Setting up your external USB HDD with your Solo the easy way!

[Sicilian]

I've started to see posts with members having problems using their external USB hard drives, so thought I'd put to the test a post a quick guide.

For the purpose of this I'm using a portable 2.5" USB HDD with its own power supply. The HDD is a Hitachi 250GB SATA. It's very important that the external HDD has its own electric power supply.

Guide below: -

1. Connect to a windows PC. Go to control panel > Administrive Tools > Copumter Management > Storage > Disk Managment > Select you USB HDD, right click on it and select 'Delete Volume'. Make sure that its your USB HDD that your deleting!

2. Connect to Solo, power up the HDD then reboot your Solo.

3. Once rebooted press Menu on your remote > Setup > System > Harddisk > Initialization > Click ok on the selected HDD

http://www.vuplus-support.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1266

4. On the next screem press Red Button to initialize and wait for it to complete.

http://www.vuplus-support.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1267

5. Go to your PC, open a command promt and telnet to your Solo. As follows: -


Telnet 192.168.1.11 <<<<Use your Solo IP


Username = Root


Password = leave blank, just press enter

6. Now create a folder in /media/usb for recording. We'll call it movie.


mkdir /media/usb/movie

7. Close the command prompt and go back to your Solo.

8. Press Menu > Setup > System > Recording paths > Highlight Defualt movie location, see below: -

http://www.vuplus-support.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1268

9. Press ok, then you come to a select location screen. You will see the default at the bottom is /hdd/movie. We need to change this. Press menu on your remote and select 'switch to filelist'. Now navigate to /media/usb/movie, do not click ok on movie, just highlight it and press Green button to save the location. You now have something like this: -

http://www.vuplus-support.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1269

10. Do the same for Timeshift location, but just choose /media/usb

Thats it done :D

Enjoy your recording with your shiney new baby VU+ Solo :)

[alrufayyig]

what external hdd brand do u suggest to buy?

[Sicilian]

I've got this enclsure that I fitted a Hitachi SATA 250GB HDD into


http://www.usbnow.co.uk/Hard_Drive_Enclosures-2.5%22_Hard_Drive_Cases/c10_24/p784/Smart_Drive_2.5%22_SATA_Hard_Drive_Enclosure/product_info.html

I've got seperate 5V PSU for powering the enclosure.

Any USB HDD should be ok providing its got its own electric PSU.

[nedisared]

You are a Star m8

[alrufayyig]

i followed your steps my external hdd works fine for recording but i have problem in timeshift , could you please clarify the steps for timeshift because the recording path pictures not clear.

[Sicilian]

i followed your steps my external hdd works fine for recording but i have problem in timeshift , could you please clarify the steps for timeshift because the recording path pictures not clear.

Set the timeshift location to /media/usb/

[alrufayyig]

timeshift still not possible i think i have another issue, what do you suggeest and i can't find permanent timeshift plugin ?

[grtmoby]

which image are u using...

[Sicilian]

timeshift still not possible i think i have another issue, what do you suggeest and i can't find permanent timeshift plugin ?

What have you setup for your timeshift location?

[alrufayyig]

i use vti v0.1 image , regarding timeshift location now /media/usb ,and tried media/usb/movie also i tried media/hdd and still faild, do you think because i use only samsung 100gb external hdd is not enough to start timeshift?

[Sicilian]

i use vti v0.1 image , regarding timeshift location now /media/usb ,and tried media/usb/movie also i tried media/hdd and still faild, do you think because i use only samsung 100gb external hdd is not enough to start timeshift?

Recording defo works ok?

[spec119]

worked a treat hdd needs the 5volt boost well done Sicillian

[alrufayyig]

recording works fine but timeshift is not possible

[grtmoby]

what do u get when u start timeshift

[Sicilian]

Check all the paths, I've just tested timeshift again here and can confirm working 100%.

[alrufayyig]

i will try another hdd may be it will work

[unisat]

Hi Sicilian,

Very handy tutorial.

Can we have a similar/modified tutorial for external samsung 500 gb sata ii harddrive hd502hj with esata hdd docking station.

your help would be highly appreciated.

regards

[Sicilian]

Hi Sicilian,

Very handy tutorial.

Can we have a similar/modified tutorial for external samsung 500 gb sata ii harddrive hd502hj with esata hdd docking station.

your help would be highly appreciated.

regards

I would it I had a external samsung 500 gb sata ii harddrive hd502hj with esata hdd docking station, you could always donate yours to me :p

Have you tried the guide, in principal i'm pretty sure it will work.

[unisat]

I would it I had a external samsung 500 gb sata ii harddrive hd502hj with esata hdd docking station, you could always donate yours to me :p

Have you tried the guide, in principal i'm pretty sure it will work.

Am waiting for it to arrive. Will try the solo tutorial and let you.

Thanks a lot

[stash36]

Ok I have today added a samsung f2 1.5tb drive with an esata case, using the instructions in Sicilians thread.
The results are poor. I initially recorded BBC1, this worked ok. Then tryed a HD channel and which broke up badly on replay. I'm now getting green screen restart constantly, trying to record, using the timer, anything. No time to play now, but I'm wondering if I've got a drive that is too big. I bought this samsung unit for the HD capacity, and because it appears to run well with the Duo.
I'm using VTi v2.

[stash36]

Right I've made some progress since this morning, and learned some Unix!
I followed the instructions in this thread to the letter and it failed badly, no idea why it should be different. Here's what I have done to get the drive working...

The USB drive was being listed as /dev/sda1, if you type DF you will see all the filesystems and the huge one is your drive.

Create a new dir to mount it to, under /mnt.

mkdir /mnt/extdrive (mnt already exists, extdrive is the name I gave it, could have been anything.) Then mount the drive to the dir...
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/extdrive

The next thing to do is to add this to your fstab file, this will automount the drive after every restart for you...

Edit fstab (it is in /etc), and just add this line into the bottom of it...

/dev/sda1 /mnt/extdrive auto defaults 0 0

The rest is as per sicilians thread...

Menu / Setup / System / Harddisk Initialization

Then to Recording Paths...

default location is /mnt/extdrive

And the timeshift locn is the same.

Recording and timeshift now work a treat. Hope this helps someone with similar issues.

[xarqi]

My Duo arrived! I know this is a Solo forum, but this is the thread I found when I was searching for a solution, so maybe it's the best place to ask.

All is going pretty well so far. It has openPLI on it and that is working ok.
I struck one snag though.

When I was struggling with a different Linux PVR, I formatted a 1TB WD drive in an external USB box to use, and it worked OK.
I can't mount that disc with my Mac, and I'd hoped that the Duo would just mount it with no problems.
Not so.

I don't want to reinitialise the disc if I can avoid it at all as there are some files I'd like to get off it first, if only I could mount it!
I've connected to the Duo via telnet, and this is what happened. The Duo itself has no internal disc drive. I'm confident that the sda device shown is the 1TB WD drive I want to mount.

root@vuduo / # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000202043392 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121600 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 121600 976751968+ 83 Linux
root@vuduo / # ls /mnt
card/ cf/ hdd@ mmc1/ net/ ram/ realroot/ sda1/ union/ usb/
root@vuduo / # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
mount: mounting /dev/sda1 on /mnt/sda1 failed: Invalid argument
root@vuduo / #


Any ideas where am I going wrong?

I don't know for sure what the filesystem on the disc is, but the 83 suggests it IS a Linux one. As I recall, when I formatted it I went for a journalled system. I'm not sure it that means it may be ext2 or JFS or something else.

I'm a Linux newbie too.

[stash36]

If you only have one external or usb drive connected /dev/sda1 will be it. (A second would be named sdb1).

The only thing I can suggest here is it may not like sda1 as your mount directory, it may be a reserved identifier.

Try creating a new directory with a unique name and mounting it to that.

[stash36]

I've found an easy way to navigate between the USB external drive and a Pendrive that I use in the USB slot at the front (for mkv files etc).

Navigation between the two can be a pain, so using a unix client, navigate to the hard drive directory where your movies are kept (btw you should make this the default opening directory using Menu / Media Player / Menu / Edit Settings / Start Directory first) and create a link to the front usb drive...

ln -s /mnt/sdb1 . Pendrive

Pendrive now shows as a folder alongside my movie files and I can navigate directly between the two.

[xarqi]

@stash36:

root@vuduo ~ # mkdir /mnt/WD1T
root@vuduo ~ # mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/WD1T
mount: mounting /dev/sda1 on /mnt/WD1T failed: Invalid argument
root@vuduo ~ #

No go.


... navigate to the hard drive directory where your movies are kept
That's a problem.
Looking at it one way, the movies are on the disc I can't mount, so I can't navigate to it.
Looking at it another way, they are on an SMB volume on my LAN, a situation I want to move away from.

[stash36]

Sorry xarqi my second reply was unrelated to your issue.

Can't see why you are getting invalid argument, the command is valid so something else is wrong. You might have to bite the bullet and try the initialise disk command under the menu. I'm not 100% sure that this will wipe your data off it, but obviously there is a risk that it will.
If you don't want to try that then maybe you need to ask in the duo forum, it is much busier in there, pretty quiet here unfortunately.

[xarqi]

OK - thanks for taking a swing at it. I'll repost over in the Duo section, and maybe join a Linux forum somewhere..

[serg]

hi all!
please help

stuck on step 4,got massage "unable to initiate hardisc
error:mount failed"
i m using mains powered 500gb Seagate Expansion.

wot i am doin wrong?

[serg]

mounted hdd,now it s going smooth lol

[unisat]

Hi Sicilian,

Have just got my samsung external drive For VU+DUO

Got stuck on the first step:
1. Connect to a windows PC. Go to control panel > Administrive Tools > Copumter Management > Storage > Disk Managment > Select you USB HDD, right click on it and select 'Delete Volume'. Make sure that its your USB HDD that your deleting!

I Selected USB HDD, right clicked on it but did not find 'Delete Volume'. instead I found " Delete Partition".

Help please to be able to proceed.

[Sicilian]

From memory I think it you delete partition first, then volume.

[unisat]

From memory I think it you delete partition first, then volume.

I deleted partition. Then right clicked again still no no " volume Delete". There is only properties.

[Sicilian]

I deleted partition. Then right clicked again still no no " volume Delete". There is only properties.

Ok, try connecting to your Solo now. Make sure the Solo is powered off before connecting. The try to initialize.

[unisat]

Ok, try connecting to your Solo now. Make sure the Solo is powered off before connecting. The try to initialize.

Retried as poer your instructions. Received Message:

Unable to initialize harddisk. Error : Mount failed.

By the way my device is Vu+Duo and not Solo. Image in use is vu+duo origonal v 5.3 the latest.

[unisat]

Hi,

!/ I think I did manage to initialize the hard disk.

Following result obtained after I sent "df -h" command


OpenEmbedded Linux bm750


Vuplus 2.0.1 bm750

bm750 login: root
root@bm750:~# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 118.0M 36.6M 81.4M 31% /
udev 2.0M 56.0K 1.9M 3% /dev
/dev/sdb1 465.6G 198.0M 465.4G 0% /media/sdb1
/dev/mtdblock2 4.0M 388.0K 3.6M 9% /boot
tmpfs 69.1M 248.0K 68.9M 0% /var
tmpfs 69.1M 4.0K 69.1M 0% /tmp
tmpfs 69.1M 0 69.1M 0% /dev/shm
root@bm750:~#

2/ Made a directory "mkdir /media/usb/movie".


3. Press Menu > Setup > System > Can not find the feature " Recording paths ".

Am sorry. Feel am being a pain in the -----. Appreciate your patience.

Regards

[unisat]

Managed to finalize everything.

Thanks Sicilian for the tutorial

[Hoopstroops]

A quick question! Why shouldn't we use drive's that don't have their own power supply? I have a 500gb WD Passport drive sitting idle and was thinking I might use it with my Vu+ Duo!

[scooby4466]

Unable to initialize harddisk.Error:Creating partition failed.This is the message I keep getting when I try to initialize my harddisk,anybody got any ideas

[scooby4466]

Even with the error message hard drive was mounted,everything working as it should

[Sicilian]

Unable to initialize harddisk.Error:Creating partition failed.This is the message I keep getting when I try to initialize my harddisk,anybody got any ideas

Try formatting the disc on PC first as NTFS, then re-try on Solo.

[jas]

Hi
I am having a problem with VU solo usb hard drive recording, i am using seagate 500gb usb portable hd. It records fine but when i put box on standby and try to record something next day it says " in order to record timer, the tv was switched to the recording service" after restarting box it works but same next day. Can anyone help please?

Thanks

[xarqi]

Hi jas.
That's normal I think. The solo has a single tuner and when you go to standby it is left tuned to the transponder for the service you were watching. When the time comes for it to make a scheduled recording, if that is on a service on a different transponder, then the box will have to set the tuner to that transponder. The message is just telling you what has happened. The alternative would be to have the recording missed.

[jas]

Thanks
Is there any solution for this issue?

[Stanman]

Thanks
Is there any solution for this issue?

Buy a dual tuner box:D

[Sicilian]

Have you tried simply switching channels again instead of rebooting?

[netswim]

5. Go to your PC, open a command promt and telnet to your Solo. As follows: -


Telnet 192.168.1.11 <<<<Use your Solo IP

When I try to telnet it says:
'telnet' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
I have Windows 7 and my network is ok and the Vu+solo has normal ip.192.168.1.67

[Stanman]

You will need to enable telnet,

Click Start.
Click Control Panel.
Now, go to Programs or Programs and Features.
Click Turn Windows features on or off.
In the Windows Features dialog box, tick Telnet Client check box.
Click OK.

[netswim]

You will need to enable telnet,

Click Start.
Click Control Panel.
Now, go to Programs or Programs and Features.
Click Turn Windows features on or off.
In the Windows Features dialog box, tick Telnet Client check box.
Click OK.

Thank you I did it for recording but for timeshift we do the same thing but the last step is to choose usb/media and then what we have to highlight and push the green button? movie or usr?

[netswim]

I did a small recording and the result was a picture paused and audio broken.

[Stanman]

Thank you I did it for recording but for timeshift we do the same thing but the last step is to choose usb/media and then what we have to highlight and push the green button? movie or usr?
Sorry mate you've lost me, those instructions are for enabling telnet in windows Vista / 7.
Can you elaborate on exactly what you are trying to do?

[hardeep]

Guys help, have got 2TB drive, went throught the instructions as per Sicillian thread, and it seems to record, all being with broken picture and sound, but the question is when i do a df -h does not display the hard disk. So i did a fdisk -l and it was listed, can anybody tell me why it does not show when i do a df -h ? See output below:-
root@vusolo:/# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 1999.7 GB, 1999696297984 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243115 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00050f90

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 243115 1952821237 83 Linux
root@vusolo:/# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 116.0M 55.3M 60.8M 48% /
tmpfs 64.0K 4.0K 60.0K 6% /dev
tmpfs 53.3M 612.0K 52.7M 1% /var/volatile
tmpfs 53.3M 0 53.3M 0% /dev/shm

[hardeep]

All,

My drive has been sat at 50% initializing for 24 hours, does not seem to progress any more, can anyone advise, as I guess this is not normal :confused:
I press the blue button on the remote and it comes up with the following:-
1 In Progress : Initializing storage device... (50%)

[Sicilian]

All,

My drive has been sat at 50% initializing for 24 hours, does not seem to progress any more, can anyone advise, as I guess this is not normal :confused:
I press the blue button on the remote and it comes up with the following:-
1 In Progress : Initializing storage device... (50%)

Reboot and try again, it's not done in around 5mins, flash with official firmware to initialise your hdd, then flash back VIX.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[espen31]

Code:
Password = leave blank, just press enter

I cant get into my vu+solo login is incorrect???????? what is going on?? :confused:

[tomt]

Hi Sicilian,
Great thread and forum, thanks. Would your tutorial for installing USB HDD work on a VU+ Solo running Blackhole/enigma WBhite? I am new to the VU+ but would like to install a 2TB WD USB HDD.
Thanks in advance
Tom

[Sicilian]

Hi Sicilian,
Great thread and forum, thanks. Would your tutorial for installing USB HDD work on a VU+ Solo running Blackhole/enigma WBhite? I am new to the VU+ but would like to install a 2TB WD USB HDD.
Thanks in advance
Tom

Sorry I've never tried Blackhole or a 2TB HDD. Try and let us know how you get on :)

[tomt]

Sorry I've never tried Blackhole or a 2TB HDD. Try and let us know how you get on :)

Thanks for the quick response. Is there any reason to be concerned about a 2TB HDD? Would a smaller one be better? Thanks.

[Sicilian]

Thanks for the quick response. Is there any reason to be concerned about a 2TB HDD? Would a smaller one be better? Thanks.

Judging by reports I've read, i'd stick with a 1TB max.

[tomt]

Judging by reports I've read, i'd stick with a 1TB max.

Thanks, too bad I bought the 2TB HDD yesterday. I'll go exchange for 1TB. The new WD also has USB 3.0, but I guess that would not help with the VU+ Solo having only USB 2.0. I appreciate your feedback. I really do want to maximize the odds of this working well.

[satansoft]

A quick question! Why shouldn't we use drive's that don't have their own power supply? I have a 500gb WD Passport drive sitting idle and was thinking I might use it with my Vu+ Duo!

PCs Have big chunky Power Supplies, so have have no problem providing enough current for USB Powered devices. However not all USB ports are powered, especially on peripheral devices like Sat Boxes or Media Boxes. Plus if they are powered this is normally not enough to power external hard drives. . . Even if it was, I would recommend using a powered USB Drive, as this would take the strain from the Sat Boxes PSU.

[dj8377]

Is there a list of compatable hdd's for the solo? can someone please point me in the right direction? I am using a seagate 500 gb external desktop but it works for a couple of days, then I have to reboot for recording to work again? Thank you in advance.

[Stanman]

there are some listed in this thread.

http://www.world-of-satellite.com/showthread.php?3703-external-drives-for-vu&highlight=solo+hard+drives

[dj8377]

Thank you for your reply, the only problem is it it not not easy to see which hdd's listed are external powered hdd, I can not use an internal hdd as the solo does not support this, can anyone who has used a solo with an external powered please let me know which one worked? Thanks

[Sjattuh]

Mounting was hell easy, but I never made the paths as described in this thread. Wasn't neccesary. It just worked after initialising.

However I can not delete programmed recordings...

I rebooted, restarted, took power off, deleted, reflashed and all, recordings keep comming back.

This is what happens:

1. I program a recording (regardless if I 'add timer' or 'configure auto-timer' both have the same issue)
2. I delete this recording (I check the list and it isn't there anymore)
3. I program a new recording
4. The old recording pop backs into the list

This will keep happening untill the recording is actually fullfilled or I flash the box.
So I can't get my old recordings deleted basically because everytime I add a new recording the old delted ones pop back into the list.

I run the latest VIX image on my Solo and use a 80GB ext. HDD. Timeshift and the actual recording (of both new and deleted programmed tasks...) work just fine.

[satsedhu]

Dear sjattuh bro,I have just purchased VU+solo.Do you help me for setting and updates?

[Sicilian]

Dear sjattuh bro,I have just purchased VU+solo.Do you help me for setting and updates?

Please start your own topic on what ever you are trying to do.

[tazmon17]

Hi

ive followed sicillian's tutorial and after ALOT of fiddling and retrying ive managed to get it set up a bit i think...

BUT... at first i could record but not use timeshift, but now i can use timeshift ok but whenever i try to record, i get a green screen crash notification and the system reboots quickly and returns without sound! if i change the channel, sound comes back... but its not letting me record now.. any suggestions?

[micscave]

Hey all
I've been struggling to set up an external HDD on my mates Solo. I had to initialise it using the original image. Then I flashed the box with VIX 2.3. Telnet into box to make the recording directory as in step 6 with command "mkdir /media/usb/movie" I then get a message saying something along the lines of "can't make directory"
I've tried a few times with the same result. When i go into menu as in step 8 "8. Press Menu > Setup > System > Recording paths > Highlight Defualt movie location" Recording paths isn't there in 2.3, it was in the previous image as we tried to do this last week with the earlier image.

I can see the drive in mount manager if that helps but i'm a bit stuck what to try next. It is showing as being formatted as EXT 3.

Do I need to go back to the original image and mount it as per this instruction tutorial or should I be able to get it working in VIX 2.3?

Any help would be most welcome

Many thanks in advance
micscave

[micscave]

Please remove as it posted twice.

[kardasi]

hi all
what the best imaje for vu+solo?
thancks for all and sory for bade english

[Sicilian]

hi all
what the best imaje for vu+solo?
thancks for all and sory for bade english

Moved your post into its own topic as it has nothing to do with this topic. http://www.world-of-satellite.com/showthread.php?14755-Whats-the-best-image-for-the-Solo

[nickydoc]

thanks scillian,

I Followed your instructions

however,after my first attempt i got the green screen and it kept rebooting.

i reinstalled my image vix2.2, reconnected my hdd, iomega 500Gb and all is great.
the only difference is i created my path is a different directory.

Thanks.

[john1986]

Im trying to telnet to my solo box im leaving password blank keep getting message saying login incorrect

[punisher]

what username?

[john1986]

User name is Root im leaving password blank keeping getting message saying login incorrect

[Larry-G]

if your using ViX

menu > plugins > green button > system plugins > setpasswd ( install this ).

Then

menu > setup > system > change root password.

you can change the default password to what ever you like and use that password for ftp/ telnet etc.

[silky]

Hi Guys,

This one is causing me a headache.

Im using latest vix image on my solo

Ive got a 1tb hardrive which I took sicilians advice and formatted on my pc to ntfs, this is my current situation:

The hardive now records and also pauses when pressed however it will not let me enable permanent timeshift, when I try and turn this on I get the following " the media/hdd is not a ext2,ext3,ext4,or nfs partiton, please select a valid partition.

However this must be a valid partition as it lets me record and pause etc!!!!

Anyone any ideas?

Thanks in advance

[Larry-G]

To use the PTS feature the device in your case HDD must be formatted to ext3 or ext4 This is best done via the receiver it self using the initialization option. you will of course loose any data currently on the HDD as a result of this process.

[silky]

To use the PTS feature the device in your case HDD must be formatted to ext3 or ext4 This is best done via the receiver it self using the initialization option. you will of course loose any data currently on the HDD as a result of this process.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply:

I tried to initialize via the box in the first place however I got the message not enough memory when trying to set up superblock whatever that is?

Any ideas?

[Larry-G]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply:

I tried to initialize via the box in the first place however I got the message not enough memory when trying to set up superblock whatever that is?

Any ideas?


To be honest i'm not sure, but as i said as far as i know you can only use PTS from a Linux formatted device, you can still record to and play media from a windows formatted device just will not able to use PTS.

[silky]

Hi Guys,

I just thought it worth while letting you all now how I have managed to solve my problem with help from Andy blac.

When trying to format my 1TB hardrive I was getting the error "not enough memory when creating superblock" Andy suggested I set up a swap file via the front usb port on a usb pendrive. This I did and the hardrive then formatted properly and works a treat.

Hope this will help someone if you hit the same problem.

Cheers

[dcwuk]

if your using ViX

menu > plugins > green button > system plugins > setpasswd ( install this ).

Then

menu > setup > system > change root password.

you can change the default password to what ever you like and use that password for ftp/ telnet etc.

did the above and changed the password and saved it, tried to log in but keeps asking for password and when I go back into the box to menu/system/change root password the shown password is not the one I saved just a random generated one.
This happens every time I try and change the password and even if I use the random generated one it still will not log me in?:mad:

[Rob van der Does]

The set password plugin is not compatible anymore.
You can set a password via telnet, using the command

passwd
after that you can enter a new password.

[Larry-G]

As pointed out by Rob the set password plugin is no longer compatible with the ViX image, use the telnet command to set a password and you will be ok.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

[artie]

Hi can anyone advise....I have a usb powered western digital hdd.I want to record from my vu solo but going through the threads it looks as if it is better to use a hdd with it's own power supply.Is it possible to power the hdd that I have somehow by an adaptor or something rather than going out and buying a new hdd with external power?Thanks for any help

[artie]

Just to let everyone know I used the usb powered hdd,just initialised it in settings and it worked straight away without any telnet,hd recording perfect :)

[Rob van der Does]

I really hope you'll remain happy. An USB-powered HDD is simply asking for problems. Time will tell.

[artie]

What problems can I expect Rob?

[Rob van der Does]

HDD not properly starting up do to low voltage, data corruption due to that and even mechanical failure.
I've had id on many HDD's untill the very moment I only use them with a proper powersupply.

An USB-port is certified to deliver 0.5A @ 5V; that's simply not enough for proper HDD usage (only for 1.8" HDD's). And HDD's tend to use more power when they get older.

[artie]

HDD not properly starting up do to low voltage, data corruption due to that and even mechanical failure.
I've had id on many HDD's untill the very moment I only use them with a proper powersupply.

An USB-port is certified to deliver 0.5A @ 5V; that's simply not enough for proper HDD usage (only for 1.8" HDD's). And HDD's tend to use more power when they get older.

Rob do you know if I could use a mains powered usb hub.Plug the hdd into hub and then hub into Vu+ solo?

[judge]

Rob do you know if I could use a mains powered usb hub.Plug the hdd into hub and then hub into Vu+ solo?

I've used a mains powered USB hub to support a USB tuner & USB stick on a VU Solo in the past & had no issues.
Never tried it with a full USB HDD though, I'd give it a try... but as Rob says, using a dedicated powered USB HDD will probably be better.
Can you get a powered USB enclosure for your USB HDD for a few £ more than a powered USB hub?

[cactikid]

would the smaller pocket sized 250 or 500 be the same non powered on the usb,deffo not using a 1tb external unless it has its own power source:confused:

[judge]

would the smaller pocket sized 250 or 500 be the same non powered on the usb,deffo not using a 1tb external unless it has its own power source:confused:

Try them & let us know. It's the only way we can provide advice as not everyone has the same HW to try out...

[Rob van der Does]

The standard USB-norm is 500mA; there are devices that deliver more then that (1A or even 2A; they are mostly designed to charge tablets etc). If you could find a powered hub doing that I think you'll be fine.
There also exist special USB-cables, having an extra cable that should go to a second USB-port for the same purpose. That might be an option as well (if you're sure that both ports will be able to deliver the 500mA; sometimes they share internally one 500mA power source (although that is not in compliance with the norm, it does happen)).

[artie]

Thanks for the advice guys.It's only one of them small Western Digital hdd's 160gb usb powered.Been looking at bigger ones put mains powered are hard to come by and most are now usb 3.0....was trying it out before I went bigger.I'm still new to VU

[Rob van der Does]

USB 3.0 makes no difference, as they are backwards compatible.

[infinite2006]

Could you help me out please, trying to mount 120 GB external drive, doesnt have a stand alone power supply which I read is important? Could I go ahead and give it a go,its a Lacie

I just want to use my external USB drive for pause, rewind and recording.

I'm stuck trying to mount by FAT32 120GB external drive to the box for pause rewind etc. Been through tutorial which says to create a empty folder called movie then move this to root /media/usb on the box. At least I think thats what it means However, there is no subfolder called usb, just the media folder, so whacked it in there

When it does mount, based on me just ignoring the usb folder, the FAT 32 is changed to EXT3 so the box can talk to the external drive BUT pause rewind etc is still not working because of a time shift error. Changed this as well, according to another tutorial but still no luck. The box is just looking for hdd (hard disk) when attempting to record and not the external. Can't get it pointed to right location.

HELP?, running Ferrari V2, VIX, mount manager currently reads:

Mount: /media/hdd
Device: /dev/sda1
Type: vfat R/W

[infinite2006]

After following all steps I now get error, "The directory /media/USB/movie is not a EXT2, 3, 4 or NFS partition

HELP...?




I've started to see posts with members having problems using their external USB hard drives, so thought I'd put to the test a post a quick guide.

For the purpose of this I'm using a portable 2.5" USB HDD with its own power supply. The HDD is a Hitachi 250GB SATA. It's very important that the external HDD has its own electric power supply.

Guide below: -

1. Connect to a windows PC. Go to control panel > Administrive Tools > Copumter Management > Storage > Disk Managment > Select you USB HDD, right click on it and select 'Delete Volume'. Make sure that its your USB HDD that your deleting!

2. Connect to Solo, power up the HDD then reboot your Solo.

3. Once rebooted press Menu on your remote > Setup > System > Harddisk > Initialization > Click ok on the selected HDD

http://www.vuplus-support.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1266

4. On the next screem press Red Button to initialize and wait for it to complete.

http://www.vuplus-support.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1267

5. Go to your PC, open a command promt and telnet to your Solo. As follows: -


Telnet 192.168.1.11 <<<<Use your Solo IP


Username = Root


Password = leave blank, just press enter

6. Now create a folder in /media/usb for recording. We'll call it movie.


mkdir /media/usb/movie

7. Close the command prompt and go back to your Solo.

8. Press Menu > Setup > System > Recording paths > Highlight Defualt movie location, see below: -

http://www.vuplus-support.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1268

9. Press ok, then you come to a select location screen. You will see the default at the bottom is /hdd/movie. We need to change this. Press menu on your remote and select 'switch to filelist'. Now navigate to /media/usb/movie, do not click ok on movie, just highlight it and press Green button to save the location. You now have something like this: -

http://www.vuplus-support.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=1269

10. Do the same for Timeshift location, but just choose /media/usb

Thats it done :D

Enjoy your recording with your shiney new baby VU+ Solo :)

[infinite2006]

What is the make and model of HD external you've got working perfectly ?



Just to let everyone know I used the usb powered hdd,just initialised it in settings and it worked straight away without any telnet,hd recording perfect :)

[artie]

What is the make and model of HD external you've got working perfectly ?
Mine is a Western Digital.....can't really help with the prob you have had as new to it myself.But it worked straight away without doing any of the telnet,I just initialized through the box

[infinite2006]

Sicilian, I'm about 3 yrs behind the curve but cant afford a vu duo just now, trying to source an externally powered external hard drive that will work with my solo clone, any pointers would be greatly appreciated, 500Gb should be fine since a lot of contributors have had diffs with a 1Tb drive. cheers,