Fantom Drives external snap-on hard drive not detected by Xbox

GoodGuyGigant · Apr 10, 2020

yo.

Got myself a 2TB snap-on external hard drive for my original Xbox One.

I can't set it up at all since the process for doing so requires the console to detect the hard drive and give me the popup to format it, which does not appear no matter what I've tried.

Restarted numerous times, unplugged it a few times for varying periods of time, power cycled it a few times as well, and obviously disconnected and reconnected the external drive on multiple occasions. I've done everything short of factory resetting my Xbox
or buying a new external hard drive.

After going to Fantom Drives support first, I was told that I am not the only person who is having trouble working with their external hard drives at the moment, and that a recent update may be to blame. Because of this, it would seem that I've got no way
to get my hard drive to actually function since releasing updates for the console is obviously not something I have any control over.

Frankly, I've come to the conclusion that the problem is not solvable through any means I have access to. I'll try any suggestions to get this working unless I've already tried them, but I guess this is mostly just a plea for Microsoft to fix whatever issue
this is in an update soon.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Also, apologies if this is in the wrong category. Not really sure what external hardware would fall under.

:)

XBF Chris J

Hello Brad,

Thank you for posting here on the Xbox forums. This thread is a bit old, so it will be locked due to its age. If you haven’t already, please go ahead and make a new thread detailing this issue and any troubleshooting steps (if any) you’ve
tried so far. That way we can tailor our support specifically to you. We will be happy to help you there!

Thanks again

Brad BennettBennett

I am in the same boat my 4TB Fantom I bought worked for like a month and then an update ruined everything. Light indicators suggest I'm getting power to the external from my xbox but I cant reformat or do anything now to fix my issue. Seems as xbox screwed
me on this one with the update that doesnt allow this harddrive to work now.

GoodGuyGigant

I'm pretty sure it's designed to work with an Xbox.

Here's the product's Amazon listing for reference:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XGQPV88/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The product worked for many people up until the recent update, looks like around February or March. Just looking at the reviews of this product by most recent, they're almost all 1 stars from March saying that it worked just fine up
until recently. Prior to that, most of the reviews are pretty good. I think it's a little silly that I have to return a product that would've probably worked fine prior to an update that I can't seem to find any actual information about. I don't know what
this has improved; my console doesn't seem even remotely different as a result. The only information I have on this update is that it has rendered my external hard drive completely useless.

I'm sorry if I'm being a little angry and aggressive, I just think it's a little annoying to be told "yeah the thing you spent money on doesn't work anymore and there's nothing we can do about it so go buy another one, sorry champ"

That said, thank you for taking some time to reply to this issue, and kudos for getting back as fast as you did. I hope you have a good day. Cheers

FlashSpirit3

The timing is tight for external drives on the console and for gaming it has to be. I will assume you have the drive powered correctly and are not using an external hub. Yes I have seen issues where Fantom Drives do not meet the timing criteria. My suggestion
would be to return the drive and buy one that is compatible (there are many lists out there) or even better yet, one that either is designed to work with Xbox or one know to work with Xbox.

Sorry you are having troubles. The changes were made to support a more robust and better gaming console. Not all external drives fall into that category. Somewhere the line has to be drawn.

smw007

Is your console an Xbox 360 or Xbox One ?

Double check if the external hard drive is actually being detected, sometimes the USB connection might be loose. If the external hard drive is not detected, turn off the console

and then double check the USB connector is firmly plugged in, then turn console back on and see if external hard drive appears.

Also another thing to check... some brands of external hard drive have a power light when turned on. Check if the power light is on.

Fantom Drives external snap-on hard drive not detected by Xbox