External hard drive randomly gets 'forgotten'

BigDizzle3000 · May 16, 2016

Have got a 2tb external Samsung hard drive. First time I purchased it and went to install all worked fine. If I don't play my xbox for a few days or don't play a game that is on the drive. My console stops recognising the drive and I can't use it. I have
to unplug and plug it back in, even this doesn't make it work all the time I have to do it a number of times. It's currently doing it again and the console isn't recognising it. This is stupidly snapping and I don't know what else I can do.

Cheers

:)

TheDerpFace · May 16, 2016

My Segate Hard drive stopped working randomly

So ive had this hard drive for about 1 year and a half and it just stopped working randomly and ive tried taking it out and doing anything possible and i do not know what to do anymore. It is a external hard drive.

xJoshPointOh · May 16, 2016

Xbox One External HD

Hello,

So I have a 3TB External Hard Drive currently hooked up to my Xbox One with a 5TB External Hard Drive waiting to take its play when it gets full. However I am currently running out of space, so it is finally time to switch to the 5TB External Hard Drive.
How do I transfer all the data from my 3TB External Hard Drive to the replacement 5TB External Hard Drive?

Hordie · May 16, 2016

Hi BigDizzle3000,

Sorry you're having issues with your external hard drive. What is the model of your hard drive? Try checking the power settings below to see if that resolves your issue.

Scroll left from Home to open the guide.

Select Settings.

Select All settings.

Select Power.

Go to Power mode.

Unselect the checkbox next to “When Xbox is off, turn off storage.”

If that doesn't work, then try doing a hard reset. To do this with the console on hold the power button down for 8 seconds until it just shuts off. After that turn the console back on to see if the drive works. If this does fix it, and you notice that you're
continuing to have to do this, then I would suggest going into your power settings, and then disabling instant on, and changing to energy saving mode.

BigDizzle3000 · Oct 31, 2018

Hello

I have now tried all these and nothing is working. I don't get how the xbox can just suddenly 'forget' it. The harddrive is recognising power and flashes when I turn the xbox. What else can I do?

BigDizzle3000

Hello

I have now tried all these and nothing is working. I don't get how the xbox can just suddenly 'forget' it. The harddrive is recognising power and flashes when I turn the xbox. What else can I do?

Hordie

Hi BigDizzle3000,

Sorry you're having issues with your external hard drive. What is the model of your hard drive? Try checking the power settings below to see if that resolves your issue.

Scroll left from Home to open the guide.

Select Settings.

Select All settings.

Select Power.

Go to Power mode.

Unselect the checkbox next to “When Xbox is off, turn off storage.”

If that doesn't work, then try doing a hard reset. To do this with the console on hold the power button down for 8 seconds until it just shuts off. After that turn the console back on to see if the drive works. If this does fix it, and you notice that you're
continuing to have to do this, then I would suggest going into your power settings, and then disabling instant on, and changing to energy saving mode.

XBF Mohammed C

I would recommend holding down the power button for about 10 seconds, until the console shuts off, then unplug the power cord, and wait for 1 to 2 minutes before plugging it back in and turning the console on!

In case the issue persists, you might want to perform a soft reset to the console: How to reset your Xbox console to factory defaults | Xbox Support

-Brat

I get this issue sometimes for games. Usually they install to the internal hard drive and automatically transfer to an external, if you have one, and it sounds like you do.

Sometimes my Fortnite updates even force install to my internal instead of external, but transfer over once it's complete and any downtime is over. It could also be a developer preference, yes, where they'd rather you have the game on an internal hard-drive
instead of an external, maybe to prevent data loss if your external is disconnected randomly or incorrectly.

I hope this helps!

Brian Groth

The fix was simple: I had changed my Music and Video folder to a large, but removable, external hard drive (D

. I had forgotten to plug it in when trying to download movies and music. So the apps couldn't download to the D: drive since it wasn't there.

After plugging the D: drive in, I was able to download again.

External hard drive randomly gets 'forgotten'