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After advice on another thread, I decided to try reformat the disk in my 9300t. I followed the onscreen instructions but after entering the password, it took only a second to respond ‘format complete’. Surely it should have taken a few minutes? I was expecting it to take a while to step through the disk, taking note of bad areas and taking them out of use. One seconds work can’t have done that surely?
JohnB47 – 41 minutes ago »
One seconds work can’t have done that surely?
Correct. The Humax format is equivalent to a Windows quick format. It just writes a blank file system to the drive hence the speed. The only way to do a full format is to attach the drive to a PC and do a full format which will examine the disk in the way you suggest. At the end of the format use chkdsk to see if any bad blocks are reported. If they are the hard drive is at the end of its life in the Humax because (as far as I know) the Humax file system cannot cope with bad blocks.
Thanks Martin.
Well, that’s a nuisance. The guy from Humax suggested I do it the Humax (ie quick) way, so I wonder if that would really have cleared my skipping problem up?
If I find a way to connect it up to a PC and do a full format (I only have a ‘family’ laptop myself and don’t want to start messing with that), is there any particular type of format that’s required?
I have a feeling I’m going to have to buy a new PVR.
Thanks for the help.
Edit: Sorry, but are you saying that, having done a full format, the Humax still wouldn’t be able to work with it if the format finds anything wrong? Or is it just if it finds bad blocks (ie a major problem?).
JohnB47 – 13 hours ago »
Well, that’s a nuisance. The guy from Humax suggested I do it the Humax (ie quick) way, so I wonder if that would really have cleared my skipping problem up?
There are three varieties of what people call the skipping problem. Doing a “Humax” format will help with one of them.
If I find a way to connect it up to a PC and do a full format (I only have a ‘family’ laptop myself and don’t want to start messing with that), is there any particular type of format that’s required?
You would need a USB to SATA adapter that can be purchased on eBay for less than £10. It doesn’t matter what format you use providing it is a “full” format that examines each sector on the drive.
Edit: Sorry, but are you saying that, having done a full format, the Humax still wouldn’t be able to work with it if the format finds anything wrong? Or is it just if it finds bad blocks (ie a major problem?).
Doing a PC based format will be helpful if the hard drive has spare sectors available to map out any marginal sectors that are found by the format. The problem comes when the finite supply of spare sectors has been exhausted. You can determine this by looking for bad blocks after a format or using a utility to read the SMART status information from the drive.
Thanks for that. I’ve had a look at the adapters you mentioned. Now to decide whether to go that route or just buy another PVR.
Cheers.
OK, my Humax is still hopping and skipping so I thought I’d try a full format. I’m thinking of this adapter, is it OK?
Also, do I simply remove, reformat and replace the drive, power up, reset to factory settings and go from there or do I somehow need to restore some software? E.g. where is the Loader stored? If on the disk, how do I restore it?
I’m reasonably computer savvy, just wanting to preempt any problems before I hit them, so any advice is welcome.
Thanks.
This is a follow up to my previous post – there doesn’t seem to be a way to edit a post once made.
I’ve just seen a related thread where this was said (by someone who bought a new hard drive and installed it, as is, in the pvr):
“Connected the 9300 to the TV via HDMI and switched on the TV, plugged in the aerial to the 9300 then plugged into the mains and switched on. Got a screen message asking if I wanted to format a drive and pressed the OK button. After a couple of seconds I got the message format complete and the 9300 went into standby mode. Switched on the 9300 with the remote and found everything working; checked with a couple of trial recordings – one manual and one reserved from the programme guide – and everything was fine.”
So would I expect my drive, when formatted by my laptop and then reinstalled, to be formatted again in the Humax? (I realise that the formatting done is different when done in the PVR).
Cheers.
JohnB47 – 22 minutes ago »
So would I expect my drive, when formatted by my laptop and then reinstalled, to be formatted again in the Humax?
Yes the Humax MUST reformat as the file system is unique to Humax (and subtly different for various different models in the range).
Thanks.
OK, I obviously don’t understand the theory behind this. If I do a full format using my laptop, then the Humax does it’s own, won’t that undo any good work the full format has done? Or will it just produce an overlay and the full formats work of ring-fencing bad areas is left in place?
Oh and there’s no need to worry about reloading any software, once the hard disk is replaced?
Thanks for the help.
JohnB47 – 48 minutes ago »
OK, I obviously don’t understand the theory behind this. If I do a full format using my laptop, then the Humax does it’s own, won’t that undo any good work the full format has done?
What a full format will do (that may be helpful) is to map out any marginal sectors; this is done by the disk controller firmware and so is a level below the file system and hence will persist when reformatted.
Oh and there’s no need to worry about reloading any software, once the hard disk is replaced?
All the software is held in flash RAM not on the disk so nothing to worry about.
Excellent. I’ll give it a go then. Thanks for the help.
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