Copying From Humax Freesat Box

[whiskeryron]

Sorry to repeat a question that I have submitted before but I am still trying to suss this out.When I try to copy to external H/D I get a message stating 'Cannot copy a file of more than 4Gb' I am trying to copy a 2 hour movie.1, how do I determine how many Gb a film is ? 2, Does any A/Ber know if there is a way to increase the size of file copying ?
Ron.

[ChuckFickens]

1) no idea. I should imagine it will be in the file info somewhere on the humax.

2) have fun for a start...

You've come across files system limitations! any hard drive can be formatted in a number of different formats and each format has it's own limitations. (we only need to concentrate on 3 different formats here)

Windows these days mainly only uses NTFS format drives and FAT32 format drives

The Humax can read and write drives formatted in FAT32 or EXT2 or EXT3 (EXT2/3 are Linux file system)

So a quick cross reference and you can quickly see that for windows the only file system option (as default) is FAT32.... the bad news.... FAT32 has a file size limit of 4GB.

If you want your external drive to hold files more than 4GB then it need to be formatted in either NTFS (then the humax can't read it!) or EXT2/3 (then windows can't read it!).... are you seeing a problem yet?

There are drivers that would allow windows to read/write EXT3 drives with windows, but in my experience they are not reliable, especially when it comes to formatting them in the first place!...... there are ways of getting round your problems.... but they are really long winded and pretty complicated.... so before I start.... is this really that important?

[Old_Geezer]

Isn't there an app around somewhere that can act as an interface and make an NTFS drive look externally like a massive FAT32 drive ? Or is the spec so tightly written that it is just a non-starter, and the Humax know there was a problem with that apparent size FAT32 disk before it started ?

Maybe I'm not understanding the problem, is it being recorded over the link to the PC as the programme is aired, or is it already on an internal Humax disk waiting to be transferred ? If the latter can the Humax load and run apps that could split the large file up for transfer ?

[ChuckFickens]

"Isn't there an app around somewhere that can act as an interface and make an NTFS drive look externally like a massive FAT32 drive"

And how would you get that App to run on a humax freesat box?

[Old_Geezer]

You wouldn't, you'd get it to run on the PC you are trying to transfer the file to, so the Humax 'thought' it was sending the file to a FAT32.

I don't have enough info to know if the Humax is able to run aps, just brainstorming here.

[whiskeryron]

Thanks guys I really do appreciate your techie help.
No Chuck it is not that important I can transfer from the Humax H/D by running the prog & then recording on DVD recorder, it's just that I have to take DVD rec from another room & it would be more convenient to me to do it on Fat 32 if poss.
O_G the file is recorded on the Humax H/D & I wish to copy to Ext H/D via USB from Humax I can't find apps to split the file.Ron.