Video "How to Format HDD"

[Wiz HQ]

This video shows you how to format your internal Hard Disk.

[NighthawkBNE]

Great Video, much better than reading the manual

[gregsfun]

Are Timers and Network settings held of the HDD or are they in firmware?

In other words, if I re-format my HDD, will I have to re-do all my network settings?

[MrQuade]

Are Timers and Network settings held of the HDD or are they in firmware?

In other words, if I re-format my HDD, will I have to re-do all my network settings?

Timers, and all other settings are in firmware.

The HDD holds recordings and timeshift files. The HDD also holds the backup files for your settings by default. But as long as you are not clearing the firmware AND formatting the harddisk at the same time, you will not lose your settings.

If you only format the harddisk, you will only lose your recordings effectively.

[prl]

Are Timers and Network settings held of the HDD or are they in firmware?

They're in the same flash filesystem as the firmware. They are reset by a firmware update from USB, but you can save and restore them.

In other words, if I re-format my HDD, will I have to re-do all my network settings?

No. Timers will also be preserved.

However, the default backup location for settings is on the HDD, and a HDD format will delete backups you've made of your settings.

[NedIS]

I did read somewhere that settings can be backed up to a network drive can you please re-advise procedure!

[gregsfun]

Are Timers and Network settings held of the HDD or are they in firmware?

In other words, if I re-format my HDD, will I have to re-do all my network settings?

Timers, and all other settings are in firmware.

The HDD holds recordings and timeshift files. The HDD also holds the backup files for your settings by default. But as long as you are not clearing the firmware AND formatting the harddisk at the same time, you will not lose your settings.

If you only format the harddisk, you will only lose your recordings effectively.

Thanks for the reply.

I guess I should have told the whole story. I intend to upgrade to the latest firmware and since I have a 4TB HDD, the re-boot will ask for a re-format.

The way I read your answer is that I will lose my network settings (and timers) as I am updating the firmware AND doing a HDD re-format.

The network settings will be troublesome as it took sometime to figure out how to get the T3 to read/write to my WD MyCloud EX4 NAS.

Is there any way to get these settings onto a USB drive or whatever and then do a restore?

[prl]

I did read somewhere that settings can be backed up to a network drive can you please re-advise procedure!

The backup location can be set in PLUGIN>Software management>Select backup location. Set it wherever you want it, then do a backup. The location needs to be available when you do the restore, and at the point where it asks about restoring settings, network drives aren't available, because their setup is in the settings settings.

Also, that location is itself a setting, so you'll need to set it again it if you want to restore settings after a USB update or factory settings reset.

If your settings are on a network drive, the startup wizard won't offer to restore then for you, because they're not available (the default location in the firmware is wrong, and even if it was right, the network share isn't available yet). Just go through the normal setup; cancel the service scan if you want to speed things up a bit, because the service scan results are in the saved settings. Don't cancel out of the network setup.

Once that's done, mount the network share that contains the setup backups, and then go to PLUGIN>Software management>Select backup location and select the backup location. Then restore your settings.

If you have an internal recording HDD or use an attached USB recording HDD, it's much more convenient to leave the settings backups in their default locations.

If you want the backups to not be on the recording HDD for data safety reasons, you're probably better off storing them on a USB thumb drive; the smallest you have.* You'll still need to do the same things with the backup location setting, but you won't have to go through the rigmarole of mounting a network share manually to restore settings.

* A recent settings backup I did was 302kB. So I really mean you can use the smallest, now-unloved, USB thumb drive you have. Even the tiny 128MB ones that Beyonwiz give away for free would be easily big enough.

[prl]

... Is there any way to get these settings onto a USB drive or whatever and then do a restore?

See my post directly above. Just the bits about the USB drive apply in your case.

[gregsfun]

... Is there any way to get these settings onto a USB drive or whatever and then do a restore?

See my post directly above. Just the bits about the USB drive apply in your case.

Thanks for a very comprehensive answer. I will attempt to backup my settings to a USB drive tomorrow and go for the update/re-format (gulp - ).

Greg

[MrQuade]

Mind you, if it is only your settings you are concerned about, you might not even need to go to the effort.

If you are running the last public release of firmware already, then you can simply format your harddisk first, then backup your settings, and THEN flash the latest public release firmware.

If you have formatted a 4TB HDD using the latest method, then the new firmware should not prompt to reformat after you have flashed.

so in theory, after you have flashed, you can then just restore settings as-per normal.

prl?

[prl]

Mind you, if it is only your settings you are concerned about, you might not even need to go to the effort.

If you are running the last public release of firmware already, then you can simply format your harddisk first, then backup your settings, and THEN flash the latest public release firmware.

If you have formatted a 4TB HDD using the latest method, then the new firmware should not prompt to reformat after you have flashed.

so in theory, after you have flashed, you can then just restore settings as-per normal.

prl?

I don't have any concrete experience with the 4TB HDD problem. Beyonwiz is winging one my way and I may be able to answer with more certainty when I get it.

But to the best of my knowledge, if you reformat a 4TB HDD on any recent firmware (like the previous public release), you won't be asked to reformat the HDD when you upgrade to the new 20140911 version. You can then do as Mr Quade suggests, and save the settings to the newly-formatted HDD in the old firmware, upgrade and provided you don't get asked to format the HDD again, you should be able to upgrade and restore settings as you normally would.

Otherwise you'll have to save settings to something else, line a USB thumb drive, and it's a bit messier.

[gregsfun]

Mind you, if it is only your settings you are concerned about, you might not even need to go to the effort.

If you are running the last public release of firmware already, then you can simply format your harddisk first, then backup your settings, and THEN flash the latest public release firmware.

If you have formatted a 4TB HDD using the latest method, then the new firmware should not prompt to reformat after you have flashed.

so in theory, after you have flashed, you can then just restore settings as-per normal.

prl?

I don't have any concrete experience with the 4TB HDD problem. Beyonwiz is winging one my way and I may be able to answer with more certainty when I get it.

But to the best of my knowledge, if you reformat a 4TB HDD on any recent firmware (like the previous public release), you won't be asked to reformat the HDD when you upgrade to the new 20140911 version. You can then do as Mr Quade suggests, and save the settings to the newly-formatted HDD in the old firmware, upgrade and provided you don't get asked to format the HDD again, you should be able to upgrade and restore settings as you normally would.

Otherwise you'll have to save settings to something else, line a USB thumb drive, and it's a bit messier.

I see where you both are coming from.

The latest public release firmware for the T3 does not allow a 4TB HDD not to be formatted. A new release of the firmware by Beyonwiz to make the formatting optional should be released shortly. Hopefully very soon.

I think I will try formatting the HDD with the 2nd latest firmware, currently installed, and restore the settings (from firmware). Then do the latest update and see if I don't have to format again. If not then all is sweet.

If that doesn't work, I will revert to the 2nd latest firmware again and wait for the re-release of the latest firmware. When released, I will upgrade the firmware, not format the HDD and restore settings from the HDD. Once done, I will decide if I will then format the HDD again and restore the settings from the firmware. I will think about that 2nd re-format.

Phew! what a plan.

Many thanks for the ways ahead.

Greg

[prl]

... A new release of the firmware by Beyonwiz to make the formatting optional should be released shortly. Hopefully very soon. ...

It has been written already. However, I'm waiting on getting the 4TB HDD from Beyonwiz to see if I can replicate the formatting problem to try to make sure that this doesn't happen again, and to see whether there really is any need to do the format that it's currently trying to force you to do.

It was sent today, and I guess it will probably get it on Monday. Then it will depend on what I find out about the 4TB format problem, but I won't make the changes available to the software repository until at least Monday. Then it will be up to Beyonwiz to validate the changes and push a new version to the forum.

Because of the nature of the problem, it will have to be a USB update, not an online update.

[peteru]

Copying the backup of your settings is trivial:

* Plug in a USB drive that will hold your settings backup. This can be the same USB drive you will later use for the firmware upgrade.
* Press MENU
* From the Sources menu, select the drive that corresponds to /media/hdd (probably T3)
* Select the "backup" directory

at this point you will be presented with a list of your backups on the left side. The file without a date is the latest backup.

* Press CH+ to switch the focus to the right side
* Select where you want to copy your backup. The root directory of your USB drive is a good place.
* Press CH- to switch back to the left side
* Make sure that the backup file you want to copy is highlighted
* Press the COPY button (Yellow by default) to copy your settings backup
* You can press exit

Done.