Chad's Blog – Page 6

mts files to mkv, Home Video Files for MythTV

I own a video camera (Panasonic HC-vc720) that saves its files as mts. The format mts is not recognized by mythtv. I converted these files using handbrake software to mkv files for watching on mythtv. ffmpeg is a command line program that will also convert to mkv files. The mkv format is an open/non-propriety format.

Handbrake was installed from the terminal (Ubuntu 14.04) with the command:

sudo apt-get install handbrake

2014-0629

Panasonic HC-V720 Transferring Files to Linux

I need to move files off of the video camera (vc) onto my linux computer.

Remove SD card and put SD card into a card reader attached to the linux computer.
To move only the video files, they are .MTS files hidden away in PRIVATE\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM directory of the card.
To move still pictures, they are found in folders located in DCIM
After file transfer is complete, delete all files and directories from the PRIVATE AND DCIM directories leaving only those two directories on the card.

2014-0629

Growing a MDADM Raid 1 Array for Offsite Data Backup

UPDATE: I am not using this method any more and do not recommend adding a third drive to the array and then removing the drive from the array for off-site storage. A better solution I am using is to rysnc the raid drive to a LUKS encrypted external hard drive that can be stored off-site.

I have two hard drives in a Raid 1 using Linux mdadm. I have a third hard drive of the same size that I would like to be a part of the raid and updated once a week and stored off site. This ensures that if the two raid hard drives are destroyed in a fire or stolen, I would have a recent backup in a separate location.

view Raid devices

cat /proc/mdstat

view a specific raid device

sudo mdadm –detail /dev/md1

/dev/md1:
Version : 1.2
Creation Time : Sat Nov 10 11:28:44 2012
Raid Level : raid1
Array Size : 2930135512 (2794.40 GiB 3000.46 GB)
Used Dev Size : 2930135512 (2794.40 GiB 3000.46 GB)
Raid Devices : 2
Total Devices : 2
Persistence : Superblock is persistent
Intent Bitmap : Internal
Update Time : Sun Jun 29 12:18:44 2014
State : active
Active Devices : 2
Working Devices : 2
Failed Devices : 0
Spare Devices : 0

List hard drives:

sudo blkid

Add hard drive /dev/sde as a spare

sudo mdadm –add –verbose /dev/md1 /dev/sde

View new Raid status

$ sudo mdadm –detail /dev/md1
/dev/md1:
Version : 1.2
Creation Time : Sat Nov 10 11:28:44 2012
Raid Level : raid1
Array Size : 2930135512 (2794.40 GiB 3000.46 GB)
Used Dev Size : 2930135512 (2794.40 GiB 3000.46 GB)
Raid Devices : 2
Total Devices : 3
Persistence : Superblock is persistent
Intent Bitmap : Internal
Update Time : Sun Jun 29 13:38:26 2014
State : active
Active Devices : 2
Working Devices : 3
Failed Devices : 0
Spare Devices : 1
Name : server-lvgrm:1
UUID : 3450fa67:fc8ab4e4:f87aa203:f9f0fdbe
Events : 598614
Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State
3       8       48        0      active sync   /dev/sdd
2       8       16        1      active sync   /dev/sdb
4       8       64        –      spare   /dev/sde

sync /dev/sde, will have to fail one of the other drives (/sev/sdb)

sudo mdadm /dev/md1 -v –fail /dev/sdd

View failed device

sudo mdadm –detail /dev/md1

/dev/md1:
Version : 1.2
Creation Time : Sat Nov 10 11:28:44 2012
Raid Level : raid1
Array Size : 2930135512 (2794.40 GiB 3000.46 GB)
Used Dev Size : 2930135512 (2794.40 GiB 3000.46 GB)
Raid Devices : 2
Total Devices : 3
Persistence : Superblock is persistent
Intent Bitmap : Internal
Update Time : Sun Jun 29 13:51:56 2014
State : active, degraded, recovering
Active Devices : 1
Working Devices : 2
Failed Devices : 1
Spare Devices : 1
Rebuild Status : 0% complete
Name : server-lvgrm:1
UUID : 3450fa67:fc8ab4e4:f87aa203:f9f0fdbe
Events : 598616
Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State
4       8       64        0      spare rebuilding   /dev/sde
2       8       16        1      active sync   /dev/sdb
3       8       48        –      faulty spare   /dev/sdd

Monitor status of Raid rebuild from terminal

watch -n 60 cat /proc/mdstat #-n 60

to exit the “watch” command type “ctrl’ + “z”

for a 3 Tb hard drive this takes 2-3 days for the first sync
The spare drive (/dev/sde) will be used as the offsite backup drive.
Once the spare drive is 100% synced, this drive will need to be failed so that it can be removed.