Links please to Sata HDD installation in Azbox Premium+
- Thread starter Achebee
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 8
- Views 3K
Achebee,
You really don't need much information to accomplish this. With the Premium Plus, you simply remove the five screws on the top of the box that retains the little access panel and pop that up with your fingernail or small flat screwdriver. The HDD drive bay is right there and the required cable should already be in place and in reach. With the power OFF, just plug the drive in, drop it into the bay and put the cover back on. Then turn the AZBox ON and it will recognize the drive during its boot-up sequence.
Prior to installation, you should consider formatting the HDD with your PC in FAT32 style. However, you can go into the menus and have the AZBox format it for you in LINUX ext2/3 style. I think that the HDD records and plays back better in LINUX than FAT32 (LINUX allows for larger block sizes). However, if you format in LINUX then you cannot easily pop the HDD out and connect it to a PC with Windows only OS. Not that there is a great need to do so, but in certain instances it can be quite handy. Say for instance you want to make a backup copy of the HDD. It goes a lot faster with a PC than with the AZBox. Of course, if your PC has LINUX OS, then you have no problems with letting the AZBox format it for you.
I have allowed the AZBox to format the HDD in LINUX, but sometimes wish I had tried it first in FAT32. No biggy. Use your own judgement.
A word of caution: Don't upgrade firmware while a HDD is installed and has a lot of files stored on it. Before you upgrade the firmware, power down and disconnect the HDD first. Then go about the upgrade. Plug it back in when finished.
RADAR
You really don't need much information to accomplish this. With the Premium Plus, you simply remove the five screws on the top of the box that retains the little access panel and pop that up with your fingernail or small flat screwdriver. The HDD drive bay is right there and the required cable should already be in place and in reach. With the power OFF, just plug the drive in, drop it into the bay and put the cover back on. Then turn the AZBox ON and it will recognize the drive during its boot-up sequence.
Prior to installation, you should consider formatting the HDD with your PC in FAT32 style. However, you can go into the menus and have the AZBox format it for you in LINUX ext2/3 style. I think that the HDD records and plays back better in LINUX than FAT32 (LINUX allows for larger block sizes). However, if you format in LINUX then you cannot easily pop the HDD out and connect it to a PC with Windows only OS. Not that there is a great need to do so, but in certain instances it can be quite handy. Say for instance you want to make a backup copy of the HDD. It goes a lot faster with a PC than with the AZBox. Of course, if your PC has LINUX OS, then you have no problems with letting the AZBox format it for you.
I have allowed the AZBox to format the HDD in LINUX, but sometimes wish I had tried it first in FAT32. No biggy. Use your own judgement.
A word of caution: Don't upgrade firmware while a HDD is installed and has a lot of files stored on it. Before you upgrade the firmware, power down and disconnect the HDD first. Then go about the upgrade. Plug it back in when finished.
RADAR
can you format a 1 terabyte drive in fat32? i thought that big a drive had to be partitioned. but i have been out of the shop for more than 7 years now so i only know what was then and i am fast forgetting it now anyway. charlie
Charlie,
I am not sure about that. With a Windows OS and FAT32, that may be so. It is not so with the AZBox and Linux as it formatted the whole 1 TB HDD without partitioning it.
RADAR
Thanks Radar, you covered it completely, I use only MACs, I don't have a PC, I am wondering if popping out the HDD is the only way to save larger files i.e. movies to disc??? Before I ordered the SATA I was reading here and a few folks recommended not using a 1TB drive and that they had best luck with 500GB drives so that's what I ordered, I was wondering if I could just transfer data over to one of my 3 TB external drives (Western Digital external) and format the SATA when it was full... and again I am formatted to MAC on my external drives .. I had not really read deeply into the Linux or Fat32 issues...Any ideas?? I believe FAT32 will operate with MAC however I am unclear about that.. and I would like to use the Linux format, as opposed to Fat 32 but not sure what that entails with MAC..I am wondering if just using a USB external WD would be less hassle but again, which format for MAC ?... ?? Getting close, but still not sure here..thanks for the quick reply, HB
i ordered a 1T for the azbox. i am going to format it in the linux by the az box. it should work well that way. if i need to transfer i could do a flash drive. radar, can i hook a usb hard drive driven by usb power to the azbox? i would assume it has to be formatted fat32. charlie
Yes, I have hooked up an external USB HDD to the AZBox and it worked fine. I was able to xfr files that way, but you have to use the FILE MANAGER and it is rather slow.
NOTE to Achebee: I cannot truly answer questions regarding a MAC, unfamiliar territory for me.
RADAR
Last edited:
A Mac should be able to read a Linux drive??? After all, Mac software is written for a Unix kernal much the same as Linux.
FYI people, you can download a Linux Mint ISO image then burn it to a DVD and it runs "Live" from the DVD on almost any computer, including a Mac. That will allow you to access those Linux formated drives with any computer you have and not have to actually install Mint do to it. And another FYI for ya, you can also sometimes recover Windows files from a non-bootable system using that same Linux Mint "Live" DVD by moving them to a flash drive.
FYI people, you can download a Linux Mint ISO image then burn it to a DVD and it runs "Live" from the DVD on almost any computer, including a Mac. That will allow you to access those Linux formated drives with any computer you have and not have to actually install Mint do to it. And another FYI for ya, you can also sometimes recover Windows files from a non-bootable system using that same Linux Mint "Live" DVD by moving them to a flash drive.
Thanks for this information..I found a link here that answers all my read write questions concerning FAT 32 and MAC..This may be helpful to others who have similar questions concerning partitions and compatibility, etc... I am going to dig in and use the FAT32 for now even though it is limited in size and then mess around with others when I have time.. Here is a link to some good info concerning all of this and answering the questions I put forward in this thread...
Thanks again to all for setting me on the path!! HB
Comparison of file systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thanks again to all for setting me on the path!! HB
Comparison of file systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
