Some of you use linux right?

This is the situation I have and hopefully somebody here can help.
I have a digital tv tuner with HDD to record TV. You can connect an external USB drive to it to copy your files. Because the files are so big (it records without quality loss) it makes sense to connect a large USB HDD. But before I get one I want to make sure it can handle what I want.

So I connected a 8gb flash drive to it and started to copy a film. Got the message that the file was bigger then 4GB and couldn't be copied. So I googled and someone said to format in ntfs. Googled some more and found out how.
I plug in the ntfs drive and the HDD recorder says it doesn't support ntfs.

So next person says that the HDD recorder is probably ext2/3 and you need to format your external drive in linux. I do have an old ubuntu live cd so I could try it, but don't know how. Plus that 8gb flash drive is new and I need it to be FAT32 again when I'm done testing. So how do I get it back to that?

Anyone know how to do this. Can you and help me out?

I'm not in a hurry though, I need to get some sleep before I start doing stuff that I'm totally unfamiliar with.

Hi Jolie,

I'm a little confused by your explanation. What OS and file system are you using to record the videos? If you are using Windows NT or later, the file system on your internal drive should already be NTFS.

NTFS will support single file sizes greater than 4 gig. Regardless of OS, you should be able to simply copy from one file system to another in your file manager, assuming both file systems support single file sizes greater than 4gig.

Ext2, ext3 and ext4 are generally Linux only file systems. If you want portability from from MAC to Windows to Linux, NTFS is the way to go because all 3 OS's will support NTFS.

If you are using a MAC, your video recorder might not support direct recording to NTFS but that should not prevent you from copying a large file from a MAC to an external NTFS device.

It's about a digital TV decoder that is connected to the cable output on the wall on one end and the TV on the other. But apart from decoding the signal for the digital tv channels, it also has an build in HDD where you can record TV on. It's not connected to a computer.

But you can connect an USB drive to it to copy the files to. But the problem is that most files are bigger then 4 GB. And it doesn't support ntfs. So next step is to try a linux file system and see if that is supported. But because I don't want to buy an expensive HDD only to find out it's useless to me I'd like to test this first with my USB flash drive.

But after I've tested it, the flashdrive needs to be formatted back to FAT32.

Unfortunatelty the manual doesn't say a thing about what file systems are supported when you connect a USB drive to it. So it's trial and error to find out.

Ah, I understand now. You have a stand alone device that supports internal/external storage.

I've considered purchasing one of those devices. I've researched several of them and some are Fat32 only. Hopefully, yours is not one of those.

Your best bet to download the gparted live CD (bootable CD ISO). gparted can partition and format your drive using a variety of file systems.

You may be stuck with a 4gig limit on your device, though. If so, you can always record in 4gig chunks and piece the vids together with video editing software on the computer

The device itself manages fine with larger files so it's not FAT32. It's just the external HDD that I'm considering to buy to enlarge the storage space. You can copy files to it and play from it, but from what I understand you can't record to the an external USB drive.

I'll have a look into the links you gave me.

About the device you had, it should have instrution to be used also on MAC..well is the same principle just instead then reformat to use the Mac file system, you will chose ntfs:

In Windows as on linux you have option to reformat any connected drive

About using a linux file system, you may even do if you use ONLY Linux, but not all distro use ext/2 as format, and on other distro or with Win a ext/3 storage HD will be unusable

---

If you have to deal often with BIG files i will suggest you to look to the CHEAPER AND MOST SIMPLE HDD storage thing

As example i had a 1000GB wstern union HD i buy new for less then 60$...other are much more pricey but just because they have added function that for me are just a nuisance to be deleted..basically less you pay better will work

With something alike has not any relevance the format they use, because the very first step is reformat also because even the most simple offer unwanted functions that often just complicate their use

( , my as example have a identity " F."..just aproblem because i already had a "F" Usb drive, and since they have same identity i could not use them simultaneusly.. so i had to reformat to eliminate its identity to use it also as G, E or what else needed

more "someone" thought was a good idea for storage HDD automatically copy and save the content..of the waste bin of the main HD !..so it automatically stored all the trash)

Basically you connect the new HD, you reformat as ntfs (because Not only Windows, but all linux distro can read and write on ntfs)

..and you are ready to go


BE CAREFUL when saving big file..if you do also something else on the computer the transfer dialog may finish hidden by some windows , and you may risk to disconnect the HD or close the PC before all files were correctly saved

Copy large files in BG when ding something else may be very slow..and may even be blocked by some warning to click out
Most commune ;thumb.db is a filte system, do you want copy it ..YES/NO..if you don't give then a input the transfer would stop..)

It is possible the internal drive system uses fat32 and the recording/playback software simply segments the data to get around the 4gig limit.

Media capture devices like that contain either a 2.5" drive or a 3.5" drive. If it's a 3.5" drive, you can easily remove the drive, connect it to a PC and look to see what the drive format actually is. You can purchase an inexpensive adapter that converts from 2.5" to 3.5", which will allow you to connect a 2.5" drive to your desktop PC to determine what file system it is using. That is an option for you as well.

gparted will be able to determine what file system the internal drive uses, unless it's some kind of proprietary format, which I doubt.

Try the following on your computer:

1. Boot from the Live CD into Ubuntu
   
2. Open a terminal (command should be somewhere under Applications)
   
3. Enter the command "sudo -i" and hit return.
   
4. The prompt character should switch from a "$" to a "#". This means you are now logged in as 'root' and have complete control of your system (be careful).
   
5. Plug in your 8Gb pendrive.
   
6. Type the following command:
   
   df
   
7. You should see something like:
   
   
   You are interested in the device that is mounted on the /media folder. In the preceding screenshot, the device mounted on /media is shown in the last line to be /dev/sdb1
   
8. On your computer the device may be different. Also, you may have more than one /media device mounted -- if you do then you are interested in the one that has around 8000000 1K-blocks. Hopefully there won't be any confusion and it will be clear which device is your pendrive. If you have any doubts about which device is your pendrive, stop here and don't continue.
   
9. Run the following command, substituting your particular device for "/dev/sdb1".
   
   umount /dev/sdb1
   
10. Run the following command, substituting your particular device and leaving off the number at its very end, if there is one (e.g., for /dev/sdb1 use /dev/sdb):
    
    fdisk /dev/sdb
    
11. You are now using the partition editor. If you type 'p' then you will see a cryptic display of the current (VFAT32) partition table. There will probably be four partitions and you will likely see several errors reported about improper order and sizes not matching (Microsoft tends to be very sloppy).
    
12. You can ignore any such warnings or errors because you are going to wipe the entire pendrive clean and start anew. To do this, type 'o' (the letter).
    
13. Just to check things, use the 'p' command to verify there are no partitions on the pendrive.
    
14. Now type 'n' to create a new partition. You will be asked for a partition number -- choose "1" -- and asked whether it should be a primary or extended partition (you want a primary partition). You will then be prompted for some things such as start and end sectors; when this happens, just hit return to accept the default setting.
    
15. To verify that your partition was created properly, use the 'p' command. You should note that the type for this newly-created partition was automatically set to Linux (ID=0x83).
    
16. Type 'w' to write your partition table to the pendrive, then type 'q' to quit the program and return to your terminal.
    
17. At this point, it is possible that Ubuntu will try to mount the pendrive, and report that it was unable to do so. Ignore this. If Ubuntu succeeds in mounting the pendrive then you are set to go (but I doubt this will happen).
    
18. In your terminal, execute the following command (again, substitute your device for "/dev/sdb"):
    
    mkfs /dev/sdb
    
19. This will format your pendrive with an EXT2 filesystem. An EXT3 filesystem should not be necessary.

After you are done with using your EXT2-formatted pendrive, just insert it into a Windows machine. Windows will report that the drive is unformatted (typical Microsoft ignorance) and ask if you wish to format it.

Thanks so much saulgoode with your step by step help.

The return key is the same as the enter key right?

It sound a bit scary all . Even on windows I haven't worked with command lines much. A dozen times at most.

When you say Enter the command "sudo -i" and hit return. Do I need to type both the " " 's as well? Or just sudo-i?

I'm seriously considering printing these instructions out and give them to my father and let him do it on his computer. Let him risk formatting his hard drive.

Seriously, thanks again. I'll probably contact the manufacturer of my device first to ask what is possible. But then I still need to know how to format in linux. So this is very helpful.

That's why I recommended gparted. You can spend lots of time typing cryptic commands at the command prompt or you can format using a variety of formats with just a mouse click in a beautiful gui.



Your choice...

GnuTux, that screenshot makes all the difference.

Gparted would have been my first choice as well. Unfortunately, Ubuntu doesn't include Gparted by default and I didn't wish to write a tutorial on installing software from an Ubuntu LiveCD (a process with which I am unfamiliar). Also, even with Gparted it is still necessary to determine the correct partition for the USB pendrive (the riskiest part of the process).


Correct. My age is showing (typewriters never had "enter" keys).


None of the instructions required typing quotes; just type the commands themselves.


The only real risk is if you get the pendrive device wrong and end up selecting your hard drive. The pendrive device should be quite obvious -- I would almost guarantee it is the last line of the 'df' command's output and that it will be the only one mounted on /media. But if you have any doubt, don't take the chance; there are other options available.

Gparted now has it's own live CD (per link I provided) so it's pretty easy to just burn the small ISO onto a CD a boot with that. Gparted is not included on the Fedora live CD either, but you can install it virtually using the live CD. I suspect the same can be done with Ubuntu live.

All you really have to do with a pen drive is insert it, highlight the pen drive in the device window and format it to whatever file system you need from the partition menu. (if the pen drive mounts when you insert it, just right click it and unmount it).

Yes, you do need to ensure you are formatting the correct drive (pen drive) but that should be obvious in the device window. In Jolie's case, it will show as an 8gig drive. My guess is that it's the only 8gig drive in the system.

You method is certainly valid, though. I tend to use the command line for a variety of things. In many cases, it's faster and easier than using a gui.

Still I can't see a reason to use ext/2 (or 3 or 4) to reformat

NTFS has not a 4GB limit and can be read and written also from linux...and of course from win,( at least from xp, and vista)

It is also ,in case of dual boot system win/linux the best format to create a "data" partition for document and data to be always accessible from the the 2 different OS

For the same reason that GIMP uses XCF for storing its data rather than using a reverse-engineered, undocumented proprietary file format (that is to say, NTFS is like .PSD: it can be used but it is not ideal to do so).


It is unlikely that Jolie's digital video tuner/recorder is a dual boot system; it would only have one operating system installed on it (we are assuming that it is Linux-based).

Secondly, if a partition is to be shared between Windows and another operating system then EXT2/EXT3 would in my opinion be the better choice because it is an open specification, unencumbered by patents, and is fully supported on Solaris, AIX, GNU/Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, Minix, and HP-UX -- and supported on Windows (as long as the partition is formatted with an inode size of "128").

That is a good answer !

And with that you didn't help only Jolie but me also,

For a long time i will be travelling and i will have to use a laptop...tomorrow i will buy one and as usual install 3 partition
1 for windows because is included in the price, 1 for linux...and 1 for data because the third data partition allow me to reformat
when needed without the worry to backup...and your link open a new perspective to do it...
I just have to check if the "Ext2 Installable File System For Windows" works also with 7

Anyway not only a good answer but even a precious tip

Jolie mentioned that her stand alone tuner/recorder doesn't support NTFS for external storage, but it does support FAT32 (with its 4gig limitation). You have to wonder why a video capture device using embedded Linux wouldn't include NTFS support for external storage. That strikes me as a bit odd. Perhaps there is an upgrade from the manufacturer or a hack to include the NTFS driver.

Fedora 12 and above, as well as many other distros, now use ext4, which supports volumes sizes up to 1 exabyte and files sizes up to 16 terabytes. Sweet!!

PC, I think you missed a bit of my initial post, or I didn't explain it well.

My TV recording device isn't connected to any computer. I just want to give it more storage by plugging in an external USB drive with at least 1TB of space. But before I buy one I want to know if mt TV recorder allows me to transfer files larger then 4GB on it. For all I know the 4GB limit is a something in the software. When I plug in an USB drive that is formatted ntfs it tells me that it isn't supported. So now I want to try ext2.


In theory I won't need to plug in the external USB drive into a computer either. It will just be connected to to the TV recording device.



Question for saulgoode and GnuTux.

Is it as easy to, or how do I recognise a 1 TB USB hard drive using either of your methods. Because in the end that's what I need to format as well.

Oh and I'm not going to open my TV recorder or hack it. It will void the warrenty. I already checked for an update but there isn't one.

Well, it depends on the version of operating system used by your device and the drivers included in your build of the operating system. We are assuming your device uses Linux, which is probably a safe guess. Maybe you could contact the manufacturer and get more detailed specs, which would help us determine which way to go.

You approach in formatting an 8gig thumb drive to ext2/3 is a good test. If your media device recognizes the ext2/3 formated thumb drive, there is a excellent chance it will recognize an external USB harddrive formatted to ext2/3.

Formatting a 1TB external drive to ext2/3 shouldn't be a problem. You can use a the gparted live CD or if that doesn't boot on your PC, you can use a Fedora Live CD and install gparted, or you can use a live CD and format the drive manually.

Another great option with Linux is MINT which I believe is based on Ubuntu, very easy to make a USB live, and it is VERY multimedia friendly and can access easily info on your Windows hard drives that other Linux OS's seem to have problems with at times.. Just plug it in and it sorts it all out for you.. Up and running in seconds.. even sorts out your internet connection so you dont have to. Certainly one of the coolest Linux systems in my opinion if you are a multimedia person

http://www.linuxmint.com/

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/install-linux-mint-8-to-a-flash-drive-in-windows/