External HDD for media issues

NeilSmith1984 · Jun 3, 2015

I have a 1tb Western Digital drive, it appears on my PC perfectly and has a bunch of images, music and videos on it.

Plugging it into my Xbox immediately pops up the "External media storage ready" message. So it's detected. But checking the media player app simply says no devices are found.

I've tried all the usual steps, including disabling the 'when Xbox is off, turn off storage' option. But it didn't help. Rebooted a million times, tried all 3 USB ports on the console, tried new cables, different files. Formatted the drive. Nothing works.

I have a USB stick which works perfectly, why won't this drive?

:)

OllieMcCarthy · Jun 3, 2015

should add a part where you can move captures from the internal HDD to a external media HDD

can you add a part where you can copy/move captures from internal HDD to an external media HDD.

GrowlingYapper · Jun 3, 2015

Adding my music to an external xbox one hard drive

If you format your HDD with the console you can only use it for Games and Apps'

To use an external HDD you can put your media files on it using your PC and will be used by your console as a music/video storage if you have a USB 2 HDD it will automatically be used as the media HDD remember you cannot mix Games/apps with media on the
same HDD.

SuperSoph_WD · Jun 3, 2015

Hey there, Mr XBob!

I'm sorry to hear about your issues with the WD external drive being recognized properly. It seems like you might need to change the file system of the HDD in order to be able to get it detected from your Xbox. ( Here's a link that explains the compatibility
of our drives with gaming consoles:
products.wdc.com/.../kb.ashx )

The first thing you should do is back up the data from the external somewhere else, because changing the file system will require a reformatting of the drive which will erase everything stored on it.

Afterwards, you can use your PC's Disk Management to change the file system to FAT32. Here is a tutorial that might help you with the procedure:
products.wdc.com/.../kb.ashx

However, since you are storing a lot of media files on the external, I'd recommend you to take a look at the limitations that come with the FAT32 format as well:
products.wdc.com/.../kb.ashx

Hope this helps. Keep me posted!

NeilSmith1984 · Jun 4, 2015

Hi thanks for the reply, so FAT32 is the only way to use WD drives with consoles? That's really disappointing, as I currently use the drive as a backup for my PC and it's full of files that would take a very long time to backup again after formatting.

SuperSoph_WD · Jun 4, 2015

Hi again, Mr XBob!

What is your Xbox model? If it's Xbox One, you should be able to read the NTFS-formatted external drive. However, an Xbox 360 console would require a FAT32 format.

NeilSmith1984 · Nov 1, 2018

Yes sorry I should have been clearer, it's the Xbox One not Xbox 360

SuperSoph_WD

Hi again, Mr XBob!

What is your Xbox model? If it's Xbox One, you should be able to read the NTFS-formatted external drive. However, an Xbox 360 console would require a FAT32 format.

NeilSmith1984

Hi thanks for the reply, so FAT32 is the only way to use WD drives with consoles? That's really disappointing, as I currently use the drive as a backup for my PC and it's full of files that would take a very long time to backup again after formatting.

NeilSmith1984

Yes sorry I should have been clearer, it's the Xbox One not Xbox 360

SuperSoph_WD

Hey there, Mr XBob!

I'm sorry to hear about your issues with the WD external drive being recognized properly. It seems like you might need to change the file system of the HDD in order to be able to get it detected from your Xbox. ( Here's a link that explains the compatibility
of our drives with gaming consoles:
products.wdc.com/.../kb.ashx )

The first thing you should do is back up the data from the external somewhere else, because changing the file system will require a reformatting of the drive which will erase everything stored on it.

Afterwards, you can use your PC's Disk Management to change the file system to FAT32. Here is a tutorial that might help you with the procedure:
products.wdc.com/.../kb.ashx

However, since you are storing a lot of media files on the external, I'd recommend you to take a look at the limitations that come with the FAT32 format as well:
products.wdc.com/.../kb.ashx

Hope this helps. Keep me posted!

Mister Beep

Alright, thanks for the information!

I'd like you to try some very specific troubleshooting steps to further narrow down where the issue lies.

First, let's try reformatting your external HDD by following the steps below:

Move your media files off of the external HDD so you will not lose them.
Reformat the external HDD to NTFS on a Windows PC.
Move the media files you wish to have back onto the external HDD.
Uninstall the Media Player app.
Hold the power button on the Xbox One console for 10 seconds, or until the unit fully shuts down.
Reinstall the Media Player app.
Plug the newly formatted external HDD back into the Xbox One console with a different USB 3.0 cable (if possible) and verify if the issue persists!

Be sure to follow each step in that order! If the issue persists after trying the steps above, the next step will be to try a different USB 3.0 external HDD to see if the issue persists on multiple eternal HDD's.

Try each of those steps above, along with a different external HDD, and post back the results so we can narrow down the issue further and help you get this sorted!

Thanks!

External HDD for media issues