Heres an update on my quest to recover the lost files. It may be of use to others in the event of the same calamity happening to them
After the first scan by Easeus Data Recovery that resulted in the unusable folder directory tree (see #18), I contacted Easeus tech support.
They have been excellent with their prompt and helpful replies
I adjusted the settings in the EDR Options menu to their instructions and carried out another 20 hour search which this time resulted in an EXT3 folder with hundreds of Inode sub folders and an excellent rated chance of recovery.
I then searched for .ts .hmt and .nts files in the directory folders and all of the file titles (three per recording) were visible as recoverable. The partition showed as 934GB used which was the correct size.
However, many of the .ts files and a few of the others showed as deleted and nearly all of the files showed as 0KB content. Some displayed up to 500kb content but only a few registered the correct 2GB 6GB.
Whats really baffling is that most of the 0KB content files show an identical modified created and last access date of 1970-1-1 0:0:0
In view of the fact that all of my files were corrupted or deleted at 3am on Sunday April 1st, coincidental with the 1hr BST Housekeeping update, I find this very suspicious that it might have been caused be either the software update or a virus getting on to the drive somehow
I sent Easeus tech support a screenshot of the recoverable files but they couldnt offer any more options and suggested I send the disk to a pro Data Recovery company
So with nothing to lose I decided to test the disk.
This is a Samsung HD1035J Spinpoint F3 7200rpm 32mb cache SATA II 1TB drive and is still under Seagate 2 year warranty.
However, to submit a claim I first had to download and run Sea Tools for Windows to confirm a failed disc and obtain a ref number for return.
I ran a Long Generic/Repair All test that took 7 hours to complete.
To my amazement, the disk passed the test. There were 550 errors and 7 Bad LBA which were all repaired.
So I cant claim for a failed disk
Just to make sure I ran yet another 20 hour Easeus Data Recovery scan of the disk but this only resulted in a very similar result.
Ive never experienced a disk failure like this before, and I wonder if anyone else has? Ive now lost all the data but could accept this if it was just the drive that caused the problem
I also dont know now whether to take a chance and reformat this disk and reinstall it in the Humax or just use it as an external backup drive and purchase another.
Now on to the 320GB drive.
This was the Humax pre-installed one that I had been running in an external caddy without problems for more than a year.
There were 100GB of recordings on this that were visible and playable via USB up to my reinstalling it in the Humax box to replace the above mentioned 1TB drive.
This drive has now worked ok for the last week with new recordings.
However, I can still only see one of the original recordings onscreen as available for playback but the drive still shows as 34% full
So I reinstalled Raydons Media & File Server bundle and immediately. all of the recordings are visible and the SD ones playable in VLC, via W Explorer.
This would be ok if most of them werent HD encrypted. I can also access and edit all of them from the web interface
Using Filezilla, I then copied one of the SD recordings (.ts .hmt .nts) from the Humax to my pc and deleted the files on the 320GB drive. The Usage monitor on the 320GB decreased by the correct amount, so it was deleted.
I then copied them from my pc back to the Humax drive but it still wasnt visible on the Humax
I now accessed the .ts file via Filezilla and ran it through AV2hdr. I deleted the three files on the Humax and replaced them with the three newly created by AV2hdr. Eureka! This recording is now visible and playable directly on the box. This leads me to believe that somehow, the .nts and/or hmt files had become corrupt.
I still cant play the HD encrypted files though as these cant be corrected by AV2hdr
And I still cant understand why the Humax box cant read these files when it appears that theres nothing wrong with them
Im sending a copy of this to Humax to demonstrate to them that the encryption on their pvrs for HD transmitted programmes, whether a UK legal requirement or not, is in many genuine cases, preventing customers from accessing and viewing their own recordings.
I think that Humax should appeal to the EU for a common sense ruling, as does exist in other countries. Humax HDRs arent infallible (neither are the disks in them) and in the event of a major catastrophe, thanks to the third party software freely available because of efforts made by many of this forums members, without the encryption all would not be not lost.