Changing the hard drive of a multimedia disc, what should you know?

[Nemo]

Well, I think that basically, it should have a good capacity, although some boxes have a limitation of 2 TB.
Sound quality can also be a value to consider, although it is usual in 2Tb disks, they are 5400 rpm, so they are cooler and quieter. Anyway, check the characteristics of your multimedia box.
Regards

[QVENGADOR]

Thanks, Nemo, my concern is that just like the motherboards of PCs have limitations in terms of the hard drives they recognize, the multimedia drive could also have them.

[Mystique]

The main problem you can encounter with these disks is the partitioning they have. You might be lucky and not need to touch anything, but it might have a special partitioning system (with software in some cases for the casing to work, etc.) and it won't be enough to just insert a disk

[Nemo]

@Mystique:

The main problem you can encounter with these drives is the partitioning they have. You might be lucky and not need to touch anything, but it might have a special partition system (with software in some to make the casing work, etc.) and just inserting a drive won't be enough.

Do you mean that some require the multimedia content to be organized in certain folders or else they won't recognize it?
I've only had one media drive (PeekBox 3 MK II), and I don't know if it was special, but it didn't matter where you put the video or photo. It recognized them all and didn't care about partitions. It did have a folder system to help me organize, but that was it.

QVENGADOR: As I told you before, some boxes don't recognize drives larger than 2 TB. That's why you need to know if your specific model accepts them.

Best regards

[Sylver]

I think Mystique is referring to the fact that in certain partitions or hidden folders, multimedia discs contain proprietary software, something like small "drivers" if you will, that organize and manage the operation of the disc. It is important to always try to leave it intact or, if you touch partitions, to recreate the original layout of those partitions or hidden folders.

Regards

[Mystique]

Exactly Sylver.

I have a WD network drive (not multimedia, but it serves as an example) that has a 1TB drive inside. Well, the thing has 4 or 5 partitions that Windows XP does not recognize when connected with an external box. No large partition appears (I have it almost full) and I have not been able to view the content "as is" (mostly because I don't want to load almost 1TB of data)

[kynes]

Mystique, have you tried connecting it to a linux computer? Many times network hard drives use EXT2/3/4 partitions, the typical ones for linux, because their own operating system is an embedded linux.

[Mystique]

I see that you have not read the last sentence of my previous post well… the experiments with soda (or copy)

[kynes]

It's my usual caraja… If you ever have a copy, give it a try ;D

[QVENGADOR]

Thanks to everyone for the replies, the multimedia disk I have is the Woster i-Cube X-Div 35 XP Rex High. Honestly, I don't know how it got messed up, but it did, and I don't know where to check the motherboard data or what it's called to determine its limitations. The thing is, after all that you've told me, I'm not sure if I should buy another multimedia disk instead of doing experiments.
I thought it was enough to connect the hard drive and format it with the firmware that is ready. Or not?

[Fassou]

I remember messing around with a Woxter multimedia HDD, and it had a strange FAT32 partition that if you touched it beyond copying and deleting files, it would break :sisi:

Fortunately we were able to use the warranty :troll:, although it surprised me that they didn't have a utility to prepare partitions, as happens with some laptops that use hidden corporate partitions as BACKUP.

In your case, if the HDD is broken, you either try to clone it desperately "bit by bit", or try with a new one in case it works :mudo:

Salu2!