Topic: Usb Hdd (or Usb Digital Camera Connection) (Read 297 times)

TeonHarasymiv · « **on:** April 25, 2006, 08:48:00 AM »

Howdy!

Simple question:

Is there now, or will there ever be, a way to use a (fat32) USB HDD (just a standard external drive) in XBMC? I know that the xbox uses a different file system, so I don't know if it is possible, but it would be great for storing media on.

On the same note (it's really the same thing!) is there any way to connect a digital camera through USB and download photos onto the xbox?

Thanks, Teon.

This post has been edited by TeonHarasymiv: Apr 25 2006, 03:49 PM

alexmspqr · « **Reply #1 on:** April 25, 2006, 08:59:00 AM »

There's no way of doing this at the moment. Whenever I've seen the XBMC devs answer this question they've always said: we have no intention of adding FAT32/NTFS support but if it anyone wants to write the code we would happily add it to XBMC. So odds are it'll never happen, it is a pretty big undertaking, but you never know.

If you want a drive that you can access in XBMC and your PC you could always format it as FATX and then use Xplorer360 or xboxhdm to access it on your PC.

Barney_1 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 27, 2006, 09:12:00 AM »

If you are setup with a home network, you could use the drive as a Samba share. Hook it up to your computer and share it, create a bookmark in XBMC.

torne · « **Reply #3 on:** April 27, 2006, 09:24:00 AM »

Actually, I'm looking at implementing standard FAT support in XBMC. I'm not an XBMC dev, but I know what I'm doing (mostly). It's not actually that huge an untertaking if you know about filesystem internals.

Don't expect this, like, next week or anything, though.

incognegro · « **Reply #4 on:** April 27, 2006, 11:32:00 PM »

QUOTE(torne @ Apr 27 2006, 03:55 PM)

Actually, I'm looking at implementing standard FAT support in XBMC. I'm not an XBMC dev, but I know what I'm doing (mostly). It's not actually that huge an untertaking if you know about filesystem internals.

Don't expect this, like, next week or anything, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Well if your telling the truth goodluck, you would be doing alot of ppl a favor........ (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

alexmspqr · « **Reply #5 on:** April 28, 2006, 02:05:00 AM »

QUOTE(torne @ Apr 27 2006, 03:55 PM)

Actually, I'm looking at implementing standard FAT support in XBMC. I'm not an XBMC dev, but I know what I'm doing (mostly). It's not actually that huge an untertaking if you know about filesystem internals.

Good luck with this man, I know there are a LOT of people that have been after fat support for a long time. This would be a great feature (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif).

QUOTE(incognegro @ Apr 28 2006, 06:03 AM)

Well if your telling the truth goodluck, you would be doing alot of ppl a favor........ (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'd say that he probably is, as he has also posted about it on the xbmc forums with more detail.

torne · « **Reply #6 on:** April 28, 2006, 07:50:00 AM »

If ya wanted to be sceptical about things I've posted, I'd suggest trying my posts on the Windows on Xbox forum. Those are much more implausible than implementing FAT, which isn't that hard a task for anyone who's well-versed in filesystem internals (and who works for an OS company and has to fix defects in our FAT implementation on a frequent basis). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Like I said, don't expect this next week or anything - it will depend how much free time I have. It will initially be read-only, but even that would be quite useful I expect. Write support is a little more involved and will come later.

This post has been edited by torne: Apr 28 2006, 02:51 PM

TeonHarasymiv · « **Reply #7 on:** April 29, 2006, 03:16:00 AM »

Thank you!

Read support is all I really care about anyway - I would just love to be able to stock up a few external drives with media because I have run out of space on my internal (upgraded) drive.

It would also be neat to be able to copy photos directly from my digital camera.

Thanks again for having a go at it - I am sure you will be making a lot of people happy!

The Zep Man · « **Reply #8 on:** April 29, 2006, 07:09:00 AM »

QUOTE(torne @ Apr 28 2006, 03:21 PM)

Those are much more implausible than implementing FAT, which isn't that hard a task for anyone who's well-versed in filesystem internals (and who works for an OS company and has to fix defects in our FAT implementation on a frequent basis). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

FAT12, FAT16, FAT16x, FAT32? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/uhh.gif) Which one are you talking about?

I mean, maybe you can implement FAT12-support. It would be cool to use an USB floppy-drive with Xbox Media Center. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

This post has been edited by The Zep Man: Apr 29 2006, 02:10 PM

Far Beyond Driven · « **Reply #9 on:** April 29, 2006, 08:37:00 AM »

It'd be great if I could copy from my Disgo USB stick to XBMC.. Not having a PC and all

torne · « **Reply #10 on:** May 02, 2006, 06:09:00 AM »

QUOTE(The Zep Man @ Apr 29 2006, 01:40 PM)

FAT12, FAT16, FAT16x, FAT32? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/uhh.gif) Which one are you talking about?

I mean, maybe you can implement FAT12-support. It would be cool to use an USB floppy-drive with Xbox Media Center. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

There's no reason not to implement FAT12 if you have FAT16 (they are identical other than the method of finding a particular cluster in the FAT, just one line of code different). FAT16X is poorly documented and is a horrible hack, so it's unlikely unless someone can give me detailed information on exactly how it differs. FAT32 has some differences in the BPB but is still mostly the same.

The likely development sequence:
1) FAT12/16 reading with no long filenames (just 8.3)
2) FAT32 reading with no long filenames
3) VFAT support for long filenames (on any FAT)
4) Write support
5) World domination.. no, wait, that's a different list.

TeonHarasymiv · « **Reply #11 on:** May 02, 2006, 07:53:00 AM »

Sounds great

Personally I think that this would be one of the more usefull features in XBMC (More so than a lot of stuff that is there already...

)

Good luck with it

bios · « **Reply #12 on:** May 02, 2006, 01:33:00 PM »

FAT implementation would indeed be very sweet

Good luck "torne"

timdog82001 · « **Reply #13 on:** May 04, 2006, 05:47:00 PM »

This sounds really great. I don't know how much I would use an external hard drive with my xbox, but if this gave us the ability to view picture slideshows off of digital cameras without having to transfer the photos, that would be GREAT. Would this be possible? I'm not sure exactly what format they use. Also....don't iPods use FAT32??? Would this mean we could achieve similar functionality that we have with the xbox 360 where you can connect your ipod to the usb port and listen to music right off of it?

torne · « **Reply #14 on:** May 05, 2006, 05:14:00 AM »

Any digital camera that supports acting as a mass storage device (almost all modern cameras) would work - they use FAT of some variety on their memory cards. So will external hard disks, or flash drives, and probably even card readers.

PC iPods are formatted as FAT32, I don't know if Mac ones still use HFS or not (they did originally, but I don't have an iPod and don't know much about them). You will be able to access the files on the iPod but listening to music off it will require parsing the iTunes DB because iTunes mangles the filenames so you don't know which track is which (they're all just meaningless numbers in a hidden folder somewhere). Someone else has already volunteered to port iTunes DB parsing code once FAT works, though

Author Topic: Usb Hdd (or Usb Digital Camera Connection) (Read 297 times)