The hard drive on my Humax Fox T2 seems to be failing with odd glitches
when playing back recording. Is it better to replace it like for like
or go for an SSD? Any recommendations would be welcome. Also, is it
possible to transfer the recordings on the old one to the new one? If
so, how do I do it please?

Phil M

In article <ubb7km$1u1eg$1@dont-email.me>,
Phil_M <notused@freenet.co.uk> wrote:

> The hard drive on my Humax Fox T2 seems to be failing with odd
> glitches when playing back recording. Is it better to replace it
> like for like or go for an SSD? Any recommendations would be
> welcome. Also, is it possible to transfer the recordings on the
> old one to the new one? If so, how do I do it please?

Several years ago I changed the HD in my Humax Fox T2. To be honest I
cannot remember the details but I don't recall it being difficult. A
bit of reading in the forum would get you there.

What I would suggest is that you install the custom firmware. Doing
that will enable you to decrypt the video files and then pull them
from the machine to storage somewhere else. You can do that using an
SMB ethernet connection. It's not fast but it works.

https://hummy.tv/forum/forums/hd-hdr-fox-t2-customised-firmware.28/

Because the files are no longer encrypted and tied to your Fox T2,
you can watch them on your PC and even copy them to a different Fox
T2 where they will also work.

Then after you've sorted a new HD, you can copy the files back to the
recorder, again via ethernet if you wish.

Bob.

On Sun, 13 Aug 2023 19:51:54 +0100
Bob Latham <bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote:

> In article <ubb7km$1u1eg$1@dont-email.me>,
> Phil_M <notused@freenet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > The hard drive on my Humax Fox T2 seems to be failing with odd
> > glitches when playing back recording. Is it better to replace it
> > like for like or go for an SSD? Any recommendations would be
> > welcome. Also, is it possible to transfer the recordings on the
> > old one to the new one? If so, how do I do it please?
>
> Several years ago I changed the HD in my Humax Fox T2. To be honest I
> cannot remember the details but I don't recall it being difficult. A
> bit of reading in the forum would get you there.
>
> What I would suggest is that you install the custom firmware. Doing
> that will enable you to decrypt the video files and then pull them
> from the machine to storage somewhere else. You can do that using an
> SMB ethernet connection. It's not fast but it works.
>
> https://hummy.tv/forum/forums/hd-hdr-fox-t2-customised-firmware.28/
>
> Because the files are no longer encrypted and tied to your Fox T2,
> you can watch them on your PC and even copy them to a different Fox
> T2 where they will also work.
>
> Then after you've sorted a new HD, you can copy the files back to the
> recorder, again via ethernet if you wish.
>
> Bob.
>

Exactly right. One, join Hummytv, without a doubt. 2, install the
custom firmware. You will find masses of useful utilities now available
to you, including one to fix HDDs with read/writing errors.
When I upgraded my HDD some years ago, the forum discussions were about
which brand and model of HDD to use, SSDs were not yet ready for Humax
prime-time. That may have changed now.

It really is easy to do.

--
Davey.

On Sun, 13 Aug 2023 19:51:54 +0100, Bob Latham
<bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote:
>In article <ubb7km$1u1eg$1@dont-email.me>,
> Phil_M <notused@freenet.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> The hard drive on my Humax Fox T2 seems to be failing with odd
>> glitches when playing back recording. Is it better to replace it
>> like for like or go for an SSD? Any recommendations would be
>> welcome. Also, is it possible to transfer the recordings on the
>> old one to the new one? If so, how do I do it please?
>
>Several years ago I changed the HD in my Humax Fox T2. To be honest I
>cannot remember the details but I don't recall it being difficult. A
>bit of reading in the forum would get you there.
>
>What I would suggest is that you install the custom firmware. Doing
>that will enable you to decrypt the video files and then pull them
>from the machine to storage somewhere else. You can do that using an
>SMB ethernet connection. It's not fast but it works.
>
>https://hummy.tv/forum/forums/hd-hdr-fox-t2-customised-firmware.28/
>
>Because the files are no longer encrypted and tied to your Fox T2,
>you can watch them on your PC and even copy them to a different Fox
>T2 where they will also work.
>
>Then after you've sorted a new HD, you can copy the files back to the
>recorder, again via ethernet if you wish.
>
>Bob.
I have the custom firmware in my Humax Foxsat recorder, but it only
prevents new recordings from being encrypted. It doesn't decrypt old
recordings.
--
Dave W

In article <66lkdihu9pqj5c8h0i93tnafgonlstr4bi@4ax.com>,
Dave W <davewi11@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> I have the custom firmware in my Humax Foxsat recorder, but it only
> prevents new recordings from being encrypted. It doesn't decrypt old
> recordings.

I know nothing with regard to the satellite box.

After installing the custom firmware and the correct packages, my Fox
T2 displayed a queue of candidates to decrypt and slowly worked
through the lot, long after they were recorded.

Bob.

On Mon, 14 Aug 2023 17:48:56 +0100
Bob Latham <bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote:

> In article <66lkdihu9pqj5c8h0i93tnafgonlstr4bi@4ax.com>,
> Dave W <davewi11@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > I have the custom firmware in my Humax Foxsat recorder, but it only
> > prevents new recordings from being encrypted. It doesn't decrypt old
> > recordings.
>
> I know nothing with regard to the satellite box.
>
> After installing the custom firmware and the correct packages, my Fox
> T2 displayed a queue of candidates to decrypt and slowly worked
> through the lot, long after they were recorded.
>
> Bob.
>

Yep, that's how it works. Occasionally, a file doesn't decrypt
properly, but that is rare, and no further attempts will have any
different result.

--
Davey.

Well there are companies out there offering this service, but to me they
seem expensive. The TVonics Freeview one seems to be very well catered for.
Maybe they used crap drives.
If you are going for a drive, then go ssd, but as has been mooted before
here, it might well be cheaper to just get a new unit built by whoever it is
built by this week, most will have an ssd anyway. However having sampled the
stuff available to watch these days it really is dross in the main.
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Phil_M" <notused@freenet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ubb7km$1u1eg$1@dont-email.me...
> The hard drive on my Humax Fox T2 seems to be failing with odd glitches
> when playing back recording. Is it better to replace it like for like or
> go for an SSD? Any recommendations would be welcome. Also, is it
> possible to transfer the recordings on the old one to the new one? If so,
> how do I do it please?
>
> Phil M
>
>

On 15/08/2023 13:26, Brian Gaff wrote:

> Well there are companies out there offering this service, but to me they
> seem expensive. The TVonics Freeview one seems to be very well catered for.
> Maybe they used crap drives.
> If you are going for a drive, then go ssd, but as has been mooted before
> here, it might well be cheaper to just get a new unit built by whoever it is
> built by this week, most will have an ssd anyway. However having sampled the
> stuff available to watch these days it really is dross in the main.

If you like the Humax Fox T2 you just want it to continue working. "New
improved models" have a different interface and probably lack desired
features.

Perhaps you would benefit from losing all the recordings on your old
drive. If you really wanted them you would have watched them already.
Perhaps the Alexandria Library fire benefitted mankind.

--
Max Demian

On 15/08/2023 13:26, Brian Gaff wrote:
> Well there are companies out there offering this service, but to me they
> seem expensive. The TVonics Freeview one seems to be very well catered for.
> Maybe they used crap drives.
> If you are going for a drive, then go ssd, but as has been mooted before
> here, it might well be cheaper to just get a new unit built by whoever it is
> built by this week, most will have an ssd anyway. However having sampled the
> stuff available to watch these days it really is dross in the main.

A PVR doesn't require a high performance disk. Something slow and
"green" running at 5400 rpm will be quieter and run cool and with a
capacity of 2Tbytes (+) is very much cheaper than a SSD so unlikely to
be fitted to the latest PVRs.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On Wed, 16 Aug 2023 16:33:21 +0100
alan_m <junk@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:

> On 15/08/2023 13:26, Brian Gaff wrote:
> > Well there are companies out there offering this service, but to me
> > they seem expensive. The TVonics Freeview one seems to be very well
> > catered for. Maybe they used crap drives.
> > If you are going for a drive, then go ssd, but as has been mooted
> > before here, it might well be cheaper to just get a new unit built
> > by whoever it is built by this week, most will have an ssd anyway.
> > However having sampled the stuff available to watch these days it
> > really is dross in the main.
>
>
> A PVR doesn't require a high performance disk. Something slow and
> "green" running at 5400 rpm will be quieter and run cool and with a
> capacity of 2Tbytes (+) is very much cheaper than a SSD so unlikely
> to be fitted to the latest PVRs.
>

The Humax Fox T2 is fine with a 2TB HDD, any more and it requires more
playing around before it recognises it (if it does). It is probably
better to choose an HDD designed for continuous read/write, like one
for a CCTV system.

--
Davey.