Computer does not recognize external hard drive

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  1. Posts : 76
    Windows10 Home Edition
       #1

    Computer does not recognize external hard drive


    Hi all,I googled this but I really can't find an answer,hear goes.I have 2 seagate external hard drives with
    all my movies and tv shows.I plug it into my dvd player and watch them on my smart tv.I bought a new one which says seagate external expansion drive.It is not recognized when I plug into the dvd player.Did
    I make a boo-boo and buy the wrong one.Any help would be appreciated,thank-you.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 15,426
    Windows10
       #2

    Does smart tv have a direct usb socket?

    Also many dvd players only recognise fat32 drives, and your drives are probably formatted as ntfs, or maybe drive is not yet initialised yet.

    Check format of existing drives, and also see if you can see new drive ok on a pc. May just need to be initialised.

    Not sure if drive being mbr or gpt formatted will be an issue. If drive is 2TB or less, I would make sure they are formatted as MBR drives.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 76
    Windows10 Home Edition
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Yes,a boatload of usb ports on tv and puter recognizes new external.Checked my 2 old ones and the new one and all are
    ntfs.All externals are 4terabytes and the 2 previous ones work but not the new one,don't understand it.I just plugged it in to one of the usb ports on the tv and it works.Guess I ain't to bright.Guess that's why they call it a smart tv,never thought to look.Thank-you so much for pointing me in the right direction.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 31,398
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #4

    eore said:
    Yes,a boatload of usb ports on tv and puter recognizes new external. Checked my 2 old ones and the new one and all are ntfs.All externals are 4terabytes and the 2 previous ones work but not the new one,don't understand it.
    There remains one possible difference. Check to see if the new one is a GPT partition and the old (working) ones are MBR. Your DVD player may only understand MBR partitions.

    You can check in Disk Manager. Right-click on the disk disk's name (Disk 1, Disk 2, etc) to the left of the display of partition(s) for each drive. Select 'Properties'. The 'Volumes' tab will tell you the partition style.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 76
    Windows10 Home Edition
    Thread Starter
       #5

    You are correct,2 old ones are MBR and the new one is GPT.Now is there anything I can do about it.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 13,848
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #6

    One other thing to check, my new 4TB USB 3.0 drive came formatted as exFAT.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 31,398
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #7

    eore said:
    You are correct,2 old ones are MBR and the new one is GPT.Now is there anything I can do about it.
    Yes. There's a tutorial for that.

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 76
    Windows10 Home Edition
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Will try it and thanks to everyone for the help,much appreciated.Will let you know how I made out,Tony.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 76
    Windows10 Home Edition
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Here is an update,formatted to mbr,works good and dvd player recognizes it.One drawback,I don't know if I did something wrong but I followed the tutorial to the letter.Formatted only 2 terabytes,the rest is unallocated and probably unusable but that's ok.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 13,848
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #10

    Have you tried Disk Management to create a new Primary partition in the remaining unallocated space?
      My Computers


 

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