ES File Explorer File Manage ate my USB drive

Streaming Devices / Hardware
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For months now, I have been recording 2 hour shows, weekly, to my Fire TV Cube 2nd generation Fire OS 7.2.8.5. All my APK apps are on my external drive. I originally tried to record to my Sandisk, but despite the stellar helpers on this site, I couldn’t do it. My Cube kept crashing. No matter, I had solved the problem by recording directly to the Cube which has much more storage space (12.99 GB) than the various Fire Sticks-problem solved.

That is, until the latest Amazon bloatware festival.

Now I can only record a single 60 minute show without being warned about loss of critical space. And my internal space on my Cue is now down to 555 MB from what was 6.27 GB. I wish I had blocked the automatic Amazon updates when it was possible, but I learned about that too late.

I searched for how to expand internal space with ES File Explorer. I can’t even find the tab anymore, but it was an older video by Troy showing how to record a domain movie on torrents from Morpheus. I followed along and could see a file left over on ESFE of a local channel show I recorded this morning with TiviMate. Because what I needed was a way to record shows off of TiviMate (not downloading torrent movies) and save them on my external sandisk, I treated that file, like the movie Troy was using as an example. I changed the end of the name to mp4. All seemed to go well until I was kicked out of ESFE. I suspect it was the mp4 ending.

Now, when I look under >Applications >Manage Installed Applications, >ESFE cannot be seen.

When I look under >My Fire TV, the tab for my >manage USB drive is missing! Therefore, I cannot see my APKs or my IPTV that should show up with the little paper clip icon (although I can access the them on the home screen).

Obviously, what I cannot see cannot be missing. I simply can’t access it for some reason. I can’t even open ESFE to see if that is where everything is because I also can’t find that icon.

Is my only fix to reset to factor settings and re-stall everything? I hope not. But if it is, I will then need to find the link for how to record off of Tivimate. I think someone, maybe @TP-Dracoo set up such links but I can’t find it under the insider or Troypoint page. I couldn’t find it by searching @TP-Dracoo either.

Any help appreciate, especially if I don’t have to wipe my Cube.

Update: I just tried to open TiviMate from the Home Screen and got this message:

   App Unavailable

ar.tvplayer.tv.ProtectedTvPlayerApplication cannot be launched because it is installed on a
USB drive that is not currently connected to your Amazon Fire TV. Please insert teh USB drive to access the app. You can choose to reinstall the app on your Fire TV, which may leave files on the USB drive that will not be removed. Note that prior saved data will not be available.

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myyyyy goodness. You sure got a mess just trying to record something :joy:… I will let one of the fire peeps help you clean up that mess and maybe get back later with simple recording instructions :eyes: :thinking:

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That’s a lot of work to record a show… have you ever considered just watching the show on demand via KODI or a standalone streaming app ?

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you can try CX File Explorer or X-Plore app, worth a shot,

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@PiratePete The shows I record must be seen live. I record 5-7 am in the morning and watch it daily. On Sundays I record all the political shows, many of which are on the same time. I can manage some of this by watching some in different time zones. I just thought by watching videos this should have been easy. But now, as I have wiped my CUBE, I now realize it won’t allow me installing from unknown sources. I saw a discussion about this recently as to how this was new and how to get around it. Darn. Now I have to find that before I can complete anything else! Each step, requires some other step first, it seems.

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I found the Troy video on how to reinstate developer options on the Fire Cube, which was erased during a factory update. Phew. I was in a total panic for a bit. Now back to repairing my earlier damage! Thanks Troy!

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Are you attempting to install tivimate on external storage and use it that way?

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Good luck
:pirate_flag: Pete :pirate_flag:

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I have Tivimate on external storage now (and previously). And yes @TXRon that is how I hope to use it.

So now I want to figure out how to save my recordings on my external storage. I know this involves using either ES File Explorer or X-plore. I did not have success when I tried this previously, but I will try again tomorrow. If you have a good link, I’d appreciate it.

I only now just got everything back up and running from factory re-set. Incredibly, I also now have 11,72 GB of internal space (up from 555 MB). Apps and recordings must leave residual space takers all over the place. Even though I force stop regularly.

Also to any new comers.Read all the items on The Insider. Even though I may not understand all of it, it is amazing when something will become very useful. Like turning back on developer options!

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Hey dena. If you intend on recording with TiViMate it is known to be sensitive to buffering and stop recordings. As there are often data transfer slowdowns when using an app on an external drive it is best to keep TiViMate on your device (cube) as this will permit the fastest possible data transfer speeds and limit issues. I have a 16 GB sandisc connected to my 4K max through a hub and keep TiViMate and Stremio loaded on the Max for the best watching experience I can get. The USB drive then has things like esfilexplorer, Analiti, BeeTV, TeaTV and so on, and keeps my Max at almost 3GB of free space. I even have fast task killer on the usb drive and it works perfectly from there. Up to you, but from my experience your main apps should be on your device.

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Miki hit it correct. You need your main devices(apps) on the internal drive for best performance. And with that recording is very easy to external.

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Hey Miki or anybody else, have you guys ever tried to buy three connections from an IPTV service and only use one connection and see if that helps with the buffering issues on recording with TV mate.

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A few do that so I’ve heard. @TXRon can probably answer that better than I can. I think they watch on one connection and record with the second one.

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never even thought of trying that but the problem still exist. The provider has an issue or you do…so I wouldnt double or tripple down…get a better provider or fix your issues

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I did not know that! Very good to know. I will move TiviMate back to external. Cutting and saving your advise, as usual! Also thanks @TXRon

Also, I do know buffering kills or corrupts a recording. But mostly I’ve been lucky so long as my signal stays strong. Still I do lose recordings fairly often. So hopefully your advise will fix that.

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I hope you mean internal :rofl:

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Yes internal. sheesh. thx

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lol. Missed the replies. Ooops.

TiviMate back to external<<<< Sorry but I hope that’s a typo. You want TiViMate on your cube or stick not external USB Storage even if that storage is configured as “internal”. Think of it this way, you’re going on vacation and your Cube is the car, and your USB storage is your trailer. You keep things like your purse and money in the car with you for easy access and stuff like your pots and pans in the trailer to use once in a while.

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Great analogy–lol! I’ll get on this first thing tomorrow.

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Sup AJ…

Ive got a cpl of services with 3 & 4 cnnctns & record daily, thats the reason for having them… you cant just use 1 cnnction, if you record or use multi-screen it automatically uses your othr feeds, theres no turning them on/off

With just 1 cnnction it will lag/buffr evry 10 to 15 secs while watching

hth…

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