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USB HDD Setup Assistance?

N

Nucleus

Newbie
Hi folks, newbie. After reading various forums for a week or so, took the plunge and got a couple of Miraclebox Mini+ Hybrid cable boxes and got set up fine. Currently using 16Gb USB stick in the rear USB port for EPG. Could someone point us in the right direction for adding USB HDD plz? Have seen a couple of guides (can't post links yet) but still confused. Should add that I realise this box only allows recording of the currently viewed channel.


  • Can we use 500Gb or 1TB?
  • Have no idea of space that will be used by recordings. Eg: A 2 hour 1080 movie? I can only think in terms of x264 encoding and a 1080 movie at 10-12Gb sort of thing (yes I know x264 settings to achieve that are debatable). What sort of space is taken when recording?
  • It has to be mounted and formatted with Linux file system. How?
  • Can I then, instead of using a separate USB stick for EPG and HDD for recording, use the HDD for everything (don’t really want anything sticking out of the front USB port)?
  • What is "Timeshift"?

TIA.
 
In hd i would deffintly go for 500gb at least i recorded a few hours of boxing in hd and that took 25gb mate so its always better to have more space. I use the seagate 500gb from argos think it was £25/30 and had no issue with it. I have my epg, picons,recordings and timeshift all set to hdd so no need for anything in front usb port and timeshift is the ability to pause and rewind the tv as your watching it so say you press pause it will save to your hdd then you have the ability to fastforward and rewind.

Also formating and mounting the hdd is easy and all done from the menus in the box. If you go out and get one today you will have it mounted and ready for use within 5 minutes 10 maximum as you dont no what your doing haha
 
Last edited:
Apologies for the delay in posting back, real life took over for a bit. Bought a 1TB Seagate Expansion USB3 drive from Argos, 45 quid and setup as follows...

Box was running, unplugged 16Gb USB stick from back and plugged in new drive. Initialised:

Menu > Setup > System > Storage Devices > Initialise > (Highlight the drive and press Ok then Red to Initialise)

It took about two minutes and mounted the drive at the end. Restarted box, checked EPG, Recording and Playback, and TimeShfit settings and all is well.

EPG:
Menu > Setup > System > EPG > Settings - EPG Location - /media/hdd/

Recording and Playback:
Menu > Setup > System > Recording and Playback Settings - Default Movie Location - /media/hdd/movie/

Timeshift:
Menu > Setup > System > Recording and Playback Settings - Default Movie Location - /media/hdd/timeshift/

(In each case pressing Green to save if necessary).

Overnight I recorded a HD movie to test, and it worked fine. 112 mins = 9958Mb

Have no idea about Timesfift settings and what they should be? Currently they are:
Timeshift location - /media/hdd/timeshift/
Automatically start Timeshift after - 10 seconds
Show warning when Timeshift is stopped - yes
Timeshift-save action on zap - Ask user
Stop Timeshift while recording? - no
Use Timeshift seekbar while Timeshifting? yes

Any experienced users please feel free to add any tips/tweaks for a newbie. Also have to sort out the front display on the box, noticed while playing back a recording it was constantly flicking between time of day and playback time. Don't need that as I very rarely look at the front panel display.

Have also seen mention of a swap file, cache cleaner plugin etc, is any of this needed and what do they do? Also wondering if like my PC (where I use drive imaging software), it may be worthwhile to get the box setup nice then image it in case of disaster when messing with settings!

Cheers.
 
Thats it mate you got it told you it wasnt hard haha as for the cache flush i do use it just to keep things running smoothly. No you have yourbox set up how you like it make a backup to your hdd or to a fresh usb that way you can always get your box back to this point.
 
usb powered puts a strain on usb port and usb powered hdd dont work 100% as you will have issues,i had 2 on 2 boxes and gave issues,moved to pc now for backup files and replaced with a 2 tb toshiba powered externally one.
there are many posts around forum with issues with usb powered ones.
 
cactikid said:
there are many posts around forum with issues with usb powered ones.
Click to expand...

Great! Just what I need, yet another USB HDD for my PC, I've already got 2TB, 1TB and 2x500Gb ones which I store stuff on! I suppose what you're saying is similar to a USB powered one in my TV's USB media player port? As more is added to the drive, sync problems creep in and playback can start to stutter. Will just have to see how this goes and switch to a powered one. Cheers.
 
Mines been fine used it on few boxes i have mine connected to a usb hub with a extra tunner and had no issues. My box runs fast boots up in under a minute and dosent lag or stutter i might ov just been lucky.
 
dillyp70 said:
Mines been fine used it on few boxes i have mine connected to a usb hub with a extra tunner and had no issues. My box runs fast boots up in under a minute and dosent lag or stutter i might ov just been lucky.
Click to expand...
no idea on that setup but if it works for you good,i know mine not worked on a vu or kodi box plugged in directly to boxlol
and more info on usb hub or usb tuner in use?
 
I know it's off-topic from the thread title, maybe a mod could edit the title to Newbie Questions & USB HDD Setup Assistance?

What is zap/zapping - something to with changing channels quickly? Where/how do I set plugins to install to external drive, can that be done?
 
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