Transferring files from Humax PVR on to USB memory stick

[br1anstorm]

I have a Humax 5400 PVR, on which I save TV programmes for later viewing. Sometimes I like to save video files on to my computer for convenience. Normally I transfer them using a USB memory stick, and this usually works well - plug the USB stick into the port on the front of the PVR, and then copy the file(s) on to it.

I have just encountered a problem when attempting such a transfer. The 'file manager' display came up with a message which said that the file concerned (a TV programme) was too large: I think it said bigger than 4GB... My guess is that perhaps this particular programme was recorded in HD, hence being larger than usual.

Am I right in thinking that this is a limit of the USB stick - which is formatted FAT32? And if so, how do I overcome it? I tried reformatting the USB stick as ext4, but the PVR doesn't recognise it. Would a reformat to NTFS be a solution?

[Ennio]

Yes, you are thinking right. FAT32 supports filesizes of max 4GB. So formatting your USB stick to NTFS will indeed solve your issue.

[br1anstorm]

Thanks for that quick reply. Unfortunately I don't think we have a solution yet.

Since posting my question, I tried an experiment - I reformatted the USB memory stick to NTFS, and plugged it into the Humax PVR. The stick was simply not "seen" at all. It did not appear to be recognised as a device, and did not show up in the 'file manager'.

So what other possibilities might I explore?

[br1anstorm]

An update and I have the solution to my problem. So I post it here for anyone else's benefit.

After extensive internet searching, I discovered that the Humax PVR can only recognise USB sticks which are formatted in either FAT32 (which seems to be the usual default) or ext3 - which is one of the formats Linux uses.

So - as a Linux user - I reformatted the USB stick to ext3... and the PVR sees it, and I can easily transfer large files from one to the other. Problem solved!

[Ennio]

Good you got it sorted. My apologies for the wrong advice.