USB HDD help

[taximonkey]

I have ET 9200 with VIX image and am trying to use a Western Digital Passport USB hard drive to record to and play files from.
The drive is formatted to FAT 32 and has a lot of movie files on it that i was expecting to use with the media player but when i plug the drive into any of the USB ports it can't be seen by the box in any menus. Dont know if theres a plugin i need to use to enable this feature!
Any ideas how i go about setting up this drive as a recording source (if this can be done) and to use to play media files off?
Thanks!

[Stanman]

it needs to be intiliased in the HDD menu but you will lose your stuff on it.

[taximonkey]

It doesnt show up in the Hard Drive menu, only the Samsung drive installed inside the box shows up here.
Ive tried rebooting the box with the WD plugged in but still nothing??

[Stanman]

Some people have overcome this issue by using the original image to initialize the driver but as I said above this will lead to loss of all data on the drive.

Best bet to do a google search to see if there are any known issues before you go down this route.

[taximonkey]

Ok thanks Stan. I will give this a go then if it means I will be able to use USB hard drives.
It doesn't matter about losing data from the drive as I can back this stuff up and put it back on later after initialisation.
My box came preflashed with the VIX Image so I would have to download the image and start from there I guess?
Could you please tell me how I would go about initialising the driver from image.
Thanks.

[fintannl]

had similar problems. suggest you search for wd fimware updater and update this on the flash chip in the drive. then you should find after reboot that the drive is seen

[taximonkey]

Thanks for the info m8, I'm just backing up the data on the drive now and I will give that a try:thumbsup:

[taximonkey]

Ok the WD firmware updater doesn't see my drive. Have tried it on main pc and laptop both running windows 7 and on a Mac. Looks like its a common problem, will have to leave it till tomorrow after work.
Just one thing when the drive is plugged into the box USB lights up on the front display but the drive just isn't seen.

[taximonkey]

Well I've been trying for hours again tonight and whatever I try I cannot get the WD firmware updater to see my WD passport drive on a pc or a mac. Have tried reformatting the drive to FAT 32 several times but the box never detects the USB drive. Oh well :confused:

[taximonkey]

Still not been able to get the Western Digital Passport USB drive to work with ET 9200, has anyone else been able to do this..?

[Stanman]

This is the orginal manufacturers image and it might do the trick for you.
http://www.et-view.com/main.php?board=ET9000/9200
Also are there any jumper settings on the HDD

[taximonkey]

No m8 there are no jumpers its just a 2.5 inch hard drive inside a passport shaped plastic case with nothing visible except a mini USB port.
Just downloaded the image, is it the drivers section i need?
Thanks.

[Stanman]

Need the one thats called firmware

[taximonkey]

Cheers m8 i thought it was a Linux driver you were showing me for the box. I already tried this Firmware last Monday and Tuesday and gave up in the end. It doesnt see my drive just keeps coming up with Disconnect all USB devices, reconnect only the WD drive you want to update and rescan.
Have done this over and over but it never sees the drive. I have 2 the same, one 320gb and one 500gb and it just doesnt see them.
Tried it on a pc, laptop and a mac, always the same message.

[Johev]

Hi taximonkey, I am not sure if my advice can help you, but if you have a 2,5HDD in a box to make it like an external HDD, than maybe you have a connection problem inside.

I had the same problem with my WD 3.5 HDD in a BOX with a power supply and a USB, and sometimes it would disconnect internally and I would need to open it just to check if everything was OK.

If it's not an internal HDD in an a box to make it external, than I have another idea. Are you using a double USB cable? Sometimes even the small 2,5 HDD need more power to work. I use 17218.

If you are using a normal USB to micro usb cable, than this might do the trick.

Good luck and let us know if you were able to solve the problem.

[taximonkey]

Hi Johev, it's a Western Digital passport drive i was using which is a sealed plastic case with a 2.5" hdd inside connected by a USB to micro USB cable. I was never able to get it to work so I just gave up on it. Thanks for the info :)