Move data HDD to Raspberry Pi without reformatting?

Channels DVR Server
#1

I am wanting to move my Channels DVR server to a Raspberry Pi 4b. From everything that I have read, it will do the job well. But I need to make sure that I do not lose my recodings. I do not have a spare drive large enough to copy my recordings to, so I will need to use the drive as it is.

After I install the Channels DVR software to the micro SD card, can I put my existing HDD in a powered external enclosure and plug it into the Raspberry Pi and use it as is without reformatting?

I will be switching from the micro SD card to a bootable SSD once I have proven that it will work properly. The SSD is currently the boot drive for my Windows 7 Channels DVR and I do not have the Windows 7 install disk, so once I remove Windows from the drive, I cannot go back.

#2

Yes

You will need to complete setup, then uncheck DVR checkbox and visit http://x:8089/restore to select your old drive and restore from backup.

#3

Thank you. I will do it this weekend and report back.

#4

I did this moving my DVR from my Mac to a dedicated Pi. Works great. Just follow the restore directions, and make sure your storage path is pointing to the DVR folder, probably in /media/pi/dvr or mnt/ depending on how you set it up. I set mine up with the GUI, but you really don't need that for this.

#5

This dose work great. I set up the rpi4 image on a 60gb ssd drive then plugged in a 6tb usb3 drive i was using with windows. Changed the DVR path to the DVR directory on the new drive did the restore and all tuners and recordings were there.

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#6

I made the swap today and it did not go as well as I would have liked. For some reason, my data drive was partitioned in GPT and the Raspberry Pi would not read it. My Mac would not read it either, so I took it to my work (Windows PC) and could not read it. I ended up reformatting it and starting from scratch. Oh well.

On a side note, I used the Channels DVR image. Do I still need to install Chromium to be able to use TVE? Or was it included in the image? How do I get TVE?

#7

TVE is setup automatically

#8

Ok, thanks. I don't see how to put in my credentials. I use TVE for Philo, but don't know how to sign in.

#9

Same way as before. Click Add Source then click TV Everywhere.

#10

Thanks, that worked. I'm not sure how I missed that. It has been a long day. Thanks again for your fast response. Have a great day.

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#11

I am setting up a Pi4 today. Can the Micro slot be used on the Pi? Or, do I have to use the USB to load the Server?

Also, does the Server image need to be inserted all the time?

I have an existing DVR from my iMac on a HD, so I will just be moving the drive.

#12

You have to use USB, and yes the server image has to be attached at all times.

#13

Thank you

#14

Why does the sever have to be used and booted via usb and not the internal SD card that all other OSs one uses on a Pi works from?

#15

Because running off USB is more stable and performant and that's what our image is optimized for.

If you want to do things differently you can simply install Raspbian or Ubuntu as you wish and install the normal linux dvr build.

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#16

Really? I thought the sd card slot would be the fastest as it meant to be the main flash memory for the device. I have a Samsung SD card that reads and writes at about 100MB's which is about the speed of a typical platter HDD.
A USB 3.0 flash drive in of itself can get faster read and write speeds, sure, but, real world, is it that much a difference to see any noticeable performance gain? I thought i read that the pi it self is not powerful enough to even max out usb 3.0 buss speed.
I read about some thing about how to boot the pi from usb, via fw update, but the thing updates auto via the Pi os i read. so I have current firmware, but it only boots to the sd card. it does not seem to have a BIOS or Boot selection menu like the pcs i have used do. so not sure how to get it to boot to a usb.

#17

It should check first for a bootable USB and boot it if it exists. If no bootable USB, then should fall back to a bootable SD card if present.

#18

I think another thing they considered is that SD cards have a limited lifespan and tend to fail much faster than HDDs.

#19

SD cards were designed to store photos and music. They're not meant to run an OS full time. See for instance: https://www.maketecheasier.com/sd-card-vs-ssd/

The number one problem you will find on any Pi related project is from users complaining their SD card died after a while.

This is not true for the Pi 4.

See our documentation: https://getchannels.com/docs/channels-dvr-server/installation/raspberry-pi/#prepare-your-raspberry-pi-for-usb-boot

#20

.....
Good quality flash memory cards last long time in my experience. I have had the same SD card used as internal storage in various Android phones and devices for many years, and have stash of old slower cards that still function fine. There are even professional diagnostics OS bootable usb sticks that use a MicroSD card as its flash memory. PCDoctor is one. That i have used for many years dozens a time each day for years. still works fine. that article is also a bit outdated. from 2017. flash memory has evolved and improved alot since then.

I also have 2 samsung SD cards in my 2 dash cams. they are 6yrs old. and have seen heavy constant read/writting, as with any dvr, and that extreme condition has not caused any less life of the cards. The Samsung chips the Pro models have a 10yr warranty even, so they build them to last.
On the other hand, i have tossed out hundreds of various brands of dead failed usb flash drives over the years. we used them as diag tool kits at my work, and they lasted about 4 months before they failed due to usage. moved over to the sd based ones, still work years later.
......
Anyway, about the pi, and trying to get the Channels image to boot for me, as i said, i have the most recent eeprom version, and it will not boot to a bootable usb. I have tried a few live linux distros, even the pi os image flashed to a usb stick. it just boots to no sd card found screen. is there a boot selection menu, like a F# key i need to press to get to that to select usb boot?? (did not mean to hijack this thread but seeing it pop up gave me the idea to try out channels on the pi as well as i did not know i supported usb stick boot)
(I am new to Pi and it seems it does not really work the same as other PCs i have used.)