File formats on Peripheral Hard drives

[diarmuid]

I have been recording from a Freesat box on to a peripheral hard drive 1TB. I have a listing of recorded movies showing in the library of the box. When I connect the peripheral drive to my Pc it does not show any files that show up on the Sat Box library. Any idea why there are no files showing in windows explorer What is the format of the recorded tv programmes?

Any replies appreciated.

Regards

Diarmuid

[echelon]

depends on the format mode of the hdd which you havent stated

it would appear its not fat32 or ntfs as they would be recognised by windows

it may also record in its own bespoke file format, which may be ts or mpeg or whatever the box manufacturer has decided upon

so your first task is to identify the drive format, and only after that you determine the file format

you should consult the makers manual and website for further details

[diarmuid]

Thanks Echelon.

Its a TOSHIBA portable external hard drive capacity up to 1TB. USB 3.0-powered portable add-on storage
Backward compatible with USB 2.0 Plug and play operation
Interface: USB 3.0
Rotational Speed: up to 5,400RPM
Operating System: Windows 7/Vista/XP
Size: 119 x 79 x 16 mm / 4.641 x 3.081 x 0.624 inch

Used as a PC peripheral it stores movies in all the standard formats, avi's mpegs etc and all other files jpgs, word docs etc. What is puzzling me is that I can see the Freesat files on the hard drive when connected to the Freesat box but they are not visible when the HDD is transferred back to the PC.

Essentially what I want to do is record movies from the Freesat box and transfer to my PC. I am missing something!

Would appreciate a clue as to what is happening.

Thanks

[Detlef]

I'd do a google search adding as many keywords about the situation.

eg. HDD, Freesat, Toshiba, box type, format, etc

It is quite likely a proprietary format that no-one has bothered to reverse engineer. I had the same problem with a Sony TV with built in DVB-T2 tuner that could save to an external HDD but I never discovered the file structure/format. Comparing SD and HD recordings didn't help either but I suspect the files were in some way encrypted.

[echelon]

Thanks Echelon.

Its a TOSHIBA portable external hard drive capacity up to 1TB. USB 3.0-powered portable add-on storage
Backward compatible with USB 2.0 Plug and play operation
Interface: USB 3.0
Rotational Speed: up to 5,400RPM
Operating System: Windows 7/Vista/XP
Size: 119 x 79 x 16 mm / 4.641 x 3.081 x 0.624 inch

Used as a PC peripheral it stores movies in all the standard formats, avi's mpegs etc and all other files jpgs, word docs etc. What is puzzling me is that I can see the Freesat files on the hard drive when connected to the Freesat box but they are not visible when the HDD is transferred back to the PC.

Essentially what I want to do is record movies from the Freesat box and transfer to my PC. I am missing something!

Would appreciate a clue as to what is happening.

Thanks

you still havent mentioned the format used on this hdd though, just the spec (I did mention these in my post #2 reply)

use my computer or file explorer to check by pressing the right mouse on the drive letter and selecting properties. it will now tell you what format standard the hdd is formatted in, if its a windows compatible format of course

I would have thought you knew the formatting standard from when you started using it and had to format it to work on this freesat box
but if its windows compatible it will be either fat32 (unlikely) or ntfs (more likely as its 1 tB) , or its some specialist format the freesat box uses instead (like linux boxes use ext2 or 3); or it was formatted by the freesat box itself like you do with a spiderbox

so it will tell you the formatting system used and the capacity too

once this has been ascertained, and if its windows compatible, the files should be visible if you have "show all files" selected in the explorer properties of your pc or laptop, they may be in a "RECORDS" folder or similar

if they are not visible then maybe you havent got "show all files" selected, in which case windows is hiding the "hidden" files

[diarmuid]

Thanks Guys.

Sorry Echelon, I forgot to say that it's Fat32. I was up the night before and crashed early!

I have all files showing in my folders options but still doesn't show anything other than standard file types, avi, jpg etc. But... hold on! There is a folder, DVR which surprisingly contains three folders, Recs, Recs Info, Storage. The Recs file contains recording dates and when opened list Chunks number variously from 1 to 40 and beyond.

Now I have to find a format or programme to play the Chunk files.. New territory again. I will be searching for all info but its good to find the files.

Will keep you posted on my results and thanks again for your valued help.

Regards

Diarmuid

[EXTRAFACTO]

i use 2 wd hdd...1 i use to store films on and then watch through tv in fat32
the other is connected as fat 32 to my protek....these recordings i have to re-encode
i do this using convertx2 dvd...because the protek records in ts file format...and i can watch connected to the box...but will not play if said hardrive is then
connected directly to tv
the other hdd records on spiderbox...and this can be played through spider or directly through tv
i mean the spider records in a format my tv auto plays...does not require re-encoding