# Archiving on VIP722



## FarmerCharlie (Jan 16, 2008)

The DISH technician had problems acquiring signal (error 015) on my DVR after installing a new dish for locals, and finally decided he needed to replace the receiver. To move the old recordings I went out and bought a 1 TB WD MyBook AV, activated it, archived all the recordings, and restored them to the new receiver. It seemed to work OK, but I was surprised that the recordings disappeared from the external drive as I restored them. Is that what is supposed to happen? From my I.T. experience I always considered "archiving" to be the creation of a backup copy that could be used to restore date if the primary drive failed. But if the copy on my external drive is deleted during the restore, what will happen if the internal drive fails in the future?

Am I missing something?

And is there a writeup somewhere that describes using an external drive? I couldn't figure out any way to move the files into groups on the external drive, which made it a little difficult to keep up with them.
Charles


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## [email protected] Network (Jan 6, 2011)

Because it is not a flash drive the files are actually transferring from one drive to another by moving, and not just copying. That is really the only thing happening there. Even though it is labeled Archive in our systems its more like additional storage (like a partition to the existing drive). I think the name is what really throws it off. It should be labeled "DVR Additional Storage Activation" and they should clarify what it is meant to do and how it does it. Sorry for the confusion there.


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## FarmerCharlie (Jan 16, 2008)

Thanks. That's the way it was looking to me too. But am I correct that if the hard drive ever fails, then there will be no way to restore the files to a new drive? For instance, while the files are on the external drive, could I connect the drive to my computer and save a backup copy? I understand the files are encrypted to prevent them from being played on two devices, but could I still save them in case I ever had a hard drive failure?


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## [email protected] Network (Jan 6, 2011)

Unfortunately I do not know of a way to do this. Someone somewhere may have other information on this, but the point is to prevent exactly that situation from being possible. Actually, the computer (in the instance of Windows) doesn't even recognize there is a drive at all unless you go into a certain place on the computer (one of the management screens that the name of is lost on me) and it only allows you to manage the drive itself, not copy files. As far as "normal" backup, if you plan on keeping the drive as an archive you can play the files on it without swapping them to the receiver to prevent any loss if the DVR goes south. I can honestly say I personally have never had an external go bad nor heard anything about it, but that is not the same as it having never happened.


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## FarmerCharlie (Jan 16, 2008)

[email protected] Network said:


> As far as "normal" backup, if you plan on keeping the drive as an archive you can play the files on it without swapping them to the receiver to prevent any loss if the DVR goes south. I can honestly say I personally have never had an external go bad nor heard anything about it, but that is not the same as it having never happened.


But if I keep them on the external drive, then I'll have the same issue if the external drive should fail. And from what I have read, these cheap drives do tend to fail after a year or two.

Somewhere I read that a UNIX machine can read the files. I may try taking a look at that, unless someone here already knows the answer.

BTW. The reason this suddenly became important is that I am in Auburn, AL, and I would hate to lose my recording of the BCS championship game Monday. I was a teenager the last time that happened 53 years ago.


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## [email protected] Network (Jan 6, 2011)

Well then, I certainly understand the urgency. Wish I could help ya further but I will leave this to a pro in that O/S.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Follow a keyword "DishArc"  or white rabbit


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## bnborg (Jun 3, 2005)

The recordings are on a Unix/Linux ext3 filesystem. They can be copied on Mac or Linux. On Windows, you can also use the open source program ext2fsd available from sourceforge.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

bnborg said:


> The recordings are on a Unix/Linux ext3 filesystem. They can be copied on Mac or Linux. You can also use the open source program ext2fsd available from sourceforge.


Seems he is familiar with Unix, but he need to know little more about the subject what is extensively discussed here. I think it happened only here.


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## FarmerCharlie (Jan 16, 2008)

bnborg said:


> The recordings are on a Unix/Linux ext3 filesystem. They can be copied on Mac or Linux. On Windows, you can also use the open source program ext2fsd available from sourceforge.


That sounds encouraging. I think I'll try copying a file to the external hard drive, saving it to a UNIX network drive, then deleting it on the hard drive and copying it back from the network drive. If I can then restore it to the DVR, then that would suggest that it is indeed possible to backup and restore the files. Has anyone here already done this test? And if it does work, would I also be able to restore it to a new DVR if the one it was originally recorded on failed?


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## bnborg (Jun 3, 2005)

I've done it, Charlie. I successfully copied recordings from EHD to PC and from one EHD to another.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

FarmerCharlie said:


> That sounds encouraging. I think I'll try copying a file to the external hard drive, saving it to a UNIX network drive, then deleting it on the hard drive and copying it back from the network drive. If I can then restore it to the DVR, then that would suggest that it is indeed possible to backup and restore the files. Has anyone here already done this test? And if it does work, would I also be able to restore it to a new DVR if the one it was originally recorded on failed?


If you could try to follow post#7 cue you'll find many answers to your future questions . The forums has plenty of info regarding the aspect.


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## FarmerCharlie (Jan 16, 2008)

P Smith said:


> If you could try to follow post#7 cue you'll find many answers to your future questions . The forums has plenty of info regarding the aspect.


I had tried to search before I posted, but didn't find the answers. I searched "DishArc" as you suggested, and found lots of good info.
Thanks for the help.
Charles


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