This sounds strange but i want to format a 3 terabyte external hard drive as 2 terabytes for my TV USB Media Player

[irvinparrett]

This sounds strange but i want to format a 3 terabyte external hard drive as 2 terabytes for my TV USB Media Player.

I have a vizio 60 inch smart TV that will only accept a 2 Terabyte external drive at USB 2.0. How do I format the 3 terabyte drive to exactly replicate a 2 terabyte? I have a vast library of MP4 movies and need to expand. I have 2 - 3 terabyte hard drives that are not in use and wish to utilize them to be accepted by the TV.

Here is the Neat Thing I discovered. Although, the TV only has 1 USB input, I successfully plugged a 4 port powered USB 2.0 hub into the TV with the TV reading 2 different 2 terabyte hard drives (that is all the 2 terabyte drives I have). I was very excited. Today I am going to try a 7 port powered USB. This will give me a possibility of 14 terabytes of storage.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

The 2TB limit for your TV is because it recognises only the regular MBR partition style which has a 2TB limit.

For a 3TB HDD, you could try deleting all existing partitions on it, then creating a 2TB partition on it, leaving the remainder as unallocated space.

Note: If the HDD is currently a GUID/GPT drive (which it probably is) you'll first have to convert it to a regular MBR HDD like this: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725797.aspx

This is because your TV may not be compatible with GPT HDDs.

Then create a 2TB partition on it (new simple volume).

It might fool your TV in to thinking it's only a 2TB HDD but I don't guarantee it. Worth a try though.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, irvinparrett.

I'm not sure that this would work, but you could try creating a 2TB partition, while leaving the rest of the storage capacity as unallocated space. If this works out, you could try creating a 1TB partition with the rest of the storage capacity and hopefully it turns out that the TV is able to recognized them both. In order to partition your HDD, open Disk Management (make sure that you've selected the proper drive, because this procedure is data destructive), right-click with your mouse on the external drive's partition and select "Delete volume". This will delete the partition and you should be left with 3TB of unallocated storage capacity. Right click again and select "New simple volume". When you get to the size, adjust it so that the partition has no more than 2TB and format it.

edit: Seem like you've already received a similar answer while I was typing

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

 

[irvinparrett]

The 2TB limit for your TV is because it recognises only the regular MBR partition style which has a 2TB limit.

For a 3TB HDD, you could try deleting all existing partitions on it, then creating a 2TB partition on it, leaving the remainder as unallocated space.

Note: If the HDD is currently a GUID/GPT drive (which it probably is) you'll first have to convert it to a regular MBR HDD like this: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc725797.aspx

This is because your TV may not be compatible with GPT HDDs.

Then create a 2TB partition on it (new simple volume).

It might fool your TV in to thinking it's only a 2TB HDD but I don't guarantee it. Worth a try though.

So, exactly how many gigabytes should it be? I deleted the volume and now have two partitions. 2048.00 Gigabytes unallocated on the large partition and 746.52 Gigabyte on the smaller unallocated partition. Thanks again.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

This size should be OK for the partition as the actual restriction size is probably 2.2TB, so it wouldn't really matter if your on the verge of 2TB or it's a bit more. Now format one of the unallocated partitions and check if the TV can recognized it. Don't forget to switch it to MBR instead of GPT as @Phillip has suggested (follow the tutorial from his post).

 

[FireWire2]

Your HDD is GPT partition, your TV USB Media Player will not see it even you try to create a 1TB partition...

1) Use Diskpart to clean it, then create partition as MBR <== 2TB automatically
2) Format it, your TV USB Media Player. now should see it
or
By a new 2TB USB format is MBR, you are ready to use