New Xbox One S Not Recognizing External HDD's

crackshot36 · May 12, 2017

Alright, I’m having issues with my (brand new) Xbox One S not detecting my two external hard drives. These hard drives were used on my previous Xbox One (which I replaced due to a multitude of hardware issues/sluggishness) for quite some time, and worked
fine up until a week ago (in which they both just stopped working, all of a sudden. Right after a preview update that night before, if that matters at all). I considered that the final straw with that Xbox, and considering my computer said both hard drives
were fine, I got a new one. However, they still aren’t recognized by my new Xbox. I ran more comprehensive tests (with programs designed to scan the particular brand of each drive), and those programs gave both of my respective HDD’s a clean bill of health.
This Xbox is not currently enrolled in the Preview updates, either, so it rules that out as well.

I've tried most of the basic troubleshooting steps already (hard resets, unplugging, trying other ports), and none of them have worked aside from getting one of them (the same one everytime) to show up periodically, but only to disappear the next time I
restart the system. I've never dealt with a problem like this on the Xbox before, and I've ran out of ideas. Any help would be most greatly appreciated, and would save me the time and money of going out and buying a new hard drive in addition to the Xbox.

The two HDD's are a 1TB Western Digital My Passport, and a 1TB Seagate (forget the model).

:)

crackshot36 · May 12, 2017

New Xbox One S Not Recognizing External HDD's

Alright, I’m having issues with my (brand new) Xbox One S not detecting my two external hard drives. These hard drives were used on my previous Xbox One (which I replaced due to a multitude of hardware issues/sluggishness) for quite some time, and worked
fine up until a week ago (in which they both just stopped working, all of a sudden. Right after a preview update that night before, if that matters at all). I considered that the final straw with that Xbox, and considering my computer said both hard drives
were fine, I got a new one. However, they still aren’t recognized by my new Xbox. I ran more comprehensive tests (with programs designed to scan the particular brand of each drive), and those programs gave both of my respective HDD’s a clean bill of health.
This Xbox is not currently enrolled in the Preview updates, either, so it rules that out as well.

I've tried most of the basic troubleshooting steps already (hard resets, unplugging, trying other ports), and none of them have worked aside from getting one of them (the same one everytime) to show up periodically, but only to disappear the next time I
restart the system. I've never dealt with a problem like this on the Xbox before, and I've ran out of ideas. Any help would be most greatly appreciated, and would save me the time and money of going out and buying a new hard drive in addition to the Xbox.

Mister Mascot · May 12, 2017

New Xbox One S Not Recognizing External HDD's

Hey there crackshot36,

Have you tried reformatting these drives yet to see if it helps? We do have a guide for external storage detection

HERE that may be able to help. Give it a shot and see how it goes!

_______________________________________________________

Xbox Forums Staff

Be sure to check out the Xbox Forum Guidelines for the Do's and Don'ts as well as the Xbox
Insider Program Forums for help with Xbox Insider Program troubleshooting. Achievement issues? Check our sticky

HERE for the best info.

Mister Mascot

Hey there crackshot36,

Have you tried reformatting these drives yet to see if it helps? We do have a guide for external storage detection

HERE that may be able to help. Give it a shot and see how it goes!

_______________________________________________________

Xbox Forums Staff

Be sure to check out the Xbox Forum Guidelines for the Do's and Don'ts as well as the Xbox
Insider Program Forums for help with Xbox Insider Program troubleshooting. Achievement issues? Check our sticky

HERE for the best info.

Tezzarrific

external hdd's are not fast enough for the new series s/x optimised games and therefore have to run off the internal ssd or the new expansion cards, all xbox one games and 360 BC games can run off your external hdd.

xxxTIMBURYxxx

Is the external drive not being recognized by your Xbox? PC? Its possible the external HDD may need to be replaced...

x24hrs2livex

n4g.com/.../xbox-one-external-hdd-support-limited-to-16tb

Derek_10

The media files are either MPEG-4 or MKV. I can confidently say that the issue is not due to file compatibility as I have many other files in those formats that play just fine.

This is the exact issue: I have an external HDD connected to my Xbox with all my media (movies mainly) files that I have saved throughout the years. When you initially connect an external HDD to the Xbox it asks if this is for storing Games/Screen Captures
or if this is for Media playback. In this case media playback is selected and then all the files currently on the HDD will show up and play without issue.

Now here is the issue. After the initial setup and selecting this HDD as media only, any additional files I add to my HDD the Microsoft Media Player as well as VLC will recognize the file/folder depending on how I have it formatted, but:

1) If the file is not in a folder both programs will recognize the file but will not play it

or

2) If the file is in a folder, then when I open the folder the folder is empty.

This is a new issue and has never happened in the past.

One potential temporary solution I thought of, but I don't know how to do it or if it is possible: Can I have the Xbox forget the external HDD (without clearing the HDD obviously) so as to the next time I plug it in it will recognize the external HDD as
a new drive and I can select Games vs Media again? This way after media is selected all my new files will show up as well.

Update: I restarted my Xbox and reselecting the Games vs Media did not work. When trying to play an individual file (of the new files just added, because all my previous files in the same format work just fine)

Update #2: The external HDD I am using is a WD 8TB Easy store. As I stated above all my old files work but none of the new files do. As my issue was not formatting, I dug out my old HDD (a 2TB Seagate) and added my new files to that. All the new files played
normally. The question is.... why are new files not playing on my WD while they play normally on the Seagate. (BTW: Yes both HDD are formatted the same, exFAT). At least for me this appears to be an external HDD issue. I will do one more update after clearing
my WD HDD before adding everything back, but this will take around 1 day.

Update #3: After erasing all media and adding it back to my WD external HDD all files (including the new ones) play as normal.

New Xbox One S Not Recognizing External HDD's