My Book 3 TB will not play DVD rips

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
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I purchased a My Book 3 TB USB 3.0 drive to play ripped DVD’s and discovered that they either do not play or freeze. They play OK on WD 1 TB USB drives. I found several posts about this problem with drives over 2 TB in size and that this is a technology problem (not just unique to WD). In fact, prior to purchasing the WD 3TB drive, I purchased a Toshiba 3 TB drive and it had the same problem. I thought it was defective so I then purchased a WD model.

Here are the other related posts:

http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-PC/My-Book-Essential-3TB-Won-t-Play-DVD-Rips/m-p/296650/highlight/true#M9235

http://community.wd.com/t5/External-Drives-for-PC/Issues-with-3TB-MyBook-and-windows-7-media-center-please-help/m-p/179008/highlight/true#M6175

I tried installing the latest firmware (v3.2.0.8D updated 2013-06-13) but when I try to install it, the display first references v3.2.0.8D and then says:

Update your WD firmware to v1.042
My Book v1.042
This My Book v1.042 drive’s firmare is already up to date

Why does it say v1.042 instead of v3.2.0.8D? In any case, I installed it anyway and it made no diffrrence.

Is it true that there is no fix for this because there known industry wide limitation of a 2 TB maximum size USB drive for playing ripped DVD’s?

If that is the case, I will have to reurn the 3 TB dive and purchase a 2 TB drive.

Thanks to anyone who can help me out or knows the answer.

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Hello and welcome, try doing this, first be sure to have the latest USB drivers for your PC, backup any important files and then format the My Book using the MBR format. Check the link below for the steps. 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725797.aspx#BKMK_WINUI

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Hi bkoopers,

I take it you’re using Windows Media Player?

Download VLC, just search for it in google. Problem solved, I haven’t seen any responses from Microsoft of an ETA for a fix, only saying sorry, no fix yet. It’s a software problem, not a hardware/HDD problem…

1 Like
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Ichigo: Thank you for your response.

My computer has all available Windows updates installed.

The directions says:

To change a GUID partition table disk into a master boot record disk using command line

    Back up or move all volumes on the basic GUID partition table (GPT) disk you want to convert into a master boot record (MBR) disk.

    Open an elevated command prompt and type diskpart. If the disk does not contain any partitions or volumes, skip to step 6.

    At the DISKPART prompt (right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator), type list disk. Make note of the disk number you want to delete.

    At the DISKPART prompt, type select disk .

    At the DISKPART prompt, type clean.
    Important: Running the clean command will delete all partitions or volumes on the disk.

    At the DISKPART prompt, type convert mbr.

When I execute  “convert mbr”, it responds saying:

DISKPART> convert mbr

The disk you specified cannot be converted to MBR.
Please select an empty GPT disk to convert.

My computer is running 32-bit Windows XP (if that is an issue).

The directions also say that you can use the “Windows Interface” but it does not say what that is or how it is accessed. Does that refer to “Disk Management” under “Computer Management”? If yes, it says to “Right-click the GPT disk that you want to change into an MBR disk, and then click Convert to MBR disk” but there is no “Convert to MBR disk” option. Before creating a partition, if I right-click and select “Properties” and go to the “Volumes” tab, it says:

Partition style: Master Boot Record (MBR)

Does that mean it is already in MBR format?

When I partition the disk, the choices are “Primary” or “Extended” partition. Does that make a difference? I tried both and still have the same problem.

Do you have any other suggestions?

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Zatick: Thank you for your response.

I was using KM Player but I also tried Windows Media Player v11 and it has the same problem. I have been using KM Player for years but I just installed VLC and it plays the DVD files on the 3 TB drive without a problem. I would have preferred to continue using KM Player (since I am familiar with the features and options) but switching to VLC is an acceptable solution. Thanks.

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I doubt you will have any success converting that drive to MBR because it’s partitioned above 2.2TB. You would need to format it, additionally, you would lost the rest of the space and might as well just save the money and get a 2TB drive in that case.

The problem is with the way Windows accesses DVD’s, KM obviously goes through Windows. VLC doesn’t, which is why it works. It’s also a very good player in general, so enjoy :slight_smile:

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Zatick:

As I detailed above, after I deleted the partition and checked the properties, it showed “Partition style: Master Boot Record (MBR)”. Does that mean it was using the MBR format? I then created a partition and formatted the drive and the capacity was still 3 TB.

If I check the “Properties” of any of my hard drives, they all show “Type: Local disk” and “File system: NTFS”. Where can I see if it was formatted using the MBR format? What are the other types of formatting?

Although the solution to my original issue is to use VLC, I would be interested to understand the formatting issue (if you know and if you do not mind explaining).

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A XP 32 bit system normally won’t work with a drive over 2T. Try using the WD format tool to format the drive. It has an option to make it usable on XP.

Joe

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Joe_S: Thanks for your response.

The WD 3 TB drive does work (in all ways except one) on my 32-bit Windows XP system. I did not need to try the WD format tool. The only software that had a problem was KM Player and Windows Media Player playing DVD’s from the ripped “VIDEO_TS” folder. Since VLC can play the DVD files, it does appear that Zaticks accessment is correct:

“The problem is with the way Windows accesses DVD’s, KM obviously goes through Windows. VLC doesn’t, which is why it works”.

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My problem is similar.

My Book 3 TB will not play movies using LG Blu-ray 3D player.

However, it can play using LG Smart 3D TV 42 inch.

There is also no problem playing movies using my PC with Windows 7,

with several media players installed, like Windows Media Player, Power DVD,

VLC, etc.

My book is formatted as NTFS, and it has 3 partitions of about 1 TB each.

All my WD software are updated.

Could the problem be the 2 TB limit? If yes, then, I should purchase a 2 TB external drive.

Are there compatibility problems of 3 TB+ external drives with Blu-ray & DVD players?