Windows 7 Format 8Gb USB device in EXT3 for use with Humax Foxsat PVR

[rogieb]

i've been told by Humax support that to transfer video files greater than 4Gb I need to format my 8Gb USB pen drive in EXT3.
I can't find any reference to EXT3 in the Windows 7 help, so am wondering what to do.
I have looked on the web and it seems to me that I need to partition my hard drive to install a different OS that supports EXT3 such as Linux. Is this a fact?
Any advice appreciated but nothing too technical as I'm not exactly a whiz kid on computers!!

 

[bazcor]

EXT3 is definitely a Unix/Linux thing, but you could download a Linux distro that runs off of CD. No installation would be required, Ubuntu distro (not the alternative version) boots from CD and would allow formatting drives in EXT3.

You need to download the .iso file then burn THE IMAGE to CD, using something like Imgburn(free). Don't just burn the iso file to disk, that wont boot!

 

[rogieb]

Thanks bazcor for the info. I will give that a try. Another question, If I manage to format my pen drive in EXT3, do I have to boot my PC using the same Ubuntu CD to transfer the files from the USB drive to my PC?

 

[bazcor]

There is a ext3 driver for windows take a look at: Ext2 IFS For Windows: Download this allows access to ext2 and ext3 partitions.

Hope this helps.. Barry

 

[rogieb]

Hi Barry
Thanks for that but I've just downloaded the file and it says it doesn't run under Windows 7.
I'll see if I can find something similar that does.

Regards Roger

 

[fjgold]

Why not format to NTFS.
Win 7 supports that directly unlike XP that required a sorta backdoor approach.
Right click the drive in Explorer and choose format, in the dropdown select NTFS.
Win 7 also supports exFat that has basically no file size limitation.
ExFat is also one of the options in the dropdown.

exFAT - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NTFS is supported read\write in most Linux distros today if that is imortant to you.

At the present time exFat is not supported and won't be until someone reverse engineers it like they had to do
to allow NTFS compatibility in Linux.

It is my understanding that work is in progress on that.

BTW, ext3 and ext4 as well as ReiserFS, all use in Linux\Unix are journalling file systems like NTFS.

Because journalling file systems write to a volume a lot they were thought to not be acceptable for use with
Flash drives like USB thumb drives.

Flash devices have a limit on the number of write cycles (they can "wear out" after a lot of use).

Depending on the maker this can range from under 100,000 to 1,000,000 write cycles.

A journalling file system was thought to contribute to premature wear.

This is why in XP you had to resort to a round about method to format to NTFS.

This is not really a issue today as most makers use a wear leveling scheme in their devices today.

Of course if you only use the drive for storage this wear out isn't much of an issue regardless of FS.

NTFS formatted drives are faster to write to on average that Fat 32.

One thing I've noticed is that deleting files from a Fat32 devices takes much more time compared to a NTFS device.
Especially folders containing many nested folders or hundreds of small files like .ico or .png files.

Hope this helps.

 

[fjgold]

Hi Barry
Thanks for that but I've just downloaded the file and it says it doesn't run under Windows 7.
I'll see if I can find something similar that does.

Regards Roger

Ext2 IFS works in Win 7 if you use compatibility mode to install it and choose either Vista or XP compatibility.

If you choose ext3 and install ext2 IFS you would run ext2 IFS from the control panel.

You would choose the drive from within the program and assign a drive letter.

Ext2 IFS is the only solution for accessing ext2\3 filesystems that is read\write.

There is an option (checkbox lower left) that would automatically assign a drive letter when you plug the device.

If you choose ext3 make sure that the inode size selected is 128 BYTES.

Ext2 IFS doesn't support inodes larger than 128 BYTES.

Most partitioning tools including Gparted (included on many live CD's like Ubuntu desktop) allow you to specify the inode size.

 

[rogieb]

Hi
Thanks for that. I've just tried that again and it started to install but now says that if won't install the driver.
I think I will get on to Humax and ask why they don't allow formatting in NTFS, It would certainly save a lot of hassle!!

Regards Rogieb

 

[fjgold]

Hi
Thanks for that. I've just tried that again and it started to install but now says that if won't install the driver.
I think I will get on to Humax and ask why they don't allow formatting in NTFS, It would certainly save a lot of hassle!!

Regards Rogieb

Have you tried to format to NTFS?

 

[rogieb]

No, I haven't tried that as Humax said that I had to format in EXT3 to transfer the file to my USB stick.
I will try that now and see if it works.

Regards Roger

 

[Athlonite]

They Humax may of assumed your running a Linux distro so just go ahead and use NTFS or extFAT

 

[rogieb]

Thanks, but have already tried formattingthe USB in NTFS and the Humax wont recognise it.

 

[rogieb]

I think I've solved the problem.
Create a Linux boot disc and Format your USB stick by following this link.
Note: After step 6, Right click on the USB Device and pick "Safely remove"

Humax FOXSAT-HDR Freesat+Owners Thread - Page 21 - AVForums.com

This will allow the formatting of your USB mem stick in EXT3 format.
Copy your video file from the Humax to yout USB stick and then by booting up your PC using the Linux boot disc you can copy the video to you PC. It will create a folder called VIDEO-TS and in that folder will be 3 files. The only one that is needed is the
large one with a .ts file extension.
After trying a few programs that didn't work, I found one called VideoPad Video Editor available here.

Video Editing Software - Edit Videos, AVI, Movies and Add Music

this is a free download. It does read in .ts files and allows editing of the video such as cutting out adverts etc.
The program is not the easiest to understand and the help is a bit limited but it does work and will burn your finished project to DVD.