Freeware to inspect hard drive

[Daniel Prince]

I need a good Windows XP freeware program to inspect my 2tb SATA
hard drive. Computer Management says that it has a 232.88 gb
partition which is healthy and active but when I try to explore it
Windows says that it is not formatted. I think the partition has
files on it from my Tivx DVR. I would like to save those files if I
can. Thank you in advance for all replies.

 

[Rod Speed]

I need a good Windows XP freeware program to inspect my
2tb SATA hard drive. Computer Management says that it has
a 232.88 gb partition which is healthy and active but when I try
to explore it Windows says that it is not formatted. I think the
partition has files on it from my Tivx DVR. I would like to save
those files if I can.

Its generally simplest to use a linux live CD to look at the drive.

Thank you in advance for all replies.

Even ones that tell you to shove your head up a dead bear's arse ?

Funky...

 

[Franc Zabkar]

I need a good Windows XP freeware program to inspect my 2tb SATA
hard drive. Computer Management says that it has a 232.88 gb
partition which is healthy and active but when I try to explore it
Windows says that it is not formatted. I think the partition has
files on it from my Tivx DVR. I would like to save those files if I
can.

A lot of DVRs use a proprietary file system (or embedded Linux), and
the data is often encrypted, for DRM reasons.

Could we see the partition table and boot sector(s) with Microsoft's
Sector Inspector?
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/SecInspect.zip

Extract the above archive to the one folder and execute the SIrun.bat
file. The procedure will generate a report file named SIout.txt.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Daniel Prince]

Could we see the partition table and boot sector(s) with Microsoft's
Sector Inspector?

===========================================================================
Target - \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE2
243201 Cylinders
255 Heads
63 Sectors Per Track
512 BytesPerSector
12 MediaType

===========================================================================
Master Boot Record
===========================================================================
| B | FS TYPE | START | END | | |
| F | (hex) | C H S| C H S| RELATIVE | TOTAL |
===========================================================================
| * | 04 | 0 0 1|1023 254 63| 0| 488378646|
| | 00 | 0 0 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0|
| | 00 | 0 0 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0|
| | 00 | 0 0 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0|
===========================================================================
Disk Signature 0x00000001



LBN 0 [C 0, H 0, S 1]

0x0000 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20-20 20 20 00 10 01 00 00 ?R?NTFS
.....
0x0010 00 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00-3f 00 ff 00 00 00 00 00
......?..?.?.....
0x0020 00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00-15 11 1c 1d 00 00 00 00
.....?.?.....
0x0030 00 00 0c 00 00 00 00 00-02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
.................
0x0040 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00-21 50 7c 68 5b 7c 68 42
.........!P|h[|hB
0x0050 00 00 00 00 fa 33 c0 8e-d0 bc 00 7c fb 68 c0 07
.....?3????.|?h?.
0x0060 1f 1e 68 66 00 cb 88 16-0e 00 66 81 3e 03 00 4e
hf.??..f?>..N
0x0070 54 46 53 75 15 b4 41 bb-aa 55 cd 13 72 0c 81 fb
TFSu?A??U?r.??
0x0080 55 aa 75 06 f7 c1 01 00-75 03 e9 dd 00 1e 83 ec
U?u.??..u.??.??
0x0090 18 68 1a 00 b4 48 8a 16-0e 00 8b f4 16 1f cd 13
h.?H?..???
0x00a0 9f 83 c4 18 9e 58 1f 72-e1 3b 06 0b 00 75 db a3
????Xr?;...u??
0x00b0 0f 00 c1 2e 0f 00 04 1e-5a 33 db b9 00 20 2b c8
...?....Z3??. +?
0x00c0 66 ff 06 11 00 03 16 0f-00 8e c2 ff 06 16 00 e8
f?.....???..?
0x00d0 4b 00 2b c8 77 ef b8 00-bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 2d
K.+?w??.??f#?u-
0x00e0 66 81 fb 54 43 50 41 75-24 81 f9 02 01 72 1e 16
f??TCPAu$??..r
0x00f0 68 07 bb 16 68 70 0e 16-68 09 00 66 53 66 53 66
h.?hp.h..fSfSf
0x0100 55 16 16 16 68 b8 01 66-61 0e 07 cd 1a 33 c0 bf
Uh?.fa..?3??
0x0110 28 10 b9 d8 0f fc f3 aa-e9 5f 01 90 90 66 60 1e
(??.????_.??f`
0x0120 06 66 a1 11 00 66 03 06-1c 00 1e 66 68 00 00 00
..f?.f...fh...
0x0130 00 66 50 06 53 68 01 00-68 10 00 b4 42 8a 16 0e
..fP.Sh..h.?B?.
0x0140 00 16 1f 8b f4 cd 13 66-59 5b 5a 66 59 66 59 1f
..???fY[ZfYfY
0x0150 0f 82 16 00 66 ff 06 11-00 03 16 0f 00 8e c2 ff
..?.f?.....???
0x0160 0e 16 00 75 bc 07 1f 66-61 c3 a0 f8 01 e8 09 00
...u?.fa???.?..
0x0170 a0 fb 01 e8 03 00 f4 eb-fd b4 01 8b f0 ac 3c 00
??.?..????.???<.
0x0180 74 09 b4 0e bb 07 00 cd-10 eb f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20
t.?.?..????..A
0x0190 64 69 73 6b 20 72 65 61-64 20 65 72 72 6f 72 20 disk read
error
0x01a0 6f 63 63 75 72 72 65 64-00 0d 0a 42 4f 4f 54 4d
occurred...BOOTM
0x01b0 47 52 20 69 73 20 6d 69-01 00 00 00 67 00 80 00 GR is
mi....g.?.
0x01c0 01 00 04 fe ff ff 00 00-00 00 16 11 1c 1d 00 00
....???......
0x01d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
.................
0x01e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
.................
0x01f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa
...............U?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Primary Partition 1
FAT BIOS Parameter Block Information

BytesPerSector : 4096
Sectors Per Cluster : 1
ReservedSectors : 0
Fats : 0
RootEntries : 0
Small Sectors : 0 ( 0 MB )
Media Type : 248 ( 0xf8 )
SectorsPerFat : 0
SectorsPerTrack : 63
Heads : 255
Hidden Sectors : 0
Large Sectors : 0 ( 0 MB )

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

LBN 0 [C 0, H 0, S 1]

0x0000 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20-20 20 20 00 10 01 00 00 ?R?NTFS
.....
0x0010 00 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00-3f 00 ff 00 00 00 00 00
......?..?.?.....
0x0020 00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00-15 11 1c 1d 00 00 00 00
.....?.?.....
0x0030 00 00 0c 00 00 00 00 00-02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
.................
0x0040 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00-21 50 7c 68 5b 7c 68 42
.........!P|h[|hB
0x0050 00 00 00 00 fa 33 c0 8e-d0 bc 00 7c fb 68 c0 07
.....?3????.|?h?.
0x0060 1f 1e 68 66 00 cb 88 16-0e 00 66 81 3e 03 00 4e
hf.??..f?>..N
0x0070 54 46 53 75 15 b4 41 bb-aa 55 cd 13 72 0c 81 fb
TFSu?A??U?r.??
0x0080 55 aa 75 06 f7 c1 01 00-75 03 e9 dd 00 1e 83 ec
U?u.??..u.??.??
0x0090 18 68 1a 00 b4 48 8a 16-0e 00 8b f4 16 1f cd 13
h.?H?..???
0x00a0 9f 83 c4 18 9e 58 1f 72-e1 3b 06 0b 00 75 db a3
????Xr?;...u??
0x00b0 0f 00 c1 2e 0f 00 04 1e-5a 33 db b9 00 20 2b c8
...?....Z3??. +?
0x00c0 66 ff 06 11 00 03 16 0f-00 8e c2 ff 06 16 00 e8
f?.....???..?
0x00d0 4b 00 2b c8 77 ef b8 00-bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 2d
K.+?w??.??f#?u-
0x00e0 66 81 fb 54 43 50 41 75-24 81 f9 02 01 72 1e 16
f??TCPAu$??..r
0x00f0 68 07 bb 16 68 70 0e 16-68 09 00 66 53 66 53 66
h.?hp.h..fSfSf
0x0100 55 16 16 16 68 b8 01 66-61 0e 07 cd 1a 33 c0 bf
Uh?.fa..?3??
0x0110 28 10 b9 d8 0f fc f3 aa-e9 5f 01 90 90 66 60 1e
(??.????_.??f`
0x0120 06 66 a1 11 00 66 03 06-1c 00 1e 66 68 00 00 00
..f?.f...fh...
0x0130 00 66 50 06 53 68 01 00-68 10 00 b4 42 8a 16 0e
..fP.Sh..h.?B?.
0x0140 00 16 1f 8b f4 cd 13 66-59 5b 5a 66 59 66 59 1f
..???fY[ZfYfY
0x0150 0f 82 16 00 66 ff 06 11-00 03 16 0f 00 8e c2 ff
..?.f?.....???
0x0160 0e 16 00 75 bc 07 1f 66-61 c3 a0 f8 01 e8 09 00
...u?.fa???.?..
0x0170 a0 fb 01 e8 03 00 f4 eb-fd b4 01 8b f0 ac 3c 00
??.?..????.???<.
0x0180 74 09 b4 0e bb 07 00 cd-10 eb f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20
t.?.?..????..A
0x0190 64 69 73 6b 20 72 65 61-64 20 65 72 72 6f 72 20 disk read
error
0x01a0 6f 63 63 75 72 72 65 64-00 0d 0a 42 4f 4f 54 4d
occurred...BOOTM
0x01b0 47 52 20 69 73 20 6d 69-01 00 00 00 67 00 80 00 GR is
mi....g.?.
0x01c0 01 00 04 fe ff ff 00 00-00 00 16 11 1c 1d 00 00
....???......
0x01d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
.................
0x01e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
.................
0x01f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa
...............U?

 

[Franc Zabkar]

===========================================================================
Master Boot Record
===========================================================================
| B | FS TYPE | START | END | | |
| F | (hex) | C H S| C H S| RELATIVE | TOTAL |
===========================================================================
| * | 04 | 0 0 1|1023 254 63| 0| 488378646|
| | 00 | 0 0 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0|
| | 00 | 0 0 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0|
| | 00 | 0 0 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0|
===========================================================================

The drive is an Advanced Format model with a physical sector size of
4KB. Your partition table has a single entry with a size of 488378646
LBAs.

Windows XP is assuming that the sector size is 512 bytes, in which
case it thinks that the size of the volume is ...

488378646 x 512 = 250 049 866 752 bytes = 232.9 GiB

The actual size is ...

488378646 x 512 = 2 000 398 934 016 bytes

Furthermore, this file system is unusual in that there is an "NTFS"
signature, yet the partition ID is FAT16 (0x04).

Partition types: List of partition identifiers for PCs:
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html

Even more unusual is the fact that the partition table points to LBA 0
as the starting sector for the logical volume, ie the boot sector and
MBR are one and the same. This is the reason that Sector Inspector's
report duplicates this sector. The usual regime places the boot sector
at LBA 63 or LBA 2048.

000 eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20-20 20 20 00 10 01 00 00 ?R?NTFS ....
010 00 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00-3f 00 ff 00 00 00 00 00 .....?..?.?.....
020 00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00-15 11 1c 1d 00 00 00 00 ....?.?.....
030 00 00 0c 00 00 00 00 00-02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
040 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00-21 50 7c 68 5b 7c 68 42 ........!P|h[|hB
050 00 00 00 00 fa 33 c0 8e-d0 bc 00 7c fb 68 c0 07 ....?3????.|?h?.
060 1f 1e 68 66 00 cb 88 16-0e 00 66 81 3e 03 00 4e hf.??..f?>..N
070 54 46 53 75 15 b4 41 bb-aa 55 cd 13 72 0c 81 fb TFSu?A??U?r.??
080 55 aa 75 06 f7 c1 01 00-75 03 e9 dd 00 1e 83 ec U?u.??..u.??.??
090 18 68 1a 00 b4 48 8a 16-0e 00 8b f4 16 1f cd 13 h.?H?..???
0a0 9f 83 c4 18 9e 58 1f 72-e1 3b 06 0b 00 75 db a3 ????Xr?;...u??
0b0 0f 00 c1 2e 0f 00 04 1e-5a 33 db b9 00 20 2b c8 ..?....Z3??. +?
0c0 66 ff 06 11 00 03 16 0f-00 8e c2 ff 06 16 00 e8 f?.....???..?
0d0 4b 00 2b c8 77 ef b8 00-bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 2d K.+?w??.??f#?u-
0e0 66 81 fb 54 43 50 41 75-24 81 f9 02 01 72 1e 16 f??TCPAu$??..r
0f0 68 07 bb 16 68 70 0e 16-68 09 00 66 53 66 53 66 h.?hp.h..fSfSf
100 55 16 16 16 68 b8 01 66-61 0e 07 cd 1a 33 c0 bf Uh?.fa..?3??
110 28 10 b9 d8 0f fc f3 aa-e9 5f 01 90 90 66 60 1e (??.????_.??f`
120 06 66 a1 11 00 66 03 06-1c 00 1e 66 68 00 00 00 .f?.f...fh...
130 00 66 50 06 53 68 01 00-68 10 00 b4 42 8a 16 0e .fP.Sh..h.?B?.
140 00 16 1f 8b f4 cd 13 66-59 5b 5a 66 59 66 59 1f .???fY[ZfYfY
150 0f 82 16 00 66 ff 06 11-00 03 16 0f 00 8e c2 ff .?.f?.....???
160 0e 16 00 75 bc 07 1f 66-61 c3 a0 f8 01 e8 09 00 ..u?.fa???.?..
170 a0 fb 01 e8 03 00 f4 eb-fd b4 01 8b f0 ac 3c 00 ??.?..????.???<.
180 74 09 b4 0e bb 07 00 cd-10 eb f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20 t.?.?..????..A
190 64 69 73 6b 20 72 65 61-64 20 65 72 72 6f 72 20 disk read error
1a0 6f 63 63 75 72 72 65 64-00 0d 0a 42 4f 4f 54 4d occurred...BOOTM
1b0 47 52 20 69 73 20 6d 69-01 00 00 00 67 00 80 00 GR is mi....g.?.
1c0 01 00 04 fe ff ff 00 00-00 00 16 11 1c 1d 00 00 ...???......
1d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00-00 00 00 00 00 00 55 aa ..............U?

I recommend the following resource for analysing boot sectors and
MBRs:

NTFS Volume Boot Record Of Win2K & Win XP:
http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/NTFSBR.htm

The section from 0x000 to 0x053 corresponds to a valid NTFS volume.

I believe that you may be able to access your data if you edit the
partition table (offset 0x1C2) so that the partition ID byte is 07
(=NTFS) rather than 04. Then install the drive in a Vista or Windows 7
system, or install it in a USB enclosure that uses 4KB LBAs rather
than 512-bytes, in which case Win XP will be able to access it.
Western Digital and Seagate 3TB external drives do it this way in
order to maintain compatibility with Win XP.

You could also trying mounting the drive using Linux or DMDE (after
editing the partition ID).

DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery (Free Edition):
http://softdm.com/download.html

That said, we still don't know if the data are encrypted.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Daniel Prince]

I believe that you may be able to access your data if you edit the
partition table (offset 0x1C2) so that the partition ID byte is 07
(=NTFS) rather than 04. Then install the drive in a Vista or Windows 7
system, or install it in a USB enclosure that uses 4KB LBAs rather
than 512-bytes, in which case Win XP will be able to access it.

I have this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200759330814

USB docking station. How can I tell if it 4KB LBAs?

I have decided to buy a second USB docking station. Do you know of
one that uses 4KB LBAs? I want one with two SATA slots.

 

[Daniel Prince]

The drive is an Advanced Format model with a physical sector size of
4KB. Your partition table has a single entry with a size of 488378646
LBAs.

Windows XP is assuming that the sector size is 512 bytes, in which
case it thinks that the size of the volume is ...

488378646 x 512 = 250 049 866 752 bytes = 232.9 GiB

The actual size is ...

488378646 x 512 = 2 000 398 934 016 bytes

Furthermore, this file system is unusual in that there is an "NTFS"
signature, yet the partition ID is FAT16 (0x04).

Partition types: List of partition identifiers for PCs:
http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html

Even more unusual is the fact that the partition table points to LBA 0
as the starting sector for the logical volume, ie the boot sector and
MBR are one and the same. This is the reason that Sector Inspector's
report duplicates this sector. The usual regime places the boot sector
at LBA 63 or LBA 2048.

I was using this drive with Windows XP Home SP3. It worked
correctly but was rather slow because it is a Western Digital Green
drive. I bought a Tivx DVR so I decided to buy a Hitachi 7200 rpm
for my PC and use the Western Digital Green drive in the DVR.

After I installed the Hitachi in my PC, my brother said that he
should reformat the WD in his Windows 7 PC. (He had also bought a
Tivx and had already set it up.)

After my brother formatted the drive, it seemed to work correctly.
Later I discovered that after the drive reached just 87 percent
free, it stopped recording but it did not give an error message. The
DVR turned on and the display said that it was recording. (It was
pretending to record.)

For several weeks, I could get it to actually record programs by
keeping the drive at more than 87 percent free. Recently, all my
programs disappeared and the check disk function of the Tivx said
that the drive had failed.

I bought a Samsung 2tb 5400 drive. My brother formatted it on his
Windows 7 PC. It recorded just ONE HOUR before it started
pretending to record. We tried the Samsung in his Tivx DVR and it
did the same thing.

I tried to reformat the Samsung in my SATA drive dock. I got an
error message saying that the format had failed. When I did a quick
format, I got the message right a way. When I did a full format, it
took about 30 hours. After it got to 99 percent finished, I got the
format had failed message again.

I have not yet run Microsoft's Sector Inspector on the Samsung
because my brother is doing a full format with the drive installed
in his Windows 7 computer.

I think my brother's Tivx is running correctly. Do you have any
idea why my WD drive got formatted in such a weird way? If the
format my brother is doing on the Samsung fails, do you have any
suggestions as to how we can format the drive?

 

[Franc Zabkar]

I have this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200759330814

USB docking station. How can I tell if it 4KB LBAs?

I have decided to buy a second USB docking station. Do you know of
one that uses 4KB LBAs? I want one with two SATA slots.

I'm sorry, I can't answer either question.

As for your Tivx, do you have a link to a user manual?

Is the Tivx capable of preparing a blank drive using its own built-in
functions? Does it have a USB interface that allows a host OS to
prepare the drive in-situ?

Sector 0 appears to be a Win 7 boot sector:
http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/W7VBR.htm

The tail end has been replaced with a FAT16 partition table, probably
by the Tivx box.

Why are you using Win 7 to format the drives externally?

Your current "87%" problem is sounding like there is some confusion
regarding sector sizes. If the figure is in fact 87.5%, then this
would suggest that only 1/8th of the drive is accessible.

4096 = 512 x 8 ...

ISTM that another Sector Inspector report may clear this up.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Daniel Prince]

I believe that you may be able to access your data if you edit the
partition table (offset 0x1C2) so that the partition ID byte is 07
(=NTFS) rather than 04. Then install the drive in a Vista or Windows 7
system, or install it in a USB enclosure that uses 4KB LBAs rather
than 512-bytes, in which case Win XP will be able to access it.
Western Digital and Seagate 3TB external drives do it this way in
order to maintain compatibility with Win XP.

DM Disk Editor and Data Recovery (Free Edition):
http://softdm.com/download.html

I used the disk editor and changed the 04 to 07. The report from
Microsoft's Sector Inspector is the same except for these added
lines:


Partition #1 NTFS backup boot sector at LBN 488378645.

ClustersPerFRS : 1
Clust/IndxAllocBuf : 1
NumberSectors : 488378645 ( 1.90773e+006 MB )
MftStartLcn : 786432
Mft2StartLcn : 2
SerialNumber : 4785211336117997601
Checksum : 0 (0x0)

Disk Management and Aomei Partition Assistant 4.0
http://www.extend-partition.com/ both say that the drive has a
232.88 gig unformatted partition (primary and active) and a 1630.14
gig unallocated space (logical with a status of none). This is when
it is connected to my SATA dock. I have not yet connected it to a
Windows 7 system.

 

[Franc Zabkar]

I used the disk editor and changed the 04 to 07. The report from
Microsoft's Sector Inspector is the same except for these added
lines:


Partition #1 NTFS backup boot sector at LBN 488378645.

ClustersPerFRS : 1
Clust/IndxAllocBuf : 1
NumberSectors : 488378645 ( 1.90773e+006 MB )
MftStartLcn : 786432
Mft2StartLcn : 2
SerialNumber : 4785211336117997601
Checksum : 0 (0x0)

Disk Management and Aomei Partition Assistant 4.0
http://www.extend-partition.com/ both say that the drive has a
232.88 gig unformatted partition (primary and active) and a 1630.14
gig unallocated space (logical with a status of none). This is when
it is connected to my SATA dock. I have not yet connected it to a
Windows 7 system.

Your new information, namely that you formatted the drive in your PC
using Windows 7, complicates things immensely. I think it would be
safest to return the partition ID byte to its original state, ie 0x04,
otherwise the Tivx box (whatever it is) may not like it. Something
created the partition table, and it wasn't Win 7. Perhaps you should
reconfigure the Tivx box using a zero-filled HDD, and then allow the
Tivx to prepare it. That will eliminate the Win7 obfuscation.

As for the latest Sector Inspector report, this time the NTFS
information is being correctly interpreted, but the question now is,
is this information used by the Tivx box, or is it a remnant from Win
7's formatting?

A user manual might help, otherwise there is not enough information,
at least not for me.

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Daniel Prince]

Your new information, namely that you formatted the drive in your PC
using Windows 7, complicates things immensely. I think it would be
safest to return the partition ID byte to its original state, ie 0x04,
otherwise the Tivx box (whatever it is) may not like it. Something
created the partition table, and it wasn't Win 7. Perhaps you should
reconfigure the Tivx box using a zero-filled HDD, and then allow the
Tivx to prepare it. That will eliminate the Win7 obfuscation.

After I changed the 04 to 07 I put the drive back into the TVIX (I
had it wrong before when I called it "Tvix") unit and the recordings
that had disappeared were back.

A user manual might help, otherwise there is not enough information,
at least not for me.

I found the user's manual. The manual says that the TVIX will
automatically format a drive but I could not get it to do that. My
brother says that he had trouble getting his TVIX to format his
drive but that it finally did it after he went to the RECORD LIST
menu.

http://www.tvix.co.kr/ENG/download/default.aspx?pGroup=TViX PVR&act=RD&pSerial=38&cat=MANUAL

 

[Franc Zabkar]

After I changed the 04 to 07 I put the drive back into the TVIX (I
had it wrong before when I called it "Tvix") unit and the recordings
that had disappeared were back.

That's good to hear. But that begs the question, who or what modified
the partition table?

I found the user's manual. The manual says that the TVIX will
automatically format a drive but I could not get it to do that. My
brother says that he had trouble getting his TVIX to format his
drive but that it finally did it after he went to the RECORD LIST
menu.

http://www.tvix.co.kr/ENG/download/default.aspx?pGroup=TViX PVR&act=RD&pSerial=38&cat=MANUAL

Page 71 states that you can prepare and format the external drive via
USB just like any USB mass storage device. You can also transfer
recorded programs to and from the TVIX.

Elsewhere it states that "the first partition of the internal hard
disk must use the NTFS format. FAT32 format can cause an error
message."

Also, "you cannot use the DTV time-shifting on FAT32 partitions, so we
recommend that you format your SATA HDD to NTFS."

- Franc Zabkar