[WD TV LIVE] Problem with External USB Drives

#1

Hello,

I just bought a WD LIVE TV and was planning to use it with a External Disk I am currently using (hard drive in a USB SATA enclosure). This enclosure works fine on Windows XP and a MacBook Pro, not problems at all.

Today I installed the WD LIVE TV, upgraded to the latest firmware and when tried to connect the external hard drive (enclosure) it is not detected, the USB light on the WD TV does not even light up. I connected a USB flash drive and it was detected and I was able to play a video in there.

I know that this drives are not in the “certified” list, but as they work fine with Windows XP and Snow Leopard I just want to exhaust all options before going out and buying a new hard drive (already have 2 x 500Gb in queue to be used).

I was expecting using one of these drives, so is there any troubleshooting I can do to understand why the external drives are not detected?

Thanks

#2

Um, this probably won’t make you happy but I’ve been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.

Apparently not all internal drive enclosures work (and, for that matter, not all external drives).  I bought a 1.5TB drive that someone on this board said they used just fine with Live (indeed, had two or three of them) but I made the mistake of getting a different drive enclosure then they were recommending and it does exactly what you are experiencing (so much so that I’ve given up the idea of attached drives and gone with network shares, which is actually working much better for me.  But that’s a different story).

Assuming your drive works with the Live (most likely but not a sure thing) your best bet is to find an external case that DOES work.  If you’re in the U.S. this is a time where a place like Best Buy (with their money-back policies) is best, as you can try several until you find one that does work.  Good luck to you.

#3

Thanks for your answer… it really puts perspective to what should be my next steps. Amazing that is so hard to WD make the device with any standard USB drive

#4

If it helps any one…

I have just purchased a WDTV Live and have connected a:

IOMEGA Prestige 1TB External Hard Drive, Desktop 3.5"

Works a treat…

Also the DWA-125 Wireless Version A1: with FW 1.00

All looks to work fine.

Hope that helps…

Craig.

#5

Add the Maxtor Touch lll usb powered HD to the compatible list.