Question Need an external hard drive for my video collection

[teoteodore]

I've been using a Western Digital

WD My Passport Ultra 1 TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive​

for my video collection. I can access the videos using PotPlayer with no problem. I wanted an increased capacity, so I bought a

Western Digital 4TB My Passport Portable External Hard Drive with backup software and password protection, Black - WDBPKJ0040BBK-WESN https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VTW2LPX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1​

But after one or two successful 'plays' the drive locks and has to be rebooted and unlocked from scratch. What should I look for in an external drive that will allow for playing videos directly from the drive?

 

[Lafong]

Is there an over-riding reason it has to be external?

Are you using ANY of the software that may have come with the WD?

Have you tried connecting it through various ports or using various cables?

You could try an external dock containing the drive of your choice rather than whatever drive WD may have put inside that Passport thing.

SSDs would be ideal but may be out of your budget...circa 200 or more for 4 TB

 

[Misgar]

If Power Management is enabled in Device Manager for any/all of your USB Root Hubs, Windows might switch off your external hard disk when it detects inactivity to save power.

If you've invoked password protection software, when the drive restarts after powering down, you will be asked to enter your password again to unlock the drive.

Check all USB Root Hubs have their Power Management switched off and stop using the password software.

If the USB cable connecting the drive to your computer is more than 1ft (30cm) long, replace it with a shorter high quality lead.

 

[teoteodore]

If Power Management is enabled in Device Manager for any/all of your USB Root Hubs, Windows might switch off your external hard disk when it detects inactivity to save power.

If you've invoked password protection software, when the drive restarts after powering down, you will be asked to enter your password again to unlock the drive.

Check all USB Root Hubs have their Power Management switched off and stop using the password software.

If the USB cable connecting the drive to your computer is more than 1ft (30cm) long, replace it with a shorter high quality lead.

The Root Hub powering down solution worked. Thanks