Backing up your recordings

[bebop]

Is there any way to back up your saved recordings? If the drive they are on fails, I'd like to be able to have the recordings on another drive so I don't loose them.

I have an EHD active, but there is no backup - a show is either in one place or another, not 2 at once. I haven't tried connecting the EHD back to my computer now that it's connected to my Vip722 - but I figured that wasn't worth it since the EHD was reformatted a special way upon installation.

Anyone have a simple method for backup? I could even get another EHD if it was required to make it happen.

 

[whatchel1]

Easy way NO. In fact not even sure it is possible at all.

 

[garys]

Burn them on to a dvd.

 

[TheKrell]

Big caveat: I haven't done this! But I believe you can copy EHD program files with a computer that understands the Linux file system. Since the programs are encrypted, you won't be able to play them on your computer. But that's OK since your computer can at least make a backup copy.

 

[gms49ers]

I actually HAVE done it. Successfully too. My home server runs Linux (Slackware 12.1) and the EHD is formatted ext3. I simply mounted the drive and then copied it's contents to the server. Restores correctly too. Just be sure to preserve owner/group information and folder structure during this process. I had to do this because I ran into a problem with Dish's EHD support. Any time my receiver was power cycled, it saw the EHD as a new drive, forcing me to format the thing and lose everything. Rather then have that happen, I tried coping its contents to the server. I then let the receiver format it, then copied everything back. Worked like a charm.

 

[TheKrell]

I actually HAVE done it. Successfully too.

Neat. Have you been able to do anything else, such as add or subtract individual programs? One might like to do that in order to consolidate onto a bigger drive, or try other cute tricks such as adding content from other sources.

 

[bebop]

I actually HAVE done it. Successfully too. My home server runs Linux (Slackware 12.1) and the EHD is formatted ext3. I simply mounted the drive and then copied it's contents to the server. Restores correctly too. Just be sure to preserve owner/group information and folder structure during this process. I had to do this because I ran into a problem with Dish's EHD support. Any time my receiver was power cycled, it saw the EHD as a new drive, forcing me to format the thing and lose everything. Rather then have that happen, I tried coping its contents to the server. I then let the receiver format it, then copied everything back. Worked like a charm.

Thank for the info. Now can I run a dual boot Vista/Linux on my existing 64 Bit Q6700 Core 2 Duo processor that is currently just running Vista?

I just have 1 Sata drive in my computer now. Any suggestion if I should try to make it work on that existing drive or just get another to run Linux. I'm concerned that the hardware won't work very well to run it. I'm guessing that I'll have to go onto another forum that discusses dual boot or hardware requirements for Linux to find the answers.

This is not quite as easy as I was hoping for as a solution, but it IS a solution and not that bad of one once you get the new operating system up and running. I know next to nothing about Linux - so that presents another challenge - but it would be fun to learn if it's not a total headache.

By mounting the drive, is that more complicated than pluggin it in via USB and telling linux to recognize the drive with a simple command?

 

[bebop]

It would be nice if there was a simple utility or piece of hardware that could make an exact copy of the EHD contents. I know there is a challenge with reading the formatting of the drive now that it is in ext3 (Linux compatible) format. But you'd think there would be something available that didn't care what was on the disk and could just make a copy.

I even wondered last night if you could get a mirrored RAID array to work via the usb connection where the sat receiver only sees one drive but the array writes to both. Then you could put the important shows that you want to save on the EHD and leave the not so important ones on the satellite HD.

 

[TheKrell]

I have one word for you, and it's not "plastics". It's "ext2fs".

 

[Jim5506]

Can you do a bit by bit clone with Norton Ghost?

 

[gms49ers]

Neat. Have you been able to do anything else, such as add or subtract individual programs? One might like to do that in order to consolidate onto a bigger drive, or try other cute tricks such as adding content from other sources.

No, I haven't. It would be interesting to try, and I suspect that it would work fine. I don't remember the exact file name format of the files saved, and how easy it would be to determine which recordings were which.

 

[gms49ers]

Thank for the info. Now can I run a dual boot Vista/Linux on my existing 64 Bit Q6700 Core 2 Duo processor that is currently just running Vista?

If all you're after is the ability to backup your recordings, it would probably be overkill to install a dual boot for Linux. Instead, I'd download either the > Knoppix > KNOPPIX 6.0 - LQ ISO Knoppix live CD, or an > Ubuntu > Ubuntu 8.10 - LQ ISO Ubuntu CD. Boot with one of these CDs and it won't touch your installed OS, but will instead run everything in memory. It's a little slower, but definitely usable.

I just have 1 Sata drive in my computer now. Any suggestion if I should try to make it work on that existing drive or just get another to run Linux. I'm concerned that the hardware won't work very well to run it. I'm guessing that I'll have to go onto another forum that discusses dual boot or hardware requirements for Linux to find the answers.

You can do one of two things: a new internal hard drive that is dedicated to the backup, or a new external hard drive that is also dedicated. I don't think it would be wise to use your existing drive. Either of these options can be used with the live CDs mentioned above.

This is not quite as easy as I was hoping for as a solution, but it IS a solution and not that bad of one once you get the new operating system up and running. I know next to nothing about Linux - so that presents another challenge - but it would be fun to learn if it's not a total headache.

You're talking to an anti MicroSoft bigot, so I don't find Linux a headache...

By mounting the drive, is that more complicated than pluggin it in via USB and telling linux to recognize the drive with a simple command?

Most distros of Linux will automatically mount a device plugged into the USB port just like Windows does, so yes, it's that easy.

 

[bebop]

You can do one of two things: a new internal hard drive that is dedicated to the backup, or a new external hard drive that is also dedicated. I don't think it would be wise to use your existing drive. Either of these options can be used with the live CDs mentioned above.

Thanks for all the tips. Good so see someone else posting here from Idaho!

 

[Pepper]

Can you do a bit by bit clone with Norton Ghost?

Yes, I have done this before. It's safest if the drives are the same size.

 

[mikejstb]

I actually HAVE done it. Successfully too. My home server runs Linux (Slackware 12.1) and the EHD is formatted ext3. I simply mounted the drive and then copied it's contents to the server. Restores correctly too. Just be sure to preserve owner/group information and folder structure during this process. I had to do this because I ran into a problem with Dish's EHD support. Any time my receiver was power cycled, it saw the EHD as a new drive, forcing me to format the thing and lose everything. Rather then have that happen, I tried coping its contents to the server. I then let the receiver format it, then copied everything back. Worked like a charm.

How exactly do you do it? Do you use dd? Can you spell out the exact steps you do for both directions?

Then, is it possible to copy things to a bigger disk and have the new extra space visible to the Dish receiver? I have an almost-full 500G drive - it would be wonderful if I could copy everything to a 1TB drive and be able to access the whole space when plugged back into the Dish box.

 

[Jim5506]

Remember that 1TB drive will die someday and all is lost, I prefer multiple 250/320GB hard drives. Cost per GB is a little higher, but there is safety in numbers.

 

[mikejstb]

Remember that 1TB drive will die someday and all is lost, I prefer multiple 250/320GB hard drives. Cost per GB is a little higher, but there is safety in numbers.

Sure, or multiple 1T or greater drives! The big problem with multiple drives is for my family's use. Changing drives, swapping cables, powering up and down, keeping track of what programs are on which drives - too big of a challenge.

So - big drives, with everything online, no swapping cables and such - then doing solid backups regularly - I think that would be best.

big drives are so inexpensive now days - and I have recently gotten a couple of nice enclosures that have a large size fan which blows against the large surface of the drive, rather than an little fan trying to pull enough air through the enclosure. Keeping things cool like that is the best long term reliability thing in my opinion. So, two drives like that, backup up once a week - bliss!

 

[Jim5506]

Look at the Thermaltake BLACX 2.5/2.5 SATA HDD USB Docking Station. Takes about 5 seconds to swap a drive.

 

[mikejstb]

Look at the Thermaltake BLACX 2.5/2.5 SATA HDD USB Docking Station. Takes about 5 seconds to swap a drive.

I have several of these for work - my company makes disk drive test tools - if you use this without a BIG fan constantly blowing across the drive I guarantee your drives will be dying in no time at all! Newer drives run HOT - and this attachment provides zero cooling. Also, the SATA connector oriented vertically is where all the dust in your environment is going to end up. Not so good.

The box I prefer - best power supply and best cooling of all - is the Thermaltake N0012USU active cooling 3.5 USB 2/ eSATA enclosure. Costs about $50 but well worth it in drive life.

 

[gms49ers]

How exactly do you do it? Do you use dd? Can you spell out the exact steps you do for both directions?

Then, is it possible to copy things to a bigger disk and have the new extra space visible to the Dish receiver? I have an almost-full 500G drive - it would be wonderful if I could copy everything to a 1TB drive and be able to access the whole space when plugged back into the Dish box.

I just execute a cp command.

From what I know and have done, it has to be the same drive that goes back to the DVR.

I have two 500gb drives. One is hooked to the 622, the other mounted in my server. I power the drive connected to the 622 off, and unplug the drive from the cable. I then hook the DVR drive to my server and mount it to a temp directory.

I've created a directory on the server to hold the files, and called it DishNetwork. I then cp -Rp the contents from the DVR drive to the DishNetwork directory. The -p option will perserve the ownership and permission settings, which is very important.

When I did a restore, I let the 622 format/initialize the drive, then took it to the server as above. I then did a cp -Rp from the DishNetwork directory to the DVR drive. Worked like a charm.