# 722k - is it possible to clone external hard drive to another external hard drive?



## Guest (Oct 13, 2009)

I currently have a 1TB external hard drive connected to
the 722k. The drive is about 1/3 full at the moment.

Is it possible for me to use my PC to clone the external
hard drive to another external hard drive? If so, will the
722k recognize both hard drives?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

The method has been posted - follow "DishArc" keyword.


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## Guest (Oct 13, 2009)

P Smith said:


> The method has been posted - follow "DishArc" keyword.


thanks! I just found a simple way using Acronis.

copied the 1TB EHD to another 1TB. hooked up the
cloned drive to the 722k and it played without a hitch!


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## Tulsa1 (Oct 15, 2003)

quietmouse said:


> thanks! I just found a simple way using Acronis.
> 
> copied the 1TB EHD to another 1TB. hooked up the
> cloned drive to the 722k and it played without a hitch!


I would like to learn more about this.
Especially if it is done on a Windows OS PC without messing in Linux.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

quietmouse said:


> thanks! I just found a simple way using Acronis.
> 
> copied the 1TB EHD to another 1TB. hooked up the
> cloned drive to the 722k and it played without a hitch!


It's overkill - only one folder is relevant, not whole disk.

There are a few programs/drivers what provide full support of EXT2/3 partitions/folders/files under Windows.


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## barryaz1 (Feb 5, 2007)

quietmouse said:


> thanks! I just found a simple way using Acronis.
> 
> copied the 1TB EHD to another 1TB. hooked up the
> cloned drive to the 722k and it played without a hitch!


I'm willing to buy Acronis and do it with that, but what are the steps? Or is what mentioned with the keyword "DishArc" easier?

My Maxtor 320GB is no longer recognized as being connected. It worked for a couple of years with my 622. After a long time with support, they replaced the 622 with a 722k, which can't "see" it either. It is recognized as a drive on a PC, so I'm thinking to clone it to a new 1TB and use a brand that has been known to work (suggestions?). After 1 1/4 hours with 2nd level support, Dish claims that it's their software problem, and they'll ask "engineering" to figure out a software fix. Sure! LOL.

SO can someone spell out exactly how to do this, Acronis or DishArc? Thanks.


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

Is there a way to merge the contents of two EHDs? I currently have 320GB and 640GB drives. The 320 is about full. Can I move the programs on it over to the 640 without restoring each one to my DVR, then switching drives and moving them to the 640? 

Not only would that be time-consuming, since I would be limited by the available space on my DVR, but each time a file is copied, the risk of introducing an error and corrupting the file increases. I would like to minimize this if possible.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Just copy subfolders under DishArc from one disk into DihsArc folder of other.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

P Smith said:


> Just copy subfolders under DishArc from one disk into DihsArc folder of other.


Have you tried this? I have successfully backed up and restored my Harddrive several times nows, and even restorted the back up to a different drive. I find this idea interesting, but wanted to know if you, or anybody else has tried this?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Yep, each sub-folder is hold one recording as set of files - encrypted content , bookmark, index, etc.


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

P Smith said:


> Yep, each sub-folder is hold one recording as set of files - encrypted content , bookmark, index, etc.


Cool!


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

P Smith said:


> Yep, each sub-folder is hold one recording as set of files - encrypted content , bookmark, index, etc.


So as I understand it, if I have a dual-boot computer at my "home theater", when booted in Linux I can copy the "DishArc" folders off of my EHD's thereby creating a backup copy. Then if one of my EHD's dies, I can restore its contents to a new EHD formatted on one of my ViP DVRs and the programming will be viewable on my ViP DVRs. Is that correct?


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

phrelin said:


> So as I understand it, if I have a dual-boot computer at my "home theater", when booted in Linux I can copy the "DishArc" folders off of my EHD's thereby creating a backup copy. Then if one of my EHD's dies, I can restore its contents to a new EHD formatted on one of my ViP DVRs and the programming will be viewable on my ViP DVRs. Is that correct?


That's how I am reading it too. I have been wishing for something like this ever since HDDVRs became available. HDDs are not indestructible, and DVRs even less so. I have had several fail andneed replacing, causing me to lose all recordings.

Are the subfolders named with any kind of identifiable scheme to allow one to determine which recording is in which folder? I'm envisioning a big NAS device of several TB with all my recordings backed up, and a relatively small EHD just used for playback and initial archiving, but which gets backed up nightly. You'd need to be able to identify the progam folder in order to copy it back for viewing though, I think.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Unfortunately those sub-folder's names are just hexadecimal numbers; 
not sure but binary files with extension .BM could have some info inside. 
Need to check if it true.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

phrelin said:


> So as I understand it, if I have a dual-boot computer at my "home theater", when booted in Linux I can copy the "DishArc" folders off of my EHD's thereby creating a backup copy. Then if one of my EHD's dies, I can restore its contents to a new EHD formatted on one of my ViP DVRs and the programming will be viewable on my ViP DVRs. Is that correct?


Yes, that is how it works. I don't keep any of my EHD connected at all times to any particular ViP. After doing a couple of tests, I know copy all all my EHD's, for safe backup. Can't really find anything that tells which file is which, under the DishArc folder, so moving the contents of EHD to another is either all, or hope you get lucky with the correct file/Files you move over.
Granted with some more testing or just some effort, I bet making sense of the filenames could be possible.


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## Tulsa1 (Oct 15, 2003)

Is it possible to accomplish this with a Windows XP PC and a bootable Linux CD ROM?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Easiest way - use Windows apps like UFS Explorer.


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2009)

I find it easier to use Acronis because it runs under Windows. 
(also because it was a free program that came with my PC)

My EHD is 1TB. There's currently about 200GB of recorded
stuff on it. 

I disconnected the EHD, hooked it up to my PC(WinXP).
Started up Acronis and ran full disk back up. The result
is a 180GB *.tib image file. Obviously it wasn't a 1TB file
because Acronis doesn't back up blank space on the hard
drive.  Total time was a couple of hours, but could have
be faster if I wasn't doing a USB-to-USB ext hard drive
copy.

Just to be sure that it worked, I took another 500GB USB
external hard drive and ran Acronis. (Acronis automatically
re-sized the partitions to fit the 500GB drive) When it
was all done, I hooked up the 500GB drive to the 722k DVR
and everythign worked fine.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

Is it possible to restore files that got deleted on an EHD by a software glitch? In other threads it has been posted that if you view a program directly off an EHD it will automatically delete when you hit stop without warning you first. This happened to me with the oldest program on my EHD. I only viewed the first few minutes then hit stop. The on screen program description switched to another program's description and the program I was viewing was never to be seen again.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Michael P said:


> Is it possible to restore files that got deleted on an EHD by a software glitch? In other threads it has been posted that if you view a program directly off an EHD it will automatically delete when you hit stop without warning you first. This happened to me with the oldest program on my EHD. I only viewed the first few minutes then hit stop. The on screen program description switched to another program's description and the program I was viewing was never to be seen again.


Practically impossible; but you could try for green find it in "Lost+Found" folder right after disappearing. All the questions are coming to EXT3 journaling subsystem, if it could help to restore or not ?


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

Michael P said:


> Is it possible to restore files that got deleted on an EHD by a software glitch? In other threads it has been posted that if you view a program directly off an EHD it will automatically delete when you hit stop without warning you first. This happened to me with the oldest program on my EHD. I only viewed the first few minutes then hit stop. The on screen program description switched to another program's description and the program I was viewing was never to be seen again.


Many have suggested that one needs to restore to the internal drive PRIOR to watching if it's something that one considers important. Maybe you should try that.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

I thought that was just a problem on the 622/722. Is it also happening on the 722k, or did we stray off topic?


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