A DVR unit records TV programs on an external USB drive, providing that the drive is in EXT2 or EXT3 format. No other format is acceptable.
I'd like to view these files which are about 1GB each.
How does one mount such format on a MacBookPro in order to view the files? Tried two programs, and there was no success.
John Lockwood:
You are so correct re: Paragon working well. I copied the files off the drive, used the Mac instead of the external tuner to re-format the drive EXT3, and then copied back the files. Now all is fine. It plays on the tuner, as well as mounts and unmounts quickly from the Mac using the EXT system pref pane.
Also there was one small file which would not Finder copy, so deleted that.
The Mac does not support Ext formatted disks as standard but there is a third-party tool to add this capability. See - https://www.paragon-software.com/home/extfs-mac/
It says it supports Ext2, Ext3, and Ext4.
Paragon have a long and reputable history of producing tools to do this sort of thing on a Mac.
Tried that. Did not work. Any other suggestions?
Works for me. Did you restart after installing ExtFS?
Here is why it failed, and others have reported the same error
FWIW, it is possible that there is some kind of protection scheme preventing the drive from being read. It may only work while connected to the DVR. Unless it's explicitly stated you can read the files on a PC.
It is listed as being El Capitan compatible which means it should be both compatible with SIP and Gatekeeper security features of El Capitan. Did you download the latest version or use an old copy previously download?
Perhaps Paragon have been a bit silly and left an old non El Capitan trial version on their site and the version you actually buy is the latest. I have seen this before by developers. Might be worth contacting them regarding that.
You could in theory temporarily turn off SIP protection but to do this for a trial should not be necessary.
FWIW John, the Title is asking about OSX 10.8-10.10. I guess the OP could be running 10.11.
Yes, dialabrain. Sorry. I have MacBookPro's at each OS starting with 10.8 going to 10.11 . Yes, the laptop was restarted. The manufacturer of the DVR indicated it a standard unprotected EXT2 file structure on the external USB storage device.
On which MacOS have you found this program to work properly?
No need to be sorry. 😎
So here's what I tried. I formatted a 128GB USB 3.0 flash drive on my Linux box as Ext2. Plugged it into my iMac with 10.11.6 installed along with Paragon ExtFS v10.0.751 and it mounted and I can read and write to it. Don't know what else I could try but it seems it should work.
But I have an external drive with EXT2 partition, and do not want to write to the drive, only read the files on that partition.
Wow! Although the System Pref Pane indicated no mount and an error, the partition on a USB stick DID MOUNT and the MP4 files are visible. (OS 10.95). They can be copied to the Mac's internal drive now.
Have no idea why the preferences report the error. Will next try an external platter drive with an EXT2 partition, as the USB thumb drives produce pixelation on playback.
Why does the system pref window have to close and reopen in order to use the program?
Thank you everybody.
The video will not play with Flip Player, QuickTime, nor VLC Player. It does play using MacX Video Converter.
MacPcConsultant wrote:
But I have an external drive with EXT2 partition, and do not want to write to the drive, only read the files on that partition.
Yes, I know what your setup was and what you were trying to do. I was making sure Paragon ExtFS was working correctly with Ext2 formatted drives. Which it does.
What codecs are being used in the mp4 files?
How to mount an EXT2 or EXT3 external drive on a Mac (10.8-10.10) ?
