil,

I tried the flash drive suggestion, but the recording didn’t show up. I renamed folder to remove the leading dot from the folder name and the recording showed up but not unexpectedly wouldn’t play. I then connected the origional drive via a USB lead. It failed also, but that test was flawed as when I plugged the same USB into the “Toaster” (Debian Linux), it reported the completely wrong partition sizes. Partition 2 showed as 3.6T. Not bad for a 500GB drive eh . It looks like I need a more modern SATA to USB device to test further. I do so miss Maplin even with their comical pricing structure

Thank you for your useful suggestions. When I have more kit to test, I will report my findings.

[Anonymous]

Without the dot the file should not show up in recordings. Curious! I’m not sure you are looking in the right place.

By recordings, I mean the screen displayed by pressing the recordings button not via the media, external drive menu items.

An easy way to ensure you have the right file structure on an empty flash drive is to insert into Humax and save one (preferably short) programme via the save option. Then when plugged into your computer you should see a .recordings (I’m sure this is the correct spelling, but it will show up – assuming you can view hidden files/folders). The files you want to view should be placed in this folder. (I could do with giving exact menu keys, but I’m not in front of my Humax at present to check these!)

[Anonymous]

I’ve had a further look at this.

To create the correct filestore on the flash drive, the folder must be .recordings. You can create the filestore from the Humax by inserting flash into Humax, selecting a programme (a short, not part of a series is preferable – only for time purposes). Save that programme to the flash drive. From the remote:

Recordings/Programme/{name of programme}/+/Move

If it takes too long you can cancel this. Attempt to save the file again and it should ask whether you want to stop.

I took a flash drive prepared as above and transferred all the files associated with one programme using my computer to write to the flash drive. (These files came directly from the Humax using ftp, so they are still encrypted – I also deleted the programme from the Humax internal drive, so I hope this is similar to your problem).

When inserting the flash drive into the Humax ignore or cancel the pop-up window. From the remote:

Recordings – should list the recovered recording. It may be easier to find as:

Recordings/Storage/{NOT internal drive} – shows only items on the flash drive.

[Anonymous]

Hi EEPhil,

I noted that after I renamed the ‘.recordings’ to plain ‘recordings’, upon inseting the flash drive, the PVR system created a new ‘.recordings’ directory so I agree that that is where recordings are expected to be found, thank you for confirming.

Unfortunately I am unable to any copy files from HDD to the flash drive while using the PVR as it no longer see the HDD and therefore shows no programmes. Storage also showed 0 when selected with flash drive attached. I will have another go tomorrow following your instructions to the letter and see what happens. I have also ordered a HDD caddy coming Friday.

I have a feeling that if the HDD is not detected the the system hangs / no longer looks for other attached devices. I hope I’m wrong. Guess I will find out by the weekend.

Another thing I thought of that may be an issue of my own making is the key for the encryption / decryption process. Seeing as I have both downgraded and re-upgraded the firmware, I wonder if the lack of HDD detection may have caused it to create a new key alienating files previously created. Do you happen know if it is possible to share SD recording from one machine with other 5000Ts? If so then this shouldn’t effect SD recordings, but I have a nasty feeling.

Positive to read that you managed to get files you transferred over ftp to play from the flash drive. Yes, you are right that I first looked at Video from the pop up, however there was also no listing in recordings.

Thanks very much for your help.

[Martin Liddle]

TW8 – 4 mins ago  » 

Another thing I thought of that may be an issue of my own making is the key for the encryption / decryption process. Seeing as I have both downgraded and re-upgraded the firmware, I wonder if the lack of HDD detection may have caused it to create a new key alienating files previously created.

I don’t think there is any evidence that has ever happened. On the HDR-FOX T2 the key is derived from the box serial number and the MAC address so is unique to each box.

Do you happen know if it is possible to share SD recording from one machine with other 5000Ts? If so then this shouldn’t effect SD recordings, but I have a nasty feeling.

I don’t think so for the reason given above.

[Anonymous]

Ah, I may have misread the original question. I thought you’d already got the internal disk out.

The encryption is not changed by upgrading or downgrading the software. If it was, everyone would complain every time there is an upgrade.

You cannot take a disk out if one machine and expect to play those files on another Humax – or anywhere else for that matter. In theory SD files can be saved from the internal disk to a USB drive. Such files are decrypted on copy and the associated files are updated accordingly. In practice, it can take such a long time you’d get fed up. HD files are almost impossible to copy and certainly not with valid hjm etc files.

[Martin Liddle]

EEPhil – 2 hours ago  » 

In theory SD files can be saved from the internal disk to a USB drive. Such files are decrypted on copy and the associated files are updated accordingly.

A decrypted SD .ts file can be obtained quite quickly via the DLNA server.

[Anonymous]

Martin Liddle – 14 hours ago  » 

EEPhil – 2 hours ago  » 

In theory SD files can be saved from the internal disk to a USB drive. Such files are decrypted on copy and the associated files are updated accordingly.

A decrypted SD .ts file can be obtained quite quickly via the DLNA server.

I use it all the time.

I omitted it because I thought the OP was interested in saving all the sidecar files so that they would show up in the Recordings folder.

[Anonymous]

Quote:

EEPhil wrote : I thought you’d already got the internal disk out.

Yes I have. I replaced the original 500GB Seagate drive with an uninitialised 1TB WD green. As the PVR didn’t recognise that either I removed it this morning. The PVR is now devoid of any internal drive. Sorry, I misread your reply thinking you meant me to copy files using the PVR menu. On re-reading, I realised you were demonstrating how the 5000T would save a file to a flash so I could mimic its behaviour. I apologise for being dumb and thank you for your instructions.

In reply to :

Quote:

Martin Liddle : … the key is derived from the box serial number and the MAC address so is unique to each box

and :

Quote:

EEPhil : The encryption is not changed by upgrading or downgrading the software.

In light of this info I tried again, and in the early hours of this morning the 5000T sucessfully played an origional recording using a flash drive. Yippee! I’m very pleased that her recording are not lost. On Friday and assuming the 3.5″ HDD caddy arrives, I will pop the former internal drive in and see if all her recordings appear. Maybe I’ll considder copying the files to a 2.5″ external drive so the PVR can power it via USB. The PVR is now dead as a recorder but if all goes well, she can at least see what she’s already recorded before the device becomes landfill.

Thanks Martin for tip on DLNA server method of decrypting SD files. I will give that a go. My only wish is to save the recordings in a way that she can watch them. Initially having the files show up in the recording menu is great, but I guess she will want a replacement PVR way before getting though her recordings cache therefore the SD files will need to be decrypted to play on a newer device. I bewail the loss of recording portability enforced on manufacturers by having to use rancid DRM! Bring back VHS!

I will let you know what happens Friday with the caddy.

[Anonymous]

Putting the original HDD into a caddy didn’t work. I probably could have made it work by renaming the folder containg the files to “.recordings”. Instead I opted to copy all the recordings to a 2.5″ external drive, this had previously been inserted into the 5000T which so it had already created “.recordings” directory.

After 6 hours, rsync completed so I plugged drive into the 5000T. Following a minute of no activity, the HDD LED sprung into light then started flashing. Fairly soon 255 programmes populated the recordings menu. I test played a couple including one that had been “chunked”, sucessfully. I very pleased with this result!

If it wasn’t for your help and insight, I probably would have given up so thank you!

[Author]

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