External Hard Drive read as media only

Hi,

I have a used my passport essential 1TB USB 3.0 external drive. I reformatted it on my pc wiping it clean with ntfs as a matter a fact I tried every which way but when I plug it in to my Xbox it reads as media only and there's no option in my settings to
format it. The drive just shows up as media and that's it.

I've tried hard reset, power options, switching USB ports and cables and no matter what I seem to do it only reads my hard drive as media with no option that I can find to format it at all.

Anyone having this kind of problem. I'm wondering if it's because of some problem with the NXOE update. I appreciate any help with this thanks in advance.

:)

 

X1 Won't copy/move games to external from internal storage.

I had this issue at first. I fixed it by connecting my external hard drive to the rear USB port. If you plug it into the one on the side, it will only work as a media device.

Which port did you connect your external hard drive to?

 

External Hard Drive Recognized As Media Only Will Not Reformat

Try this. I have had it work for some users. Disconnect the external drive. Then do a hard reset like this. Please follow the directions exactly. Hold the power button on the console for 10 seconds or until the power shuts down completely. Unplug the
power cord from the back of the console for 5 minutes. Plug the power cord back in and restart the console. Once it is back up and operational connect the external HDD and test for results. Let us know. Good Luck!

 

Hi there. from what you have told me, You have met 2 out of the 3 requirements from this link:

support.xbox.com/.../console-doesnt-detect-external-storage Please make sure your hard-drive has a partition. This can be easily done in "Disk Management" on windows Machines. For more information, you can look at this link:

www.pcworld.com/.../how-to-partition-a-hard-drive.html

Let us know if this what was caused it as showing up as media.

 

Sorry I forgot to mention it before but the drive is partitioned I've tried this several times as well. I will repeat this process again and revise everything to make sure I'm doing everything correctly but in case the result is the same could there be
any other solutions?

 

I believe the partition is what is causing the issue. If you want to use the drive for games it must be the full drive with no partitions at all.

 

Try to
FORMAT your external hard drive using a Windows PC with an NTFS file system format.

Plug it back into your console and see if it will be recognized.

-
How to detect your external storage

Format it again using your console for use for games and apps.

-
How to manage storage on Xbox One

 

I'm sorry, but how does having a working external HDD then after an update a nonworking HDD constitute us having to do this BS?

I had a perfectly fine Xbox One with all my games on my external HDD and this morning after and update... A POS.

Please realize this is bigger than 1 person issue.

 

Altseevtastic. Sorry you're having issues. Can you please create a new thread detailing your problem so we can help? Thank you.

 

Not to sound hopeless here but in regards to formatting I have formatted it with ntfs...I have also tried Fat 32...I've even deleted the partition all together but the Xbox wouldn't read it at all.

It only reads the drive when partitioned and formatted as media only...no matter what I do it reads my hard drive as media only...

The hard drive works on my pc otherwise just fine so I don't know what can the problem be. I've read a few articles on people having problems formatting they're hard drives on this new NXOE update, but even still they get to at least have the option to
format but then get stuck on a loading screen. I get no option to format when I plug it into my console whatsoever. Just media only...

Should I try plugging this hard drive into my Xbox 360 to see what happens?

 

I am having the exact same issue as OP. Just got a 5TB External Seagate USB 3.0 Drive. I've tried reformatting for NTFS, and nothing is working, the xbox is only reading it as for media, and won't give the option to format for games and apps.

 

Ok so not sure if this matters but I connected the same hard drive to my 360 and was able to format it for the 360...I then plugged it back into my Xbox one hoping something would change and the result is the same....media only.

I'm almost fully convinced it has to do with this NXOE update. Which sucks because I'm enjoying the update but it looks like I'll have to revert to the previous interface. :/

 

So I figured my situation out, and maybe it will help OP and others. I was connecting the hard drive with the USB extension cable that came with my hard drive, as my power outlet is a little far from the console. I figured out a way to get things a little
closer and not use the extension cord, and it worked just fine with formatting. My guess is that despite it being a USB 3.0 Drive, the extension cord that came with it was only 2.0.