Question TV player keeps forgetting my external HDD and it thinks it's a phone ?

[Pandaman11]

Hello all

First of all, let me say that I’m not sure if my problem really concerns my external Seagate HDD or one of the other involved parties, but I’m trying to ask on all relevant forums.

Second, I don’t know if there’s a connection, but two or three days ago my computer started showing me regularly this screen while booting. And my problem that I will describe below started around the same time, so I don’t know if there’s a connection or if it’s just a random coincidence.

I have had a Sony A80 TV for 2.5 years and a Seagate external hard drive for much longer than that. For years, I would simply attach it to a USB port on the TV and immediately start playing videos. Never had a problem. But since this week, I have the following two problems and I can’t find anything at all about it googling.

1) My TV players (both VLC and the internal Sony player) keep forgetting the external HDD which means it always takes a few minutes to load the whole folder structure (3.1TB), as if it was a new unknown device, but it’s not. I’ve been using it for years almost daily.

Also, in the history/progress menu of VLC (not sure what it’s called in English, I have everything in German), it recognizes recently played videos, however it can’t play them from this history menu. It just gives me an error message, storage not found or something. So I can play them by navigating through the folder structure, however not through the "recently played" shortcut (if anyone has VLC on his tv too, he'll understand)

2) VLC keeps creating random folders on my external hard disk. This never happened before. When I attach my hard disk to the computer (Win 10), I delete them, but the next time I attach it to the TV, they get created again. They are called, for example, Alarms, Ringtones, DCIM, etc. That sounds very much like folders on a phone.

I don’t understand what is happening. Does my TV believe that my harddrive is a phone? Why suddenly after all these years?? Is it vice versa, does my harddrive believe that my TV is a phone? It is indeed a Google/Android TV system.

I also have a Samsung Android phone that I sometimes attach to my desktop computer, but never to the tv though. Not sure if that could in any way be related.

Do you know anything about why a Seagate hdd could (suddenly) think that a tv is actually a phone? I also asked in VLC and Sony forums if their products had a recent software update.
And while this folder thing exists only with VLC and points at a VLC-specific problem, the internal Sony player keeps forgetting my hdd too, which points at a problem in the connection between hdd and tv.

Sorry, I know it’s a lot of questions at once, and I couldn’t find anything at all googling, but this is a very annoying new problem, so I hope someone can help me fix it.

Thank you in advance

 

[evermorex76]

VLC itself would never have a reason to create any folders on any external device (and has no function to do so), especially not "Android phone-specific" folders like that. Why do you think it exists only with VLC?

But sure, an Android-based TV seems like it COULD flake out and start building a filesystem like that. A buggy recent firmware or software update sounds very plausible. I assume you haven't gotten a response from the Sony forums, and it could be hard to find which specific bit of software might be causing it and have been updated. Doing some quick searching also gives me the idea that if the system thinks the drive is not an external device, but rather something internally-mounted like an SD card, Android will then automatically generate those folders.

An external drive as old as that one could be failing, which might explain the issues with having to be re-detected and scanned as well as the TV suddenly not knowing it's an external hard drive. When it's plugged into the PC, run a tool like Crystal DiskInfo to check the health and the SMART values to check for errors of any kind.

The error message when you boot up your PC could be caused by a dead BIOS battery. It's an old machine and the batteries don't last forever. Try replacing that. (Presumably you haven't customized any settings there, like overclocking, as all that would be lost if the battery died and you'd have noticed.) Should be a CR2032 type.

 

[Pandaman11]

Why do you think it exists only with VLC?

Because these folders only appear once I open the VLC app. And they're only visible in VLC, I tried two other video players and they don't show up there.
Moreover, in the VLC app there's a folder called "internal memory" that has the exact same folders. No other video player app has anything like this.

I assume you haven't gotten a response from the Sony forums, and it could be hard to find which specific bit of software might be causing it and have been updated.

No not yet, but I only posted it today. And yes, I agree, could be near-impossible to find. Perhaps I'll try to update my TV software (though now that I think about it, I think it had an update earlier this week or last week)

Doing some quick searching also gives me the idea that if the system thinks the drive is not an external device, but rather something internally-mounted like an SD card, Android will then automatically generate those folders.

That's possible, I've never heard or thought about this. Do you have an idea how to prevent this (if possible)? And would this explain why it keeps forgetting my hdd?

When it's plugged into the PC, run a tool like Crystal DiskInfo to check the health and the SMART values to check for errors of any kind.

I did it. It simply says "Good" (but without any percentage)

The error message when you boot up your PC could be caused by a dead BIOS battery. It's an old machine and the batteries don't last forever. Try replacing that. (Presumably you haven't customized any settings there, like overclocking, as all that would be lost if the battery died and you'd have noticed.) Should be a CR2032 type.

Yeah I found that solution on youtube. Seems like it's total coincidence that it started happening around the same time. No, I don't think I have customized any settings. But my PC was built by a friend, perhaps he did something, I'll ask him about this and the battery.

 

[Pandaman11]

Just a few minutes ago. I just removed the hdd from the usb port and re-attached it 10 seconds later. Everything is lost, it'll again need a while until it starts recognizing the folders and files again.

I'm lost and don't know what to do anymore. Everything worked like a charm for years, but now out of nowhere all has gone to s***

 

[evermorex76]

I did it. It simply says "Good" (but without any percentage)

I believe lack of a percentage is just because the drive doesn't provide any specific lifespan attribute that DiskInfo can report, like a TBW rating, or a direct health rating of its own. DiskInfo just has to look at the SMART attributes that it knows to be health-related in order to determine Good/Caution/Bad. If you don't see any errors or concerning values in the SMART data then we can mostly assume it's not a drive issue, although it COULD still be an issue with the interface electronics. I don't know exactly what issue could cause the problems you're seeing with it being forgotten, though. I'd have to put it all down to a firmware/software bug on the TV.

It doesn't seem like there could be any relationship to the PC battery, unless there was some sort of motherboard power fault that killed the battery or faulted the BIOS and somehow made the drive electronics just slightly screwy but not enough to make it totally non-functional. (That just seems like too specific an issue. Power fault may have just caused a momentary issue with the drive or should have blown it completely.) Have you gone into the BIOS setup and just hit Save Settings, or are you just entering it and then resetting without saving?

The only way to test any of this really would be getting another external drive, or even trying a flash thumb drive. 500GB USB drives aren't terribly expensive, just for testing.

There is a Media Library option in VLC that can be enabled or disabled, but this just creates a static list of folders that should be scanned for media OR excluded from scanning. It doesn't create any folders according to vlchelp.com. By default VLC will scan all folders. Are the files on your drive all in the root of the drive, or in subfolders? VLC should have always been displaying them under whatever the "root" of the drive was since it starts scanning from that point by default. Do the other apps on the TV scan all folders or do you have to specify them?

Choosing, Scanning and Browsing Media Library in VLC for Android

Once you've installed VLC Media Player on your Android phone, the app scans for all the media on your phone. The main dashboard displays all the video

www.vlchelp.com

The "internal memory" folder is not exclusive to VLC. It's not a real filesystem folder, it's an indicator of the root of the physical storage being listed. (On a mobile phone you might see "internal storage" as well as "SD Card" appearing like root directories when you plug the phone into a PC or open Android. It's just the equivalent of C:\.) That's just showing that VLC is scanning from the root of the storage that the TV has. All of the folders on your drive should have been appearing under that before. I just checked though, and it looks like the VLC Android app was just updated on May 7 on the Play Store (I don't know where a Sony TV gets apps or if the "Sony app store" is perhaps a week behind on new versions). Perhaps there was actually a change to the way it displays the storage but I doubt it.

Maybe the TV did in fact update the firmware and now generates those folders because it considers USB drives "internal storage" like an SD card rather than external, and of course the TV itself doesn't have any real internal storage. That may have changed what the "root" is named and appears as in VLC. The change may also have resulted in the device not being "known" to your apps every time you unplug and re-plug it now (which obviously sounds like a bug).

Check the Media Library in VLC and perhaps you can exclude "internal memory" and only scan the known folders on the drive, and maybe that will allow VLC to remember the drive next time you plug it in. Maybe including "internal memory" forces it to rescan the entire thing. You may be able to find a similar option in the Sony player and others. I don't think there's anything you can do about the creation of the new folders, though.

 

[Pandaman11]

Have you gone into the BIOS setup and just hit Save Settings, or are you just entering it and then resetting without saving?

First I only clicked Save & Exit without doing anything because I'm a noob in such things. Later, I just changed the date and time because I saw that it always goes back to 1/1/2014. But it doesn't happen during every booting.

The only way to test any of this really would be getting another external drive, or even trying a flash thumb drive. 500GB USB drives aren't terribly expensive, just for testing.

Yes I know. I'll try to borrow one at work first.
I will also connect it to my mom's tv and see what happens (it's an LG, so anyway different firmware).

There is a Media Library option in VLC that can be enabled or disabled, but this just creates a static list of folders that should be scanned for media OR excluded from scanning. It doesn't create any folders according to vlchelp.com. By default VLC will scan all folders. Are the files on your drive all in the root of the drive, or in subfolders? VLC should have always been displaying them under whatever the "root" of the drive was since it starts scanning from that point by default. Do the other apps on the TV scan all folders or do you have to specify them?

I'll check the link, thanks. I already excluded all these Ringtones etc folders in the settings, but it didn't help. Then, if VLC doesn't create these folders, I don't know what does. I only know that VLC is the only app that shows them when the hdd is connected to the tv. The other apps on the TV scan all folders without me specifying anything. They are all in the root of the drive, if I understood this expression correctly. i.e. I have the drive H:, and when I enter it, they're all displayed there, like 10 different folders, Ringtones, Alarms, Podcasts, etc. One of them, "Android", has 3 subfolders called data etc.

Maybe the TV did in fact update the firmware and now generates those folders because it considers USB drives "internal storage" like an SD card rather than external, and of course the TV itself doesn't have any real internal storage. That may have changed what the "root" is named and appears as in VLC. The change may also have resulted in the device not being "known" to your apps every time you unplug and re-plug it now (which obviously sounds like a bug).

Yes, this may be the most likely explanation.

Because the creation of the folders (whether it has to do with VLC or not) is one thing, I can always hide them on Windows. But the bigger problem is that it always needs to re-detect the whole 3.1TB on my hdd (every player does this, no difference between VLC, Sony, etc - so here the problem is not VLC-related, but TV-HDD related). It does so alphabetically. I have 4 main folders and a lot of subfolders in them. I often need the folder that comes first. For that one, it needs maybe 10min to load. But yesterday evening, after 1h of scanning it got until the subfolders F in the last main folder. And I needed exactly a subfolder G
I don't know if it would have continued, at some point it was 1am. Maybe sometimes I just need to plug it in and let it load for hours, perhaps over night, and see if it reaches Z. Earlier, I just plugged in and 10 seconds later I could start watching. And now this...
Actually, it's 5 folders. It always starts from one called $Recycle.Bin (that one is totally hidden on Windows, only like Disk Drill can make it visible). But this morning it's again happening, again loading from zero. Also, in the Sony player, it always resets the display of the folders (i.e. list vs tiles), though that, while annoying, is in comparison a minor problem.
Interestingly though, when it gets re-detected, VLC shows me a popup message with "new external device detected - do you want to add it to media library?" So VLC understands it's external. But could this be irrelevant, because it depends on Sony (who, maybe, believes it's internal) loading the whole 3.1TB first? It can't work independently of Sony it seems?
Anyway, this tells me that there must be some bigger issue in the connection between TV and HDD. Perhaps, as you say, a bugged firmware believes it's an internal card. Because the HDD itself works perfectly connected to my desktop PC (and also Crystal says Good, without any concerning messages)

Check the Media Library in VLC and perhaps you can exclude "internal memory" and only scan the known folders on the drive, and maybe that will allow VLC to remember the drive next time you plug it in. Maybe including "internal memory" forces it to rescan the entire thing. You may be able to find a similar option in the Sony player and others. I don't think there's anything you can do about the creation of the new folders, though.

Yes I did just that. Excluded absolutely everything except for those 4 main folders. But no, it had nothing to do with remembering.
Also, before this change 3-4 days, I never touched anything like this in the settings, never had a problem.

 

[Pandaman11]

Update: I've now kept it connected to the tv for like 3h. It loaded relatively quickly ("quickly" considering the current problems), maybe 20-30min I guess, until the point I described before: the 4 main folders (+ $Recycle.bin), and in the 4th folder (the last one alphabetically) the first 9 of 21 subfolders. The other 12 are shown too, however they're shown as empty. On both my computers (one desktop and one laptop, both Win 10) I don't have such a problem. There, it shows and plays all video files from these 21 folders.

But after that, it can't load the final 12 folders anymore, even after hours. I have no idea why it gets stuck exactly there. The 10th folder isn't particularly big or anything.

I already tried on my PC this thing where you right click on the drive and choose "optimize". The hdd itself seems fine.

Also, I just found out something else. Not sure if this helps or makes everything more confusing.
In the settings of my Sony TV, there's a menu point System > Memory (translated words). Under Memory, I see "USB Memory device by Seagate" twice. Under the first one, a sort of subtitle reads "device was safely ejected". Under the second one, it just says memory 5.0 TB. So maybe it still understands that it's an external device, not an internal card.

But this raises new questions. Why is it there twice? Why does the first one say was ejected, past tense? Is this the proof that it remembers the hdd from the past, but cannot recognize it anymore? But even if it thinks that now it's a totally new device, why does it get stuck at that 9/21 point, why can't it load/detect past that quicker? Also, I can't click on the first Seagate entry at all, can't do anything with it. The second one has options such as eject, format, etc.

I also 1) tried to update software again, 2) cleared several internal caches, and 3) restarted the TV. I'd prefer not to reset to factory settings, though

 

[evermorex76]

They are all in the root of the drive, if I understood this expression correctly. i.e. I have the drive H:, and when I enter it, they're all displayed there, like 10 different folders, Ringtones, Alarms, Podcasts, etc. One of them, "Android", has 3 subfolders called data etc.

So yeah, that's the expectation if Android itself is creating them. The same thing happens when you insert an SD card in a phone. If the other app doesn't display the folders, then maybe the app has some limitation like it only displays folders that have media files in them. If you drop a file into something like the DCIM folder does it then get listed in the other app?

$Recycle.Bin is just a system folder that Windows creates on all drives. There's also one called System Volume Information. There's no way to prevent that. Just out of curiosity, what filesystem does the drive use? NTFS, exFAT, FAT32? The A80 seems to support them all, but NTFS is generally not great to use with non-Windows devices because Android doesn't support it natively. exFAT is probably best, while FAT32 is the most compatible (but has a 4GB file size limitation). While I was looking up the TV support I found someone else complaining about a TV firmware update that made theirs suddenly stop working with exFAT and they had to switch. Maybe the issue is a bug with the filesystem support. Or maybe the new firmware (if it was actually updated; I don't know if you confirmed that) is just overall much less optimized and performs worse on this hardware, which could be the source of all these issues. Maybe the memory management is awful now which makes everything slower and causes the scan of the drives to stop. Maybe it's just the filesystem driver being buggy now.

It can't work independently of Sony it seems?

Applications always depend on the OS to tell them anything about what hardware is connected and available, but in general the application itself won't care or even know whether it's internal, external, or even a mapped network drive (in Windows).

"Optimizing" a hard drive in Windows just means defragmentation, which can greatly improve performance if there is a lot of write activity, with files of varying sizes being added and deleted, as it consolidates bits of the files to be in single chunks so the read/write heads don't have to move all over the drive, but as you've seen that's not apparently related to this issue. (Just for information because I like to inform, an SSD doesn't get defragmented with "optimize", it just runs TRIM which performs some maintenance on the drive that prepares previously-used flash cells that have been deleted to be ready for use again, which also greatly increases performance.)

So maybe it still understands that it's an external device, not an internal card.

SD cards still also need to be "safely" unmounted/ejected to avoid possible data loss, so I don't think that's necessarily an indicator that it thinks it's truly external, but it's interesting that it sees it as a separate device. The old listing of the drive is remembered, but the new one presumably disappears when you remove the drive, which would match up with the system and apps thinking it's a different drive each time it's plugged in. There seems to be an "Eject" option under Notifications on the Home screen. Maybe using that every time would fix the "remembering it" issue at least, assuming you weren't using it before. Another option, maybe turn the TV off before you unplug the drive?

I'd prefer not to reset to factory settings, though

If changing the filesystem on the drive doesn't help (you'd obviously have to copy all those files to your computer/another drive which may be a problem) and testing with a different drive formatted with the same filesystem or a different one shows the same issue, then this might be the only possible next step in troubleshooting, but still isn't guaranteed to fix anything if the new firmware is just trash. If a different drive doesn't show these issues (using the same filesystem), then I would say maybe try just doing a full format of the Seagate drive, which doesn't SOUND like it ought to help but can't hurt. Assuming you've got 3TB of space to store those files. If that doesn't work, but the one from your job is functional, then it sounds like you need to buy another drive. Keep in mind the only real way to test with the other drive is going to be copying ALL those files and folders over so you can ensure it's putting the same stresses on the TV.

 

[Pandaman11]

So yeah, that's the expectation if Android itself is creating them. The same thing happens when you insert an SD card in a phone. If the other app doesn't display the folders, then maybe the app has some limitation like it only displays folders that have media files in them. If you drop a file into something like the DCIM folder does it then get listed in the other app?

Yeah I know these folder names from when I connect my Samsung smartphone to my PC, but I've never seen them before on my HHD after connecting it to my TV. It started only this week. It's always been a Google TV, but perhaps now there's been an update that, sort of, makes it behave more like a phone.

$Recycle.Bin is just a system folder that Windows creates on all drives. There's also one called System Volume Information. There's no way to prevent that. Just out of curiosity, what filesystem does the drive use? NTFS, exFAT, FAT32? The A80 seems to support them all, but NTFS is generally not great to use with non-Windows devices because Android doesn't support it natively. exFAT is probably best, while FAT32 is the most compatible (but has a 4GB file size limitation).

Yeah, Recycle Bin has never disturbed me, I just explained what's happening step by step. It's NTFS and I believe it's always been. I didn't format it and change the filesystem, and I don't believe it could simply change itself. 4GB is too low for me, 90% of the files that I play are bigger.

Or maybe the new firmware (if it was actually updated; I don't know if you confirmed that) is just overall much less optimized and performs worse on this hardware, which could be the source of all these issues. Maybe the memory management is awful now which makes everything slower and causes the scan of the drives to stop. Maybe it's just the filesystem driver being buggy now.

Yeah it's updated. A few days ago, it updated automatically, I got a pop up message. And then, after these problems started, I anyway manually clicked on Update a few more times.
And yes, there are a lot of theories what it could be, unfortunately it sounds really like the update screwed things up.

The old listing of the drive is remembered, but the new one presumably disappears when you remove the drive, which would match up with the system and apps thinking it's a different drive each time it's plugged in. There seems to be an "Eject" option under Notifications on the Home screen. Maybe using that every time would fix the "remembering it" issue at least, assuming you weren't using it before. Another option, maybe turn the TV off before you unplug the drive?

When no external device is plugged in, both disappear. When I plug in my hdd, "Seagate" is shown twice (according to the description before)

No, I never used Eject before, didn't even know that option existed. I did it today, didn't help.

And yes, I always turn the TV (or PC) off and wait until the lamp on the HDD turns off before I unplug it, because I know that unplugging it while it's still working could screw it up.

If changing the filesystem on the drive doesn't help (you'd obviously have to copy all those files to your computer/another drive which may be a problem) and testing with a different drive formatted with the same filesystem or a different one shows the same issue, then this might be the only possible next step in troubleshooting, but still isn't guaranteed to fix anything if the new firmware is just trash. If a different drive doesn't show these issues (using the same filesystem), then I would say maybe try just doing a full format of the Seagate drive, which doesn't SOUND like it ought to help but can't hurt. Assuming you've got 3TB of space to store those files. If that doesn't work, but the one from your job is functional, then it sounds like you need to buy another drive. Keep in mind the only real way to test with the other drive is going to be copying ALL those files and folders over so you can ensure it's putting the same stresses on the TV.

I can get the work-hhd in 10 days, then I'll have to experiment a little. I can let those files copy over night. I already had all those ideas you mentioned, it'll be kinda a process of elimination.
We'll also see if and what Sony answers.
In the end, I guess the firmware is just trash and I'm screwed and should perhaps buy a LG or Philips 😆

 

[evermorex76]

It really does seem like the firmware is the issue, causing both the redetection/scanning as well as the new folders being created, and probably is why VLC is seeing the drive as "internal memory" now instead of however it was seen before. VLC being updated at around the same time seems like a coincidence.

As to the file system, the new firmware could be buggy with the NTFS filesystem. You could switch to exFAT and see if it improves (supports over 4GB files, just a little less reliable than NTFS, problems are rare, but it's basically the standard for drives not on Windows systems). Maybe you could resolve it that way without waiting 10 days.

 

[Pandaman11]

Okay I may have made some progress now on these things

1) When no external devices are connected, it doesn't show anything in the TV's menu, only when one is connected. I have a USB flash drive with 32 gb. When I connect that one, it simply shows it as one device. But once I connect the Seagate, it shows it twice, like I described before. Could that maybe speak for your theory that the TV thinks it's an internal card? Or why else would it think that I have two devices connected at the same time? Because this reminds me of when I connect my Android phone with my desktop pc, there it also shows two folders ("internal" and "card"), even though I don't have an external physical card (it hasn't even been possible anymore in recent years with the modern Samsungs). However, I'd need to check if another NTFS external hdd behaves the same.
Does the flash appear only once because my HDD has an issue - or because a flash behaves differently from a HDD?

2 I formated that USB drive first to ExFat, later to NTFS (before that, it used to be Fat32). In both cases, I tried to disconnect and reconnect it after a few hours. And in both cases, I could really pick up where I left off. No issues at all. Like it used to be the case with my Seagate too before everything went down south (whereas now it always loses the progress if it's removed for only like 30min).
So that would speak for a problem with my HDD, not with the NTFS itself, right? However, a new question... I can't say if this difference could perhaps be caused by external hard disk vs flash drive? Could the TV make a difference between the two, could it behave differently, even if both are NTFS?
I can't yet format my Seagate to ExFat, however.

3) About this weird problem that it can't read files from G to Z. Yesterday, I wanted to watch an episode from a subfolder that is alphabetically at the absolute bottom (Y in the 4th folder). But the Sony media player doesn't load past F anymore (VLC does and I could watch there, I just like some image settings better in the internal media player). So I transferred the file to the main folder of the drive, thinking it could be recognized there, as it wouldn't be in the depths of the subfolders anymore. But no, still doesn't get recognized with the Y at the beginning. After that, I renamed it with a 0 at the beginning and voilà, it worked. So awkward.

4) On another forum, someone said My TCL android TV had a firmware update and now creates a lot more folders. If you delete them, they are re-created, it is by design. I did notice that it reads media a little differently now as well

 

[evermorex76]

I wouldn't expect any device to treat a USB drive any differently from an HDD or SSD on USB. The only thing I can think of is maybe the TV had some sort of identifying information written to the HDD before the firmware update, and now after the update it sees that data and loads it, but isn't actually USING it to identify the drive, so it also lists it a second time using the new identification which doesn't "stick". Maybe simply performing a full erase of the drive (just using diskpart's "clean" command on the command line) and then quick reformatting would fix it.

If you create two partitions on the USB drive, what does the TV show? If you look at the HDD using a tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant, does it only show the one partition? (Windows Disk Management may not always show all partitions.)

I REALLY don't understand why the TV or different apps have such differences in the speed of reading folders and files or whether they can or can't read them at all. Does the TV have a file explorer type app, or can you load one? Just to see how well that can see the folders. But it almost sounds like it's not just a Sony issue, but an underlying Android TV issue, if it's affecting other brands.

 

[evermorex76]

I also just found this, relating to the folders getting created every time you plug in. Maybe Android TV has just been updated with the "MediaProvider" to match other Android devices from 2 years ago. And if the identifier (also mentioned here) on your HDD isn't matching every time you plug it in that would be why it's creating them every time.

Turning off automatic folder making when putting in an external memory device using OTG

Hi, how can I turn off the automatic creation of folders in an android device when an external memory device, such as a USB drive, is inserted using OTG?

xdaforums.com

 

[Pandaman11]

Update: I connected the hdd to an 11-year-old LG tv. My whole hdd was recognized immediately. All folders from A to Z. Okay, I should mention that it's my former TV where I used to attach the hard disk for years (but not in the last 2 years). Nonetheless, I think this speaks increasingly for a Sony firmware problem, or at least a problem in the connection between TV and HDD (or perhaps, broader, in the connection between the newest firmware and external NTFS formatted hard drives, but I don't know if I can generalize because I don't know if other people have the same issue).

Though this guy here mentioned that he also noticed a different behavior: My TCL android TV had a firmware update and now creates a lot more folders. If you delete them, they are re-created, it is by design. I did notice that it reads media a little differently now as well

Now the only thing left to do ( I guess) is get myself another hard drive and see how it behaves, once as NTFS, and once as ExFAT. After that, I guess I should be able to answer if the problem is specifically with my Seagate, or if I can really generalize.

Furthermore, two more things that I have noticed, but I don't know if and how they are relevant. Both started a few days later than the original problems.

1) My Sony Media Player has problems opening. Both through the button on my remote and through the Apps menu. I need to repeat clicking like 10 times until it opens. It tries to open, but then it jumps back to the previous screen. Sometimes it appears for 2 seconds and then jumps back.

2) When I first turn on the TV, and only second attach an external device, a screen appears that asks me what I want to do ("show content with media player" and three other options). Now, when the TV is on and the Seagate is already attached, this screen anyway keeps appearing multiple times. So it believes repeatedly that I just connected a device that is actually already connected. The USB port itself is not the problem, A) because it happens with the other ports too, and B) because when I attach my USB flash to that one, it does not happen.

PS Sony support of my country has already answered me, we'll see how that will continue.

Maybe simply performing a full erase of the drive (just using diskpart's "clean" command on the command line) and then quick reformatting would fix it.

Maybe yes, and I'm increasingly thinking that there's no way around formatting (I'd prefer that over TV factory reset), but I can get a backup hdd earliest next Monday.

If you create two partitions on the USB drive, what does the TV show?

It shows both

If you look at the HDD using a tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant, does it only show the one partition?

Tbh, I have no idea. I'd guess it's one. Can you tell by this screenshot ?

Does the TV have a file explorer type app, or can you load one?

I checked with one. It shows all folders, both my own and those Android folders.
Funny thing: when I use the file explorer to go to one of the "bottom 12" folders (i.e. those not shown anymore by Media Player) and try to play a video, it asks me which video player I want to use. I choose Sony player and... it works! It plays a file that it wouldn't detect/scan in its own menu.
So perhaps the problem could be specifically somewhere inside of Media Player?

But it almost sounds like it's not just a Sony issue, but an underlying Android TV issue, if it's affecting other brands.

Agreed. That's why I sent Sony my TV's serial number etc and waiting for their next answer. Hopefully they can find out that the problem is somewhere in their firmware.

The other thing left to do is to erase + format my Seagate, but, like I said, next Mon earliest.

 

[evermorex76]

It shows both

Tbh, I have no idea. I'd guess it's one. Can you tell by this screenshot ?

The 128MB "Other" partition is a Microsoft Reserved Partition, which normally is created by Windows on all drives using the GPT partition scheme. It's not technically required (especially when you just have one partition). It's safe to remove that and expand the H drive to use the space, and that might resolve at least the issue of the drive being listed twice (without needing to "clean" the drive). It's better to just leave it on the other GPT disk where you C drive is, though, where it's only 16MB. Since that partition has probably always been there, it seems like this is a "bug" in the new firmware which doesn't like seeing that partition and could even be the root of all the issues.

Out of curiosity, why do you have a 1TB drive that has a partition named "Computer" with no drive letter which I assume was an old Windows install, and the D drive assigned to an 11GB partition which looks like it's probably the recovery partition from that install?

 

[Pandaman11]

It's safe to remove that and expand the H drive to use the space, and that might resolve at least the issue of the drive being listed twice (without needing to "clean" the drive).

So do you think I should try to do this first and perhaps, if I'm lucky, it could solve my problem?
And it can't mess up my Seagate, or delete all data on it?

Out of curiosity, why do you have a 1TB drive that has a partition named "Computer" with no drive letter which I assume was an old Windows install, and the D drive assigned to an 11GB partition which looks like it's probably the recovery partition from that install?

A few years ago, a friend built me a new computer with a SSD. But he kept the HDD from my old computer inside of the new one to use it as a free extra memory and/or backup. I just removed the letter because I don't need it to be visible the whole time. When I need it (e.g. to backup holiday pictures or whatever), I just assign it a letter for that moment.
I don't know what exactly D is, but it doesn't disturb me. And yes, it's called Recovery

 

[evermorex76]

So do you think I should try to do this first and perhaps, if I'm lucky, it could solve my problem?
And it can't mess up my Seagate, or delete all data on it?

I can't say with 100% certainty because Windows sucks, and sometimes weird things happen with computers in general, but it wouldn't be a problem if everything worked the way it's SUPPOSED to work. None of my drives besides my boot drive have the MSR partition, internal or external. If you create partitions with anything besides Windows Disk Management or diskpart, the MSR isn't even created. Only extremely rare conditions use it, but Microsoft continues to say it's required on all GPT disks.

Seems like pointless extra work to add and remove a drive letter every time you want to backup some files. But since you're trying to not have drive letters when you don't need them, you could un-assign the D drive letter as well. You could also delete those partitions and expand the Computer one to regain their space.

 

[Pandaman11]

None of my drives besides my boot drive have the MSR partition, internal or external. If you create partitions with anything besides Windows Disk Management or diskpart, the MSR isn't even created. Only extremely rare conditions use it, but Microsoft continues to say it's required on all GPT disks.

Honestly, I don't understand most of the words, so I think it's easier just not to mess with it Anyway, it'd probably not be the solution.

Seems like pointless extra work to add and remove a drive letter every time you want to backup some files.

Nah it's okay, because I use it very rarely.

Either way, thanks a lot for the time and effort you have invested in helping me, I appreciate that. You've been much more useful than anyone else, including the useless Sony support from my country who just sends copy-pasted texts with links to their website. Now, all that's left to do (except wait and see if Sony has a better answer) is to borrow another external harddisk and test how that behaves. But anyway I can do it only next Tuesday earliest.

 

[evermorex76]

If you can make a backup of the files, I would definitely try removing the MSR partition. I'm almost certain that's the cause of the drive being listed twice on the TV, and if the firmware update can cause that kind of problem with a standard formatting of a drive, then it wouldn't be surprising if that formatting caused the other problems too, just because of poor coding in the new firmware.