27-02-2018 09:24 AM
Unable to persuade my TV to see my Western Digital Elements 2TB USB HDD, which until recently was hooked up to a Technisat HD VA TNT SAT (French Freesat) receiver with DVR function (and the HDD worked perfectly).
The TV can, however, see a Trekstor USB HDD and USB sticks.
Grateful for advice.
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27-02-2018 03:44 PM - last edited 28-02-2018 02:04 PM
@littoralwrote:Unable to persuade my TV to see my Western Digital Elements 2TB USB HDD, which until recently was hooked up to a Technisat HD VA TNT SAT (French Freesat) receiver with DVR function (and the HDD worked perfectly).
The TV can, however, see a Trekstor USB HDD and USB sticks.
Grateful for advice.
Hi @littoral, Samsung tend to recommend an external power supply but USB powered drives should work fine I would check your Tv has the latest firmware and if a later version available update via USB. Assuming you have tried an alternative USB socket? If still issues would suggest unplugging the Tv and performing a factory reset . You could reformat drive (heard of some problems being resolved using the different system) The western Elements is preformatted to NTFS, therefore could try formatting to FAT32 after backing up. If cannot be done easily here is a guide for PC https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/formatting-external-hard-drive-to-fat-32/
However I have noticed that can be issues with the larger capacity hard drives on Samsung Smart TV's https://www.disk-partition.com/blog/samsung-smart-tv-cannot-recognise-3tb-4tb-hard-drive-
I do not work for Samsung or make Samsung Products but provide independent advice and valuable contributions.
27-02-2018 03:51 PM
@JAMES4578wrote:
@littoralwrote:Unable to persuade my TV to see my Western Digital Elements 2TB USB HDD, which until recently was hooked up to a Technisat HD VA TNT SAT (French Freesat) receiver with DVR function (and the HDD worked perfectly).
The TV can, however, see a Trekstor USB HDD and USB sticks.
Grateful for advice.
Hi @littoral, Samsung tend to recommend an external power supply but USB powered drives should work fine I would check your Tv has the latest firmware and if a later version available update via USB. If the case or does not solve problem you could reformat drive. The western Elements is preformatted to NTFS, therefore try formatting to FAT32 after backing up. If cannot be done easily here is a guide for PC https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/formatting-external-hard-drive-to-fat-32/ If issues remain would suggest unplugging the Tv and performing a factory reset (or you could try that being formatting).
However I have noticed that can be issues with the larger capacity hard drives on Samsung Smart TV's https://www.disk-partition.com/blog/samsung-smart-tv-cannot-recognise-3tb-4tb-hard-drive-
I have a Toshiba 2T USB powered drive and no probs as long as you do not use USB extension leads or not powered splinters. NTFS is fine especially if your files are over 2gig I think. You do not need powered drives. I have also used a segate 1t and USB 64g stick all NTFS with no probs. Try a different USB socket.
27-02-2018 05:26 PM
Thank you both for your replies.
I currently have the WD drive connected to my laptop - the drive is appearing in Device Manager but not in File Explorer and I am therefore unable to access the content on it (with a view to backing up and reformatting). It's also showing in the "safely remove..." utility, so not sure what's going on!
27-02-2018 05:34 PM
@littoralwrote:Thank you both for your replies.
I currently have the WD drive connected to my laptop - the drive is appearing in Device Manager but not in File Explorer and I am therefore unable to access the content on it (with a view to backing up and reformatting). It's also showing in the "safely remove..." utility, so not sure what's going on!
That sounds similar to problems I some times got when unplugging the drive whilst its still working which can mess the file allocation tables. Means a reformat or sometimes repartition. You can down load recovery software first if there is anything important. That would explain why the TV can not see it.
27-02-2018 05:46 PM
Nothing precious on the drive, so that's not an issue but can't see how to reformat it!
27-02-2018 05:50 PM
@littoralwrote:Nothing precious on the drive, so that's not an issue but can't see how to reformat it!
This might help
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/22251/find-your-missing-usb-drive-in-windows-7-vista/
28-02-2018 09:41 AM
Thank you, Paul. Have gone through all these comprehensive suggestions but in Disk Management the only option is "Delete Volume" - everything else, incl "Format" is greyed out.
28-02-2018 09:52 AM
@littoralwrote:Thank you, Paul. Have gone through all these comprehensive suggestions but in Disk Management the only option is "Delete Volume" - everything else, incl "Format" is greyed out.
Delete the volume and the it should give you the option to create a new volume and then format. When you format use NTFS. Just hope the drive itself has not failed. There are drive checking free software on line and also free disc partition software which can help also.
Paul
28-02-2018 10:54 AM
I've succeeded in erasing the HDD using WD's diagnostic tool, but not sure what do next. In Disk Management, asked to initialize drive, but don't know which option (MBR or GPT) to choose!