what are the ramifications of an external HDD being a "portale device"

my 1TB USB Seagate drive shows up in device manager under "portable devices"

The drive is listed in WMP settings at options/devices.

I really don't want WMP loading any media files that are on the drive unless I add them to the library
manually.

I seem to remember in the past I stopped this behavior by disabling the drive in Device Manager under
"portable devices", then this drive didn't show up at all in WMP. This worked, "Seagate" (On the left of the screen)
disappeared. But, a previously existing manually-added folder of the video "library" was still active.

At the moment clicking on Seagate drive/music and videos shows that all the media on the drive
are available in the library. Whether anything has been "converted" ? Who knows

Anybody have any tips or any further info on how this is supposed to work, and what is best practices?

It seems odd that I have to stop this "Portable device" in the Device Manager, and that there is no way in
WMP to turn it off, either globally, or for that device

Hi, there are older guides to doing this, but where they refer to 'folder monitoring' I'm guessing this refers to WMP11 not 12.

You might try this:


Click Organise, Manage Libraries, Music to see that.

Note that USB drive D: is not shown in the dialogue.
If it is in your case, 'Remove' it.

If you flick through WMP settings you'd find the button to add media to library if played, there's also buttons for Clear Cache and clear history for devices.

davexnet said:

The drive is listed in WMP settings at options/devices.
I really don't want WMP loading any media files that are on the drive unless I add them to the library manually.

WMP will do what you tell it to do.
You do not need to mess about disabling hardware.


1 Check which folders you have told WMP to include in its Library -
Organise, Manage Libraries [e.g. Music]


2 And you can hide that Navigation pane entry for your Seagate by clearing the entry -
Organise, Customise Navigation pane, CDs and data disks
The entry just gives you the ability to see what's on the disk. It does not make WMP add the tracks to its Library.


3 While you are at it, check all your WMP Options tabs
Organise, Options
The Library tab might well have the most significance but do work through them all.



All the best,
Denis

And thank you for your reply. No indication if you've tried what I suggested.

davexnet said:

On the Seagate drive (drive "S:"), there are 10 - 15 folders containing mp3's - perhaps a few hundred songs.
None of those folders are defined as a belonging to a WMP "library" , yet if you click on the drive/music (on the left)
all those songs are there, available to be played (indexed poorly but that's another issue)

Because you are browsing to them.
Please read my previous post and take the necessary step to remove that Seagate entry from your WMP navigation pane.

davexnet said:

It seems they're there purely as a result of the drive being designated as a Portable Device, and this, apparently, scans the whole drive and adds the files automatically.

No, that is not the reason at all. It has nothing to do with it being a portable device.
WMP is doing what you have told it to do.
Please read my previous post and take the necessary step to remove that Seagate entry from your WMP navigation pane.

And do check your WMP, Organise, Options as I suggested in my previous post.


Denis

davexnet said:

2- from the organize/customization screen I have deselected "other media" and "cd's and data disks" this has not helped.

And yet it still displays your Seagate in the Navigation pane?
I have never heard of that fault before.

Does SFC report any Windows problems?
SFC - TenForumsTutorials

The WMP troubleshooter is still available [I thought it had been retired]
Troubleshoot Windows Media Player Errors - MSSupport
Do consider the other entries under the sub-heading Additional troubleshooting steps as well.



Best of luck,
Denis

davexnet said:

...as you can see in the first picture of my previous post, I have brought up the "organize" screen
and it can be seen that nothing from s: is in there. ...

Yes, it is. It's all the stuff in the cut-off entry Seagate bup slim 1TB.

That's only cut off because your navigation pane is so narrow that it cannot show the end of the label Seagate bup slim 1TB (S:).
You can make the Navigation pane as wide or narrow as you want at any time by
- hovering your cursor over the vertical dividing line between the Navigation pane & the list of tracks, then
- waiting until it changes to a double-headed arrow , then
- dragging it one way or the other [just as you might do with File explorer column headers].

I had to widen mine to get the drive letter for this CD to be visible.


You should not have to stop & re-open WMP to get Navigation pane changes to show up but I just had to do so to get that CD entry to appear.


Denis