Topic: External Hard Drive Can't Be Detected (Read 36 times)

OwenX · « **on:** December 30, 2006, 05:45:00 PM »

I recently read an article which spoke about using an external hard drive on the Xbox 360. I had a 40GB Lacie portable hard drive lying around, so I decided to put it to use. Using Acronis Disk Director I formatted the disk with 1 40GB FAT32 partition as the tutorial suggested. I loaded some pictures and videos on it, but when I connected it to my 360 (using the usb 2.0) it wasn't detected. The 'Portable Device' option was greyed out on the menu to look for media. I tried using all three different usb ports, to no avail.

Do I need some sort of special file set up, or am I doing something else wrong?

Karcus · « **Reply #1 on:** January 08, 2007, 12:11:00 AM »

I too have the same problem. On the tutorial the pic shows the enclosure without the external power (I think most 2.5" kits are powered through USB). Perhaps somehow the console is shutting off the USB ports from over current with power supply? Or maybe the new update disallowed mass storage devices ala hdd.?

Xbox 360 Genius · « **Reply #2 on:** January 08, 2007, 12:17:00 AM »

Are these SATA hard drives? IDE? USB?

Karcus · « **Reply #3 on:** January 08, 2007, 02:47:00 AM »

I think I found the solution (at least for me). When you make the partition, create it as a primary, not logical. I made a logical partition the first time and I'm guessing no data was in the primary.
Another thing I also did was to test out the usb connection. I plugged in a usb keyboard and ensured that it was working in the menus. Then I plugged the enclosure in the usb slot then powered it. Waited a couple seconds for the HDD to spin up and went to check for usb portable devices is highlighted.
Oh and I also tried to shorten the filenames of my mp3's. Not sure of file length for FAT32 so this may not matter.
Hope these suggestions help you in installing a "portable media drive".

Author Topic: External Hard Drive Can't Be Detected (Read 36 times)