starview 5 with external hard drive

[unicorn999]

hi having set up my starview 5 box with some very helpful threads on this site i now have the problem of the external hard drive.Do i need to format the hard drive on a computer before i attach it to my starview box iam not very computer literate.I plugged it into the starview box iam able to pause live tv but when i go the the usb on the menu nothing is there and when i press the hdd button again nothing seems to happen,also which button on the remote do you need to press to record hoping someone can help

[DESSERTDOG]

hi having set up my starview 5 box with some very helpful threads on this site i now have the problem of the external hard drive.Do i need to format the hard drive on a computer before i attach it to my starview box iam not very computer literate.I plugged it into the starview box iam able to pause live tv but when i go the the usb on the menu nothing is there and when i press the hdd button again nothing seems to happen,also which button on the remote do you need to press to record hoping someone can help

Firstly i have found it best to format the HD on the PC its faster format to fat32 now it depends on the size of the HD and what Operating system you are using as to how you format the HD,Xp should be ok no other software req.There is a program in the downloads section here:Digital Kaos - Downloads - PC if your using Vista or 7 then use Fat32formatter. You will need this program if your HD is larger that 40gig i think m8.Now to record Dont plug in or Take out the USB devise while the box is on you will have a box you cant use.To record plug in HD fire up box it will take a few mins to find the HD,then select menu,USB then highlight USB in the right hand side and to record press the red button at the bottom on the remote and then its like magic.
I have added a plain text TuT file to the downloads for you

[unicorn999]

right i have formatted hdd to fat32 connected to sv5 box gone to usb and nothing there when i press ok it sometimes comes up with reinsert pendrive or nothing at all,nothing happens when i press record or the hdd buttons,i read in another post about hardrive being bricked dont understand what this means my sv5 box is working fine getting all channels etc just this hardrive prob getting very frustrating

[DESSERTDOG]

Did you put the HD in when the box was off or on?

[DESSERTDOG]

Did you put the HD in when box was off or on?

[unicorn999]

iam not hundred percent sure i may have but i think it was off when i first tryed to set it up but i might have unplugged it when box was on

[DESSERTDOG]

does the box still boot up ok?

[unicorn999]

do you mean by boot start up from off and show all channels then yes the actual digibox is working fine

[DESSERTDOG]

Ok good what size is you HDD? and is it still not finding it?
Plug it in with the box off fire the box up when its booted give it a few mins to sort it self out ie find the HDD.When it has goto menu select USB see if it finds it now.

[unicorn999]

its 400gig i have done what you said a number of times and still not finding hdd just thinking when i first set box up and plugged in pen drive with bin file on it there was two other files on there as well did i need to do anything with these

[DESSERTDOG]

Im sure that has not caused your problem.
What operating system are you running ?
if its vista or 7 then you cannot format a drive that size without using FAT32FORMATTER that im pretty sure of m8.

[unicorn999]

i tryed using fat32formatter it started ok then came up with a box saying cant continue ireformatted drive to ntfs then reformatted again with swissknife still no joy iam sure its something simple i aint doing i just finding out what i have even but files from my lappy onto external drive to make sure its working they went on and deleted ok after the simple way i set the box up with your invaluable tutorial this hard drive problem is really getting to me now cus i work shifts and am missing a lot of my fav shows

[DESSERTDOG]

If you tried to format with swissknife then you transfered files onto it it must be formated m8 or you couldnt do that.
swissknife is for xp
fat32formatter is for Vista and 7
You still have not said what operating system is on your pc?

[unicorn999]

xp home edition

[DESSERTDOG]

ok have you formated it again with swissknife if not do so maybe make a partition although im not sure if that will help make sure you use fat32