Simple non video guide to transferring Files from T4 to V2

[Pearce]

I am in the process of setting up a replacement to my T4 with a V2 and and additional tuners (messy)
I have tried watching the video but being deaf and approaching 80yo its too hard to follow, awash with adverts etc. Even with auto sub titles its hard to follow.
Where can I get a simple written guide to transferring video files , lots, from T4 to V2. Its only existing recordings I want to transfer not settings etc.
Michael

[MrQuade]

Where can I get a simple written guide to transferring video files , lots, from T4 to V2. Its only existing recordings I want to transfer not settings etc.

Oddly, because the V2 only uses an external harddrive, it makes copying the recording over dead simple.

First, make sure the V2's harddisk has been formatted by the V2.

Start the V2 with the harddisk unplugged, then plug it in.
MENU->Storage->Format hard disk

Shut the V2 down and then unplug the harddisk.


Plug the harddisk into the T4.

Open the File Manager on the T4.
MENU->Sources / files

On the left hand side of the screen select the T4's internal harddrive (Should be called "T4 (Internal HDD)")
Press OK to open the harddisk and then see if you can find and highlight the "movie" folder.

Press the NEXT or PREV button to move the cursor to the right hand side of the screen.
Open up the V2's harddisk (it should show up as a USB drive of some sort).
You should see an empty disk.

Press NEXT or PREV to return the left hand side of the screen.

Make sure the "movie" folder is still highlighted, then press the COPY button.

This will copy the whole movie folder from the left hand side (The T4's harddisk) to the right hand side (the V2's USB harddisk).

That will take a long while.

When its done, it would probably be easiest to just shut the T4 down, then unplug the V2's harddisk. Plug the V2's harddisk back into the V2, then start the V2 up.

[Pearce]

Thank you that looks straight forward. I have printed it out
I am still waiting for the additional two tuners to arrive and am not planning on starting the V2 until they arrive.
However can I start the V2 without it being connected to an aerial or internet and format the V2 external hard disk and then do the file transfer BEFORE I do all the setup etc.
Maybe not as it would have to be connected to my TV to see what I am doing?
I have had two of these units previously but my current one two of the tuners are no longer working but as two are there is no point installing the new V2 until its complete.
Will I get an email to now you have responded to this please.
I just had to give up on the video sorry
regards Michael

[prl]

However can I start the V2 without it being connected to an aerial or internet and format the V2 external hard disk and then do the file transfer BEFORE I do all the setup etc.

You can. Is it difficult to switch the antenna and internet between the V2 and T4?

Maybe not as it would have to be connected to my TV to see what I am doing?

MrQuade's suggestion is:

1. Set up the V2 and format its HDD.
2. Shut down the V2, disconnect its USB drive, and connect it to the T4.
3. Copy the recordings from the T4's HDD to the V2's HDD (which is now connected to the T4).
4. Shut down the T4, disconnect the V2's USB drive from the T4 and connect it to the V2.
5. Start the V2 and start using it.

For steps 1 & 5, you will need a TV connected to the V2. For step 3 you will need a TV connected to the T4.

Will I get an email to now you have responded to this please.

That depends on your forum settings. By default you will not. I'll send you a PM (Private Message) to say that I've replied. That should trigger an email with the default forum settings.

I just had to give up on the video sorry

I tend not to use the videos from Beyonwiz. I had a reason to watch the firmware upgrade video a couple of days ago. It is largely reliant on the spoken sound track (and also has almost full-time advertising).

[Grumpy_Geoff]

MrQuade's suggestion is:

1. Set up the V2 and format its HDD.
2. Shut down the V2, disconnect its USB drive, and connect it to the T4.
3. Copy the recordings from the T4's HDD to the V2's HDD (which is now connected to the T4).
4. Shut down the T4, disconnect the V2's USB drive from the T4 and connect it to the V2.
5. Start the V2 and start using it.

For steps 1 & 5, you will need a TV connected to the V2. For step 3 you will need a TV connected to the T4.

Pearce can bypass using the V2 in the interim if he formats the USB HDD using the T4, right?
Modified steps -

1. Connect the USB HDD to the T4.
2. Format the USB drive using the T4.
3. Copy the recordings from the T4's HDD to the V2's HDD (which is now connected to the T4).
4. Shut down the T4, disconnect the V2's USB drive from the T4.

When Pearce is ready to use the V2, connect the USB HDD to the V2, start using the V2.

[MrQuade]

Pearce can bypass using the V2 in the interim if he formats the USB HDD using the T4, right?

Absolutely. The only reason I suggest formatting the disk on the V2 is to avoid the risk of accidentally formatting the T4's drive instead.
That would be less than fun!

[peteru]

Possible, but perhaps confusingly the disk label on the V2 HDD will be T4.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Possible, but perhaps confusingly the disk label on the V2 HDD will be T4.

Scratch that idea then, unless there's an easy way to relabel the USB drive.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Thank you that looks straight forward. I have printed it out

Hi Pearce,

The File Commander (MENU>>Sources / Files) copy operation that MrQuade describes happens in the background. You can press INFO whilst within File Commander to see the progress of that copy operation.
If you exit File Commander, you can still see any background job progress by pressing BLUE from live TV, any background operations will be shown at the top of the list. The list isn't live, it doesn't dynamically update, it only updates when you enter the list.
From the list, if you select the current background operation (other jobs may also be in the list queued, awaiting the current one to finish), and press OK on it then a different popup opens that does show the dynamic progress (it's the same progress view that File Commander shows).

In other words, it's not necessary to remain in the File Commander screen for the entire duration of the copy operation.

How many Gigabytes of recordings are there to transfer?

[prl]

Possible, but perhaps confusingly the disk label on the V2 HDD will be T4.

Scratch that idea then, unless there's an easy way to relabel the USB drive.

There isn't.

[Pearce]

My 1Tb disk is about 50% full how long should I allow for the transfer please.
Michael Pearce
I was a member a long long time ago but could not recover my user name I forgot

[MrQuade]

My 1Tb disk is about 50% full how long should I allow for the transfer please.

It'd take about 5 hours by my reckoning. Probably a bit less.

As Grumpy Geoff says though, you can monitor the progress with the INFO button in Sources/files.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

My 1Tb disk is about 50% full how long should I allow for the transfer please.

It'd take about 5 hours by my reckoning. Probably a bit less.

I concur, I don't think the T4 can push much more than 25MB/s through its USB2.0 port.

[Pearce]

SOME MORE HELP PLEASE.

I have formatted the hard drive on a different TV and plugged in to the T4 USB 1/2 (tried both plugs)
When I list storage devices on my T4 the new hard drive is not shown
When I list devices on T4 it shows the new hard drive as sdb NOT MOUNTED and recognised 3.82TB
HOW DO I MOUNT THIS PLEASE to enable coping

I have powered down the T4 with mains switch and rebooted and the new hard drive still shows NOT MOUNTED
I also did a reboot without switching off the mains power

Any thoughts please?
Michael

[Pearce]

I plugged the new hard disk into the front usb slot on T4 and it recognised it and then I did another format of the new hard disk while plugged into the T4 front usb
The I checked the LH and RH sided correctly highlighted and pressed copy orange button
Nothing appears to be happening
Can I check some copying is going on please?

[Pearce]

As Geoff advised earlier
After pressing copy with the highlight on movies on lH side and having previously highlight the new hard disk in the front slot on the RH side
I then pressed info while in file commander to check on progress
The task list was empty?
Any thoughts please

[MrQuade]

and having previously highlight the new hard disk in the front slot on the RH side

You need to have pressed OK to open up the hard-disk on the RH side prior to attempting to copy, not just highlighted it.

[Pearce]

Thank you copying is progressing but I am unsure of what the receiving folder is on the new hard drive.
1 If needed can I move the files around on the new hard drive using my windows PC please?
2 It looks as if copying time will greatly exceed 5 hours maybe approaching double. While it is copying will it record any programs that i have already scheduled please?
3 Also while copying can I watch anything already recorded please?
Thanks Michael

[prl]

Thank you copying is progressing but I am unsure of what the receiving folder is on the new hard drive.

Hard to answer the implied question without knowing exactly how you started the copy.

1 If needed can I move the files around on the new hard drive using my windows PC please?

Yes, in principle, but you'd need to set up Windows sharing of your V2 to the PC first. I'm not sure how efficiently it would handle the move.

You can also move files around in the V2's GUI. Provided the source directory and destination directory for the move are on the same device, the move is very fast but the user interface is harder to use.

2 It looks as if copying time will greatly exceed 5 hours maybe approaching double. While it is copying will it record any programs that i have already scheduled please?

Yes, it will.

3 Also while copying can I watch anything already recorded please?

Yes, you can, though it's probably best not to watch a recording that's currently being copied.

The main problem with the question is that you seem to be unsure about where you might find the copied recordings anyway.

[MrQuade]

2 It looks as if copying time will greatly exceed 5 hours maybe approaching double. While it is copying will it record any programs that i have already scheduled please?

How greatly? Admittedly 5 hours was assuming a fairly ideal transfer condition, but I wouldn't expect it to take much longer than 7 hours assuming you only had 500GB to transfer.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Thank you copying is progressing but I am unsure of what the receiving folder is on the new hard drive.
1 If needed can I move the files around on the new hard drive using my windows PC please?
2 It looks as if copying time will greatly exceed 5 hours maybe approaching double. While it is copying will it record any programs that i have already scheduled please?
3 Also while copying can I watch anything already recorded please?

1. The steps for the copy operation that MrQuade described will copy the "movie" directory to the USB drive and it will have the same name. This will be all of your "current" recordings.
2. Yes, but I'm guessing some or maybe all of the new recordings made after the copy operation started may not get copied over.
3. You can use the T4 as usual, but the copy operation may slow down a bit.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

You can use File Commander to take a look at what recordings have already been copied over to the USB drive. Open the USB drive, then open the "movie" folder/directory and the recordings should be listed.

Another method to having a look is by using the media selection list (MEDIA button from live TV, or MENU>>Recordings), then YELLOW/Location to bring up the "Choose movie path" popup.
Locate the entry for the USB drive (it may be shown over the page), select it and press OK. The drive entry may show as - T4 (Front/Back, lower/upper USB2 Slot) and the drive may be named "V2" depending on where it was last formatted.
The "movie" directory should be shown, select and open it.
To return back to viewing the internal HDD, press the TV button (bottom row) or press YELLOW and choose /media/hdd/movie.

[Pearce]

Thanks for all the advice and Update
The file page said about 55% free before I started to copy.
After 7 hours it now says about 70% copied. I have not used the T4 otherwise.
I guess i will just let it run In the Task List there are lots of entrys auto timer waiting
Michael

[prl]

I guess i will just let it run In the Task List there are lots of entrys auto timer waiting

Autotimer tasks will run quite quickly after the copy task finishes.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

After 7 hours it now says about 70% copied. I have not used the T4 otherwise.

If the T4 is on live TV and timeshifting, then it is writing to the internal drive at the same time the copy operation is occurring.

[peteru]

The bottleneck will be the USB2 speed. Internal SATA drives will sustain about 5x the speed that USB2 attached drives will. For SATA drives, the limitation will be the HDD performance. For USB2 drives, the limitation is bus speed, which will top out around 20MB/s, although budgeting 15MB/s is probably a more realistic figure.

My calculations put a 1/2TB copy operation at somewhere between 7.5 and 9.5 hours over a USB2 bus.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

For USB2 drives, the limitation is bus speed, which will top out around 20MB/s, although budgeting 15MB/s is probably a more realistic figure.

It can be a bit faster that 20MB/s in my experience, here's one rsync copy I did on the T4 to a 3.5" USB drive some time back (I kept the rsync details for reference so I knew what to do the next time) -

Code: Select all

sent 981,317,280,635 bytes  received 45,359 bytes  24,206,448.67 bytes/sec
total size is 1,983,247,316,472  speedup is 2.02
root@beyonwizt4:~#

[peteru]

rsync figures do not necessarily reflect the raw data transfer rates. Especially in the case you demonstrate where about 1/2 the data didn't need to be transferred at all. Anyway, all this is rather academic - I suspect that by now the copy has been completed and it it probably took close to 10 hours.