Using with external hard drives

Hi everyone

I recently bought a WDTV Live so that I could have an easy way to play my DVDs and other recordings without having to go look for the actual discs, and have spent the last 3 weeks ripping them all to hard drives.

I had originally planned to use a pc for this and setting up shared folders on the network, but have now decided that I don’t want to leave a PC running and so have gone down the external hard drive route of connecting the drives directly to the WDTV. I’m planning to connect both the hard drives to it via a powered USB hub.

I’m wondering if there is any way that I can get the WDTV to be able to see all of the files which are on *both* of the hard drives, instead of  having to select each drive in turn when I want to see its contents?  I guess I’m wondering if there is any way of maybe generating a catalogue of contents/file list for both hard drives, from which I can select what I want to watch, *without* using a PC.

Any ideas anyone?

Is there such a thing as a hard drive enclosure for 2 SATA drives which would connect to the WDTV via a single USB cable and show both drives as being a single source, or am I clutching at straws?

As you’ve probably guessed, I’m very new to all of this and would appreciate any help/advice from the experts on here.

Many thanks.

Steve

I bought the device recently as well but there is an option called “My Media Library” which can consolidate your content for one single view. Please check Page 27 of the manual http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705062.pdf

Hi there

Thanks for that, but it’s not quite what I was after as I still have to select the appropriate drive to be able to see what’s on it.

What I want is a single list showing the contents of BOTH of the connected drives, allowing me to just pick what I want to watch without having to select the drive first, or even having to know which drive contains the file.

Is this possible without using a PC?

FYI a quote from my WDTV Live user manual says

“Note: This device does not support USB hubs.”

Barry

My manual doesn’t mention USB hubs at all and my hub is working fine - I have 2 hard drives and 2 USB keys plugged into it at the moment and they are all accessible via the WDTV Live.

Hey 55brianb, what USB hub are you using with you WDTV Live?

An old Belkin F5U237.