T3 2TB is becoming a No Hard Drive unit

[togo]

Hi All,

The HDD in the T3 2TB has failed, and a 4 TB USB disk has worked well for a few weeks. I plan to take the internal HDD out: are there any DIP switches, jumpers or other hardware settings to be adjusted for it to be a No Hard Drive PVR? It is defaulting to working like one now, but perhaps there are switches to be set.

Thanks

[MrQuade]

Nothing to set in hardware.

What are you planning on using as storage long term?
The USB drive should automatically be mounted as "HDD" if that's the only thing plugged in.

If you want to use a network location as your "HDD" you'll need to set the mount option "use as HDD". Prl is currently submitting fixes for this functionality, so you'll probably want to be running the latest beta firmware to take advantage of that.

Why not install another internal drive though?

If it's a noise issue, you could install a small SSD internally to use for timeshift and settings backups, then use your external storage for recordings. This arrangement would likely be more convenient in the long run than not having any internal storage.

[Paul_oz53]

...

If you want to use a network location as your "HDD" you'll need to set the mount option "use as HDD". Prl is currently submitting fixes for this functionality, so you'll probably want to be running the latest beta firmware to take advantage of that.

Why not install another internal drive though?

If it's a noise issue, you could install a small SSD internally to use for timeshift and settings backups, then use your external storage for recordings. This arrangement would likely be more convenient in the long run than not having any internal storage.

I've just tested Prl's fix. It works with a couple of rough edges so far as I can tell in limited testing. I'll report on that in the relevant thread.

Agree with the SSD suggestion also, particularly if you have any spares laying around. One of my U4s uses an SSD and is very quiet.

[prl]

If you want to use a network location as your "HDD" you'll need to set the mount option "use as HDD". Prl is currently submitting fixes for this functionality, so you'll probably want to be running the latest beta firmware to take advantage of that.

My changes to the "Use as HDD replacement" function are not yet even in beta (they're currently only available as an alpha patch). They only affect that function when the Mount type is "AUTOFS". Using the mount type "FSTAB" in conjunction with "Use as HDD replacement" should work, on either the current beta or the current official release.

Paul_oz53 has found some problems with my changes that need ironing out before they are ready for showtime, anyway.

[togo]

Thanks for the guidance, MrQuade.

The idea was to use the 4 TB USB drive for long term storage. This is mainly because I had one already, with 2 TB free disk, and it is easier than buying another internal one. Noise hasn't been a problem. Yes, it appears as HDD, and works for recording, timeshift and settings backup.

I upgraded to the latest public beta firmware last week, with just a USB stick connected during the upgrade. The restore from backup of settings had to wait until after the upgrade, when the USB main disk was back. Is this how a T3 with no hard drive is usually upgraded? This would certainly be simpler with a small internal SSD disk for timeshift and settings backups, and the price points are good. I suppose there are other advantages to this set-up, perhaps in timeshift performance.

Thanks Paul_oz53 and Prl. The network drive works well for storing and playing recordings, and I have tried it configured as the recording destination, but there were a few performance problems, and no plans at the moment for it to be the HDD replacement. The internal SSD idea looks good, although the drives I have laying around are very much trailing edge technology.

Togo