Can't format external hard drive?

CoOkii 10 · Mar 24, 2015

I recently bought the 2TB USB 3.0 Samsung D3 Station for my Xbox. I initially plugged it in and managed to go into settings>system>manage storage and formatted it but didn't save anything to it. I then needed it for transferring some computer files so I
plugged it into my PC and it wouldn't recognise that it was plugged in, so I created a new partition and it worked fine, I transferred my files and everything. Then I went back to my Xbox, plugged it in and it said it was a media storage and that I could only
view content without giving me the option to format again. I've tried deleting the current partition and creating a new one, I've tried formatting to NTFS and FAT32, I've tried deleting all partitions altogether but it still says it's a media storage and won't
let me format it again.

Any help/suggestions will be very helpful!

:)

ddaydaz · Mar 24, 2015

Can't format external hard drive

hi

I recently purchased a 1tb 3.0 external hard drive. When connected to xbox one it asks me to format the drive. When I attempted to format the drive everything seems to be going ok but then nothing happens and drive is not seen.

Miss Bijoux · Mar 24, 2015

Format external hard drive

Hey there -

That's something you'd want to check with >>Western Digital<< for assistance with. We are unable to provide support of
this nature for third party products.

Thanks for understanding.

Richiestang78 · Mar 24, 2015

The drive cant be partitioned, when you format it to your Xbox it pretty much is only good for the Xbox. If you need one for your computer then I would suggest buying another one.

Malacath · Mar 27, 2015

Have you tried using the windows disk management tool to delete the extra partition you created?

Then resized the original partition to fill the disk again?

As far as I know you can't use multiple partitions and the one partition you do have must be over 256GB to be recognised.

dlCHIEF58 · Mar 27, 2015

What Malacath and Richiestang78 are telling you is correct. You cannot use a partitioned drive on the Xbox One for game/app installation. It can only have one partition and will become dedicated to game and app storage - you won't be able to use it for media
or as extra storage for your PC. You will have to use a separate drive for media.

-

Now I am not sure as to why the Xbox One isn't allowing you to format it again. You should be able to format it into NTSC (and leave it blank) then be able to format it when attached to your Xbox One. You might try a hard reset on the One to clear out the
memory cache to see if that helps, that is the only thing I can think of that might cause an issue with it formatting to a games drive on the One. Mine was a little flaky the other day when I was trying to transfer some files between hard drives (wouldn't
move them) and it didn't work until I did a hard reset on the system

dlCHIEF58 · Mar 27, 2015

The other thing to check is your USB cable - I have seen this issue pop up as well.. Make sure it is rated for USB 3.0 because if you have a USB 2.0 rated cable (or a cheap or defective one), it will only recognize the drive as a Media drive since it is
only transmitting at USB 2.0 speeds. I wouldn't be surprised if this is your problem.

CoOkii 10 · Mar 27, 2015

It doesn't have multiple partitions, I've literally tried deleting every partition and seeing if that works but it doesn't. I've also tried one partition formatted to NTFS and nothing :/ I'll have to try another cable but it worked when I first bought the
hard drive before I temporarily reverted it back to PC storage.

dlCHIEF58 · Mar 27, 2015

From your first post, it was a little confusing about whether you partitioned the drive as single or multiple partitions, which led to some confusion when answering your question. But try my two suggestions - a new cable and hard reset of the Xbox One to
clear the cache (I'd try this first) to see if that fixes your problem. Also when you format it on the PC (before trying to format on the One) I'd rename it something different that what you used previously. This also may be confusing the One if you have it
named the same as before.

Timmo0985 · Oct 31, 2018

I have the problem when formatting on Xbox the green spinning circle just says on and nothing happens is the d3 compatible with Xbox one

Obsessive Power

Hi,

Not sure what you wanted to do here, could you elaborate?

As for external hard drives, you can't partition them for use as both external storage for games and for use with your Mac or PC. You can use an external hard drive on the Xbox One as a media drive, though.

If you format an external hard drive for Xbox One games storage, the whole drive is formatted and the file system is changed.

AScannerDorkly

I have a 2 TB external hard drive that I plugged into the Xbox and formatted. Still can't download games to it.

KrizanLovich

as per the other comments about the use of the external hard drive for the 360 I am in the update preview program which allows additional External hard drives to be used.I purchased the same Seagate 2tb external hard drive as per my xboxone but when I apply
the format on the xbox360 as per the instructions it replies with unable to format. Would like to know what external hard drives are compatible? I no the hard drive works as tried it on the xboxone after it would not format for the 360

thanks

NZ Racer

StuartATrueRed

Have you formatted the hard drive? If not, have a look here for instructions on how to do this on the console.

https://www.trueachievements.com/n40186/how-to-format-external-hard-drive-xbox-one Also make sure your hard drive is a usb 3.0 hard drive, otherwise the drive will not work on the console.

Hoskayra

Hello, Randle my name is oskayra I am an independent advisor and player like you I hope I can help solve your problem today

There are a few reasons why you might be getting an error message saying that you can't play games from your external hard drive. Here are some troubleshooting steps you can try:

1. Check the external hard drive format: Make sure the external hard drive is formatted as NTFS or exFAT. These are the two formats that are compatible with Xbox consoles. If the hard drive is formatted as a different format, such as FAT32, you will need to reformat it.

2. Check the external hard drive connection: Make sure the external hard drive is properly connected to your Xbox console. The cable should be securely plugged into both the hard drive and the console's USB port. Try using a different USB port if possible.

3. Check the external hard drive power supply: If your external hard drive requires an external power adapter, make sure it is plugged in and working properly.

4. Update your Xbox console: Make sure your Xbox console is running the latest software updates. Outdated software can sometimes cause compatibility issues with external hard drives.

5. Restart your Xbox console: A simple restart can often fix temporary glitches that might be preventing your Xbox console from recognizing your external hard drive.

6. Format the external hard drive: If none of the above steps work, you may need to format the external hard drive. This will erase all of the data on the drive, so make sure you back up any important files first.

Here are some additional tips:

Try using a different external hard drive to see if the problem is with the hard drive itself.
If you are using a USB hub, try connecting the external hard drive directly to your Xbox console.
If you are still having problems, contact Xbox support for further assistance.
I hope this helps!

If you need anything else, do not hesitate to contact us again. Best Regards Oskayra

Can't format external hard drive?