Coytee Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 I have DTV. It has the internal recorder. I also have an outboard 2 TB hard drive attached, so that is where "whatever" (sorry Mike!) is stored. Hard drive, let's call it 6 years old, finally dies. I understand that DTV doesn't use a Microsoft based formatting system, nor an Apple system....they use their own proprietary system. Took it to BB and asked if they could transfer the info "yes". Went today to pick it up and the answer is "no" and I got my HD back. So, does anyone know of a service (willing to pay) that can take the hard drive and copy the data over, such that it will work when I plug it back in and all my stored "Whatever's" (sorry Mike!) are still intact? If it matters, old HD is 2TB and the new HD is 3TB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 I might add that I called DTV today and they won't support it since it's on a 3rd party drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 I had DTV for a very long time (1993) and was a member of the "Leading Edge" who got new hardware and software to Beta test. We did this by inputting a code via remote each Friday night at midnight eastern. I was among the first to get the external drive function. You remove "that" drive you lose your saved files. Not to say that you couldn't get someone to undo the coding but.........I didn't try hard but never knew of a way to do what you are asking. We were not allowed to call in to tech support and say "well I have this and you should.....". You pays your money and takes your chances. There were a few (very few) bricked devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted May 10, 2017 Author Share Posted May 10, 2017 On a whim, when I got home, I stuck the old drive in the unit...rebooted and it seems to be working perfectly fine. I have no idea what to make of this. It died last week. The blue light (active disk light) simply pulsated on/off/on/off/on/off in a loop. I unplugged it overnight so it would cool down i case it overheated... nothing, just the blue light blinking. Plug it back in today and viola, working and all files seem to be there. I'm still willing to believe it's on its 8th or 9th life.... just not sure when that bucket is going to be kicked. I thought the time had finally come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USNRET Posted May 10, 2017 Share Posted May 10, 2017 Watch all now and buy Michael's 500 trizillion byte NAS to plug in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBCODD Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 On 5/10/2017 at 4:28 PM, Coytee said: I'm still willing to believe it's on its 8th or 9th life.... just not sure when that bucket is going to be kicked. I thought the time had finally come. Well, don't turn it off til ya back it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TasDom Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 I had a ton of movies saved on a hard drive from DTV. Pissed me off after 10 years with them...long story, El Salvador customer service hung up on me.. switched to Comcast 15 minutes later. Just not the same since AT&T bought them. Anyways, I tried have a dozen different ways to save / transfer / read the data but no luck...if you find a way please let us know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybob Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 Boo AT&T....hiss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TasDom Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 8 minutes ago, billybob said: Dang, At&T huh. Used to keep up with this stuff. What is the model of your DTV dvr receiver? And, did they cutoff your programming yet? No longer have it. Sent back all of the set top boxes and paid my final bill. Still have the hard drive as it was purchased by me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted May 15, 2017 Author Share Posted May 15, 2017 On 5/10/2017 at 7:28 PM, Coytee said: On a whim, when I got home, I stuck the old drive in the unit...rebooted and it seems to be working perfectly fine. Then it died I've pulled it out and am using the new one. If I can find someone who can transfer, I'll destroy what's on the new drive in lieu of moving files over. (can anyone hear me waiving a $100 bill in the air??) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybob Posted May 15, 2017 Share Posted May 15, 2017 50 minutes ago, Tasdom said: No longer have it. Sent back all of the set top boxes and paid my final bill. Still have the hard drive as it was purchased by me. Well, at least there is that. Dang, do not know what the workaround may be. Did you look online? Proprietary huh... Reminds me of the older days of digital encryption. Sounds hard, at least to me. Meanwhile sleep on it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 The typical non M$ file system is Linux ext4 that windows won't recognize (no licensing issue). Find a Linux computer, or download Lubuntu and install it on a thumb drive with the option to run "LIVE" from the thumb drive. Boot your Windows PC with it and plug both HDs into the PC copy as fast as you can. Unetbootin for windows will download and install the version you need. Choose and build a "Live" version on the thumb drive. Lubuntu is near enough to windows you should not need instructions to use it. I switched to Ubuntu Linux about 6 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted May 16, 2017 Author Share Posted May 16, 2017 I don't have a thumb drive. Hmmm... I guess I could burn it to a CD? How about copying it onto my camera's card? (I'm guessing the boot sequence has to be in the bios which for me would be CD then HD so, no camera option?) I'm downloading it to then see if I can burn it to a CD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 You can put it on a CD and boot from that. Most newer PCs allow booting from USB, but you will have to make that first in your bios boot sequence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted May 16, 2017 Author Share Posted May 16, 2017 Working on it. I've downloaded the 32bit version and it is being called a disk image file if I recall. None the less... It's probably been 10 years since I've bought any DVD's to burn and I'm having a hard time finding blanks laying around... Burned one but on reboot, doesn't see it. Working on a second... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/download Linux Live has never failed me, but it puts the distro on a USB drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted May 16, 2017 Author Share Posted May 16, 2017 OK, so today, I bought some new blank drives. (mine are old and looking kind of scratched up) I have downloaded and burned to the DVD, the file named: lubntu-17.04-desktop-i386 1. Is that the correct file to burn? 2. It says it's a disk image file 3. Is it ready to use as is? 4. Do I need to (for lack of better word) unzip or expand it? When I go through my boot process (DVD being first in sequence), it seems to pass it right by as though it didn't exist. I thought yesterday, that I had to 'finalize' the disk (it was a write / re-write) Couldn't ever get it to do that. Today, I bought some burn only disks and it just now passed the DVD player and here I am in Windows. I'm open to any thoughts short of tossing off my roof! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coytee Posted May 17, 2017 Author Share Posted May 17, 2017 Had more problems saving it....then, double clicked on it and it wanted to save itself to the DVD...so I said yes and put another disk in. Worked. Instead of copying whole file, I needed to expand it. Booted right up and am currently in (what appears to be a bit surreal) world of lubntu. Doesn't look like it will see/mount the DTV hard drives. I put a windows formatted drive in the drive and it worked just fine. So I'm guessing either the drive is really buggered up or, (more likely) this OS won't decypher the DTV format. I say that because I have two of them installed and it's not seeing either one. I know that they're not both bad. In face, one is brand new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted May 19, 2017 Share Posted May 19, 2017 I suppose it would not read an encrypted drive, but Lubuntu/Ubuntu should recognize there is a drive there. I am surprised DTV would also encrypt the drive. There is not much need since few OSs can read EXT3 or 4. Sorry my bright idea did not work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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