JVC DR-MX10SEK Hard Drive Recovery

conductor71 · #1 01-05-2012, 09:06 PM

I previously owned a JVC DR-MX10SEK video recorder and experienced problems from the very start playing DVDs, which I initially blamed on the quality of my DVDs. After a couple of years, I got so frustrated with it that I opened it up and tried to take the DVD drive out to examine it. When I put it all back together again, the machine would not play at all. I just got the message 'Waiting' or 'Loading' (can't remember which) and was never able to use it again. When I changed address last year, I removed the Seagate 160GB hard drive and kept it, but threw away the rest of the machine.

I would now dearly love to be able to recover my TV recordings from that drive, but how?? It is a Seagate U Series 9 160 GB hard drive with the model number ST3160022ACE.

I just purchased a MAGIC BRIDGE Storage Bridge to connect the Seagate drive to my PC via the USB port. However, it was not recognised in Windows Explorer. I then went into 'Computer Management' and it showed up in 'Device Manager' - 'Disk Drives' but when I looked for it in 'Disk Management', Disk 1 was listed as offline and there was no information viewable about the Seagate drive. I consulted the Seagate website for a solution but the only advice I could find was that the drive needed to be formatted.

Obviously I do not intend to to do that as I am trying to recover data from the drive with the intention of moving it onto my PC.

Can it be done and if so, how? (in non-Geek language if possible!)

Jerry.

kpmedia · #2 01-10-2012, 07:24 AM

Unfortunately, that probably cannot be done.

Most specialty devices, including DVD recorders and DVRs/TiVos, use a proprietary file system for storing data on the hard drives. I've never dismantled a JVC HDD recorder, so I cannot say for certain what FS is in use on the drive. It certainly won't be possible on a Windows computer, because Windows has a very narrow and limited comprehension of files systems, mostly limited to FAT16/32, NTFS and exFAT. At best, the JVC recorder may have a Linux FS in use. You'd want to connect it to a computer running Ubuntu. There's a slight chance a Mac would see the drive, too, since OS X is the Darwin distribution of Linux. (Ubuntu is still better for data recover, however.)

None of this will be non-geeky. In fact, this is probably one of the geekiest tasks you'd ever do on a computer.

And it has probably a 50/50 success rate, with us not knowing the FS of the JVC drives.

conductor71 · #3 01-11-2012, 06:24 AM

Thanks for replying, although the news wasn't as good as I hoped. All my computers are running Windows. For what it's worth, I still have the DR MX10SEK instructions and it says the video recording compression system on the hard drive is MPEG2 (VBR). However, I am quite sure that is not the same thing as the proprietary file system you are referring to here, otherwise you would know what it was.

I now have a Humax Foxsat-HDR digital television recorder for Freesat and was wondering what would happen if I used the Magic Bridge to try to connect this JVC external hard drive via the Humax USB slot- whether there is a possibility of damaging the JVC hard drive in the process, and the chances of its contents being successfully detected by the Humax. I guess I am now venturing into the realms of future external back-up drives for my Humax, although in this particular example I am still hoping to back-up the external JVC drive until such time as I feel the data just can't be recovered, in which case it could maybe act as a back-up drive if it is not damaged.

I suppose that if I re-purchased another JVC MX10SEK, I might be able to connect my own hard drive to it and maybe it would recognise it? However, I recall that it was quite a tricky procedure removing the hard drive from the old machine so it may not be something that I will actively consider doing, as there is always the possibility that I damaged the hard drive in the process of taking it out and then moving house with it, although it is thankfully not making any clicking sounds when I connect it to my PC.

lordsmurf · #4 01-17-2012, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by conductor71

it says the video recording compression system on the hard drive is MPEG2 (VBR). However, I am quite sure that is not the same thing as the proprietary file system you are referring to here, otherwise you would know what it was.

MPEG-2 is the format of the video encoding.
It's completely separate from the file system, which is the format for how data is stored on the physical drive.

Quote:

wondering what would happen if I used the Magic Bridge to try to connect this JVC external hard drive via the Humax USB slot-

Like the JVC, it may have a proprietary file system, too. I don't know enough about the Humax off-hand to specify one way or the other. Research would be required.

Quote:

whether there is a possibility of damaging the JVC hard drive in the process,

There's always a chance of damage any time a hard drive is handled, moved between hardware, or powered up/down in any way. Chances can be slim, but the possibility is always there. And this is regardless of whether its in a computer, in a video device, etc.

Quote:

and the chances of its contents being successfully detected by the Humax.

I doubt it. Sure, try it, see what happens. You never know what may happen.

Quote:

I guess I am now venturing into the realms of future external back-up drives for my Humax

I'll be glad to help you spec out some drives. Just start a new thread in the Home Entertainment and Videography subforum, and we'll give you some suggestions on reliable drives, at reasonable prices, and from which stores you should look to buy them (online, rarely brick-and-mortar).

Quote:

I suppose that if I re-purchased another JVC MX10SEK, I might be able to connect my own hard drive to it and maybe it would recognise it?

This is very likely, yes.

Quote:

However, I recall that it was quite a tricky procedure removing the hard drive from the old machine so it may not be something that I will actively consider doing, as there is always the possibility that I damaged the hard drive in the process of taking it out and then moving house with it

Regardless of what you do, you'll have to handle the drive, if you ever hope to recover the data. The Linux computer method would work. This could be done with a Linux boot CD/DVD, too -- you don't have to erase your Windows computers. There are also external $10 gadgets that let you turn an internal hard drive into a USB2 drive, which may help for connecting to a computer.

Quote:

although it is thankfully not making any clicking sounds when I connect it to my PC.

This is good.