how to make copy of hard drive from HD recorder?

[starlooker]

Hi folks. :-!

A mate of mine took the drive out of his HD recorder(sits on top of his TV) and plugged it into this computer, but he can't copy the movies from the drive to his computer.

I am going out to his place tomorrow to have a look. Before I do that, I'd thought I'd ask here to see if it is even possible?

He's not very computer literate, so he can't tell me if Windows can even see that a new drive is connected to the computer. I don't think the HD recorder uses Windows XP, so therefore his computer wouldn't be able to recognise the drive, right?

Thanks in advance! :-!

EDIT: I think the HD recorder may also known as a digital setop box recorder.

[Barrykgerdes]

If you can find a program that will read the format on the HD HDD let us know. I have tried but could not read them.

An inspection of the disk showed the tracks were used but I had nothing that would decypher it.

I had a similar problem with an LG VCR/DVD that could copy a VCR onto a DVD. My computer could not find any thing on the disk but disk analysis showed three tracks in use and most of the disk used. The disk plays perfectly in the LG DVD tray.

Barry

[snowyskiesau]

What brand of set top box is it?

I have a Topfield STB and there are tools to read the data from the HDD and convert it to a format suitable to put on a DVD.

[mithrandir]

My PVR runs Linux. That would mean the disk could be in ext2 format, and there is an ext2 driver for Windoze.

[kustard]

As others have mentioned, if you know what O/S the system is using (most likely an embedded linux or some 3rd party proprietary O/S) then you may be able to find some tools that will allow you to mount the drive onto a windows box. More likely though you'll find the system unreadable as they often use encryption in order to prevent unlawful copying.

[mswhin63]

I use a STB that has a USB port for external hard drive. I use a disk caddy to copy on and can remove it for storage.

Actually i would love to copy all the DVD I have onto HDD and store them. A lot less space.