Will my WD TV HD Media Player only play My Passport Essential SE if FAT32 formatted?

#1

I have a WD TV HD Media Player [2 years old]. My first “My Passport Elite” works fine with it…it is formatted FAT32.

I just purchased a “My Passport Essential SE”… after backing up a few movies, however in an attempt to view them thru the WD Media player,  it is not recognized. In checking the formatting of the MP Essential SE drive, it is NTFS.

Using a utility program, can I convert / partition a PORTION of the MP Essential 1 TB drive to FAT32 so I may view photos, listen to music and watch movies on this drive like the MP Elite drive??? I removed all password protection on the drive.

Any help / recommendations / ideas / suggestions…

Thanks.

#2

Hi there!!

What model is your media player? If it is WDAVN00B ( WD00AVN) or WDAVP00B ( WD00AVP) then it won’t work even if formatted as FAT32 since the firmware itself does not support that drive…

#3

The unit’s markings list:  WD P/N: WD00AVN-00

I can connect a 16 GB flash drive that is FAT32 and it reads it fine.

I guess this drive cannot and will never connect even with a firmware update:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2581/related/1#external

So I guess I’m screwed and need to buy another media playing device if I want to use this for that purpose.

Thanks for your help

#4

Which WD HD TV media player (s)  _ will _ play movies, music, photos with direct connection to the My Passport Essential SE since the media player  I have will not???

#5

Well, clicking on the other answers in the link YOU provided, shows that

WDTV Live HD and WDTV Live Plus HD

WDTV Live Hub

WDTV Mini

have been tested and shown to work, and

WD Elements Play

hasn’t.