Can anyone advise on the correct way to format and create the correct partitions? Will the box handle the creation of the partitions itself? I am going to use an externally powered 500GB HDD which I've taken from an old Humax freesat HDR by connecting a sata to USB connector with a mains adapter power supply. Will I reformat the drive to ext4 on my pc before I start? I've got a linux pc so would use gParted to reformat the HDD even though it will already be formatted in ext4 having just come out of a Humax receiver which runs a proprietary linux os.

My reasons for doing this are the usb powered hdd is fine in most respects but the picture breaks up and freezes during ff or rw - its fine if i use the skip method but not picture search as they used to call it back in vhs days Others on here have suggested an externally powered hdd will be more responsive. This one freezes too often.