May be it has already been discussed here by Tony and others, I would lke to confirm that WDTV SMP *DOES* support USB Hubs with Multiple HDDs
I attempted with a very simple powered hub and attached two of my WD 2TB USB HDD and it shows up under USB 1 selection - Yay!
FYI, I do not use Media Library function as it takes too long to index and is a resource hog, But I am happy to report that Multiple USB HDDs are now supported in WDTV SMP.
There is ofcourse limitations on this feature, As long as we keep realistic expectations from a USB port we should be okay. Do not expect to diasy chain 127 devices off a single port :smileyvery-happy:
I’m having trouble getting mine to work - it’s on and off. Sometimes it works, others it doesn’t.
Sometimes I’ll leave it on for a while and have a look round the back and the lights on the back of the USBs are not flashing (as they are while they’re being scanned) and the light on the front of the WDTV isn’t either, so it’s not that I haven’t left it long enough.
A real shame. If WD gave simple support for this it’d be excellent.
First try to disable Media Library and verify if you indeed can see multiple HDDs from one USB Port
Next, Try clearing your Media LIbaray and let the WDTV Live SMP rescan your files.
If this does not resolve your issue, Looks that you could be having a defective or incompatiable USB hub, Please try it with another USB hub which has it’s own power supply rather than using WDTV Live SMP’s power from the USB port.
Also, Certain USB hubs if they require special drivers for them to work on regular PC’s will most likely will not work on WDTV Live SMP.
Try a Generic USB Hub, If it works for me, It should work for you too.
First try to disable Media Library and verify if you indeed can see multiple HDDs from one USB Port
Next, Try clearing your Media LIbaray and let the WDTV Live SMP rescan your files.
If this does not resolve your issue, Looks that you could be having a defective or incompatiable USB hub, Please try it with another USB hub which has it’s own power supply rather than using WDTV Live SMP’s power from the USB port.
Also, Certain USB hubs if they require special drivers for them to work on regular PC’s will most likely will not work on WDTV Live SMP.
Try a Generic USB Hub, If it works for me, It should work for you too.
Best of Luck
Thanks for that.
I’ve placed each of my 2tb HDDs into the player directly and set up a media library for each, together with a full content search, which is completed. If I plug any one into the WDTV it works fine and loads pretty quickly.
Should I plug each one in one at a time and clear the library before trying this?
Cheers.
BTW, I’ve re-read your initial post, and I forsee a problem. If I have my Media Library turned off how will I view all of my films together in Gallery View? I don’t see how I’ll be able to do so.
Media Library is purely a content aggregation of all the available media in one place. I was suggesting to turn that feature off only for troubleshooting to isolate if the drives are visible via HUB or not.
You can still get access to all your drives without the Media Library feature turned on, It will not show everything in one place, but you should be able to select individual drives and content by selecting them one at a time.
Here are the steps:
Clear the Media Library from the menu and keep it turned off for the test
Connect you HUB and all your HDD’s and reboot your WDTV Live SMP
Wait for the WDTV Live SMP to boot and see your drives
Once the WDTV Live SMP has settled down (give 2 mins) and select Local Media and verify if you can see all your HDDs that are connected to your HUB
(If you do not see your HDDs listed under USB1 or USB2, You have problem with your USB HUB
Verify one at a time if you can get access to the HDDS connected to the HUB
If all the HDDs are accessible, You can then use the Menu to turn on Media Library
Wait for the Media aggregation to complete (This may take some time)
You will now see all your media on the home screen of WDTV Live SMP
I think the problem in the past is this. I connected one HDD. It loaded a media library. I removed it and loaded a second HDD. It loaded a second media library. Etc.
These different libraries…clashed(?).
Anyway, I plugged in HDD 1 and deleted the library, turned off the player, unplugged the HDD and plugged in the second, deleted the media library, etc, etc.
With all media libraries deleted I disconnected the player from the hub, attached all the HDDs to the hub, re-attached the hub to the player, and re-started.
Now at this stage it didn’t work fully. But I think the reason was that I had one film copied on to two of the HDDs - an absolutely identical copy. I deleted one copy and tried again.
_ IT WORKED! _
By the way, this is with 4 x 2tb WD Essentials HDDs. None are full. They hold a total of c.300 films.
I’m hoping I have it right now. I’m going to turn the Media Library off and delete the libraries on the HDDs, then finish my ripping - still quite a few discs to rip, but now more DVDs than Blu-ray Discs.
