Connect External Hard Drive through USB ?

jonski

I have a spare 2.5" external HD in a caddy and thought once I formatted it in FAT32 that the xbox 360 would be able to see it and play media from it but it doesn't .

Any ideas as to what I might have done wrong or does it just not see these .

AdMMM

It SHOULD work. I have a 2TB connected which is working perfectly. Are you sure it's formatted in FAT32? Does it detect the drive at all?

jonski

Definitely FAT 32 . Xbox does not detect it . Red light does come on on the HD , tried connecting it with both one usb and with 2 but still nothing .

BFassassin

Im not 100% sure but I think you might have to partition it to only 32gb so that the 360 can pick it up. Thats what mine is and it works.

AdMMM

That's definitely not the case, as I have the 2TB drive connected and working okay. Is your PC or laptop able to read the files? I assume you're going into Video Library on the dashboard and trying to select "Portable Device" as the source?

jonski

AdMMM wrote: »

That's definitely not the case, as I have the 2TB drive connected and working okay. Is your PC or laptop able to read the files? I assume you're going into Video Library on the dashboard and trying to select "Portable Device" as the source?

Yeah , any of the pc's I connect it to can detect the HD and read the files . and then in Video Library the "portable Device" is greyed out

djkeogh

Yea I have 500GB disk that I just connect and it works straight off with no partitioning or nothing. The Portable Device option is greyed out until it recognises that a USB device is powered on and connected. Maybe an issue with the USB ports? Have you tried a USB key on it?

A nice trick is to get a programe called MacDrive for your pc.


You can then format your external HD to HFS+, and use it the same as befor in windows, and which is supported by the 360.

This is very usefull if you want to watch HD-WMVs which are generaly over FAT32s 4GB file size limitation.

Not sure if its your probem tho.

AdMMM

Hmmm, my best guess then is that it can't draw enough power from the Xbox to properly spin up. This is assuming it's a USB-powered drive.

BFassassin

AdMMM wrote: »

Hmmm, my best guess then is that it can't draw enough power from the Xbox to properly spin up. This is assuming it's a USB-powered drive.

That might be it. The usb on the 360 might not be strong enough to power the hard drive.
If you have an external powered hard drive try that one.

jonski

cisk wrote: »

A nice trick is to get a programe called MacDrive for your pc.

Have Mac drive on the way will give it a shot

AdMMM wrote: »

Hmmm, my best guess then is that it can't draw enough power from the Xbox to properly spin up. This is assuming it's a USB-powered drive.

It is a USB powered HD but it has the double usb cable and I can hear it spinning .

BFassassin wrote: »

That might be it. The usb on the 360 might not be strong enough to power the hard drive.
If you have an external powered hard drive try that one.

I have a powered HD but it is formatted in NTFS and full of all my important backup data .

bigbadcon

cisk wrote: »

A nice trick is to get a programe called MacDrive for your pc.


You can then format your external HD to HFS+, and use it the same as befor in windows, and which is supported by the 360.

This is very usefull if you want to watch HD-WMVs which are generaly over FAT32s 4GB file size limitation.

Not sure if its your probem tho.

Can you play mkv files or any other types of HD quality stuff like this?

Unfortunately MKVs are still not supported by the 360.


you may have seen a rise in HD-WMV rips on newsgroups and torrents, this is because its the only HD codec that the 360 support which can be over 4GB.


360 also supports HD MPEG4 files but they need to be under 4GB.

If you want to convert MKVs or x264s for use on a 360 grab:

http://xenonmkv.ev98.net/

It will convert all your HD files to formats supported by the 360, and split films if neccasary.

bigbadcon

Cool might give that a go...
Have you used it yourself? Is it painfully slow?

Also is it fair to say that any hard drive will work with the XBOX as long as its in the right format and possibly has its own power suply?

It will depend on your system.


It saves time by:

• No video transcoding required. All video is maintained at its original quality.
• Only the audio is downsampled, so the process is much quicker than a full transcode. The Xbox 360 only supports 2-channel AAC audio with H.264 source. This is a restriction of the Xbox 360 media player and isn’t because I hate 5.1 surround (I’d actually love it, but no dice!) Please write to Microsoft and request enhanced audio support (5.1 AC3, DTS and AAC) as a feature for future dashboard releases.

Any HD should work, even some that work of USB power, but you will be better of with a self powered HD.

Cpt Tremendous

I use my 250GB HD with my Xbox all the time, just try a USB key in it to see if that works, Im not sure if formatting has anything to do with it. But as was said already it may be a power issue