Well, that answers some of my misapprehensions, John, but in fact I'm not using a computer in this instance.
In this country we are shortly moving to digital-signal television, and I have obtained a 'Freeview' digital set-top box, which records (called PVR) through a USB2 port. Everything is near new. Signal from satellite.

I have a choice of moving my music from my stand-alone hard-drive and recording TV on that, (And putting the music where? It is mostly laboriously re-recorded LPs,) or reluctantly buying another HD, or going with Sky Television, or sorting out why this bigger flashdrive behaves differently from its 8gig brother.
That 8gig behaves perfectly up to 2 hours of recording, and on the one occasion that I filled it, it just 'switched' itself off. Three files on it, though.
Ok, I'll get in touch with the flashdrive manufacturer. Hope they'll answer. In English.
The good thing about this set-up WAS, I just plugged the 8gig flashdrive into the computer and made a DVD of a programme that was on it, using Nero. It won't play on older DVD players, though.

These freeview boxes are full of traps-for-young-players unless you buy the top-of-the-line, at five times the price. With a built-in HD, and twin decoders. Like that Sky rental box.