HI! I have copied my DVD library onto My Passport 4TB external hard drive. On one of the newer smart TV it won’t recognise the hard drive. Contacted the tv company and they advise me that I need to format to FAT32. I f I do so, will I still be able to still view on other TV’s. thank you
The My Passport 4TB will be using a GPT (GUID Partition Table) … which support’s capacities over 2TB
If your “Smart TV” does not support GPT … you will have to use MBR Partition Table for FAT32 which has a Max Capacity of 2TB
Also, unless your Smart TV has a dedicated USB Port labelled HDD … then the available USB port most likely won’t have enough power to support the 4TB USB HDD.
I have a Panasonic 4K UHD Smart TV that supports GPT, has a dedicated USB3.0 Port labelled HDD which mechanical hard drives will work with … the other 2 USB ports only have enough power to power Flash/Thumb drives (Solid Sate Storage) and will not Power a 4TB USB Bus Powered HDD.
In closing … you should have done a lot of googling and research about your Brand/Model of TV before going out and buying a 4TB USB Hard drive under the assumption that it would “Just Work” with your Smart TV.
Hi Joey…
Thank you for your reply!
Before we go any further, just think of me as your mother or grandmother🥰 as I am 70 and feel that I have managed to cope with new technology etc over the years!
But some things just have never occurred or become a problem.
Initially, I was using a 2tb external hard and started copying my dvds in .avi file or sometimes mpg due to my lg old plasma tv, but couldn’t read mpg4.
Then 3 yrs ago, purchased an LG Smart TV and found that it read the .avi files no problem.
This LG TV had a wireless connection problem and was replaced under warranty with a new LG Smart TV BUT even though being the same brand, could not read .avi !!!
I then spent 5 weeks copying my DVD’S to mpg but decided that I needed to so, onto a larger hdd as I was at the limit of the old 2tb.
I’m not a techie person and not being able to use the new 4tb hdd on another smart tv ie Hisense was a suprise to me and yet I can play the hdd on other and older tv’s!
I would never had realised that there would be a problem but now I’ve learnt.
The one thing I would like to know, if the 4tb to hdd can be reformatted the FAT32 and retain the movies or I’ll lose all the movies etc?
If it will mean losing the movies and re copying again 
is there a such thing as a universally accepted format for all tv’s???
Thank you for your time.
Kind regards Ingrid
Hi I had a Toshiba 2TB hard drive which I used on my LG TV.
The hard drive stopped working, so I bought a 4TB hard drive. But the TV won’t recognise it. I have ordered a power hub as I have read this is the problem. But I asked in a computer shop and was told it won’t make any difference. And I need a 2 TB drive. Can I partition the drive. And use each partition. Thanks Phil.
