Media player won't detect 2TB Seagate external HDD

[ozlatic]

I have a noontec A3 media player that I have been using fine for a few years now. The problem is the external hard disk (1TB WD My Passport Ultra) I have been using with it is starting have problems, not just with the media player but also with my computer. I tried with running a movie off a little 16GB USB thumb drive and it worked fine so decided to replace the HDD.

I went out and bought a Seagate 2TB Expansion Portable Hard Drive and when I plug it in the media player freezes when trying to detect it. I tried it with another Seagate 2TB Drive which I use for other stuff and again it freezes.

I read that Seagate drives may be formatted GUID instead of MBR but when I checked in disk management on Windows 10 it said that it was MBR.

Anyone have any suggestions which doesn't involve me buying another media player just to find that it also can't detect my Seagate HDD?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, ozlatic.

Check if the media player supports drives with that kind of storage capacity. It could have some limitations which could cause issues like that. MBR vs GPT should not have such an affect on your media player. You could also connect the external HDD to your computer and download its manufacturer's diagnostic tool so that you can run the tests and make sure that the drive is in good condition. Also, give it a go with a different USB cable, if you've tried both drives with the same cable, to see if anything changes.

Same thing goes for the WD drive. Give it a go with a different USB cable. I'd also recommend that you download DLG (Data Lifeguard) and run both tests (Quick and Extended), to see what's the situation with the HDD. Here's how to do it: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how it goes.
Boogieman_WD

 

[ozlatic]

Hey there, ozlatic.

Check if the media player supports drives with that kind of storage capacity. It could have some limitations which could cause issues like that. MBR vs GPT should not have such an affect on your media player. You could also connect the external HDD to your computer and download its manufacturer's diagnostic tool so that you can run the tests and make sure that the drive is in good condition. Also, give it a go with a different USB cable, if you've tried both drives with the same cable, to see if anything changes.

Same thing goes for the WD drive. Give it a go with a different USB cable. I'd also recommend that you download DLG (Data Lifeguard) and run both tests (Quick and Extended), to see what's the situation with the HDD. Here's how to do it: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how it goes.
Boogieman_WD

Hi Boogieman, thanks for the reply.

I tested the media player with a couple of different cables and I still got the same result but they all work on the computer. I have also used 2TB HDDs with this media player before without issue.

For the seagate hdd, I downloaded it's diagnostic tools and it passed all the tests no problem.

As for the WD drive that I started with I ran both tests you suggested. The quick one only went for a few seconds before stopping and failing. The extensive test went indefinitely as it seemed to "hang" on a certain sector.
screenshots

Ideally, I would like to get the movies off that drive,but it's not essential.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Sorry to hear that it's failed. :\
As for the movies, you could try doing that by copy pasting them one by one or try some data recovery software options: http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm. Unfortunately, the WD drive has failed and I'd strongly recommend that you remove the S/N from the screenshots (for security reasons) especially if the drive is still under warranty. If it is you can contact the vendor you got it from and RMA it, or go through our support portal: WD Support Portal.

About the other drive, try reaching the player manufacturer's customer support to see if there's any sort of incompatibility issues with that HDD.